TIL The initial rate in 1866 for messages sent along transatlantic cable was $10 a word, with a ten word minimum. ( www.pbs.org )
The initial rate in 1866 for messages sent along the transatlantic cable was ten dollars a word, with a ten word minimum, meaning that a skilled workman of the day would have to set aside ten weeks' salary in order to send a single message. As a practical matter, this limited cable use to governments (transmissions from the...