America was on the verge of civil war and needed a reliable connection between the North and South. On the telegraph market of the USA at this time were operated with six large companies: American Telegraph Company, New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph, Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company, New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company, and the brainchild of Sibley & Co. - The Western Union Telegraph. The presence of Western Union Gold Card at the client greatly simplifies the process of further processing of money transfers of and reduces the operation time for the sending of money, as the "Gold Card" is a carrier of the personal information about the client. In 1920, Western Union has implemented the world's first transmission of images over the ocean. In the 30's of the twentieth century, Western Union has become the world's largest telegraph company. Western Union has several divisions, with products such as person-to-person money transfer, money orders, business payments and commercial services. The Western Union Company is a leader in global payment services In 2007 the company made 167.7 million transactions on money transfers between individuals and 404.6 million transactions between physical and legal persons. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same.