No. 12.
_Report of the American Institute on the
Electro Magnetic Telegraph._
NEW YORK, _September 12, 1842_.
The undersigned, the committee of arts and sciences of the
American Institute, respectfully report:
That, by virtue of the power of adding to their numbers,
they called to their aid the gentlemen whose names are
hereunto annexed, with those of the original members of
the committee, and proceeded to examine Professor Morse’s
electro magnetic telegraph.
Having investigated the scientific principles on which
it is founded, inspected the mechanism by which these
principles are brought into practical operation, and seen
the instruments in use in the transmission and return of
various messages, they have come to the conclusion that
it is admirably adapted to the purposes for which it is
intended, being capable of forming words, numbers, and
sentences, nearly as fast as they can be written in ordinary
characters, and of transmitting them to great distances with
a velocity equal to that of light. They, therefore, beg
leave to recommend the telegraph of Professor Morse for such
testimonials of the approbation of the American Institute
as may in its judgment be due to a most important practical
application of high science, brought into successful
operation by the exercise of much mechanical skill and
ingenuity.
All which is respectfully submitted.
JAMES RENWICK, LL. D.,
_Prof. Chem. and Nat. Phil., Columbia Col., N. Y._
JOHN W. DRAPER, M. D.,
_Prof. Chem. and Min., University, city of New York._
WILLIAM H. ELLET, M. D.
_Prof. Chem., &c. Col. of Columbia, S. C._
JAMES R. CHILTON, M. D.,
_Chem., &c., New York._
G. C. SCHAEFFER,
_Associate Prof. Chem., Columbia Col., N. Y._
EDWARD CLARK.
CHARLES A. LEE, M. D.
Extract from the minutes of the Institute:
_Resolved_, That the report be accepted, adopted, and
referred to the premium committee, and that the recording
secretary be directed to publish the same, at the expense of
the Institute.
No. 13.
_Letter from S. F. B. Morse to the Hon. C. G. Ferris._
NEW YORK, _December 6, 1842_.
DEAR SIR: In compliance with your request, I give
you a slight history of my electro magnetic telegraph, since
it was presented for the consideration of Congress, in the
year 1838.
During the session of the 25th Congress, a report was made
by the Committee on Commerce of the house, which concluded
by unanimously submitting a bill appropriating $30,000
for the purpose of testing my system of electro magnetic
telegraphs. The pressure of business at the close of that
session prevented any action being taken upon it.
Before the session closed, I visited England and France,
for the double purpose of submitting my invention to the
test of European criticism, and to secure to myself some
remuneration for my large expenditures of time and money in
elaborating my invention. In France, after a patent had been
secured in that country, my telegraph first attracted the
attention of the Academy of Sciences, and its operation was
shown, and its principles were explained, by the celebrated
philosopher, Arago, in the session of that distinguished
body of learned men, on September 10, 1838. Its reception
was of the most enthusiastic character. Several other
societies, among which were the Academy of Industry and the
Philotechnic Society, appointed committees to examine and
report upon the invention, from all which I received votes
of thanks, and from the former the large medal of honour.
The French Government at this time had its attention drawn
to the subject of electric telegraphs, several systems
having been presented for its consideration, from England,
Germany and France. Through the kind offices of our minister
at the French Court, General Cass, my telegraph was also
submitted; and the Minister of the Interior (M. Montalivet)
appointed a commission, at the head of which was placed M.
Alphonse Foy, the administrator-in-chief of the telegraphs
of France, with directions to examine and report upon all
the various systems which had been presented. The result
of this examination (in which the ingenious systems of
Professor Wheatstone, of London, of Professor Steinheil, of
Munich, and Professor Masson, of Caen, passed in review)
was a report to the Minister in favor of mine. In a note
addressed to me by M. Foy, who had expressed his warmest
admiration of my telegraph in my presence, he thus writes:
“I take a true pleasure in confirming to you in writing
that which I have already had the honor to say to you
viva voce, that I have prominently presented (signalé) to
Monsieur the Minister of the Interior your electro magnetic
telegraph, as being the system which presents the best
chance of a practical application; and I have stated to him
that if some trials are to be made with electric telegraphs,
I hesitate not to recommend that they should be made with
your apparatus.”
In England, my application for a patent for my invention
was opposed before the Attorney General by Professor
Wheatstone and Mr. Davy, each of whom had systems already
patented, essentially like each other, but very different
from mine. A patent was denied me by the Attorney General,
Sir John Campbell, on a plea which I am confident will
not bear a legal examination. But there being no appeal
from the Attorney General’s decision, nor remedy, except
at enormous expense, I am deprived of all benefit from my
invention in England. Other causes than impartial justice
evidently operated against me. An interest for my invention,
however, sprung up voluntarily, and quite unexpectedly,
among the English nobility and gentry in Paris, and, had
I possessed the requisite funds to prosecute my rights
before the British Parliament, I could scarcely have failed
to secure them, so powerfully was I supported by this
interest in my favour; and I should be ungrateful did I not
take every opportunity to acknowledge the kindness of the
several noblemen and gentlemen who volunteered to aid me in
obtaining my rights in England, among the foremost of whom
were the Earl of Lincoln, the late celebrated Earl of Elgin,
and the Hon. Henry Drummond.
I returned to the United States in the spring of 1839,
under an engagement entered into in Paris with the Russian
Counsellor of State, the Baron Alexandre de Meyendorff, to
visit St. Petersburg with a distinguished French savant, M.
Amyot, for the purpose of establishing my telegraphic system
in that country. The contract, formally entered into, was
transmitted to St. Petersburg, for the signature of the
Emperor, which I was led to believe would be given without a
doubt; and, that no time should be lost in my preparations,
the contract, duly signed, was to be transmitted to me in
in New York, through the Russian ambassador in the United
States, in four or five weeks, at farthest, after my arrival
home.
After waiting, in anxious suspense, for as many months,
without any intelligence, I learned _indirectly_ that the
Emperor, from causes not satisfactorily explained, refused
to sign the contract.
These disappointments, (not at all affecting the
scientific or practical character of my invention,) combined
with the financial depression of the country, compelled me
to rest a while from further prosecuting my enterprise.
For the last two years, however, under many discouraging
circumstances, from want of the requisite funds for more
thoroughly investigating some of the principles involved in
the invention, I have, nevertheless, been able to resolve
all the doubts that lingered in my own mind, in regard to
the perfect practicability of establishing my telegraphic
system to any extent on the globe. I say, “doubts that
lingered in my own mind;” the principle, and, indeed, the
only one of a scientific character, which at all troubled
me, I will state, and the manner in which it has been
resolved:
At an early stage of my experiments, I found that the
magnetic power produced in an electro magnet, by a single
galvanic pair, diminished rapidly as the length of the
conductors increased. Ordinary reasoning on this fact would
lead to a conclusion fatal to the whole invention, since
at a great distance I could not operate at all, or, in order
to operate, I should be compelled to make use of a battery
of such a size as would render the whole plan in effect
impracticable. I was, indeed, aware, that by multiplying
the pairs in the battery—that is, increasing the intensity
of its propulsive power, certain effects could be produced
at great distances, such as the decomposition of water, a
visible spark, and the deflection of the magnetic needle.
But as magnetic effects, except in the latter case, had not,
to my knowledge been made the subject of careful experiment,
and as these various effects of electrical action seemed,
in some respects, to be obedient to different laws, I did
not feel entirely assured that magnetism could be produced
by a multiplication of pairs sufficiently powerful at a
great distance to effect my purpose. From a series of
experiments which I made, in conjunction with Professor
Fisher, during the last summer, upon 33 miles of wire, the
interesting fact so favorable to my telegraphic system,
was fully verified, that _while the distance increased
in an arithmetical ratio, an addition to the series of
galvanic pairs of plates increased the magnetic power in
a geometric ratio_. Fifty pairs of plates were used as a
constant power. Two miles of conductors at a time, from two
to thirty-three, were successively added to the distance.
The weight upheld by the magnet from the magnetism produced
by 50 pairs, gradually diminished up to the distance of 10
miles; after which, _the addition of miles of wire up to 33
miles_ (the extent to which we were able to try it) _caused
no further visible diminution of power_. The weight then
sustained was a constant quantity. The practical deduction
from these experiments is the fact that with a very small
battery all the effects I desire, and at any distance, can
be produced. In the experiments alluded to, the fifty pairs
did not occupy a space of more than 8 cubic inches, and they
comprised but 50 square inches of active surface.
The practicability of establishing my telegraphic system
is thus relieved from all scientific objections.
Let me now turn your attention, sir, one moment to a
consideration of the telegraph as a source of revenue. The
imperfections of the common systems, particularly their
uselessness, on account of the weather, three quarters of
the time, have concealed from view so natural a fruit of a
perfected telegraphic system. So uncertain are the common
telegraphs as to time, and so meager in the quantity of
intelligence they can transmit under the most favorable
circumstances, that the idea of making them a source of
revenue would not be likely to occur. So far, indeed, from
being a source of revenue, the systems in common use in
Europe are sustained at great expense; an expense which,
imperfect as they are, is justified, in the view of the
Government, by the great political advantages which they
produce. Telegraphs with them are a Government monopoly,
and used only for Government purposes. They are in harmony
with the genius of those Governments. The people have no
advantage from them, except indirectly as the Government
is benefitted. Were our mails used solely for the purpose
of the Government, and private individuals forbidden to
correspond by them, they would furnish a good illustration
of the operation of the common European telegraphic systems.
The electro magnetic telegraph, I would fain think, is
more in consonance with the political institutions under
which we live, and is fitted, like the mail system, to
diffuse its benefits alike to the Government and to the
people at large.
As a source of _revenue_, then, to the Government, few,
I believe, have seriously computed the great profits to be
derived from such a system of telegraphs as I propose; and
yet there are sure data already obtained by which they can
be demonstrated.
The first fact is, that every minute of the 24 hours is
available to send intelligence.
The second fact is, that 12 signs, at least, can be sent
in a minute, instantaneously, as any one may have proof
by actual demonstration of the fact on the instrument now
operating in the capitol.[15]
[15] 98, per minute, can now be sent, 1845.
There can be no doubt that the cases, where such speedy
transmission of intelligence from one distant city to
another is desirable, are so numerous, that when once the
line is made for such transmission, it will be in constant
use, and a demand made for a greater number of lines.
The paramount convenience, to commercial agents and
others, of thus corresponding at a distance, will authorize
_a rate of postage proportionate to the distance_, on the
principle of rating postage by the mails.
To illustrate the operation of the telegraph in increasing
the revenue, let us suppose that but 18 hours of the 24 are
efficiently used for the actual purposes of revenue; that
6 hours are allowed for repetitions and other purposes,
which is a large allowance. This would give, upon a single
circuit, 12,960 signs per day, upon which a rate of postage
is to be charged. Intelligence of great extent may be
comprised in a few signs. Suppose the following commercial
communication is to be transmitted from New York to New
Orleans:
Yrs., Dec. 21, rec. Buy 25 bales c., at 9, and 300 pork, at 8.
Here are 36 signs, which take three minutes in the
transmission from New York to New Orleans, and which informs
the New York merchant’s correspondent at New Orleans of
the receipt of a certain document, and gives him orders to
purchase 25 bales of cotton at 9 cents per pound, and 300
barrels of pork at 8 cents per pound. Thus may be completed,
in three minutes, a transaction in business which now would
take at least four or five weeks to accomplish.
Suppose that one cent per sign be charged for the first
100 miles, increasing the charge at the rate of half a
cent each additional 100 miles, the postage of the above
communication would be $2.88 for a distance of 1,500
miles. It would be sent 100 miles for 36 cents. Would any
merchant grudge so small a sum for sending such an amount of
information in so short a time to such a distance? If time
is money, and to save time is to save money, surely such an
immense saving of time is the saving of an immense sum of
money. A telegraphic line of a single circuit only, from New
York to New Orleans, would realize, then, to the Government,
_daily_, in the correspondence between those two cities
alone, over _one thousand dollars_ gross receipts, or over
$300,000 per annum.
But it is a well-established fact, that, as facilities of
intercourse increase between different parts of the country,
the greater is that intercourse. Thousands travel, in this
day of rail roads and steamboats, who never thought of
leaving their homes before. Establish, then, the means of
instantaneous communication between the most distant places,
and the telegraphic line of a single circuit will very soon
be insufficient to supply the demands of the public—they
will require more.
Two circuits will of course _double the facilities, and
double the revenue_; but it is an important fact, that the
expense of afterwards establishing a second, or any number
of circuits, does not proceed on the _doubling_ principle.
If a channel for conveying a single circuit be made, in the
first instance, of sufficient capacity to contain many more
circuits, which can easily be done, additional circuits can
be laid as fast as they are called for, at but little more
than the cost of the prepared wire. The recent discovery
of Professor Fisher and myself, shows that a single wire
may be made the common conductor for at least six circuits.
How many more we have not yet ascertained. So that, to add
another circuit is but to add another wire. Fifty dollars
per mile under these circumstances, would therefore add the
means of doubling the facilities and the revenue.
Between New York and Philadelphia, for example, the whole
cost of laying such an additional circuit would be but
$5,000, which would be more than defrayed by _two months’_
receipts only from the telegraphs between those two cities.
There are two modes of establishing the line of conductors.
The first and cheapest is doubtless that of erecting spars
about 30 feet in height and 350 feet apart, extending the
conductors along the tops of the spars. This method has some
obvious disadvantages. The expense would be from $350 to 400
per mile.
The second method is that of enclosing the conductors in
leaden tubes, and laying them in the earth. I have made the
following estimate of the cost of this method:
Wire, prepared, per mile, $ 150.00
Lead pipe, with solderings, 250.00
Delivery of the pipe and wire, 25.00
Passing wire into the pipes, 5.00
Excavations and filling in about 1,000 yards per mile,
or 3 feet deep, at 15 cents per square yard, 150.00
Laying down the pipe, 3.00
——————
583.00
======
One register, with its machinery, comprising a galvanic
battery of four pairs of my double-cup battery, $ 100.00
One battery of 200 pairs, 100.00
======
Expense for thirty nine miles, $ 22,837.00
Two registers, 200.00
Two batteries, 200.00
Services of chief superintendent of construction,
per annum, 2,000.00
Services of three assistants, at $1,500 each,
per annum, 4,500.00
————————
$ 29,637.00
==========
As experience alone can determine the best mode of
securing the conductors, I should wish the means and
opportunity of trying various modes, to such an extent as
will demonstrate the best.
Before closing my letter, sir, I ought to give you the
proofs I possess that the American telegraph has the
_priority in the time of its invention_.
The two European telegraphs in practical operation are
Professor Steinheil’s of Munich, and Professor Wheatstone’s
of London. The former is adopted by the Bavarian Government;
the latter is established about 200 miles in England,
under the direction of a company in London. In a highly
interesting paper on the subject of telegraphs, translated
and inserted in the London Annals of Electricity, March and
April, 1839, Professor Steinheil gives a brief sketch of
all the various projects of electric telegraphs, from the
time of Franklin’s electrical experiments to the present
day. Until the birth of the science of electro magnetism,
generated by the important discovery of Oersted, in 1820,
of the action of electric currents upon the magnetic
needle, the electric telegraph was but a philosophic toy,
complicated and practically useless. Let it be here
noticed, that, after this discovery of Oersted, the
_deflection of the needle_ became the principle upon which
the savants of Europe based all their attempts to construct
an electric telegraph. The celebrated Ampère, in the same
year of Oersted’s discovery, suggested a plan of telegraphs,
to consist of a magnetic needle, and a circuit for each
letter of the alphabet and the numerals—making it necessary
to have some 60 or 70 wires between the two termini of the
telegraphic line.
This suggestion of Ampère is doubtless the parent of all
the attempts in Europe, both abortive and successful, for
constructing an electric telegraph.
Under this head may be arranged the Baron Schilling’s
at St. Petersburg, consisting of 36 magnetic needles, and
upwards of 60 metallic conductors, and invented, it seems,
at the same date with my electro magnetic telegraph, in the
autumn of 1832. Under the same head comes that of professors
Gauss and Weber, of Göttingen, in 1833, who simplified the
plan by using but a single needle and a single circuit.
Professor Wheatstone’s of London, invented in 1837, comes
under the same category; he employs five needles and six
conductors. Professor Steinheil’s, also invented in 1837,
employs two needles and two conductors.
But there was another discovery, in the infancy of
the science of electro magnetism, by Ampère and Arago,
immediately consequent on that of Oersted, namely: the
_electro magnet_, which none of the savants of Europe who
have planned electric telegraphs ever thought of applying,
until within two years past, for the purpose of signals. My
telegraph is essentially based on this latter discovery.
Supposing my telegraph to be based on the same principle
with the European electric telegraphs, which it is not,
mine, having been invented in 1832, would still have the
precedence, by some months at least, of Gauss and Weber’s,
to whom Steinheil gives the credit of being the first to
simplify and make practicable the electric telegraph. But
when it is considered that all the European telegraphs make
use of the deflection of the needle to accomplish their
results, and that none use the _attractive power of the
electro magnet to write in legible characters_, I think I
can claim, without injustice to others, to be the first
inventor of the _electro magnet telegraph_.
In 1839, I visited London, on my return from France, and
through the polite solicitations of the Earl of Lincoln,
showed and explained its operation at his house, on the 19th
of March, 1839, to a large company which he had expressly
invited for the purpose, composed of Lords of the Admiralty,
members of the Royal Society, and members of both Houses of
Parliament.
Professor Wheatstone has announced that he has recently
(in 1840) also invented and patented an _electro magnetic
telegraph_, differing altogether from his invention of 1837,
which he calls his _magnetic needle telegraph_. His is,
therefore, the first European electro magnetic telegraph,
and was invented, as is perceived, eight years subsequent to
mine, and one year after my telegraph _was exhibited in the
public manner described at the Earl of Lincoln’s residence
in London_.
I am the more minute in adducing this evidence of
priority of invention to you, sir, since I have frequently
been charged by Europeans, in my own country, with merely
imitating long known European inventions. It is, therefore
due to my own country, as well as to myself, that in this
matter the facts should be known.
Professor Steinheil’s telegraph is the only European
telegraph that professes to _write_ the intelligence. He
records, however, by the delicate touch of the needle in its
deflections, with what practical effect I am unable to say;
but I should think that it was too delicate and uncertain,
especially as compared with the strong and efficient power
which may be produced in any degree by the electro magnet.
I have devoted many years of my life to this invention,
sustained in many disappointments by the belief that it
is destined eventually to confer immense benefits upon my
country and the world.
I am persuaded that whatever facilitates intercourse
between the different portions of the human family will
have the effect, under guidance of sound moral principles,
to promote the best interests of man. I ask of Congress the
means of demonstrating its efficiency.
I remain, sir, with great respect, your most obedient
servant,
SAM. F. B. MORSE.
Hon. CHARLES G. FERRIS,
_Member of the House of Representatives from the city of
New York and one of the Committee on Commerce, to whom
was referred the subject of the expediency of adopting
a system of electro magnetic telegraphs for the United
States._
No. 14.
_Communication from the Secretary of the Treasury,
transmitting the Report of Professor Morse, announcing
the completion of the Electro Magnetic Telegraph between
the cities of Washington and Baltimore. June 6, 1844.
Referred to the Committee on Commerce._
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _June 4, 1844_.
SIR: I have the honour respectfully to transmit
herewith, for information of the House of Representatives,
a report, dated the 3d instant, from Professor Sam. F. B.
Morse, announcing the completion of the electro magnetic
telegraph between Washington and the city of Baltimore,
as authorized by the “Act to test the practicability of
establishing a system of electro magnetic telegraphs by the
United States,” approved the 3d of March, 1843.
I beg leave to state, that the perfect practicability of
the system has been fully and satisfactorily established by
the work already completed.
The subject is respectfully submitted to the consideration
of Congress for such further directions in the matter as may
be deemed expedient.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
McCLINTOCK YOUNG,
_Secretary of the Treasury ad interim._
Hon. JOHN W. JONES,
_Speaker of the House of Representatives._
No. 15.
_Letter from Professor Morse to Hon. McClintock Young._
WASHINGTON, _June 3, 1844_.
SIR: I have the honour to report that the
experimental essay authorized by the act of Congress on
March 3d, 1843, appropriating $30,000 for “testing” my
“system of electro magnetic telegraphs, and of such length,
and between such points, as shall test its _practicability_
and _utility_,” has been made between Washington and
Baltimore—a distance of forty miles—connecting the capitol
in the former city, with the rail road depot in Pratt
street, in the latter city.
On the first point proposed to be settled by the
experiment—to wit, its _practicability_—it is scarcely
necessary to say (since the public demonstration which has
been given of its efficacy, for some days past, during
the session of the different conventions in the city of
Baltimore) that it is fully proved.
Items of intelligence of all kinds have been transmitted
back and forth, from the simple sending of names, to the
more lengthened details of the proceedings of Congress and
the conventions. One fact will, perhaps, be sufficient to
illustrate the efficiency and speed with which intelligence
can be communicated by the telegraph.
In the proceedings of the democratic convention at
Baltimore for the nomination of a candidate for President
of the United States at the next election, the result of
the votes in the nomination of the Hon. J. K. Polk was
conveyed from the convention to the telegraphic terminus
in Baltimore, transmitted to Washington, announced to the
hundreds assembled in front of the terminus at the Capitol,
and to both Houses of Congress; the reception of the news at
Washington was then transmitted to Baltimore, sent to the
convention and circulated among its members—all before
the nomination of the successful candidate was _officially
announced_ by the presiding officer of the convention.
In regard to the _utility_ of the telegraph, time alone
can determine and develop the whole capacity for good of so
perfect a system. In the few days of its infancy, it has
already casually shown its usefulness in the relief, in
various ways, of the anxieties of thousands; and, when such
a sure means of relief is available to the public at large,
the amount of its usefulness becomes incalculable.
An instance or two will best illustrate this quality of
the telegraph:
A family in Washington was thrown into great distress
by a rumor that one of its members had met with a violent
death in Baltimore the evening before. Several hours must
have elapsed ere their state of suspense could be relieved
by the ordinary means of conveyance. A note was despatched
to the telegraph rooms at the Capitol, requesting to have
inquiry made at Baltimore. The messenger had occasion to
wait but _ten minutes_, when the proper inquiry was made
at Baltimore, and the answer returned that the rumor was
without foundation. Thus was a worthy family relieved
immediately from a state of distressing suspense.
An inquiry from a person in Baltimore holding the check
of a gentleman in Washington, upon the Bank of Washington,
was sent by telegraph, to ascertain if the gentleman in
question had funds in that bank. A messenger was instantly
despatched from the Capitol, who returned in a few minutes
with an affirmative answer, which was returned to Baltimore
instantly; thus establishing a confidence in a money
arrangement, which might have affected unfavorably (for many
hours at least) the business transactions of a man in good
credit.
Other cases might be given; but these are deemed
sufficient to illustrate the point of utility, and to
suggest to those who will reflect upon them, thousands of
cases in the public business, in commercial operations, and
in private and social transactions, which establish beyond
a doubt the immense advantages of such a speedy mode of
conveying intelligence.
In the construction of this _first line of conductors_, it
was necessary that experiments should be made to ascertain
the best mode of establishing them. The plan I first
suggested in my letter to the Secretary of the Treasury
in 1837, (see the House report, No. 6, April 6, 1838,) of
placing my conductors upon posts thirty feet high, and some
three hundred feet apart, is, after experiment, proved to be
the most eligible. The objection, so strongly urged in the
outset, that, by being exposed above ground, the conductors
were in danger from evil disposed persons, had such weight
with me, in the absence of experience on the subject, as
early to turn my whole attention to the practicability of
placing my conductors in tubes beneath the earth, as the
best means of safety. The adoption of this latter mode, for
some thirteen miles in England, by the projectors of the
English telegraph, confirmed me in the belief that this
would be best. I was thus led to contract for lead pipe
sufficient to contain my conductors through the whole route.
Experience, however, has shown that this mode is attended
with disadvantages far outweighing any advantages from its
fancied security beneath the ground. If apparently more
secure, an injury once sustained is much more difficult
of access, and of repair; while upon posts, if injury
is sustained, it is at once seen, and can be repaired,
ordinarily almost without cost. But the great advantage
of the mode on posts over that beneath the ground, is the
cheapness of its construction. This will be manifest from
the following comparative estimate of the two modes in
England and in America:
_Cost of English Telegraph._
In pipe, _£_287 6_s._, or $1,275 per mile.
On posts, _£_149 5_s._, or $662 per mile.
_Cost of American Telegraph,
as estimated in House Report, No. 17,
27th Congress, 3d session._
In pipe, $583 per mile.
On posts, from $350 to $400 per mile.
These comparisons also show how much less is the cost
of the American telegraph, even at the highest estimate.
But these estimates of the cost of construction,
largely exceed the actual cost, under the improved modes
recently suggested by experiment, and now adopted; and
the cost of the line between Baltimore and Washington,
already constructed, involves numerous expenditures of an
experimental character, which will not be incident to an
extension of the line onward to New York, if that shall be
deemed desirable.
Of the appropriation made, there will remain in the
treasury, after the settlement of outstanding accounts,
about $3,500, which may be needed for contingent
liabilities, and for sustaining the line already
constructed, until provision by law shall be made for such
an organization of a telegraphic department or bureau as
shall enable the telegraph at least to support itself,
if not to become a profitable source of revenue to the
Government.
I will conclude by saying, that I feel grateful for the
generous confidence which Congress has thus far extended
toward me and my enterprise; and I will cheerfully afford
any further and more detailed information on the subject of
the telegraph, when desired, and will be prepared to make
and execute any desirable arrangements for the extension of
it that Congress shall require.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
SAM. F. B. MORSE,
_Superintendent of Electro Magnetic Telegraph._
To the Hon. McCLINTOCK YOUNG,
_Secretary of the Treasury ad interim_.
No. 16.
_Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury,
transmitting a letter from Professor Morse,
relative to the Magnetic Telegraph,
Dec’r 23, 1844._
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _December 17, 1844_.
SIR: In compliance with the request made in your
letter of this date, in behalf of the Committee on Commerce
of the House of Representatives, for information from this
department upon the subject of “Morse’s telegraph,” I have
the honour respectfully to transmit herewith a communication
from Professor Morse, dated the 12th instant, containing
specific information in regard to that work.
I have the honour to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. M. BIBB,
_Secretary of the Treasury._
Hon. ISAAC E. HOLMES,
_Chairman of Committee on Commerce,
House of Representatives_.
No. 17.
_Letter from Prof. Morse to the Hon. G. M. Bibb._
WASHINGTON, _December 12, 1844_.
SIR: I have the honour respectfully to submit
some facts in relation to the electro magnetic telegraph,
bearing upon the bill now before Congress, reported from the
Committee on Commerce of the House, for the extension of the
telegraphic line from Baltimore to New York.
By a reference to documents in the records of the government,
it will appear, that the subject of establishing a system
of telegraphs for the use of the United States has been,
occasionally, for many years, before Congress; but nothing
effective was ever done in relation to the matter, until
the Hon. Levi Woodbury, while Secretary of the Treasury,
by addressing circular letters to various individuals in
the United States, (among which was one to me,) drew forth
from me a general description of the advantages of a system
of electro magnetic telegraphs which I had invented in
1832, on my passage from France to the United States. For
my answer to this circular letter, see No. 2, taken from
House report, No. 753, 25th Congress, second session; and I
refer to it now, to show that the assertions respecting the
practicability and utility of my system have been fully and
satisfactorily sustained by the result of the experimental
essay, authorized by the government, establishing the line
between Washington and Baltimore.
That which seemed to many chimerical at the time, is now
completely realized. The most sceptical are convinced;
and the daily and hourly operations of the telegraph in
transmitting information of any kind are so publicly known,
and the public feeling in regard to it so universally
expressed, that I need here only give a few instances of its
action, further to illustrate its character.
The facts in relation to the transmission of the
proceedings of the democratic convention of Baltimore, in
May last are well known, and are alluded to in my report to
the department, June 3d, 1844, No. 15. Since the adjournment
of Congress in June last, and during the summer and the
autumn, the telegraph has been in constant readiness for
operation, and there has been time to test many points in
relation to it, which needed experience to settle.
For more now than _eight months_, the conductors for the
telegraph, carried on elevated posts for 40 miles, have
remained undisturbed from the wantonness or evil disposition
of any one. Not a single instance of the kind has occurred.
In several instances, indeed, the communication has been
interrupted by accidents, but then only for a very brief
period. One of these was by the great fire in Pratt
street, Baltimore, which destroyed one of the posts, and
consequently, temporarily stopped the communication; but
in two or three hours the damage was repaired, and the
first notice of the accident and all the particulars were
transmitted to Washington by the telegraph itself.
Another instance of interruption was occasioned by the
falling of a tree, which accidently fell across the wires,
and at the same time across the rail road track, stopping
the cars for a short time, and the telegraphic communication
for two hours.
Excepting the time excluded by these, and two or three
other similar accidental interruptions, and which, during
seven months of its effective existence between the two
cities, does not altogether amount to more than 24 hours,
the telegraph has been either in operation, or prepared
for operation, at any hour of the day or night, irrespective
of the state of the weather.
It has transmitted intelligence of great importance.
During the troubles in Philadelphia the last summer,
sealed despatches were sent by express from the Mayor of
Philadelphia to the President of the United States. On the
arrival of the express at Baltimore, the purport of the
despatches transpired; and while the express train was in
preparation for Washington, the intelligence was sent to
Washington by telegraph, accompanied by an order from the
president of the rail road company to prevent the Washington
burden train from leaving until the express should arrive.
The order was given and complied with. The express had a
clear track, and the President and the Cabinet (being in
council) had notice both of the fact that an express was
on its way with important despatches to them, and also of
the nature of those despatches, so that, when the express
arrived, the answer was in readiness for the messenger.
In October, a deserter from the U.S. ship Pennsylvania,
lying at Norfolk, who had defrauded also the purser of
the ship of some $600 or $700, was supposed to have gone
to Baltimore. The purser called at the telegraph office
in Washington, stated his case, and wished to give notice
in Baltimore, at the same time offering a reward for the
apprehension of the culprit. The name and description of
the offender’s person, with the offer of the reward, were
sent to Baltimore, and in ten minutes the warrant was in the
hands of the officers of justice for his arrest; and in half
an hour from the time that the purser profferred his request
at Washington, it was announced from Baltimore by the
telegraph, “The deserter is arrested; he is in jail; what
shall be done with him?”
To show the variety of the operations of the telegraph,
a game of draughts, and several games of chess, have been
played between the cities of Baltimore and Washington, with
the same ease as if the players were seated at the same
table. To illustrate the independence of the telegraph of
the weather, and time of day, I would state that, during
the severe storm of the 5th December, when the night was
intensely dark, the rain descending in torrents, and
the wind blowing a gale, it seemed more than ordinarily
mysterious to see a company around a table, in a warm
retired chamber, on such a night, in Washington, playing a
game of chess with another company similarly situated in
Baltimore: the darkness, the rain, and the wind, being no
impediment to instantaneous communication.
In regard to the quantity of intelligence which may be
sent in a given time, it is perfectly safe to say that
thirty characters can be transmitted in a minute by a single
instrument; and as these characters are conventional signs,
they may mean either _numbers_, _letters_, _words_, or
_sentences_. As an illustration of this point, I will
state that nearly a whole column (more than seven-eighths)
in the Baltimore Patriot was transmitted in thirty
minutes—faster than the reporter in Baltimore could
transcribe.
This fact bears upon the ability of producing a revenue
from the telegraph; and I would suggest the propriety of
permission being granted by Congress to the department,
to adjust a tariff of charges on intelligence sent by
telegraph, at such a rate of postage as shall at least
return to the treasury the interest of the capital expended
in the first construction, and after maintenance of the
telegraph.
In aid of this view of the subject, I beg to refer to
my letter to the chairman of the Committee on Commerce,
December 6, 1842, No. 13.
Since that was written, experience has shown that that
calculation is far below the real results. Instead of
_twelve signs_ in a minute, upon which that computation was
based, we must substitute _thirty_—a column of a newspaper
having been transmitted to Baltimore even at the rate of
_thirty-five_ signs in a minute. It is, therefore, safe to
set down the rate at 30 signs per minute; and it is safe to
double the annual receipts, making the gross amount $600,000
per annum.
In the absence of experience, the expense necessary to
construct and to maintain a system of electro magnetic
telegraphs, was thought to be so great as to present a
formidable, if not an insurmountable obstacle to its
adoption. But the experiment already made for 40 miles,
has shown that the electro magnetic telegraph is far from
being expensive, either in its first construction, or after
maintenance, especially when its vast superiority over the
old system is taken into consideration.
To make this more clear, I give an abstract both of the
expenses and capacities of the ordinary visual telegraphs in
some of the European countries.
In England, the semaphore telegraph, established between
London and Portsmouth, a distance of 72 miles, is maintained
by the British government at an average expense of _£_3,405,
or $15,118 per annum. From a return [vol. 30, 1843, accounts
and papers of House of Commons] of the number of days
during which the telegraph was _not available_, on account
of the weather, during a period of three years, it appears
that there were, in that time, 323 days in which it was
useless, or nearly _one year out of three_! But by a return
made to the admiralty of the number of hours in the day
appointed for working the telegraph, it appears that the
hours appointed for the year are—from 1st October to 28th
February, from 10 o’clock, a. m., to 3 p. m.; 5 hours. From
1st March to 30th September, from 10 a. m., to 5 p. m.; 7
hours.
Average number of hours per day, in the most favourable
weather, 6 hours!
Deducting 1 year from the 3, for unavailable days, the
average time per day for the 3 years would be but 4 hours.
So that, for the use of their telegraph for 72 miles, and
for only 4 hours in the day, the British government expend
$15,118 per annum.
The French system of telegraphs is more extensive and
perfect than that of any other nation. It consists, at
present, of five great lines, extending from the capital to
the extreme cities of the kingdom, to wit:
The Calais line, from Paris to Calais, 152 miles
The Strasbourg line, from Paris to Strasbourg, 255 “
The Brest line, from Paris to Brest, 325 “
The Toulon line, from Paris to Toulon, 317 “
The Bayonne line, from Paris to Bayonne, 425 “
—————————
1,474 miles.
=============
Making a total of 1,474 miles of telegraphic intercourse.
These telegraphs are maintained by the French government at
an annual expense of over 1,000,000 of francs, or $202,000.
The whole extent, then, of the French lines of telegraph
is 1,474 miles, with 519 stations; and (if the estimate
for six stations, at an average cost of 4,400 francs, is a
criterion for the rest) erected at a cost of at least $880
each—making a total of $456,720.
The electro magnetic telegraph, at the rate proposed in
the bill, to wit, $461 per mile, (and which, it should be
remembered, will construct not _one_ line, only, but _six_,)
could be constructed the same distance for $619,514—not
one-third more than the cost of the French telegraphs. Even
supposing each line to be only as efficient as the French
telegraph, still there would be six times the facilities,
for not one-third more cost. But when it is considered that
the French telegraph, like the English, is unavailable the
greater part of the time, the advantages in favour of the
magnetic telegraph become more obvious.
An important difference between the two systems is, that
the foreign telegraphs are all a burden upon the treasury
of their respective countries; while the magnetic telegraph
proposes, and is alone capable of sustaining itself and of
producing a revenue.
Another difference in the two systems is, that the
stations in the foreign telegraphs must be within sight of
each other: a fact which bears essentially on the cost of
maintenance. The French telegraph requires for the distance
of 1,474 miles, no less than 519 stations—averaging _one
for about every three miles_. The number of stations of the
magnetic telegraph, on the contrary, is optional. The two
stations (one only at Baltimore, and one at Washington)
show that they may be at least 40 miles apart; and there
is no reason to doubt, from experiments I have made, that
100 miles, or even 500 miles, would give the same results.
In the maintenance, therefore, of stations, the magnetic
telegraph would require but 15 stations, (assuming that 100
miles is the _utmost limit_ of transmission between two
stations which is not probable;) while the French requires
519 for the same distance.
When to this are added the facts that the magnetic
telegraph is at _all times available_, at _every hour of the
day or night, irrespective of weather_; that, in comparison
with the visual telegraphs, it communicates _more than a
hundred-fold_ the quantity of intelligence in the same time;
that it is originally constructed at a _less cost_, (_all
things considered;_) that it is _maintained for less_; and
that it is capable, by a rate of charges for transmitting
intelligence, not only of defraying all its expenses, but,
if desired, of producing a revenue, I may be permitted to
hope that when these great advantages are fully understood,
my system will receive that attention from the government
which its intrinsic public importance demands.
I have as yet said nothing on the telegraph as a mighty
aid to national defence. Its importance in this respect
is so obvious, that I need not dilate. The importance
generally to the government and to the country, of a
_perfect_ telegraphic system, can scarcely be estimated by
the short distance already established between Baltimore and
Washington. But when all that transpires of public interest
at New Orleans, at St. Louis, at Pittsburgh, at Cincinnati,
at Buffalo, at Utica, at Albany, at Portland, at Portsmouth,
at Boston, at New York, at Philadelphia, at Baltimore, at
Washington, at Norfolk, at Richmond, at Charleston, at
Savannah, and at all desired intermediate points, shall
be _simultaneously_ known in each and all these places
together—when all the agents of the government, in every
part of the country, are in instantaneous communication
with head-quarters—when the several departments can at
once learn the actual existing condition of their remotest
agencies, and transmit at the moment their necessary orders
to meet any exigency—then will some estimates be formed
both of the powers and advantages of the magnetic telegraph.
Should the government be now disposed to possess the right
of the proprietors, by giving them a fair consideration, I
shall be ready to treat with them on the terms of transfer.
For myself, I should prefer that the government should
possess the invention, although the pecuniary interests of
the proprietors induce them to lean towards arrangements
with private companies.
In closing this report, I would take the opportunity
of favorably mentioning to the department the efficient
attention to the duties of their respective stations given
by my assistants, Alfred Vail and H. J. Rogers,
esqrs.—the former directing the correspondence at the
Washington terminus, and the latter at the Baltimore
terminus.
Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,
SAM. F. B. MORSE,
_Superintendent of Electro Magnetic Telegraphs
for the United States_.
To the Hon. GEO. M. BIBB,
_Secretary of the Treasury_.
_Magnetic Telegraph from Baltimore to New York, March 3, 1845._
Mr. CHAPPELL, from the Committee of Ways and Means,
made the following Report.
The Committee of Ways and Means, to whom was referred
a resolution instructing said committee to inquire
into the expediency of reporting a bill to continue
the Electro Magnetic Telegraph from Baltimore to New
York, by way of Philadelphia, beg leave to submit the
following report:
The authority given by the constitution to Congress
to establish post offices and post roads, so far as it
operates to confer on the government any power which would
not equally belong to it without that provision, amounts
simply to making the government, a public or a common
carrier of the written correspondence of individuals, and
of the lighter form of printed intelligence and news. In
other words, by virtue of this clause, the government is
authorized and required to pursue, on a scale commensurate
with the wants and extent of the country, the business of
receiving, transporting, and delivering letters, newspapers,
and pamphlets, for all persons, private, as well as public,
and to and from any and all places in the Union. And for
the service thus rendered, the government exacts from
the individuals served, a specific fee or compensation,
under the name of postage, for every letter or paper
transported and delivered. Now, it is quite obvious that
both the pursuit of this business, and the exaction of a
remuneration for it, would be altogether beyond the range of
federal authority, but for the specially granted power to
establish post offices and post roads. Mere silence in the
constitution on this subject would have effectually withheld
the power from the general government, and would have caused
the business of carrying letters, newspapers, &c., to remain
where all other branches of the carrying trade are actually
left—namely, in the hands of individual enterprise, subject
to State legislation, and to such (and no other) federal
control as is involved in the power of Congress to regulate
commerce among the States.
The functions thus devolved on the government, of
performing for the people the office of universal letter
carrier and news carrier, is a matter of the very highest
consequence in every light in which it can be viewed.
The bare fact that our ancestors refused to leave it
dependent on individual enterprise or State control, and
vested it expressly in Congress, abundantly attested their
anxious sense of its importance, and their conviction of
the impracticability of realizing the requisite public
advantages from it, otherwise than by giving it a federal
lodgment and administration.
Had not these advantages been regarded as attainable
in no other way, while, at the same time, they were felt
to be virtually necessary, the framers and adopters of
the constitution, devoted as they are known to have been
to the power and importance of the States, and jealously
apprehensive of the undue preponderance of the federal
branch, would never have consented to engraft on that branch
a power so great, so growing, so penetrating and pervading,
as that of the post office system—a power involving the
direct exercise of the carrying trade by the government
on a vast scale, and requiring, in order to its exercise,
the organization and maintenance of a huge and distinct
administrative department, which, in its operations, touches
daily and intimately the private affairs as well as public
interests of the people; receives and expends millions
of money every year; and continually employs, pays, and
controls many thousands of persons, scattered through all
parts of the country—thus adding mightily to federal power,
and especially to the influence and patronage of the federal
executive. These are all consequences which result directly
and necessarily from the bestowment of the post office power
on the general government. And inasmuch as the government
thus derives from that power so great an addition to its own
weight and influence, it certainly ought to be considered as
contracting therefrom a correspondently heavy obligation to
make the power advantageous and useful to the people, to the
utmost extent of which it is capable.
The government has ever shown itself fully sensible of
this obligation, and alive to its fulfilment. Hence, that
immense and minute machinery of post offices and post roads,
of postmasters, contractors, and carriers, which overspreads
the country, and meets us everywhere—all designed and kept
up for the sole purpose of bringing the contents of the
mail-bag, with frequency, regularity, and celerity, near to
the doors of our whole population. For many years, no better
or more expeditious means of conveyance could be found
than horse-power in the various forms in which it might be
applied on ordinary highways. But in those times, as well as
now, the government acted on the principle of not regarding
even a heavy increase of expense as an objection sufficient
to outweigh so important an object as the regular, frequent,
and rapid transmission of the mail between all the great points,
and along all the chief arteries of the country. On such
routes, accordingly, the mail was kept running without
interruption—by night as well as by day—and at the best
speed that could be secured by a well organized and costly
system of relays of men, horses, and vehicles.
But, at length, the ever advancing discoveries and
improvements of science and art threw into the shade, as
slow and inadequate, all the old and long used modes of
travel and transportation. Steamboats and railroads burst
upon the world, introducing a new and wonderful era in its
commerce and intercourse; private capital and enterprise
soon built them up, and put them in operation, whenever
a sufficiently tempting prospect of gain appeared; and
all private persons, as well as public departments, saw
presented to their option more perfect and expeditious
modes of transportation than could have possibly entered
into the anticipations of the framers of the constitution.
But, though not anticipated or foreseen, these new and
improved modes were as clearly within the purview of the
constitution, as were the older and less perfect ones with
which our ancestors were familiar. And there being no doubt
entertained either on this point, or as to the obligation
of the government to lay hold of the best and most rapid
methods of transmission which the improvements of the age
put in its reach, steam-power commended itself at once to
adoption, and has long been extensively employed, both on
land and water, for the carriage of the mail.
It is not without full reflection that the committee
insist on the principle that it was the duty as well as
the right of the government thus to avail itself, even at
heavy additional expense, of the powerful agency of steam,
for the purpose of accelerating the mails. It would have
been a gross and manifest dereliction to have permitted
that vitally important concern, the transportation of the
mail—a concern so anxiously intrusted by the constitution
to the federal authority—it would have been, in the opinion
of the committee, a gross and manifest dereliction to have
permitted it to lag behind the improvements of the age,
and to be outstripped by the pace of ordinary travel and
commercial communication. Such is the view which the Post
Office Department avowedly takes of its own obligations, and
upon which it habitually acts. To be outstripped by private
expresses, or by the ordinary lines of travel, is deemed
discreditable to the department, injurious to the general
interests of the country, and a thing, therefore, not to be
permitted.
This great and fundamental principle upon which the
departments acts, (of not being outstripped in the
transmission of correspondence and intelligence,) led
necessarily to subsidizing the steam-engine into the service
of the post office; and it must and will lead, with equal
certainty, to a like adoption of any other newly discovered
agency or contrivance possessing decided advantage of
celerity over previously used methods. It is not probable,
however, that the government will ever find itself called
upon to make any transition wider or more striking than that
already so familiar to us—a transition from the use of
animal power to the tremendous enginery of the steam-engine;
from common roads to iron railways; from land carriage to
the conversion of rivers, lakes, and the ocean itself, into
post roads.
The same principle which justified and demanded the
transference of the mail on many chief routes, from the
horse-drawn coach on common highways to steam-impelled
vehicles on land and water, is equally potent to warrant
the calling of the electro magnetic telegraph—that last
and most wondrous birth of this wonder-teeming age—in aid
of the post office, in discharge of its great function
of rapidly transmitting correspondence and intelligence.
And the only question to be considered, in determining
whether it ought to be so called in aid, is a question of
fact—namely, whether said telegraph possesses, over the
modes of transmission now in use by the department, any
advantages of sufficient value to justify the expense of
engraftment on the system.
Its first and most signal advantage consists in the truly
electrical celerity with which it transmits intelligence
and communications through the greatest distances. It
supplies, with a perfection like magic, the first and
most important and difficult _desideratum_ in a post
office establishment—especially in one which has to
serve a country so vast as ours. That desideratum is
despatch—rapidity of transmission. It is to secure this,
that the government pays a hugely greater price for the
carrying and delivery of the mails, than any other equal
_quantum_ of transportation costs in the world. Nature
seemed to have fixed certain limits to the speed of
transmission, which it seemed impossible to pass; and those
limits appeared to be reached by the steam-engine. But
they have been utterly transcended by the electro magnetic
telegraph, which has literally demolished time and space for
all purposes of correspondence between places connected by
its wonder-working wires.
Another inestimably important advantage of Professor
Morse’s telegraph consists in the fulness, precision, and
variety of matter which it is capable of communicating. Its
alphabet contains representatives of all the letters of our
language, and of all the numerals of arithmetic; and they
are capable of infinite combination and repetition under the
magnetic impulse. Hence it is obvious that the _capacity_ of
the instrument is competent to the communication of a long
discourse of the greatest variety of thought and expression.
But, as the telegraph letters must necessarily be despatched
along the wire, and marked down, one by one, at the station
to which they are transmitted, it is obvious that a long
discourse must occupy considerable time, although the
letters follow each other in the most rapid succession.
This brings the attention of the committee to a very
material point, namely: the quantum of matter, or amount
of intelligence, which the instrument would be capable
of transmitting in a given time. The ordinary average of
transmission is about thirty letters per minute along each
wire. Six wires can be erected at an expense of somewhat
less than $500 per mile, which would make the telegraph
competent to the transmission of one hundred and eighty
letters per minute, on an average. The words of our
language are estimated to average six letters to a word. A
telegraphic line composed of six wires, would, consequently,
be able to transmit per minute thirty words fully spelt.
But it is wholly unnecessary that the words should be fully
spelt by the instrument. By a well-contrived system of
abbreviations, the number of letters to be transmitted,
in order to communicate a given number of words, is
greatly diminished; and, of course, the number of words
transmissible in a given time is proportionably augmented.
To such great perfection has this system of conventional
abbreviations been carried, as to have enabled the
telegraph, on one occasion, to transmit in thirty minutes,
from Washington to Baltimore, congressional intelligence
enough to fill a column of the Baltimore Patriot. This
was done, too, with only one wire. Increase the number of
wires to six, as proposed in the bill introduced by the
Committee on Commerce, and it follows that the capacity of
the instrument will be adequate to the transmission of six
long newspaper columns of matter in half an hour. Then it
is to be further noted, that the telegraph is capable of
working throughout the whole twenty-four hours, without
intermission—in darkness as well as in daylight—in stormy
weather as well as in serene—which would enable it to
communicate in a single day two hundred and eighty-eight
long newspaper columns of matter. All these facts put
together, evince that the capacity of the instrument, in
reference not only to the celerity of its communications,
but in reference also to the kind and quantity of matter it
can communicate in a given time, is such as to recommend it
as a most efficient medium both of private correspondence
and public intelligence.
That it is capable of being, and will actually be, at no
distant day, extensively employed as such a medium, it seems
to the committee there can be but little room to doubt. Such
a result seems, indeed, to be rendered altogether certain,
when, in addition to the capacities of the instrument, we
take into consideration its cheapness. For little more than
$100,000, Baltimore can be connected with New York; and for
a like sum, New York with Boston. There would then be an
unbroken telegraphic line from Boston to Washington; passing
through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and the other
considerable towns on the route. What a vast number of short
commercial letters would such a line be able to attract to
itself, and to despatch every day, far in advance of
the ordinary transportation by mail. Nor would any danger
of a detrimental divulgence of their affairs exist to
deter merchants and men of business from resorting to the
telegraph; because, in the first place, the simple expedient
of a concerted cipher between distant correspondents would
protect their communications with a shield of secrecy
impenetrable even to the officers and managers of the
telegraph. And in the next place, the very nature of their
functions will require that these persons shall be men of
great trustworthiness, and that they shall moreover be
placed under the most stringent official obligations of
secrecy in regard to the contents of private communications.
Under such circumstances, men of business need no more
apprehend danger of improper publicity from employing the
telegraph, than from the necessity of having clerks in their
counting-houses to pen and copy their correspondence.
If all these advantages should have the effect of
attracting to the telegraph the amount of custom which to
the committee seems probable, it is obvious that a very
moderate tariff of charges would produce income enough to
make it a gainful property—at least upon such a line as
that from Boston to Washington. It is upon this ground the
committee base the belief that it is destined soon to be
established along that whole line, if not by government,
certainly by private capital and enterprise; and then a
state of things will immediately develop itself, which the
people will never endure nor tolerate the government in
permitting to exist. That state of things would be that the
post office, in its transportation of all correspondence and
news, would lag not hours, but days, behind the transmission
of the same things through another medium; and that, a
medium belonging to private individuals, and controlled by
private views and interests.
The importance of prompt action in the matter on the part
of the government is further apparent from the fact that the
invention is a private patented property. It is a property
to the production of which Professor Morse has devoted years
of the highest order of labour—the labour of genius and
science combined. Under the patronage and at the expense of
the government, he has been enabled to give to the world,
in the line between Baltimore and Washington, a visible
and perfectly triumphant demonstration of the success and
utility of his invention. But the pecuniary reward, to
which he is so justly entitled, remains yet in abeyance. It
depends upon his being successful in making contracts with
the government, or others, for the use of his invention.
And, of course, if government shall not speedily embrace the
project, and enable him to realize a compensation for his
discovery, he will be necessitated to look elsewhere for his
indemnification and reward. And, should the arrangements
into which he may find it necessary to enter with private
individuals or associations, stipulate exclusive rights in
their favour, it is manifest how greatly government
and people would lie at their mercy. Having in their
hands the monopoly of such a medium of intelligence on
the important lines, they could make such use of their
advantages over the government and the community as would
at length enable them to exact their own terms as the price
of the surrender of their exclusive right; for the truth
cannot be too often repeated, or too deeply impressed in
relation to the subject, that the people will never submit
long to the mischiefs and discredit of the public post
office transmission of correspondence and intelligence
being outstripped by any private monopoly or establishment
whatever. The loss of revenue will co-operate with the
complaints and sufferings of the people to compel the
government, in the long run, to do what were better done at
once—namely, to establish the telegraph in connection with,
and as a branch of, the post office, on such great lines
of communication as the correspondence and commerce of the
country may indicate.
An accident has occurred, during the present winter,
in the administration of the post office, to which the
committee beg leave to call the attention of the House,
as illustrative of the principles and policy by which the
Department avowedly feels itself bound, as the public organ
for the transmission of correspondence and intelligence. It
is well known that, from Boston to Covington, in Georgia,
the great southern and New Orleans mail is transported
wholly by steam-power, either on water or on rail roads.
It is carried this whole distance in five days. From
Covington to Mobile, it is carried in stages, with the
exception of a short interval of rail road in approaching
Montgomery, Alabama. At Mobile, the mail is again committed
to steam-carriage, by sea, to New Orleans. Now, of so much
importance was a single day’s anticipation of the mail
deemed in all the great cities on the route, that a private
express was established with that view, to be carried on
horseback between Covington and Montgomery. All matter
destined for the private express was addressed to the agents
of the company at Covington and Montgomery, according as
such matter should happen to come from the north or south.
The express carrier at Covington, receiving his despatches
from the northern mail on the arrival of the steam-cars,
delivered them at Montgomery to the post office again in
such time that they were sent from Montgomery to Mobile and
New Orleans by mail one day in advance of the other letters,
which reached Covington at the same time. The effect was,
the anticipation of the northern mail by one day at Mobile
and New Orleans; and the same operation, from Montgomery to
Covington, resulted in one day’s anticipation of the Mobile
and New Orleans mails at New York. What did the Post Office
Department do, under this state of facts? The answer to this
question is to be found on the records of the Department.
The Postmaster General, after watching these anticipations
for a short time, issued an order for their prevention by
the establishment of a post office express between Covington
and Montgomery, to run alongside the private express. In
the same manner, if the government shall not soon establish
the telegraph on public account on the great routes, it
will find the mails anticipated in the hundred-fold greater
degree by the establishment of private telegraphs, which
it will have to meet, either by purchasing them out on
exorbitant terms, or by erecting a rival public telegraph
line by their side.
The facts and reasonings which have now been submitted,
satisfy the committee that it is important that the
government should lose no time in occupying, with a
telegraph of its own, the ground between Baltimore and New
York. The committee look to the probability that the line
will afterwards he progressively extended northwardly,
southwardly, and westwardly, on routes the business
and correspondence on which shall justify and require
telegraphic facilities of communication.
Apart from the post office power, the government
undoubtedly possesses the authority to establish the
telegraph for its own use in the transmission of official
orders and communications. On this ground, as well as on
that growing out of the post office power, the committee
deem the constitutionality of the measure incontrovertible.
The committee might easily add to the views and arguments
which they have now presented, others of a highly commanding
character—especially those which relate to the extreme
value of which the magnetic telegraph would be in the
emergencies of war, and its singular adaptedness to render
our system of government easily and certainly maintainable
over the immense space from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
which our territory covers. Doubt has been entertained by
many patriotic minds how far the rapid, full, and thorough
intercommunication of thought and intelligence, so necessary
to a people living under a common representative republic,
could be expected to take place throughout such immense
bounds. That doubt can no longer exist. It has been resolved
and put an end to forever by the triumphant success of the
electro magnetic telegraph of Professor Morse, as already
tested by the government.
The fact that a bill has been long pending in the House,
introduced by the Committee on Commerce, for the extension
of the telegraph from Baltimore to New York, renders it
unnecessary for this committee to report a bill. Without
pronouncing positively on the sufficiency of the provisions
of that bill, the committee consider the whole subject
worthy the prompt attention of Congress.
Having thus presented their views on the subject referred
to them, the committee beg to be discharged from its further
consideration.