24 May 1844: Morse sends the first long-distance telegraph message

On May 24, 1844 Samuel Morse sent the message What hath God wrought from Washington to Baltimore over an experimental telegraph line. Within years telegraph wires linked cities across the country, and soon prices from distant markets arrived in minutes instead of days. Ticker tape followed. Information advantages that once depended on fast horses or carrier pigeons shrank dramatically.

The lesson: Every advance in communication erodes old informational edges; lasting advantages must come from judgment, not speed.