The proportion of telegrams to letters in the United States is difficult
of determination, from the fact that our Post-Office Department
furnishes no statistics of the number of letters sent through the mails,
and has no means of ascertaining the number approximately, except by the
number of stamps sold annually. This mode of estimation is very
defective, because the stamps sold may not have been used, or if used,
may have covered the postage on books, parcels, and other matter. The
Postmaster-General states, in his report for 1867, that there were
283,762,300 three-cent stamps sold during the preceding year. Supposing
each of these stamps to represent a letter, we have the following
comparative result of the number of telegrams to letters in the various
countries where the telegraph is most extensively used:—
Proportion of telegrams to letters in the United Kingdom, 1 to 121
Proportion of telegrams to letters in Switzerland, 1 to 69
Proportion of telegrams to letters in Belgium, 1 to 37
Proportion of telegrams to letters in United States, 1 to 22