contact pieces arranged on a circular disk or table, some of which are connected with the separate sending or transmitting instruments, while others are connected with local relays and batteries and the ground. A trailer or rapidly revolving arm connected with the line wire passes over these contact points so that the circuit is successively completed through the different instruments at one station, while a similar device at the other station, revolving synchronously with the first, makes connections with an equal number of instruments. The speed of revolution of the trailers is regulated by two tuning forks or vibrating reeds of the same pitch, and an ingenious synchronizing device keeps them always in unison. In this way it is possible to operate twelve different sets of Morse transmissions over one wire, and it is accomplished in the following manner. The first operator closes his key, and as the trailer passes around, it will make contact with the line wire and his instrument will be connected about 30 times in one second, thus transmitting that number of impulses. Now, if he desires to send a signal corresponding to a dot, he would close his key for a brief interval, which may be one-twelfth of a second, thus allowing three impulses of current to be transmitted over the line wire to the corresponding instrument at the other station, which is only in a position to receive the signals from the one transmitter. The same is true for the other operators and their instruments, each one employing the wire for a certain fraction of the time. Numerous other systems have been devised, important among which is the multiplex printing telegraph of Rowland, which has been successfully used in Europe. It employs an alternating current and four transmitters and receivers can be used in connection with one wire. There is a mechanical keyboard somewhat similar to that of a typewriter, while the signals are received and printed on a tape or upon ordinary letter pages in ‘typewriting’ characters.
In the United States the telegraph is entirely in the hands of private companies. The first company was organized in 1845 under the name of the Magnetic Telegraph Company by Morse's supporters and associates. In that year the telegraph was constructed between Philadelphia and Morristown and in the following year it was extended to New York. The House printing telegraph was patented in 1846, and soon after numerous companies were formed to exploit both systems. This was the case all over the United States, and soon the competition became most sharp and the lack of thorough organization apparent. In 1856 the Western Union Company was formed by the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company uniting with the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. From this time combination and consolidation was carried on, the efficiency of the service increasing continually. In 1862 the telegraph across the North American continent was completed and in operation. By 1866 consolidation had taken place to such an extent that there were three telegraph companies which enjoyed the largest part of the business in the United States. These were the Western Union, the American Union, and the United States. In 1881 the Western Union absorbed the American Union and the Atlantic and Pacific, and at later periods purchased or leased the lines of the New York Mutual Telegraph Company, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Telegraph, American Rapid Telegraph, and the Northwestern Telegraph Company, all of which are now operated as part of the Western Union system. The telegraph business of the United States is at present controlled by the Western Union and Postal Telegraph-Cable companies. The former in 1901 had 193,589 miles of poles and cable, 972,766 miles of wire, 23,238 offices, transmitted 65,657,049 messages, had receipts aggregating $26,354,151, expenses amounting to $19,668,903, and profits of $6,685,248. The average toll per message in 1870 was 75.5 cents, while the cost of transmission was 51.2 cents. In 1900 these figures were 30.8 cents and 25.1 cents, respectively.
The Postal Telegraph-Cable Company in 1901 had in its system 43,850 miles of poles and cables. 243,423 miles of wire, 14,870 offices, and transmitted 17,898,073 messages.
Land Telegraph Systems of the World (1902)
STATEMENT SHOWING MILEAGE OF LINES AND NUMBER OF MESSAGES DELIVERED IN EACH COUNTRY OF THE WORLD; ALSO THE NUMBER OF MESSAGES PER CAPITA
| COUNTRIES | Miles of lines |
No. of messages sent |
Messages per capita |
| United Kingdom | 46,295 | 89,576,961 | 2.15 |
| United States | 219,938 | 83,555,122 | 1.08 |
| France | 90,170 | 48,144,151 | 1.25 |
| Germany | 81,303 | 38,342,455 | .68 |
| Austria-Hungary | 47,304 | 29,427,615 | .65 |
| Russia | 98,670 | 18,376,969 | .14 |
| Japan | 14,734 | 16,737,150 | .38 |
| Commonwealth of Australia | 44,501 | 8,987,846 | 2.39 |
| New Zealand | 7,249 | 9,898,128 | 5.05 |
| Italy | 26,427 | 7,896,081 | .24 |
| Belgium | 3,975 | [1]14,411,487 | 2.15 |
| Spain | 19.885 | [2]5,058,104 | .28 |
| Argentina | 27,584 | 3,427,664 | .71 |
| India | 52,909 | 6,237,301 | .03 |
| Netherlands | [3]3,831 | [3]5,393,872 | 1.04 |
| Mexico | [4]32,486 | 2,604,710 | .19 |
| Canada | 35,628 | 5,181,680 | .96 |
| Switzerland | 5,698 | 3,950,162 | 1.19 |
| Turkey | 23,440 | 3,624,775 | .14 |
| Bulgaria | 3,270 | 1,356,041 | .36 |
| Egypt | 2,365 | 4,250,571 | .44 |
| Roumania | 4,344 | 2,224,539 | .38 |
| Cape Colony | 7,467 | 3,562,039 | 1.51 |
| Sweden | 5,958 | 2,580,258 | .50 |
| Denmark | [3]2,413 | [3]2,317,979 | .94 |
| Norway | [5]9,040 | 2,267,915 | 1.01 |
| Portugal | 5,180 | 3,420,453 | .63 |
| Brazil | 12,630 | 2,662,711 | .02 |
| Chile | 14,592 | [6]1,286,936 | .41 |
| Greece | [7]5,300 | 1,771,606 | .73 |
| Servia | 2,550 | 1,079,435 | .43 |
| Guatemala | 3,400 | 796,192 | .51 |
| Cuba | 2,300 | ............... | ...... |
| Uruguay | 4,601 | 397,493 | .42 |
| Colombia | 8,600 | [8]555,000 | .14 |
| Persia | 4,800 | 152,837 | .08 |
| Peru | 1,933 | 121,492 | .03 |
| Paraguay | 600 | 83,560 | .16 |
| Venezuela | 3,882 | ............... | ...... |
In striking contrast to the system of private companies of the United States is the governmental control of the telegraphs as practiced in Great Britain and other European countries. In Great Britain previous to 1870 the telegraph business was controlled by private corporations, but in 1868 a bill was introduced into Parliament and passed in the following year whereby the lines and property were acquired by the Gov-
- ↑ Including official dispatches.
- ↑ Including international and official messages.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 State offices and State lines, respectively, only.
- ↑ Of which 19,085 miles were owned by the Federal Government.
- ↑ Including telephone lines and wires.
- ↑ Sent over State lines only.
- ↑ Including submarine lines.
- ↑ Estimated.
