Details
MORSE, SAMUEL F.B., Inventor. Autograph letter signed ("Sam. F.B. Morse,") with flourish, to William Orton, President of the Western Union Telegraph Co., Poughkeepsie, New York, 13 August 1868. 3 pages, 8vo, deacidified, minor repairs, extreme top margin defective with partial loss of the word "Poughkeepsie" and three words overleaf.
THE INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH COMPLAINS TO WESTERN UNION
A letter of complaint from the inventor: "From the earliest establishment of the telegraph, I have been accorded gratuitous use of the telegraph for telegrams from me and to me...on the majority of lines...[this is] a courteous concession to me as the inventor...Today I have experienced the second refusal...(at...New Orleans)...to send a telegram to me without a prepayment..." Morse wonders if some "...operators have not been apprized of the custom" or if his privilege has been revoked in error, and suggests that the offices be reminded of his privilege, not "...on the grounds of right, but of courtesy..." He adds that, in two years, he has only had occasion to send perhaps a dozen telegrams and remarks that he is "sorry to see our Stocks quoted so low..."
Morse (1791-1872) experimented with the magnetic telegraph in the early 1830s and filed a caveat patent in 1837; this was recognized only within the U.S. and Morse spent some years endeavoring to obtain European patents for the device, which was in wide use by the date of this letter.
THE INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH COMPLAINS TO WESTERN UNION
A letter of complaint from the inventor: "From the earliest establishment of the telegraph, I have been accorded gratuitous use of the telegraph for telegrams from me and to me...on the majority of lines...[this is] a courteous concession to me as the inventor...Today I have experienced the second refusal...(at...New Orleans)...to send a telegram to me without a prepayment..." Morse wonders if some "...operators have not been apprized of the custom" or if his privilege has been revoked in error, and suggests that the offices be reminded of his privilege, not "...on the grounds of right, but of courtesy..." He adds that, in two years, he has only had occasion to send perhaps a dozen telegrams and remarks that he is "sorry to see our Stocks quoted so low..."
Morse (1791-1872) experimented with the magnetic telegraph in the early 1830s and filed a caveat patent in 1837; this was recognized only within the U.S. and Morse spent some years endeavoring to obtain European patents for the device, which was in wide use by the date of this letter.