In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. The Western Union Company is a leader in global payment services Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same.