In 1870, the Brits nationalized their telegraph system, housing it within their postal service. Ulysses S. Grant and a raft of politicians openly contemplated doing the same here. Between 1866 and 1900, congressmen introduced seventy bills to have the postal service take over telegraphy. The success of Western Union, therefore, hinged on its ability to control the terms of the political debate. And its tactics for swaying members of Congress could be quite raw. Until the 1910s, telegraphy was so expensive that only businesses could afford the service. But Western Union wired offices in the
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