even before the familiar key

came this first morse instrument, it was spark set fire to the world of communication. sure, a western union was both unsettled. the golden spike and the railroad tie hanging wires and

the growing pains. our great nation. what everybody knows that commerce union did a job. the telegraph wire tie the cattle market of kansas to the tables of the east hitch the cotton mills of new england and the southern plantation and the new york cutting people. other methods of communication. it was slow and tedious. the telegraph was only means of rapid communication. it was direct, it was fast. it kept pace with the nations expanding frontiers. all late. why do you read? why do you read all? they're all like, why do you read what your paper? mr. long hey. yeah. hey, what's this? joe, what's way blank pages is the news, huh?

what do you know? they were all playing. sorry. joe azari. joe's customer. it would have happened if we hadn't arranged it. there's plenty of news today, but it's still in the making. all right, man, we'll find that out right away. i don't mean to be personal, sir, but congratulations. oh, hey, did you mean to say, well, these twins were boys or girls or how could i forgotten that they are boys? and you understand, as a regular telegram, of course. oh, sure. it is. is new, but who else would like to get the good news? oh, this goes to about eight different people. i have a lot more writing to do here that won't be necessary. you just put down your list of addresses and we'll see that they all get the message, of course. well, sure.

fred brown, twins are news. western union is about to make an official. and what do you think of all the people who should know about alice and the twins hundreds of other telegrams are being sent and received in other ways in the ten block business area around new. high above the city, a busy executive receives a telegram by desk fax a compact telegraph machine that operates by a facsimile and brings message transmission right to his desk. he places his reply on a cylinder and with a push of a

button, the reply goes direct to western union in his own handwriting, an ultra modern telegraph method that is close to magic. 50 stories down western union serves another man whose job demands fast and accurate communication and western union alike sent a telegram. mr. jealous, robert tompkins, structural steel company, templeton, ohio construction in here ahead of schedule. urgent you wire immediately earliest arrival structural steel while urgent words feed from an engineer to his home office. a steady flow of words flashes to western union from the communications room of a large business firm. a battery of colored printers handles swiftly a mass of urgent detail behind the daily operations of a major business to save time to more hours into

the day, to get on fast, orderly record the many details of a busy enterprise no less important as telegraph service to the smaller business whose need for rapid communications is well-served by the familiar call box at the turn of a handle, a summons arrives at the branch office recorded on tape, the experienced clerk knows at a glance where the call originated and dispatches a messenger to the customer who is telegraphing an order for a tunnel crane. but all the while people come and go in the telegraph hub of the neighborhood, say, how does this crowd surprise charlie eve in big town? crowd short of cash 25 would help pleased telegraph carrier western union thanks a lot to all of our great all right thank you very much. and we will rush this out right away. good. oh, and good. not afraid.

okay. but summary, it's a typical day at western union. i am to counter the mechanical nerves of the system change word is to hose on tape and the hose on tape to electrical impulses speeding over the wires. here is the urgent order for the 2010 train. to the western union operator empire shrilly and impersonally, sending an almost endless flow of words. the contrast is between six pounds babies and 20 ton cranes at us by almost without notice. now the operators start at the start ground. i quick tap on the keyboard and another just the key signals i will give a message automatically to its destination. now it's gone already arriving at syracuse high speed message center, the territory on which the telegram originated, and a link in the chain of mechanized

centers throughout the country that news travels fast and with a speed of life. that's good news. now in syracuse is automatically being flashed all the way to saint louis. message center for the delivery office, guided only by the two key signals punched to new york swiftly, accurately, practically nonstop, along with thousands of other telegrams coursing through these wires, flashing through and round the clock succession. and now, over the high speed transmitter, the message appears before the operator in saint louis on both credit and perforated tape. as it arrives. she knows the destination and quick, with a push of a button, the words are on their way to cumberland.

here they are arriving in printed form, ready to be gummed down on the familiar yellow black, happy group of words, announcing a double blessing to waiting grandparents as, say 26 pounds. alice doing fine. think i'll recover it. love, fred it seems to take longer to tell what it takes to do this passage of a message by western union. and at the very same time we follow this message, the order for the tunnel train has reached its final destination. preston, california. thousands of miles farther away, reached it and already delivered because distance means nothing when it's at the end of a telegraph circuit, let's say, and as a request for surely money from dad gone off at the same time as the telegrams, about six pounds twins and 20 time cranes delivered in

maryland mile on a western union's newest developments tell car a modern message center on wheels, which receives telegrams by a radio and facsimile while cruising in outlying areas, virtually telegraphs that are at the doorstep and in less time than would be imagined, the sailor will have the money he wants through the speed magic of a telegraphic money order. this is the network of interconnect thing. high speed message centers linking together the vast western union system from coast to coast and from the great major message centers. bring a multitude of connecting circuits directly linking thousands of towns and cities, large and small, throughout our country with its vast, ultra modern, automatic telegraph system, the finest fastest in the world. yes, we call it speed way for words. a speedway extending far and wide within our shores and even

beyond to and from any part of the globe globe. meanwhile, a typical day continues from babies to butter, mac and cumberland, the supermarket chain wants 500 cases of butter. now at the market price. now train fingers fly over the keyboard, the tape flows and instantly the order is fed into the great automatic network. in a matter of minutes, butter order is on the floor of a large producing exchange. 70 million housewives. i concern with every move in this marketplace for the price tags of the nation's grocery shelves are determined here. in 500 cases, 95 as they all goes up on the big board and over the western union circuits, the transaction of prices instantly to produce growers and shippers across the land in every type of from butter to bonds. western union records the, nation's sense of values. to provide service to as many as

possible today as western union reaches the american people in different ways, those in small communities may know western union service through its agencies and railway stations like this or a young ladies and meet me telegram the busy housewife to send a greeting or congratulation message may call for telegraph service and simply say charge it to my phone, please. the hurried man who wants to talk away his telegram and get going sends a reservation telegram from a convenient direct coin box cabinet. the late traveler who finds his day too short for all his business telegraphs for a morning appointment calling on western union at his hotel to work for him while he rests and hear the occasional user of who lives in communities away from the center of things knows the dependable local drugstore are as western union's

representation. to millions of sports fans. western union is the answer to what the score wherever the bad cracks against the ball. wherever a gridiron great goliath, wherever big time punches my western union is as much a part of the sports scene as the umpires and referees. whatever the news, wherever it happens. western union speeds the story to its national press centers, serving the world's top newspapers with lightning fast reports due to press deadlines. wherever disaster strikes, western union is on the job to restore contact, bring word to and from the stricken and marshal relief for the hungry and homeless in scores of crises in the nation history, the copper wires of western union have been worth their weight in gold. of all the many places where western union serves the

american people, it is perhaps here. but representatives speak and act for 150 million citizens. but western union serves the greatest number in the senate press room. correspondents compile the daily hard copy record of significant speeches, ballots, legislation and committee action almost as soon as it happens through on the spot facilities. western union delivers this record to front pages in the free world. but there are more than outgoing stories. western union in washington is a funnel into which americans pour their messages of support or protest to leaders. the opinions of grass roots voters who rightly believe the elected man is a public servant. when great issues are at stake, the people speak their mind and a flood of telegrams that may total tens of thousands in 124 hour period through its highest speed centers and other facilities. western union stands ready to carry far greater traffic than the nation demands. one section of its system

operates by a microwave beam transmission from towers like this and washington. more than 2000 telegrams can be sent and received simultaneously on a single beam, traveling with a speed of light through other towers, but uniquely located along the route. how else does this western union of today's are specially designed private wire systems when there is a need for communications and volume? such as the private bank wire, interconnecting 188 banks in 54 cities, providing direct, immediate and confidential communication for all banks on the network. here is an outstanding example of modern telegraphy serving the nation great industries. the u.s. western union does more than serve the individual 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at all times. this battery of tele printers presents a prominent record of

the origin and destination of every message exchanged over the private wire system. contracts, information, instructions, purchase orders, financial transactions. not one detail has been left in the air file in memory or left to chance. it's all in black and white. in the pentagon brain center of america's military might. the permanent aspect of telegraph communication conforms to the traditional demand of a military for realistic records. the army and air force use private telegraph systems to coordinate a vast organizations operated by specially service personnel areas are among the greatest communications centers ever designed and serviced by western union. hey there. all here a all late what era?

they're all hey, hey, hey. what are you. hi, joe. hi. yeah, that's more like it, joe it got close. yeah, i can't figure out at last decision. what? break and break, i guess it's all there now. all right. the things that happened to people are things that people made to happen. it was just one blank space. and this addition of a paper that will be filled in the next edition, because the story is happening right now, a reporter is taking notes in the research center of western union. and what he is looking at will make the story that will build last empty space. and the newspaper. the story is a familiar one to western union, a new to the reporter. it's the story of an endless search for improve facilities to serve the communications needs of america. the news peg of the story is one of the finds of that search high speed facsimile, transmission

and reception of both words and pictures in a matter of seconds. 3500 words are said and received. here is a look into the future of communications. a long way from the early that clapped out data and messages here is modern telegraphy at work, sending and receiving in facsimile, placing all of a vast system at the user's elbow. here is telegraphy today, hurtling millions of words across of miles automatically guided and controlled by the magic brain of an almost infallible system. speeding messages to destinations with just the push of a button to better serve america everywhere, to bring distant friends and business

customers within arm's reach to the swiftness of a yellow bike along the way from the old hand to hand, relay from point to point, slow and at the mercy of human error. here is the thin white ribbon of words unchangeable, accurate, moving the message it carries lightning, fast, legible of assemblers brought actual record of what has been fed. here is telegraphy on wheels roaming the streets of outlying districts to bring telegraph service right to the front door. the radio beam tower and its amazing capacity of 2000 telegrams at a time on a single radio beam. that's a long way from. the one telegram on one wire of a century ago from this telegraphs center of the world headquarters of western union in new york comes a telegram. a telegram for america.

one union is proud of its record through the first hundred years, a record of service and progress, which in the needs of today and plans for tomorrow, keeps pace with a tempo of fast moving age.

good evening everyone and welcome to atlanta history center. my name is claire haley. i am vice president for special projects here at the atlanta history center. it is absolutely my pleasure to welcome you to tonight's program featuring elizabeth varon. her newest book, long street the

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