Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in France.
Date.Number of Messages.Gross Receipts in Francs.Average Cost per Message in Francs.
18519,01476,7227.84
185248,105542,89111.28
1853142,0611,511,90910.64
1854236,0182,064,9838.74
1855254,5322,487,1599.77
1856360,2993,191,1028.68
1857412,6163,333,6958.06
1858463,9733,516,6337.60
1859598,7014,022,7996.72
1860720,2504,188,0655.81
1861920,3574,919,7375.34
18621,518,0445,302,4403.49
18631,754,8675,937,9043.38
18641,967,7486,123,2723.13
18652,473,7477,052,1392.88
18662,842,5547,707,5902.79

INCREASE IN TELEGRAMS NOT DUE TO LOW RATES.

It will be observed, by an examination of the above table, that low tariffs are not the only causes of the enlarged use of the telegraph. The annual percentage of increase in messages, as tariffs were gradually reduced, was vastly less than during those years when the rates remained unchanged. During the year of 1851 only 9,014 telegrams were transmitted through the French empire, the tariff averaging $1.60 per message. Five years later, notwithstanding that the average cost per message had been increased to $1.73, the number of messages had increased to 360,299, and in 1858 to 463,973,—more than fifty times the number sent in 1851, or an increase of more than five thousand per cent in eight years, without any reduction in rates. The increase in the number of messages during the next eight years, from 1858 to 1866, was only six hundred per cent, notwithstanding a reduction in the tariff from 7.60 to 2.79 francs.

This same peculiarity of increase, without regard to the cost, is also observable in all other countries, as will be seen by a perusal of the official tables.

TABLE K.

Statement showing the Progress of Telegraphy in France.
Date.Number of Messages Annually.Gross Receipts per Annum in Francs.Average Cost per Message.
Home.Foreign.Total.Home.Foreign.Total.Home.Foreign.Total.
Fr. ct.Fr. ct.Fr. ct.Fr. ct.Fr. ct.Fr. ct.
1851 9,014 76,722.60 7.84
1852 48,105 542,891.58 11.28
1853 142,061 1,511,909.57 10.64
1854 236,018 2,064,983.71 8.84
1855 254,532 2,487,159.21 9.77
1856 360,299 3,191,102.04 8.68
1857 413,616 3,333,695.74 8.06
1858349,887114,086463,9731,749,913.351,721,715.353,516,633.705.1315.097.60
1859453,998144,703598,7012,072,314.151,950,485.634,022,799.784.5713.486.72
1860568,365151,885720,2502,358,525.211,829,540.054,188,065.264.1512.055.81
1861734,252186,357920,3572,840,445.842,079,292.124,919,737.863.8211.165.34
18621,291,774226,2701,518,0442,984,490.212,317,950.345,302,440.552.3110.243.49
18631,490,023264,8441,754,8673,305,993.852,631,911.085,937,904.932.229.943.38
18641,654,406313,3421,967,7483,565,933.682,557,338.386,123,272.062.158.163.13
18652,098,645375,1022,473,7474,159,445.452,892,694.347,052,139.791.987.712.88
18662,379,631462,8732,842,5544,513,095.323,194,495.297,707,590.611.906.902.79

GREECE.

The Kingdom of Greece has twelve telegraph stations. All the messages between the Greek and European lines pass through Turkey, and consequently the rate is very high. It is proposed to establish a direct line between Greece and Southern Italy by continuing the Corfu cable to Pauras or Missolonghi, across the Ionian Islands.

PRUSSIA.

In Prussia the number of messages transmitted in 1866, the last year of which we have data, was 1,964,030, and the gross receipts were 1,275,785 thalers, making the average cost per message seventy cents in our currency. Prussia had in that year a population of 17,740,000, and the area of her territory was somewhat less than the New England States and New York. Distance being regarded, the Prussian rates were at that period double our own.