The statistics respecting the working of the telegraph in Belgium are
used by Mr. Washburne primarily to prove the superior advantages and
excellence of the Belgian telegraphic system and arrangement, but
chiefly to show that a cheapened rate has increased its use, and that to
secure that result in this country the telegraph must be placed under
governmental control.
Scarcely any two nations could be named whose conditions are more
unlike.
The area of Belgium is about one fourth that of the State of New York,
with nearly the same population. Its greatest length is 175 miles, its
width 105.
The three chief cities of Belgium are not more than thirty miles apart,
while those of secondary rank are equally contiguous. All the railroads
in the kingdom belong to the government, and a large proportion of the
telegraph offices are at the railway stations, the post-offices being
merely offices of deposit, from which messages are despatched free of
charge to the nearest telegraph office, if in the same district;
otherwise by special messenger, on the payment of an extra fee.
As the government of the United States owns no railroads, they could not
use the stations for offices, except by special arrangements, which can
as readily be effected by private companies.