In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. Separation of the companies had two objectives: first, to give Western Union the opportunity to develop more intensively, and secondly, to help First Data to return to its original activity (in 1992 the company separated from the payment system of American Express as an independent financial services company). By 1861 Western Union telegraph lines entangled the whole America. It's time to explore Europe. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. In the 1910-1920 years. Western Union is actively engaged in researching, innovating in the field of data transmission. Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same.