Why could it be a problem that Lefty Lewis sent a telegram to Herman E. Calloway?

Lefty kept the telegram as short as possible to save money. Calloway could easily find the message incomprehensible or ignore it altogether.

Man! I’ll bet Herman E. Calloway was just as confused by this message as I was.
I said, "What does this mean, sir?"
Lefty Lewis said, "When you send a telegram the more letters you use the more money you have to pay, so you try to keep your messages as short as you can. Here, let me see it."