filed. Although the commercial possibilities, and hence
the money value of the telegraph had not been established, Morse was
already troubled with the rival claims of those who sought to secure a
share in his invention.

While working and waiting and saving, Morse conceived the idea of
laying telegraph wires beneath the water. He prepared a wire by
wrapping it in hemp soaked in tar, and then covering the whole with
rubber. Choosing a moonlight night in the fall of 1842, he submerged
his cable in New York Harbor between Castle Garden and Governors
Island. A few signals were transmitted and then the wire was carried
away by a dragging anchor. Truly, misfortune seemed to dog Morse's
footsteps. This seems to have been the first submarine cable, and
in writing of it not long after Morse hazarded the then astonishing
prediction that Europe and America would be linked by telegraphic
cable.

Failing to secure effective aid from his associates, Morse hung on
grimly, fighting alone, and putting all of his strength and energy
into the task of establishing an experimental line. It was during
these years that he demonstrated his greatness to the full. His
letters to the members of the Congressional Committee on Commerce show
marked ability. They outline the practical possibilities very clearly.
Morse realized not only the financial possibilities of his invention,
but its benefit to humanity as well. He also presented very practical
estimates of the cost of establishing the line under consideration.
The committee again recommended that $30,000 be appropriated for the
construction of a Washington-Baltimore line. The politicians had come
to look upon Morse as a crank, and it was extremely difficult for his
adherents to secure favorable action in the House. Many a Congressman
compared Morse and his experiments to mesmerism and similar "isms,"
and insisted that if the Government gave funds for this experiment
it would be called upon to supply funds for senseless trials of weird
schemes. The bill finally passed the House by the narrow margin of six
votes, the vote being taken orally because so many Congressmen feared
to go on record as favoring an appropriation for such a purpose.

The bill had still to pass the Senate, and here there seemed little
hope. Morse, who had come to Washington to press his plan, anxiously
waited in the galleries. The bill came up for consideration late one
evening just before the adjournment. A Senator who n