INCORRECT ASSERTION THAT AMERICAN TELEGRAPHS ARE NOT CONSTRUCTED ACCORDING TO SPECIFICATIONS.
Mr. Washburne says:—
“The officers of the telegraph companies, whose elaborate statement is also forwarded by the Postmaster-General, estimate as follows:—
“‘Cost of construction, including engineering, patents, and franchises, per mile: one wire—six wires.
“‘The cost of building lines varies according to locality, timber, method, nature of the ground, and the wires to be borne.
“‘A line from New York to Washington should be of the best class, and would be represented by the following figures:—
| 43 poles delivered at stations, | $161.25 |
| 129 arms, complete, | 129.00 |
| 43 holes, five feet deep, tools, &c., | 30.00 |
| Labor,—handling, preparing, erecting, &c., | 25.00 |
| Six wires, at twelve cents per pound, | 240.00 |
| Labor,—wiring, transportation, &c., | 30.00 |
| Distributing poles, | 25.00 |
| Superintendence, &c., | 25.00 |
| 665.25 | |
| 240 miles at $665.25, Washington to New York, | $159,660 |
| Lines through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, | 16,000 |
| 22 cables at rivers south of the Hudson, | 20,000 |
| Cable at Hudson River, house, boats, &c., | 8,000 |
| $203,660 | |
“‘The cost of franchises and patents cannot be given.
“‘Such a line built by government, carefully, and with reference to permanence, with six wires, would cost $250,000.
“‘If, however, it is seriously contemplated by the government to construct lines along the great commercial routes, and if it be the design in so doing to remove from the system, by every attainable appliance or improvement, all its ascertained defects, a structure of larger poles, and wires of superior conducting qualities, will be built. Such a line should be constructed of the most solid and durable wood, such as the black locust, so that masses of sleet or moist snow, so destructive to present lines, would leave it uninjured. Heavier wires also, which, by their increased conducting capacity, would give greater facility and certainty to transmission, should be used.
“‘These improvements, with greater care taken in the execution of the work than in that of ordinary structures, will, of course, increase its cost in proportion to the care bestowed. And should the government determine to provide facilities equal to those now proffered by private companies, it would be necessary to erect at least five lines of poles bearing six wires each, that being the number (thirty in all) now in use between New York and Washington by all the companies.
“‘A common wire line, intended to bear one, and not more than two wires, can be built for $150 to $180 per mile, the wire being number nine, galvanized, the poles of limited size, and costing not over $1.25 each.’
“It nowhere appears that such lines as all these writers insist shall be built by the government have ever been built in this or any other country. They seem to have taken it as matter of course that the government, if the experiment proposed should be tried, will depart from the usual method of construction and build the novel and costly structures for which their estimates are made. One looks in vain in the communication sent to Congress by the Postmaster-General for any reliable information as to the cost of a telegraphic line, constructed as such lines are in this and other countries, and such a line as the government, if it should be determined to build an experimental line, would probably build.”