New York City University, Sept. 27, 1837.
Dear Sir: In reply to the inquiries which you have done me the honor to make, in asking my opinion “of the propriety of establishing a system of telegraphs for the United States,” I would say, in regard to the general question, that I believe there can scarcely be two opinions, in such a community as ours, in regard to the advantage which would result, both to the Government and the public generally, from the establishment of a system of communication by which the most speedy intercourse may be had between the most distant parts of the country. The mail system, it seems to me, is founded on the universally admitted principle, that the greater the speed with which intelligence can be transmitted from point to point, the greater is the benefit derived to the whole community. The only question that remains, therefore, is, what system is best calculated, from its completeness and cheapness, to effect this desirable end?
With regard to telegraphs constructed on the ordinary principles, however perfected within the limits in which they are necessarily confined, the most perfect of them are liable to one insurmountable objection—they are useless the greater part of the time. In foggy weather, and ordinarily during the night no intelligence can be transmitted. Even when they can transmit, much time is consumed in communicating but little, and that little not always precise.
Having invented an entirely new mode of telegraphic communication, which, so far as experiments have yet been made with it, promises results of almost marvellous character, I beg leave to present to the Department a brief account of its chief characteristics.
About five years ago, on my voyage home from Europe, the electrical experiment of Franklin, upon a wire some four miles in length was casually recalled to my mind in a conversation with one of the passengers, in which experiment it was ascertained that the electricity travelled through the whole circuit in a time not appreciable, but apparently instantaneous. It immediately occurred to me, that if the presence of electricity could be made visible in any desired part of this circuit, it would not be difficult to construct a system of signs by which intelligence could be instantaneously transmitted. The thought, thus conceived, took strong hold of my mind in the leisure which the voyage afforded, and I planned a system of signs and an apparatus to carry it into effect. I cast a species of type, which I had devised for this purpose, the first week after my arrival home; and although the rest of the machinery was planned, yet, from the pressure of unavoidable duties, I was compelled to postpone my experiments, and was not able to test the whole plan until within a few weeks. The result has realized my most sanguine expectations.
As I have contracted with Mr. Alfred Vail to have a complete apparatus made to demonstrate at Washington by the 1st of January, 1838, the practicability and superiority of my mode of telegraphic communication by means of electro magnetism, (an apparatus which I hope to have the pleasure of exhibiting to you,) I will confine myself in this communication to a statement of its peculiar advantages.
First. The fullest and most precise information can be almost instantaneously transmitted between any two or more points, between which a wire conductor is laid: that is to say, no other time is consumed than is necessary to write the intelligence to be conveyed, and to convert the words into the telegraphic numbers. The numbers are then transmitted nearly instantaneously, (or if I have been rightly informed in regard to some recent experiments in the velocity of electricity, two hundred thousand miles in a second,) to any distance, where the numbers are immediately recognised, and reconverted into the words of the intelligence.
Second. The same full intelligence can be communicated at any moment irrespective of the time of day or night, or state of the weather. This single point establishes its superiority to all other modes of telegraphic communication now known.
Third. The whole apparatus will occupy but little space, (scarcely six cubic feet, probably not more than four;)[11] and it may, therefore, be placed without inconvenience, in any house.
Fourth. The record of intelligence is made in a permanent manner and in such a form that it can be at once bound up in volumes convenient for reference, if desired.