The United States not only has the distinguished honor of being the
birthplace of the inventor of the universally-used electric telegraph,
but of having constructed the first line of practical telegraph, and of
being the foremost nation in the world, at the present time, in the
number of her telegraph stations, extent of her lines and wires,
cheapness of her rates, and amount of business done.
The United States contains 4,126 telegraph offices; 62,782 miles of
line; 125,564 miles of wire; and transmits annually 12,904,777
telegrams.
She has nearly as many telegraph stations as, and sends a greater number
of telegrams annually than, all Continental Europe, and contains as many
miles of line as Belgium, Bavaria, France, Great Britain and Ireland,
Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and Spain combined.