572 General History oj Europe bound together by a network of over two hundred thousand miles of railway, and railway construction was rapidly advancing in Africa and Asia, preparing cheap outlets for the products of Western mills and mines. As we have seen, the Trans-Siberian road connected Europe overland with the Pacific ( 1020), and Russia also pushed lines southward toward Persia and Afghan- istan ; British India has over thirty-five thousand miles, and the importance of the new railroads in China and Turkey became so great as to involve rival European nations and so contribute a cause of war. 1038. The Possibility of World "News." Quite as essential to the world market as railway and steamship lines are the easy and inexpensive means of communication afforded by the post, telephone, telegraph, and cable. The English " penny post" is now so commonplace as no longer to excite wonder, but to men of Frederick the Great's time it would have seemed impossible. Until 1839, in England the postage on an ordinary letter was a shilling for a short distance. In that year a reform measure long advocated by Rowland Hill was carried, establishing a uniform penny post throughout Great Britain. Other European countries followed the example of Great Britain in reducing postage, and before long a letter could be sent almost anywhere in the world for five cents. 1039. Telegraph and Telephone Lines. No less wonderful is the development of .the telegraph system. Cables have been laid under the ocean, connecting all countries. Distant and obscure places in Africa and Asia have been brought into close touch with one another and with Europe. China now has lines connecting all the important cities of the republic and affording direct over- land communication between Peking and Paris. In October, 1907, Marconi established regular communication across the Atlantic by means of the wireless system of telegraphy discovered some years before ; and now the wireless telephone can carry the voice from Washington to Paris. 1040. Competition for Foreign Markets. The Industrial Revolution which enabled Europe to produce far more goods
