_Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in Prussia._
┌───────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ │ Number of │Gross Receipts in│Average Cost per │
│ DATE. │ Messages. │ Thalers. │ Message in │
│ │ │ │ Thalers. │
├───────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ 1852│ 48,751│ 114,539│ 2.350│
│ 1853│ 85,161│ 209,944│ 2.460│
│ 1854│ 116,313│ 328,506│ 2.820│
│ 1855│ 152,820│ 434,122│ 2.840│
│ 1856│ 221,411│ 591,038│ 2.670│
│ 1857│ 241,545│ 726,517│ 3.010│
│ 1858│ 247,202│ 730,584│ 2.950│
│ 1859│ 349,997│ 808,521│ 2.310│
│ 1860│ 384,335│ 791,101│ 2.060│
│ 1861│ 459,002│ 875,783│ 1.988│
│ 1862│ 660,501│ 954,550│ 1.450│
│ 1863│ 877,583│ 1,039,961│ 1.180│
│ 1864│ 1,259,590│ 1,150,008│ 0.913│
│ 1865│ 1,527,455│ 1,242,489│ 0.812│
│ 1866│ 1,964,030│ 1,275,785│ 0.656│
└───────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘
It will be observed that the number of messages transmitted in 1852 was
48,751, and in 1860, 384,335, being an increase in nine years of nearly
800 per cent, although there was no reduction in the average tariff
during this period. From 1860 to 1866 there was an increase of only 500
per cent, notwithstanding a reduction in the rates from 2.06 to 0.656
thalers per message.
Prussia was among the earliest of Continental countries to adopt the
electric telegraph, and it is still far in advance of most of its
neighbors in the practical development of the enterprise; and yet, with
a population more than half as great as the United States, she only
transmits one sixth as many messages per annum. Were the system left to
private enterprise, as in this country, there can be no doubt that this
enlightened and thrifty people would greatly extend the system, and in
place of the meagre supply of 538 offices she would have upwards of
2,000, and in place of 1,964,030 messages per annum would transmit seven
or eight millions.