We fail to discern any refutation by Mr. Prescott of his previous statements. His reasons for a change in the estimates for building a telegraph line in 1866 over those of 1860 hardly need be stated. If the results of the intervening years of civil war, by which a million of able-bodied men were cut off from the fields of labor, the industries of the country burdened with enormous taxes before unknown, and prices inflated by the issue of hundreds of millions of paper dollars, do not suggest them, there is small hope of profit from the practical lessons of the times. INCORRECT ASSERTION THAT AMERICAN TELEGRAPHS ARE NOT CONSTRUCTED ACCORDING TO SPECIFICATIONS. Mr. Washburne says:— “The officers of the telegraph companies, whose elaborate statement is also forwarded by the Postmaster-General, estimate as follows:— “‘Cost of construction, including engineering, patents, and franchises, per mile: one wire—six wires. “‘The cost of building lines varies according to locality, timber, method, nature of the ground, and the wires to be borne. “‘A line from New York to Washington should be of the best class, and would be represented by the following figures:— 43 poles delivered at stations, $161.25 129 arms, complete, 129.00 43 holes, five feet deep, tools, &c., 30.00 Labor,—handling, preparing, erecting, &c., 25.00 Six wires, at twelve cents per pound, 240.00 Labor,—wiring, transportation, &c., 30.00 Distributing poles, 25.00 Superintendence, &c., 25.00 ———————— 665.25 ======== 240 miles at $665.25, Washington to New York, $159,660 Lines through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, 16,000 22 cables at rivers south of the Hudson, 20,000 Cable at Hudson River, house, boats, &c., 8,000 ———————— $203,660 ======== “‘The cost of franchises and patents cannot be given. “‘Such a line built by government, carefully, and with reference to permanence, with six wires, would cost $250,000.