POST-OFFICE--TELEGRAPH--TELEPHONE--PHONOGRAPH.
Rowland Hill and Penny Postage--A Visit to the Post-office--The
Post-office on Wheels--Early Telegraphs--Wheatstone and Morse--The
State and the Telegraphs--Atlantic Cables--Telephones--Edison and
the Phonograph.
THE STORY OF ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE.
The story of Penny Postage and its inception by Sir Rowland Hill is full
of romantic interest, and that great social reform, introduced more than
fifty years ago, has unquestionably spread its beneficial influence over
every country in which a postal system of any kind exists.
The Hill family were, we know, in those bygone days far from being well
off, and were often hard put to to find the money to pay the high
postage on letters which they received. Born in 1795, Rowland Hill was
considerably past middle life before he entertained any idea of
practising his reforming hand on the Post-office, and had passed a busy
existence chiefly as a schoolmaster, in which capacity he had indulged
in many schemes, scholastic and otherwise, with more or less success. At
the time that his attention was first directed to Post-office matters,
he was employed as Secretary of the Commissioners for the Colonisation
of South Australia. He was no doubt attracted to the subject of postal
reform by the frequent discussions which were then taking place in
parliament in regard to the matter. Mr Wallace of Kelly, the member for
Greenock, who was the champion of the cause in the House of Commons, was
fierce in his denunciation of the existing abuses and irregularities of
the post, and subsequently proved a strong and able advocate of the
scheme for postage reform.
Once arrested by the subject which has since made his life famous,
Rowland Hill went to work in a very systematic manner. Firstly,
he read very carefully all the Reports relative to the Post-office;
then he placed himself in communication with Mr Wallace and the
Postmaster-general, both of whom readily supplied him with all necessary
information. In this manner he made himself acquainted with his subject,
with the result that, in 1837, he published his famous pamphlet on
_Post-office Reform: its Importance and Practicability_, the first
edition being circulated privately amongst the members of parliament and
official people; while some months later a second edition was published
which was given to the public.
We have to remember that at this time the postage charges were
enormously high, that they depended not upon weight alone, but also upon
the number of enclosures, and that they varied according to distance.
Thus, for example, a letter under one ounce in weight and with one
enclosure (that is, sheet or scrap of paper) posted in London for
delivery within the metropolitan area, or even, we believe, fifteen
miles out, cost 2d.; if for delivery thirty miles out, 3d.; eighty miles
out, 4d.; and so on. Again, as showing how the charges according to
enclosure operated, a letter with a single enclosure from London to
Edinburgh was charged 1s. 1-1/2d.; if double, 2s. 3d.; and if treble,
3s. 4-1/2d. Moreover, the charges were not consistently made, for
whereas an Edinburgh letter (posted in London) was charged 1s. 1-1/2d.,
a letter for Louth, which cost the Post-office fifty times as much as
the former letter, was only charged 10d.
The public, however, found means of their own of remedying the evil,
which, if not wholly legitimate, were under the circumstances to be
regarded with some degree of leniency. Letter-smuggling was a not
unnatural result of the high and disproportionate charges referred to,
and was almost openly adopted to an extent that is hardly credible.
Thus, many Manchester merchants--Mr Cobden amongst the number--stated
before the Post-office Inquiry Committee appointed in 1838, their belief
that four-fifths of the letters written in that town did not pass
through the Post-office. A carrier in Scotland confessed to having
carried sixty letters daily for a number of years, and knew of others
who carried five hundred daily. A Glasgow publisher and bookseller said
he sent and received fifty letters or circulars daily, and added that he
was not caught until he had sent twenty thousand letters otherwise than
through the post! There were also other methods of evading the postage
rates at work. Letters were smuggled in newspapers, which in these days
passed free within a stated period through the post, the postage being
covered by the stamp-duty impressed on the papers. Invisible ink, too,
was used for inditing messages on the newspapers themselves; while the
use of certain pre-arranged codes on the covers of letters was likewise
systematically adopted, the addressees, after turning the letters over
and learning from the covers all they desired to know, declining to take
in the letters on the ground that they could not afford to pay the
postage.
The system of 'franking' letters in the high-postage days led to an
appalling abuse of that privilege, which belonged to peers and members
of the House of Commons. It was no doubt originally allowed to enable
members to correspond with their constituents; but under the
circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that the plan soon became
abused, and was ultimately used to cover all kinds of correspondence,
not only members' but other people's as well. At one time, indeed, all
sorts of curious packages passed free under the franking privilege, such
as dogs, a cow, parcels of lace, bales of stockings, boxes of medicine,
flitches of bacon, &c. Sometimes, indeed, franked covers were actually
sold; and they have even been known to be given in lieu of wages to
servants, who speedily converted them into ready money.
This abuse, taken together with the illicit traffic in letters, so
openly and widely carried on, formed of course a most important argument
in favour of the proposals for cheap postage formulated by Rowland Hill,
and no doubt did much to damage the cause of his opponents. But there is
one other abuse to which Londoners were subject which may just be
mentioned. At that time the Twopenny Post was in operation in the
English metropolis, and would have fairly served the inhabitants in
postal matters if it had not been for the practice which existed of
allowing commercial houses and other firms who were willing to pay for
the privilege to have their letters picked out from the general heap and
delivered by special postmen, and so enable them to get their
correspondence an hour earlier than those who did not pay the
'quarterage,' as it was called, of five shillings (per quarter), and
which, it appears, went into the pockets of the postmen concerned, many
of whom, we are told, and it can easily be understood, thus made incomes
of from three to four hundred pounds a year. However beneficial such a
system was to commerce and trade in London, it operated most unfairly on
ordinary correspondents, and it was certainly not the least of the evils
which the introduction of Penny Postage swept away.
It is not necessary to enter at any length into all the arguments that
weighed with Rowland Hill in propounding his great scheme. It need only
be very briefly stated that the great point to which he applied himself
was the cost to the Post-office of receiving, transmitting, and
delivering a letter. Having roughly and, as subsequently proved, not
inaccurately calculated the average postage at sixpence farthing per
letter, he then went to work to ascertain the expenses of management;
and the result of his investigations showed that, no matter what
distance had to be traversed, the average cost of each letter to the
government was less than one-tenth of a penny! From this there was only
one conclusion that could well be forced on his mind, and that was a
uniform rate of postage. Having solved this great problem, there were
many other matters of adjustment and improvement to which his attention
had to be given. He was, for example, not long in deciding that the
charge according to enclosures was an iniquitous one, and that a just
and fair tax could only be made according to weight. Then, again, he
clearly saw that the principle of throwing the postage on the recipients
of letters was an improper one, while it was also a burden on the
Post-office employees. The prepayment of postage became necessarily a
feature of his plan; but he experienced some difficulty in arriving at a
feasible method of adopting it. At first he considered that this might
be carried out by payment of money over the counter; but he subsequently
came to the conclusion that the purposes of the public and the
Post-office would be better served by the use of some kind of stamp or
stamped covers for letters, and this arrangement he brought forward and
fully explained before the Commissioners of Post-office Inquiry,
referring to it as 'Mr Knight's excellent suggestion.' Charles Knight
had suggested the idea of stamps for prepayment in 1833-34. The
following extract from the Commissioners' Report, which gives a brief
description of the proposed arrangement, may perhaps be read with
interest at the present time:
'That stamped covers, or sheets of paper, or small vignette stamps--the
latter, if used, to be gummed on the face of the letter--be supplied to
the public from the Stamp-office, and sold at such a price as to include
the postage. Letters so stamped to be treated in all respects as franks.
That each should have the weight it is entitled to carry legibly printed
upon the stamp. That the stamp of the receiving-house should be struck
upon the superscription or duty stamp, to prevent the latter being used
a second time. The vignette stamps being portable, persons could carry
them in their pocket-books.'
The proposed arrangement met with approval from the Commissioners, and
also from the Committee on Postage in 1837 and 1838; and, in
consequence, the Penny Postage Act of 1840 contained a clause providing
for the use of such stamps and stamped covers.
Such were the main points of Rowland Hill's plan, which was so logical
and reasonable in all its features, and so intelligible to the popular
mind, that it can be readily understood how heartily it was embraced by
the general public. But popular as his scheme was with the mass of the
people, it encountered the bitterest opposition from many quarters; and
in successfully carrying it through, Rowland Hill had, like most other
great reformers, to overcome huge difficulties and obstacles. It is very
amusing at this distance of time, when we have become so accustomed to
the immense advantages of Penny Postage as to view them almost as part
of the ordinary conditions of life, to recall some of the arguments used
fifty years ago against the measure. Lord Lichfield, as
Postmaster-general, in adverting to the scheme in the House of Lords,
described it thus: 'Of all the wild visionary schemes which I have ever
heard of, it is the most extravagant;' and endorsed this statement six
months later when he had given more attention to the subject, being
'even still more firmly of the same opinion.' On a subsequent occasion
he contended that the mails would have to carry twelve times as much in
weight as before, and therefore the charge would be twelve times the
amount then paid. 'The walls of the Post-office,' he exclaimed, 'would
burst; the whole area in which the building stands would not be large
enough to receive the clerks and letters.' Outside the Post-office, too,
as well as by both the government and opposition, much animosity was
exhibited against the proposal.
If, however, the opposition against the introduction of Penny Postage
was strong, the advocacy of the plan was no less powerful, while,
moreover, it was thoroughly backed by popular opinion. Complaints as to
the high rates of postage flowed in, and parliament was nearly inundated
with petitions in favour of the scheme, which also received much
literary support. The Mercantile Committee during all the time of
agitation actively spread information of the progress of the measure,
with a view to rouse the public to a sense of its importance. The _Post_
circular kept circulating; and handbills, fly-sheets, and pictorial
illustrations were freely distributed. One print took a dramatic form,
representing 'A Scene at Windsor Castle,' in which the Queen, being in
the Council Chamber, is made to say: 'Mothers pawning their clothes to
pay the postage of a child's letter! Every subject studying how to evade
the postage without caring for the law!'--(To Lord Melbourne): 'I trust,
my lord, you have commanded the attendance of the Postmaster-general and
Mr Rowland Hill, as I directed, in order that I may hear the reasons of
both about this universal Penny Postage plan, which appears to me likely
to remove all these great evils.' After the interview takes place, the
Queen is made to record the opinion that the plan 'would confer a great
boon on the poorer classes of my subjects, and would be the greatest
benefit to religion, morals, to general knowledge, and to trade.' This
_jeu d'esprit_, which was published by the London Committee, was
circulated by thousands, and proved extremely useful in bringing the
burning question home in an attractive form to the masses of the nation.
The agitation as to Rowland Hill's scheme lasted for two years, and with
such vehemence that the period has become an epoch in the history of
this country. The end of the story of this memorable reform is soon
told; for an agitation which may be said to have shaken the nation to
its core and was felt from end to end of the kingdom could have but one
conclusion, and that a successful one. A Parliamentary Committee was
appointed to inquire into the whole matter; and after a session of
sixty-three days, reported in favour of Penny Postage. That was in
August 1838. Next year a Bill for Cheap Postage passed through
parliament with slight opposition; and on the 12th of November 1839 the
Treasury issued a Minute authorising a uniform rate of fourpence for
inland letters. This was, however, merely a temporary measure, in which
Rowland Hill concurred, and was resorted to chiefly to accustom the
Post-office clerks to a uniform rate and the system of charging by
weight. The full measure of the Penny Postage scheme was accomplished a
few months later on, when, on the 10th of January 1840, the uniform rate
of One Penny for letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight was
officially introduced.
Such in brief is the story of Penny Postage, which has caused such a
revolution not only in the postal arrangements of this country, but in
the conditions of all sections and grades of society. In the first year
of its operation the number of letters posted was more than doubled,
the number sent in 1840 being 169,000,000, as against 82,000,000 posted
in 1839, including 6,500,000 letters sent under the franking privilege,
which was abolished with the introduction of the Penny Postage system.
In 1851 the number of letters posted in Great Britain and Ireland had
risen to 670,000,000; while in 1895 the quantity sent reached the
fabulous number of 1771 millions, or about forty-five letters per head
of the population. This refers to letters pure and simple. If we take
into account post-cards, newspapers, book-packets, &c., the aggregate
number of postal packets posted in 1895 will be found to fall not far
short of 1134 millions. Truly may it be said that the results of Penny
Postage have been stupendous. But more than this; the net revenue
derived from postage has long, long since exceeded that which accrued
under the old system.
The story of Penny Postage would be incomplete if we did not add a word
as to how the great reformer fared at the hands of his country. With the
introduction of his scheme he of course became associated with the
Post-office, although at first he held a Treasury appointment, from
which, however, after about three years' service, he was dismissed on
the ground that his work was finished. Public indignation was aroused at
this treatment of one who had already done so much for his country; and
the nation seemed to think that the right place for Rowland Hill was at
the Post-office, where further useful reforms might well be expected to
follow from one who had begun so well. At all events, in 1846 he was
restored to office, being appointed Secretary to the Postmaster-general,
and eight years later he became Chief Secretary of the Post-office, an
appointment which he held for ten years, when, from failing health, he
retired with full pay into private life, full of years and honours. Soon
after his dismissal from the Treasury, a grateful country subscribed
and presented him with the sum of fifteen thousand pounds; and on his
retirement, parliament voted him the sum of twenty thousand pounds. In
1860 he received at Her Majesty's hands the dignity of Knight Commander
of the Bath; and both before and after his retirement he was the
recipient of many minor honours. In 1879 Sir Rowland Hill was presented
with the freedom of the City of London; but he was an old man then, and
only lived a few months to enjoy this civic honour. He had a public
funeral, and was accorded a niche in the temple of fame at Westminster.
A VISIT TO THE POST-OFFICE.
Without a personal visit to the Post-office, it is perhaps difficult to
gain any correct impression of its immensity, or of the perfect
discipline and order which prevade the buildings devoted to postal and
telegraphic work. It is a visit which should be made by every one
interested, if possible. They would then marvel that we get our letters
and papers in the short time we do, if they were to see the thousands
upon thousands that are poured into St Martin's-le-Grand day by day. The
General Post-office never sleeps save on Sunday between twelve and
half-past one. The work is never at a standstill.
We began our visit to St Martin's-le-Grand by inspecting what is known
as the 'blind' department, where letters with indistinct, incomplete,
and wrongly spelt addresses are puzzled out by those specially trained
in solving such mysteries. Scrap-books are kept in this department, into
which the curious and amusing addresses originally inscribed on the face
of letters transmitted through the Post-office are copied and preserved.
Whilst we were looking at these a post-card was handed in to one of the
officials merely addressed Jackson. Whether the sender thought it would
go around to the various Jacksons in London, we know not, but anyway it
was decided to take the trouble to return it to the sender, advising him
that it was insufficiently addressed. The trouble careless persons give
the Post-office is inconceivable, and the way some try to cheat in the
manner of registering letters needs to be seen to be believed.
From the 'blind' department we were conducted to the 'hospital,' where
badly done up letters and parcels which have come to grief are doctored
and made sufficiently secure to reach their destination. When it is
recollected that postage is so cheap, the outside public might at least
take the trouble to do up letters and parcels properly without putting
the Post-office to the enormous trouble thus caused--needless trouble
sustained without a murmur and without extra charge. Some are put into
fresh envelopes, others are sealing-waxed where slits have occurred, and
others are properly tied up with string. All this trouble might be saved
by a little forethought on the part of the senders.
The number of samples that different firms send through the post each
day is astonishing. It is said that 1,504,000 pattern and sample packets
are posted annually in the metropolis. In addition to those just
mentioned, alpaca, corduroy, gloves, ribbons, plush, whalebone, muslin,
linen, biscuits, oilcakes, pepper, yeast, toilet soap, sperm candles,
mustard, raisins, &c, are sent by sample post. One firm alone posted
125,418 packets containing spice.
The time to visit the sorting process at the Post-office is between
half-past five and eight o'clock in the evening. At closing time the
letters are simply poured by thousands into the baskets waiting to
receive them, and each one as soon as full is wheeled off in an instant
to the sorters and other officials waiting to deal with them. When they
have been deposited on the innumerable tables, the first process is to
face the letters--not so easy a task when the shapes and sizes of the
letters are so varied. As soon as the facing process is over, they are
passed as quick as lightning on to the stampers, who proceed to deface
the Queen's head. The noise whilst this process is being gone through is
deafening. Some stampers have a hand-machine, whilst others are making a
trial of a treadle stamping-machine which stamps some four hundred
letters per minute. From the stampers the letters pass on to the
sorters. Whilst all this is proceeding, the visitor should step up into
the gallery for a minute or two and look down on the busy scene below.
It is a sight well worth seeing and not likely to be forgotten--the
thousands of letters heaped on the tables, and the hundreds of workers
as hard at work as it is possible for them to be. The envelopes are
separated and placed in the several pigeon-holes which indicate the
various directions they are to travel. Liverpool, Manchester,
Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Glasgow have special receptacles for
themselves, as the first three cities have on an average fifteen
thousand letters a day despatched to each; and further, there are eight
despatches a day to these places, eleven thousand per day go to Glasgow,
and between eight and nine thousand to Edinburgh. All official
letters--that is, 'On Her Majesty's Service'--have a special table to
themselves. Some eighty-nine thousand Savings-bank books pass through St
Martin's-le-Grand daily. Some sorters get through between forty and
fifty letters a minute, whilst a new-comer will not be able to manage
more than twenty or thirty.
The nights on which various mails go out are extra busy ones, especially
Friday evening, when the Indian, Chinese, and Australian mails are sent.
The reduction of the postage has made an enormous difference in the
contents of the mail-bags to these parts of the world. It may be
interesting here to note how the mails are dealt with at Brindisi. Van
after van conveys the mail-bags from the train to the ship, where two
gangways are put off from the shore to the ship's side. Lascars run up
one and down the other with the bags. Each lascar has a smooth flat
stick like a ruler, and as he deposits his mail-bag on a long bench over
the hold, he gives up his stick to a man standing by. When five lascars
have arrived, the sticks go into one compartment of a small wooden box;
and when the box is full--that is, when a hundred have been put in--the
box is carried off and another brought forward. Three hundred and
ninety-two bags is a good average, and they take just under forty
minutes to put on board. The French and Italian mails are included in
these; but no other European mails go by the Peninsular and Oriental
Company. At Aden, two sorters come on board and spend their days in some
postal cabins sorting the mails for the different parts of India, &c.
The bags in which these mails are enclosed are only used once. They are
made in one of our convict prisons, and fresh ones are distributed each
week both outward and homeward.
Turning from the General Post-office South, which is now exclusively
utilised for letters and papers, we proceed to the General Post-office
North, which is devoted solely to the telegraph department. The
Savings-bank department was originally in the same building as the
telegraph; but owing to the rapid increase in both departments, the
Savings-bank has been removed to Queen Victoria Street. Coldbath-Fields
Prison was converted into a home for the Parcel Post. Some three
thousand male and female clerks are employed in the telegraph department
alone. The top floor of the building is devoted to the metropolitan
districts. A telegram sent from one suburb of London to another is bound
to pass through St Martin's-le-Grand; it cannot be sent direct. The
second floor deals with the provinces. The pneumatic tube is now used a
great deal; and by means of it some fifty telegrams can be sent on at
once, and not singly, as would be the case if the telegraphic instrument
was the only instrument in use. The tube is mostly used at the branch
offices.
The press is a great user both of the postal and telegraphic department.
In the postal department the representatives can call for letters at any
hour, provided their letters are enclosed in a distinctive-coloured
envelope, such as bright red or orange. Of course this privilege has to
be paid for. In the telegraph department the press can obtain their
'private wires' after six in the evening, as the wires are no longer
required for commercial purposes. The plan adopted in sending the same
message to every provincial town which has a daily journal is the
following: all along the route the operators are advised of the fact,
and whilst the message is only actually delivered at its final
destination, the words are caught as they pass each town by means of the
'sounder.' By this ingenious arrangement, dozens of towns are placed in
direct communication with the central office whence the message is
despatched. To carry on our telegraphic arrangements three miles of
shelves are needed, on which are deposited forty thousand batteries.
THE POST-OFFICE ON WHEELS.
The particular portion of the 'Post-office on Wheels' which we purpose
describing is the Special Mail which leaves London from Euston Station
daily. We have selected this mail, not only because all the duties
appertaining to the Travelling Post-office are performed therein, but
also because it is the most important mail in the United Kingdom,
probably in the whole world. In the Special Mail, the post-office
vehicles are forty-two feet in length, and one of thirty-two feet. There
is a gangway communication between all the carriages, so that the
officers on duty can pass from one to another throughout the entire
length without going outside. All the carriages are lighted with gas.
The pair-horse vans which convey the London bags for provincial towns
come dashing into the station in rapid succession, and as there are only
fifteen minutes before the train starts, no time is to be lost. The bags
are quickly removed from the vans, the name of each being called out in
the process, thus enabling an officer who stands near to tick them off
on a printed list with which he is provided. They are then stowed away
in the respective carriages in appointed places.
Having proceeded to the principal sorting carriage, we see that there
are some thousands of the letters which have come from the London
offices still to be disposed of. They lie on the desks in large bundles;
but every minute there is a perceptible diminution of their numbers by
means of the vigorous attacks of the men engaged. From end to end of one
side of the carriage--that farthest from the platform--rows of
sorting-boxes, or 'pigeon-holes,' are fixed nearly up to the roof,
starting from the sorting-table, which is about three feet from the
floor. The boxes into which the ordinary letters are sorted are divided
into sets, numbered consecutively from 1 to 45, and one sorter works at
each set. The numbers on the boxes are in accordance with a prescribed
plan, each number representing the names of certain towns, and into such
boxes the letters for those towns are sorted. The plan mentioned is
carried out as follows: Suppose we say that No. 10 represents Rugby, of
course when the mail-bag for that town is despatched the box is empty.
It is then used, say, for Crewe, and when the bag for that place is gone
the box again becomes empty. It is then used for some other town farther
down the line, and so on to the end of the journey. The set of boxes
nearest the fore-end of the carriage is used by the officer who deals
with the registered letters. This set can be closed by means of a
revolving shutter, which is fitted with a lock and key; so that, should
the registered-letter officer have to quit his post for any purpose, he
can secure the contents of his boxes, and so feel satisfied that they
are in a safe place. This officer also disposes of all the letter-bills
on which the addresses of the registered letters are advised.
The set of boxes into which the newspapers and book packets are sorted
is about twice the size of an ordinary letter set, and occupies the
centre part of the whole box arrangement. This space is assigned to the
newspaper boxes for two reasons: the set is exactly opposite the doorway
through which the bags are taken in at the stopping station, so that
they lie on the floor behind the sorter who opens them; he has therefore
simply to turn round and pick them up one by one as he requires them,
thereby saving both time and labour. Again, as the bags are opened, the
bundles of letters which are labelled No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, in
accordance with the list supplied to postmasters for their guidance,
have to be distributed to the letter-sorters--No. 1 bundles to the left,
No. 2 to the right; and this distribution could not be so conveniently
performed with the newspaper or bag-opening table placed in a different
position. Most of the newspaper boxes, as we have said, are about twice
the size of a letter box; some, however, such as those used for large
towns like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, &c., are four times the
size; and the necessity for this can be readily understood.
We will now look at the other side of the carriage--or that nearest the
platform. Along the whole length of that side, strong iron pegs are
fixed about an inch apart, and on these pegs the bags to be made up and
despatched on the way are hung. Most of the bags used in the Travelling
Post-office are of one size--three feet six inches long, and two feet
four inches wide; but for the large towns, bags of greater dimensions
are required. Each bag is distinctly marked on both sides with the name
of the town to which it is to be forwarded, the letters forming the name
being an inch and a quarter in length. The name is also stencilled
inside the mouth of the bag, so that the sorter has it immediately
before his eyes when putting the letters, &c., away. On reaching its
destination the bag is emptied of its contents, is turned inside out,
and then the name of the Travelling Post-office from which it was
received appears in view. The bag is then folded up and kept ready for
the return despatch on the following night. In this way it passes and
repasses until it is worn out, when it is withdrawn, and a new one takes
its place.
We will now assume the train is fairly on its way, and that we are
approaching Harrow, the first station at which the mail-bags are
received by means of the apparatus. As the machinery constituting the
apparatus is of great importance in the system of working, we shall here
endeavour to describe it.
We may say that the apparatus in the Special Mail is worked in a
separate carriage which runs immediately behind the one to which we have
referred in the preceding details. A large and very strong net is firmly
fixed on the side of the carriage on the near end, and the woodwork
being cut away, an aperture is formed through which the pouches
containing the bags are taken into the carriage. The net is raised or
lowered by pressing down a lever very similar in structure and
appearance to the levers which are seen in a signalman's cabin. When the
net is lowered, a strong rope is seen to stretch across from the
fore-part, and this rope, being held in position by a chain attached to
the back-part of the net, forms what is called a detaching line in the
shape of the letter V placed thus, <; and as the carriage travels along,
the rope at the point forming the angle strikes the suspended pouch, and
detaches it from the standard, when it falls into the net, and is
removed by the officer attending to the apparatus. The machinery is also
arranged so that a bag can be despatched as well as received. A man
doing this work should possess keen eyes, steady nerves, and a full
average amount of strength. On a dark or foggy night it is difficult to
see the objects which serve as guides to the whereabouts of the train,
and which are technically known in the office as 'marks.'
The net is now lowered for the receipt at Harrow. In a second or two, a
tremendous thud is heard, and a large pouch comes crashing into the
carriage through the aperture, the men meanwhile keeping a respectful
distance. I should perhaps explain that in the Special Mail a new form
of net is used. The bottom of it is flush with the carriage floor, and
as the lower portion is constructed with an angle of about forty-five
degrees, the pouches roll into the carriage by their own weight.
We will now see what the pouch from Harrow contains. It is quickly
unstrapped; the bags are taken out; and it is then laid aside, to be
used for despatch at a subsequent station. There are three bags for the
Travelling Post-office received in this pouch--two containing
correspondence for England and Scotland, and one for Ireland. The bags
are immediately opened by the proper officers. The first duty is to
find the letter-bill; and if there are any registered letters, to
compare them with the entries on the bill, when, if correct, the bill is
signed and passed over, together with the registered letters, to the
officer who disposes of that class of correspondence, and by whom an
acknowledgment of the receipt of the letters is at once given to the
bag-opener. It is in this way that a hand-to-hand check is established
which ensures the practical safety of such letters.
The bag-opener then proceeds to pick out from amongst the mass of
correspondence the bundles of ordinary letters, and to pass them to the
right or left according as they are labelled No. 1 or No. 2. These
bundles are cut open by the respective sorters who work at the several
sets of boxes, the letters being laid in a row on the desk, and the men
then proceed to sort them in accordance with the addresses they bear. As
the boxes (each of which will hold about one hundred and fifty) become
full, the letters are tied up securely in bundles, and the sorters,
turning round, drop them into the bags which hang along the other side
of the carriage. And so the work goes on in the same way throughout the
entire journey.
Let us now try to show to how great an extent the Travelling Post-office
has contributed to the acceleration of correspondence from place to
place. On an examination of the letters received from Harrow, it is
found that there are three for Aberdeen; and a similar number for that
city will be received from the several towns between London and Rugby,
and so on. Of course, the number of letters mentioned would not be
sufficient for a direct bag between each of these places and Aberdeen;
but the small numbers referred to being brought together in the
Travelling Post-office, it is found that when the train arrives at
Carlisle a sufficient amount of correspondence for the northern city
has been received to fill a large bag. This bag is therefore closed at
that point, and a fresh one hung up, to contain the correspondence for
that city received northwards of Carlisle. The same may be said of the
other large towns in Scotland. Now, if there were no Travelling
Post-office, how would the few letters for Aberdeen emanating from the
various towns in England be dealt with? In the first place, they would
have to be picked up by a stopping train, and even if this train ran
direct to Aberdeen, there would be a difference in the time of arrival
of at least eight hours. But the letters could not go direct in such a
case, as that would mean the making-up of separate bags at each place;
and we have already shown that the letters are too few in number to
justify such an arrangement. They would have to be collected at some
central office, say at Birmingham, where they would of necessity be
detained some time; so that altogether it is probable they would not
arrive at their destination early enough to be delivered on the day
following that of posting. What, however, is the case now? Thanks to the
Travelling Post-office with its mail-bag apparatus, the letters are
whirled along at close upon fifty miles an hour without intermission,
thus admitting of the delivery of letters from London at so remote a
place as Aberdeen long before noon on the following day.
We will now assume that the train has arrived at Rugby--the distance
eighty-four miles. At this station mails for Coventry, Birmingham, &c.,
are left to be forwarded by a branch train. After a stop of four
minutes, the train again speeds on its way, the next stopping-place
being Tamworth. Here a large number of mail-bags are despatched,
including those for the Midland Travelling Post-office, going north to
Newcastle-on-Tyne, which serves Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and the whole
country-side bordering on the north-east coast; for the Shrewsbury
mail-train, which serves the whole of Mid-Wales; and for the Lincoln
mail-train, which serves Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
The next halt is at Crewe, where formerly a large exchange of bags took
place, having been passed without stopping. Crewe is, for Travelling
Post-office purposes, by far the most important junction in the kingdom.
Within three hours--that is, between half-past eleven at night and
half-past two in the morning--over a dozen mail-trains, each with
sorting-carriages attached, arrive and depart; whilst the weight of
mails exchanged here within the hours mentioned is not less than twenty
tons. A great amount of labour is involved in receiving and delivering
such an immense weight of bags, the work being all done by hand, and the
mail-porters have to exercise great care in keeping them in proper
course for the respective trains. Nevertheless, these responsible duties
are remarkably well performed, mistakes very rarely occurring.
The Irish mail which runs from London to Holyhead, and in which
correspondence for Ireland is almost exclusively dealt with, branches
off at Crewe, the remainder of the journey being run by way of Chester
and North Wales.
Leaving Warrington, the next stoppage is at Wigan. Here the mails for
Liverpool are despatched, and the receipt includes bags which have been
brought through a long line of country, stretching from
Newcastle-on-Tyne through York, Normanton, and Stalybridge, and thence
to Wigan. The mails for Preston and East Lancashire are left at Preston,
and, running through Lancaster, Carnforth is soon reached. At this
station the mails for North-west Lancashire and West Cumberland are
despatched, and this is the last stopping-place before arriving at
Carlisle, which is the terminal point of the North-Western Railway.
Mention should be made of the noteworthy despatch of mails by apparatus
at Oxenholme, the junction for Kendal, Windermere, and the Lake
District. It is the largest despatch by that method in the kingdom, as
many as nine pouches being delivered into two nets. Each pouch at this
station weighs on an average fifty pounds, so that altogether four
hundred and fifty pounds of mail-matter is despatched at this one
station--no inconsiderable feat.
At Carlisle the mails for the Waverley route country and for the whole
of the south-west of Scotland, including Ayrshire, are left. There is
another long run over the Caledonian Railway--about seventy-eight
miles--without a stop, the apparatus being worked seven times in that
distance until Carstairs is reached. Here, one of the sorting-carriages
is detached, and proceeds to Edinburgh; and a few miles farther on three
more are detached, and proceed to Glasgow from Holytown Junction. From
that point, therefore, only two sorting-carriages remain in the train,
and these go on to Aberdeen.
The next stop is at Stirling, where the bags for the Western Highlands
are left; and we then run on to Perth.
At Perth, the mails for Dundee and the northern Highlands are
despatched, the latter being forwarded by a mail-train which runs on the
Highland Railway _via_ Inverness. Again the Special Mail starts on its
way, there being only one stop--at Forfar--before arriving at Aberdeen,
where the journey ends. Here the last bags are despatched. The carriage
is clear. The sorting-boxes are carefully searched, to see that no
letters have been left in them; and the carriage is then taken charge of
by the railway officials, to be thoroughly cleansed and made ready for
the return journey on the following day. The duties on the way to London
are performed in a precisely similar manner to those on the journey
northwards.
EARLY TELEGRAPHS.
The ancient Greeks and Romans practised telegraphy with the help of pots
filled with straw and twigs saturated in oil, which, being placed in
rows, expressed certain letters according to the order in which they
were lighted; but the only one of their contrivances that merits a
detailed description was that invented by a Grecian general named Aeneas,
who flourished in the time of Aristotle, intended for communication
between the generals of an army. It consisted of two exactly similar
earthen vessels, filled with water, each provided with a cock that would
discharge an equal quantity of water in a given time, so that the whole
or any part of the contents would escape in precisely the same period
from both vessels. On the surface of each floated a piece of cork
supporting an upright, marked off into divisions, each division having a
certain sentence inscribed upon it. One of the vessels was placed at
each station; and when either party desired to communicate, he lighted a
torch, which he held aloft until the other did the same, as a sign that
he was all attention. On the sender of the message lowering or
extinguishing his torch, each party immediately opened the cock of his
vessel, and so left it until the sender relighted his torch, when it was
at once closed. The receiver then read the sentence on the division of
the upright that was level with the mouth of the vessel, and which, if
everything had been executed with exactness, corresponded with that of
the sender, and so conveyed the desired intimation.
We must here pause a moment to point out one great advantage that this
contrivance, simple as it undoubtedly was, will be seen to possess over
the more scientific ones that follow, and that was, its equal efficacy
in any sort of country and in any position, whether on a plain, on the
summit of a hill, or in a sequestered valley.
To descend to more modern times. Kessler in his _Concealed Arts_ advised
the cutting out of characters in the bottom of casks, which would appear
luminous when a light was placed inside. In the _Spectator_ of December
6, 1711, there is an extract from Strada, an Italian historian, who
published his _Prolusiones Academicae_ in 1617. In the passage referred
to, the modern system of telegraphy is curiously indicated. It is as
follows: 'Strada, in one of his Prolusions, gives an account of a
chimerical correspondence between two friends by the help of a certain
loadstone, which had such virtue in it, that if it touched two several
needles, when one of the needles so touched began to move, the other,
though at never so great a distance, moved at the same time and in the
same manner. He tells us that the two friends, being each of them
possessed of one of these needles, made a kind of dial-plate, inscribing
it with the four-and-twenty letters, in the same manner as the hours of
the day are marked upon the ordinary dial-plate. They then fixed one of
the needles on each of these plates in such a manner that it could move
round without impediment so as to touch any of the four-and-twenty
letters. Upon their separating from one another into distant countries,
they agreed to withdraw themselves punctually into their closets at a
certain hour of the day, and to converse with one another by means of
this their invention. Accordingly, when they were some hundred miles
asunder, each of them shut himself up in his closet at the time
appointed, and immediately cast his eye upon his dial-plate. If he had a
mind to write anything to his friend, he directed his needle to every
letter that formed the words which he had occasion for, making a little
pause at the end of every word or sentence, to avoid confusion. The
friend, in the meanwhile, saw his own sympathetic needle moving of
itself to every letter which that of his correspondent pointed at. By
this means they talked together across a whole continent, and conveyed
their thoughts to one another in an instant over cities or mountains,
seas or deserts.
It was not till near the close of the seventeenth century that a really
practical system of visual signalling from hill to hill was introduced
by Dr Hooke, whose attention had been turned to the subject at the siege
of Vienna by the Turks. He erected on the top of several hills having a
sky-line background three high poles or masts, connected at their upper
ends by a cross-piece. The space between two of these poles was filled
in with timbers to form a screen, behind which the various letters were
hung in order on lines, and, by means of pulleys, run out into the clear
space between the other two, when they stood out clear against the
sky-line. The letters were thus run out and back again in the required
order of spelling, and were divided into day and night letters--the
former being made of deals, the latter with the addition of links or
lights; besides which there were certain conventional characters to
represent such sentences as, 'I am ready to communicate,' 'I am ready to
receive.' In his description of the device, read before the Royal
Society on the 21st of May 1684, Dr Hooke, after claiming for it the
power of transmitting messages to a station thirty or forty miles
distant, said: 'For the performance of this we must be beholden to a
late invention, which we do not find any of the ancients knew; that is,
the eye must be assisted with telescopes, that whatever characters are
exposed at one station may be made plain and distinguishable at the
other.' A cipher code was subsequently added by an ingenious Frenchman
named Amontons.
In 1767 we find Mr Richard L. Edgeworth, the father of Maria Edgeworth,
employing the sails of a common windmill for communicating intelligence,
by an arranged system of signals according to the different positions of
the arms. The signals were made to denote numbers, the corresponding
parties being each provided with a dictionary in which the words were
numbered--the system in vogue for our army-signalling till 1871, when
the Morse alphabet was substituted for it.
A great stride was made in 1793 by M. Chappe, a citizen of Paris, when
the French Revolution directed all the energies of that nation to the
improvement of the art of war; reporting on whose machine to the French
Convention in August of the following year, Barere remarked: 'By this
invention, remoteness and distance almost disappear, and all the
communications of correspondence are effected with the rapidity of the
twinkling of an eye.' It consisted of a strong wooden mast some
twenty-five feet high, with a cross-beam twelve feet by nine inches
jointed on to its top, so as to be movable about its centre like a
scale-beam, and could thus be placed horizontally, vertically, or anyhow
inclined by means of cords. To each end of this cross-beam was affixed a
short vertical indicator about four feet long, which likewise turned on
pivots by means of cords, and to the end of each was attached a
counterweight, almost invisible at a distance, to balance the weight of
it. This machine could be made to assume certain positions which
represented or were symbolical of letters of the alphabet. In working,
nothing depended on the operator's manual skill, as the movements were
regulated mechanically. The time taken up for each movement was twenty
seconds, of which the actual motion occupied four; during the other
sixteen, the telegraph was kept stationary, to allow of its being
distinctly observed and the letter written down by those at the next
station. All the parts were painted dark brown, that they might stand
out well against the sky; and three persons were required at each
station, one to manipulate the machine, another to read the messages
through a telescope, and the third to transfer them to paper, or repeat
them to No. 1 to send on. The first machine of this kind was erected on
the roof of the Paris Louvre, to communicate with the army which was
then stationed near Lille, between which places intermediate ones from
nine to twelve miles apart were erected, the second being at Montmartre.
The different limbs were furnished with argand lamps for night-work.
Shortly after this, our own government set up lines of communication
from the Admiralty to Deal, Portsmouth, and other points on the coast,
which we find thus reported in the _Annual Register_ for 1796:
March 28th. 'A telegraph was this day erected over the Admiralty, which
is to be the point of communication with all the different sea-ports in
the kingdom. The nearest telegraph to London has hitherto been in St
George's Fields; and to such perfection has this ingenious and useful
contrivance been already brought, that one day last week information was
conveyed from Dover to London in the space of only seven minutes. The
plan proposed to be adopted in respect to telegraphs is yet only carried
into effect between London and Dover; but it is intended to extend all
over the kingdom. The importance of this speedy communication must be
evident to every one; and it has this advantage, that the information
conveyed is known only to the person who sends and to him who receives
it. The intermediate posts have only to answer and convey the signals.'
The machines used consisted of three masts connected by a top-piece. The
spaces between the masts were divided into three horizontally, and in
each partition a large wooden octagon was fixed, poised upon a
horizontal axis across its centre, so that it could be made to present
either its surface or its edge to the observer. The octagons were turned
by means of cranks upon the ends of the axles, from which cords
descended into a cabin below. By the changes in the position of these
six octagonal boards, thirty-six changes were easily exhibited, and the
signal to represent any letter or number made: thus, one board being
turned into a horizontal position so as to expose its edge, while the
other five remained shut or in a vertical position, might stand for A,
two of them only in a horizontal position for B, three for C, and so on.
It was, however, found that the octagons were less evident to the eye at
a distance than the indicators of Chappe's machine, requiring the
stations to be closer together; nor could this telegraph be made to
change its direction, so that it could only be seen from one particular
point, which necessitated having a separate machine at the Admiralty for
each line, as well as an additional one at every branch-point. It was,
moreover, too bulky and of a form unsuitable for illumination at night.
Here we may notice that in 1801 Mr John Boaz of Glasgow obtained a
patent for a telegraph which effected the signal by means of twenty-five
lamps arranged in five rows of five each, so as to form a square. Each
lamp was provided with a blind, with which its light could be obscured,
so that they could be made to exhibit letters and figures by leaving
such lamps only visible as were necessary to form the character.
The next improvement again came from France, in 1806, when an entirely
new set of telegraphs on the following principle was established along
the whole extent of the coast of the French empire. A single upright
pole was provided with three arms, each movable about an axis at one
end--one near the head, the other two at points lower down, all painted
black, with their counterpoises white, so as to be invisible a short way
off. Each arm could assume six different positions--one straight out on
either side of the pole, two at an angle of forty-five degrees above
this line, and two at forty-five degrees below it. The arm near the head
could be made to exhibit seven positions, the seventh being the
vertical; but as this might have been mistaken for part of the pole, it
was not employed. The number of combinations or different signals that
could be rendered by this machine, employing only three objects, was
consequently three hundred and forty-two against sixty-three by that of
our Admiralty just described, and which employed six objects.
It was not long, however, before we copied the advancement of our
neighbours across the Channel, and in some respects improved upon it,
the main differences being that only two arms were employed--one at the
top, the other half-way down, and that the mast was made to revolve on a
vertical axis, so that the arms could be rendered visible from any
desired quarter. Its mechanism, the invention of Sir Home Popham,
enabled the arms to be moved by means of endless screws worked by iron
spindles from below, a vast improvement on the old cords, the more so as
they worked inside the mast, which was hollow, hexagonal in section, and
framed of six boards bound together by iron hoops, and were thus
protected from the weather. Inside the cabin he erected two dials, one
for each arm, each having an index finger that worked simultaneously
with its corresponding arm above, on the same principle as the little
semaphore models to be seen nowadays in our railway signal cabins.
We have now described the most prominent of the numerous contrivances
which, prior to the application of electricity to that end, were devised
and made use of for telegraphic communication, all of which, unlike that
subtle power that is not afraid of the dark and can travel in all
weathers, possessed a common weakness in their liability to failure
through atmospheric causes, fog, mist, and haze. To us who live in this
age of electrical marvels, when that particular science more than all
others progresses by leaps and bounds, it appears passing strange and
almost incredible that so many years were allowed to elapse before the
parents of the electric telegraph, the electrical machine and magnetic
compass, were joined in wedlock to produce their amazing progeny, which
now enables all mankind, however distant, to hold rapid, soft, and easy
converse.
THE TELEGRAPH OF TO-DAY.
A veil of mystery still hangs around the first plan for an electric
telegraph, communicated to the _Scots Magazine_ for 1753 by one 'C. M.'
of Renfrew. Even the name of this obscure and modest genius is doubtful;
but it is probable that he was Charles Morrison, a native of Greenock,
who was trained as a surgeon. At this period only the electricity
developed by friction was available for the purpose, and being of a
refractory nature, there was no practical result.
But after Volta had invented the chemical generator or voltaic pile in
the first year of our century, and Oersted, in 1820, had discovered the
influence of the electric current on a magnetic needle, the illustrious
Laplace suggested to Ampere, the famous electrician, that a working
telegraph might be produced if currents were conveyed to a distance by
wires, and made to deflect magnetic needles, one for every letter of the
alphabet. This was in the year 1820; but it was not until sixteen years
later that the idea was put in practice. In 1836 Mr William Fothergill
Cooke, an officer of the Madras army, at home on furlough, was
travelling in Germany, and chanced to see at the university of
Heidelberg, in the early part of March, an experimental telegraph,
fitted up between the study and the lecture theatre of the Professor of
Natural Philosophy. It was based on the principle of Laplace and
Ampere, and consisted of two electric circuits and a pair of magnetic
needles which responded to the interruptions of the current. Mr Cooke
was struck with this device; but it was only during his journey from
Heidelberg to Frankfort on the 17th of the month, while reading Mrs Mary
Somerville's book on the _Correlation of the Physical Sciences_, that
the notion of his practical telegraph flashed upon his mind. Sanguine of
success, he abandoned his earlier pursuits and devoted all his energies
to realise his invention.
The following year he associated himself with Professor Wheatstone; a
joint patent was procured; and the Cooke and Wheatstone needle telegraph
was erected between the Euston Square and Camden Town stations of the
London and Birmingham Railway. To test the working of the instruments
through a longer distance, several miles of wire were suspended in the
carriage-shed at Euston, and included in the circuit. All being ready,
the trial was made on the evening of the 25th of July 1837, a memorable
date. Some friends of the inventors were present, including Mr George
Stephenson and Mr Isambard Brunel, the celebrated engineers. Mr Cooke,
with these, was stationed at Camden Town, and Mr Wheatstone at Euston
Square. The latter struck the key and signalled the first message.
Instantly the answer came on the vibrating needles, and their hopes were
realised. 'Never,' said Professor Wheatstone--'never did I feel such a
tumultuous sensation before, as when, all alone in the still room, I
heard the needles click; and as I spelled the words I felt all the
magnitude of the invention, now proved to be practical beyond cavil or
dispute.'
It was in 1832, during a voyage from Havre to New York in the packet
_Sully_, that Mr S. F. B. Morse, then an artist, conceived the idea of
the electro-magnetic marking telegraph, and drew a design for it in his
sketch-book. But it was not until the beginning of 1838 that he and his
colleague, Mr Alfred Vail, succeeded in getting the apparatus to work.
Judge Vail, the father of Alfred, and proprietor of the Speedwell
ironworks, had found the money for the experiments; but as time went on
and no result was achieved, he became disheartened, and perhaps annoyed
at the sarcasms of his neighbours, so that the inventors were afraid to
meet him. 'I recall vividly,' says Mr Baxter, 'even after the lapse of
so many years, the proud moment when Alfred said to me, "William, go up
to the house and invite father to come down and see the
telegraph-machine work." I did not stop to don my coat, although it was
the 6th of January, but ran in my shop-clothes as fast as I possibly
could. It was just after dinner when I knocked at the door of the house,
and was ushered into the sitting-room. The judge had on his
broad-brimmed hat and surtout, as if prepared to go out; but he sat
before the fireplace, leaning his head on his cane, apparently in deep
meditation. As I entered his room he looked up and said, "Well,
William?" and I answered: "Mr Alfred and Mr Morse sent me to invite you
to come down to the room and see the telegraph-machine work." He started
up, as if the importance of the message impressed him deeply; and in a
few minutes we were standing in the experimental room. After a short
explanation, he called for a piece of paper, and writing upon it the
words, "A patient waiter is no loser," he handed it to Alfred, saying,
"If you can send this, and Mr Morse can read it at the other end, I
shall be convinced." The message was received by Morse at the other end,
and handed to the judge, who, at this unexpected triumph, was overcome
by his emotions.' The practical value of the invention was soon
realised; by 1840 telegraph lines were being made in civilised
countries, and ere long extended into the network of lines which now
encircle the globe and bring the remotest ends of the earth into direct
and immediate communication.
ATLANTIC CABLES.
A year or two before the first attempt to lay an Atlantic cable, there
were only eighty-seven nautical miles of submarine cables laid; now, the
total length of these wonderful message-carriers under the waves is over
160,500 English statute miles. There are now fourteen cables crossing
the Atlantic, which are owned by six different companies.
The charter which Mr Cyrus W. Field obtained for the New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company was granted in the year 1854.
It constructed the land-line telegraph in Newfoundland, and laid a cable
across the Gulf of St Lawrence; but this was only the commencement of
the work. Soundings of the sea were needed; electricians had to devise
forms of cable most suitable; engineers to consider the methods of
carrying and of laying the cable; and capitalists had to be convinced
that the scheme was practicable, and likely to be remunerative; whilst
governments were appealed to for aid. Great Britain readily promised
aid; but the United States Senate passed the needful Bill by a majority
of one.
But when the first Atlantic cable expedition left the coast of Kerry, it
was a stately squadron of British and American ships of war, such as the
_Niagara_ and the _Agamemnon_, and of merchant steamships. The
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company,
and of British railways, were there, with representatives of several
nations; and when the shore-end had been landed at Valentia, the
expedition left the Irish coast in August 1857. When 335 miles of the
cable had been laid, it parted, and high hopes were buried many fathoms
below the surface.
The first expedition of 1858 also failed; the second one was successful;
and on the 16th of August in that year, Queen Victoria congratulated the
President of the United States 'upon the successful completion of this
great international work;' and President Buchanan replied, trusting that
the telegraph might 'prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and
friendship between the kindred nations.' But after a few weeks' work,
the cable gave its last throb, and was silent.
Not until 1865 was another attempt made, and then the cable was broken
after 1200 miles had been successfully laid. Then, at the suggestion of
Mr (afterwards Sir) Daniel Gooch, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company
was formed; and on 13th July 1866 another expedition left Ireland; and
towards the end of the month, the _Great Eastern_ glided calmly into
Heart's Content, 'dropping her anchor in front of the telegraph house,
having trailed behind her a chain of two thousand miles, to bind the Old
World to the New.'
But the success of the year was more than the mere laying of a cable:
the _Great Eastern_ was able, in the words of the late Lord Iddesleigh,
to complete the 'laying of the cable of 1866, and the recovering that of
1865.' The Queen conferred the honour of knighthood on Captain Anderson,
on Professor Thomson, and on Messrs Glass and Channing; whilst Mr Gooch,
M.P., was made a baronet. The charge for a limited message was then
twenty pounds; and it was not long before a rival company was begun, to
share in the rich harvest looked for; and thus another cable was laid,
leading ultimately to an amalgamation between its ordinary company and
the original Anglo-American Telegraph Company.
[Illustration: The _Great Eastern_ paying out the Atlantic Cable.]
Then, shortly afterwards, the Direct United States Cable Company came
into being, and laid a cable; a French company followed suit; the great
Western Union Telegraph Company of America entered into the Atlantic
trade, and had two cables constructed and laid. The commencement of
ocean telegraphy by each of these companies led to competition, and
reduced rates for a time with the original company, ending in what is
known as a pool or joint purse agreement, under which the total receipts
were divided in allotted proportions to the companies. These companies
have now eight cables usually operative; and it was stated by Sir J.
Pender that these eight cables 'are capable of carrying over forty
million words per annum.'
In addition to the cables of the associated companies, the Commercial
Cable Company own two modern cables; and one of the two additional ones
was laid by this company--the other by the original--the Anglo-American
Company. But the work is simple now to what it was thirty years ago.
Then, there were only one or two cable-ships; now, Mr Preece enumerates
thirty-seven, of which five belong to the greatest of our telegraph
companies, the Eastern. The authority we have just named says that 'the
form of cable has practically remained unaltered since the original
Calais cable was laid in 1851;' its weight has been increased; and there
have been additions to it to enable it to resist insidious submarine
enemies. The gear of the steamships used in the service has been
improved; whilst the 'picking-up gear' of one of the best known of these
cable-ships is 'capable of lifting thirty tons at a speed of one knot
per hour.' And there has been a wide knowledge gained of the ocean, its
depth, its mountains, and its valleys, so that the task of cable-laying
is much more of an exact science than it was. When the first attempt was
made to lay an Atlantic cable, 'the manufacture of sea-cables' had been
only recently begun; now, 140,000 knots are at work in the sea, and
yearly the area is being enlarged. When, in 1856, Mr Thackeray
subscribed to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, its share capital was
L350,000--that being the estimated cost of the cable between
Newfoundland and Ireland; now, five companies have a capital of over
L12,500,000 invested in the Atlantic telegraph trade. The largest
portion of the capital is that of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company,
which has a capital of L7,000,000, and which represents the Atlantic
Telegraph Company, the New York, and Newfoundland, and the French
Atlantic Companies of old.
Though the traffic fluctuates greatly, in some degree according to the
charge per word (for in one year of lowest charges the number of words
carried by the associated companies increased by 133 per cent., whilst
the receipts decreased about 49 per cent.), yet it does not occupy fully
the carrying capacity of the cables. But their 'life' and service is
finite, and thus it becomes needful from time to time to renew these
great and costly carriers under the Atlantic.
THE STATE AND THE TELEGRAPHS.
Since the telegraphs of the United Kingdom passed into the hands of the
State, the changes which have taken place during that period in the
volume of the business transacted, the rapidity in the transit of
messages, and the charges made for sending telegrams, are little short
of marvellous. It was in the year 1852 that the acquisition of the
telegraph system by the State was first suggested, but not until late in
the year 1867, when Mr Disraeli was Chancellor of the Exchequer, did the
government definitely determine to take the matter up. At that time, as
Mr Baines, C.B., tells us in his book, _Forty Years at the
Post-office_: 'Five powerful telegraph companies were in existence--The
Electric and International, the British and Irish Magnetic, the United
Kingdom, the Universal Private, and the London and Provincial Companies.
There were others of less importance. Terms had to be made with all of
them. The railway interest had to be considered, and the submarine
companies to be thought of, though not bought.' With strong and
well-organised interests like these fighting hard to secure for
themselves the very best possible terms, the government had not
unnaturally to submit to a hard bargain before they could obtain from
Parliament the powers which they required. However, after a severe
struggle, the necessary Bill was successfully passed, and the consequent
Money Bill became law in the following session. As the result of this
action, the telegraphs became the property of the State upon the 29th of
January 1870, and upon the 5th of the following month the actual
transfer took place. The step seems to have been taken none too soon,
for under the companies the telegraphs had been worked in a manner far
from satisfactory to the public. Many districts had been completely
neglected, and even between important centres the service had been quite
inadequate. Moreover, charges had been high, and exasperating delays of
frequent occurrence.
Six million pounds was the sum first voted by Parliament for the
purchase of the telegraphs, and this was practically all swallowed up in
compensation. The Electric and International Company received
L2,938,826; the Magnetic Company, L1,243,536; Reuter's Telegram Company,
L726,000; the United Kingdom Company, L562,264; the Universal Private
Company, L184,421; and the London and Provincial Company, L60,000. But
large as these amounts were, they only made up about one-half of the
expenditure which the government had to incur, and the total cost
ultimately reached the enormous sum of eleven millions. Some idea of the
manner in which the extra five millions was expended may be gathered
from the fact that between October 1869 and October 1870, about 15,000
miles of iron wire, nearly 2000 miles of gutta-percha-covered copper
wire, about 100,000 poles, and 1,000,000 other fittings were purchased
and fixed in position, 3500 telegraph instruments and 15,000 batteries
were acquired, and about 2400 new telegraphists and temporary assistants
were trained. The total expenditure was so vast that the Treasury
eventually took fright, and in 1875 a committee was appointed 'to
investigate the causes of the increased cost of the telegraph service
since the acquisition of the telegraphs by the State.'
This committee found that the following were the three main causes of
the increase: The salaries of all the officials of the telegraph
companies had been largely increased after their entry into the
government service; the supervising staff maintained by the State was
much more costly than that formerly employed by the companies; and a
large additional outlay had been forced upon the government in
connection with the maintenance of the telegraph lines. 'It would not,'
they say in their report, 'be possible, in our opinion, for various
reasons, for the government to work at so cheap a rate as the telegraph
companies, but ... a reasonable expectation might be entertained that
the working expenses could be kept within seventy or seventy-five per
cent. of the gross revenue, and the responsible officers of the
Post-office telegraph service should be urged to work up to that
standard. Such a result would cover the cost of working, and the sum
necessary for payment of interest on the debt incurred in the purchase
of the telegraphs.' In regard to this question of cost, Mr Baines most
truly remarks that the real stumbling-block of the Department was, and
still is, 'the interest payable on L11,000,000 capital outlay, equal at,
say, three per cent, to a charge of L330,000 a year.'
The transfer of the telegraphs to the State was immediately followed by
a startling increase in the number of messages sent. In fact, the
public, attracted by the shilling rate, poured in telegrams so fast, and
were so well supported by the news-agencies, who took full advantage of
the reduced scale, that there was at first some danger of a collapse.
Fortunately, however, the staff was equal to the emergency, and after
the first rush was over, everything worked with perfect smoothness.
During the next four years the enlargement of business was simply
extraordinary. In 1875 the rate of increase was not maintained at quite
so high a level, but nevertheless nearly 1,650,000 more messages were
dealt with than during the previous year. The quantity of matter
transmitted for Press purposes was also much greater than it had ever
been before, and amounted to more than 220,000,000 words.
In 1895 the number of telegraph offices at post-offices was 7409, in
addition to 2252 at railway stations, or a grand total of 9661. The
number of ordinary inland messages sent during the year was 71,589,064.
In regard to the great increase of pace in the transmission of
telegraphic messages, Mr Baines tells us that, 'looking back fifty
years, we see wires working at the rate of eight words a minute, or an
average of four words per wire per minute, over relatively short
distances. Now, there is a potentiality of 400 words--nay, even 600 or
700 words--per wire per minute, over very long distances. As the
invention of duplex working has been supplemented by the contrivances
for multiplex working (one line sufficing to connect several different
offices in one part of the country with one or more offices in another
part), it is almost impossible to put a limit to the carrying capacity
of a single wire.' In 1866 the time occupied in sending a telegram
between London and Bournemouth was two hours, and between Manchester and
Bolton, two hours and a quarter; while in 1893 the times occupied were
ten minutes and five minutes respectively.
Press telegrams have enormously increased in number and length since the
purchase of the telegraph system by the State. When the companies owned
the wires, the news service from London to the provinces was ordinarily
not more than a column of print a night. At the present time the news
service of the Press Association alone over the Post-office wires to
papers outside the metropolis averages fully 500 columns nightly. Since
1870 this Association has paid the Post-office L750,000 for telegraphic
charges, and in addition to this, very large sums have been paid by the
London and provincial daily papers for the independent transmission of
news, and by the principal journals in the country for the exclusive
use, during certain hours, of 'special wires.' Some of the leading
papers in the provinces receive ten or more columns of specially
telegraphed news on nights when important matters are under discussion
in Parliament; and from this some idea may be formed of the amount of
business now transacted between the Press and the Telegraph Department.
THE TELEPHONE.
So much have times altered in the last fifty years, that the electric
telegraph itself, which now reaches its thin arms into more than six
thousand offices, is threatened in its turn with serious rivalry at
the hands of a youthful but vigorous competitor, the telephone. Its
advantages are such that its ultimate popularity cannot be a matter
of doubt. It is no small benefit to be able to recognise voices, to
transact business with promptitude by word of mouth, to get a reply,
'Yes' or 'No,' on the spot, instead of having to rush to the nearest
telegraph office.
Great inventions are often conceived a long time before they are
realised in practice. Sometimes the original idea occurs to the man who
subsequently works it out; and sometimes it comes as a happy thought to
one who is either in advance of his age, or who is prevented by adverse
circumstances from following it up, and who yet lives to see the day
when some more fortunate individual gives it a material shape, and so
achieves the fame which was denied to him. Such is the case of M.
Charles Bourselle, who in 1854 proposed a form of speaking-telephone,
which, although not practicable in its first crude condition, might have
led its originator to a more successful instrument if he had pursued the
subject further.
The telephone is an instrument designed to reproduce sounds at a
distance by means of electricity. It was believed by most people, and
even by eminent electricians, that the speaking-telephone had never been
dreamed of by any one before Professor Graham Bell introduced his
marvellous little apparatus to the scientific world. But that was a
mistake. More than one person had thought of such a thing, Bourselle
among the number. Philip Reis, a German electrician, had even
constructed an electric telephone in 1864, which transmitted words with
some degree of perfection; and the assistant of Reis asserts that it was
designed to carry music as well as words. Professor Bell, in devising
his telephone, copied the human ear with its vibrating drum. The first
iron plate he used as a vibrator was a little piece of clock-spring
glued to a parchment diaphragm, and on saying to the spring on the
telephone at one end of the line: 'Do you understand what I say?' the
answer from his assistant at the other end came back immediately: 'Yes;
I understand you perfectly.' The sounds were feeble, and he had to hold
his ear close to the little piece of iron on the parchment, but they
were distinct; and though Reis had transmitted certain single words some
ten years before, Bell was the first to make a piece of matter utter
sentences. Reis gave the electric wire a tongue so that it could mumble
like an infant; but Bell taught it to speak.
The next step is attributed to Mr Elisha Gray of Chicago, who sent
successions of electrical current of varying strength as well as of
varying frequency into the circuit, and thus enabled the relative
loudness as well as the pitch of sounds to be transmitted; and who
afterwards took the important step of using the variations of a steady
current. These variations, positive and negative, are capable of
representing all the back-and-fore variations of position of a particle
of air, however irregular these may be: and he secured them by making
the sound-waves set a diaphragm in vibration. This diaphragm carried a
metallic point which dipped in dilute sulphuric acid; the deeper it
dipped the less was the resistance to a current passing through the
acid, and _vice versa_: so that every variation in the position of the
diaphragm produced a corresponding variation in the intensity of the
current: and the varying current acted upon a distant electro-magnet,
which accordingly fluctuated in strength, and in its attraction for a
piece of soft iron suspended on a flexible diaphragm: this piece of soft
iron accordingly oscillated, pulling the flexible diaphragm with it; and
the variations of pressure in the air acted upon by the diaphragm
produced waves, reproducing the characteristics of the original
sound-waves, and perceived by the ear as reproducing the original sound
or voice. Mr Gray lodged a _caveat_ for this contrivance in the United
States Patent Office on 14th February 1876; but on the same day
Professor Alexander Graham Bell filed a specification and drawings of
the original Bell telephone.
Bell's telephone was first exhibited in America at the Centennial
Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876; and in England, at the Glasgow
meeting of the British Association in September of that year. On that
occasion, Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) pronounced it, with
enthusiasm, to be the 'greatest of all the marvels of the electric
telegraph.' The surprise created by its first appearance was, however,
nothing to the astonishment and delight which it aroused in this country
when Professor Bell, the following year, himself exhibited it in London
to the Society of Telegraph Engineers. Since then, its introduction as a
valuable aid to social life has been very rapid, and the telephone is
now to be found in use from China to Peru.
THOMAS ALVA EDISON AND THE PHONOGRAPH.
The Phonograph is an instrument for mechanically recording and
reproducing articulate human speech, song, &c. It was invented by Mr T.
A. Edison in the spring of 1877, at his Menlo Park Laboratory, New
Jersey, and came into existence as the result of one of the many lines
of experiment he was then engaged upon.
Thomas Alva Edison, this notable American inventor, was born at Milan,
Ohio, 11th February 1847, but his early years were spent at Port Huron,
Michigan. His father was of Dutch, and his mother of Scotch descent; the
latter, having been a teacher, gave him what schooling he received.
Edison was a great reader in his youth, and at the age of twelve he
became a newsboy on the Grand Trunk Line running into Detroit, and began
to experiment in chemistry. Gaining the exclusive right of selling
newspapers on this line, and purchasing some old type, with the aid of
four assistants he printed and issued the _Grand Trunk Herald_, the
first newspaper printed in a railway train. A station-master, in
gratitude for his having saved his child from the front of an advancing
train, taught him telegraphy, in which he had previously been greatly
interested; and thenceforward he concentrated the energies of a very
versatile mind chiefly upon electrical studies.
[Illustration: Edison with his Phonograph.]
Edison invented an automatic repeater, by means of which messages could
be sent from one wire to another without the intervention of the
operator. His system of duplex telegraphy was perfected while a
telegraph operator in Boston, but was not entirely successful until
1872. In 1871 he became superintendent of the New York Gold and Stock
Company, and here invented the printing-telegraph for gold and stock
quotations, for the manufacture of which he established a workshop at
Newark, N.J., continuing there till his removal to Menlo Park, N.J., in
1876. Ten years later he settled at Orange, at the foot of the Orange
Mountains, his large premises at Menlo Park having grown too small for
him.
His inventive faculties now getting full play, he took out over fifty
patents in connection with improvements in telegraphy, including the
duplex, quadruplex, and sextuplex system; the carbon telephone
transmitter; microtasimeter; aerophone, for amplifying sound; the
megaphone, for magnifying sound. Thence also emanated his phonograph, a
form of telephone, and various practical adaptations of the electric
light. His kinetoscope (1894) is a development of the Zoetrope, in which
the continuous picture is obtained from a swift succession of
instantaneous photographs (taken 46 or more in a second), and printed
on a strip of celluloid. Of late he has devoted himself to improving
metallurgic methods. He has taken out some 500 patents, and founded many
companies at home and in Europe.
Following up some of his telegraphic inventions, he had developed a
machine which, by reason of the indentations made on paper, would
transfer a message in Morse characters from one circuit to another
automatically, through the agency of a tracing-point connected with a
circuit-closing device. Upon revolving with rapidity the cylinder that
carried the indented or embossed paper Mr Edison found that the
indentations could be reproduced with immense rapidity through the
vibration of the tracing-point. He at once saw that he could vibrate a
diaphragm by the sound-waves of the voice, and, by means of a stylus
attached to the diaphragm, make them record themselves upon an
impressible substance placed on the revolving cylinder. The record being
made thus, the diaphragm would, when the stylus again traversed the
cylinder, be thrown into the same vibrations as before, and the actual
reproduction of human speech, or any other sound, would be the result.
The invention thought out in this manner was at once tried, with
paraffined paper as the receiving material, and afterwards with tinfoil,
the experiment proving a remarkable success, despite the crudity of the
apparatus. In 1878 Mr Edison made a number of phonographs, which were
exhibited in America and Europe, and attracted universal attention. The
records were made in these on soft tinfoil sheets fastened around metal
cylinders. For a while Mr Edison was compelled to suspend work on this
invention, but soon returned to it and worked out the machine as it
exists practically to-day. It occupies about the same space as a hand
sewing-machine. A light tube of wax to slide on and off the cylinder is
substituted for the tinfoil, which had been wrapped round it, and the
indenting stylus is replaced by a minute engraving point. Under the
varying pressure of the sound-waves, this point or knife cuts into the
tube almost imperceptibly, the wax chiselled away wreathing off in very
fine spirals before the edge of the little blade, as the cylinder
travels under it. Each cylinder will receive about a thousand words. In
the improved machine Mr Edison at first employed two diaphragms in
'spectacle' form, one to receive and the other to reproduce; but he has
since combined these in a single efficient attachment. The wax cylinders
can be used several hundred times, the machine being fitted with a small
paring tool which will shave off the record previously made, leaving a
smooth new surface. The machine has also been supplemented by the
inventor with an ingenious little electric motor with delicate governing
mechanism, so that the phonograph can be operated at any chosen rate of
speed, uniformly. This motor derives its energising current either from
an Edison-Lalande primary battery, a storage battery, or an
electric-light circuit.
The new and perfected Edison phonograph has already gone into very
general use, and many thousands are distributed in American business
offices, where they facilitate correspondence in a variety of ways. They
are also employed by stenographers as a help in the transcription of
their shorthand notes. Heretofore these notes have been slowly dictated
to amanuenses, but they are now frequently read off to a phonograph, and
then written out at leisure. The phonograph is, however, being used for
direct stenograph work, and it reported verbatim 40,000 words of
discussion at one convention held in 1890, the words being quietly
repeated into the machine by the reporter as quickly as they were
uttered by the various speakers. A large number of machines are in use
by actors, clergymen, musicians, reciters, and others, to improve their
elocution and singing. Automatic phonographs are also to be found in
many places of public resort, equipped with musical or elocutionary
cylinders, which can be heard upon the insertion of a small coin; and
miniature phonographs have been applied to dolls and toys. The value of
the phonograph in the preservation of dying languages has been perceived
too, and records have already been secured of the speech, songs,
war-cries, and folklore of American tribes now becoming extinct. It is
also worthy of note that several voice records remain of distinguished
men, who 'being dead yet speak.' Their tones can now be renewed at will,
and their very utterances, faithful in accent and individuality, can be
heard again and again through all time.
Improvements are being made in the wholesale reproduction of
phonographic cylinders, by electrotyping and other processes; and the
machine, in a more or less modified form, is being introduced as a
means of furnishing a record of communications through the telephone.
Phonographic clocks, books, and other devices have also been invented by
Mr Edison, whose discovery is evidently of a generic nature, opening up
a large and entirely new field in the arts and sciences.
THE END.
Edinburgh:
Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited.
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