In Prussia the number of messages transmitted in 1866, the last year of
which we have data, was 1,964,030, and the gross receipts were 1,275,785
thalers, making the average cost per message seventy cents in our
currency. Prussia had in that year a population of 17,740,000, and the
area of her territory was somewhat less than the New England States and
New York. Distance being regarded, the Prussian rates were at that
period double our own.