People would send messages called "telegrams" to other people. They would give the message to a telegraph operator, who would send the message using Morse code. The operator on the other end would write down the message and give it to the person receiving the message. After the 1930s, it became cheaper to make long-distance telephone calls than to send telegrams, so fewer telegrams were sent. Western Union, an American company that was created for telegrams, sent its last one in 2006.