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Telegraph Dbq

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Economic Discussion Prior to the electric telegraph, a long-distant message might be received through one of the following: fires, beacons, pigeon posts, or semaphores. At this point, the latest semaphore was recorded sending a message from Paris to Liles in under thirty two minutes. Before the telegraph, America used the Pony Express which delivered mail by horse. A message would be delivered by a series of men over a period of time before the message was received. This invaded privacy; also, depending on location, the message may take up to a week to be received. In 1860, Congress authorized a bill instructing the secretary of the treasury to subsidize the building of a transcontinental telegraph line to connect the Missouri River and the …show more content…

Messages sent over its lines increased from 5.8 million in 1867 to 63.2 million in 1900. Over the same period, transmission rates fell from an average of $1.09 to 30 cents per message. This was a result from economies of scale. “Even with these lower prices, roughly 30 to 40 cents of every dollar of revenue were net profit for the company” (Nonnenmacher). The telegraph and the railroads quickly became partners. The telegraph needed to take advantage of the land rights railroads obtained through the government and the railroads needed the ability to communicate instantaneously to coordinate arrival and departure times. Before the telegraph, trains running in the opposite or same direction would often run into each other. According to Nonnenmacher, the railroad had two options, to double-tracking the U.S. rail system which estimated to cost $957 million or to use Western Union at $123 million. Therefore, telegraph stations would often be at the train station. At this time, small towns would form in close proximity to a train. These telegraph stations created a multitude of jobs. Those to operate, many to do clerical work, and those to train. In addition to these, there was miles of wire needed, and construction sprung all over the nation. By 1850, nine out of every ten adult white Americans could read, and millions bought books (Aboukhadijeh). This gave white Americans a competitive advantage for telegraph operations or clerical work. The prior jobs held by these whites would be open, and the new construction jobs. During this time, a huge influx of immigrants came to the United States; therefore, human capital was more than available to fill all these

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