Telegraph office

“ THE improvements in telegraphy, about which the public has lately been learning a good deal through the newspapers, really constitute a remarkable element of progress, and are deserving of separate consideration. With the fire-alarm, domestic, and district telegraphs in our cities, the reduced rates and increased efficiency of the great lines and the further improvements promised us, it does not seem too much to expect that the telegraph will soon rival the post-office and the press as a bearer and diffuser of intelligence. ”

“ The men were on free and easy terms with most of the business men in their locality, and presents and Christmas-boxes of a substantial nature often came to them in the form of provisions, &c., in recognition of services rendered in emergency. There was generally a telegraph office at the more important railway stations throughout the kingdom, and the railway officials commonly extended privileges to the telegraph companies’ operators. ”

“ Parliament also insisted upon cheap Press telegrams, which are a loss to the Post Office, though a great gain to the public. And as a contributory cause to the loss must be mentioned the telephone itself, which has to a certain extent destroyed the most remunerative portion of telegraph work, the transmission of short messages. Nearly every village has its telegraph. Numbers of offices are kept open all night. The railway companies have an immense free service over the whole Post Office system. ”

“ What is protected is the message itself throughout the course of its transmission by the instrumentality or agency of transmission. [6] Words written by a person and intended ultimately to be carried as so written to a telegraph office do not constitute a communication within the terms of the Act until they are handed to an agent of the telegraph company. Words spoken in a room in the presence of another into a telephone receiver do not constitute a communication by wire within the meaning of the section. ”

“ Errors are less frequent by telegraph than by telephone, and there is always a record of every message. The most modern forms of telephone communication are, however, more suitable for the fire service than the telegraph. Headquarters should be in direct communication with every station, but every station should be able to communicate with its neighbour directly, as well as through the headquarters office, and there should be a direct wire to its district station if it has one. ”

“ In the sphere of telegraphy the progress has not been less marked. Unlike Canada and the United States, but as in the mother country and most other countries, the telegraphs are under the control of the government, and administered by the postmaster general. Until 1901, this was not the case. By a concession granted by the legislature in 1854, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company obtained the exclusive privilege of communicating abroad by telegraphy, and of erecting and operating lines within the colony. ”

“ And it is the quantity of such stories that adds to the reporter's much desired revenue.
291. Stories by Telephone.—The telephone is used when the mails are too slow or a telegraph office is not convenient, or when there is need of getting into personal communication with the office. In using the telephone one caution only may be given, that the correspondent should never call up the state editor with merely a jumble of facts at hand. Long-distance messages are costly and editors watch all calls closely in an effort to reduce tolls to a minimum. ”

“ She took a florin from her bag and wrapped it up in the telegraph form. She had no exact idea as to how she should get the message sent to the telegraph office, and it was Sunday, when all telegraph offices would be closed. Nor was there any immediate prospect of her finding a messenger. She supposed that tradesmen came to the house and that the kitchen door was somewhere under her window, but tradesmen do not call on Sundays. She held the little package irresolutely in her hand. She must take her chance to-day. ”

“ Practically every New Zealand post office is a telegraph office, a telephone office, a savings bank, a government life-insurance and pension agency, and a money-order office, [Pg 201] so you see postman and postmaster have plenty to do. There are now government telephones almost everywhere, although they are not so numerous in proportion to the population as they are in the United States. Telephones are still considered somewhat in the class of luxuries. In the hotels, for example, one rarely sees a telephone in every room, but there will be an instrument in the hall on each floor. ”

“ E. Trenam, Controller London Central Telegraph Office, testifying that because of danger that in the immediate future there would be a lack of telegraph clerks who had a knowledge of the technics of telegraphy, Mr. W. H. Preece, Engineer-in-Chief, had caused a special increase in pay—$26 a year—to be offered to men who should acquire such knowledge. The witness added that “unfortunately many of the men who have [acquired] this knowledge are comparative juniors, and we are compelled to put them to work which those receiving higher pay are incompetent to perform. ”

“ The necessity of making money is the only effective incentive to sound management.
The consideration of the reasons for the financial failure of the State telegraphs may begin with the discussion of the effect of the building of unremunerative extensions. In 1873 the Treasury Department forced the Post Office Department to abandon the doctrine that every place with a money order issuing post office was of right entitled to a telegraph office. ”

“ I made the acquaintance of Ben Mayberry under peculiar circumstances. I had charge of the Western Union’s telegraph office in Damietta, where my duties were of the most exacting nature. I was kept hard at work through the winter months, and more of it crowded on me during the spring than I could manage with comfort. ”

“ When the telegraph was invented, in 1847, the first line between Washington and Baltimore was built through an appropriation authorized by Congress. Then, as now, there were public men who advocated government ownership of the wire systems as a means of communication, the same as the postal service. ”

“ When I discovered that the seedy lounger about our office had carefully taken down the cipher telegram addressed to Burkhill, I was indignant, for it was well known that one of the most important duties which the telegraph companies insist upon is the inviolability of the messages intrusted to their wires. Nothing less 58 than a peremptory order from the court is sufficient to produce the telegrams placed in our care. ”

“ Early in 1919 the Post-office Department used the wireless telegraph in connection with air mail service. A central station is located in the Post-office Department Building at Washington, and other stations are located in cities near the transcontinental air mail route from New York City to San Francisco. Experiments are being made with the wireless as a means of directing airplanes in flight, especially during foggy and stormy weather, and it is expected planes will ultimately be equipped with either wireless telegraph or telephone outfits. ”

“ If he travels, as he often does in his own elegant private car, his mail is delivered at important stations all along the road. Being in constant communication with all departments of the System by telegraph, telephone, or messenger, his mail is forwarded to him promptly at all railroad stations named for its delivery, is examined and replied to as readily as if in his main office in New York City, for he has an office, desk, and all needed facilities in his car for sending out telegrams, letters, or messages from the different stations by the way. ”

“ An express delivery messenger has been used, ere now, for the convoy of a traveller from point to point in a town unknown to him or her. The Post Office is often required to assist even more closely in the domestic relations of life. Recently a gentleman from America wrote to the Clifton Post Office to enquire whether a certain near relative of his could be found, as he was very anxious to see her before return to America. He enclosed a shilling stamp for a reply by telegraph, and begged for urgency. ”

“ Mr. Scudamore began by assuming that the Post Office would take charge of the telegraphs on July 1, 1869; and that by that time the telegraph companies would have developed a business of 7,500,000 messages a year. On the basis of the traffic of 1866, and under the companies’ charges, 55 per cent. of the business would consist of messages carried 100 miles or less, which would be charged 24 cents each; 30 per cent. would be messages carried from 100 to 200 miles, being charged 36 cents each; 10 per cent. would be messages carried beyond 200 miles, which would be charged 48 cents ”

“ In pursuance of the report of the select committee, 1898, the Telegraph Act 1899 was passed to enable the Post Office to develop its telephone exchange business, for which a loan of £2,000,000 was sanctioned, and to empower local authorities, subject to certain conditions, to enter upon telephone business. The licence of the National Telephone Company was extended so as to be co-extensive with that of a competitive licence for any locality on condition that the company should afford intercommunication with the telephone systems of the new licensees. ”

“ Underground Telephone Wires. Underneath the streets of London are miles and miles of telephone wires. This is a section of the lines running beneath the Kingsway, and the operators are at work repairing the wires.
Some people give way handsomely when they find there is no chance of standing out successfully. Under 199the Telegraph Construction Act (1908) the Department has certain powers of compulsion. Representations were made to a lady but she took no heed of them, and a notice was served on her by the Solicitor of the Department. ”

“ The transfer, however, has been a great boon to the nation, and has enabled the postal and telegraph system of Great Britain and Ireland to become the largest and most complete organisation for the transmission of messages in the world. The immense increase in business would, however, have been impossible but for the advances made since the transfer in telegraphic apparatus, and in wire values, such as the introduction of the duplex, quadruplex, and multiplex systems, which allow of a single wire being electrically split up for the simultaneous transmission of a number of currents. ”

“ Most of these were taught in our offices at Pittsburgh. The telegraph business continued to increase with startling rapidity. We could scarcely provide facilities fast enough. New telegraph offices were required. My fellow messenger-boy, "Davy" McCargo, I appointed superintendent of the telegraph department March 11, 1859. I have been told that "Davy" and myself are entitled to the credit of being the first to employ young women as telegraph operators in the United States upon railroads, or perhaps in any branch. ”

“ For several centuries the Post Office was simply a carrier of letters, and it is difficult to realise that a larger portion of its effective work depends at the present day on the skill of the engineer. Since 1870 a sum of over £100,000,000 has been expended in the purchase, maintenance, and extension of telegraph and telephone business, and the expenditure on telephone maintenance alone up to the end of 1908 amounted to nearly £8,000,000. ”

“ Now to deal successfully with the vast amount of telegraph traffic which passes throughout the United Kingdom and to and from the Continent it is of course essential that there should be one large depôt to act as the chief transmitting centre. ”

“ The Telephone Company, Limited, was formed in 1878 to acquire Bell's patent, and in 1879 the Edison Telephone Company of London was formed. By this time it was being generally discussed whether these people were not poaching on the manor of the Postmaster-General. 184That official asked Parliament to insert a clause in a Telegraph Bill which was under discussion declaring that “the term 'telegraph' included any apparatus for transmitting messages or other communications with the aid of electricity, magnetism, or any like agency.” ”

“ The applicant's ardour to see his relative cooled, or his stay in the country was abridged, for instead of paying the proposed visit, he begged the Post Office officials to expend five shillings, which he sent, in the purchase of cut roses for his relative. Of course, this was outside the round of Post Office duties, but the clerks obligingly attended to it, with the aid of a telegraph messenger who was off duty at the moment.
Occasional mistakes are not to be wondered at when people write illegibly. ”

“ The telegraph and telephone are nationalized and are controlled and operated by the Government, though there are also some private telephone lines in the capital. The national telegraph lines have a total length of about 5,300 kilometers, 3,290 miles, and the telephone lines of 500 kilometers, 310 miles. The number of telegrams transmitted in a given year was 1,106,832. The Government is constantly constructing new lines both for telegraph and telephone service. At the present time there are nearly 200 telegraph offices and about 100 telephone offices. ”