Part 12
There are in operation in Europe fifty-five submarine cables, varying in length from three to 1,500 miles, and containing a total length of over 11,000 miles of insulated wire, nearly all of which were laid and are owned by English capitalists. The success of the Atlantic cables, also laid by English companies, is another illustration of what can be accomplished by private enterprise untrammelled by governmental interference; and affords a striking contrast to the fate of the Red Sea cable laid by the British government, and which has proved one of the greatest failures recorded in the annals of submarine telegraphy. This cable, which was to connect Suez and Kurrachee, 3,500 miles in length, was laid in five sections, but never worked a day through its entire length.
For some unexplained reason the British post-office department has been determined to absorb the telegraph system of the United Kingdom, and through the indefatigable efforts of Mr. Scudamore, one of the secretaries of the department, the British government was finally induced to purchase the property of all the telegraph companies in the kingdom, and thus monopolize the business. The price to be paid for the lines is twenty times the net earnings of the companies for the past year.
That the English government has made a serious mistake in assuming the control of the telegraph we have no question; but its operation will be better in its hands than it would be in that of our government, for the reason that its employees are not removed with every change of administration, as government officials are in the United States.
_Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in Great Britain and Ireland._
┌─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐ │ YEAR. │ No. of │No. of Miles │No. of Miles │ No. of │ │ │ Offices. │ of Line. │ of Wire. │ Messages. │ ├─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤ │ 1860│ 1,032│ 10,854│ 51,556│ 1,863,839│ │ 1861│ 1,391│ 11,538│ 55,004│ 2,123,589│ │ 1862│ 1,616│ 12,711│ 57,879│ 2,676,352│ │ 1863│ 1,755│ 13,944│ 65,726│ 3,186,724│ │ 1864│ 1,831│ 14,981│ 72,374│ 3,924,855│ │ 1865│ 2,040│ 16,066│ 77,440│ 4,662,687│ │ 1866│ 2,151│ 16,588│ 80,466│ 5,781,189│ └─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘
FRANCE.
The French system of telegraphs comprised, in 1866, 20,628 miles of route, 68,687 miles of wire, and 1,209 stations open to the public. The number of messages amounted to 2,842,554. The gross receipts for the year were 7,707,590, and the expenditures were 8,983,460, showing a loss for the year of 1,275,870.
The receipts are divided as follows:—
301 stations collect less than 200 francs each. 179 stations collect from 200 to 500 francs each. 185 stations collect from 500 to 1,000 francs each. 354 stations collect from 1,000 to 5,000 francs each. 84 stations collect from 5,000 to 10,000 francs each. 63 stations collect from 10,000 to 30,000 francs each. 17 stations collect from 30,000 to 50,000 francs each. 12 stations collect from 50,000 to 100,000 francs each. 6 stations collect from 100,000 to 200,000 francs each. 4 stations collect from 200,000 to 300,000 francs each. 2 stations collect from 300,000 to 400,000 francs each. 1 stations collect 527,000 1 stations collect 620,000 ————— 1,209 total.
These stations are situated in 89 departments, viz.:—
1. Départment de la Seine, collecting 2,822,367 francs. 2. „ Bouches de Rhone, „ 747,228 „ 3. „ Seine inférieure, „ 608,737 „ 4. „ Rhone, „ 348,514 „ 5. „ Nord, „ 265,705 „ 6. „ Gironde, „ 260,615 „ 7. „ Loire inférieure, „ 139,797 „ 8. „ Haut Rhin, „ 135,483 „ 9. „ Hèrault, „ 134,388 „ 10. „ Alpes Maritimes, „ 101,183 „
Nine other departments collect annually between 90,000 down to 50,000 francs, the remaining seventy from 49,000 down to 4,653 francs.
Paris (Départment de la Seine) has forty-six stations within the fortifications. The gross receipts amounted, in 1866, to 2,794,768.40 francs, being more than one third of the total receipts of the whole empire.
The receipts in Paris are divided as follows:—
Place de la Bourse, 527,906 francs. Rue de la Grenelle, 283,972 „ Grand Hotel, 271,880 „ Rue Lafayette, 250,967 „ Rue J. J. Rousseau, 198,465 „ Rue St. Cécile, 139,916 „ Aux Champs Elysées, 131,059 „
Six other stations collect from 85,000 to 50,000, six from 50,000 to 20,000; the remainder from 19,000 down to 2,123 francs.
The telegraph system of France constitutes a distinct department of the government service under Viscount A. de Vougy as Director-General. Under him are five general inspectors, forming a kind of council, nine division inspectors, seventy-five inspectors, thirty-eight sub-inspectors, and one electrical engineer. There are altogether 3,708 persons on the staff.
DECREES REGULATING THE USE OF THE TELEGRAPH IN FRANCE.
The following is a digest of the decrees issued by the French government regulating the use of the telegraph in the empire.
_1st._ All persons whose identity is established are allowed to correspond by the government electric telegraph.
_2d._ Private correspondence is always subordinate to the necessity of government service.
_3d._ Despatches are to be written in _ordinary and intelligible language_, dated and signed by the sender, and to be given to the officer of the telegraph station, whose duty it is to _copy in full the despatch_, with the address of the sender.
_4th._ The director of a station may, on grounds of public order and morality, _refuse to transmit a despatch_. In case of dispute, reference is to be made, in Paris, to the minister of the interior; in the provinces to the prefect, sub-prefect, or other constituted authority. On the receipt of a despatch, the director of the station may _withhold its delivery_ for like reasons.
_5th._ Private correspondence may be suspended at any time by the government. _The government will not assume any responsibility for errors in the transmission of despatches._
_6th._ The director of the station must be satisfied as to the identity of the sender’s signature. If the director refuses the transmission of a message, he must state his reason in writing on the despatch. He must indorse on it “political,” “offensive,” “not consistent with public good,” etc.
_7th._ No line of electric telegraph can be established or employed for the transmission of correspondence except by the government, or on its authority. _Any person transmitting, without authority, signals from one place to another, whether by electric telegraph, or in any other way, is liable to imprisonment from one month to a year, and a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 francs, and the government may order the destruction of the apparatus and telegraph employed._
_8th._ Any one _accidentally_ interrupting the correspondence of the electric telegraph, or injuring in any way the lines or apparatus, is liable to a fine of from 16 to 3,000 francs.
_9th._ Any one wilfully causing an interruption, by injuring the lines or apparatus, is punishable by imprisonment from three months to two years, and a fine of 100 to 1,000 francs. Any one who shall menace an operator during periods of insurrectionary movements is subject to a fine of 1,000 to 5,000 francs.
_10th._ Written statements by telegraph officers to be received as evidence in all complaints.
_11th._ Reimbursements of charges on despatches, in consequence of delays or errors in transmission, cannot be made except by the administration. When a despatch is withdrawn by the forwarder before transmission, the expense of delivery only can be refunded.
The charge on despatches sent in the night will be double the usual tariff for the day business (the exact opposite of the American rule).
PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE FRENCH TELEGRAPH.
The telegraph lines in France are nearly all owned and managed by the government. The English Submarine Company, however, is a private enterprise, and works from Paris through Calais to the United Kingdom. There is also another company organized under permission of the imperial government, for the extension of the lines into the French colonies of Africa. This association is called the Mediterranean Electric Telegraph Company, and it has constructed its line from Spezzia, in Sardinia, across Corsica, Sardinia, and the Mediterranean, to Bóne, in Africa.
The telegraph in France is regarded as one of the most important arms of the government, and the wires are known as the _fingers of the police_. The Emperor would no sooner relinquish their control than he would that of his armies. By imperial decree, every operator is created a spy in the service of the government. The wires from every part of France centre in the imperial chamber, and not a message passes throughout the empire which is not examined by government inspectors.
Of the promptness, regularity, or correctness with which French telegraphs are conducted no proof is given by which superior excellence is established. There is nothing in the whole exhibit, or in the actual working of the French telegraphs, which presents any reason for the assumption that governments manage telegraphs better than the people.
TABLE J.
_Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in France._
┌───────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐ │ │ Number of │Gross Receipts in│Average Cost per │ │ DATE. │ Messages. │ Francs. │ Message in │ │ │ │ │ Francs. │ ├───────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ 1851│ 9,014│ 76,722│ 7.84│ │ 1852│ 48,105│ 542,891│ 11.28│ │ 1853│ 142,061│ 1,511,909│ 10.64│ │ 1854│ 236,018│ 2,064,983│ 8.74│ │ 1855│ 254,532│ 2,487,159│ 9.77│ │ 1856│ 360,299│ 3,191,102│ 8.68│ │ 1857│ 412,616│ 3,333,695│ 8.06│ │ 1858│ 463,973│ 3,516,633│ 7.60│ │ 1859│ 598,701│ 4,022,799│ 6.72│ │ 1860│ 720,250│ 4,188,065│ 5.81│ │ 1861│ 920,357│ 4,919,737│ 5.34│ │ 1862│ 1,518,044│ 5,302,440│ 3.49│ │ 1863│ 1,754,867│ 5,937,904│ 3.38│ │ 1864│ 1,967,748│ 6,123,272│ 3.13│ │ 1865│ 2,473,747│ 7,052,139│ 2.88│ │ 1866│ 2,842,554│ 7,707,590│ 2.79│ └───────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘
INCREASE IN TELEGRAMS NOT DUE TO LOW RATES.
It will be observed, by an examination of the above table, that low tariffs are not the only causes of the enlarged use of the telegraph. The annual percentage of increase in messages, as tariffs were gradually reduced, was vastly less than during those years when the rates remained unchanged. During the year of 1851 only 9,014 telegrams were transmitted through the French empire, the tariff averaging $1.60 per message. Five years later, notwithstanding that the average cost per message had been _increased_ to $1.73, the number of messages had increased to 360,299, and in 1858 to 463,973,—more than fifty times the number sent in 1851, or _an increase of more than five thousand per cent in eight years, without any reduction in rates_. The increase in the number of messages during the next eight years, from 1858 to 1866, was only six hundred per cent, notwithstanding a reduction in the tariff from 7.60 to 2.79 francs.
This same peculiarity of increase, without regard to the cost, is also observable in all other countries, as will be seen by a perusal of the official tables.
TABLE K.
_Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in France._
┌─────┬────────────────────────────┐ │DATE.│Number of Messages Annually.│ │ │ │ ├─────┼─────────┬────────┬─────────┤ │ │ Home. │Foreign.│ Total. │ ├─────┼─────────┼────────┼─────────┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1851│ │ │ 9,014│ │ 1852│ │ │ 48,105│ │ 1853│ │ │ 142,061│ │ 1854│ │ │ 236,018│ │ 1855│ │ │ 254,532│ │ 1856│ │ │ 360,299│ │ 1857│ │ │ 413,616│ │ 1858│ 349,887│ 114,086│ 463,973│ │ 1859│ 453,998│ 144,703│ 598,701│ │ 1860│ 568,365│ 151,885│ 720,250│ │ 1861│ 734,252│ 186,357│ 920,357│ │ 1862│1,291,774│ 226,270│1,518,044│ │ 1863│1,490,023│ 264,844│1,754,867│ │ 1864│1,654,406│ 313,342│1,967,748│ │ 1865│2,098,645│ 375,102│2,473,747│ │ 1866│2,379,631│ 462,873│2,842,554│ └─────┴─────────┴────────┴─────────┘
┌─────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────┐ │DATE.│ Gross Receipts per Annum in Francs. │ Average Cost per │ │ │ │ Message. │ ├─────┼────────────┬────────────┬────────────┼─────┬────────┬──────┤ │ │ Home. │ Foreign. │ Total. │Home.│Foreign.│Total.│ ├─────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼─────┼────────┼──────┤ │ │ Fr. ct. │ Fr. ct. │ Fr. ct. │ Fr. │Fr. ct. │ Fr. │ │ │ │ │ │ ct. │ │ ct. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1851│ │ │ 76,722.60│ │ │ 7.84│ │ 1852│ │ │ 542,891.58│ │ │ 11.28│ │ 1853│ │ │1,511,909.57│ │ │ 10.64│ │ 1854│ │ │2,064,983.71│ │ │ 8.84│ │ 1855│ │ │2,487,159.21│ │ │ 9.77│ │ 1856│ │ │3,191,102.04│ │ │ 8.68│ │ 1857│ │ │3,333,695.74│ │ │ 8.06│ │ 1858│1,749,913.35│1,721,715.35│3,516,633.70│ 5.13│ 15.09│ 7.60│ │ 1859│2,072,314.15│1,950,485.63│4,022,799.78│ 4.57│ 13.48│ 6.72│ │ 1860│2,358,525.21│1,829,540.05│4,188,065.26│ 4.15│ 12.05│ 5.81│ │ 1861│2,840,445.84│2,079,292.12│4,919,737.86│ 3.82│ 11.16│ 5.34│ │ 1862│2,984,490.21│2,317,950.34│5,302,440.55│ 2.31│ 10.24│ 3.49│ │ 1863│3,305,993.85│2,631,911.08│5,937,904.93│ 2.22│ 9.94│ 3.38│ │ 1864│3,565,933.68│2,557,338.38│6,123,272.06│ 2.15│ 8.16│ 3.13│ │ 1865│4,159,445.45│2,892,694.34│7,052,139.79│ 1.98│ 7.71│ 2.88│ │ 1866│4,513,095.32│3,194,495.29│7,707,590.61│ 1.90│ 6.90│ 2.79│ └─────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴─────┴────────┴──────┘
GREECE.
The Kingdom of Greece has twelve telegraph stations. All the messages between the Greek and European lines pass through Turkey, and consequently the rate is very high. It is proposed to establish a direct line between Greece and Southern Italy by continuing the Corfu cable to Pauras or Missolonghi, across the Ionian Islands.
PRUSSIA.
In Prussia the number of messages transmitted in 1866, the last year of which we have data, was 1,964,030, and the gross receipts were 1,275,785 thalers, making the average cost per message seventy cents in our currency. Prussia had in that year a population of 17,740,000, and the area of her territory was somewhat less than the New England States and New York. Distance being regarded, the Prussian rates were at that period double our own.
TABLE L.
_Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in Prussia._
┌───────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐ │ │ Number of │Gross Receipts in│Average Cost per │ │ DATE. │ Messages. │ Thalers. │ Message in │ │ │ │ │ Thalers. │ ├───────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ 1852│ 48,751│ 114,539│ 2.350│ │ 1853│ 85,161│ 209,944│ 2.460│ │ 1854│ 116,313│ 328,506│ 2.820│ │ 1855│ 152,820│ 434,122│ 2.840│ │ 1856│ 221,411│ 591,038│ 2.670│ │ 1857│ 241,545│ 726,517│ 3.010│ │ 1858│ 247,202│ 730,584│ 2.950│ │ 1859│ 349,997│ 808,521│ 2.310│ │ 1860│ 384,335│ 791,101│ 2.060│ │ 1861│ 459,002│ 875,783│ 1.988│ │ 1862│ 660,501│ 954,550│ 1.450│ │ 1863│ 877,583│ 1,039,961│ 1.180│ │ 1864│ 1,259,590│ 1,150,008│ 0.913│ │ 1865│ 1,527,455│ 1,242,489│ 0.812│ │ 1866│ 1,964,030│ 1,275,785│ 0.656│ └───────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘
It will be observed that the number of messages transmitted in 1852 was 48,751, and in 1860, 384,335, being an increase in nine years of nearly 800 per cent, although there was no reduction in the average tariff during this period. From 1860 to 1866 there was an increase of only 500 per cent, notwithstanding a reduction in the rates from 2.06 to 0.656 thalers per message.
Prussia was among the earliest of Continental countries to adopt the electric telegraph, and it is still far in advance of most of its neighbors in the practical development of the enterprise; and yet, with a population more than half as great as the United States, she only transmits one sixth as many messages per annum. Were the system left to private enterprise, as in this country, there can be no doubt that this enlightened and thrifty people would greatly extend the system, and in place of the meagre supply of 538 offices she would have upwards of 2,000, and in place of 1,964,030 messages per annum would transmit seven or eight millions.
RUSSIA.
European Russia, with a population considerably more than twice as great as the United States, contains but 308 offices, or one to 230,000 of people; and sends annually but 838,653 messages, or one to each 80,723 of her population.
Any person examining the telegraphic map of Russia will be satisfied that the rose-colored descriptions of government telegraphs as illustrated in Russia are overdrawn. The lines radiating from St. Petersburg, and extending to Warsaw, Moscow, Odessa, Sebastopol, Nichni-Novgorod, to the Persian frontier, and to Kiakhta in Siberia,—all important military points,—and with scarcely any connecting interior lines, suggest anything but a desire to afford ample telegraphic facilities to the people.
SWITZERLAND.
The situation of Switzerland, in the centre of Europe, and forming the pathway between nations, places her in a peculiar position with reference to the transmission of messages from one country to another. Just as Belgium is situated in relation to intercourse between France and Germany, so Switzerland is placed in regard to telegraphic communication between France and Italy, and Italy and Germany. Switzerland, from many circumstances, is a country in which telegraphic communication is eminently useful. In the first place it is a mountainous country, over which postal communication is necessarily slow, and conducted at all seasons under disadvantages. Besides all this, Switzerland, at certain seasons of the year, is a country full of travellers and tourists from all parts of the world, who find great advantage and convenience in being able to transmit short messages from one place to another, respecting hotel accommodations, baggage arrangements, lost packages, horses, places in the diligence, and general matters relating to their route, as well as business and social messages to their relatives, friends, and agents at home.
Switzerland is in the same position with Belgium in respect to the means of cheap telegraphic communication. The railways of the country all belong to the state; so that every railway is available, without charge, for the passage of wires along the line, and every railway official may be employed for telegraphic service, at the pleasure of the government, for nothing. It is scarcely necessary to point out how different must be the working of such a system from that of the United States, where the railways are in the hands of private companies, and with whom terms have to be made for the right of way.
NO ANALOGY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SWITZERLAND.
The analogy between the United States and Switzerland seems in every sense imperfect. The telegraph stations in Switzerland only number 252, or less than the number contained within a radius of fifty miles in and around the city of New York.
The total number of despatches transmitted annually in and through Switzerland only amounted in 1866 to 668,916, whilst of these probably more than half were either transit or international. These transit telegrams, of which there are none in our country, involve a most important difference. Belgium and Switzerland can make up the deficiencies which arise from losses on internal communication by the surplus derived from transit telegrams.
In 1852 the average number of messages per day, for all Switzerland, was less than ten. As the system became extended, and the people were educated to its use, the number of messages increased, until in 1866 they exceeded 2,000 per day, approximating, for the entire country, the number sent and received daily by fifteen female operators in one of the rooms of the Western Union Telegraph Company, in the city of New York. Probably one half of these were transit messages passing through Switzerland from stations in France, Belgium, and Italy, leaving about 1,000 messages per day of inland business, which, divided among 252 offices, would leave an average of a little less than _four messages per day for each office_! This is not a very magnificent result, and is not over encouraging as a model system, which gives to its twenty-five cantons ten offices, with an average revenue from each; for inland business, of only three francs per day! And this, notwithstanding that the government coaches convey, without any extra charge, messages, from towns unsupplied with offices, to the nearest telegraph station.
TABLE M.
_Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in Switzerland._