THE ALLEGED BREAK-DOWN OF _LAISSEZ-FAIRE_
Early history of telegraphy in Great Britain. The adequacy of
private enterprise. Mr. Scudamore's loose use of statistics.
Mr. Scudamore's test of adequacy of facilities. Telegraphic
charges and growth of traffic in Great Britain. The alleged
wastefulness of competition. The telegraph companies' proposal.
Upon the foregoing evidence, taken from the experience of the State
telegraphs of Belgium, Switzerland, and France, and from the experience
of the telegraph companies of the United Kingdom, Mr. Scudamore reached
the conclusion that in telegraphy, in the United Kingdom, private
enterprise had broken down. He stated his conclusion in these words:
"It is clearly shown, I think, ... that the cardinal distinction
between the telegraph system of the United Kingdom and the systems
of Belgium and Switzerland is this: that the latter have been framed
and maintained solely with a view to the accommodation of the public,
whilst the former has been devised and maintained mainly with a view to
the interests of shareholders, and only indirectly for the benefit of
the public." These words were intended to convey, and they did convey,
the meaning that the policy of _laissez-faire_ had broken down. That
policy rests on the assumption that in the long run, and upon the
whole, the public interest is conserved and promoted by the activities
of the individual citizens who are seeking to promote their personal
fortunes--by the activities of "the mere speculator and dividend
seeker"--to employ the phrase that came into common use in 1866 to
1869, and ever since, has been made to do yeoman service.
Let us test by the evidence--of which a large part is to be found
tucked away in the appendices to Mr. Scudamore's reports--this
conclusion that in telegraphy, in the United Kingdom, private
enterprise had broken down, and the policy of _laissez-faire_ had been
discredited.
The first thing to note in this connection is, that in the case of
telegraphy, as in the case of so many other British industries, public
ownership has been a parasite. It has been unwilling to assume the risk
and burden of establishing the industry, and has contented itself with
purchasing "ready-made" the industry after it had been developed by
private enterprise. When Mr. Ronalds attempted to interest the British
Government in telegraphy, he was told "that the telegraph was of no use
in times of peace, and that the semaphore in time of war answered all
the required purposes."[17]
In 1837, British individuals and companies began to stake their money
upon the telegraph in Great Britain; and in 1854 they even carried the
telegraph industry to continental Europe, notably to Belgium. In 1850
and 1851, the Governments of France, Belgium and Switzerland, profiting
by the losses suffered, and the technical advances made, by British
individuals and companies, appropriated, so far as their countries were
concerned, the new industry.
[Sidenote: _History of British Telegraphy_]
The Electric and International Telegraph Company was formed in 1846,
out of the reorganization of properties, that in 1837 had embarked in
telegraphy in England, and in 1845 had carried the telegraph industry
to Belgium.[18] At this time the use of the telegraph was confined
almost exclusively to railway purposes, such as train signalling. The
possibility of use for commercial purposes was so little appreciated
by the public, that the Electric and International Company, after
purchasing, in 1846, Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone's inventions, was
looked upon as a complete commercial failure. The shares of the
company for several years were almost valueless; the chief source of
revenue then being contracts obtained from railway companies for the
construction and maintenance of railway telegraphs.
Between 1846 and 1851 great improvements were made in telegraphy, and
the public gradually learned to use the telegraph. In 1849 the Electric
and International declared its first dividend, mainly the result of
the contracts with the railway companies. In November, 1851, a cable
was laid between Dover and Calais; for the first time the prices of
the stock exchange securities in Paris were known the same day within
business hours on the London stock exchange; and the financial and
trading interests became convinced of the value of the telegraph.[19]
The Electric and International Company began in 1846 with a capital,
paid in, of $700,000, which had been increased, by the close of 1868,
to $5,849,375. The company grew steadily, and in 1867 it had 10,000
miles of line, and 49,600 miles of wire. In March, 1856, when the
company had a record of five years for dividends ranging from 6 to
6.5 per cent. on the capital paid in, the stock of the company was
selling at 80, which showed that the investing public deemed the
returns inadequate, considering the risks attaching to the business. In
January, 1863, when the company had a record of three years as a 7 per
cent. company, the stock still stood under par--at 99.5. In 1864 the
company paid 8 per cent., in 1865 it paid 9 per cent., and in 1866 to
1868 it paid 10 per cent.[20]
The British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company was formed in 1857
by amalgamation of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, organized in 1851,
and the British Telegraph Company, organized in 1852. In March, 1856,
the Magnetic had a paid up capital of $1,500,000, which was worth 60
cents on the dollar; and the British Company had a paid up capital of
$1,170,000, which was worth 47.5 cents on the dollar. In January, 1864,
the amalgamated company was paying 4.5 per cent., and its shares were
worth 62.5. In 1865 the British and Irish raised the dividend to 5 per
cent.; in 1866 to 6 per cent., and in 1867 to 7.5 per cent. In 1866 the
stock sold at 78 to 90; and in 1867 at 90 to 97. In 1867 the company
had 4,696 miles of line, and 18,964 miles of wire.
The United Kingdom Telegraph Company was organized in 1860, and began
operations in 1861. In November, 1867, its shares were worth from 25
cents to 35 cents on the dollar. At that time the company had 1,692
miles of line, and about 9,827 miles of wire.
The London District Telegraph Company, which subsequently became the
London and Provincial, began business in 1860 with 52 offices in
Metropolitan London. In 1862 it increased the number of its offices to
84; and at the time of its sale to the State, it had 95 offices. The
company never earned operating expenses. It began by charging 8 cents
for 10 words; later on it charged 12 cents for 15 words; and in 1866 it
raised its charge to 24 cents.
Very little new capital was invested by the telegraph companies after
1865, because of "the very natural reluctance of the companies to
extend the systems under their control so long as the proposal of the
acquisition of those systems by the State was under consideration," to
use the words of Mr. Scudamore.
[Sidenote: _Adequate Results of Private Enterprise_]
The foregoing facts show that private enterprise was ready throughout
the period beginning with 1838 to incur considerable risks in
establishing the new industry of telegraphy, and in giving to the
public facilities for the use of that industry. Private enterprise
did not at any time adopt the policy of exploiting the public by
confining itself to operations involving little or no risk, while
paying well. It is true that once a company had reached the position
of paying 5, 6, 7, 8, or more, per cent., it tried to maintain that
position, and refrained from making extensions at such a rate as to
cause a decrease in the dividend. But that fact does not warrant the
charge that the companies neglected their duty to the public. Until the
threat of purchase by the State arrested extensions, and the dividends
rose unusually rapidly, the earnings of the companies were moderate;
and finally, though the companies tried to maintain whatever rate of
dividend had once been attained, the investing public never believed
that even the Electric and International would maintain indefinitely
the 10 per cent. rate. That is shown by the fact that until the public
began to speculate on the strength of the prospect of the State paying
a big price for the property of the Electric and International, the
stock of that company never sold for more than 14 years' purchase.[21]
Had the public believed that the 10 per cent. dividend would be
maintained indefinitely, the stock would have risen to 25 years'
purchase, the price of the best railway shares.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Mr. Scudamore's Statistics_]
In order to show that the people of the United Kingdom suffered from
a lack of telegraphic facilities, when compared with the people of
Belgium and Switzerland, Mr. Scudamore stated in his reports of 1865
and 1866, that there were: in Belgium, 17.75 miles of telegraph line
to every 100 square miles; in Switzerland, 13.7; and in the United
Kingdom, 11.3. He stated, also, that there were in Belgium 6.33
telegraph offices to every 100,000 people; in Switzerland, 9.9; and in
the United Kingdom, 5.6.
Mr. Scudamore obtained the figures with regard to the United Kingdom
from the Board of Trade returns.[22] For 1865 to 1867, those returns
were very incomplete; but in 1868 they became very full. Mr.
Scudamore's reports of 1865 and 1868 were not ordered, by the House of
Commons, to be printed, until April, 1868, when the completed Board of
Trade returns were available. But neither in the reports as laid before
Parliament, nor in the testimony given before the Select Committee of
Parliament in 1868, did Mr. Scudamore draw attention to the fact that
the statement that the United Kingdom had only 11.3 miles of telegraph
line to every 100 square miles of area, and 5.6 telegraph offices to
every 100,000 people, was based on incomplete returns.
The Board of Trade return for 1868 stated that the Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway Company had 432 miles of telegraph lines and that
various other companies not enumerated in 1865, had, in 1868, 3,665
miles of line. If it be assumed that in the period from 1865 to 1868
the Lancashire and the other railway companies not enumerated in 1865,
increased their net at the same rate as did the three railway companies
that were enumerated in 1865, namely, 11 per cent., there must have
been, in 1865, not less than 3,825 miles of telegraph line of which Mr.
Scudamore took no account in fixing the total mileage at 16,066 miles.
If it be further assumed that one-third of the 3,825 miles in question
paralleled telegraph lines of the telegraph companies, there were
left out of account in 1865 by Mr. Scudamore 2,550 miles of telegraph
line, the equivalent of 2.1 miles per 100 square miles of area. On the
foregoing assumptions the mileage that should have been assigned to the
United Kingdom in 1865 was not 11.3, but 13.4.
Considerations similar to the foregoing ones, when applied to Mr.
Scudamore's statement that there were, in 1865, 2,040 telegraph
stations, show that there probably were 2,680 telegraph stations in
1865, a full allowance being made for duplication. The last named
figure would have been equivalent to 8.9 telegraph offices for every
100,000 people as against 5.6 reported by Mr. Scudamore.
The foregoing corrections probably err in the direction of understating
the telegraph facilities existent in the United Kingdom in 1865. These
corrected results show that in the matter of telegraph line per 100
square miles of area, the United Kingdom was abreast of Switzerland
in 1865, though considerably behind Belgium; and that, in the matter
of telegraph offices per 100,000 people, it was almost abreast of
Switzerland, and considerably in advance of Belgium.
In this connection it is helpful to note that in 1875, after the
British Government had spent about $12,500,000 in rearranging and
extending the telegraph lines, as against Mr. Scudamore's estimate
of 1868 that $1,500,000 would suffice for all rearrangements and
extensions, the number of miles of telegraph line per 100 square miles
of area was, 20 in the United Kingdom, and 27.4 in Belgium.[23]
[Sidenote: _Mr. Scudamore's Standards of Service_]
Mr. Scudamore submitted several other arguments in support of the
statement that private enterprise had failed to provide the public with
sufficient telegraphic facilities. He submitted a list of 486 English
and Welsh towns, ranging in population from 2,000 to 200,000, and
stated in each case whether or not the town was a telegraph station;
and if it was one, whether the telegraph office was, or was not, within
the town limits. Mr. Scudamore summarized the facts elucidated, with
the statement that 30 per cent. of the 486 towns were well served; that
40 per cent. were indifferently served; that 12 per cent. were badly
served; that 18 per cent. were not served at all; and that the towns
not served at all had an aggregate population of more than 500,000.[24]
Mr. Scudamore did not define his standards of good service,
indifferent service, bad service, and absence of service; but
examination of his data shows that his standards were so rigorous that
the state of affairs revealed in his summary was by no means so bad
as might appear at first sight. Mr. Scudamore took as the standard
of good service, the presence of a telegraph office within the town
limits. He characterized as indifferent the service of 98 towns in
which the telegraph office was within one-quarter of a mile of the
Post Office, though outside of the town limits; as well as the service
of 88 towns in which the telegraph office was within one-half a mile
of the Post Office, though outside of the town limits. He called the
service bad in the case of 38 towns in which the telegraph office was
within three-quarters of a mile of the Post Office; as well as in the
case of 22 towns in which the telegraph office was one mile from the
Post Office. He said there was no service whenever the distance of
the telegraph office from the Post Office exceeded one mile. In this
connection it should be added that the telegraph lines followed the
railway; and that in consequence of the prejudice against railway
companies in the early days, very many cities and towns refused to
allow the railway to enter the city or town limits.
Mr. Scudamore's data showed that there had been in 1865 not less than
96 towns in which the distance between the Post Office and the nearest
telegraph office exceeded one mile. In a foot-note, in the appendix,
Mr. Scudamore stated that in 1868, not less than 25 of the 96 towns
had been given a railway telegraph office; but no mention of that
fact did he make in the main body of the report, the only part of the
document likely to be read even by the comparatively small number of
the Members of Parliament who took the trouble to read the document
at all. As for the writers of the newspaper press, and the general
public, they accepted without exception the statement that in 1868 not
less than 18 per cent. of the towns in question, with an aggregate
population of over 500,000, had no telegraphic service. As a matter of
fact the statement applied only to 14.6 per cent. of the towns, with an
aggregate population of 388,000;[25] and many of the towns that still
were without service in 1868 would not have been in that condition, had
not the agitation for the nationalization of the telegraphs arrested
the investment of capital in telegraphs in the years 1865 to 1868.
Distance of the
Telegraph Station Number of Range of Aggregate
from the Post Towns Population Population
Office, miles
1.25 7 2,000 to 16,000 43,000
1.50 7 2,000 to 65,000 84,000
1.75 2 2,000 to 4,000 6,000
2.00 6 2,000 to 15,000 23,000
2.50 3 3,000 to 5,000 11,000
3.00 6 2,000 to 8,000 23,000
3.25 1 4,000 4,000
3.50 4 2,000 to 4,000 11,000
3.75 1 3,000 3,000
4.00 3 4,000 12,000
4.50 2 3,000 6,000
4.75 2 3,000 to 5,000 8,000
5.00 7 2,000 to 37,000 62,000
5.50 1 5,000 5,000
6.00 4 2,000 to 4,000 12,000
6.75 1 4,000 4,000
7.00 5 4,000 to 7,000 27,000
9.00 2 3,000 to 6,000 9,000
9.25 1 3,000 3,000
10.00 2 3,000 to 6,000 9,000
12.50 1 14,000 14,000
14.00 1 4,000 4,000
17.75 1 3,000 3,000
? 1 2,000 2,000
71 388,000
Mr. Scudamore also submitted a table giving the total number of places
with money order issuing Post Offices in England and Wales, Scotland
and Ireland; and stated what number of those places had respectively
perfect telegraph accommodation, imperfect telegraphic accommodation,
and no telegraphic accommodation.[26] Mr. Scudamore contended that the
public interest demanded that each one of those places should have
at least one telegraph office, that office to be located as near the
centre of population as was the Post Office. He submitted no argument
in support of that proposition. But Parliament and the public accepted
the proposition with avidity, since Mr. Scudamore promised that the
extension required to give such a service would not cost more than
$1,000,000, about 1/11 or 1/12 of the total sum invested by the several
telegraph companies. Mr. Scudamore also promised that, after the
service had been thus extended, the total operating expenses of the
State telegraphs would be less than 45 per cent. of the gross receipts;
that the State telegraphs would at least pay their way, and that
they probably would yield a handsome profit. But when Mr. Scudamore
came to extend the State telegraphs, he spent upon extensions, not
$1,000,000, but about $8,500,000, and when the State came to operate
the telegraphs, the operating expenses quickly ran up to 87 per cent.
of the gross receipts in three years, 1874 to 1876. These errors of
Mr. Scudamore justify the statement that he made no case whatever
against the system of _laissez-faire_, or private ownership, on the
ground of the extent of the facilities offered to the public, under the
system of private ownership. For obviously it was one thing to condemn
the telegraph companies for not building certain extensions, those
extensions being estimated to cost only $1,000,000, and a different
thing altogether to condemn the telegraph companies for refusing to
build out of hand extensions that would cost $8,500,000 and would be
relatively unremunerative, if not absolutely unprofitable.
[Sidenote: _Tariffs and Growth of Traffic_]
It remains to consider whether the facts as to the charges made by the
telegraph companies for the transmission of messages, and the facts
as to the rate of increase in the number of messages transmitted,
supported Mr. Scudamore's contention that the system of private
ownership of the telegraphs had failed to conserve and promote the
public interest.
In 1851, the Electric and International Telegraph Company carried
99,216 messages, receiving on an average $2.41 per message. In 1856,
the year in which the Scotch Chambers of Commerce began the agitation
for nationalization, the company carried 812,323 messages, receiving on
an average $0.99 per message. In 1865, the year in which the telegraph
companies abolished the rate of 24 cents, irrespective of distance,
that had been in force between the leading cities, and the Chambers
of Commerce increased the agitation for purchase by the State, the
Electric and International carried 2,971,084 messages, receiving on an
average $0.49 a message. In the period from 1851 to 1867, the messages
carried by the company increased on an average by 28.76 per cent. a
year; the average receipts per message decreased on an average by 7.58
per cent. a year; and the gross receipts of the company increased on an
average by 13.61 per cent. a year.
In the period 1855 to 1866, the messages carried annually by the
British and Irish Magnetic Company grew from 264,727 to 1,520,640, an
average annual growth of 17.58 per cent. At the same time the average
receipts per message fell from $0.96 in 1855, to $0.48 in 1866.
In the period from 1855 to 1866, the number of messages carried
annually by all of the telegraph companies of the United Kingdom
increased from 1,017,529, to 5,781,989, an average annual increase of
16.36 per cent.
In the same period, from 1855 to 1866, the telegrams sent in
Switzerland increased on an average by 13.14 per cent. each year; those
sent in Belgium increased on an average by 31.45 per cent.; and those
sent in France increased on an average by 25.40 per cent. When one
takes into consideration that in Belgium, in 1867, only 38 per cent.
of the messages transmitted related to stock exchange and commercial
business, and that in France in the same year only 48 per cent. of the
messages sent related to industrial, commercial, and stock exchange
transactions, there is nothing in the comparison between the rate of
growth in the United Kingdom on the one hand, and in the countries
of Continental Europe on the other hand, to indicate that the use of
the telegraphs for the purposes of trade and industry was held back
in the United Kingdom by excessive charges or by lack of telegraphic
facilities. So far as the United Kingdom lagged behind, it did so
because the public had not learned to use the telegraphs freely for
the transmission of personal and family news. And when, in 1875,
under State owned telegraphs, the public of the United Kingdom had
learned to use the telegraphs as freely as the public of Continental
Europe used them, Mr. W. Stanley Jevons, the eminent British political
economist, in the course of a review of the price paid for this free
use of the telegraphs, said: "A large part of the increased traffic
on the Government wires consists of complimentary messages, or other
trifling matters, which we can have no sufficient motive for promoting.
Men have been known to telegraph for a clean pocket handkerchief"--Mr.
Jevons, in 1866 to 1869, had been an ardent advocate of nationalizing
the telegraphs.[27]
* * * * *
Mr. Scudamore in 1866 to 1869 caused many people to believe that the
United Kingdom was woefully behind the continental countries in the
use of the telegraphs. He did so by publishing a table which showed
that in 1866 there had been sent: in Belgium, 1 telegram to every 37
letters carried by the Post Office; in Switzerland, 1 telegram to every
69 letters; and in the United Kingdom, 1 telegram to every 121 letters.
That table, however, really proved nothing; for in 1866, there were
carried: in Belgium, 5 letters for every inhabitant; in Switzerland,
10 letters; and in the United Kingdom, 25 letters. Had the people of
Belgium and Switzerland written as many letters proportionately as the
people of the United Kingdom, the table prepared by Mr. Scudamore would
have read: Belgium, 1 telegram for every 185 letters; Switzerland, 1
telegram for every 172 letters; and the United Kingdom, 1 telegram for
every 121 letters.
Mr. Scudamore could, however, have prepared a table showing that the
people of Switzerland and Belgium used the telegraph more freely
than did the people of the United Kingdom, but not so much more
freely as to call for so drastic a remedy in the United Kingdom as
the nationalization of the telegraphs. The table in question would
have shown that in 1866, there was transmitted: in Switzerland, 1
telegram to every 3.75 inhabitants; in Belgium, 1 telegram to every
4.25 inhabitants; and in the United Kingdom, 1 telegram to every 5.3
inhabitants. The table in question would also have indicated the
necessity of care in the use of the several kinds of statistics just
put before the reader. The table placed Switzerland in advance of
Belgium, while the other sets of statistics had placed Belgium in
advance of Switzerland.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _Alleged Wastefulness of Competition_]
Mr. Scudamore's concluding argument was that little or no relief from
the evils from which the public was suffering could be expected "so
long as the working of the telegraphs was conducted by commercial
companies striving chiefly to earn a dividend, and engaged in wasteful
competition." In support of the charge of wasteful competition he
stated "that many large districts are provided with duplicate and
triplicate lines, worked by different companies, but taking much the
same course and serving precisely the same places; and that these
duplicate or triplicate lines and duplicate or triplicate offices only
divide the business without materially increasing the accommodation of
the districts or towns which they serve." But when Mr. Scudamore sought
to substantiate this charge of waste arising out of competition, he
could do no more than state that not less than 2,000 miles of line in
a total of 16,066 miles were redundant, and that perhaps 300 to 350
offices in a total of 2,040 offices were redundant.
* * * * *
The evidence presented by Mr. Scudamore failed to reveal a situation
that called for so drastic a remedy as the nationalization of
the telegraphs. It revealed no evils or shortcomings that it was
unreasonable to expect would be sufficiently mitigated, if not entirely
removed, by the measures proposed by the telegraph companies.
Mr. Robert Grimston, Chairman of the Electric and International
Telegraph Company, stated that the telegraph companies long since would
have asked Parliament to permit them to consolidate, had there been
the least likelihood of Parliament granting the request. Consolidation
would have made the resulting amalgamated company so strong that the
company would have been justified in adopting a bolder policy in the
matter of extending the telegraph lines to places remote from the
railways. No single company could afford to assume too large a burden
of lines that would begin as "suckers" rather than "feeders." A company
with a large burden of that kind would be in a precarious position,
because any of the other existing companies, or some new company, might
take advantage of the situation and cut heavily into that part of the
company's business that was carried on between the large cities and was
bearing the burden of the non-paying extensions. But if the existing
companies were to consolidate, the resulting company would become so
strong that it need not fear such competition from any company newly
to be organized. That there was much strength in that argument appears
from the fact that, in 1869, Mr. Scudamore as well as the Government
adopted it in support of the request that the State be given the
monopoly of the business of transmitting messages by electricity. Mr.
Scudamore argued that since the State was going to assume the burden of
building and operating a large number of unprofitable, or relatively
unprofitable, extensions, it should not be exposed to the possibility
of competition from companies organized for the purpose of tapping the
profitable traffic between the large cities, "the very cream of the
business." Mr. Scudamore added that he had been told that a company
was on the verge of being organized for the purpose of competing for
the business between the large towns as soon as the properties of the
existing companies should have been transferred to the State.[28]
[Sidenote: _The Companies' Proposal_]
The telegraph companies proposed to give the public substantial
safeguards against the possibility of being exploited by the proposed
amalgamated company. They proposed that Parliament should fix maximum
charges for the transmission of messages, in conjunction with a limit
on dividends that might be exceeded only on condition that the existing
charges on messages be reduced by a stated amount every time that
the dividend be raised a stated amount beyond the limit fixed. The
companies proposed also that shares to be issued in the future should
be sold at public auction, and that any premiums realized from such
sales should be invested in the plant with the condition that they
should not be entitled to any dividend. Provisions such as these,
at the time, were in force in the case of certain gas companies and
water companies. They have for years past been incorporated in all gas
company charters; and they have worked well. There was no reason, in
1866 to 1869, why the proposals of the telegraph companies should not
be accepted; that is, no reason from the view-point of the man who
hesitated to exchange the evils and shortcomings incident to private
ownership for the evils and shortcomings incident to public ownership.
FOOTNOTES:
[17] _The Edinburgh Review_, July, 1870.
[18] _Annales télégraphiques_, 1860, p. 547.
The company obtained a concession covering the whole of Belgium. In
September, 1846, it opened a line between Brussels and Antwerpen. The
tariff charged was low, but the line was so unprofitable that, in
1847, the company declined to build from Brussels to Quiévrain, where
connection was to be made with a proposed French telegraph line.
[19] _Journal of Statistical Society_, March, 1881.
[20] _Statistical Journal_, September, 1876, and current issues of _The
Economist_ (London).
[21] _Journal of the Statistical Society_, September, 1872.
[22] _Miscellaneous Statistics for the United Kingdom_, 1868-9, and
_Parliamentary Paper_, No. 416, Session 1867-68.
Length of electric telegraphs belonging to railway companies and
telegraph companies respectively.
In placing the total mileage of telegraph line at 16,066, in 1865,
Mr. Scudamore excluded the mileage of the London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway Company.
===============================+========+========+========+========+
Railway Companies: | 1865 | 1866 | 1867 | 1868 |
-------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
Lancashire & Yorkshire | Not | stated | 430 | 432 |
London, Brighton & South Coast | 241 | 266 | 284 | 284 |
London, Chatham & Dover | 134 | 134 | 134 | 140 |
South Eastern Railway | 324 | 333 | 351 | 351 |
Other Railway Companies | Not | stated | ... | 3,665 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
Total returned | 699 | 733 | 1,199 | 4,872 |
-------------------------------+ | | | |
Electric Telegraph Companies: | | | | |
| | | | |
Electric & International | 9,306 | 9,740 | 10,007 | 10,007 |
British & Irish Magnetic | 4,401 | 4,464 | 4,696 | 4,696 |
The United Kingdom | 1,672 | 1,676 | 1,692 | 1,692 |
The London District | 123 | 150 | 150 | 163 |
So. Western of Ireland | Not | stated | ... | 85 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
Total of Companies | 15,502 | 16,030 | 16,545 | 16,643 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
Grand Total returned | 16,201 | 16,763 | 17,744 | 21,515 |
===============================+========+========+========+========+
[23] In the _Fortnightly Review_, December, 1875, Mr. W. S. Jevons, the
eminent British statistician and economist, stated that the telegraph
mileage was 24,000 miles. This statement is accepted in the absence of
any official information. From 1870 to 1895 neither the _Reports of the
Postmaster General_, nor the _Statistical Abstracts_, nor the _Board of
Trade Returns_ stated the mileage of telegraph lines; only the total
mileage of telegraph wires was published.
[24] Mr. Scudamore's percentage figures, in some instances, were only
roughly correct.
[25] See table on page 47.
[26] England
and Wales Scotland Ireland
Number of places having Post
Offices that issued money
orders 2,056 385 509
Number of such places having:
Perfect telegraph accommodation 648 91 109
Imperfect accommodation 567 92 33
No accommodation 850 196 367
[27] _The Fortnightly Review_, December, 1875; and _Transactions of the
Manchester Statistical Society_, 1866-67.
[28] _Report from the Select Committee on the Telegraphic Bill_, 1869:
q. 321 to 329. In 1868, Mr. Scudamore and the Government had said that
the State ought not to be given the monopoly of the telegraph business.
_Special Report from the Select Committee on the Telegraphs Bill_,
1868; q. 124 and following, 319 and 320, and 2,464 and following.