In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. As a result of 2011, net income of Western Union has increased by 28% to $ 1.165 billion, the company reported. In 1935, Western Union has put into operation first intercity fax communication. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.