York using private money, with Morse and the other patent holders to be awarded 50 percent of
the stock of each telegraph company formed in return for the patent rights. In May 1845, the Magnetic Telegraph Company was
formed, and by the autumn, lines were under construction toward Philadelphia, Boston, and Buffalo, and westward toward the
Mississippi.
Meanwhile, the postmaster general, Cave Johnson, the former congressman who had ridiculed the whole idea of the telegraph
two years earlier, decided that the time had come for the government to try to get some of its money back from the Washington-Baltimore
telegraph. He imposed a tariff of one cent for four characters, and on April 1, 1845, the line was officially opened for public
business. It was a financial failure: The line took one cent during its first four days of operation. A man with only a twenty-dollar
bill and one cent entered the Washington office and asked for a demonstration, so Vail offered him a half cent's worth of
telegraphy: He sent to Rogers in Baltimore the digit 4, which was short for "WHAT TIME IS IT?" and the answer, the digit 1,
meaning one "O'CLOCK," came back. This was hardly an impressive demonstration, since it was the same time in both cities,
and the customer left without even asking for his half cent change.
During the fifth day the telegraph took twelve and a half cents, and revenues rose slowly to reach $1.04 by the ninth day—hardly
big business. After three months the line had taken in $193.56 but had cost $1,859.05 to run. Congress decided to wash its
hands of the whole affair and handed the line over to Vail and Rogers, who agreed to maintain the line at their own expense
in return for the proceeds. In light of this development, Kendall's optimism that the telegraph would take off seemed unfounded.
But he knew what he was doing. By the following January, the Magnetic Telegraph Company's first link was completed between
New York and Philadelphia, and Kendall placed advertisements in the newspapers at both ends an nouncing the opening of the
line on January 27- The fee for a message was set at twenty-five cents for ten words.
The receipts for the first four days were an impressive $100. "When you consider," wrote the company treasurer, "that business
is extremely dull, we have not yet the confidence of the public and that on two of the four days we have been delayed and
lost business in Philadelphia through mismanagement, you will see we are all well satisfied with results so far. In one month
we shall be doing a $50 business a day."
I n BRITAIN, the tide had also turned for Cooke, who had scored a notable victory: He had actually persuaded the Admiralty
to sign a valuable contract for an eighty-eight-mile electric telegraph link between London and Portsmouth. Clearly, if he
could convince the Admiralty, he could convince anyone. The success of the line led to more business, and proposals were advanced
for a telegraph linking London with the key industrial centers of Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool—which would have obvious
commercial applications. Cooke had also signed up more railway companies, and hundreds of miles of line were soon under construction.
The arrest of Tawell had brought the electric telegraph to the attention of John Lewis Ricardo, a member of Parliament and
a prominent financier. He purchased a share of the patent rights to the telegraph from Cooke and Wheatstone, clearing Cooke's
debts and valuing their business at a hefty £144,000. In September 1845, Cooke and Ricardo set up the Electrical Telegraph
Company, which bought out Cooke and Wheatstone's patent rights altogether.
On both sides of the Atlantic, the electric telegraph was finally taking off.
4.
THE THRILL ELECTRIC
"We are one!" said the nations, and hand met hand, in a thrill electric from land to land.
—from "The Victory," a poem written in tribute to
Samuel Morse, 1873
N O INVENTION of
the stock of each telegraph company formed in return for the patent rights. In May 1845, the Magnetic Telegraph Company was
formed, and by the autumn, lines were under construction toward Philadelphia, Boston, and Buffalo, and westward toward the
Mississippi.
Meanwhile, the postmaster general, Cave Johnson, the former congressman who had ridiculed the whole idea of the telegraph
two years earlier, decided that the time had come for the government to try to get some of its money back from the Washington-Baltimore
telegraph. He imposed a tariff of one cent for four characters, and on April 1, 1845, the line was officially opened for public
business. It was a financial failure: The line took one cent during its first four days of operation. A man with only a twenty-dollar
bill and one cent entered the Washington office and asked for a demonstration, so Vail offered him a half cent's worth of
telegraphy: He sent to Rogers in Baltimore the digit 4, which was short for "WHAT TIME IS IT?" and the answer, the digit 1,
meaning one "O'CLOCK," came back. This was hardly an impressive demonstration, since it was the same time in both cities,
and the customer left without even asking for his half cent change.
During the fifth day the telegraph took twelve and a half cents, and revenues rose slowly to reach $1.04 by the ninth day—hardly
big business. After three months the line had taken in $193.56 but had cost $1,859.05 to run. Congress decided to wash its
hands of the whole affair and handed the line over to Vail and Rogers, who agreed to maintain the line at their own expense
in return for the proceeds. In light of this development, Kendall's optimism that the telegraph would take off seemed unfounded.
But he knew what he was doing. By the following January, the Magnetic Telegraph Company's first link was completed between
New York and Philadelphia, and Kendall placed advertisements in the newspapers at both ends an nouncing the opening of the
line on January 27- The fee for a message was set at twenty-five cents for ten words.
The receipts for the first four days were an impressive $100. "When you consider," wrote the company treasurer, "that business
is extremely dull, we have not yet the confidence of the public and that on two of the four days we have been delayed and
lost business in Philadelphia through mismanagement, you will see we are all well satisfied with results so far. In one month
we shall be doing a $50 business a day."
I n BRITAIN, the tide had also turned for Cooke, who had scored a notable victory: He had actually persuaded the Admiralty
to sign a valuable contract for an eighty-eight-mile electric telegraph link between London and Portsmouth. Clearly, if he
could convince the Admiralty, he could convince anyone. The success of the line led to more business, and proposals were advanced
for a telegraph linking London with the key industrial centers of Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool—which would have obvious
commercial applications. Cooke had also signed up more railway companies, and hundreds of miles of line were soon under construction.
The arrest of Tawell had brought the electric telegraph to the attention of John Lewis Ricardo, a member of Parliament and
a prominent financier. He purchased a share of the patent rights to the telegraph from Cooke and Wheatstone, clearing Cooke's
debts and valuing their business at a hefty £144,000. In September 1845, Cooke and Ricardo set up the Electrical Telegraph
Company, which bought out Cooke and Wheatstone's patent rights altogether.
On both sides of the Atlantic, the electric telegraph was finally taking off.
4.
THE THRILL ELECTRIC
"We are one!" said the nations, and hand met hand, in a thrill electric from land to land.
—from "The Victory," a poem written in tribute to
Samuel Morse, 1873
N O INVENTION of
Similar Books
