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Show 136 this actor to quickly recruit allies in nearly every corner of American life. One of the most important recruits for broadening this explosive network even more than it already had was the telegraph, which led the Philadelphia Ledger to proclaim that "this is indeed the annihilation of space" (in Solnit, 2004, p. 17). Solnit goes further by describing this new layer of annihilation in the following way: [The telegraph] replaced the railroad as the fastest communications technology. News, words, data, were dematerialized and almost instantaneous wherever the telegraph wires were strung. The distance between places that had once been measured at ten miles an hour or less was wavering, drawing closer, almost dissolving. (p. 17) These two technological achievements both occurred at about the same time and even though the telegraph surpassed the railway's communication speed, it ended up becoming a critically important ally to the railway because it helped route trains and transported orders from centrally located dispatchers (Daniels, 2000). As Tomas Nonnenmacher (n.d.) explains, the telegraph also "facilitated the growth in the railroads, consolidated financial and commodity markets, and reduced information costs within and between the firms" (para. 1). This alliance, of course, was made possible by electricity, which was the driving actant behind this new communication technology. Electricity "proved both an asset and a liability to the railroads. It was immensely valuable in all kinds of lighting, braking, and signaling, but at the same time produced new competition in the street car and the interurban" (Riegel, 1926, p. 272). Once the railroad had become unified with the telegraph, there were no limits to industrial expansion. To echo James Carey (1983), the telegraph is often overlooked as one of the most powerful technologies that shaped techno-industrial culture in American history. He notes: "The telegraph, in conjunction with the railroad, provided the setting in |
