It is obvious, at the slightest glance, that this mode of instantaneous communication must inevitably become an instrument of immense power, to be wielded for good or for evil, as it shall be properly or improperly directed. In the hands of a company of speculators, who should monopolize it for themselves, it might be the means of enriching the corporation at the expense of the bankruptcy of thousands; and even in the hands of Government alone, it might become a means of working vast mischief to the republic. In considering these prospective evils, I would respectfully suggest a remedy which offers itself to my mind. Let the sole right of using the telegraph belong, in the first place, to the Government, who should grant, for a specified sum or bonus, to any individual or company of individuals who may apply for it, and under such restrictions and regulations as the Government may think proper, the right to lay down a way communication between any two points, for the purpose of transmitting intelligence; and thus would be promoted a general competition. The Government would have a telegraph of its own, and have its modes of communicating with its own officers and agents, independent of private permission, or interference with and interruption to the ordinary transmissions on the private telegraphs. Thus there would be a system of checks and preventives of abuse, operating to restrain the action of this otherwise dangerous power, within those bounds which will permit only the good and neutralize the evil. Should the Government thus take the telegraph solely under its own control, the revenue derived from the bonuses alone, it must be plain, will be of vast amount. From the enterprising character of our countrymen, shown in the manner in which they carry forward any new project which promises private or public advantage, it is not visionary to suppose that it would not be long ere the whole surface of this country would be channelled for those nerves which are to diffuse, with the speed of thought, a knowledge of all that is occurring throughout the land; making, in fact, one neighborhood of the whole country.
If the Government is disposed to test this mode of telegraphic communication by enabling me to give it a fair trial for one hundred miles, I will engage to enter into no arrangements to dispose of my rights as the inventor and patentee for the United States, to any individual or company of individuals, previous to offering it to the Government for such a just and reasonable compensation as shall be mutually agreed upon.[13]
I remain, sir, respectfully, your most obedient servant,
SAMUEL F. B. MORSE.
To the Hon. F. O. J. Smith,
Chairman of the Committee on Commerce
of the House of Representatives.
[No. 9.]
Letter from S. F. B. Morse to Hon. F. O. J. Smith.
Washington, February 22, 1838.
Dear Sir: I have endeavoured to approach a proper estimate of the expense attendant on preparing a complete telegraphic communication for some distance; and taking into consideration the possibility that the experiment may be conclusively tried before the close of the present session of Congress, I have thought that an appropriation for fifty miles of distance would test the practicability of the telegraph quite as satisfactorily as one hundred, because the obstacles necessary to be overcome would not be more proportionally in fifty than in one hundred; while, at the same time, the double circuit necessary in the fifty miles would give a single circuit of one hundred for the purpose of testing the effect of distance upon the passage of electricity. Fifty miles would require a less amount of appropriation, and the experiment could also be sooner brought to a result.
| Two hundred miles of wire, or wire for two circuits for fifty miles of distance, including the covering of the wire with cotton, at $100 per mile, | $20,000 |
| Other expenses of preparation of the wire, such as caoutchouc, wax, resin, tar, with reels for winding, soldering, &c., say $6 per mile, | 1,200 |
| Batteries and registers, with type, &c., for two stations, and materials for experimenting on the best modes of magnets at long distances, | 800 |
| Services of Professor Gale in the chemical department; services of Mr. Alfred Vail in the mechanical department; services of assistants in different departments; my own services in superintending and directing the whole—total | 4,000 |
| Total, | [14] $26,000 |
This estimate is exclusive of expense necessary to lay down the wire beneath the ground. This is unnecessary until the previous preparations are found satisfactory.