umes containing a complete
history of telegraphic litigation in the United States. These records are
at all times accessible to any persons who wish to investigate the claims
and rights of individuals or companies. The _testimony_ alone in the
various suits fills several volumes, each as large as this."

It will, therefore, only be necessary to say that almost all of these
suits, including the final one before the Supreme Court of the United
States, were decided in Morse's favor. Every legal device was used
against him; his claims and those of others were sifted to the uttermost,
and then as now expert opinion was found to uphold both sides of the
case. To quote Mr. Prime:

"The decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous on all the points
involving the right of Professor Morse to the claim of being the original
inventor of the Electro-Magnetic Recording Telegraph. A minority of the
court went still further, and gave him the right to the motive power of
magnetism as a means of operating machinery to imprint signals or to
produce sounds for telegraphic purposes. The testimony of experts in
science and art is not introduced because it was thoroughly weighed and
sifted by intelligent and impartial men, whose judgment must be accepted
as final and sufficient. The justice of the decision has never been
impugned. Each succeeding year has confirmed it with accumulating
evidence.

"One point was decided against the Morse patent, and it is worthy of
being noticed that this decision, which denied to Morse the exclusive use
of electromagnetism for recording telegraphs, has never been of injury to
his instrument, because no other inventor has devised an instrument to
supersede his.

"The court decided that the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph was the sole and
exclusive invention of Samuel F.B. Morse. If others could make better
instruments for the same purpose, they were at liberty to use
electromagnetism. Twenty years have elapsed since this decision was
rendered; the Morse patent has expired by limitation of time, but it is
still without a rival in any part of the world."

This was written in 1873, but I think that I am safe in saying that the
same is true now after the lapse of forty more years. While, of course,
there have been both elaboration and simplification, the basic principle
of the universal telegraph of to-day is embodied in the drawings of the
sketch-book of 1832, and it was the invention of Morse, and was entirely
d