An examination of Mr. Hubbard’s statement of the number of messages sent
in Europe, in 1866, will reveal the fact that he has included inland,
international, and transit messages to make up the grand total. In this
way he has counted the same message several times. For instance,
messages sent from England to France, or any two contiguous countries,
would be counted in each. Messages between France and Germany would be
counted in France and Germany as international messages, and in Belgium
and perhaps some other country as transit. The same would be the case
between all European countries whose territories do not border on each
other. A message going from France to Russia, or from England to Turkey,
might be counted a dozen times.
In the United States each message is counted but once, although it may
traverse thousands of miles in reaching its place of destination.
We have not the statistics to show what proportion the legitimate number
of messages sent bears to this fictitious number; but by referring to
the Belgian table it will be seen that 692,536 inland and 306,596
international messages were sent in 1866, in a total of 1,128,005.
Taking this as a fair average for the whole of Europe, we shall find
that only 14,012,795 messages were sent in 1866, at an expense, in
United States currency, of $15,286,911.61, or about $1.09 each.