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Updated November 18, 2004

"Art of Inspiration" Jay Gould Aiming To Monopolize the Telegraph Industry in the USA - 1880s

Attempts by Jay Gould and others to monopolize the telegraph industry, as illustrated below, provided additional inspiration for John W. Mackay and J. Gordon Bennett Jr to form a partnership to break the monopoly in this profitable business sector.

Puck Magazine, February 23, 1881.

Political satire illustrating Jay Gould and Cornelius Vanderbilt further stretching Uncle Sam on their telegraph rack as they consolidate their holdings in the expanding communications industry. Uncle Sam's feet are already entangled in their railroads and his arms are tied by the major New York newspapers of the day. The caption reads, "THE TWO PHILANTHROPISTS. Don't fret Uncle Sam, we only want to make a bigger man of you!"

Puck Magazine, August 22, 1883.

During the 1870s-1880s debate grew over the issue of nationalizing the telegraph system in the USA. Here is political satire illustrating Jay Gould crouched in a tree waiting to pounce upon a wary Uncle Sam as he hunts for companies with which to form a proposed U.S. Telegraph system. Uncle Sam's powder horn reads, "Treasury". The caption reads, "A NEW VERSION OF AN OLD STORY". Gould says, "Don't shoot...I'll come down for $80 million." (Gould had invested only $20 million to this date in forming his Western Union Telegraph Company).

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