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POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Office of the Postmaster-General, 
 
 I Washington, D. C., September 25, 1890. 
 
 liou. Henry H. Bingham, Chairman, 
 
 AND Gentlemen of the Committee : 
 
 Dear Sirs : Yonr subcommittee on postal telegraph informs me that all tlie parties 
 that have signified a desire to be heard on the postal telegraph bills have submitted 
 their testimonj’^, and that it is in order for me to add anything upon the subject. 
 
 A.fter standing for a year past in the midst of the controversy over postal telegraph 
 ihat for over fort}’^ years has gone on with sharper tone and tvidening range, I am 
 more than ever convinced of tlie wisdom and practicability of restoring the tele- 
 graph to the postal service and make it what it was originally intended to be, a part 
 )t the postal system. I say this after closely studying the arguments against the bill, 
 made so vigorously by the great telegraph company which is now its only visible 
 opponent. I do not believe it possible to argue this question down. There is a 
 ;eep and far reaching conviction among the i)eople that the telegraph service is by 
 right a part of the postal service. To carry the postal system from i)ony-rider8 to 
 stage-coach, and on to railroad service, and stop all further progress because three 
 thousand owners of telegraph stock oppose, is not in accord with the genius of our 
 r)eo})le or the spirit of the times. 
 
 The will of the people in this respect has manifested itself unmistakably before 
 Congress in public speech and statement during the last twenty years. Resistance to 
 
 at great popular demand may not be the wisest thing, nor is it fair to count those 
 ' ho urge the adoption in some form or other of the postal telegraph as hostile to ex- 
 acting corporations. Wo stand confronting a public measure of no mean importance 
 or magnitude. It is to give the country a vast enlargement of its postal system 
 and to bring home to the people the cheai) use of one of the most powerful agencies 
 of modern commerce and civilization. 
 
 Though the literature of this subject is already large I desire to touch upon a few 
 points that I have in mind, and leave with you ^or publication, if you deem it ad- 
 visable, certain appendices which I hope will be of value both to the advocates 
 and opponents of the limited postal telegra])h. This discussion I honestly believe, 
 must go on until the whole scheme is fully understood, and then will come the 
 adoption of the people’s postal telegraph. I feel certain that the people will not be 
 turned back from their purpose to quicken and cheapen their methods of communica- 
 tion, and I mean to help them by every means at my command. 
 
 AS TO the constitutionality of postal telegraphy. 
 
 It has been argued by learned lawyers for a score of years that a Government tele- 
 graph is unconstitutional. The motives of these gentlemen have been one of two 
 in all cases. They have been the paid attorneys of those corporations whose special 
 interests have demanded that their monopolies should in no way be interfered with. 
 They have known their business and have done it well. The other opponents were 
 those who imagined that the Constitution would be exposed to every sort of outrage 
 if they were to fall sick for a day. The courts of highest appeal have settled this 
 question. Congress settled it, in advance of judicial action, by making the United 
 States the owner, and the Post-Office Department the manager, of the first line of wire 
 constructed for commercial and public uses. The old Government telegraph schemes 
 were constitutional. What shall be said then of the limited postal telegraph plan, 
 which I have been somewhat criticised for bringing forward ? There is no doubt that 
 it is constitutional. The Constitution permits the General Government to transmit 
 intelligence for the people. The Post-Office Department has been doing this, with the 
 iuoney and the improvements at its disposal, for one hundred years. It is preposter- 
 ous to argue that the telegraph ought not to be utilized for the cheaper, speedier, 
 and more accurate transmission of messages. I have had prepared, and submit for 
 
 1 53065 
 
 • • 
 
2 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 your reference, Appendix F, wbich touches upon this consideration. The Assistant 
 Attorney-General for the Department assures me that the conclusion that the limited 
 postal telegraph plan is constitutional can not be resisted. 
 
 THE DEMAND FOR POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 Itwill be said that the discussion of this question during the present session and 
 for the past thirty-five years is all to no purpose because there is no demand for 
 postal telegraphy. It has been said over and over again that the service furnished 
 by the telegraph companies in this country is cheap enough and efficient enough. It 
 has been said that only a million of people in this country use the telegraph anyway, 
 and that the number would not be greater, even if the rates were only one-bialf as 
 high. All of these things are simply not true. The telegraph service is not fully ef- 
 ficient. It is too high-priced ; and it can easily be shown, moreover, and shown by 
 figures which have been gathered from the telegraph business, as well as from other 
 innovations of a similar nature, that the number of persons using the telegraph would 
 double and treble very speedily. 
 
 One of the most effective early advocates of postal telegraphy was Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral Creswell. He said in 1872 : 
 
 ‘‘I did not take my position until after repeated solicitation from people of all 
 grades of society ; some rich, some poor; some men in business, and some in social 
 life ; some from the East, and some from the West; nor until Congress itself had in- 
 augurated and carried on two or three able and laborious investigations.” 
 
 In 1879 Hon. Benjamin F. Butler, then a member of the House of Representatives, 
 represented that petitions from twenty-eight States and three territories, containing 
 many thousands of names, had been referred in 1875 to the .Judiciary Committee of the 
 House, of which General Butler was then chairman. These urged that the Govern- 
 ment should then build a telegraph. It is to be noticed, indeed, that both these move- 
 ments for postal telegraphy were intended to secure the larger scheme, which either 
 built or bought lines. The limited plan, the modest, harmless experiment, I think ! 
 am right in saying, might have been ten times more widely supported. 
 
 In February of this year I was much gratified to receive a letter upon the postal 
 telegraph question from Messrs. Ralph Beaumont and J. J. Holland, members of the 
 National Legislative Committee of the Knights of Labor. These gentlemen, after 
 describing the introduction of postal telegraph bills into the last Congress by Rep- 
 resentatives Smith, of Wisconsin, and Glover, of Missouri, and reciting further that 
 the Glover hill was re-introduced into the present Congress by Representative Wade, 
 of Missouri, said that their organization “ at the last session presented Congress with 
 petitions containing upwards of 500,000 signatures in favor of this measure.” They 
 went on to say with reference to the present postal telegraph discussion : 
 
 ‘^It is the intention of our organization and the Farmers’ Alliance and Indus- 
 trial Union to send out petitions to the people for their signatures in favor of the 
 measure, and we feel that we shall within tlie next ninety days be able through the 
 two organizations to present to Congress petitions containing upwards of two million 
 signatures.” 
 
 Mr. Beaumont, who represented the legislative committee of the Knights of Labor 
 at the hearings given by your committee, gave, on March 7, 1890, a brief history of 
 the efforts of his order in behalf of postal telegraphy. He said that Representative 
 Smith, of Wisconsin, had prepared a bill which had been supported by the signatures 
 of 530,000 Knights of Labor, as the records of the central office of the order would 
 show. The smallest number of names from any Congressional district was thirty- 
 four, from the Third Mississippi: the largest number was seven thousand one hun- 
 dred and seventy-four, from the Thirteenth Pennsylvania, which embraces the 
 Schuylkill County Mining district, and was represented by Mr. Brumin, This bill, 
 according to Mr. Beaumont, was lost in committee. A compromise measure, jire- 
 pared after conferences with Representative Raynor, of INIaryland, was lost in the 
 calendar, ‘‘ which,” Mr. Beaumont adds with pathetic good nature, “ under the rules 
 that governed the House during the past two Congresses seems to have been a sort of 
 potter’s field for legislation.” Mr. Beaumont added later, in the hearing of March 7, 
 that since the collection of the five hundred and thirty-two thousand signatures the 
 organization of the Knights of Labor had spent ^21,000 in public lectures through- 
 out the country. Postal telegraphy was the question discussed; and he went on: 
 “ This fall wo have formed an alliance with another large body of the industrial 
 people, the National Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial Union. For the past ten days 
 that organization has been sending blank petitions to over one thousand of their 
 branches daily, and expect to keep it up for ten days more.” Mr. Beaumont con- 
 cluded by saying that he thought when these returns cume in the question whether 
 the public mind was awakened to the demand for postal telegraphy would he effect- 
 ually answered. 
 
 The members of your honorable committee will recall the testimony of an un- 
 doubted. expert in telegraph matters, Mr. D. H. Bates, lately president of the Balti- 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 3 
 
 more aud Ohio Telegraph Conipauy, upon this same query, whether better telegraph 
 facilities are demanded. Mr. Bates described, in his testimony of March 4, 1890, 
 how the Baltimore and Ohio Compauy had adopted a partial mail service, by 
 which a considerable telegraph business was created among 10,000 telephone sub- 
 scribers withiu a reasonable radius of Boston. A lower rate for night messages was 
 charged, and a lower rate where the messages could be delivered through the free- 
 delivery post-offices. Here was positive proof that extra facilities meant extra busi- 
 ness. Mr. Bates declared, indeed, that these customers c:*uld always be counted upon : 
 those disgusted with the delays and mistakes of the Western Union, those who desired 
 a quick service when the mouo})olist lines are full, and those who believed in compe- 
 tition as a proper means of resentment. Mr. Bates, who has followed the postal tele- 
 graph discussions of the past twenty-tive years, added that there was no doubt that 
 the people demanded a cheaper telegraph service; the effectives objection had always 
 been that the plans most numerousJ 3 ^ brought forward involved either the purchase 
 or the building of tlie lines and the employment by the Gf)vernment of a great force 
 of civil servants. These objections, as 1 shall beg the liberty of pointing out later 
 on, are obviated by the present proposition. 
 
 I have mentioned evidences that the agricultural and industrial masses of the peo- 
 ple want the telegraph service within their reach. The rneaureless body of pro- 
 ducers, in order not to be manipulated and robbed by the speculators, need to be 
 nearer to the consumers ; and the measureless bod,y of consumers, in o; der not to be 
 manipulated and robbed by the same speculators, need to be nearer to the producers. 
 I have referred to the fact that an acknowledged telegraph expert has proved that 
 cheaper telegraph service has been demanded. I beg to give jmu a further illustration 
 of the demand for a cheaper and a better service in the statements and memorials 
 of the business men. It is well known that boards of trade and chambers of com- 
 merce of the country' have persistently tried to push forward postal telegraphy. The 
 leader in this movement has been tiie National Board of Trade, which embraces the 
 following commercial organizations: 
 
 Baltimore Board of Trade. 
 Baltimore Corn and Flour 
 Exchange. 
 
 Boston Merchants’ Associ- 
 ation. 
 
 Bridgeport Board of Trade. 
 Chicago Board of Trade. 
 Cincinnati Chamber of 
 Commerce. 
 
 Detroit Board of Trade. 
 Indianapolis Board of 
 Trade. 
 
 Milwaukee Chamber of 
 Commerce. 
 
 Milwaukee Merchants’ As- 
 sociation. 
 
 Minneapolis Board of 
 Trade. 
 
 New Haven Chamber of 
 Commerce. 
 
 New York Board of Trade 
 and Transportation. 
 
 New York Chamber of 
 Commerce. 
 
 Philadelphia Board of Trade. 
 Portland (Oregon) Board of 
 Trade. 
 
 Providence Board of Trade. 
 San Francisco Chamber of 
 Commerce. 
 
 Scranton Board of Trade. 
 
 St. Paul Chamber of Com- 
 merce. 
 
 Trenton Board of Trade. 
 
 I received during the spring and summer, without anj^ effort on my own part, the 
 memorials of some twenty-five or thirty’- boards of trade and chambers of commerce 
 from various parts of the country, supporting the limited plan which I had the honor 
 to submit to you early in the session. I have added these in the Appendix (B), which 
 the incredulous may peruse. These demands of the business men show beyond dis- 
 pute, it seems to me, that the much vaunted infinitesimal portion of the community 
 which uses the telegraph wants a better and cheaper service. Another evidence, and 
 one quite as conclusive appears in the record of bills, resolutions, and memorials 
 presented to Congress during the past twenty-five years. A record of these appears 
 in Appendix G. ' The measures therein enumerated would not have been brought for- 
 ward except in obedience to a popular desire for reform. The array of facts aud the 
 association of names set forth in this plain, unvarnished list are, as it seems to me, 
 of striking significance. 
 
 I beg to call your attention to another thing, j)erhaps the most encouraging of all 
 to the friends of postal telegraphy. It is the strong indorsement of the press 
 of the country. Of two hundred and sixty-three newspaper articles which have come 
 to my notice during this discussion one hundred aud eighty-eight are for postal teleg- 
 raphy and seventy-five against it. I have Pad equal pleasure in offering the unfa- 
 vorable and the favorable. The objections raised in the adverse criticisms show how 
 little the writers are acquainted with the plan. The objections, in other words, are 
 mostly’ smartl 3 "-turued sentences about the utter business inexperience of persons en- 
 gaged in trade. In a second appendix (K) occur press opinions collected during the 
 time of the great telegraph strike in 1883. I ask you to look these over. They show, 
 as it seems to me, not only how quickly the popular pulse betrays the fever of busi- 
 ness and industrial excitement, but also how powerful the press is when it is united, 
 earnest, aud honest. Nine- tenths of the favorable clippings support the general or 
 Government scheme. How much more strongly would they urge the limited ! 
 
4 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 WHY THE SERVICE IS HIGH-PRICED AND INDIFFERENT. 
 
 It was well said by one of the earliest and ablest advocates of postal telegraphy 
 that cheapened intelligence was wanted and that competition only coaid cheapen 
 intelligence; that there were men who were ready under permission to attempt to 
 cheapen it ; and that the authority was wanted simply to prevent interference by 
 means of or through instrumentalities that were against it. The telegraph service is 
 high-priced and indifferent because it is a monopoly. It is no secret, ’’said a circular 
 Teceiitly issued by certain prominent members of New York Chamber of Commerce, 
 
 that the excessive charges for telegraph service (excessive as compared with its actual 
 •cost) are necessary to pay dividends upon capital stock watered several hundred per 
 cent, over actual investments.” “All attempts at competition,” the circular added, 
 “ have failed, only resulting in the absorption of a rival and a new watering of 
 stock.” 
 
 Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard, whom our friend Mr. Murat Halstead, lately nominated 
 for minister to Germany, calls “an amusing old gentleman,” quoted as early as 1874 
 the following extract from an annual report of the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
 pany : 
 
 “The extension ofxompeting lines has ceased, and it is not believed that the cap- 
 ital can be found for any new enterpi-ises. The time is not distant, therefore, when 
 the Western Union Telegraph Company will be substantially without a competitor in 
 the conduct of this business.” 
 
 Mr. Hubbard, by the way, is not exactly “an amusing old gentleman!” He may 
 not be young; but he is not to blame for that. There is nothing improper in his 
 advocacy of postal telegraphy. He did it ten years before he was rich in telephone 
 dividends. He has always urged a reduction of telephone prices. He is an authority 
 on postal telegraphy in this country, and he will soon see it a realized fact. 
 
 In 1884 Senator Edmunds of Vermont, discussing the Dawes and the Edmunds 
 postal telegraph bills, said among other things: 
 
 “The only difference (between a government telegraph and a private telegraph 
 company) would be that whereas the private company may be squeezed by cutting 
 rates; may be frozen out, or bought up, or pooled with, so as to create an actual 
 monopoly by which not only the prices of intelligence, but what kind of intelligence 
 shall go, and when it shall go, and under whose cootrol, is made the subject of one 
 domination — the only difference will be that whereas they can treat and deal with 
 rival companies, they can not treat and pool with and cut rates and run Congress out, 
 and that is just where the rub really is, I suppose.” 
 
 About the same time another unquestioned authority said : . 
 
 “ The Western Union Company is a little corporation controlled by an executive 
 committee of three or four gentlemen sitting in their offices in New York. Its wires 
 run all over the country, extending by their connections into each part of the globe. 
 This company controls the market price of each article that is dealt iu in every mart 
 in this country. It controls, to a greater or less extent, all the news — social, political, 
 and general, that is sent over its wires, and every important personal telegraphic 
 communication. This corporation is uncontrolled by any law save the interests of 
 its directors, for there is no law on our statute-books to regulate this vast business. 
 The laws of the several States have no power to regulate it, for its lines and business 
 run from one State and oue continent to another, and the instant its lines pass from 
 one State into another they are beyond the reach of the laws of the first State, which 
 are powerless beyond its boundaries, and can not regulate any message going into 
 another State.” 
 
 In the present discussion Mr. F. B. Thurber, of New York, has given a list of the 
 directors of the Western Union Telegraph Company. I beg to append their names: 
 
 Norvin Green. 
 Thomas T. Eckert. 
 John T. Terry. 
 John Vanhorne. 
 Jay Gould. 
 
 Russell Sage. 
 Alonzo B. Cornell. 
 Sidney Dillion. 
 Samuel Sloan. 
 Robert C. dowry. 
 
 George J. Gould. 
 Edwin Gould. 
 
 John G. Moore. 
 Cyrus W. Field. 
 Henry Weaver. 
 Percy R. Pyne. 
 Charles Lanier. 
 Austin Corbiu. 
 
 J. Pierpout Morgan. 
 Frederick L. Ames. 
 
 Jolm Hay. 
 
 William D. Bishop. 
 Collis P. Huntington. 
 George B. Roberts. 
 Sidney Shepard. 
 Erastus Wiman. 
 William W. Astor. 
 Chauncey M. Depew. 
 James W. Clendenin. 
 Heniy M. Flagler. 
 
 Mr. Thurber used this list of names to answer the question why the public can not 
 have the great boon of a postal telegraph. “ No such list of names,” he added, “ can 
 be found in the directory of any other corporation iu this country. Every name rep- 
 resents some great interest. They are the richest and the best in the financial world. 
 They deservedly rank as our best citizens; their names are found scattered through- 
 out the religious and charitable world, but iu the matter of transmitting intelligence 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 6 
 
 their interest diverges from that of the general public and it remains to be seen 
 whether sixty-five millions of people, or the comparatively few stockholders which 
 these men represent, will be able to control the great force of electricity as applied 
 to the transmission of intelligence.” 
 
 According to nucontroverted statements made before yonr honorable committee 
 the ca[)ital stock of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1858 was $3.58,700. 
 The stock dividemls declared between 1858 and 1866 amounted to $17,810,146, and the 
 stock issued for new lines was $1,937,950; so that tlie capital stock on July 1, 1866, 
 was $20,133,800. In 1866 new si ock was created to the amount of $20,450,500 : so that 
 the total capital of the Western Union on the 1st of July, 18()7, was $40,568,300. The 
 largest dividend declared by the company up to 1874 was 414 jter cent. The largest 
 amount of stock <}ver divided at one time was $10,000,000, and for a period of seven 
 years the dividends were about 100 per cent, a year on its average capital. It was by 
 adding dividends to dividends, and by piling the one up on top of the other that this 
 tremendous amount of $46,000,000 of capital and debt was created. The history of 
 the company shows no chauge of policy. In 1874 the company bought up its own 
 stock and the stock of other telegraph companies and accumulated a fund of over 
 $15,000,000, which was held in one shape or another in Ihe tre isnry of the con pany. 
 An investment of $1,000 in 1858 in Western Union stock would have received up to 
 the present time stock dividends of more than $50,000 and cash dividends equal to 
 $100,000, or 300 per cent, of dividends a year. These have been some of the dividends 
 declared: in 1862, 27 per cent. : in 1863, 100 per cent.; in 1864, 100 per cent.; in 1878, 
 $6,000,000; in 1881, one of $15,000,000 and another of $4,300,000; in 1886, 25 per cent. 
 The Western Union plant, exclusive of its contracts with railroads, could be duplicated 
 for $35,000,000 Its present capital is $86,000,000. It has realized $100,000,000 of net 
 profits in twenty-five years by its high charges. 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, itresident of the Western Union Telegraph Company, has 
 made some significant admissions. He says that in 1868 the average profit to the 
 company upon each message was 41 cents ; in 1878 the average profit was 13 cents ; 
 between 1878 and 1883 the business increased from 24,000,000 to over 41,000,000 of 
 messages; the largest yearly profit of the company was realized in 1883, unless the 
 present year should show a larger. The average profit per message since 1878 has been 
 about seven and one-half cents. This is pretty fair. The annual number of messages 
 increased from 6,400,000 in 1868 to 54,100,000 in 18 j? 9, This is a pretty fair business, too. 
 
 “The great question,” said Congressman Raynor, discussing the Glover telegraph 
 bill at the last Congress, “ that underlies the discussic n of this measure, is whether 
 we are not in the hands of a monopoly that not only has the right to fix its charges 
 arbitrarily, but can crush opposition whenever it encounters it. Of all these monop- 
 olies, I submit that the telegraph system of this country, substantially owned and 
 controlled by one man, is the worst and most dangerous of them all.” “ It is no 
 longer safe or expedient,” Mr. Raynor went on, “to intrust into the hands of one 
 overpowering monopoly the telegraph business of this country. It is a power that 
 not only can be used, but has been perverted, for purposes hostile to the best interests 
 of the people; the markets of the country, its finances, and its commercial interests 
 to so large an extent depend upon the honest and honorable administration of the 
 business of this company that the people are not in a mood to repose a trust of this 
 character any longer without competition in the hands of a stock-jobbing corporation.” 
 
 WHAT THE LIMITED PLAN IS. 
 
 I have tried to show that the telegraph service of this country ought to be cheaper 
 and not inaccessible to the people. Business men generally, and the industrial and 
 farming classes, too, demand that the service shall be more efficient as well as cheaper. 
 The ordinary opposition, which under the direction of competent men would bring 
 prices down and make the service quicker and more accurate, has been tried a score 
 of times and it has always failed. There is practically but one telegraph company in 
 this country to-day. I say this because the Postal Telegraph Company has an 
 arrangement wi h the Western Union by which prices are to be kept up. What, 
 then, is to be done about it ? The Government, which has not hesitated to use the 
 stage coa,cl> and the railroad train for its mail service, must come to the rescue. The 
 experiment must not tax a large number for the benefit of a few. It must not, 
 therefore, involve any addition to our immense standing army of civil employes ; it 
 must not involve any large aiipropriations. It must be a careful, inexpensive experi- 
 ment ; then it will be a most beneficent established institution. I say this with entire 
 confidence, because progress does not go backwards, whatever the obstructionists may 
 say. I shall ask you now to consider for a moment a detailed description of the limited 
 postal telegraph plan which I brought to your notice early in the session, and which, 
 
6 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 with such modifications as the experience and judgment of experts have brought 
 about, I now urge with more earnestness and confidence than ever. 
 
 The bill is “to establish a limited post and telegraph service’’ “for the purpose of 
 facilitating the transmission of correspondence amoug the people of and promoting 
 commerce between the several States and Territories of the United States,” to be 
 a bureau of the Post-Office Department for thte deposit, transmission, and delivery 
 of postal telegrams through the postal service. All post offices where the free-de- 
 livery service now exists, and the offices of the telegraph companies with which 
 contracts would be made, would be postal telegraph stations. In addition the Post- 
 master-General would be empowered to designate from time to time other post-offices 
 as postal telegraph offices. He is directed by the bill, after inviting proposals by 
 public advertisement, to contract with one or more telegraph companies now in 
 existence or that may become incorporated, for a period of ten years, for the trans- 
 mission of postal telegrams on conditions and at rates of tolls set forth in the 
 bill. Rates may be reduced by the consent of both parties to the contracts at any 
 time during the continuance of the contracts. Postal telegrams are to be sent in the 
 order of filing, except that Government telegrams take precedence. As with the 
 mails no liability is to attach to the Post-Office Department on account of delays or 
 errors. The charges for the collection, transmission, and delivery of postal telegrams 
 other than postal money order and special-delivery telegrams and Government tele- 
 grams I gh^e briefly as follows: 
 
 For twenty words between stations within a State or Territory, or between sta- 
 tions 300 miles apart or less, 15 cents ; for twenty words between stations in the States 
 of Wisconsin, Illinois, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and the States east 
 of them, 25 cents; for twenty words between stations in the States of Minnesota, 
 Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and points west of them, 25 cents ; for 
 twenty words between stations in States forming, generally speaking, zones up and 
 down on both sides of the Mississippi, 25 cents; for twenty words between any two 
 stations not above provided for, 50 cents ; for all words in excess of the first twenty, 
 1 cent per word ; prepayment of replies to be made at the office from which the orig- 
 inal telegram is transmitted. 
 
 It is provided in the bill that the money order service of the Post-Office Depart- 
 ment shall be extended to designated postal telegraph money order offices under 
 the usual method and under the usual fees now charged by postmasters. The 
 contracting telegraph companies are to have all the revenue from this postal telegraph 
 service except the usual rate of letter postage for each telegram which is to be re- 
 served to the Department. All the accounts for the telegraph service are to be kept 
 as the x^ostal accounts are kept by the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office 
 Department. The Postmaster-General may provide suitable space in post-offices 
 for the use of the telegraph companies, though nothing in the act prevents the tele- 
 graph companies from mainiaining offices of their own, or jiermits the telegraph 
 companies to compel the Postmaster-General to furnish space in post-offices. The 
 companies employ at their own expense all officers, operators, and employes for the 
 transmission of the telegrams. If any postmasters act as operators, they are to be 
 compensated by a uniform percentage on the tolls of all telegrams handled by them, 
 or by some other share of these tolls to be paid by the company as the contracting 
 parties may agree. Any contracting telegraph company, it is distinctl}’ provided, 
 may do its regular business lor the public as at present. Postmasters are to be com- 
 pensated for the ])03tage portion of stamps aud telegram forms as they are now com- 
 pensated for postage on regular mail matter. The Postmaster General shall provide 
 telegram stamps and telegram forms. A severe penalty, (imprisonment at hard labor 
 for from one to throe years,) is provided for the punishment of persons either in the 
 employ of the telegraph companies or of the Post-Office Department, who shall secrete 
 or destroy postal telegrams, or make known the contents of postal telegrams. All 
 employes of the companies or of the Department are obliged to make oath in the usual 
 way for the faithlirl peiformance of their duties. Even without all these safeguards 
 there would be no trace of jiower in the bijl for an administration to use for improper 
 purposes. In the intensity of the English elections there has been no trouble from the 
 complete Government telegrapli ; there could be none at all from the limited under- 
 taking. Congress is too watchful and the people too jealous of their rights aud too 
 well aide to resent a wrong. 
 
 But I beg to refer you to Appendix A, which is the bill itself, a*nd respectfully to 
 challenge tlie most critical to find wheiein the measure fails to pay due heed to the 
 interests of any persons involved in the experiment or in any way affected by it. 
 
 THE OPERATION OF THE PLAN. 
 
 The working of the plan can easily be seen to be most economical as well as most 
 convenient. All post-offices and letter-boxes, no matter where they might be located, 
 would be utilized by the public as receptacles for postal telegrams, aud, as the de- 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 7 
 
 maud arose, special boxes might be established for postal telegrams only, from which 
 collections might be made more frequently than from the regular letter-boxes. In all 
 or most of the post-offices the wires of the contracting telegraph company would be 
 placed, and its operators would transmit the postal telegrams to their destination by 
 wire, just as telegraph companies now transmit their business. With postal telegrams 
 filed by the senders in person or through the medium of messengers or servants, there 
 would be no more delay involved up to the point of reception at the end of the line 
 than now occurs in the general telegraph business; and in case of postal telegrams 
 collected from letter-boxes at short intervals, the delay would generally be not greater 
 than is now required to go to a Western Union branch office to send the telegram. 
 As fast as telegrams were received at the telegraph office of destination, they would , 
 be “ enveloped” and addressed and a x>ostage stamp of proper value affixed, and 
 they would then be handed over to the post-office by the telegraph company for 
 delivery by the regular carrier service. As the business developed and its demands 
 were understood, the intervals between deliveries might easily be shortened. In 
 large cities there are regular deliveries leaving the post-office almost every hour. In 
 any case the payment of 10 cents extra would provide for an immediate special de- 
 livery in the same manner as a letter is now handled when a special delivery stamp 
 is affixed in addition to the regular postage. No matter how remote post-offices might 
 be from postal telegraph stations, they could always have the advantage of the tele- 
 graph service forward and backward ; for postal telegrams could always be sent by 
 mail to the nearest telegraph station for transmission thence by wire to their desti- 
 nation, or they could be received by mail from the telegraph stations similarly. 
 
 It will be observed that postal telegrams would be collected and delivered by 
 means of the post-office service and transmitted by wire froru point of origin to des- 
 tination through the medium of the contracting telegraph company. This company 
 wonld stand in exactly the same relation to the Post-Office Department that a rail- 
 road, or steam-ship company, or a stage line or local express company holds which has 
 a contract for transporting mail matter from one city or town to another, or between 
 branch post-offices in large cities. In many cases a postal telegram would be collected, 
 transmitted, and delivered with no more delay than now occurs in the business of ex- 
 isting telegraph companies; and in most cases the time consumed in the collection 
 and the delivery, especially in respect to postal telegrams passing between distant 
 cities or towns, would not affect the Value of the communication. Indeed, it is be- 
 lieved a vast amount of correspondence now committed to the mails would seek the 
 more speedy postal telegraph channel. In each case the Post-Office Department 
 would earn its postage, while the people would be the better served. The telegraph 
 company would be able to do the business at the greatly reduced rates, because it 
 could be relieved not only of all the accounting, but of two other important items of 
 expense to it; namely, the collection and the delivery of telegrams which would be 
 removed from them entirely, and that, too, without any appreciable additional ex- 
 pense to the Department. 
 
 In cases where the amount of business to be done would not justify the telegraph 
 company in the maintenance of a separate telegraph staff, the postmaster, if not an 
 operator himself, would employ au operator, his extra compensation from the tele- 
 graph service enabling him to procure such help. In many cases the postmaster’s 
 assistant, or one of his clerks, would be selected with a view to his ability to- tele- 
 graph. The result would be that in such cases the telegraph work could be per- 
 formed by the postmaster or his assistant, and their compensation thereby be in- 
 creased ; and where the regular post-office duties are so heavy as to preclude 
 such joint labors without their undue interference with each other, the telegraph 
 company would employ an operator to give all of his time to the telegraph. There 
 would be no over-charges by thrift}^ operators. The charges for postal telegrams 
 would be easily understood. There are but three separate tariffs named ; 15, 25, 
 and 50 cents for the first twenty words. One cent per word is charged in all cases 
 for additional words. If an insufficient value of stamps should be affixed, the deficit 
 would be collected from addressees provided at least 15 cents should be prepaid. If 
 stamps of a value less than the miuimum timounb (15 cents) were affixed, the com- 
 munication could be forwarded by mail. The bill would protect both the Post-Office 
 Department and the public, and would provide for a class of correspondence that, 
 generally speaking, would not be put upon tne wires at the high rates now prevailing . 
 
 I can not be made to believe that this union of the telegraph and the postal serv- 
 ice, whereby each would so distinctly lessen the burden of work of the other, will not 
 appeal to the ingenuity, the enterprise, and the good sense of the American people the 
 moment they understand it. I am sure that it is easily susceptible of proof that this 
 convenient, safe, and quick service would be very generally used. We use a 
 postal-card for brief communications and run the inappreciable risk of having its con- 
 tents become known to persons other than the addressee ; by paying twice the price 
 of a postal-card we can convey a whole ounce of written matter under seal ; and, by 
 paying 10 cents more, we secure an immediate delivery. In the case of the telegraph. 
 
8 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 it is true, there is already a deferred service at night, for which about two-thirds or 
 three-fourths of the full rate is charged, depending upon the number of words trans- 
 mitted, the delivery being made on the next succeeding business morning ; and it has 
 been argued with some show of reason that the small number of night messages com- 
 pared with those sent at day rates is evidence that the public demands a quick 
 rather than a cheap telegraphic service, and that any elfort largely to increase the 
 volume of telegraph business by means of much cheaper rates for a deferred service 
 would only result in loss, for the reason that the expense of performing that service 
 would increase in substantially the same ratio with the volume of business. It is to 
 be answered, however, that the small difference between the day rate and the night 
 rate is a reason why the latter rate is not used more largely ; and it can not be denied 
 that, as between the mail and the telegraph, there is a wide margin of time, particu- 
 larly between places or regions, say, 500 miles or more apart, and that an enormous 
 amount of correspondence — commercial, social, and political — now sent by mail 
 would be put upon the wires if there were suitable conveniences and ample facilities 
 and if the cost were not prohibitory or excessive. 
 
 As to the conveniences for collection and delivery, what could be more complete 
 than the Post-Office machinery, already within quick reach of all the people! Noth- 
 ing remains but to bring the cost of the service down to a point which will permit 
 some of this vast volume of business to be sent by telegraph. Can this be done ? It 
 certainly can. Begin in the large cities and commercial centers, where the great bulk 
 of the present business, mail and telegraph, originates. We find that to collect and 
 distribute messages local wires and branch offices are maintained at great cost, which, 
 added to the cost of messenger service, is estimated to amount to one-fourth or even 
 one-third of the whole cost of the service ; which average cost is stated in the West- 
 ern Union reports to be about 23 cents per message. The Baltimore and Ohio Tele- 
 graph Company during the last twelve months of its existence handled seven and a 
 half millions of telegrams at an average cost of less than 20 cents. The territory 
 covered by the lines of that company was limited, however, extending from Portland 
 to Chicago, St. Louis, Galveston, and intermediate points, not including certain 
 Southern States. If now, therefore, we can cut off the local expenses referred to, we 
 have gone a long way towards the desired result. Consider, also, that the general 
 expenses of the organization need not be increased (except in an inappreciable 
 ratio) in order to provide for the handling of a largely increased volume of busi- 
 ness; and also consider the other established fact that the actual cost (for labor) of 
 performing a given class of service does not increase in the same proportion as the 
 increased business does. A further item of saving is discovered in the fact that in 
 capital and maintenance account in a large majority of cases this contemplated in- 
 crease of business could be handl ed upon wires which would otherwise be idle at 
 times; bearing in mind, of course, the fact that iu any given direction the time 
 would always come when additional facilities would need to be provided. As a rule, 
 however, a large increase in the volume of business would serve to utilize many or 
 most of the wires when otherwise they would stand idle. We are thus able easily to 
 eliminate from the problem before us a considerable percentage of the cost of hand- 
 ling telegrams. 
 
 The question arises, would the public be satisfied with a telegraphic service which 
 would not provide: First, immediate delivery; second, written receipt from ad- 
 dressee; third, responsibility for damages. As to the first point, it may be remarked 
 that the character of the contemplated service is such that a half hour or so at each 
 end of the line for the post-office service would not be objectionable, while for instance 
 twenty-fonr hours or more, if the mail were used, would be so. The fact would re- 
 main, however, that the usual telegraph service would still be available for busi- 
 ness demanding more rapid collection and delivery. The plan is intended to take 
 care of that class of communications which will stand a delay of an hour or two, but 
 not of a whole day or more. 
 
 In regard to the question of a written receipt from addressee, th ‘ answer is, that, 
 taking the whole volume of post-office matter as now delivered by carriers, the 
 percentage of delivery by responsible carriers is greater than in the case of telegraphic 
 messages delivered by irresponsible messenger boys. Suppose a case of a telegram ar- 
 riving at its (^stined address. The achlressee, if present, either receives it in person or 
 through the i.'. .iurn of a servant, employ^, or agent. Now, whether a receipt is given 
 or not, the addressee gets the communication. If, however, the addressee is absent or 
 occupied, his servant, employti, or agent receives the communication, and, whether it 
 is receipted for or not, the addressee gets it promptly if his agent jierforms his duty. 
 The same is also true of a letter or other communication sent by mail. One cause 
 of the present high rates charged for the delivery of telegrams, is the labor and time 
 required to obtain written receipts, which, by the way, are now very frequently sup- 
 plied by the more or less deft hand of the messenger boy himself, for it is a fact that 
 the public considers the giving of a written receipt for a telegram as an unnecessary 
 burden and nuisance; and after all, why should one sign such a receipt! A tele- 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 9 
 
 graph company is bound to deliver a telegram whether a receipt is given or not. 
 The public has to pay the extra cost involved, and that, too, with the certainty that 
 in the case of a claim for damages the telegraph company would, to that extent at 
 least, be protected against the payment of such a claim. The other point, responsi- 
 bility for damages, is perhaps the most important; but you can not buy something 
 for nothing, and for the class of communications under consideration, and in view of 
 the great advantages to the public in cheapness and in added convenience, it is to be 
 submitted lhat the telegraph company and the Department may fairly be relieved of 
 liability for damages in cases of loss, error, or delay, just as the Department is now 
 relieved of it in the transmission of letters. 
 
 IT WOULD PAY THE TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. 
 
 The strenuous opposition of the telegraph monopoly to the limited post and tele- 
 graph plan would seem to indicate that the existing companies, or company, either 
 want to sell out to the Government at a watered valuation or else they are not yet 
 convinced that the plan would result favorably to them in a financial way if it were 
 tried. For myself 1 believe that they would make money by the contract ; and ex- 
 perts who have had experience for twenty-five or thirty years in the telegraph busi- 
 ness in all its branches — Government, railroad, news, and commercial — think that 
 if the proposed plan were tried it would immediately become so popular with the 
 public that it would very soon, if not from the start, be a remunerative venture to 
 those telegraph companies which chose to hold out inducements for this new kind of 
 business. It is a universal experience that, in transportation by whatever method, 
 lower prices and better facilities bring additional business and increased revenues. 
 I find this proposition so evident that it is surprising that any one should seriously 
 argue against it. As early as 1872 Mr. William Orton, then the president of the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, gave it as his opinion that the telegraph con- 
 tributed far more to the development of the postal service than it drew from it as a 
 result of its competition; which was to say that between any two cities of the 
 United States the increase in the correspondence by mail would be in a larger ratio 
 than the increase in the correspondence by telegraph, whatever that increase might 
 he. Mr. Orton felt sure that the telegraph, so far from detracting from the revenues 
 of the Post-Office Deyiartment, was a constant stimulant to increase the correspond- 
 ence by mail. 
 
 Can it be seriously stated that the reverse is not true ; that it is not true that an 
 increase of the postal business mider the plan which I have urged with much per- 
 sistence would not inevitably cause an increase in the business of the telegraph com- 
 panies ? A book full of figures could be produced to show that the successive reduc- 
 tions of telegraph rates during the past twenty-five years under the spur of postal 
 telegraph discussions have caused unprecedented increases in the number of messages 
 handled from year to year. Dr. Green has said that the average tolls charged to the 
 public in 18t57 by the Western Union Telegraph Company were less than half of what 
 it cost the company in 1868 to handle the messages. An examination of the business 
 of the Western Union Telegraph Company between two periods, 1872 to 1880, and 1881 
 to 1889, shows irresistibly that the Western Union has managed to exist under suc- 
 cessive reductions of rates and the consequent successive increase of business. From 
 1872 to 1880 rates were reduced by the Western Union from 62 to 38 cents, or 42 per 
 cent. 
 
 During that time the number of messages handled increased from over 12,000,000 
 to over 29,000,000, or 140 per cent. In those eight years the profits of the company 
 j increased from $2,790,000 to $5,833,000, or 105 per cent. This was under the direc- 
 ' tion of Mr. Vanderbilt and Mr. Orton. During the second period, under Mr. Gould 
 and Dr. Green, from 1881 to 1889, the Western Union rates were reduced from 38 to 
 31 cents, and the number of tnessages increased from over 32,000,000 to over 58,000,000, 
 or 67 per cent. It may be suggested as an objection to this reasoning, that in the 
 growth of the country is to be found the reason for this increased use of the telegraph. 
 But the increase of the country in the last decade has been perhaps, 30 per cent., 
 while the increase of the Western Union’s business has been almost 100 per cent.; 
 and to the whole proposition it is simply to be replied that we have Dr. Green’s re- 
 peated word for it that the class in this country which uses the telegraph is not over 
 a million and is not capable of being enlarged. A conservative financial journal in 
 New York, recently commenting upon the latest annual report of the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company, and representing that Western Union stock was a good invest- 
 ment at market rates, said : 
 
 ‘^It now carries messages, five a year (on an average) to the eleven million business 
 houses and families of this land. Make it also the letter post and the increase will 
 be thirty fold with the income fourfold greater than at present, even with the rate 
 five-sixths less. The Western Union Telegraph is bound to move on, for lightning is 
 now the steed that progress loves most.” • 
 
10 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 A. few officials of the Western Union will deny to yoiir committee or to members 
 ot Conf?ress whom they fancy they will be able to influence against this proposed 
 legislation that the above statement is true. The proposition is simply one to make 
 them earn their dividends on a large business, legitimately, and not on fictitious 
 values. They ^\■ill admit that a limited post and telegraph service means an increase to 
 their revenues. If this is the fact with reference to the principal telegraph company 
 (the only one, in fact), it is true of those which exist, or think they are existing, in- 
 dependently of it. It would be true for such telegraph companies as might be organ- 
 ized and operated in good faith on the not unreasonable prospect that they might bid 
 successfully for a part of the Government work. The telegraph service can not be 
 cheapened and quickened under the existing monopoly. There is no way for the 
 people to get relief except by some proper intervention by the Government, such as 
 I am endeavoring to outline ; and though it may be said that the coffers of these com- 
 panies might be filled more quickly under the stimulus of new business, it can be 
 said with equal truth that the companies would have to work for their extra revenue. 
 The new profit wonld be duo, not to a monopoly of all the telegraph service of the 
 country, but to an obliging and business-like foresight which had finally consented 
 to obey the law of demand and supply. The extra profits would be earned, not upon 
 the watered capitalization of a partly worn-out plant, but upon the fair and free facil- 
 ities which you, and I, and all of us must offer, if we hope to find a market for our 
 labor. I am not sure that the people, freed from this o^^pressive monopoly would 
 not of their own accord send their messages for the reason that they had, as it were, 
 an interest in the service. At any rate they would be permitted to send their letters 
 in the quickest way, if they had the means to pay the tolls; and they would have 
 the means, because prices would not be twice too high. 
 
 I have tried to show that telegraph companies operating their lines under the pro- 
 visions of the limited post and telegraph scheme would make large profits, not so 
 much by monopolizing all the business and charging a fictitious value for the service, 
 but rather by honestly meeting the popular demand for a losver-priced service. I ask 
 your indulgence for a moment to show by still another illustration, one taken from 
 the recent history of the Post Office Department, that this idea is true. The general 
 business of the country was depreciated in 1883, when letter postage was reduced from 
 3 cents to 2. The ordinary po.stal revenue for the year ended June 30, 1883, was 
 almost $45,000,000. The usual increase in the revenue, if the 3-cent rate had continued 
 to prevail, was expected from past experience to be about 5 per cent. On this basis 
 the postal revenue for the year ended July 30, 1884, would have been something over 
 $47,000,000. The actual revenue for that year, under the reduction to 2 cents for let- 
 ters, please bear in mind, was almost $43,000,000! This wasouly 10 per cent., or less, 
 than the revenue would have been on a 3-cent basis. In the face of this reduction of 
 the ])rincipal item of postal revenue by one-third, there was a complete recovery of 
 revenue within four years from the time of the change, and that, too, in spite of the 
 depression in business just mentioned, and in spite of these other two things : The in- 
 crease in the unit of weight of letters from one-half ounce to an ounce, and the reduc- 
 tion from 2 cents per pound to 1 cent per pound on second-class matter. The intro- 
 duction of the postal card in 1873 was followed by an increase of over 7 per cent, in 
 the revenue, and that in spite of the panic of that year. It is well-known to railroad 
 people that the establishment of fast mails invariably results in large additions to the 
 amount of matter carried. In Great Britain the number of letters carried doubled 
 in two years after the inauguration of penny postage. In the year following the be- 
 ginning of the postal telegraph in England the number of messages transmitted was 
 over 8,500,000 ; in 1884 the annual number was over 32,800,000. When the Belgians 
 reduced their prices for the transmission of postal telegrams to 10 cents (half a franc) 
 the number of business messages sent promptlj^ increased over 200 per cent., and the 
 number of social messages increased 1,000 per cent. 
 
 MORE EFFICIENT AS WELL AS LOWER PRICED. 
 
 The telegraph service of this country must be cheaper. I have tried to show why, 
 by the method just set forth, it may be cheapened now. I believe the service could 
 also be made more efficient under the postal telegraph. Thousands of Western 
 Union operators are what are called railroad operators ; that is, if I understand it, 
 they are employed at railroad stations, principally by railroad companies, to bulletin 
 and record the movements of trains. They are not skilled operators. Operators 
 in the free delivery cities, being required to do work of a large variety and to do 
 more of it, would command higher prices and would be better men. The effect 
 upon the whole body of telegraph operators would be beneficial for this reason : the 
 operators in the smaller places, to which the ])lan would almost inevitably and prop- 
 erly extend, would even more be required to be expert and faithful. There would 
 be a general upward movement among all the 15,000 of the craft. If in some offices 
 clerks who know the art of telegraphy were to be required, the present clerks 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 11 
 
 could learn to handle the key ; or new men, under the increase of business, 
 revenue, and salary allowance, could be selected by proper examinations. I know 
 it has been said that men and women can not learn telegraphy with ease. Dr. Green 
 has said that it takes months to learn the telegraph tick.’^ This is no doubt true, 
 hut this same astute Ur. Green had no trouble in tilling the places of the striking 
 telegraph operators in 1883. 
 
 Mr. Beaumont, whom I have already quoted, has said that when operators belong- 
 ing to District Assembly 45 of the Knights of l^abor, noticing that the Western Union 
 Company was paying great dividends on watered stock, and thinking that some of 
 the workmen ought to share in this prosperity, struck for a raise in wages, Dr. Green 
 did not hesitate to put boys and girls into positions of responsibility on a day’s 
 notice. We know that this was done in thousands of cases ; we know that the serv- 
 ice recovered from its ailment in a short time. The strike showed that while the tele- 
 graph company rniglit monopolize the handling of messages, the organized body of 
 operators could not monopolize the furnishing of workmen. With some incentive 
 besides the prospect of the poor wage scale of the Western Union, the art of telegraphy 
 would receive a most ])erceptiblo encouragement in this country. It has been said 
 that one-third of all the telegraph operators are continually preparing themselves 
 for other professions, and that the other two-thirds are continually thinking of doing 
 so. According to the Electric World, of the 100 men working on the regular night 
 force in the Western Union main ofhee in New York City, 36 are either studying or 
 working at something else during the day. In these occupations are, doctors, 8; 
 lawyers, 6; ministers, 3; brokers, 3; actors, 2 ; theatrical managers, 2; real estate 
 dealers, 2; inventors, 2; book agent, 1 ; manufacturer, 1 ; civil engineer, 1 ; author, 
 1; commercial business, 1; electrical special agent, 1; composer of music, 1. Now, 
 either these men are bad ministers and bad actors, or else they are bad operators. In 
 either case they are not making the most of themselves. I suppose they would not 
 venture into fields outside of telegraphy if they were not poorly paid and poorly 
 encouraged to excel. The question whether employment with a corporation which 
 might lock out its employes ui)on the slightest provocation, to the peril of the business 
 interests of the whole country, would be desirable, would not be the only question 
 'with the young men and women desirous of learning the art. This monopoly would 
 be only a part empoyer of all the, telegraphic skill in the conntr}'. 
 
 Since the introduction of the quadruplex twenty years ago, the Western Union 
 Comj)any has, I am told, made but one change or improvement in its method of tele- 
 graphic transmission having for their object the greater speed or the transmission of 
 a larger volume of traffic of a given wire. 1 refer to the Wheatstone Automatic, an 
 English invention, which has been in successful use on the government lines in that 
 country for eight or ten jears. On the other hand, England has not only adopted 
 our quadruplex, but also the Delaney Multiplex, another American invention. 
 And this brings mo to another thought which is very forcibly discussed in Appendix E. 
 Besides furnishing a stimulant to the study and use of efficient telegraphy, the postal 
 telegraph plan, dividing as it would the entire use of the telegraph in this country 
 with the sole telegraph monopol> , would also furnish an impetus to the inventive 
 genius of the Americans who study electrical matters. I have had enumerated, per- 
 haps, a score of devices, already patented for the purpose of cheapening and quicken- 
 ing the telegraph service, which find no use and no profit under the present condition. 
 I am not an expert in electrical matters, but I know that all of these inventions can 
 not be wholly bad. I am sure that many of them are good, but they can not be got 
 into operation with the field monopolized. The public can not have the benefit of 
 this rare class of American brains, nor can the inventors find a deserved remunera- 
 tion for their work. The Western Union Company, having the control of the tele- 
 graph business, has no us for devices which cheapen and quicken the telegraph serv- 
 ice and warrant a claim for reduction of rates. The public, not knowing what it 
 misses, can not become aroused to the defects in methods now in vogue. If once a 
 break is made in this rampart of telegraph monopoly, not only will the men and 
 women who build and use the telegraph wires find a better market for their fidelity 
 and skill, but inventors, knowing that their cases are to be tried befoie an impartial 
 court, will also find a spur to better efforts. I can not enumerate the devices intended 
 to cheapen telegraphy and distinctly not made use of by the Western Union at this 
 time; but I ask you to examine the appendix, or better still, see by personal exami- 
 nation, if some of the inventors are not prepared to show the efficacy of their efforts 
 as well as the futility of them under the Western Union domination. 
 
 BY WAY OF EXPLANATION. 
 
 I desire in conclusion to explain, as politely as may he, one or two things that are 
 not understood. I have challenged the most rigid scrutiny of the limited postal tele- 
 graph bill. I ask to have printed all of the printed criticisms of it which have come 
 to my notice, as an argument in its favor. The limited postal telegraph bill is not a 
 proposition to take money from the Treasury or to employ additional civil servants; 
 
12 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 it is not a proposition to put auy power whatever in the hands of the Government, 
 which is not at present greater and more dangerous where it is. It is a proposition 
 simply to dovetail together two great machines so that one shall do business equi- 
 tably and by that means make more money (which shall be willingly accorded to 
 it by the people) ; the other to utilize its present skilled and faithful energy to help 
 supply the people with still better means of communication furnished still more 
 cheaply. It is a proposition incidentally to quicken the telegraph service by en- 
 couraging all the members of the operators’ craft to realize that they are the 
 better off the more they are able to devote themselves to on6 thing and are permitted 
 to see some result from their inventive genius. It is not a proposition to buy the 
 railroads, or the coal mines, or the saw-mills or the bake shops of the country. It 
 is not a confession that American ingenuity is incapable of keepnig up with the 
 march of mercantile and industrial progress. 
 
 I am proud to imitate so good a patriot as Postmaster-General Creswell, who did 
 not shirk the responsibility of appearing before the committees of Congress, when he 
 was invited, to explain why he believed in the reforms that he advocated. lu 1872 
 Mr. Creswell remarked upon the fact that Mr. Orton, then the president of the AVest- 
 ern Union, had taken it upon himself to deal somewhat facetiously with the report 
 of the Postmaster-General, and to express himself in terms of commiseration for the 
 weakness therein displayed. Mr. Creswell frankly admitted that he had been labor- 
 ing under a disadvantage. He had had, he said, not one dollar of public money at 
 his disposal except what had been used by the assignment of a single department 
 clerk to the duty of gathering information. Mr. Orton had thought it proper, he 
 said, to designate the statements of the Postmaster-General as the mere vaporings of 
 an ignoramus. He should not hesitate to hud the facts in the discussion, if he could, 
 no matter if it did displease Mr. Orton. “I wish it to be understood,” he concluded, 
 
 “ that a display of mere temper by anybody will not control or affect my action.” 
 
 History repeats itself. March 1, 1890, Dr. Green, the present president of the AA’’est- . 
 ern Union, said of the present Postmaster-General that he might congratulate him- 
 self that he can “smile and smile, aud murder while he smiles.” “ We propose,” Dr., ; 
 Green continued, “to controvert that order [the order fixing Goverument rates] in 
 the courts, and demonstrate that that is not one-half of the cost of the service.” “I ' 
 never before heard of a Cabinet officer,” the astute doctor said, continuing his rhap- ' 
 sody, “going to all the meetings of a committee, urging the adoption of his pet 
 schemes, which have not been recommended by the President.” After thus accord- i 
 ing to the President the privilege of “lobbying” your honorable committee and t 
 barring the Postmaster-General out cf this privilege. Dr. Green coucluded to put the 
 members of your committee ou their guard against him. “The Postmaster-General,” 
 he said, “has got a great many appointments, and every Member of Congress has 
 several of them in his district.” Here is the old story repeated. The special interest 
 may spend no end of money and never question means to gain its point; but there 
 must be no one to speak for the public. There is no dollar to be spent for a real re- ' 
 form. t 
 
 But I have another good illustration of the trite saying that history repeats itself. ' 
 In the printed report of one of the hearings of 1^72 occurs a foot-note signed “ W. ( 
 O.” It says that an apology is due to the public for having provoked a Cabinet min- ' 
 ister to forget the proprieties. Mr. Orton adds that respect for the Committee and for * 
 the office of Postmaster-General restrained him from making answer on the spot, to 
 the refiection upon his veracity implied iu the Postmaster-General’s request that Mr. 
 Orton give his information “under oath.” On March 3, of this year. Dr. Green sent a ^ 
 letter to the chairman of your honorable committee, to say that in the hurry of the 
 moment he had forgotten to express his profound appreciation of the kind and court- J 
 eons treatment which the committee had extended to him, and he had also forgotten-^ ^ 
 to express his entire confidence in the fairness and impartiality with which it w^asin- " 
 vestigating the subject under consideration. He further said that he wanted to take x 
 back the expression “ coaching” the committee, which the chairman had spiritedly . 
 objected to, aud substitute for it the word “urging.” It is the same fight now that ^ 
 it always has been. The special interest must be sacrificed to the general. 
 
 If others speak out for the telegraph stockholders some one must stand for the peo- 
 ple iu the interest of the cheaper telegraphy that they want. I believe it belongs to 
 this Department to take this stand, and I propose iutelligeutly and persistently to ^ 
 keep this subject before you iu strong confidence that it will not be long before your 
 committee will take steps to give the people the relief prayed for. 
 
 A''ery respectfully, your obedient servant, | 
 
 John AA'anamaker, Oi 
 
 Postmaster-General. yj 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 13 
 
 Appendix A. 
 
 FINAL DRAFT OF THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH BILL SUBMITTED BY THE 
 
 POSTMASTER-GENERAL FOR THE CONSIDERATIO S' OF THE HOUSE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF THE POST-OFFICE AND POST-ROADS OF THE FIFTY- 
 
 FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 A BILL to establish a limited post and telegraph service, and for other purposes. 
 
 Sec. 1 . Be it tnacled hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
 America in Congress assembled, That for the pui pose of facilitating the transmission of 
 correspondence among the people of, and promoting commerce between, the several 
 Stiates and Territories of the United States, a limited post and telegraph service is 
 hereby established as a bureau or part of the Post-Office Department, for the deposit, 
 fransmission, and delivery of postal telegrams through the medium of the post-office 
 service as herein provided. All post-offices at incorporated cities, villages and 
 boroughs where the free delivery service now exists, and the offices of the telegraph 
 companies referred to in section two of this act, shall be postal-telegraph stations, 
 and in addition thereto the Postmaster-General may, from time to time, designate other 
 post-offices and telegraph offices thereat as postal-telegraph stations 
 
 Sec. 2. For the i)nr}) 08 e of putting this act into effect the Postmaster-General, 
 after inviting pio]>osals by public advertisement, shall contract with one or more 
 telegraph companies, now in existence, or that may hereafter he incorporated, for a 
 period often years, under such conditions as he may deem best, consistent, however, 
 with all the provisions of this act, for the transmission of postal-telegrams, on the 
 terms and at the rates of tolls herinafter s})ecilied ; Provided, That said rates may 
 be reduced \)y the consent of the parties to said contract, at anj^ time during its con- 
 tinuance. 
 
 Sec. 3. All telegrams received by the contracting company or companies for trans- 
 mission, whether postal telegrams or otherwise, shall be sent in the order of tiling, 
 except that priority shall be given to telegrams relating to the business of the Govern- 
 ment. No liability shall attach to the Post-Office Department on account of delays 
 or errors in the transmission or delivery of postal telegrams. 
 
 Sec. 4. The charges for the transmission and delivery of postal telegrams, other 
 than postal money- order and special delivery telegrams, and telegrams relating to 
 the business of the Government, shall not exceed the rates stated in this section ; 
 Provided, That in no case shall the rates on postal telegrams exceed those of the con- 
 tracting company or companies on any other class of business which they may do, 
 the rates on yiress reports excepted. 
 
 For the first twenty words or less, counting address and signature, between postal 
 telegraph stations within any one State or Territory, and between such stations, 
 mot iu the same State or Territory, and less than three hundred miles distant from 
 each other, fifteen cents. 
 
 Between postal telegraph stations not less than three hundred miles apart and not 
 in the same State, east of and including the States of Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, 
 Tennessee, and Mississippi, twenty-five cents for the first twenty words or less. 
 
 Between postal-telegraph stations not less than three hundred miles apart and not 
 in the same State or Territory, west of and including the States of Minnesota, 
 Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, twenty-five cents for the first twenty words 
 or less. 
 
 Between postal telegraph stations within the following named States, and not less 
 than three hundred miles apart, and not in the same State, twenty -five cents for the 
 first twenty words or less, viz : Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ken- 
 tucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wis- 
 consin. 
 
 Between all other postal telegraph stations not provided for above, fifty cents for 
 the first twenty words or less. 
 
 The charges for all words in excess of the first twenty words shall he at the rate of 
 one cent per word. 
 
 The charges for the transmission of all telegrams relating to the business of the 
 Government, and passing between its Departments, their officers, agents, and em- 
 ployes, and persons whom they may address, shall be those annually fixed by the 
 Postmaster-General, in accordance with the provisions of Section 5266 of the Revised 
 Statutes. 
 
 Prepayment of replies to postal telegrams not exceeding twenty words, counting 
 address and signature, may he made at the office from which the original telegram is 
 transmitted. ' 
 
 Sec. 5. That the money-order service of the Post-Office Department shall, as soon 
 
14 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 as practicable, be adapted, under sucb rules and regulations as the Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral shall prescribe, to the limited post and telegraph service between such post- 
 offices as may, from time to time, be designated by him as postal-telegraph money- 
 order offices ; and the fees for postal telegraph money-orders shall be double the rates 
 now charged for domestic money-orders in addition to double the charge for postal 
 telegrams of twenty words; but no postal-telegraph money-order shall exceed in 
 amount one hundred dollars; and the provisions of section 4 of the act of March 3, 
 1883, and of section 2 of the act of June 29, 1886, in regard to compensation of post- 
 masters for the transaction of money-order business and allowances for money-order 
 clerks shall apply to telegraph money-order business : Provided, That the Post- 
 master-General may allow to postmasters at hrst-class offices, whom he may desig- 
 nate to perform special money-order duties under this act not required of other post- 
 masters, such amount in each case as he may deem expedient for the clerical service 
 required for such duties, and the cost of stationery and such other incidental ex- 
 penses as are necessary for the transaction of that business may be paid out of the 
 proceeds thereof. 
 
 The provisions of section 5463, Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended 
 by the act of Congress approved January 3, 1887, concerning the falsely forging, coun- 
 terfeiting, engraving, or printing of money-orders, and the altering of the same, and 
 the passing, uttering, or publishing of any false, forged, counterfeited, or altered 
 money-order be, and they are hereby, extended so as to include postal money-orders 
 issued under the provisions of this act. 
 
 Sec. 6. Payment by the Post-Office Department to the telegi aph company or com- 
 panies for the transmission of postal telegrams shall be made quarterljq or, it prac- 
 ticable, at shorter intervals, on the basis of allowing to said companies all the charges 
 therefor, less the charge for the postage at the rates fixed by law on mail matter of 
 the first-class ; and for the transmission of postal money-order telegrams all the 
 charges, less the postal charge and fees due the Post-Office Department. The tele- 
 graph company or companies shall, upon forms prescribed and approved by the Post- 
 master-General, render accounts to the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office , 
 Department for their services aforesaid for each quarter of the fiscal year as fixed by . 
 law, or more frequently if practicable, and the Auditor shall without delay audit and • 
 report the same to the Postmaster-General for settlernent and payment, as in the case ; 
 of other accounts audited by him. The original i^ostal telegrams transmitted by the 
 telegraph company or companies shall be filed with the Auditor as vouchers with . 
 said account. After the lapse of thirty days from the complete settlement of the j 
 accounts for each quarter, and the payments thereunder, the telegrams aforesaid , 
 shall be destroyed under such rules as the Postmaster-General shall prescribe, and ; 
 all copies thereof shall also be destroyed under such regulations and at such times , 
 as he may designate, not exceeding thirty days after the date of the settlement of the 
 accounts to which they apply. 
 
 Sec. 7. The Postmaster-General may in his discretion provide for the use of the ; 
 telegraph companies suitable space or room at i)Ostal- telegraph stations in buildings ; 
 leased or rented by the Post-Office Department, and in such portions of buildings i 
 owned by the Government as are set apart for the uses of post-offices, and the corri- | 
 dors and passages appurtenant thereto. Nothing, however, herein contained shall ^ 
 be construed to prevent the telegraph company from occupying offices at postal-tele- : 
 graph stations separate and apart from buildings occupied by post-offices, nor as con- t 
 stituting the right in the telegraph company to require the Postmaster-General to ; 
 furnish space or room for the telegraph company whenever in his judgment it can. 
 not be done without injury to the postal service. ; 
 
 Sec. 8. The telegraph' company or companies, parties to the contract provided for 
 herein, shall construct, lease, or acquire, equip, maintain, and operate, all telegraph 
 lines necessary to comply with the provisions of this act and the conditions of the i 
 contract to be executed hereunder, and shall employ at their own expense all officers, 
 operators, and employes, for the transmission of postal telegrams, except those who 
 are employed in the collection and delivery thereof. If, with the consent of the Post- 
 master-General, the postmasters at postal telegraph stations shall act as operators for ; 
 the telegrhph company or companies, they shall be compensated for their services by „ 
 a uniform percentage on the tolls of each telegram handled by them, or by some other 
 share thereof, to be agreed upon by the company and the Postmaster-General, and to 
 be paid for by the company. . .. c ^ ^ 
 
 Sec. 9. That within two years from the approval of this act at least one-half of the J 
 postal-telegraph stations contemplated by it shall be connected by the wires of the> 
 telegraph company or companies; within the next succeeding year after said con-'| 
 nection shall be completed at least one-halt of the remainder shall be connected ; andj 
 connections to all said postal-telegraph stations shall be made within one year after! 
 the time last mentioned: Provided, That the contracting telegraph company or con^-'| 
 panics shall not be required to build or furnish a line to connect with any free deliv-S 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 15 
 
 very office more than one hundred miles distant by land line from the nearest other 
 free-delivery office. 
 
 Sec. 10. Before or at the time the contract contemplated by this act shall be exe- 
 cuted by any telegraph com})any, such company shall tile with the Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral an agreement in writing of its acce])tance of the restrictions, obligations, and 
 conditions, so far as they are not superseded by the provisions of this act, of sections 
 5263 to 5269 inclusive, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and thereupon 
 the privileges and benefits of said sections shall inure to said company. 
 
 Sec.'*11. Nothing in this act contained shall operate to prevent any telegraph com- 
 pany from performing business for the public as the same is now done: Provided, 
 hoivever, That it shall not be lawful for the contracting telegraph company or com- 
 panies, during the term of any contract provided for therein, to engage directly or 
 indirectly in the sale of press reports, election reports, market quotations, or general 
 news, or be interested in the sale of any such reports, quotations, or news, by reason 
 of the ownership, as a company, of stock, bonds, or securities, or by or through any 
 contract or arrangement with any individual, firm, company, or association engaged 
 in such sale, beyond the service of transmitting such reports, quotations, or news, in 
 the form of telegrams, at rates which shall be uniform to all who may send such tele- 
 grams over the lines of the said companj^ or companies. 
 
 Sec. 12. Postmasters shall be compensated for the postage portion of stamps and 
 telegram forms used in the transmission of telegrams as they are now compensated 
 for postage on other matter, and they shall report sales and cancellations of such 
 stamps and forms separately with their (luarterly returns. To simplify such returns 
 and the settlement thereof, the Postmaster General may, in his discretion, provide 
 telegranf stamps, as well as telegram forms ; and, in case he does so, the words ‘‘post- 
 age*stamp8,” as they appear in this act, shall be construed to also include postal- 
 telegram stamps. 
 
 Sec. 13. The provisions of section 5464 of the Revised Statutes ot the United 
 States relating to the forging or counterfeiting of postage-stamps, stamps printed 
 upon stamped envelopes, or postal cards, or any die, plate, or engraving therefor ; 
 and to the using, or having in possession with intent to use or sell, any forged or 
 counterfeited postage-stamp, stamped envelopes, postal-card, die, plate, and engrav- 
 ing, be, and they are hereby, extended and apidied, including the punishment for 
 violations of said statutes, to the forging and counterfeiting of postal-telegram forms, 
 and the dies, plates, or engravings therefor, and to the unlawful selling and using of 
 the same. 
 
 Sec. 14. Any person employed in any department of the postal service, or in any 
 department of the telegraph company or companies under contract with the Post-Of- 
 fice Department, agreeably to the provisions of this act, who shall, except as pro- 
 vided herein, secrete or destroy any postal-telegram intrusted to him, or which shall 
 come into his possession, and which was intended to be transmitted by telegraph, or 
 to be carried or delivered by any mail carrier, mail messenger, route agent, letter 
 carrier, or other person employed in the postal service, or by said telegraph company 
 or companies, or who shall expose or make knowi^the contents of such telegram, un- 
 less so authorized by the sender or addressee thereof, shall be imprisoned at hard 
 labor for not less than one year nor more than three years. 
 
 Sec. 15. Before entering upon their duties as such all persons employed by the tel- 
 egraph compan3^ or companies referred to herein, as officers, operators, messengers, 
 clerks, book-keepers, or in any other capacity, or to whom postal-telegrams shall be 
 in anywise intrusted, shall take and subscribe, before some magistrate or other officer 
 authorized to administer oaths by the laws of the Uuite^ States, or of any State or 
 Territory an oath or affirmation in such form as the Postmaster-General may pre- 
 scribe, and conformably" to the laws relating to oaths and affirmations. 
 
 Sec. 16. The Postmaster-General, by" and with the advice andconsentof the Presi- 
 dent, may conclude treaties or conventions with foreign countries for the- extension 
 and connection cf the postal- telegraph service, including the interchange of postal- 
 telegraph money-orders, between them and the United States. 
 
 Sec. 17. The Postmaster-General is hereby authorized to prescribe rules and regula- 
 tions, not inconsistent with law, for carrying out the purposes of this act and for 
 the conduct of the service for which it provides. 
 
16 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITfES. 
 
 Appendix B. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF ORGANIZED BODIES OF LABOR AND CAPITAL IN BE- 
 HALF OF POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 Trades’ Council Chamber, 
 Spokane Falls, TTasli., March 4, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of resolutions introduced by 
 me and unanimously passed by at least twenty-five hundred citizens in mass conven- 
 tion assembled on March 2d. I hope it may be encouraging to you to know that 
 the industrial masses here are taking so much interest in your efforts to give our 
 country a postal telegraph system. That your efforts may be crowned with success 
 is the wish of all who feel the grasp of our present telegraph system upon them. 
 Very truly, yours, 
 
 Wm. H. Galvini, 
 
 Chairman Convention, 
 
 District Master Workman, District Assembly, K. of L,, etc. 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postmaster -General, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Trades’ Council Chamber, 
 Spokane Falls, Wash., March 4, 1890. 
 
 Resolutions introduced by Wm. H. Galvini, and unanimously^adopted by amass 
 convention of Knights of Labor, trades, and labor organizations of Spokane Falls? 
 Wash., March 2, 1890: 
 
 Whereas the Postmaster-General has framed a bill for a postal telegraph system 
 and the same is now pending before the United Stares Congress; and 
 
 Whereas the only objection so far raised is that by the Western Union Telegraph 
 Company, that the passage of such a bill would interfere with the affairs of that 
 gigantic monopoly : Therefore bo it 
 
 Resolved, That we, the representatives of the industrial masses of Spokane Falls, 
 Wash., in mass convention assembled, demand the passage of the Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral’s bill; and 
 
 Resolved, That a failure to pass this bill will be considered as a clear indication 
 that Congress takes more interest in the affairs of the Western Union Telegraph 
 Company than in those of the people of the United States ; and 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the honorable John 
 Wanamaker, Postmaster-General, and to the Senators and Representatives from the 
 State of Washington. 
 
 Wm. H. Galvini, 
 
 Chairman Convention. 
 
 [From the Philadelphia Ledger of March 11, 1890.] 
 
 At a meeting of the United Labor League, President Bisbing in the chair, last 
 evening, Secretary William H. Barrett offered the following resolution, which was 
 unanimously adopted : 
 
 Whereas the efforts of Postmaster-General Wanamaker in behalf of the postal tele- 
 graph scheme proposed by him are deserving of encouragement, inasmuch as such a. 
 measure is calculated to greatly benefit the people at large. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of all classes of citizens are clue the Postmaster-General 
 for his efficient work in this direction, and that the members of the United Labor 
 League hereby extend the same and wish him success. 
 
 new YORK BOARD OF TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 Resolutions favoring the establishment of a limited postal telegraph as a bureau or part 
 of the Post-Office Department of the United States. 
 
 [Adopted March 12, 1890.] 
 
 Whereas the Postmaster-General has draughted an act to establish a limited postal 
 telegraph system between all carrier delivery post-offices, by which the usefulness of 
 the telegraph will be greatly extended and the public given a uniform service at a 
 much lower rate than "that charged by existing companies ; and 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 17 
 
 Whereas the first telegraph line was constructed between Washington and Balti- 
 more with an appropriation made by Congress and placed under the superintendance 
 of the Postmaster-General, who adopted regulations to bring it into constant service 
 as a means of transmitting intelligence accessible to all and prescribed the rate of 
 postage ; but this great instrumentality for good was aferwards allowed to pass into 
 the hands of corporations, which have used it as a means to tax the public for this 
 most important system of conveying intelligence ; and 
 
 Whereas the United States is the only country of importance on the face of the 
 globe that does not operate the telegraph as a part of the post-office system ; and 
 
 Whereas the National Board of Trade, representing .the principal commercial 
 ■organizations of the country, and this board have repeatedly passed resolutions favor- 
 ing a postal telegraph, and various measures have been recommended by the different 
 'Postmaster-Generals and committees of Congress to this end, and have been defeated 
 by the influence of the great corporations that now control the telegraph business of 
 the country, and in whose board of directors leading men in both political parties are 
 found : 
 
 liesolved, That this board re affirms its previous declarations favoring the increased 
 usefulness of the telegraph in connection with our postal system, and although we 
 would prefer to see the Government own and operate its own lines, yet we welcome 
 the proposition of the present Postmaster-General as a step in the right direction and 
 heartily commend same to the favorable consideration of Congress. 
 
 A true copy. , 
 
 Darwin R. James, Secretary. 
 
 The Postmaster-General. 
 
 The Board of Trade of Jersey City, 
 
 Jersey City, N. J., March 17, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir : At a meeting of the Board of Trade of Jersey City, held this day, a res- 
 olution was adopted favoring the passage bj”^ Congress of your bill to establish the 
 postal telegraph system. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 E. M. Doane, Secretary. 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postmaster-General, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Norristown Board of Trade, 
 
 JSlorristoivn, Pa., March 19, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir : At the regular monthly meeting of this board of trade, held last night, 
 a resolution was adopted approving of the bill which you have drafted for the estab- 
 lishment of the postal telegraph system in conuection with the postal service, and 
 our member in Congress requested to use his efforts in securing the passage of the 
 bill. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 J. Clinton Sellers, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Hon. John WanaxMaker. 
 
 Postmaster-General, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Scranton Board of Trade, 
 Scranton., Pa., March 25, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir: At the last regular meeting of the Scranton Board of Trade, held March 
 17, a communication from the New York Board of Trade and Transportation on the 
 subject of a limited postal telegraph was read and unanimously adopted as the sense 
 of the Scranton Board of Trade. 
 
 I take pleasure in announcing this fact to you, and also the fact that I have this 
 day forwarded copies of the resolution referred to to our member of Congress from 
 this district, and also Senators Quay and Cameron, from this State. 
 
 If at any time we can be of service to you in urging the passage of this resolution, 
 if you will kindly communicate with me I will see that the matter is brought to the 
 nittention of our board. 
 
 I am, very respectfully yours. 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postmaster- General, Washington, D. C. 
 
 J. H. Fisher, Secretary. 
 
 P T 2 
 
18 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Chamber of Commerce, 
 
 St. Paul, Minn., April 7, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir : The following report of the mercantile committee was adopted by this, 
 chamber to-day : 
 
 “Pesolved, That this chamber re-affirms its previous declarations favoring the in- 
 creased usefulness of the telegraph connection with our postal system and heartily 
 commend the same to the favorable consideration of Congress.” 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postn.a der-General, Washington, D. C. 
 
 A. S. Tallmadge, secretary. 
 
 Manufacturers’ Club of Philadelphia, 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., April 14, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir: I forward the following extract from the minutes of the Club under 
 date of March 17 : 
 
 “Hon. Gardner G. Hubbard, of Washington, D. C., was then introduced and 
 addressed the club at length upon the subject of postal telegraphy. His remarks 
 were listened to Avith great interest and attention, and at his conclusion Mr. Jerome 
 Carty offered the following resolution, which was adopted unanimously : 
 
 “Whereas the subject matter of the address before the club this evening has 
 been in practical operation by the leading governments of Europe for many years, to 
 the great advantage of the people; and 
 
 “ Whereas all efforts to commend its adoption by the Government of the United 
 States should be promptly seconded : It is therefore 
 
 Resolved, That the hearty thanks of the Manufacturers’ Club, of Philadelphia, are 
 due and are hereby tendered to Hon. Gardner G. Hubbard, the speaker of the even- 
 ing, for bis able and eloquent exposition of the subject; and the club hereby ex- 
 presses its entire and full approbation of the same.” 
 
 Yours very truly. 
 
 Wm. S. Stockton, Assistant Secretary. 
 
 The Postmaster General. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 The Postmaster- General : 
 
 At a meeting of tke Helena Chamber of Commerce, on Monday, the I4th day of 
 April, 1890, at 7.30 o’clock p. m.. President Clopton in the chair, and a quorum pres- 
 ent, on motion of Mr. F. L. Mitchell, the following was unanimously adopted; 
 
 Whereas the Postmaster-General has prepared an act to establish a limited postal 
 telegraph system in these United States; and, 
 
 Whereas the Helena Chamber of Commerce believes such a telegraph system has 
 become a necessity and would be a most important convenience for our people ; 
 
 Resolved, That this chamber hereby pronounces its most hearty approval of this 
 movement, and requests Senators and Members of Congress from Arkansas to urge 
 the early passage of an act establishing the same ; 
 
 And he it further resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the Post- 
 master-General and to our Senators and Representatives in Congress. 
 
 J. W. Clopton, President. 
 
 J . O. Bagwell, Secretary. 
 
 The Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, 
 
 Denver, Colo., April 17, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir : The following resolutions were adopted by the Denver Chamber of Com- 
 merce and Board of Trade : 
 
 “Whereas the Postmaster- General has drafted an act to establish a limited postal 
 telegraph system between all carrier-delivery post-offices, by which the usefulness of 
 the telegraph will be greatly extended and the public to be given a uniform service 
 at a much lower rate than that charged by existing companies; and 
 
 “Whereas the first telegraph line was constructed between Washington and Bal- 
 timore with an appropriation made by Congress, and placed under the superintend- 
 ence of the Postmaster- General, w ho adopted regulations to bring it into constant 
 service as a means of transmitting intelligence accessible to all, and prescribed the 
 rate of postage; but this great instrumentality for good was afterwards allow’ed to 
 pass into the hands of corporations which have used it as a means of taxing the pub- 
 lic for the most important system of conveying intelligence; and 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 19 
 
 “ Whereas the United States is the only country of importance on the face of the 
 ^ operate the telegraph as a part of the post-office system ; and 
 
 Whereas the National Board of Trade, representing the principal commercial 
 organizations of the country, aud this board has repeatedly passed resolutions favor- 
 mg a postal telegraph, and various measures have been recommended by the different 
 Postmasters-General aud committees of Congress to this end, but have been defeated 
 by the influence of the great corporations that now control the telegraph business of 
 are foumi^^’ whose boards of directors leading men of both political parties 
 
 Resolved, That the Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade favor the 
 increased usefulness of the telegraph in connection with our postal system, and 
 while we think the Government should own and operate its own lines, yet we wel- 
 come the proposition of the present Postmaster- General as a step in the right direc- 
 tion and heartily commend same to the favorable consideration of Congress ” 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 I. B. Porter, President. 
 
 Chas. H. Reynolds, Secretary. 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postmaster-G eneral, Washington, D. C. 
 
 THE commercial CLUB OF KANSAS CITY. 
 
 Kansas City, Mo., April 19, 1890. 
 
 please find copies of resolutions expressive of the unanimous approval 
 ot this body of your proposal to provide a governmental postal telegraph system. 
 
 We shall be under obligations if you will kindly have forwarded to us such printed 
 matter upon the subject as may be published. 
 
 Very respectfully, • 
 
 TT T -.TT Ryerson Ritchie, Secretary. 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, ' ^ c ^ iciuiy . 
 
 Postmaster -General, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Resolutions adopted hy the Commercial Clul) of Kansas City, April, 1890. 
 
 Whereas the Postmaster-General has drafted an act to establish a limited postal 
 telegraph system between carrier delivery offices, by wich the usefulness of the tele- 
 graph will be greatly extended, and an uniform service provided for the public at a 
 reduced rate ; and, ^ 
 
 Whereas the United States is the only country in the world which does not main- 
 telegraph system as a part of the- post-office service : and. 
 
 National Board of Trade, representing the principal commercial 
 bodies ot the country, as well as different Postmasters-General and committees of Con- 
 
 P^tmaster-Sal ; 
 
 Resolved, That the Commercial Club of Kansas City is in hearty sympathy with the 
 moveruent to establish a limited postal telegraph service as a part of the Post-Office 
 Department of the United States, and that our Senators and Representatives be re- 
 quested to promote the passage of a bill to provide therefor. 
 
 [seal.-] 
 
 Ryerson Ritchie, Secretary. 
 
 Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pa., April 28, 1890. 
 the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of 
 
 ^rncHon^tlJ^f f“°exed paper and resolution was adopted, with in-' 
 
 structions that the same be sent to you. ^ ’ 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, S«perinlendent. 
 
 Postmaster- General, Washington, D. C. 
 
20 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Norwich Board of Trade, 
 
 Norwich, Conn., May 3, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have the honor to inform you that at a meeting of the Norwich Board 
 of Trade, held Wednesday, April 30, 1890, resolutions were adopted indorsing and 
 recommending to the favorable consideration of our Senators and Representatives in 
 Congress, the bill to establish a limited post and telegraph service, etc., as a bureau or 
 part of the Post-Office Department of the United States. 
 
 The resolutions are substantially the same as those adopted by the New York Board 
 of Trade and Transportation on March 12, 1890 ; and copies will be sent to Senators 
 Hawley and Platt, and the Hon. Chas. A. Russell, M. C. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, / 
 
 David R. Jones, Recording Secretary. 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postmaster- General, Washington, D. C. : 
 
 Winona Board of Trade, 
 Winona, Minn., May 13, 1890. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have the honor to say that this Board has concurred in the resolutions 
 adopted by the Board of Trade and Transportation of New York City favoring your 
 proposition for the establishment of a limited postal telegraph system, and I have 
 •been instructed to notify you of such action and also request our Senators and Repre- 
 sentatives to support such a measure in Congress. 
 
 I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 W. J. Evans, Secretary. 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postmaster- General, Washington, D. C. 
 
 The Pueblo Board of Trade Association, 
 
 ■* Puehlo, Colo.t May 20, 1890. 
 
 Resolutions favoring the establishment of a limited postal telegraph, passed by the 
 Pueblo Board of Trade Association May 6, 1890. 
 
 Whereas the Postmaster-General has drafted an act for a limited postal telegraph 
 system, by which the use of the telegraph will be brought within the reach of 
 a greater number of people and at a lower rate; and 
 
 Whereas a postal telegraph system is favored by the principal commercial bodies 
 and by the leading statesmen of the country, but its adoption prevented, as we believe 
 by interested corporation influence : Therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we commend to our Senators and Representative in Congress the 
 measure proposed by the Postmaster-General, known as A bill to establish a lim- 
 ited post and telegraph service,” etc., and recommend that the measure, or some look- 
 ing to the same end, be urged for passage. 
 
 A true copy. 
 
 Chas. W. Bowman, Secretary. 
 
 The Postmaster-General. 
 
 Philadelphia Board of Trade, 
 
 Philadelphia, May 28, 1890. 
 
 Sir : At a recent meeting of the Philadelphia Board of Trade the following memorial 
 was adopted and ordered to be transmitted to Congress : 
 
 To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Con- 
 gress assembled : 
 
 “This memorial of the Philadelphia Board of Trade respectfully represents : 
 
 “That this board in its own meetings and through its delegates to the meetings of 
 the National Board of Trade, has affirmed its belief in the wisdom of the National 
 Government establishing and maintaining under well-considered regulations a postal 
 telegraph service ; therefore 
 
 “ Your memorialist, the Philadelphia Board of Trade, respectfully recommends 
 to your honorable bodies favorable action on the recommendations of the Postmaster- 
 General looking to the early establishment of a postal telegraph service. 
 
 “ And your memorialist will ever pray, etc.” 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 W. R. Tucker, Secretary. 
 
 Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 
 Postmaster- General, Washington, D. C. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 21 
 
 Richmond Chamber of Commerce, 
 
 Richmond, Va., June 9, 1890. 
 
 Report of Committee on Commerce in relation to a bill to establish a limited post and? 
 
 telegraph service, etc. 
 
 “ We heartily recommend the passage of said bill and trust the Chamber of Com- 
 merce will comply with the request made by the New York Board of Trade and Trans- 
 ;^ortation. 
 
 “Respectfully submitted, 
 
 “ B. F. Johnson. 
 
 “A. R. Yarbrough. 
 
 “ H. Wallerstein. 
 ‘^Walter Bowie. 
 
 The measure advocated above by the New York Board of Trade and Transportation 
 and recommended by the Committee on Commerce of the Richmond Chamber of Com- 
 merce was approved by the Board May 8, 1890. 
 
 Teste : 
 
 [seal.] R. a. Dunlop, 
 
 Secretary^ 
 
 The Postmaster-General. 
 
 Resolutions, memorials, letters, etc., in behalf of postal telegraphy, submitted to the House 
 Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. 
 
 Capital City Assembly, No. 6194, Knights of Labor, Charleston, W. Va., by Will- 
 iam A. Gillaland, master workman, and Sim Iron, recording secretary, March 5. 
 
 New York Board of Trade and Transportation, by Darwin R. James, secretary,. 
 March 12, 
 
 Scranton Board of Trade, by J. H. Fisher, secretary, March 25. 
 
 Nationalist Club of Concordia, Kan8.,by A. A. Carnahan, secretary, March 26. 
 
 Citizens of Edwardsville, Luzerne County, Pa., April 1. 
 
 Citizens of McCracken County, in the First Congressional district of the State of 
 Kentucky, by Josiah Pierce and others, April 2. 
 
 Labor Assembly, No. 2574, Knights of Labor, of Sugar Notch, Pa., by P. T. Caffrey, 
 master workman, and James Corrigan, recording secretary, April 3. 
 
 St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, by 4* S. Tallmage, secretary, April 7. ♦ 
 
 Helena, Ark., Chamber of Commerce, by J. W. Clopton, president, and J. O. Bag- 
 well, secretary, April 14. 
 
 Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, by I. B. Porter, president, and 
 Charles H. Reynolds, secretary, April 21. 
 
 Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, by G. Fallansbee, superintendent, April 28.. 
 
 Norwich, Conn., Board of Trade, by David R. Jones, recording secretary, May 8. 
 
 Philadelphia Board of Trade, by Frederick Finley, president, and W. S. Tucker,, 
 secretary, May 19. 
 
 Pueblo, Colo., Board of Trade Association, by Charles W. Bowman, secretary,. 
 May 20. 
 
 The Davenport, Iowa, Business Men’s Association,, by H. T. Denison, secretary, , 
 May 27. 
 
 Board of Trade of the city of Minneapolis, by William L. Hall, secretary. May 29.. 
 
22 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 NEWSPAPER OPINIONS BROUGHT TO THE NOTICE OF THE POSTMASTER- 
 GENERAL DURING THE CURRENT DISCUSSION. 
 
 FOR THE BILL OR NOT UNFAVORABLE. 
 
 [Pittsburg Commercial-Gazette, February 11. J 
 
 The plan which Postmaster-General Wanamaker advocates as a preliminary step 
 towards the establishment of a postal-telegraph system is received with general favor. 
 He does not propose that the Government shall enter into the purchase of existing 
 telegraph lines or the construction of new ones, but it shall contract with the com- 
 panies for the transmission of messages at certain fixed rates between post-offices. 
 He seems to think that 1 cent a word would be a fair rate for the service. The mes- 
 sage would be received at one office and transmitted to another, the delivery to be 
 made after the same manner in which letters are now handled. 
 
 Where time is an important element this arrangement would be of great public 
 utility. The business would undoubtedly expand with great rapidity as the people 
 became familiar with the advantages of the system. The charges, at 1 cent a word, 
 could be kept within reasonable limits, and the time saved would be equivalent to 
 that occupied in making up the mails and conveying them between post-offices. The 
 delivery would be both safe and prompt, and in all matters involving business trans- 
 actions the arrangement could not fail to prove profitable as well as satisfactory. 
 There is no doubt that postal telegraphy will become general throughout the country 
 in the near future. The necessities of the age require it and facilities for operating 
 the system are already at command. All that is needed is that the Government shall 
 make the telegraphic instrument an adjunct of the postal service. 
 
 [New York Herald, February 12.] 
 
 The committee will use Mr. Wauamaker’s bill as the basis of the measure which 
 they will prepare, fpr the understanding is that they will report the matter favorably 
 to the House. Mr. Candler, of Massachusetts, who is one of the members of the com- 
 mittee, expressed himself as greatly pleased with Mr. Wanamaker’s proposition, 
 which he thought the Government ought to indorse. Mr. Hopkins, of Illinois, who 
 represents Western sentiment upon the subject, says that the people in his part of 
 the country want a postal telegraph, and will look with disfavor upon any of their 
 Representatives in Congress who oppose it. He says the Western people are not favor- 
 able to postal telegraphy because they are anti-monopolists — for they are not as a 
 rule — but because they believe in any measure which will tend to improve the public 
 service. If any system is devised whereby they can send their telegrajffis for half the 
 money that is charged them at present, they favor that system just as they favor the 
 fast railway service over that of the stage coach and saddle-bags of half a century 
 ago. 
 
 [Philadelphia Bulletin, February 12. 1 
 
 The Western Union Telegraph Company, in its annual report, last year, showed 
 that its business is increasing at an enormous rate. During the year ending on the 
 30tb of June, 1889, it handled 54,000,000 messages, which was an increase of 12,000,000 
 over the number in the year preceding. It is reasonably certain that at the end 
 of its current fiscal year the number of messages which it will have transmitted will 
 exceed 60,000,000. The revenue which it derived from this business was in round 
 figures $20,783,000, and its expenses $14,565,000, leaving a total profit of $6,218,000. 
 R^ot only is the business increasing every year, but the cost of telegraphj' to the com- 
 pany is graduallj^ diminishing. But the cost to the public for the service performed 
 has not diminished in the same proportion. 
 
 The number of persons who use the telegraph is less than 5 per cent, of the pop- 
 ulation. A very large proportion of the people never use it. To many of them it is 
 too expensive a luxury. To many who could afford to pay for telegrams occasionally 
 it is not always convenient. The telegraph offices are often remote from their homes 
 or places of business and they use the wires only in matters of great urgency. We 
 do not have the figures at hand, but we will venture to say that of the 54,000,000 
 messages which the Western Union sent out last year more than 40,000,000 related 
 to the business of bankers, stock -dealers, boards of trade, and the newspapers. But 
 taking all the messages which this corporation handled, it will be found that great as 
 their number is, it is really an average of but one message to each inhabitant of the 
 United States. This shows how far the telegraph service still is from being used by 
 the people throughout the country in the every-day affairs of life. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 23 
 
 We make allusion to these facts before calling attention to the eiforts which Post- 
 master-General Wanamaker is now making to bring the telegraph more conveniently 
 within reach of the people. His first step in this direction is to propose that the Gov- 
 ornment shall make a contract with telegraph companies, that is to say, with the 
 Western Union, for setting up their wires in the principal post-offices so that any one 
 who wishes to send a telegram may do so by placing on his message a postal-telegram 
 -stamp and sending it in the mail to the nearest post-office. In this way a person 
 would be able to send a telegram to any point in the United States without going 
 further than the letter-box on the street corner. The plan does not involve any in- 
 terference with the regular business of the companies. It is simply an experiment in 
 extending our postal facilities. It can do no harm to the Government, nor, so far as 
 we can see, to the companies. The Government will pay them, or rather the West- 
 ern Union, under contract for the services which they may perform, just as it does 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company or the Inman Steam-ship Company for carrying 
 the mail-bags. 
 
 If the Western Union Company is wise it will not stand in the way of this improve- 
 ment of the postal service. It can not continue to go on much longer making such 
 charges as those which produce the revenues that we have described above. It must 
 lower the cost of the service or find itself confronted with an agitation in favor of a 
 purchase outright by the Government. That it can lower the cost of its service is 
 evident from the figures in its annual report. But with such a contract as that which 
 the Postmaster- General proposes the volume of business would greatly increase, so 
 that the company would be likely still to enjoy handsome profits, eveji after a reduc- 
 tion in its charges. This, of course, would depend upon the bargain which it may 
 make with the Post-Office Department. Under such a plan of a postal and telegraph 
 service the wires would be used by tens of thousands of people who rarely think of 
 using them now, and the new business that they would bring would fully compen- 
 sate the company for a cut in its rates. At the same time it would make the post- 
 office more of a popular convenience than ever. 
 
 [Baltimore Herald, February 13.] 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker’s proposition to establish a limited postal telegraph service in this 
 ^country is certainly worthy of candid consideration. The argument in its favor is a 
 strong one, and it is probably none too soon to put the matter to a test and try the 
 feasibility of Government telegraphs. It must be apparent that the demand for tele- 
 graphic service is enormously on the increase, and it is fair to suppose that if lines 
 were more widely extended and message rates materially reduced the business would 
 multiply at a much more rapid rate. 
 
 The argument advanced by the Postmaster-General for a gradual utilization of 
 telegraphs by the Government is briefly as follows : There is an increasing and uni- 
 versal demand for the service which warrants its general introduction at rates that 
 will enable even poor people to make use of it. The Department already has the 
 necessary offices and furniture. It has clerks whose iuttdligeuce would very soon 
 make them competent operators upon telegraphic instruments. In cities it has car- 
 riers who travel the same routes as messenger boys. It has stamps to dispense with 
 keeping accounts, and in Mr. Wauamaker’s words, needs only authority and a wire 
 to send a new thrill of life throughout the republic. 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker’s scheme does not look to the purchase of telegraph lines or the 
 construction of new ones. He wishes only to lease lines already in existence, and to 
 establish the system in cities which have carriers in the postal service. This will be 
 sufficient to give the matter a fair trial, and it can afterward be abandoned or indefi- 
 nitely extended, as popular demaud may dictate. 
 
 The plan proposed is not different from that already in existence among metropoli- 
 tan newspapers. It does not even anticipate Government ownership of telegraph 
 wires any more than carrying mails involves the public ownership of railroads. The 
 time may come when it will be not only practicable but necessary for the Government 
 to acquire such property, but that time is not yet, and the trial of a postal tele- 
 graphic service can be made without incurring any very great expense. 
 
 Hence, it may be inferred that the project fora limited postal telegraph is both pos- 
 sible and practicable, without the necessity of crushing a corporation or nationaliz- 
 ing an industry. For that reason the beginning of cheap telegraphic communication 
 nan be made vrithout any serious innovation upon the existing order of things. 
 
 < [Chicago Hews, February 13. j 
 
 Whatever may have been President Harrison’s reason for placing Mr. Wanamaker 
 at the head of the Post Office Department, there is no doubt that for the business 
 interests of the country the choice was a good one. It is but fair to suppose that the 
 president recognized the fitness of the successful Philadelphia merchant for the office 
 of Postmaster-General, and that Senator Quay’s recommendation and the large sum 
 of money which Mr. Wanamaker contributed to the campaign fund of 1S88 were but 
 
24 
 
 POSTAL TELEGEAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 subsidiary to the business qualities of the man himself. At any rate, Mr. Wana- 
 maker's management of post-office affairs thus far is one of the chief successes of 
 President Harrison’s administration. He has succeeded in no small degree in ingraft- 
 ing his business methods on the public service. The contrast between the mail 
 system at present and as it was a year ago is very striking. That the improvement 
 will continue throughout Mr. Wanamaker’s term of office is probable. 
 
 In this relation the Daily News desires to indorse the Postraaster-GeneraPs plan for 
 establishing a postal-telegraph system under the control of the Government. It be- 
 lieves that the people are best served when they serve themselves. A message by tele- 
 graph can be sent by the Government quite as well as a message by mail. The present 
 telegraph monopoly is inimical to the country’s best interests. If there must be a 
 monopoly of that sort the people should be tbeir own monopolists. The Postmaster- 
 General’s plan, however, is only a step in the direction of a complete system of Gov- 
 ernment telegraphs. But it is a step which, if taken, is likely to be followed by others 
 speedily. 
 
 [Providence Journal, February 13.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wauamaker’s scheme for a postal telegraph seems to be a rea- 
 sonable and practical oue. There are difficulties m the way of adopting a universal 
 system like that of Great Britain from the great extent of the territory of the United 
 States and the sparseness of population in portions of it, but there is no reason why 
 the telegraph should not be made the adjunct of the postal service in places where it 
 can be conveniently established and gradually be extended as circumstances warrant 
 
 [St. Louis Chronicle, February 15.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker is to be commended for his efforts to establish 
 postal telegraphy, and if he went a step further and made an effort to give the peo- 
 ple postal savings-banks, he would be still more entitled to the gratitude of the 
 working people of the country. This is the class most to be benefited by the adop- 
 tion of these measures, and that is the best reason why that there is very little prob- 
 ability that either of them wdll find much favor in the eyes of a Congress largely 
 dominated by monopolistic influence. The telegraph has now been half a century 
 in practical operation, and although its inventor was first enabled to demonstrate its 
 utility and practicability by a Congressional appropriation of public money; yet the 
 people have been practically debarred from its use, in order that a few individuals 
 may amass millions of dollars by operating it. The benefit to be derived, both by 
 Government and people, from postal savings-banks, has been for many years demon- 
 strated in England, Belgium, France, and Germany ; but as yet the working people 
 of the United States are deprived of these benefits, because these Government deposi- 
 tories would interfere with the business of private banking, and deprive these insti- 
 tutions of at least some of the opportunities for swindling the public, which they 
 now to such an unlimited extent enjoy. Yes, Mr. Wanamaker will deserve and un- 
 stintedly receive the gratitude of what Mr. Lincoln so happily termed “ the common 
 people,” if he succeeds in inaugurating either of these great reforms. Even an hon- 
 est effort to bring them about will merit tlieir thanks. 
 
 [Xew York World, February 15. ] 
 
 There is no sense in the cry of “ Centralization ” as raised against the proposition 
 of the Postmaster-General that the Government shall establish telegraph lines for 
 sending messages between the principal cities of the country. 
 
 There is no more ‘‘centralization ” in sending messages by telegraph than there is 
 in carrying letters and packages and money by mail. 
 
 The telegraph is a natural adjunct of the postal system, and is so used in .England 
 and in other countries. The chief objection to so employing it here lies in the close 
 connection of our civil service with party politics. 
 
 It is bad enough to have sealed letters and documents pass through the hands of 
 the dependents and tools of party bosses. It would be infinitely worse to have tele- 
 graphic communications, relating either to business or x>olitic8, committed to the de- 
 sj;)atch and knowledge of such agents. 
 
 Fancy the use that Quay, Dudley, and Clarkson might make of a Government tele- 
 graph under the direction of John Wanamaker in a Presidential campaign! 
 
 The first condition of a Government telegraph should be a reformed civil service 
 conducted as business, not as iiolitics. 
 
 [Omaha Bee, February 16.] 
 
 More than twenty years ago the legislature of Nebraska, by joint resolution, in- 
 structed the Representatives of this State in Congress to exert their influence and 
 give sujiport to the proposition to establish a postal telegraxih system. The senti- 
 ment in favor of postal telegrajihy has been steadily growing, and the country is to- 
 
POSTAL TELEGEAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 25 
 
 day heartily in accord with Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s efforts to enlarge the 
 usefulness of the postal system by placing it in condition to transmit dispatches and 
 money orders by telegraph. 
 
 The benefits that the people would derive from the establishment of the postal tele- 
 graph have been very ably set forth before the Congressional committee by the Post- 
 master-General, who has evidently given this subject exhaustive study. The cheap- 
 ening of telegraph tolls, the improvement of message delivery, and the increase of 
 telegraphic facilities are objects which vitally concern all communities and all classes 
 of our citizens. 
 
 The problem with which the advocates of postal telegraphy have vainly grappled 
 for years has been how to bring about the proposed reform. At the outset Mr. Gard- 
 ner Hubbard sought to induce Congress to create a rival of the Western Union mo- 
 nopoly by chartering a postal telegraph company that would enjoy special privileges, 
 and was doubtless designe*^! to be a stock-jobbing concern on a gigantic scale, with 
 the Government as its backer. Then came the project, fathered by Senator Edmunds, 
 to construct, at the Governmentt^ expense, experimental lines between the leading 
 commercial centers, and have them operated by the Government in competition with 
 existing telegraph companies. This scheme was impracticable for obvious reasons. 
 The Government telegraph lines would have been constructed at extravagant prices 
 and operated at a heavy loss. The subtle influence of the Western Union would have 
 undermined the enterprise and made it too costly to be maintained for any length of 
 time. Had the experiment proved a financial failure after reasonable trial, postal 
 telegraphy would have received a set-back for many years. 
 
 The proposition of Postmaster-General Wanamaker to lease a limited number of 
 wires and operate them between the carrier delivery cities is somewhat more feasible, 
 but falls short of what we believe to be essential. It is at best only a half-way meas- 
 ure. 
 
 The postal telegraph can only become an absolute success by heroic treatment. 
 The Government should be the absolute owner of all the commercial telegraph lines in 
 the country. This is essential as a measure of self preservation in times of war and 
 it is equally essential for the intercourse of the people in times of peace. So long as 
 the Government does not own all the telegraph lines the present system, enor- 
 mously inflated by overcapitalization and chiefly operated for gain and speculation, 
 will flourish and prevent the people from getting the most perfect service for the 
 least money. The true remedy for the existing defects in our telegraph system is the 
 purchase of all the lines by the Government at their appraised value. This appraise- 
 ment may be extravagantly high, but the Government could better afford to pay 
 even the market price of all the stocks now afloat than to allow the continuance of 
 the balloon system by which rivals of the Western Union are periodically swallowed 
 by Mr. Gould’s anaconda, and millions of stock are issued in payment for additions 
 to the Western Union plant that are not neeiled, and therefore merely a dead weight. 
 
 On all this fictitious stock the Western Union must constantly tax its patrons in 
 order to keep up dividends. 
 
 This is the real obstacle to the cheapening of rates and material improvement of 
 the telegraph system. The telegraph service must necessarily continue to be a mo- 
 nopoly. Competition has always been and always will be followed by combination 
 and consolidation. Is it safer for the people that this monopoly shall be in the hands 
 of the Government or in the hands of a private corporation ? 
 
 The Bee has for eighteen years fearlessly advocated Government ownership of the 
 telegraph. It still believes that sooner or later the Government must purchase the 
 existing lines, and the sooner it does so the better. 
 
 [Washington Gazette, February 16 .] 
 
 There has been such good occasion for poking fun at the Postmaster-General and 
 exposing his political methods, that it is not always easy to do him full justice when 
 he makes an honest endeavor to improve the postal facilities. 
 
 We credit him with this purpose in the plan proposed to afford cheap telegraphic 
 facilities to the people. Whether this could be best accomplished, in the end, by the 
 purchase of existing lines, or the construction of new ones by the Government, is an 
 unsolved problem. That the Government has the constitutional right to do either 
 has never been a debatable question. The United States constructed the first line of 
 telegraph, and surrendered its control against the protests of Mr. Polk’s Postmaster- 
 General, upon the mistaken theory that the public could best be served by private 
 enterprise. Some day it will resume what it should never have relinquished. 
 
 The Postmaster-General now proposes a limited telegraph service, under control of 
 the postal authorities, which promises to solve the telegraphic problem, and that 
 without any very great expense to the United States. It is worthy of trial, and we 
 believe that it will ultimately eventuate in the exclusive control of telegraphic com- 
 munication, for domestic purposes at least, by the postal authorities, and at cheaper 
 rates than those now charged the public for such messages. The Government already 
 
26 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 has in its employment a sufficient force to receive and dispatch these messages, and 
 we believe it could be utilized in the way suggested by the Postmaster-General with- 
 out interfering in the least with their ordinary duties. Congress should give the 
 plan a fair trial. If it works well everybody would be benefited. If it fails, no 
 great pecuniary loss will follow, and the vexed question of Government control of the 
 telegraph will be settled forever. 
 
 [Cleveland Leader, February 16.] 
 
 Postmaster-General WanamakePs plans fora limited postal-telegraph system, sub- 
 mitted to the House Committee on Post-Offices and Post Roads, are conservative and 
 judicious, and if adopted will prove of great service to the public. Mr. Wanamaker 
 does not propose to create a new telegraph system or to buy out any system now in 
 existence. His idea is simply to rent the use of wires connecting free delivery offices, 
 just as newspapers and commercial firms do, and to utilize the force of clerks and car- 
 riers employed in these offices to furnish more rapid communication between patrons 
 of the Department. Under the proposed system, leased wires would be led into 
 «ach of the 446 free-delivery offices, operators employed, and messages delivered 
 by the carriers on their regular rounds, except in cases where special delivery stamps 
 are used to expedite forwarding, as in the case of letters now. The cost of delivery 
 would be practically nothing ; the expense for operators small, as they could perform 
 other duties when not employed in telegraphing, aud the leasing of wires would in- 
 volve a comparatively small outlay. The principal advantage to the public would be 
 in a reduced scale of charges, the rate proposed being not more than 10 cents for 
 twenty words within 1,500 miles, and not to exceed 25 cents for the greatest distance 
 in the United States. It is also proposed to utilize the system for the telegraphic 
 transmission of money orders, in sums not exceeding $100 each, at moderate charges. 
 
 The system thus proposed would, of course, be merely experimental, the design 
 being at once to serve the public, and to ascertain at the least possible expense a^nd 
 risk the possibilities of such a service. There is no reason to doubt that it would be 
 self-supporting from the outset, or within a very few months from the time of its 
 adoption. In the end, if successful, it would probably be deemed best that the Gov- 
 ernment should own its own wires, and that the system should gradually be extended 
 to all considerable towns and villages in the country. Mr. Wanamaker does not con- 
 template that a postal-telegraph system will ever monopolize the telegraph business 
 of the country. The mass of commercial and press telegraph business of the nation 
 will probably always be done as now^ by telegrai)h corporations. But there is a large 
 nud constantly growing amount of business of this kind that may properly, and to 
 better advantage, be done through the Post-office Department. It is a long step in 
 the direction of cheaper telegraph facilities for the masses of the people, who can 
 not have the advantages of the special rates accorded to large customers of the tele- 
 graph companies. This kind of business wmuld very soon be doubled, and perhaps 
 quadrupled, by the very reasonable schedule of rates proposed by the Postmaster- 
 General, and this would mean not only the placing of cheap telegraphing within the 
 reach of the masses of the people, but a profitable career, also, for postal telegraph- 
 ing. The proposed plan is in line with the offering to the public of cheap transportation 
 for light articles of merchandise, and the means of transmitting small sums of money 
 by i^ostal orders and postal notes, which have been of enormous value to the public, 
 but have not interfered with the rights of the express companies or the banks. 
 
 The recommendations of the Postmaster-General on this subject are eminently wise 
 throughout, just such as might have been expected from a practical and able business 
 man. They are in line with popular thought and desire, and should receive the 
 prompt and earnest attention of Congrsss, as we have no doubt they will. 
 
 . [Boston Traveller, February 17. j 
 
 The Government postal telegraph system advocated by Postmaster-General Wana- 
 inaker is of much more modest pretensions than the systems in vogue in England, 
 Fraiice, and Germany. What he asks Congress to do is to [authorize him to contract 
 with responsible persons who will undertake to connect by wires places at which the 
 free-deliVery service now exists, these places to be known as postal telegraph sta- 
 tions. It is not asked, as has been assumed in some quarters, that Congress shall 
 build a telegraph system or even materially increase the list of i>ostal employes, but 
 rather that it shall enable the Department to lease for a term of two years lines already 
 built or to be built by a corporation formed for that purpose. His purpose is to secure 
 for the transmission of postal messages such facilities between cities enjoying free- 
 delivery service as banks, brokers and newsi)apers now possess. By dropping into a 
 mail-box, a letter or card bearing the requisite amouut in stamps, any one, under the 
 proposed arrangement, could without further trouble have a message sent by tele- 
 graph to any point to which the leased line extended, and have it delivered there by 
 the letter-carrier in the usual manner. By adding the ten-cent special delivery stamp 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 27 
 
 to the postage he could secure immediate delivery. It is not designed to restrict the 
 right of telegraph companies to do the business they now do, or to compete with 
 them, but to create new business, and at the same time supply a deficiency in the 
 means of communication at present at the command of the masses of the people. 
 Postal telegrams would be transmitted in the order of filing, except in certain speci- 
 fied cases As soon as practicable the sending of orders for money by telegraph to the 
 amount of $100 and under would be added to the existing postal money-order busi- 
 ness. The charge for a postal telegram within any State is not to exceed 10 cents 
 for messages of twenty words, nor 25 cents for distances under 1500 miles, nor 50 
 -cents for apy greater distance. For postal telegram money orders the fee would not 
 exceed twice the rates now charged for money orders sent by mail, in addition to the 
 charge for the postal telegram. There has been a great deal of confusion in the pop- 
 ular mind concerning Mr. Wananiaker’s plan, but the outline here given of it, shows 
 that it is exceedingly simple, that it is inexpensive, and if the postal telegraph ex- 
 periment is ever to be tried, Mr. Wanamaker’s plan is the best yet proposed for mak- 
 ing the experiment. 
 
 [Denver Eepublican, ^February 17.] 
 
 The scheme for a postal telegraph, which Postmaster-General Wanamaker outlined 
 the other day before the House Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, is the 
 same that he tried to carry out in his negotiations with the Western Union. 
 
 It consists in utilizing the present post office and carrier system for the delivery of 
 telegraph messages. Mr. Wanamaker does not propose to purchase or confiscate any 
 existing telegraph lines. He would merely make contracts for wires to be used in 
 the postal telegraph business. This is one of the weak parts of his scheme. He could 
 not compel any company to lease a wire to the Government below what the company 
 might think profitable. The charge for the use of the wire might be so great as to 
 make the cost of the services greater than the receipts. It is pos.sible, however, that 
 the prospect of making contracts with the Government would induce new companies 
 to erect new telegraph lines and thus compete with the existing companies. 
 
 Undoubtedly the present offices and employes now engaged in the postal business 
 of the country would be sufficient to handle the greater part of the postal telegraph 
 business. The expense from an increase in the number of employes would not amount 
 to a great deal. The chief expense would be that of the use of telegraph wires. The 
 cost would be entirely within the reach of the Government without adding anything 
 to the burden of taxation. 
 
 Thfe benefit to the general public would be very great, for it would enable many 
 peoi)le to use the telegraph who are now prohibited Ironi doing so because of the 
 heavy telegraph tolls. The Western Union could well afford to reduce its tolls, and 
 so there is no doubt that the postal-telegraph business could be conducted at the rates 
 suggested by Mr. Wanamaker, provided that the cost of leasing wires would not be 
 too great. 
 
 The tolls proposed by Mr. Wanamaker would be applicable to messages of twenty 
 words or less includiug address and signature. A message of this sort, however, 
 would not differ much from a message of ten words, excluding address and signature. 
 For the proposed message the charge in any State would not be more than 10 cents nor 
 over 25 cents for distances under 1,.500 miles. For greater distances than 1,500 miles, 
 the charge would not exceed 50 cents. 
 
 This would be a very great reduction compared with the charges for daj’^ messages 
 over the Western Union lines. If messages would be allowed to be sent at night at 
 half rates, the gain to the jjublic in the cost of the service would be very important. 
 Undoubtedly it would be followed by a large increase in telegraph business. 
 
 [Hartford Post, February 19.] 
 
 The plan proposed by Postmaster-General Wanamaker for the establishment, upon 
 a limited scale, of a postal-telegraph system, will probably have the approval of 
 every man in the country" who is not directly interested in private telegraph com- 
 panies. The proposition is to confine the tra ismission of messages for the present to 
 four or five hundred free-delivery offices ; to adjust the rate to the distance, as the 
 exi.^tiug custom is, and to permit the wiring of money orders not in excess of $100. 
 There wilkbe no increase of the number of clerks, and, if lines may be leased, no at- 
 tempt to construct new lines. In his address before the Post-Office Committee of 
 the House, Mr. Wanamaker showed that the Western Union Company at this moment 
 has 18,740 of its offices in jiost-office buildings. He showed that the cost of delivery 
 would not be increased, because the letter-carriers can also carry telegrams. He in- 
 dicated that whilst 5 per cent, of the messages transmitted in this country were of a 
 social character, more than .50 per cent, of those sent in England under the postal- 
 telegraph system are of that nature. In fact, only 2 per cent, of our population use 
 the telegraph at all. He expressed the opinion that the profit from the proposed 
 
28 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 system would help to reduce or remove tbe deficit in the revenues of the Post-Office 
 Department. This is a practicable, workable scheme, involving- no risks worthy of 
 consideration, and no large outlay of money. It promises to give to the people ac- 
 commodation to which they are clearly enl.irled, for the r. ason that carriage of mes- 
 sage by mail and carriage by wire are services of essentially the same kind. One of 
 the best features of the scheme is the proposed transmission of money by wire. — 
 Manufacturer. ] 
 
 [Joliet 111., News, February 20. J 
 
 It is a gratifying thing to see one of the great metropolitan daily papers changing 
 its attitude on the telegraph question. Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s proposition 
 to inaugurate a Government system of telegraph between all of the 400 free postal 
 delivery cities of the country furnishes the Chicago News a text, as follows : 
 
 “In this relation the Daily News desires to indorse the Po.stmaster-General’s plan 
 for establishing a postal-telegraph “system under the control of the Government. It 
 believes that the people are best served when they serve themselves. A message by 
 telegraph can be sent by the Government quite as well as a message by mail. The 
 present telegraph monopoly is inimical to the country’s best interests, jf there must 
 he a monopoly of that sort, the people should be their own monopolists. The Post- 
 master-General’s plan, however, is only a step in the direction of a complete system 
 of Government telegraphs. But it is a step which, if taken, is likely to be followed 
 by others speedily.” 
 
 [San Francisco Bulletin, February 20.] 
 
 It is evident that Postmaster-General Wanamaker expects to distinguish his admin- 
 istration by breaking the ground for the establishment of a postal telegraph system 
 under Government control. That plan was brought before the country more than 
 ten years ago. There was no expectation that it would be immediately adopted. 
 The country has been slowly growing to it. The telegraph companies have made a 
 strong opposition to plans heretofore suggested. They have covered the country with 
 a net-work of telegraph lines and have invested an immense amount of capital in the 
 business. They maintain that if the Government is to go into the business their rev- 
 enues will be reduced^ and their investments made uuremunerative. The same ob- 
 jections in kind were urged against the establishment of the postal telegraph system 
 in England. But such an adjustment was finally made of public and private rights 
 that the latter were substantially protected. Before a postal telegraph system can 
 come into general use in this country, the public most demand it in unmistakable 
 terms. When such a demand has once been made no ojiposition will prevail 
 against it. 
 
 Up to this time the postal system of the United States has been shaped after that 
 in Great Britain. The more important im[»rovements made there were not adopted 
 in this country until for many years there had been a comp.ete demonstration of suc- 
 cess in England. Now, as a matter of fact, the postal telegraph system has worked 
 for so many years admirably in Great Britain. The reasoning is that it would work 
 well here. The conditions are not alike; but it is maintained that they are not Ga 
 diverse as to furnish any ground for a failure. The Postmaster-General has not only 
 laid his plan before Congress, but he is following it up with vigor before the appro- 
 priate committee. It has in this way been given a prominence that it never had be- 
 fore. Congress will probably deal with the question during the present session. 
 
 [Troy Telegram, February 20.] 
 
 Postmaster General Wanamaker’s postal telegraph idea is taking a firm hold upon 
 the Representatives and Senators who are not opposed to Mr. Wanamaker simply be- 
 cause he happens to be a Republican. The idea is certainly in the direction of pub- 
 lic good. The telegraph long ago ceased to be a luxury. It is one of the necessities 
 of modern life, and if the Government can operate lines as the Government operates 
 the mail service the reform should not be long in coming. Give the Postmaster- 
 General a chance. 
 
 [Boston Globe, February 21.] 
 
 It is believed that the present session of the British Parliament will adopt “ impe- 
 rial penny postage that is, a uniform rate of one penny for letters between any 
 parts of the Queen’s dominions, however widely separated. It is said that the 
 scheme would only cost £60,000 more than the present system, and its enthusiastic 
 advocates think that it would in a few years make a profit. Besides, they say it 
 wouU\bethe first step towards the imperial federation of the colonies. Our own 
 country, to keep up with the procession, will have to adopt Government telegraphy 
 and a uniform oue-cent rate. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 29 
 
 [Bellefuiitaiiie (O.) Eepublican, Feb. 21.] 
 
 One of the Commercial Gazette’s arguments against the adoption of postal teleg- 
 raphy is this: 
 
 “ Of the 60,000,000 people in the United States, only about 1,000,000 nse the tele- 
 graph, and it would hardly be a popular measure to tax sixty people for the reduc- 
 tion of the cost of an accommodation of one.” 
 
 It is upon such flimsy arguments that the objection to postal telegraphy rests. 
 
 A moment’s thought will satisfy one that if telegraph rates were put down to a low' 
 figure, as postage stamps have bee,n, that the number using the telegraph would 
 be increased many fold, as the number of li tters has been increased by the reduc- 
 tion of postage rates. 
 
 There is no reason why the Government, which sends messages by rail for the peo- 
 ple, should not also send them by wfre. The postal Department has adopted and 
 utilized all improved methods for furthering communication between the people ex- 
 cept the telegraph ; why should this be excepted ? The coach and postman have 
 be.eu supplanted by the steam-boat and railroad because the latter are swifter in 
 their course ; why should lightning not supplant steam when desirable and possible ? 
 Messages can be sent cheaper by wire than by rail. The business of the country 
 would be greatly expedited; the peo()le of the country would be greatly accommo- 
 dated ; everybody would be benefited. All the cry about the great cost is mis- 
 leading. The immense profits made by the telegraph companies show that the peo- 
 ple are charged much more than the service costs, and if this is so at present rates, 
 with rates reduced to a point such as would make them popular, the business woulct 
 increase and become profitable at the low rates, just as low rates of postage have 
 largely increased tlie post-office business and met its increased expenses. 
 
 Ma. Wanamaker has faith in postal telegraphy, bnt he is willing to make atrial on • 
 u, limited scale. Why should this not be done? If he is correct, this would be proven 
 and the system would be made general. If he is wrong, it would be proven, and that 
 would be the end of it. By opposing Mr. Wanamaker, the telegraph monopolies show 
 that they have no faith in their own objections, and are siiujily fighting to maintain 
 an oppressive monoiioly for the immense profits there are in it for them, 
 
 f Shelby (Ohio) Times, February 22.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s plans for a limited postal telegraph system, sub- 
 mitted to the House Committee of Post-Offices and Post-Roads, are conservative and 
 judicious, and if adopted will prove of great service to the public. Mr. Wanamaker 
 does not propose to create a new telegraph system or to buy out any system now in 
 existence. His idea is simply to rent the use of wires connecting free delivery offices, 
 just as newspapers and commercial firms do, and to utilize the force of clerks and 
 carriers employed in these offices to furnish more rapid communication between pa- 
 trons of the Department. 
 
 the principal advantage to the public would be in a reduced scale of charges, the 
 rate proposed being not more than ten cents for twenty'- words within 1,500 miles, and 
 not to exceed twenty five cents for the greatest distance in the United States. It is 
 also proposed to utilize the system for the tidegraphic transmission of money orders, 
 in sums not exceeding |100 each, at moderate charges. 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker does not contemplate that a postal telegraph system will ever 
 monopolize the telegraph business of the country'. The mass of commercial and press 
 telegraph business of the nation will probably always be done as now, by telegraph 
 corporations. But there is a large and constantly growing amount of business of 
 this kind that may properly, and to better advantage, be done through the Post-Office 
 Department. It is a long step in the direction of cheaper telegraph facilities for the 
 masses of the people, who can not have the advantages of the special rates accorded 
 to large customers of the telegraph companies. This kind of business would very- 
 soon be doubled, and perhaps quadrupled, by the very reasonable schedule of rates 
 proposed by the Postmaster-General, and this would mean not only the placing of 
 cheap telegraphing within the reach of the masses of the people, but a profitable 
 career, also, for postal telegraphing. The proposed plan is in line with the offering 
 to the public of cheap transportation for light articles of merchandise, and the means 
 of transmitting small sums of money by postal orders and postal notes, which have 
 been of enormous value to the public but have not interfered with the rights of the 
 express companies or the banks. 
 
 The recommendations of the Postmaster-General of this subject are eminently wise 
 throughout, just such as might have been expected from a pratical and able business 
 man. They are in line with popular thought and desire, and should receive the 
 prompt and earnest attention of Congress, as we have no doubt they will. 
 
 [Irish World, February 22.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has shown the public that he has been studying to 
 some profit the best interests of the great Department of the Government intrusted 
 
30 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 to his direction. He has submitted to Congress for adoption a proposition to establish 
 a telegraph service in connection with the Post-OfiSce, which is certainly worthy of 
 a fair trial, as it promises at small cost to place within the reach of the public a 
 system of telegraphic communication at a fraction of the rates now paid to the tele- 
 graph companies and messenger deliveries. Mr. Wanamaker mentions the pertinent 
 fact that during the past twenty years the Government has paid to the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company about $100,000,000, and he proposes to lessen that expense and at 
 the same time give the public a cheaper service in the transmission of such messages 
 as the Post-Office Department may conveniently handle. There are nearly 60,000 
 post-offices in the country, all situated with special reference to the greatest conven- 
 ience of the people. There are less than half that number of telegraph stations oper- 
 ated solely as money-making enterprises by the Western Union and other corporations. 
 The Postmaster-General does not propose to buy out any of those corporations or 
 construct an independent system, but to lease on the best terms such lines as could be 
 operated in certain post-offices to the public advantage; A large part of the telegraph 
 and special messenger service contemplated by the Postmaster-General could be trans- 
 acted with the present force of employes, so that the extra cost would be compara- 
 tively small, and the rates to the people for their current messages could be grea ly 
 reduced. 
 
 Opinions vary as to the expediency of the Government assuming control of the en- 
 tire telegraph system of the country as has been done by England and Germany, but 
 there seems to be no reasonable ground for objection to the practical and business- 
 like proposition of the Postmaster-General, and there is every likelihood that the bill 
 recommended by him or another embodying its main provisions will be speedily en- 
 acted by Congress. 
 
 ^ [Bloomington (111.) Leader, March 1.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green appeared before a special committee at Washington yesterday,, 
 and presented a long argument in opposition to the establishment of a postal system 
 of telegraph. Dr. Green is the president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 and his interest in the matter is, of course, purely philanthropic. He is afraid that 
 the Government will lose money in the venture, and that fifty-seven millions of peo- 
 ple who do not use the telegraph will be taxed for the benefit of one million who do 
 employ it. He also asserts that the stock brokers and speculators are the chief pa- 
 trons of the wires, and that a large revenue is derived from pool rooms and sporting 
 places. He fears that it is merely a scheme to break down the poor, struggling West- 
 ern Union corporation. All of this is very absurd to persons at all familiar with the 
 facts. It is well known that from a comparatively small beginning the Western 
 Union has grown to be a giant monopoly, and has watered its stock almost beyond 
 belief. It has driven every competitor out of the field by a process of absorption best 
 known to its own managers, until to day, as Mr. Green himself says, this comi3any 
 controls ten-elevenths of all the lines in the United States. If the business had been 
 performed upon narrow margins, it is very strange that the Western Union has been 
 able to exert the influence and accumulate the wealth it has. Everybody knows 
 that Mr. Green’s statements are valueless. While the classes he cites are patrons of 
 the wires, so also are the masses of the people. The commercial interests of the 
 country come first in order, of course, but nearly every citizen employs the wires to 
 some extent. It is as natural and proper for the Government to control the telegraph 
 as it is for it to provide for the distribution of mail matter. The assumption of such 
 a right by the Government is bound to come, though it may be delayed for a time by 
 peculiar methods on the part of the corporation w hich Mr. Green represents. When 
 a complete system of Government telegraph is in operation the people will be able to 
 communicate with each other by wire at rates as greatly reduced as those of the post- 
 office w'ere when the carrying of the mails passed out of private hands. Existing lines 
 should be purchased at a fair valuation, but watered stock, which is fictitious, should 
 not be considered in the transaction. The Government telegraph is bound to come,. 
 Dr. Green to the contrary uotwfithstanding. 
 
 [The Telegrapher, March 1.] 
 
 While w’e do not wish to be understood as favoring the adoption of the Postmaster- 
 General’s limited postal telegraphy scheme, for we regard any plan other than a com- 
 plete monopoly by the Government of the entire telegraph business of the country as 
 impracticable and unworthy of consideration, there is one feature of the proposed 
 system which impresses us as being a very good one, although its adoption would no 
 doubt raise a great commotion among the fraternity. We refer to the civil service 
 examination clause, which our worthy contemporary, the Age, says would be detri- 
 mental to the service if adopted. The Age seems to be laboring under a misappre- 
 hension in the matter. No applicant w ho could show a reasonable proficiency in 
 sending and receiving w'ould be rejected because of his inability to properly answer 
 an unimportant question in geography or arithmetic. But the applicant who in 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 31 
 
 addition to being a skillful telegrapher could show a thorough knowledge of the 
 common English branches would in all fairness be entitled to a higher grading in the 
 examination and consequently a higher salary than the one who knows nothing 
 beyond the mere making of dots and dashes. This would insure to the new system 
 a force of well educated and thoroughly competent men who could assume auy duties 
 required of them. Granted that some first-class operators — if by “first-class” wty 
 mean fine senders and receivers, but who outside of that are ignorant of what in these 
 enlightened days any fourteen-year-old boy should know — would be unable to secure 
 positions under the new system. Their places would be tilled by men far preferable 
 in every way, and the service instead of being injured thereby would be the gainer. 
 
 Such a plan would also be a benefit to the fraternity at large, from the fact that it 
 would tend to elevate the standard of the profession and increase salaries. Any per- 
 son of average intelligence can learn to telegraph, but the civil service idea applied 
 to telegraphy would impose other conditions upon would-be operators which would 
 have the effect of bringing into the ranks educated men and women who would ex- 
 pect an adequate remuneration for the use of their talents. Instead of being obliged, 
 as the better grade of telegraphers are to-day, to accept a salary based on the needs 
 of men, who, although fine operators, have no aspirations above being one of “de 
 gang,” the operator of the future, backed up by the civil service examination, will 
 demand and receive a salary commensurate with his abilities and worth. Will any 
 reasonable person contend such a desirable state of affairs would be detrimental to.- 
 the service? We fail to see how it could be so. 
 
 If Government telegraphy can bring about this change, then all hail to Government 
 telegraphy. The service would be benefited ; an improved service would benefit not 
 only the public but the com})anies as well; and last, but not least, the business of 
 telegraphy would be elevated from a mere “hustle for bread and butter,” as our Bos- 
 ton correspondent puts it, to the dignity of a profession. This “were a consumma- 
 tion most devoutly to be wished,” and if postal telegraphy in any form is attempted, 
 we hope the civil service examination will be a prominent feature of the uew system. 
 
 [Hutchinson (Kans.) News, March 2.] 
 
 It is very fortunate that the Government has a few reliable friends like Dr. Norvin 
 Green to fall back on when it wants a little wholesome disinterested advice. Dr. 
 Green’s patriotism is only equaled by his philanthropy. He never charges anything 
 for his counsels. His advice is as free as water — that is water in Western Union 
 stocks. The doctor thinks that Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s postal telegraph 
 scheme would bankrupt the Government, and comes forward as a faithful friend of 
 the people and tells them so. He says there is no money in the telegraph business. 
 Well, he ought to know. He is th^ president of a company which started with nothing 
 and has made many of its stockholders millionaires several times over. It has built up 
 a monopoly which has never failed to pay handsome dividends on about ten times the 
 amount actually invested. It pays its president the same salary as that received by 
 the President of the United States. It has always had plenty of money to buy up 
 almost any kind of legislation it desires. It does a vast amount of railroad business 
 free. It dead-heads the messages of Congressmen, State legislators, supreme, district. 
 State, and county court judges; it maintains offices in North Carolina that do not 
 pay 25 cents a day in gross receipts. Yet he claims that the rates charged the public 
 on messages are uot excessive. 
 
 Postmaster-General Wauamaker, in his plan of a cheaper telegraph service to the 
 people, did not contemplate any big dividends, “ attorney’s fees” or dead-head business. 
 His plau was to equalize the cost of service. Take a part of the burden oft’ the 
 shouhlers of the people and place it on these fellows who “never pay a cent.” 
 
 Mr. Green thinks that if the Government intends to go into the telegraph business 
 it should buy up all existing lines. That depends upon the price at which they can 
 be bought. If the companies are willing to sell at a reasonable price, the prdpositiou 
 is fair, but if-^hey expect to bleed Uncle Sam to cover a capital stock which has no 
 existence, save in the imagination of the companies, the proposition is unfair. 
 
 Postal telegraph, if attempted, will be largely experimental. Mr. Wauamaker can 
 not guaranty the success of his plan ; but it looks fair, and no great harm can come 
 from making a test of it. We learn by experimenting, and if after a trial the disas- 
 ters predicted by Mr. Green should follow, the scheme can be abandoned. The 
 people will never be satisfied on that point until it has been tried. 
 
 [Boston Traveller, March 2,] 
 
 The more thoroughly the system of postal telegraph recommended by Postmaster- 
 General Wanamaker is examined, and the longer the hearing given by the House 
 Committee on Post-offices is continued, the better chance the system stands of adop- 
 tion by Congress. When the system was first proposed by the Postmaster-General it 
 
32 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES 
 
 was claimed that there was no demand for it; that it would entail a large burden of 
 needless expense on the Post-office Department, and that it was utt erly iiupracticahle. 
 The objections which were raised have one by one been met and satisfactorily an- 
 swered by the Postmaster-General, and it transpires that almost the only opposition 
 made to the scheme is inspired by the Western Union Telegraph Company. The 
 arguments made against the plan by Dr. Norvin Green have been very fully answered, 
 and representatives of responsible capitalists announce their readiness to take the 
 contract at the rates proposed by the Postmaster-General, rates, which in themselves 
 are a guaranty, that the proposed postal teldgraph system can not result in loss to 
 the Government. 
 
 [Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, March 3.] 
 
 It was quite in the order of things that Dr. Green, representing the corporations 
 concerned, should have made a vigorous attack upon Postmaster-General Wana- 
 maker’s plan for establishing a postal-telegraph system. The telegraph companies, 
 which make large dividends by serving the public, do not wish to have their profits 
 interfered with, as they would be to a greater or less extent should the Government 
 adopt the plan proposed by Mr. Wanamaker. The Postmaster-General was further 
 notified that his order fixing the telegraph rates for Government business was re- 
 garded as confiscation, and would be tested in the courts. 
 
 It may be that the plan proposed w[ll not meet the expectations of the Postmas- 
 ter-General in all respects, but some of the objections urged against it seem trifling, 
 while others are groundless. One point made by Dr. Green is that inasmuch as 
 the President has not indorsed the proposed postal-telegraph it is out of place for the 
 Postmaster- General to appear before a committee of the House to lobby his scheme 
 through. All this seems foreign to the merits of the question. The proposition has 
 been submitted in good faith in the interest of the public, and there must be a begin- 
 ning if the principle is to be engrafted upon the mail service. It should certainly not 
 be left to those corporations who are piling up wealth through the telegraph service 
 to decide upon either the practicability or the necessity of a postal-telegraph system. 
 Mr. Wanamaker has no personal ends to subserve, and being at the head of the Post- 
 office Department, he is just the man to lead in the project. 
 
 [Omaha World-Herald, March 3.] 
 
 If there is one thing more than another the people of the country will not stand, it 
 is the abuse of prominent public persons by those whose interests are affected by 
 their official action. And Mr. Green of the Western Union has been very “ cross ” 
 with the Postmaster-General for reducing the rates upon Government messages to a 
 figure far below that which had been previously allowed. He starts out with the 
 usual corporation complaint of insufficient rates for services rendered, and says that 
 telegraph messages are cheaper in the United States than elsewhere in the world, 
 but he omits to explain how the Western Union has been enabled to make million- 
 aires of all its owners and to gobble up or freeze out every rival company that ever 
 has been started. Then the gentleman, who is nothing if not critical, objects to the 
 action of the Congressional committee, which he says is run by Mr. Wanamaker, and 
 whose proceedings have not received the sanction of the President. This is true. 
 Bat the time for the President to speak is when the bill comes before him for ap- 
 proval. The chief executive of the United States is not like the president of a tele- 
 graph company who bosses everybody, and who is not required to furnish vouchers 
 for his expenditures. 
 
 “When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war,” but when a man whose life 
 has been devoted to providing “bargains” for the public comes into collision with 
 another whose whole study has been to keep up rates and to get a quarter for sending 
 a 10-cent message the tug becomes tremendous. The school-boy problem of the irre- 
 sistible force striking the immovable body is nothing to it. The independent press 
 has sometimes considered it to be its duty to point the shafts of ridicule at Mr. Wan- 
 amaker and in a fatherly manner to criticise his official actions, but that does not give 
 Mr. Green, who has an ax to grind, the right to pitch into him, and he should be 
 told and taught to refrain from doing so. 
 
 [Daily State Gazette, Trenton, N. J., March 3.J 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, the President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, is in 
 Washington, strenuously opposing the proposed postal-telegraph system. Mr. Green’s 
 opposition is a very strong argument in its favor. 
 
 [Kansas City Journal, March 3.1 
 
 The violent opposition of the Western Union to Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s 
 Government telegraph scheme will be apt to convince some heretofore dubious people 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 33 
 
 that a Government telegraph would be a very good thing for the public. There is a 
 widespread, popular notion that whatever the Western Union wants the public does 
 not want, and vice versa. 
 
 [Cumberland, (Md.) Daily News, March 3.] 
 
 In pressing upon Congress a simple plan for the adoption of postal-telegraph facili- 
 ties such as has already proved so successful in England, Hon. John Wanamaker, 
 Postmaster-General, has done that which will meet with hearty popular approval. 
 Mr. Wanamaker asks Congress to give him authority to enter into contract with re- 
 sponsible parties to connect about 460 special delivery offices with each other for 
 telegraphic purposes by leased wires and instruments to be operated by post-office 
 employes to carry messages for the Government and the public. He has not asked 
 the Government to purchase or build a new telegraph line, nor to create a new body 
 of employiis, but recommends the utilization of the post-office buildings, clerks and 
 carriers now in use. He proposes to secure a set of leased wires, such as the great 
 newspapers have from city to city. The messages can be sent directly from the post- 
 offices or be dropped in the mail-boxes to be collected by carriers and telegraphed. 
 The Postmaster-General thinks that the clerks and carriers now under pay can at 
 each office handle a few messages as they would additional letters. One requisite 
 would be a knowledge of telegraphing by one clerk at a majority of the offices, and 
 another would be an added rule of examination in telegraphing by the Civil Service 
 Commission, to be able to supply clerks who have that accomplishment, when further 
 appointments are to be made for this specific work. 
 
 The postal-telegrams could be written or printed on postal -telegram forms or cards, 
 to be supplied by the Post-Office Department, or upon any other suggested forms, to 
 be furnished by the sender, provided that in the latter case stamps of sufficient value 
 shall be affixed to the communication to provide for the cost of the service. It ispro- 
 posed that the charges in any one State shall not exceed 10 cents for messages of 
 twenty words or less, counting address and signature, nor over 25 cent^ for any dis- 
 tance under 1,500 miles, nor over 50 cents for any greater distance. 
 
 With regard to the question of rates, when Mr. Wanamaker appeared before the 
 House Committee on the Post- Office and Post-Roads and was asked why he would make 
 distance a basis, as was the case forty years ago in transmitting the mails, instead of 
 having a fixed rate for any distance, he replied that in the initiative we could not 
 have a universal 10 or 15 cent rate, for it would give us so much business that we could 
 not handle it. He thought the wisest plan would be to begin with graduated rates 
 and distances and work up to a uniform rate throughout the country. There are other 
 minor details of the Postmaster-General’s plan, but the above are the most important 
 features. 
 
 We are heartily in favor of the plan, and think it would redound greatly to the pub- 
 lic convenience and facilitate largely swift business transactions. Its adoption would 
 make an epoch in the history of the Post-Office Department and reflect lasting credit 
 upon Mr. Wanamaker’s administration. 
 
 [Detroit Journal, March 3. ] 
 
 President Green, of the Western Union Telegraph Company, evidently injured his 
 i company more than he helped it by his appearance and arguments before the House 
 committee which is considering Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s propositions to use 
 the Post-office Department and its rapid delivery and carrier system for such tele- 
 graph dispatches as people may want to send in that way at lower rates. In opposino- 
 it President Green contradicted himself by saying that it was an utterly impractica* 
 ble and money-losing operation, and yet his conipany would be injured by it because 
 I there would be fools enough to want to do a losing business with the Government. 
 
 He also opposed it because only one person in fiity now uses the telegraph, whereas 
 the very object of the new plan is to enlarge the use and increase the number of peo- 
 ple that would avail themselves of cheaper telegraph rates. This is very much of a 
 piece with the objections of the street car companies to rapid transit. They say it is 
 in the interest of suburban property owners, overlooking the fact that this means 
 that more people would ride if the facilities were increased. If only one person in 
 'fifty feels able to afford telegraphy, it is high time to try and make it cheaper. 
 
 [Peoria Transcript, March 4.J 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, of the Western Union Telegraph Company, is of course opposed 
 to Wanamaker’s postal-telegraph scheme. So also it is to be supposed is Jay Gould. 
 If any one supposed that the men who control the telegraph lines are in favor of 
 lower tolls he is too good for this world. When Dr. Green went so far as to say ihat 
 the people would be the losers by alow telegraph rate he came very near insulting 
 the intelligence of the gentlemen to whom he was talking. 
 
 P T 3 
 
34 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [Cleveland Leader, Marcli 4.] 
 
 From the testimony of Dr. Norvin Green, president of the Western Union Telegraph 
 Company, before a House committee in opposition to Postmaster-General Wauamaker’s 
 postal-telegraxih recommendations, one might imagine that the Western Union was 
 running a sort of electro-eleemosynary enterprise for the sole benefit of the American 
 people, and that the company was likely to be bankrupted by the unprofitableness of 
 its business. It is well to remember, however, that the Western Union has steadily 
 paid fi per cent, dividends on a capitalization of $80,000,000, besides accumulating a 
 cash surplus of $12,000,000, and that its plant did not cost originally over $20,000,000. 
 The net earnings of the company for four years would pay the whole cost of daplicat- 
 ing its plant ; and yet Dr. Green insists that cheaper rates would ruin the business. 
 
 The Postmaster-General believes that there is room for a little Government compe- 
 tition in the telegraph business, and the annual reports of the Western Union confirm 
 his opinion. The idea that the Post-Office Department can not profitably maintain 
 postal-telegraph communnication between its free-delivery offices is absurd on its face, 
 whatever the case might be were the system extended to all offices, as in England. 
 The cities containing free-delivery offices do the great bulk of the telegraph business 
 of the country, and any new and efficient telegraph system connecting them could 
 make a mint of money. Nine-tenths of the $7,000,000 to $8,000,000 cleared by the 
 Western Union last year was from the business done in the 447 free-delivery cities, 
 and there is manifestly an opportunity at these points for profitable competition. 
 
 Dr. Green says it would cost the Government, at the rates paid by newspapers for 
 special wires, $3,000,000 a year to rent wires, as proposed by Mr. Wanamaker. This 
 may be true, and it may also be true that the service could be profitably conducted 
 at these rates. But it does not necessarily follow that the Government would have 
 to pay as high rates as those charged to newspapers by the Western Union. A new 
 system of wires could undoubtedly be constructed connecting these cities at a cost of 
 $10,000,000 or less, probably a good deal less, and a 10 per cent, guaranty on this, or 
 $1,000,000 a year, could hardly fail to induce capitalists to provide such a system for 
 the use of the Department. Probably this is what Dr. Green fears. It is gratifying 
 to note that a majority of the House Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads ap- 
 pear to take more kindly to the suggestions of Mr. Wanamaker than to those of Dr. 
 Green. 
 
 [Peoria Transcript, March 4.] 
 
 It is something new for a telegraph company to come to the defense of the farmers 
 of the United States. And yet Dr. Green gravely assured the committee having the 
 postal telegraph bill under consideration that the farmers and artisans of this coun- 
 try had no occasion to use the telegraph once a year, and consetiuently a postal tele- 
 graph would work to their injury. It is about on a par with the Democratic argu- 
 ment that all that is needed to secure agricultural prosperity is to admit free the 
 same articles produced by the farmers of other countries, and that the American 
 workingman would be benefited by the prostration of American industries. 
 
 [St. Josheph Herald, March 4.] 
 
 The growing popularity of Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s postal telegraph bill 
 is causing consternation and dismay in the camp of the Western Union magnates and 
 they have gone to work with their usual energy to defeat the measure. The fact is 
 well knowm among the men who have had a business connection with this gigantic 
 monopoly that the auditor of the company has been called upon to audit accounts for 
 large sums of money that have been used during the past fifteen or twenty years to 
 checkmate the different attempts that have been made to establish the postal-telegraph 
 system. In just what manner this money was distributed the people cau judge for 
 themselves, but those who have any acquaintance with the tactics that are geim, rally 
 adopted by the Western Union people to suppress and annihilate every movement that 
 is inaugurated against their business interests, will not be long in arriving at the con- 
 clusion that the fund set apart for that purpose has usually been expended where it 
 would do the most good. Every practical man in the telegraphic i)rofession who is 
 not under the influence and control of this greatest of all monopolies is ready and ca- 
 pable of successfully controverting the fine-spun theories advanced by President 
 Green and his subsidized advocates, that the rates now charged for telegrams are as 
 low as possible in order that the business may be self-sustaiuing. The truth of this 
 assertion is obvious when it is taken into consideration that the Western Union Com- 
 pany regularly declares large quarterly dividends. 
 
 This is not the only striking proof that can be advanced in behalf of the statement, 
 for it is well known that this company has been able to swallow the numerous pow- 
 erful enterprises that have been organized in opposition thereto. Why could this be 
 done? Simply because the Western Union is such a rapidly money making concern 
 it had a sufficient surplus to draw upon for the purpose of satisfying the cravings of 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 35 
 
 the owners of the opposing lines, and had no trouble in watering its stock to any 
 amount necessary to play even in the end and still keep its stock afloat upon the mar- 
 ket. They paid several times the actual cost of construction in each case where they 
 absorbed a would-be rival, and it is a notorious fact that the capital stock of the com- 
 pany which is represented by bonds upon the market is so much in excess of the real 
 value of the whole plant the company could not defray its operating expenses and 
 still be enabled to declare such handsome dividends without the profits arising from 
 the business were regular and enormous. Notwithstanding these significant and con- 
 vincing facts. Dr. Green has the supreme audacity to emphatically proclaim that the 
 bottom figure has been reached in telegraphic rates, and that the Government would 
 meet with failure and disaster should it attempt to conduct the business itself, with 
 the hope and desire of making it self-sustaining. If the men who are now controll- 
 ing the destinies of the Western Union Company can amass such immense fortunes 
 out of its surplus earnings, does it not appear reasonable to believe that the Govern- 
 ment could make a material reduction in the tolls and at least pay the operating 
 expenses ? When men are attempring to controvert facts that are so plain and convin- 
 cing as these ihey invariably resort to every possible subterfuge and endeavor by sub- 
 tile arguments to confuse the minds of those they can not convince. The statement 
 made by Dr. Green that the Government would not be able to conduct the tele- 
 graphic business in an economical and successful manner because its employes would 
 be wanting in experience and capacity is a subterfuge indeed, and a very weak and 
 transparent one. 
 
 President Green fully understands, as do all intelligent men, that if the postal tele- 
 graph bill btjcomes a law, the Western Union Company will be anxious and willing 
 to sell to the Government its entire plant and business at a reasonable compensation. 
 He knows, further, that if the law is enacted the Government will make the pur- 
 chase, and that about the same men who are doing the work now would do it then. 
 In tact, if the Government should assume charge of the business, the transfer to it 
 would be so easy and practical as to not interfere with the systematic working thereof 
 a day. Furthermore, the Government has made the grandest business success in the 
 world of its postal system, not excepting any other private or public enterprise in 
 the history of the world. If this branch of the public service could be reduced to 
 such a remarkably successful and self-sustaining condition, why can not the telegraph 
 be consolidated therewith, and the same employes, to a very great extent, and the 
 same buildings, be used for both. If the St. Joseph post-office and telegraph offices 
 were under one roof and one management the amount saved, which is now expended 
 for the two working forces, would be enormous. For instance, the postmaster would 
 be the manager, thereby saving, say |1,500 per year. Then the book-keepers, deliv- 
 ery clerks, the heavy rent, and incidental expenses of the telegraph office would be 
 saved, and taken altogether, the saving would be great indeed. In the small country 
 offices the postmaster could soon learn the art, or some one could be appointed who 
 already understood it. Nearly all country offices, however, require an assistant, and 
 a practical telegrapher could "be employed in that capacity. 
 
 The facts and figures promulgated in support of the pending bill are manifold and 
 convincing, and it is not strange that such a strong sentiment has been created among 
 Congressmen and the general public in its favor. 
 
 Another principle is involved in the question that has an important bearing upon 
 the matter. It is the fact that under the management and control of an avaricious and 
 conscienceless corporation the members of the telegraphic profession will always be 
 kept poor and dependent and be the victims of tyrannical petty officials. They are now 
 paid barely enough to eke out a meager existence, and the company now never fails 
 to take advantage of an opportunity to reduce the salary of a single individual. The 
 Government believes in paying liberally for services rendered, and the passage of the 
 bill will therefore be heartily indorsed by the men who do all of the work, but receive 
 no benefit from the immense surplus that is the direct result of their being so poorly 
 paid. 
 
 If the enactment of the law will give the people cheap telegraph tolls and confer a 
 lasting benefit upon the men and women who do the work, who will lift a hand 
 against it except those who are governed by a desire to enrich themselves at the ex- 
 pense of the people and a profession that deserves a better fate. 
 
 [Los Angele.s Times, March 4.1 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker is in earnest in the matter of postal telegraph 
 facilities. His statement before the House Committee on Post-Office contains some 
 strong arguments on the subject. 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker does not propose that the Government should purchase or build a 
 telegraph line ; he does not ask the appropriation of a large sum from the Treasury, 
 nor the creating of a new body of employes, but recommends the utilization of the 
 post-<'ffice buildings, clerks, and carriers now in use for a convenience and economy of 
 service, which he believes will greatly accommodate the public. The telegraphic 
 
36 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 business is now divorced from the post-ofiSce, though it is nothing more or less than 
 the carrying of messages. Mr. Wauamaker proposes a union of post and telegraph 
 on a basis that, in his judgment, will not interfere to any appreciable extent with 
 ■any existing rights, but that will offer great service to classes not now enjoying the, 
 use of the telegraph to any marked degree. The Postmaster-General desires to nego- 
 tiate and secure a set of leased wires, such as the great newspapers have from city to 
 city, or brokers and bankers frequently have connecting their business offices in the 
 different cities, in order that the people may communicate through the post-offices 
 from city to city or by drop messages in their mail boxes, to be collected by carriers 
 and telegraphed. 
 
 There is little doubt that Mr. AVauamaker’s proposed plan would at once become 
 very popular if inaugurated. 
 
 [Jacksonville (111 ) Journal, March 5.] 
 
 It is something new for a telegraph company to come to the defense of the farmers of 
 the United States. And yet Dr. Green gravely assured the committee having the postal 
 telegraph bill under consideration that the farmers and artisans of this country had no 
 occasion to use the telegraph once a year, and consequently a postal telegraph would 
 work to their injury. It is about on a par with the Democratic argument that all 
 that is needed to secure agricultural prosperity is to admit free the same articles pro- 
 duced by the farmers of other countries, and that the American workingman would 
 be benefited by the prostration of American industries. 
 
 [Duluth Herald, March 5.] 
 
 The president of the Western Union Telegraph Company has been arguing before 
 the Post-Office Committee against Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s postal telegraph 
 bill. He takes the ground that the United States Government has no business with 
 the management of the telegraph ; it could not manage it as cheaply ; it could not do 
 it better, and none ofthe senders of the telegrams had asked it. The proposed reduction 
 in rates by the Government would result in a deficiency which would have to be made 
 up by the 57,000,000 people who did not use the telegraph. If the Government wanted 
 to go into the telegraph business, it should buy the lines outright. It should not 
 seek to fix losing rates for existing companies; that would not be fair to the 3,000 
 stockholders of the Western Union. The Government would need twice as many 
 '' lines as were now in existence to do business. There was a scheme presented to go 
 to 447 post-offices where there was free delivery, and where there were abundant tele- 
 graph facilities. This was the entering wedge of a movement to break down the 
 present companies and establish a complete Government telegraph, and against that 
 he protested. He compared the American and English telegraph systems, and main- 
 tained that our rates were in reality (taking into account free addresses and signa- 
 tures, and the enormous area of territory covered), much lower than the English low 
 rales. And yet it is proposed to reduce these rates arbitrarily still lower. We think 
 that the existing telegraph companies should be treated with entire fairness, but the 
 advantage of the whole people should be put above any individual preference. If 
 it is decided upon careful consideration that it will advantage the nation to establish 
 a postal telegraph system, let us have the system, and if it can not be maintained in 
 fairness without acquiring the whole telegraph system of the country, as Mr. Green 
 urges, let the nation take in the whole system, but without any extravagant allow- 
 ance for the water in its stock. 
 
 [CoiTj (Pa.) Herald, March 6.] 
 
 “ I hold and declare most emphatically that such a service is the legitimate work of 
 the Post-Office and that the people are right in stoutly demandiug telegraph facilities 
 at postal stations ” — {John M an ama]{er,Postmasier- General.) 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker has unquestionably seized upon a great and important fact. The 
 great body of the Americans have long been convinced that the Government should 
 go farther than Mr. Wanamaker proposes to go. The business interests of the coun- 
 try have long demanded cheap telegraph service under the control of the Govern- 
 ment. In asking Congress to authorize the establishment of telegraph service be- 
 tween three hundred principal post-offices of the country, the Postmaster-General 
 asks for a part only of w'hat the people demand. It is perhaps as much or more than 
 Congress w ill consent to wrench trom the grasp of a monopoly which has so many 
 I)aid attorneys among the representatives of the people in Congress. Three hundred 
 such offices would be of very material benefit to the business interests of the country. 
 But it falls far short of the i)ublic necessities. The argument that the Government 
 already has the buildings necessary for offices and the employes necessary to render 
 all the service applies to thousands of otfices as well as to three hundred. A table 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 37 
 
 presented, by the Postmaster-General shows, by comparison with England, our defi- 
 ciency. We lead Great Britain in the number of communications by mail but fall 
 far behind in the uuraber of telegrams. This is especially significant when we con- 
 sider the area of the territory covered and that the telegraph is especially important 
 and necessary in quick communication over long distances. The population of 
 Great Britain is 64 per cent, as great as that of the United States, and her mail serv- 
 ice is 61 per cent, that of ours. With her small amount of territory her telegraph 
 business if 91 per cent, of ours. Gr^'at Britain handles annually by mail 63 pieces per 
 person, and the United States 76 pieces; but, on the other hand, Great Britain sends 
 160 telegrams per 1,000 of her population, while the United States sends 118. Com- 
 pared with Great Britain, the Postmaster- General very justly says we should, because 
 of our great distances, show by far the greatest number of telegrams per 1,000 of 
 population. 
 
 ^Harrisburg Call, March 6.] 
 
 The attention that is beiug giving to the question of Governmental telegraph by 
 the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, gives promise that the matter 
 is to be definitely settled one way or the other at this time. Government telegraph 
 in some form or another has come before every Congress for a number of years, but 
 no definite conclusion has been reached. 
 
 One of the objections urged against the Government taking hold of the transmis- 
 sion of telegraphic dispatches is the fact that such a proceeding would create a deficit 
 in the Post-Office Department. This is probably true, but even though it be, the 
 fact should not be allowed to stand in the way of the Government increasing the 
 facilities of the Department. The Post-Office Department is not run as a money- 
 making machine, but for the accommodation of the people, and every effort should 
 be made to give this accommodation the widest possible scope. 
 
 This is what Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s scheme proposes to do. It is not 
 intended that the Government should build lines of its own all over the country at 
 an euorinous expense, but that it should make a contract with some company already 
 owning lines, for the transmission of messages at the lowest possible rates. 
 
 At the hearing before the committee the other day D. H. Bates, representing a syn- 
 dicate of men interested in postal telegraphy, argued in favor of the passage of the 
 bill. From his remarks it appears evident that this syndicate is ready to contract 
 with the Government for the transmission of messages at about the rate of 15 cents 
 for a distance of 500 miles. This would be a very reasonable rate and much below that 
 now charged by the Western Union. 
 
 Under the proposed plan postal telegraphy seems feasible, and it is to be hoped that 
 Congress will see its way clear to the passage of a bill authorizing its trial. 
 
 [Carthage (Mo.) Press, March 6.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker is making a good fight for a postal telegraph 
 system, and by so doing has won the hatred and personal abuse of Dr. Green, the 
 president of the Western Union Company. He also won the gratitude of the people, 
 which is of more importance to him thau the hatred of the telegraphic monopolists. 
 If Mr. Wanamaker is the man we think him, the personal abuse and arrogant man- 
 ner of that monopoly representative will convince him of the urgent necessity of a 
 postal telegraph for the people and cause him to renew his efforts to secure it. 
 
 [Bellef«nte (Pa.) Hews, March 6.] 
 
 Your article under the caption of “ Wanamaker a calamity to the Republican party’’ 
 in Wednesday’s News is an unwarranted attack upon Wanamaker in his fight for the 
 cause of the people against a grasping, greedy corporation. You appear to be utterly 
 oblivious of the fact that it is a fight for the newspaper as well ; and calling upon 
 the Republican press of the country to call a halt upon such actions by the Postmas- 
 ter-General, when the press of all parties has been and will continue to advocate the 
 national control of the telegraph, is only cutting the throat of the party and will 
 f lose to it more than its gains. 
 
 Your deductions as to its probable effect are certainly wrong. Four years ago pe- 
 titions from every Congressional district in the United States were sent to Congress, 
 signecl by almost one million names in support of a postal telegranh system. Now, 
 then, if we can use that just as a criticism to judge the sentiments of the people on 
 the question, will not the party that advocates a measure of that kind receive the 
 support of those people ? Undoubtedly so; where, then, are the grounds for an ad- 
 verse conclusion ? 
 
 The Republican party claims and may perhaps be justly called the party of prog- 
 ress, and granting this to be the truth, how can it be built upon foundations of 
 which the corner-stone is the protection of private enterprise and that protects private 
 enterprise ? It has protected private enterprise in the form of the Western Union 
 
38 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 and other telegraph companies by allowing them to roh the people of this country of 
 $100,000,000 in the space of twelve years on an invested capital of less than one- 
 fourth of that amount. Do we call this progress? Is it dispensing justice and 
 equity to all the people to allow one portion to rob the other? 
 
 The Postmaster-General does not go quite far enough in his proposition. He should 
 recommend that the Government engage in the telegraph business and own and 
 operate its own lines. The transmission of intelligence in the early days of the 
 country was in the hands of private individuals ; then the Government established 
 the post-office system, and the people claimed it as their right to carry the mails iu 
 their governmental capacity. If there had been any idea of the extent which the 
 business would increase at that time there would have been Shy locks raising the cry 
 that the Government had no right to enter into it, the same as there are now when it 
 is recommended that the Government establish a telegraph system. How ready were 
 the inventors of the telegraph to ask for an appropriation from Congress to establish 
 the first line of telegraph ? No private enterprise would venture to invest $40,000 iu 
 its establishment. Oh, no. They wanted the Government to experiment with it and 
 discover its merits for their own benefit. The people of the United States made the 
 first telegraph lines a success, and why not allow them to reap the benefit of their 
 first investment ? They must have it and they will have it. The cry has^ gone up 
 all over the land for relief from the oppression of monopoly, and the party ’that will 
 heed the cry and demand of the people will be the party of the future. 
 
 If the Republican party commits itself to the establishment of a national tele- 
 graphic system, instead of it being a calamity or its advocates being such, it will 
 only be the means of inspiring confidence in the hearts and minds of the people. Let 
 the party arouse itself from its lethargy, listen to the voice of the people, and take 
 hold of this and similar questions with the same spirit it did when the slave question 
 was agitating the minds of this great Republic. On the other hand, permit itself to 
 be led by men of such pessimistic views, it will never more hold the reins of Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In conclusion you say : “ That a great political party should be held responsible 
 for the vagaries of a Cabinet minister is quite deplorable, but when these atfect in 
 their purpose the material interests of large classes of the people, his attitude visits 
 the party as a calamity by insuring its defeat in great States precariously Republi- 
 can.” The large (?) classes affected by the proposed legislation — How large a class 
 is it? one in one thousand. This is the most astonishing thing every written. The 
 fact is evidently overlooked that there are over sixty-five million people in this coun- 
 try. Another thing, if the Republicans or any other party must be afraid to do a 
 thing because it is right, then it had better fail in the States precariously Republi- 
 can.” — Independent Republican. 
 
 [Palouse City (Wash.) News, March 6.] 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker, the Postmaster-General, has proposed to Congress that the Gov- 
 ernment establish telegraph lines in connection with the post-offices. He estimates 
 that the cost of telegraphing will be reduced to about one-third what it is now. A 
 president of the telegraphic line has appeared before the Congressional committee to 
 oppose the measure. Mr. Wanamaker also appears before the committee in behalf of 
 the enterprise. The representative of the companies is evidently having a difficult 
 task, for he so far forgets himself as to find fault with the Postmaster-General becaus- 
 he advocates his own suggestion before the committee. This shows weakness. The 
 Postmaster-General is a practical man of affairs, and it is his duty to project any enter- 
 prise that will give the people better facilities for communicating with each other. 
 Our telegraph and telephone lines are not only verj^ expensive, but they are very 
 badly managed. Letters often travel faster in the mails than dispatches do over the 
 wires. Our dispatches are often carried a half day in the pockets of operators before 
 delivery. Pew things are more exasperating than the manner in which our tele- 
 graph and telephone lines are operated. They cost too much and they are operated 
 too carelessly. We hope the Postmaster-General will persevere iu his attempt. It 
 must be done sooner or later. The people will have it whether those owning the 
 present lines want them to have it or not. They have made money out of the enter- 
 prise and if they will sell their lines for a fair price the Govenuneut will buy them. 
 
 Please persevere, Mr. Wanamaker, and give us postal telegraphs. 
 
 [Decatur Despatch, March 6.1 
 
 There is abundant evidence of considerable interest in the proposition of Postmas- 
 ter-General Wanamaker to establish a Government postal telegraph service. Mr. D 
 H. Bates, a gentleman from New York, who has had some thirty years’ experience in. 
 the telegraph service, appeared before the House committee a few days ago and ar- 
 gued that Mr. Wauainaker’s plan was altogether feasible and should become a law. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 39 
 
 He also stated that he, iii conjunctiou with other geutlemeu from New York, stood 
 ready to construct the lines for the Government. There is, undoubtedly, a demand 
 on the part of tlie public for legislation in this direction and it will not be at all sur- 
 prising should Congress, within the next few years, and perhaps earlier, enact a law 
 establishing a Government postal telegraph service. 
 
 [Eichmond Dispatch, March 6.1 
 
 We like the manner of Mr. D. H. Bates’s remarks on Tuesday last to the House of 
 Representatives Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, sitting to hear speeches 
 and testimony both for and against the establishment of a Government postal tele- 
 graph. His matter was not so good. He sides with Mr. Wanatnaker in favor of the 
 Government’s leasing telegraphs rather than with the members of the committee, who 
 prefer that the Government should have a telegrai)h of its own. Mr. Bates said he 
 had been thirty years in the telegraph business, five of which had been spent in the 
 Government telegraph service. That he is an expert, his testimony shows. 
 
 How reckless I)r. Norvin Green was in his statements before the committee let Mr. 
 Bates tell. The Washington Post reports the latter as follows : 
 
 “Dr. Green had stated before the committee, said Mr. Bates, that the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Telegraph Compan}’- had started out to smash things, and had done so. In 
 order to disprove these statements, Mr. Bates outlined a histoiy of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Telegraph Company, showing that the company had not been organized to last 
 a short time, but had lived for a number of years. As to the charge by Dr. Green 
 that the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph Company had nearly ruined the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Railroad Company, Mr. Bates quoted figures to show that there was no loss 
 in operation of the telegraph company. There was a slight profit during the last five 
 or six months that the company lived. Dr. Green’s statement that the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad Company had been compelled to sell its cars and other property Mr. 
 Bates characterized as absurd. 
 
 “Dr. Green, said Mr. Bates, had stated that the Western Union had not reduced its 
 rates below those of its competitors. This, he said, was a mistake. The Western 
 Union had at one time reduced its rates on some lines below those of the Baltimore 
 and Ohio.” 
 
 Mr. Bates said there was a demand on the part of the people for a Government 
 telegraph service. He also said that the Western Union had made over one hundred 
 millions of dollars in twenty years. 
 
 The people want a Government telegraph and they are going to have one. 
 
 [Bloomington Pantagrapb, March 6.] 
 
 A leading telegraph man of New York appeared before the House committee to 
 advocate Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s bill for the establishment of a limited 
 postal telegraph service. He stated that he represented a company of gentlemen 
 who were prepared to build telegraph lines provided the rates in the Postmaster- 
 General’s bill should be remunerative. He further stated that there were hundreds 
 of telegraph offices situated in this country where the postmasters were the operators. 
 In these offices he thought the best joint service could be given. The sentiment in 
 favor of the postal telegraph is gaining ground at Washington. 
 
 [St. Joseph Union, March 6.] 
 
 The growing popularity of Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s postal telegraph bill 
 is causing consternation and dismay in the camp of the Western Union magnates, 
 and they have gone to work with their usual energy to defeat the measure. The fact 
 is well, known among the men who have had a business connection with this gigantic 
 monopoly that the auditor of the company has been calledupon to audit accounts for 
 large sums of -money that have been used during the past fifteen or twenty years to 
 checkmate the different attempts that have been made to establish the postal tele- 
 graph system. In just what manner this money was distributed the people can judge 
 for themselves, but those who have any acquaintance with the tactics that are gen- 
 erally adopted by the Western Union people to suppress and annihilate every move- 
 ment that isinaugurated against their business interests, will not belong in arriving 
 at the conclusion that the fund set apart for that purpose has usually been expended 
 where it would do the most good. 
 
 [Seward (Neh.) Eeporter, March 6.J 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, has made 
 a strong argument before the committee in opposition to Postmaster-General Wana- 
 maker’s plan for a postal telegraph. Dr. Green, of course, has to do all he can to 
 earn his salary. 
 
40 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 f Pittsburgh Times, March 7.], 
 
 From VVasliiugton we learn that never before was the prosi)ect for a postal telegraph 
 so good as at present — not that all the obstacles have by any means been removed, but 
 headway has been made in creating a favoring sentiment and demonstrating the 
 feasibility of the new agency. The time is nearer to-day than ever before, and much 
 nearer perhaps than even the most hopeful think. From New York comes a report 
 that a company of capitalists is organizing to build an extensive telegraph system 
 for the Government in case the Postmaster-General fails to make an arrangement 
 with the Western Union. As great progress is making towards a consummation as 
 can reasonably be expected. Were it an original proposition with no powerful cor- 
 poration with adverse interests standing in the way, the postal telegraph system 
 would not be long delayed. The removal or the surmounting of this obstacle is first 
 to be accomplished, which is not the work of a day, but accomplished it is bound to 
 be. 
 
 [St. Paul Globe, March 7.] 
 
 The vehemence manifested by Dr. Green, the president of the Western Union Tele- 
 graph Company, in his statements before the House committee in opposition to the 
 postal telegraph scheme, is calculated to weaken doubts as to the utility of the proj- 
 ect. The man protests too much, and his solicitude that the Government shall not 
 blunder in an unprofitable direction is still more doubt-dispelling. The impression 
 that the company, revamped and swollen by Jay Gould, is simply a benevolent insti- 
 tution doing arduous duty for the public for meager recompense, is not one to be dif- 
 fused in intelligent minds. With a capital watered up from $20,000,000 to $80,000,000, 
 it pays 6 per cent, dividends right along, putting aside a cash surplus of $12,000,000. 
 The profits last year were from $7,000,0^00 to $8,000,000. Dr. Green is evidently in 
 error when he assumes that any lessening of the telegraph rates would be serious to 
 the business. An enterprise that returns from 20 to 25 per cent, on its actual cost is 
 not in need of special sacrifice on the part of the public. The present aim of the 
 Postmaster-General is to establish telegraph service in connection with postal de- 
 partment between the free delivery offices. There are 447 of these, and probably 
 nine-tenths of the telegraphic business is between those cities. The English service 
 extends to all offices. It is designed to lease wires of the Western Union and greatly 
 cheapen rates. Where none can be leased on reasonable terms, the Government will 
 erect lines of its own. This may be an unpleasant apprehension to Dr. Green. The 
 experience in England affords encouragement for the advocates of the scheme proj- 
 ected by the Postmaster-General 
 
 [The Journalist, March 8.] 
 
 When Dr. Norvin Green appears before a Congressional committee he proceeds to 
 make assertions that may be accepted by non-professionals, but which are recognized 
 at a glance as gems of purest ray serene, viewed as specimens of romance, by those 
 who are familiar with telegraphic history. He said the other day, as to low rates, that 
 “ the Western Union has never fought opposition companies with low rates; the op- 
 position companies have butted against the Western Union. The last formidable 
 competitor it had was the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph Company. They started in 
 to smash things and they did it. The company ruined three competing companies, 
 ruined itself, and so near ruined the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company that it 
 was obliged to sell its sleeping cars and construction shops to tide over the financial 
 stress. That was the last of the low-rate fights.” 
 
 No one arising in his wrath to protest against such a monstrous misstatement as 
 this going on record, the genial but delusive doctor went on to make other assertions 
 of equal accuracy and value. The truth about the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph 
 Company and its relations to the railroad property is, that Mr. D. H. Bates, a persist- 
 ent adherent to the theory that cheaper rates and cheaper leased wires are remuner- 
 ative, resigned from the Western Union and entered the service of Mr. Garrett in 
 January, 1884, as president of the telegraph company, continuing in that position 
 until October 15, 1887. In a little more than three and a half years he built up the 
 most powerful opposition to the Western Union that it ever had or is likely to have, 
 unless the Government should some day go into the telegraph business. In creating 
 this great telegraphic organization, Mr. Bates disproved the accuracy of a statement 
 made by Mr. Gould, which would have made most men hesitate, and which Mr. Gould 
 no doubt believed was absolutely true. 
 
 The last-named gentleman in the course of an examination before .Judges Sedg- 
 wick and Speir, March 5, 1881, in connection with litigation to set aside the famous 
 consolidation, was asked the price at which the American Union Company’s system 
 could be reproduced, and he instantly replied, “I don’t believe it could be repro- 
 duced.” He told the judges it could not be reproduced at any price, “because you 
 could not get control of the railroads. It is the railroads that furnish the foundation 
 of the plant.” 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 41 
 
 Six years later Mr. Gould purchased the Baltimore and Ohio telegraph property at 
 a price far beyond its cost, and it was so much larger than the American Union was 
 that comparisons between them are not to he thought of. This magnificent plant 
 had grown np under the fostering care of Mr. Bates, and it was by no fault of his 
 that the Baltimore and Ohio Company had to sell it. The railroad company, by its 
 unwise extension to Philadelphia, created a floating debt that had to be cleared ofl: 
 to save the property from bankruptcy. The question arose, “ What can we sell ? 
 and it being found that the ex])res8 business and the telegraph system could be dis- 
 pensed with, they were quickly sacrificed. There was a crying demand for ready 
 money, and just as a merchant who is trembling on the brink of insolvency parts 
 with his horses, his plate, his government bonds, or any other portable property upon 
 which he can raise money, so these express and telegraph properties passed into the 
 possession of the highest bidders. The merchant’s horses may have been good ones: 
 the plate may have been admirable, and the government bonds were no doubt the 
 safest of all securities ; but none of them were bank notes and they had to go. No 
 one is more familiar with the facts above set forth than Dr. Norvin Green, who yet 
 has the audacity to ignore the record and repeat before a body of intelligent men the 
 time-worn fairy tale that its telegraph system brought the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road Company to the verge of financial disaster. 
 
 Though handicapped by the then prevailing rebate system, the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Telegraph Company, even at the low rates in force at competitive points dur- 
 ing the rate war between 1884 and 1887, was not a loser. But for the rebate feature 
 of the competition the company would have made a fair profit. Notwithstanding, 
 Dr. Green would have us believe that the Western Union took no part in this war- 
 fare j it is undeniable that it did so, though in its own peculiar way. In 1883 it had 
 acquired the Mutual Union Telqgraph Company, and when in 1884 the Baltimore and 
 Ohio and the Bankers and Merchants’ Telegraph Companies cut the rates, the West- 
 ern Union re-opened “ Mutual Union” offices at all competitive points and in scores 
 of places where the Mutual Union had not been established when its brilliant career 
 was checked the year before by the convenient process of absorption. By asking for 
 a Mutual Union blank at Western Union offices any customer, by writing his message 
 upon it, could have it sent to any point where there was competition at as low a rate 
 as anybody else was offering. Cheap telegraphy therefore has never had a fair trial 
 in this country, for telegraphing can not be said to be cheap, in a broad sense, when 
 the conceding of ruinous rebates to competitive points brings the net revenue on a 
 considerable part of the business below the cost of handling it, thus compelling 
 high prices at non-competitive points as a measure of self-preservation. 
 
 Kind, unaffected, just, and extremely lovable in private life, it is to be regretted 
 that Dr. Green should ever be called upon to play such fantastic tricks before Con- 
 gressional committees as make the angels weep. When he puts on the mask and 
 struts his brief hour as the bland defender of the Western Union faith the character 
 he portrays is so out of perspective with bis natural one, that only those who know 
 him in his unofficial capacity can believe that there beats a warm and generous heart 
 beneath the tinsel robe. 
 
 [New Orleans City Item, March 9.] 
 
 The proposition which has just been revived by Postmaster-General Wanamaker 
 for the Government to take charge of the telegraph lines, or at least establish lines 
 between principal cities to be controlled by Government officials, has awakened the 
 activities of the Western Union and its numerous agents and strikers. Old Dr. Nor- 
 vin Green, who is the ostensible head of the controlling telegraph line, treated the 
 country the other day to an interview, which was devoted chiefly to solicitude lest 
 Government should fail through ignorance and inexperience if it were to undertake 
 to manage a great telegraphic system. 
 
 , Dr. Green went so far in his details as to institute, a comparison between the 
 Western Union special-delivery service, good for one mile from the office, with the 
 postal carriers. The real intent was so ill-designed that the papers have all been 
 making fun of the president of the telegraph company ever since. Thus the Chicago 
 Times : 
 
 i O l)r Green, O Dr. Green, 
 
 It’s a woful tale you tell, 
 
 Of the loss and all that which you have been at 
 To do Uncle Sam’s work well ; 
 
 But if, oh if. Dr. Norvin Green, 
 
 So very much you rue it, 
 
 Why don’t you keep quiet, let Uncle Sam try it, 
 
 And see if he can do it. 
 
 An objection has sprung up from an anonymous source to the character of the 
 capitalists who are interested in postal telegraph, and the names of three or four sup- 
 posed to be peculiarly obnoxious are published in the Associated Press dispatches. 
 Messrs. Gardiner G. Hubbard, the Bells of telephone fame, Thomas Dolan, the Dob- 
 
42 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 son Brothers, H. Disstoii, Harrison Brothers, and a lot more are held up as horrible 
 examples “ by those in position to know.’’ 
 
 The Western Union people may as well understand that neither the difficulties the 
 Government will be likely to encounter nor,the character of the capitalists who are 
 likely to get the job of erecting poles and stretching new lines will be the con- 
 trolling features in this business. There are a good many much more cogent reasons 
 than these why the Government should leave the telegraph business to private enter- 
 prise, so long as the conduct of the private management is even tolerable. The 
 Western Union Company can find in its own history ample reason for the Govern- 
 ment to interpose its power to cheapen the means of transmitting intelligence. There 
 has been improvement and progress in all the modern inventions of the age, but so far 
 the public has not been able to realize any advantages from the improvements in 
 telegraphing. The service is slow, bungling, and very expensive. 
 
 Dr. Green speaks about the actural cost of the service of sending a ten -word mes- 
 sage, but he omits to say that he is running a fifteen million plant on eighty millions 
 of nominal capital. Were all the money actually paid in for which the Western 
 Union offices are expected to earn dividends it would be sufficient to erect and equip 
 five such companies. The talk about being unable to compete with a Government 
 that has a large surplus is all nonsense. If the telegraph service is made satisfactory, 
 there will soon be an end to the public demand that the Government shall try it. If 
 it is not the trial will be made, and it will prove a success, for the business 
 methods of the Government are of the highest character. The decision really rests 
 with the action of the Western Union, not in what Dr. Green may say, but in what 
 his subordinates are allowed to do. 
 
 [Scranton Truth, March 10. [ 
 
 Another point of merit that attaches to Mr. Wanamaker’s administration is his 
 persistent effort to establish a limited postal telegraph line. As formulated, the bill 
 to be presented to Congress creates a bureau, under the control of a Fourth Assistant 
 Postmaster-General, with a salary equal to that of the other Assistant Postmasters- . 
 General. This officer is to have constructed through the States and Territories a 
 trunk line of postal telegraph to reach and connect all cities and towns that now 
 have telegraphic communication. It is to be constructed and kept in repair under , 
 the direction of the Secretary of War through the Corps of Engineers. The Post- 
 master-General is authorized to employ all persons necessary to conduct the business 
 of the proposed system. The rate for transmitting messages is to be, for 500 miles or 
 less, 10 cents for twenty words; from 500 to 1,000 miles, 1 cent a word ; and a corre- 
 sponding increase for greater distances. Press dispatches are to be taken 1,000 miles 
 or less at one- third cent per word, and greater distances at proportionate rates. All 
 persons are to have the right to the use of the telegraph lines for the purpose of cor- 
 responding at the rates fixed by the Postmaster-General. JSothiug in the act is to be ^ 
 construed to prohibit individuals or corporations from carrying on the business of 
 operating telegraph lines. Eight million dollars is appropriated for the purposes of , 
 the bill. 
 
 The bill will raise much discusssion, and will incidentally bring up the proposition ' 
 to buy out and operate the present telegraph system by and for the purposes of the 
 Government. 
 
 [Wilkes Barre Record, March 10.1 
 
 Mr. Wauamaker is not alone, by any means, in his efforts to promote a postal tele- 
 graph system. His efforts are being ably seconded, and the matter is now before 
 Congress in a more direct and practical fashion than ever before. It seems quite 
 probable that some plan will be inaugurated that will lead to the erection of new 
 lines of telegraph, to be leased to the Government for a time and eventually purchased 
 by it, or else for handling the Government’s business at coutiact rates. It is not to 
 be expected that such a system will be inaugurated without fierce opposition from 
 the Western Union, the most gigantic monopoly known to history. The influence of 
 this corporation is wide spread and powerful, but it may be fairly hoped that the 
 wishes of the people are too plainly evident and imperative to be disregarded even 
 at the commands of such a corporation. It may be doubted whether a government 
 system would materially injure the interests of the monopoly. The Government tele- 
 graph would popularize the telegraph to a degree not yet realized. Now not one 
 person in fifty has other than extremely rare occasion to use the wires. The rates ; 
 charged are practically prohibitory for all but pressing and important business. Yet , 
 the service required of the lines now in use is quite up to their capacity. This makes ' 
 it certain that the institution of a postal telegraph service will cause the construe- ^ 
 tion of new lines of far greater capacity for business. Ten years from the time such 
 a service is instituted it will be a greater necessity than the telegraph of to-day is [ 
 now considered. : 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 43 
 
 [Liberty (Ind.) Herald, March 10.] 
 
 There is a howl of rage on the part of some of the holders of stocks in the Western 
 Union Telegraph Company and some of the heavy holders of Associated Press fran- 
 chises, at Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s recommendation that the Government 
 should establish a telegraph postal system for its own and the people’s use. Such a 
 system has long been an absolute necessity, but the millionaires who control the tele- 
 graph monopoly in this country have always been able heretofore to defeat all efforts 
 to give the people the benefits of a cheap telegraph postal system by means and meth- 
 ods unnecessary to mention in an intelligent community. If the present Congresa 
 has any respect for the rights ot the people, and for itself, it will enact some such 
 measure. 
 
 [Hew Orleans City Item, March 10,] 
 
 There is a disposition among Congressmen to push the project of establishing 
 postal telegraph lines by the Government];to a practical result. On Thursday Hon. 
 Abner Taylor, representing the hrst (Chicago) Congressional district of Illinois, intro- 
 duced into the House a bill to provide for the establishment of telegraph lines for the 
 use of the Government and the people, to be operated as a part of the postal system. 
 The rates proposed in the bill are so low as to make the project popular. The charges 
 for Government and private messages are to be alike, as follows : 
 
 “All telegrams sent over a single circuit or unbroken line of telegraph without re- 
 lay, and requiring but one operator at either end, without regard to distance, one 
 cent for each word ; counting the address or signature, but not the date. But no 
 telegraph so sent shall cost less than fifteen cents. For each additional circuit or re- 
 lay requiring an additional dispatcher and an additional receiver an additional charge 
 equal to the charge for sending the same message over one circuit without relay shall 
 be made.” 
 
 The cost of a complete service connecting all the principal post-offices in the country, 
 with everything new, would not cost more than $15,000,000 or $20,000,000. It is 
 likely, however, that in the event that such a powerful competitor as the Govern- 
 ment should appear on the scene, thus lowering the rates and setting the pace for all 
 the other companies, some of the weaker ones would be glad to sell their posts and 
 wires cheaper than the Government could erect new'. Room could be found in a 
 large majority of the post-offices for the necessary apparat us, and one or more opera- 
 tors as the service might require, thus saving a very large item for rent. Dr. Norvin 
 Green conceives that tbere would be a good deal of difficulty in establishing a prompt 
 delivery service in large cities. He evidently limits the resources of the Government 
 to the ordinary letter-carriers who now perform the double duty of collecting from 
 the boxes and delivering to the addressees. There is already a special delivery service 
 attached to the post-office in large towns and cities and this could be increased in- 
 definitely if necessary. There are no insurmountable objects in the way, and it is 
 only a question of policy and propriety that wdll give rise to the more serious phases 
 of the debates. One advantage the Government will always have: It will have no 
 stock, hence no necessity for large profits to be spent in dividends. The people would 
 be entirely satisfied if the system should barely pay working expenses. 
 
 [Altoona Tribune, March 10.] 
 
 The sturdy manner in which Postmaster-General Wanamaker advocates the estab- 
 lishment of national postal telegraphy explains the source of many of the malignant 
 attacks upon him. Any man who has the courage to propose a measure which will 
 benefit the people at the expense of a giant monopoly may be sure that no effort will 
 be spared to defame and destroy him. But we hope Mr. Wanamaker will persevere 
 until success crowns his efforts. Then let him go a step farther and plan a national 
 express system by means of w'hich the public may be served at reasonable rates. He 
 may be sure of the support of the great mass of the people in his effort to clip the 
 claws of corporations that mercilessly prey upon their customers. 
 
 [Pittsburgh Times, March 11.] 
 
 Bills providing for telegraphing for the Government over its own lines, have for 
 years past been introduced in Congress,. but not under circumstances as favorable as 
 attended the introduction of the one last week. That bill may meet the fate of its 
 predecessors, but taking all the circumstances together, even that would be auspi- 
 cious. What is to be specially noted is that the general understanding of the subject 
 has undergone a marked improvement, and in every respect the question has jiro- 
 gressed in public favor. But for the opposition of the Western Union Company to 
 the Postal Telegraph there w'ould be very little serious opposition. That opposition is 
 perfectly natural. It is wholly selfish, as the action of monopolies generally is when- 
 
44 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 ever competition is proposed. Monopolies exist and are managed for the benefits that 
 
 “nS^Mr S'”" -f--- *0 
 
 fectlycondstentcourse. The VVeste™ at 
 
 interest. As to that the Postmaster-General will reach the source of lio-pt when he 
 penetrates to the combinations that go far to explain Mr. Gould’s power."’ 
 
 [New York Standard, March 12.] 
 
 what will come of these (postal telegraph] bills T hive 
 seen Mr. Wade and air. Taylor and both are uncertain as to how many adherents 
 their measures would find were they to be reported to the House They both seem 
 confadent, however that some kind of a bill will be passed this session. ^The Hous^ 
 .ommittee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads is holding hearings every Tuesday and 
 
 ma'wifilf whtrh^n^tf f n® which, however, have special reference to the Wana- 
 
 maker bill, Tvhich authorizes the Postmaster General to “ enter into a contract with 
 responsible parties to connect a certain number of post-offices with each oth\r for 
 purposes by leased wires and instruments, to be operated bv post-office 
 employes, to carry messages xor the Government and for the^people.” ‘ Of all the 
 testimony presented perhaps the most interesting was that given liy Hr Norvin 
 fees^wL^ about' to 1?'"“ Union T.degraph Company, tfis appre^Sision'that 
 monmioTv wlLb^h ^ a^l-powerful competitor and thus destroy the 
 
 ka 1 ^ which his company enjoys was apparent from the weak and silly obiections 
 iZ n! bill. He raised the points of inexperiencerunrelffibi^^^^^^^ 
 
 tbt expense, all of which are met, without looking furth ir m 
 
 the economy and efficiency of the post-office system. Mr. D. H. Bates of New York 
 said he represented a company of responsible gentlemen who were prepared to build 
 and maintain telegraph lines proposed in the Wanamaker bill, p^ovfded the rates 
 were increased so as to admit of reasonable profit to the company. 
 c+o+I? fi^- would on the face of it be exceedingly bad, for, as Mr. Bates 
 
 service would expect to do a large business outside of the public postal 
 
 fori^^^PT.^ 1 ^ f^i Government contract to sustain it, it could enter the field 
 
 Mr rS B^esm^n Crushed out all competition. 
 
 In hi? nrkw! K ? legislative committee of the Knighrs of Labor, 
 
 tbiV +kf P before the committee made the all-sufficient answer to this in declaring 
 wbn^p^+ able to purchase, maintain, and operate the 
 
 P^ut without furnishing business opportunities for anybody else. 
 Representative Hopkins, of Illinois, a member of the Post-Office Committee savs 
 '^tComf modifi'^® the committee will present to the House the Wanamaker bill 
 
 imi7b ^ unable to say when the report would be made, as 
 
 much work is yet before the committee. He said he personally favored the Wana- 
 maker bill as It subjected the Government to small expense and no risk to try the 
 postal telegraph and he made special reference to the point that the 
 Postmaster-General’s plan would apply at first to only four hundred cities. The ne- 
 cessity for an experimental stage was said to be necessary before we could have bal- 
 nf necessary to look across the sea at England to learn 
 
 ® likewise the timid ones now have only to turn their 
 
 eyes toward the British islands to see a practical demonstration of the efficiency and 
 economy of the postal telegraph system, owned and operated by the Government. 
 
 [Bessemer (Ala.) Journal, March 13.] 
 
 Representative Taylor, of Illinois, has introduced a bill looking toward the estab- 
 lishment ot a system of telegraph lines under the control of the United States Gov- 
 6rillD6Ilt* 
 
 The bill provides for the establishment of a system of Government telegraphs for 
 the use ot the Government and the people, and to be operated as part of the postal 
 system. It provides that a board, consisting of the Secretary of State, Secretary of 
 War, and Postmaster-General, shall cause to be built or shall buy the lines of tele- 
 graph wherein its opinion such are needful. It shall be the purpose of the Govern- 
 ment that these telegraphs shall yield no earnings beyond the cost of operatino- the 
 same, and at all times keep the outgo and income as nearly equal as may be. t 7 this 
 end the Postmaster-General shall name such rates at which messages may be sent as 
 sliall keep the total earnings and expenses as nearly equal as may be or as shall make 
 the lines sell-sustaining. And the Postmaster-General shall from time to time so 
 change the rates that they shall conform to this requirement. Pending the acquire- 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 45 
 
 ment of sufficient information to carry out the last described provision of the law 
 a rate of 1 cent a word for distances under 500 miles is provided" 
 
 Several attempts have been made in the past to establish a postal telegraph, but 
 the opposition of the established companies has always been too great. When a huge 
 corporation like the Western Union, with millions of watered stock, pays large divi- 
 dends to its stockholders, it seems very evident that there is a chance to save im- 
 mense sums to the patrons of the telegraph— who are of every class and station— by 
 Governmental control. Other countries operate their telegraphs in connection with 
 their postal service, and the combination seems to be satisfactory to both employes 
 and patrons. 
 
 [Dashore (Pa.) Review, March 13.] 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker is not alone, by any means, in his efforts to promote a postal tele- 
 graph system. His efforts are being ably seconded, and the matter is now before 
 Congress in a more direct and practical fashion than ever before. It seems quite 
 probable that some plan will be inaugurated that will lead to the erection of new 
 ines of telegraph, to be leased to the Government for a time and eventually pur- 
 chased by it, or else for handling the Government’s business at contract rates. 
 
 [Muncy (Pa.) Luminary, March 14.] 
 
 Postal telegraphy has taken up a good deal of the time of the Congressional Com- 
 mittees on Post-Offices of late, and everybody that has been heard, except the repre- 
 senatives of the Western Union Telegraph Company, favor the idea of a postal tele- 
 graph system, some of them supporting the Postmaster-Generars bill, which provides 
 lor leasing wires, and others Representative Wade’s bill, which provides for the Gov- 
 crnment’s^.erecting the wires. It seems pretty certain that the time is not far distant 
 when a postal telegraph system will be in operation in this country. 
 
 [Denver Republican, March 14.] 
 
 The explanation which Postmaster-General Wanamaker gives of his postal tele- 
 graph scheme is very clear. It carries the conviction that the project is practicable 
 ind that it would result in great good to the public. 
 
 His proposition is to establish postal -telegraph facilities between all the letter- 
 carrier post-offices, the number of which is about 460. The letter-carriers would be 
 employed to deliver postal telegrams just as they now do letters. The telegrams 
 would be taken out with the letters along their routes and would be delivered m the 
 ?ame way. If anyone wished a telegram to be delivered immediately, he could pro- 
 vide for that by using a special-delivery stamp. Mr. WanamaKer thinks that the 
 iddition of postal-telegraph facilities to the p<*st-office work would require the em- 
 iloymeut of very few additional clerks. One clerk in each postal-telegraph or letter- 
 carrier office would have to understand telegraphy ; but it is not believed that his 
 ime would be so fully occupied by his telegraphic duties that he would be unable to 
 I’ender any other service. An exception to this would have to be made of the larae 
 cities. ® 
 
 The proposed union of the postal and telegraph service could be made without any 
 mproper interference with existing rights. If the bill favored by Mr. Wanamaker 
 hould become a law, the Postmaster-General would be given authority to negotiate 
 ibr and secure a set of leased wires, such as some of the daily newspapers have be- 
 ween large cities. The companies owning these wires would be paid the amount 
 called for in their leases, and of course this amount would be sufficient to compensate 
 hem for the use of the wires. After the wires were secured the postal telegraph 
 business could be entered upon with practically no difficulty. Each letter-carrier 
 i)ost-office would then be made a postal-telegraph office, and stamps would be sold 
 [or the transmission of telegrams. Persons desiring to communicate with places at 
 Ivhich there would be no postal-telegraph office could, by purchasing a letter stamp, 
 |iave the telegram mailed at the postal-telegraph station nearest to the destination 
 ff the telegram. It is readily seen that the existing machinerv of the Post-Office 
 lepartment would, with a very small addition of clerical help, suffice to handle the 
 )Ostal-telegraph business. 
 
 It is proposed that the charges for postal telegrams confined to the limits of any 
 •ne State should not be more than 10 cents for messages of twenty words or less, 
 ountiug address and signature, nor over ‘25 cents for any distance under 1,500 miles’, 
 lor over 50 cents for any greater distance. Twenty words would about cover, with 
 ddress and signature, a message proper of ten words. It would probably be better 
 o send the address and signature free and reduce the length of the message to ten 
 7ords. This would avoid the temptation to cut down an address and thereby make 
 
46 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 it indefinite. The proposed rates would bring the telegraph service within the reach 
 of a vast number of people who now seldom use it, owing to the great expense. 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker expresses the belief that the telegraph companies would in the 
 main hold their present business. If so, they would be subjected to little loss on ac- 
 count of the introduction of postal telegraphy. Plis postal telegraph scheme contem- 
 plates the development of a new business. If he is right, people would be induced to 
 employ the telegraph service who now do not employ it at all, or atleast very seldom. 
 There would be no financial guaranty in respect to the safe delivery of postal tele- 
 grams, and so with respect to business in which a guaranty would be desirable the 
 old companies would continue to do the work. Mr. Wanamaker also calls attention 
 to the fact that postal telegrams would not be delivered as promptly as ordinary tele- 
 grams unless charges for special delivery were paid. He thinks this would tend to 
 protect the business of the old companies. As for all of this, we are inclined to think 
 that the Postmaster-General may be mistaken. The old companies would probably 
 lose a great deal of business if they retained their present rates. But they could pro- 
 tect themselves in a measure against this by making a heavy charge for’ the use of 
 their wires. Furthermore, they could very well afford to cut down their charges for 
 telegraph service; and if they were to do this to anything like the figure proposed by 
 the Postmaster-General, they would retain a very great deal of their present business. 
 
 There ought to be some such union of the postal and telegraph services, for they 
 are of the same character. Each is the transmission of information or intelligence. 
 The Government possesses a monopoly of this service when performed through the 
 medium of the mails, and there is no reason why it should not have the same monop- 
 oly with respect to service performed by means of the telegraph. 
 
 [St. Paul News, Mach 14.] 
 
 The windy argument of Dr. Green, Jay Gould’s figure-head as President of the tele - 
 graph monopoly, before the committee considering the postal telegraph, was more 
 for the purpose of keeping out of sight the real point of attack upon that proposition 
 than for any other effect. It transpires that the Frye funding bill, if passed, will de- ■ 
 feat the postal telegraph scheme. This bill contemplates the extension of the Union 
 Pacific debt to the Government, and at the same time provides for the removal of all ‘ 
 Government control of the Union Pacific. That would permit the Western Union to ' 
 retain its monopoly of all the Union Pacific’s wires, without any hindrance whatever 
 because it would be a practical, if not absolute, relinquishment of all clajims against ’ 
 the railroad for the public interest. It became apj)arent to the Postmaster-General ^ 
 that section 3 of the bill, at least, would have to be beaten, and stormy scenes in the ■ 
 Senate Committee on the Pacific Railroads have been the result. As" Gould practi- 
 cally controls the board of directors of the road, it will be impossible to make the rail- : 
 road company accept any bill that does not contain this provision. In the struggle 
 it is possible that both propositions may fail. : 
 
 [St. Paul Dispatch, March 15.] / 
 
 The latest development of the universal public demand for a Government telegraph i 
 system is in tlie direction ot a proposition just laid before the House Committee of 
 Congress on the Post-Office and Post Roads. The proposition comes from one J. M. 
 Seymour, who claims to represent a number of largo capitalists who were willing to ' 
 build lines and maintain a postal telegraph system under Government supervision in ' 
 accordance with the provisions of Mr. Wanamaker’s bill, or to operate on a uniform 
 2,5-cent rate. 
 
 Underlying the offer is the invention of a multiplex telegraphing system which, it 
 is claimed, will dispense with at least six out of every seven wires now in use. The 
 projectors of the new plan propose to build and maintain lines need 1 to H i h 
 operators, power and stationery, and to have the right lo build and be piotcwlcd in 
 constructing lines over all post-roads. They ask to be exempt from Federal and State 
 taxation. In cities where the post-offices were cramped for want oi room, the syndi- 
 cate propose to furnish its own offices. It was desired to inake a contract with the 
 Government for fifteen years with the privilege of a renewal, unless the Government 
 would take the lines at the end of that time at a valuation to be appraised bv ex- 
 perts. 
 
 It is too early to undertake to pass an intelligent judgment on this plan. But as 
 it presents itself to view at the present moment it appears to offer a solution of the ' 
 chief difficulties attending the recovery by the people of their right to the owner- 
 ship and use of the telegraph system. The people are determined to conduct their 
 own telegraph system, whether by the purchase of the existing plant or by the in- 
 stitution of a new telegraph system. To undertake to purchase Gould’s telegraph . 
 system, except in plain view of the people’s ability to estfiblish and maintain their ' 
 own system, if need be, would in all likelihood result in the Government being bilked. ! 
 
 i 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 47 
 
 According to Gould’s chief representative, Dr. Green, the Western Union is being 
 maintained chiefly for the benefit of stock speculators and wealthy merchants. It 
 is not unlikely that the Government can afford to leave Mr. Gould and Mr. Green 
 and their 1, *200 female stockholders in possession of that particular line of service. 
 A Government telegraph to be of any substaniial value must be one to which the 
 people all over the country can have easy and cheap access for all purposes of inter- 
 communication. It should result in effectually supplanting the present now com- 
 pjiratively slow method of correspondence carried on through medium of the mails, 
 when greater urgency is demanded, without subjecting the people to a conscience- 
 less toll, imposed on the single principle of charging ‘ all the traffic will bear.” 
 
 At the present moment the telegraph system of the country is in the hands of an 
 odious monopoly, at the head of which is the one man who best typifies all that is 
 vilest and most dangerous in the present industrial organization of society. It is 
 utierly free from public intervention, and notwithstanding that it is a prime agency 
 of interstate commerce there is no effort whatever made to regulate its charges. 
 Through its maintenance railroad companies are enabled to maintain their own tele- 
 graph systems, to which the public are denied access. No person who does not pat- 
 ronize the telegraph freely knows anything about rates or tariffs, except as the ac- 
 commodating lady or gentleman behind the counter chooses to tell him. It is a private 
 monopoly ; its business is carried on essentially as a private business, and its methods 
 are those which distinguish and are incident to the maintenance of monopoly. 
 
 The time has come for the effective intervention of public authority. Whether 
 through this Seymour scheme or through that suggested by Mr. Wanamaker, the 
 pi esent Congress is expected to afford the people relief. The point has been reached 
 now when no mere system of Government regulation of telegraphs will serve the 
 purpose. Indeed, nothing short of adequate provision in the direction of the resto- 
 ration of the telegraph to the Government, which foolishly surrendered it years ago 
 into private control, will fulfill the requirements of the occasion. 
 
 [Evening Capital Journal, Salem, Oregon, March 15.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in 
 advocating a postal telegraph, or rather a post-office telegraph office, a plan to put 
 the telegraph into every post-office in the land, and by an efficient service bring the 
 telegraph within reach of millions who do not now get its benefits, and also to force 
 the existing telegraph companies to give the people a better service and at a lower 
 rate, or go out of business. 
 
 And Postmaster-General Wanamaker means business. He is evidently in earnest. 
 He is pushing the matter. Already private capital offers for |525, 000,000 to equip a 
 system covering the whole continent. The people of the effete monarchies have long 
 enjoyed privileges in the matter of cheap and popular telegraphy that the people of 
 the United States have been deprived of. 
 
 Of course, the present telegraph monopoly will cry out and oppose any measure 
 that threatens to interfere with its collecting millions on watered stock and taxing 
 the people for an inferior service for all the traffic will bear. That is to be expected. 
 But the people are wide-awake on these matters, to what they used to be. They are 
 not sending so many men into the legislature and to Congress to vote as they please, 
 or as some great corporation pleases, and contrary to the interests of the masses. 
 
 The Journal is heartily and wholly on the side of the people and for a postal tele- 
 graph. This invention belongs to the masses. It has long enough been a monopoly 
 for the benefit of speculators and privileged classes. 
 
 [Chicago Mail, March 15.] 
 
 A New York stock-broker has offered in the name of a syndicate which he repre- 
 sents to build and maintain a postal telegraph system under governmental supervis- 
 j:)T\ Tf to be presumed that the gentlemen of the syndicate see a clear way to 
 II -’’ ing money out of the venture, else they would not put their millions into it ; 
 tlirr n il}' shouldn’t the Government build and maintain the system itself ? It can 
 command the same talent that private capital has at its back and its enterprise 
 would be vastly more popular. A portion of the treasury surplus might be expended 
 to great advantage in this way. 
 
 [Manufacturers’ Record, Baltimore, March 15.] 
 
 What can be done to improve the telegraphic service in the South is one of those 
 conundrums no person can answer outside of those magnets of the Western Union, 
 who exercise unlimited control of the wires that criss-cross each other on the several 
 southern circuits. It is high time for a change for the better. 
 
48 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 At present the worst telegraphic service in tbe United States is in the country south 
 of the Potomac and Ohio rivers. We say this feelingly, because the Manufacturers- 
 Record has suffered much and many times from the carelessness and negligence of the 
 telegraph companies that control the transmission of news north of the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico, and because our own experience is confirmatory of the almost daily complaints 
 that come to us from others. It has become a fixed custom with many Southerners 
 who once used the telegraph to send important messages in an expedited letter, be- 
 cause the probability of immediate delivery is greater by that mode of conveyance 
 than by the wires. 
 
 There are two well-founded causes of complaint : First, slowness of transmission and 
 delivery ; second, a lack of secrecy at many Southern delivery offices. 
 
 The delays mentioned in complaint number one are due solely to parsimonious 
 management. Outside of the larger Southern cities, the offices of the Western Union 
 are at railroad stations, and the station master, or some clerk in his employ, is the 
 telegrapher. The master and his clerk are railroad employes. Their first duty is to 
 the company that pays them. They owe none to the general public. What they do 
 for it is secondary. As a rule they are obliging young men, but very overworked. 
 They have, in addition to the ordinary duties of ticket-sellers and freight handlers, 
 to attend to a multitude of railroad details that keep them on the alert for many long 
 hours. Should they fail in attending to their railroad duties, they would be discharged 
 as incompetent, and they know it. The telegraph business, except as a side i8Sue,so far 
 as the public service is concerned, is of no consequence to them. They must look out 
 for their bread and butter, and who can blame them ? But the service itself, because 
 of these conditions, is all awry. Let us give an incident that is by no means unusual. 
 
 A correspondent of a Baltimore merchant goes to a railroad station (let us say in 
 South Carolina), with a dispatch of the utmost importance. Upon its immediate 
 transmission depend many hundred dollars. He finds no one in the office, but there 
 are three trains on the main track and sidings, and every office employ^ is up to his ■ 
 eyes in business that requires all his attention. The station-master is found, and 
 the emergency stated. He replies: ‘‘ I will go to the office and take your message, 
 but I can not tell how soon we can forward it, for the wires are loaded down with 
 railroad business, and that has the right of way. But I will get this off at the ear- 
 liest moment.” 
 
 The above is not a fanciful sketch, but au actual reproduction of what has occurred 
 at more than one railroad station. And who are the losers? Not the railroads ; not 
 the Western Union Telegraph Company. It is the business community that suffers. ' 
 For this there is but one remedy. The business of telegraphing for the public must 
 be divorced from the railroads. For their own safety, and for convenience of traffic, 
 railroads must run their own lines ; but all that are to be of public use must be out- 
 side of and independent of them. The two can not be conjoined without injury to 
 the one or the other. Such, at least, is the existing condition at the South. 
 
 And now for complaint number two. It is generally supposed that every telegraph 
 operator and transcriber is sworn to secrecy; thatevery message that passes over the 
 wires is private property, belonging only to the sender and the legitimate receiver, 
 and that it is the duty of the office operator to see that the message is delivered into 
 the hands of the person to whom it is sent, or to some duly accredited representative 
 of that person. As a matter of fact, that rule has little observance in the South. In 
 many places messages are delivered, not in sealed envelopes, but on the usual blanks : 
 and if the messenger boy can not find the party of the first part, it is no uncommon 
 thing for him to give the open message to some person whom, he infers, is that party’s- 
 friend. 
 
 Nor is that the worst of this careless (that is a mild word) way of doing telegraph 
 business. There is a free and easy style prevailing at many places which makes the 
 telegraph offices leak-holes through which run into the community the contents of pri- 
 vate messages, and the publicity given to information that should have been given 
 only to its owner has often defeated public justice, or has put a sudden end to impor- 
 tant business negotiations. So serious a matter has this leakage of private dispatches 
 become, that business men have been compelled, for their own protection, to devise 
 systems of cyphers for telegraphic messages between themselves and their correspond- 
 ents, to secure that secrecy of commuuicatiou which formerly obtaiued, but which 
 is no longer observed in many of the Southern telegraphic offices. 
 
 The Manufacturers’ Record has for many months refrained from criticising the 
 telegraph service, hoping that as the evils were so evident the management would re- 
 move them. But they (the evils) grow worse aud worse, and the time has come when 
 further forbearance would be a crime to the South, and to all industries aud business 
 enterprises connected therewith. The right of Congress to regulate interstate com- 
 nierce is now generally conceded. The telegraphic system is the handmaid of inter- * 
 state commerce, and if it is true that Congress can constitutionally regulate the first, 
 it can care for the other also. Some power emanating from the people must and will i 
 do it, for the need exists and is pressing. j 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 49 
 
 [Detroit Sirn, March 16.] 
 
 The postal telegraph scheme should not be wrecked upon the evidence that comes 
 from the office of the Western Union. There they have every reason to overstate the 
 cost to them of the messages they send. A concern which, with an antiquated plant, 
 can pay heavy dividends on an enormously inflated capital, is not likely to tell the 
 truth about its expenses. When it is stated that the entire mileage and machinery 
 of the Western Union can be duplicated to-day and give a vastly quicker service for 
 one-lifth of the Western Union’s capital stock, enough is said. Our telegraph busi- 
 ness, for all it is so large, is only in its infancy, and it should be as much a matter for 
 Government service as the post-office. It is for the good of the people that a cheap 
 Government service should take the place of a costly monoj)oly. 
 
 [Columbus Journal, March 1.1 
 
 The Richmond (Va.) Dispatch does not agree with some otlier great Democratic 
 organs as to the constitutionality and expediency of Postmaster-General Wanama- 
 ker’s postal telegraph bill. The Dispatch regards the bill as both constitutional and 
 expedient, and says that Mr. Carsey of New York, who, assuming to represent the 
 workingmen, made an argument against the bill before the House Committee on Post- 
 Offices and Post-Roads, is wholly mistaken. It says, among other things: “The 
 Constitution empowers Congress to establish post offices and post-roads. What sort ? 
 None but common country roads could have been in the minds of the framers of the 
 Constitution; but that fact has not prevented the Government from using railroads 
 and steam-boats, in like manner the paths of tlie lightning must be used as Govern- 
 ment roads. ^ * It is because the working people have been unable to employ 
 
 the telegraph that the Government should open it to them. Reduce the rate to 10 
 cents for ten words for all distances, and the telegraph will receive as many messages 
 as it can carry from the working people. Nobody need fear a paternal government 
 of that sort.” It will be remembered that within the lyst two years a large number 
 of labor organizations have memorialized Congress to take possession of all the tele- 
 graph lines and operate them as a part of the postal system. 
 
 [Manufacturer (Pbila.), March 17.] 
 
 That the president of the Western Union Telegraph Companj^ should strongly op- 
 pose the postal telegraph project suggested by Mr. Wanaraaker was of course in- 
 evitable..^ In his address before the House Committee on Post-Offices he expressed the 
 opinion that this scheme is but the beginning of a movement for putting the telegraph 
 business of the country under the control of the Federal Government ; and this is a cor- 
 rect estimate of its meaning. Nothing is more nearly certain than that if the Govern- 
 ment goes into this business in small measure it will be compelled to undertake it in 
 large measure. The people who are denied the Government telegraph, under Mr. 
 Wanamaker’s plan, will not be contented with permanent exchrsion from advantages 
 possessed by their fellow-citizens with rights not superior to their own. The Gov- 
 ernment can not conduct such an enterprise successfully or profitably unless it shall 
 have a monopoly, as it has in the matter of mail transportation. Public sentiment 
 I recognizes the fact that carrying messages by mail and carrying them by wire are 
 services of essentially the same nature, and that the good policy that intrusts the 
 task to the Government in one case, may warrant giving it to the Government in the 
 other case. Besides, the people' are much impressed with the perils of having in the 
 i hands of a single private company (aud that companj^ controlled by one man), a 
 I business which touches the press, the public, and private life, and the commercial 
 I operations of the nation at almost every point. The timidity with which the public 
 journals refer to this very matter is, of itself, full of suggestiveness. When the Gov- 
 j ernmeut shall undertake to manage the telegraph, it might with propriety negotiate 
 for the purchase of existing lines; but tuch purchase should be made upon a basis of 
 actual value, not of stock that has been watered and rewatered. 
 
 i [Omaha Democrat, March 17.] 
 
 The proposition made a few days since to the House Committee on Post-Offices and 
 Post-Roads by J. M. Seymour, of New York, is a very important one. He claimed to 
 represent a number of well-known capitalists who were amply prepared to build and 
 maintain a postal system, such as the Postmaster-General has recommended, at a uni- 
 form rate for messages of 25 cents. This they propose to do by the Patten multiplex 
 telegraph, which has been in successful operation in New York and Philadelphia for 
 the last six months. 
 
 Mr. Patten, the inventor, also appeared before the committee and explained his 
 invention. He said by it the carrying capacity of one wire was equal to eight or 
 P T 4 
 
50 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES.' 
 
 eveu twelve wires under the present system. Mr. Seymour claimed that had the 
 Western Union used the Patten system last year its expenses would have been 
 $6,000,000 instead of $16,000,000. That to establish the system as proposed by the 
 Postmaster-General would cost only about $7,000,000, and to maintain the lines would 
 cost about 75 per cent, less than under the present systems. Moreover, he asserted 
 that a complete system covering the entire country would cost not more than 
 $25,000,000. 
 
 The present Western Union is capitalized at about $80,000,000, and it is to pay 
 dividends on this large capital that Dr. Green told the committee was impossible at 
 lower rates. But if the water were squeezed out of that great capital could not Dr. 
 Green reduce his rates and still earn a fair profit ? Or, if by adopting the latest 
 methods and inventions instead of adhering to the old ones, could he not do it So 
 think Mr. Seymour and Mr. Patten. In a notice of Mr. Edison’s telegrai)hic mventious 
 not long since we saw it stated that he could take any invention to the Western 
 Union and get his own price for it, and that the safes of that company contained 
 unused patents by himself and others representing a value of hundreds of thousands 
 of dollars, which it had bought to prevent others from buying and held as a club 
 over any parties who might attempt to start an opposition to it, while still adhering 
 to its old methods in order to make its big statement of expenses a justification for 
 its oppressive changes. 
 
 We hope the postal telegraph will be adopted by Congress. The time is come 
 when it should be. The first telegra]»h line was built and operated by the Govern- ' 
 ment, and it should never have been sold to private parties. The transmission of 
 intelligence by wire is as legitimate a Government function as bj'^ mail. It has been 
 successful in England, for we do not believe Dr. Green’s statement that Government 
 management there has been at a loss, or if it has it is because too low a rate was 
 fixed. But our Government rates would be higher, and practical men are willing to 
 undertake the work at those rates. Shrewd capitalists like these do not often make . 
 a mistake. Let us try it. 
 
 [Pueblo (Colo.) Press, March 17.] 
 
 The suggestions of Postmaster- General Wanamaker in regard to a postal telegraph ' 
 system either by contract with existing telegraph companies or by the Government 
 building lines of its own, seem to be well considered and strongly fortified with facts [ 
 and figures. In the discussion of the subject Avith Dr. Norvin Green, president of the ^ 
 Western Union Company, he has had the best of the argument, and, not only that, ; 
 but has never lost his temper and become personal and abusive. But the propo.sition ■ 
 would be received with more favor if Mr. Wanamaker’s name were not connected with : 
 so many quixotic and useless schemes. His training schools for church deacons is 
 one, and his Sunday school farm — a place of retirement for persons who have broken ■ 
 down under the exhaustive strain of Sunday school work — is another. It is probable s 
 these schemes are not intended to be put in practice — that they are simply intended i 
 to advertise Mr. Wanamaker, and through him his Philade]])hia business — but the ] 
 connection of his name with them has the effect of lowering him in popular estima- ’ 
 tiou and causing any more serious suggestions he may make on other subjects to be ' 
 looked upon in the same light. For this reason, partly, he may not succeed in car- ‘ 
 rying out his plan of postal telegraphy, but his agitation of the subject and hisargu- ^ 
 ments showing its practicability will clear the way for some future Postmaster- < 
 General to succeed tvhere he has failed. 
 
 1 Bloomington Leader, March 18.1 
 
 A New York syndicate has submitted to the House Committee on Post-Offices a prop- j 
 osition to establish and maintain a Government postal telegraph system. One of the | 
 provisions of the proposition is that the Government shall exempt the company from | 
 Federal and State taxation. No reasons are given, however, why the company, if 1 
 permitted to operate a Government telegraphic line, should be exempted from such 
 taxation, but doubtless the fact is that the syndicate wants a private snap. It may 
 puzzle some people to know why the syndicate did not pro})osethat the Government, 
 after giving it a franchise worth several millions of dollars, should build the line and , 
 furnish the telegraphic machinery free of charge. If there is anything in the signs , 
 of the times, however, the Government is likely to own and operate its own telegraph ; 
 lines one of these days, and work them at cost for the benefit of the people. * 
 
 [Deuisoii (Iowa) Eeview, March 17.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker, supported by the administration, is making a j 
 gallant fight against one of the great monopolies of the United States. The Presi- 
 dent in his message and the Postmaster-General in his annual report have developed 
 
 1 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 51 
 
 tlie project of annexing the telegraph to the postal service. Every sane man, not an. 
 attorney of the Western Union Telegraph corporation, or one fearful that the suc- 
 cessful amalgamation of the telegraph with the postal service might lead to' the ex- 
 tension of the principle in annexing the railroad and express service as well, must 
 perceive the great economies which the people will derive Ifom the change. 
 
 In the first place, small villages would be served with equal diligence with the 
 large cities. The great monopoly holds out as a bribe to the general public two 
 things: first, service at very low rates to the daily press, especially to the i)ress asso- 
 ciation ; and cheap and prompt service in the centers of population. Bnt every one 
 knows by experience that the telegraph service in small places is execrable. There 
 is no word in the English language sufficiently strong to express the contemptible 
 character of the local telegraph service. Not only are the rates very high, which on 
 the whole is the least exceptional feature, but the only certainty, after giving the 
 dispatch to the operator, of having a telegram delivered with celerity, is to take a 
 duplicate and start with it yourself on foot. 
 
 Every one can see that the Government would save room hire, as well as clerk hire, 
 in all the smaller offices; for the assistant jiostmaster or clerk could also be a tele- 
 graph operator, and could well discharge l)oth duties in villages of less than two 
 thousand inhabitants. Secondly, there would need to be kept no .separate system of 
 accounts or book-keeping, for the,Government could siniply issue telegraph stamps or 
 cards and the postmaster would have to account for these exactly as he accounts for 
 his postal goods. The postmaster could be paid a commission, precisely as he now is 
 for the transaction of postal business. Under these circumstances alone a great 
 saving could be effected. If any one could purchase at the post-office a telegram 
 card, good for ten words, for ten cents, which he could dio})into anj^ postal-box with 
 a certainty of its promj)t transmission, thousands of persons who are on journeys, 
 for instance, would drop one of these cards in the box so as to give information to 
 their friends of their safe arrival, and thousands of messages ordering goods and 
 acknowledging the receipt of money, etc., would be .sent, instead of as at present, when 
 the telegraph service among the great mass of the people is used only to announce a 
 death or some great calamity, so that when a telegraph messenger calls at a private 
 house, the per.son before opening it will be terror stricken, as the expectation is an 
 announcement of either danger or death. 
 
 Theie can be no doubt that millions of messages would be sent in the course of a 
 few years when the public had become used to the s^’stem, precisely as the commuta- 
 tion rates on railroads induce thousands of passengers to ride who would otherwise 
 not re.^ide in the suburbs of cities. 
 
 But why has not this system so latent with public benefits, been adopted years ago ? 
 First, the daily press, which has the Associated Press franchise, and thereby a great 
 monopoly because its news has the preference on the wire, is unanimously opposed , 
 to the governmental system. It not only has the lowest possible rates, but a news 
 monopoly as well. The next class of opiiosition comes from the monetary power and 
 influences directly interested in drawing the enormous dividends which the telegraph 
 monopoly pays, while every prejudiced person, in and out of Congress, in favor of 
 great trusts and monopolies opposes this amalgamation instinctively with every sort 
 of pretext that the imagination of man can invent. 
 
 But where is the voice of the people ? Why'^ is it not heard when at least one defi- 
 nite effort is being made to crush a monoxioly and substitute for it a service of the 
 people, by the people, and for the people ? We hear, especially in the country, great 
 denunciation of monopolies ; in fact, talking with one’s mouth in.stead of thinking 
 with one’s brains is the fashion nowadays. The Democratic press in particular, rep- 
 resenting as it does the party^ which sends millionaire Brice, who resides in New York, 
 as Senator from Ohio, to represent monopoly in the Senate, is especially fierce in 
 charging monopolistic tendencies upon the Republican party. Neither the Democratic 
 nor the independent press, nor the so-called reform-hobby knights, have said a soli- 
 tary word in sustaining the administration in its doubtful fight against this anaconda 
 monopoly. The reason why so little progress is made in the line of legislation for 
 the interests of the people as against capitalistic classes, is that there is no heart nor 
 sincerity in the demands for a change. It is enough to damn Wanamaker in the eyes 
 j of all Bourbon Democrats that he is a Sunday-school superintendent ; it is enough to 
 ' raise a sneer of derision agaiust him becau.se he is a merchant instead of a lawyer ; 
 and nothing that he can do can meet the approval of a Democrat, above all other 
 reasons, because he is a Republican. As long as men only" phiy with words, as long as 
 the cry agaiust monopoly and trusts is simply a party catch-word, as long as inde- 
 pendent men can not step beyond party lines to give a hearty approval to good works 
 and genuine reform, all efforts to secure a change will be fruitless. 
 
 There ought to be petitions presented, signed by citizens without distinction of 
 party, in favor of a Government postal-telegraph system, so that the Repre.sentatives 
 , and Senators in Congress may know the voice of the people, and may not be able to 
 
 UNlVtKSlIY OR 
 ILllNOl.S LIBRARY 
 
52 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 shield themselves on the assumption that there is an utter indilference on the part of 
 the public to this important project. 
 
 The Harrison administration, which has now been in office for one year, has been 
 characterized by a quiet but earnest endeavor to shape the Government policy in the 
 interests of the masses of the people. Every recommendation made by the President 
 and the Cabinet in the line of silver coinage, administrative reform in the tariff so that 
 the system of undervaluation may be ended, and the assumption by the Government 
 of the telegraph service have all been in the interest of the masses of the people ; and 
 while it is not strange that not one word of commendation should have been received 
 from a bigoted Democratic press, it is to be regretted that the independent voter has 
 not been sufficiently intelligent to perceive the tendency of this legislation and to 
 give to the administration an earn st and hearty supi)ort. 
 
 [Omaha Bee, March 19.] 
 
 Mr. Evans, of Chattanooga, is chairman of the subcommittee of the House Commit- 
 tee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, having the Wanamaker postal-telegraph bill in 
 charge. He listened with close attention to Mr. Rosewater’s statements to day, and 
 this evening said : “Mr. Rosewater presented an argument which is simply unan- 
 swerable as to why the Government should control the telegraph in time of war, and 
 I think his argument in favor of Government control at all times can not be refuted. 
 
 I notice that President Green has just asked the committee to give him a further 
 hearing. Mr. Rosewater’s statements were the most practical and contained the 
 greatest amount of common sense of any that have been made before the committee. 
 
 He has shown that a large amount of telegraph property acquired by the Government 
 during the war has been turned over to the telegraph companies ; that grant roads 
 have joined the monoiiolies, turning over their lines to the telegraph companies in 
 detiance of the contracts, and has in tine presented every argument that a practical ’ 
 mind could conceive in favor of his [losition. I do not know that the committee 
 will report the Wanamaker proposition, but I am confident it will report in favor of ' 
 some kind of an arrangement in some degree similar to that one. Mr. Rosewater I 
 made his position especially tenable and above criticism by not advocating any special ^ 
 form of postal telegraphy, and not by attacking the telegraph companies viciously, 
 keeping in perfect humor. He showed himself to be worMng for the public good.” 
 
 [Karthaus (Pa.) Times, March 19.] * 
 
 The sturdy manner in which Postmaster-General Wanamaker advocates the estab- y 
 lishment of national postal telegraphy explains the source of many of the malignant 4 
 attacks upon him. Auj^ man who has the courage to propose a measure which will 
 benefit the people at the expense of a giant monopoly may be sure that no effort will ] 
 be spared to defame and destroy him. But we hope Mr. Wanamaker will persevere '! 
 until success crowns his efforts. Then let him go a step farther and plan a national < 
 express system by means of which the public may be served at reasonable rates. He ^ 
 may be sure of the support of the great mass of the people in his efforts to clip the i 
 claws of corporations that mercilessly prey upon their customers. ) 
 
 [Santa F6 New Mexican, March 19.] ! 
 
 The Postmaster-General’s ideas relating to postal telegraphy are attracting the at- ^ 
 tention of many of the foremost capitalists of the country, and they will ere long . 
 doubtless be carried into practical effect. A New York syndicate offers to establish ■ 
 a system that will transact all business required by the Government at a cost not to 
 exceed 1 cent a word, a proposition that no doubt caused Dr. Green to turn red with 
 angefr. The idea is to use-the Patten system of transmission, whereby a single wire , 
 can be made to Y)erform the duty of a dozen under the Morse method. It is said that ^ 
 were the Western Union in a position to use this new system its operating expenses ^ 
 would be reduced from § 16 , 000,000 to § 6 , 000,000 per year. It must indeed be a valua- j 
 ble invention to accomplish this saving. The New Yorkers who ask the privilege of J 
 doing the Government work agree to expend | 7 , 000,000 immediately in establishing 
 the new service, and agree eventually to cover the country with a network of wires 4 
 the total cost of which will be about § 25 , 000 , 000 . 
 
 [Norristown Herald, March 20.] 
 
 The board of trade has very properly indorsed the bill draughted by Postmaster-Gen- ^ 
 era! Wanamaker for the establishment of a postal telegraph in connection with the 
 Post-Office De[)artment. 
 
 Mr. Wanamakcr’s idea is experimental in its nature. He proposes that the Govern- 
 ment shall lease lines already in existence, so that there is no danger of loss in any, 
 event. His plauHhas the merit of being susceptible of operation at any time. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 53 
 
 The United States is the only civilized country of note which has no arrangement 
 for the rapid transmission of intelligence in connection with the post office system. 
 Any objection that can be urged against the postal telegraph would have had equal 
 or x)erhaps greater weight against any other improvement in the service during the 
 past century. 
 
 This wonderful convenience, indispensable as it is to the public, has heretofore been 
 limited to the few. It is not worth while to discuss the causes that have produced 
 the result. It is enough that they have existed and ‘that they are still operative to a 
 certain extent. 
 
 The jioint is this: how to popularize so important an adjunct to the public conven- 
 ience. Mr. Wauamaker points out the way. It is manifestly a good thing, and there 
 is no consideration of public interest that will prevent its adoption. There is noth- 
 ing to be urged against the inii)rovement that should have any influence with those 
 who are legislating for the public good. 
 
 Ultimately, of course, the Government should, as it will, own and operate its own 
 lines, and it will be a matter of wonder th it this course should have been so long de- 
 ferred. For the present, however, the prop tsition of Mr. Wan un iker will be accepted 
 by the [uiblic as a forward movement th<j.t commands the hearty approval of business 
 men and citizens generally. 
 
 [Petersburgh Index Appeal, March 20.] 
 
 There is no doubt that a Government telegraph is just what the people would like 
 to have. Call it, for euphony’s sake, a postal telegraph, so as not to shock too rudely 
 the sensitive eares and nerves of extreme States’ rights doctrinaires, but what is 
 wanted, pure and simple, is a Government telegraph ; one owned and controlled by 
 Uncle Sam, the management of which may be contided for the sake of convenience to 
 the Post-Office Department. Experiments are always more or less costly, especially 
 Avhen the object sought to be obtained is within reach without them. For this 
 reason we do not wholly favor Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s plan, the execution 
 of which would serve to decrease the business of existing lines on routes where they 
 would come in competition with those owned by the Government, while in districts 
 where this wouid not be the case, rates Avould probably be raised so as to make up 
 for the loss elsewhere. There is no equity in the scheme, nor would the interests of 
 the public be greatly promoted thereb3^ 
 
 The desideratum is a complete, cheai), prompt, safe Government telegraph system. 
 To attain it there are two ways. One is for the Government to buy all existing lines 
 at a fair valuation fixed by competent, honorable, disinterested arbitrators. To take 
 thene at figures put up by their owners, which would include watered stock and all, 
 would be robbing the public treasury, and is not to be thought of. If the owners 
 object to selling and the Government has not the power to force them to a sale, then 
 another way is open. That is for the Government to duplicate as speedily as may be 
 existing lines throughout the country. It has been repeatedlj^ stated that the entire 
 plant of the Western Union Company can be duplicated for less than l$30,000,000, 
 although the value has been inflated by means of liberally watering the stock to 
 something near, or over, one hundred millions. With the ample means which the 
 Government could command it is probable that the country could be covered with 
 a practically com])lete system of telegraphs within a little more than five years. 
 
 The benefit to the people of a Government telegraph is obAUous. As no dividend for 
 stockholders need be earned, cheap rates could at once be established and the word 
 limit of messages be enlarged so as to make the service virtually one for telegraphic 
 correspondence. In order to insure safety and secrecy in the handling and delivering 
 of messages, strict rules should be prescribed by la w and their violation followed by 
 exemplary punishment. In every respect a telegraphic message should be hedged 
 about with as much protection to guard its privacy" as is now done in the case of let- 
 ters. All these precautions being carefully and conscientiously observed, no more 
 anxiety need be felt as to the proper administration of a Government telegraph service 
 than is now experienced in regard to that of the postal service. The most frequently 
 urged objection of opiiressive and repressive action on the part of the employes of a 
 GoA^ernment telegraph system in times of political excitement wouhl lose much of its 
 force if stringent laws were enacted and enforced to make such a course extremely 
 dangerous to those disposed to attempt it. 
 
 Under existing conditions the telegraph is a luxury from the enjoyment of which 
 the poor man is excluded. A telegraphic message can be sent through all i)art8 of 
 Great Britain for a sixpence, or twelve cents, and tAA'enty-fivo or thirty cents ought 
 to be the highest price exacted for a twenty Avord message from the people of the 
 United States under the operations of a Government telegraph. 
 
54 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 fSalem (Oregon) CapitalJoarnal, Marcli21.1 
 
 The Government should undertai^e postal telegraphy. It would give a competition 
 that is not obtainable from any other source. It would stimulate improvements in 
 telegraphy that are not now anticipated. It would wonderfully improve the service we 
 now have. Building the new system would take a great deal of the surplus labor 
 now idle. It would give employment constantly for tens of thousands of young men 
 and women. If Postmaster-General Wanamaker wants to make his name famous in 
 the annals of American history, let him bring about postal telegraphy. He will be 
 resisted by the present monopoly but he will be upheld by the peojde. He will be 
 the first cabinet officer who has done anything of value for the public in many years. 
 
 fKeystoue Gazette (Bellefonte, Pa.), March 21.1 
 
 There is a gentleman in Bellefonte who is a large stockholder in the Adams’ Ex- 
 press Company, and also in the Western Union Telegraph Company. It is right that 
 be should further the interests of these companies by his voice and pen, and we have 
 reason to believe that he is the author of the articles now appearing iu the Daily 
 News and Republican, attacking Postmaster-General Wanamaker, and adversely 
 criticising his efforts to cheapen both the mail and telegraph service for the benefit 
 of the people. It is in accord also with the past history of these papers that thej'’, 
 though sometimes claiming to be Republican iu politics, should publish such articles 
 fora financial consideration, even if iu doing so they injure the party by attacking a 
 gentleman who is now very prominent in its counsels, and who is seeking to make it 
 successful by applying to its management the same sound business principles which 
 have made his osvn private business affairs such a grand success. 
 
 rDemocratic Watchman (Bellefonte, Pa.), March 21.] 
 
 Some attention has been attracted by a series of editorial articles in the Bellefonte 
 Republican, pitching into Postmaster-General Wanamaker generallj'', but particu- 
 larly on account of his scheme to bring the telegraph lines of the country under the 
 control of the Government. Gue of them was republished in the New York Sun to 
 show what a good Pennsylvania Republican journal thought of Wanamaker. How 
 these articles got into its columns and what object inspired them was a mystery to 
 those who knew the character of the paper. The general impression hereabouts is 
 that so far as the sentiments of its editor are concerned it would make very little 
 difference to him whether Wanamaker should succeed in making the telegraph busi- 
 ness part of the post-office service, or even in making the Post-Office Department an 
 annex to his Bethany Sunday School. Hence the surprise that the Republican took a 
 position hostile to any of his measures. 
 
 But there is now a strong suspicion that these anti-Wanamaker expressions have 
 emanated from the accomplished and versatile pen of ourfriendand neighbor, James 
 Millikeu, Esq., who is a heavy stockholder in the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
 pany, and wbo, although an ardent Republican, would naturally object to having 
 his interests gobbled up by even a Republicau administration. A confirmation of 
 the belief that it is Mr. Milliken that is throwing these bombs into the Post-Office 
 Department is furnished by the circumstance that the last of the Wanamaker ex- 
 coriations is about his wanting to bring the mails into competition with the Adams 
 Express Company. What stronger circumstantial evidence, pointing to the author- 
 ship of these articles, is needed than the fact that Mr. Milliken is also one of that 
 company’s heaviest stockholders ? 
 
 [Lawrenceville (Pa.) Herald, March 22.] 
 
 The postal telegraphic service proposed by Postmaster-General Wanamaker in 
 his annual report should receive prompt attention at the hands of Congress. Many 
 people do not comprehend the scheme. They regard it as something altogether 
 different from what now exists. As a matter of fact the proposition is merely a con- 
 tinuance, only in a different channel, of the system now in operation by the Post-Office 
 Department. The Postmaster-General’s proposition to contract with the telegraph 
 companies for the transmission of messages under the direction of the Post-Office De- 
 partment is simply a continuation of the system of contracts now made with the rail- 
 road companies for the delivery of letters. As will be observed, there is no violent 
 departure from existing methods involved in this plan. 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker’s idea apiiears to be for his Department to execute contracts with 
 telegraph conqianies for transmission of messages at a low rate for immediate delivery'. 
 The telegraph compan.v would merely' be responsible for the delivery of the message 
 from the post-office in one cit.v or town to the post-office of another. The Post-Office 
 Department would then attend to the delivery of the message. This of course would 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITII^S. 
 
 55 
 
 be (lone by the carriers, according to the system now provided by the special-delivery 
 stamp upon letters. This could be made a great advantage to the money-order system 
 of the postal-service, as orders for cash would be telegraphed by a private code, at a 
 small cost, with certainty of immediate delivery. This proposition, carried out by 
 appropriate legislation, would be a step of progress in postal matters that could not 
 fail to* give satisfaction to the people. 
 
 [Norristown (Pa.) Herald , March 22.] 
 
 The House Postal Committee is now considering the postal telegraph i)roposition of 
 Mr. Wauamaker. If those composing it have the intere.sts of the business public at 
 heart, and it is reasonable to suppose they have, the idea will be promptly indorsed. 
 
 [Lo t Angeles (Cal.) Evening Express.] 
 
 Editor Express : The question of establishing by act of Congress a telegraph sys- 
 tem, to be operated in conjunction with the postal service, to be known as a postal 
 telegraph, has long been urged, and its necessity becomes more and more apparent 
 as time passes. The vast volume of Government business required to be transacted 
 promptly, to great distances, makes it imperative that it should be done b}^ telegraph, 
 and at the rates paid, even at Government contract price, which ranges some lower 
 than private rates, would amount to enough each year to pay a very large portion of 
 the expense of building and maintaining such a line. The agitation takes a stronger 
 hold in Congress each season, and it will by-and-by be an accomplished fact. 
 
 Postmaster-General Wauamaker is urging the matter on the attention of Congress- 
 .rnen very strongly, so hiuch so that he has stirred up the managers of the old lines, 
 especiallj'^ the Western Union, and quite an interesting discussion is now going on 
 between that company, the Postmaster-General, and a Congressional committee. The 
 result will be, if a telegraph is not authorized this session, the public will be well 
 advised as to telegraph matters. A postal system will surely come ; messages will be 
 sent at a low figure, enabling all classes to use it as much as they like, and the rates 
 will pay for the investment. When President Norvin Green of the Western Union 
 made his statement in opposing the reduction of Government rates, and the estab- 
 lishing of what he deems a serious rivalry, he did not state that nearly all his original 
 system west of the Missouri River was built through the generosity of the Govern- 
 ment twenty years ago, and that not one dollar of the money then advanced has been 
 returned, but that the Government has been the well- feathered goose that has been 
 regularly plucked ever since. If the Western Union should recall and cancel a few 
 thousand of the many telegraph franks it has annually issued to as many men — rail- 
 road managers, judges, and public officers, all supposed to have “ influence ” — it might 
 materially reduce the rates of transmission and yet have a generous income, more 
 than enough to paj^ a nice dividend, including its forty millions of entirely imaginary 
 stock. 
 
 In its contracts with that company the Gov'ernment was always at a disadvantage, 
 and this is the way it worked ; Up to quite a recent period no one in the railway-mail 
 service was authorized to use the telegraph to inform connecting clerks, main or ter- 
 minal offices, of the delay of trains, and the probable hour of arrival. Indeed, clerks 
 were not allowed to telegraph unless under extreme necessity, because of the expense 
 it was said ; the consequence was uncertainty and confusion everywhere. Clerks 
 have remained at the depots in Los Angeles, on many an occasion, from one to ten 
 hours, in the hot sun, in the rain, and in the cold, waiting for a delay^'d train which 
 no information could be obtained from. This has been the case for years all over the 
 country. On the other hand. Wells, Fargo & Co.’s wagon would be driven up to the 
 depot about fifteen minutes before the train arrived, regardless of the hour. The 
 difference was the postal clerks were not permitted to send a message over the tele- 
 graph line, while the messengers of Wells, Fargo & Co. were required to do it if more 
 than one hour late. Result: postal affairs all deranged and uncertain, and Wells, 
 Fargo & Co.’s business eorrect and in order. 
 
 This is one of the irregularities that the Postmaster-General wishes to correct, 
 among others, besides making the felegraph useful to the whole people, and it is 
 earnestly to be hoped that he will succeed, as he has every right argument on his 
 side. (R. H. H., Los Angeles, March 23.) 
 
 ['Williamsport (Pa.) Republican, March 25.] 
 
 Mr. Abner McKinley, a brother of Maj. William McKinley, appeared before the 
 Post-Office Committee of the House ou Saturday and talked about a system of postal 
 telegraphy that seems, on sight, to revolutionize the transmission of messages over 
 an electric wire. Instead of the Government’s purchasing or making a contract with 
 the Western Union, Mr. McKinley urges Congress to adopt the Essick system of 
 
56 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 telegraphy, which is something just invented. By this system messages are sent by 
 means of an electric typewriter, and received by similar instruments. The message 
 is written and received in plain Roman letters. A person must dispatch the message 
 just as an ordinary typewriter prints a page. The message is reproduced at the other 
 end of the line automatically, no operator being necessary. Mr. McKinley says that 
 messages have been successfully transmitted from New York to Pittsburgh, a distance, 
 by wire, of 600 miles. He Claims that this new system has great advantages over 
 the Morse system in that the message can not be stolen from the wire, and it can be 
 read by anybody. He offered to place one instrument in Washington for the use. of 
 the House Committee on Post-Offices, so that it might be thoroughly tested. Messages 
 can be reproduced instantly in as many ditferent places as is wished. 
 
 Whether or not Congress adopts this new system of sending and recording messages, 
 for the purpose of postal telegraphy, if it does all that Mr. McKinley claims for it, 
 the Morse method of telegraphy will soon have to give way before this latest inven- 
 tion. It is an interesting question in scientitic circles whether this new system can 
 be so perfected as to work successfully for long distances. The friends of the Essick 
 Company are sure that they have gotten out a good thing, and more than this, that 
 the Government will be wise if it contracts with them to do the postal telegraphy 
 business. It is well to remember that not only business men, but all classes of people 
 generally, are in favor of a postal telegraph system. 
 
 ' [Portsmouth (N. H.) Penny Post, March 26.] 
 
 The evident growing support that is being given Postmaster-General Wanamaker’^s 
 plan for improving the telegraph service shows the wisdom of its suggestion and 
 the aptness of the people to favor quickly ideas that prove to be in the direct line of 
 improvement and advancement. To the Post-Office Department it means the assump- 
 tion of additional responsibility on the one hand, and a lessening of transit expendi- 
 ture on the other to an extent that will materially aid the lessening of burden if not 
 of working force. 
 
 To Government, it assures the conveyance of instructions to subordinates and proper 
 orders promptly at no additional cost. To the jiublic, it means extra accommoda- 
 tions at rates that warrant the payment of actual cost incurred to the Government, 
 and a reduction from present rates that will lift a burden from citizens generally. 
 
 The appointment of ox)erators and messengers will add to the personnel of the De- 
 partment the exj)ense of their salaries only, involving no addition to the salaries of 
 the general officials or extensive increase in their number. The fear of a reduction 
 in the Treasury surplus through the action contemplated by the Wanamaker plan is 
 banished by the conceded fact that the Western Union Company is possessed of a 
 practical monopoly, from which its managers extract millions of profits yearly. That 
 the Government can administer its duties when national control shall have become 
 assured is at once self-evident. If the Post-Office Department sees its way clear to a 
 pronounced reduction of rates, thus multiplying the number of customers who use 
 the wires as at present conducted, it is plain that the people are benefited directly 
 through the practical abolition of what will be looked backward to in the future as 
 an onerous and unjustifiable tax. 
 
 The argument used in monopolistic quarters that the proposed action in regard to 
 telegraph matters is a step toward Nationalism is by no means susceptible to con- 
 tradiction, or worthy of serious opposition. In the future, it will be as unpopular 
 to undertake a return to the present telegraphic methods and rates, as to attempt to 
 repeal the postal laws of the past quarter of a century and place the carrying of 
 mails exclusively in the hands of express companies and private enterprise. 
 
 [Denver Republican, March 27.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, in his re- 
 marks before the House Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, endeavored to in- 
 duce that committee to report adversely on Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s postal 
 telegraph scheme. There was, however, a fatal defect in his argument. 
 
 Dr. Green discussed at considerable length the merits and demerits of the European 
 telegraph system, comparing it with the system in the United States. He endeavored 
 to show that if wo were to adopt the scheme suggested by Mr. Wanamaker, the cost 
 to the Government would largely exceed the receijds. He claims that there would 
 be a deficit of ^3.000,000 if the Postmaster-GeneraTs rates were adopted by the 
 Western Union. This was the foundation of his argument against the scheme. He 
 told the committee that Congress would in the course of a few years after the 
 adoption of the Postmaster-GeneraTs p^lan be called upon for an appropriation to 
 make good the deficit. 
 
 We might admit that the business could not be conducted without a loss at the 
 rate suggested by Mr. Wanamaker, and yet the merit of his plan would remain. The 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 57 
 
 trausiiiission of messages by telegraph is a kind of service which properly belongs to 
 the Post-Office Department. It belongs to the same cl.^^ss of service as the transmis- 
 sion of letters and newspapers. In short, it is the transmission of information which 
 is the proper work of the post-office, |regai'(iless of whether it be done through the 
 medium of railways, stage-coaches, or telegraph lines. 
 
 The })ost-office should not be looked ni)on as a business enterprise which should be 
 abandoned in the event that the expenditure exceeded the receipts. It is properly a 
 branch of the Government. It should be considered in the same light as that in 
 which we consider the maintenance of courts, or of the Army, or of the various de- 
 partments and bureaus of the Government which are needed for the regulation of 
 society and the promotion of the general welfare. No one would claim that the Army 
 should bo disbanded because it does not earn for the Government a return equal to 
 the amount expended in its maintenance. No intelligent person would say that the 
 courts should be abolished because the receipts from docket and other fees may not 
 pay the cost of maintaining courts. 
 
 For the like reason it would be absurd to claim that the administration of tlie Post- 
 Office Department is a failure whenever its expenditures exceed its receipts. A great 
 share of the burden of transmitting the mails is bjrne by the people who purchase 
 stamps. These people are those who are directly benefited by the Department. But 
 there is, beyond this, a general benefit to, the country which of itself is sufficient to 
 demand the maintenance of post-offices and post-roads. The same argument would 
 apply to the postal telegraph if it were added to the Post-Office Department as a 
 branch of the postal service. A deficit of |;3,000,000 per annum would be a small 
 amount for a wealthy country like this to make good in order that the telegraph rates 
 might be cut down to the amount suggested by Mr. Wanamaker. 
 
 If the committee takes this view, it will recommend the ado])tiou of the scheme 
 outlined by the Postmaster-General, for Dr. Green said that the scheme could be car- 
 ried out. His only objection being to it, considered with respect to its practicability, 
 was that it coukl not be done by the Government or by a corporation at a profit. 
 Somebody, he claimed, would have to make up the deficiency. But this deficiency 
 could well be made up by the Government for the sake of obtaining the advantage 
 of so important a step toward the complete establishment of postal telegraph 5 ^ 
 
 [Titusville (Pa ) Herald, March 27.] 
 
 The project of a postal telegraph, urged in a masterly argument before the Post-Office 
 Committee by Postmaster-General Wanamaker, isgaining favor in Congress. ThePitts- 
 burgh Dispatch says: “Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard, father in-law of Prof. Alexander 
 Graham Bell, of telephone fame, made an eloquent closing argument in favor of the 
 project of a Government telegraph, and Mr. F. B. Thurber, the well-known New York 
 merchant, representing the New York Board of Trade, made a powerful plea of a 
 similar character.” We trust that the coming State convention of Pennsylvania will 
 give the enterprise its moral supj^ort in resolutions of strong and pointed indorse- 
 ment. It is a measure in the interest of the people of the whole country, and Con- 
 gress could perform scarcely any act and adopt scarcely any measure which would 
 certainly earn the thanks of the country than the giving the people cheap telegraph 
 in their business and social affairs through the agency of the post-office. 
 
 Let the Republican party have the credit of introducing this most useful and pop- 
 ular improvement. 
 
 [Marshall (Minn.) Messentjer, March 28.] 
 
 For a long time Congress has been wrangling over the question of postal telegraph, 
 and it is now presented in a comparatively new form by Postmaster-General Waua- 
 maker, whose proposition is for a limited application of the service at hist, by au- 
 thorizing the ]mst-office authorities to contract with existing telegraph companies 
 for the transmission of messages at rates to be fixed by the Dejrartment, to be con- 
 fined at first to towns and cities possessing the free-delivery service, the messages to 
 be delivered by the existing force of letter carriers ; this would obviate the necessity 
 of an increase in the force of Government employes, which has been urged as an ob- 
 jection to previous propositions. The Postmaster-General is of the belief that this 
 experiment would meet in a large degree a public want, and lead ultimately to such 
 a comprehension of the possibilities of a service of this kind by the Government, as to 
 enable Congress to act intelligently upon the subject in the future. It involves no 
 large expenditure of money, and will not involve the Government in serious cost even 
 , should it fail. Another* and more comprehensive plan has been introduced into the 
 I House, making an approi)riation of $8,000,000 for the construction of a trunk tele- 
 j graph line across the continent and connect all cities and towns now having tele- 
 graphic communication, the line to be kept in order by the Engineer Corps of the 
 Army ; the rates are fixed upon a basis of 10 cents for twenty words for all distances 
 
 I 
 
58 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 less than 500 miles. This proposition is radically different from that of the Post- 
 master-General, and from the temper of Congress in the past is hardly likely to 
 receive favorable consideration, althongh the sentiment of the public in favor of 
 governmental control of the telegraph is evidently growing rapidly. 
 
 [Salem (Oregon) CapitalJonrnaC Marcli 28.] ^ 
 
 The Government proposition of a postal telegraph" is bringing out the fact that 
 there are cheaper systems of transmission by an electric current over a wire than that 
 at present employed. There may not be a more desirable or safer system than that 
 in use, but experiment alone could determine 
 The syndicate of New lork capitalists, who offer for ^25,000,000 to put up a postal 
 telegraph system to cover the whole United States and reach every post-office, would 
 not employ the Morse telegraph. They would adopt the Patten multiplex telegraph 
 invention, the past year in successful operation between New York and Philadefphia. 
 
 By this system one wire is made to have a carrying capacity of from eight to twelve 
 times the capacity of a single wire of the old Morse system. The lines under the Pat- 
 ten system, it is claimed, would cost about 75 per cent, less than under the present 
 systems Where the Western Union costs ^16,0(10,000 annually to operate the new 
 method, covering every postal route in the nation, would cost only |6, 000, 000 to ope- 
 rate. Press rates would be reduced oue-third, and a ten-word message would cost the 
 uniform price of ten cents to any point in the Union. • 
 
 The Government should undertake postal telegraphy. It would give a competition 
 that IS not obtainable from any other source. It would stimulate improvements in 
 - telegraphy that are not now anticipated. It would wonderfully improve the service 
 "we no\v have. Building the new system would take a great deal of the surplus labor 
 now idle. It would give employment constantly for tens of thousands of youg men 
 ^ and women. If Postmaster-General Wauamaker wants to make his name famous in 
 the annals of American history, let him bring about postal telegraphy. He will be 
 resisted by the present monopoly but he will be upheld by the people. He will be 
 the first cabinet officer who has done anything of value for the public in manj' years. 
 
 [Bellt'fonte (Pa.) Democratic Watchman, March 28.] 
 
 from the evidence of a combination of circumstances we were led to believe that 
 Mr. James Millikeu was the author of articles that appeared in the Daily News and 
 Republican of this place, condemning Postmaster-General Wananiaker for his project, 
 to make the telegraph business of the country a part of the post-office ser vice, and we 
 said so in our issue of last week in an article headed ‘‘A Mystery Explained.” In 
 answer to this the Daily News had the following paragraph : " 
 
 ‘‘ We have always given the editor of the Watchman credit with possessing cousid- ! 
 erable foresight, reasoning, and powers of intuition, but after reading the first article 
 in third column on fourth page of last week’s paper entitled ‘A Mystery Explained,’ 
 we have come to the conelusion that there is one more weak-minded, giddy-headed 
 editor in the world than we thought there was.” 
 
 ^ This piece of foolishness is of no weight in the question, but on Wednesday morn- 
 ing an incident occurred which confirmed our belief that it is our friend and neigh- 
 bor, Mr. Millikeu, who is throwing hotshot into the Post Office Department through ^ 
 our neighbor’s columns. The incident to which we refer was the appearance in our 
 sanctum of a colored man who handed us an envelope well filled with manuscript and f- 
 directed to Mr. Gat6s, editor of the Daily News, saying that Mr. Milliken had sent it. f 
 Seeing that he had made a mistake and got into the wrong shop, we set him right 
 and he took it over to the place where it belonged. In the afternoon the Daily News 
 came out with another fierce attack on Wauamaker. A man could be hanged on cir- 
 cumstantial evidence less strong than that. 
 
 [Boston Commercial Bulletin, Marcli 29.] 
 
 Mr. J. N. Seymour, of New York, re])resenting Patton’s multiple system of telegra- ' 
 phy and a party of capitalists is advocating the use of the system by the Government. ' 
 He proposed to accept the low-tariff schedule of Wauamaker, or make a uniform rate , 
 of 25 cents for the whole country, providing the Government would give to his pro- > 
 posed company the right to build lines on all post routes, furnish offices with light ' 
 and fuel; exempt it from taxation and enter into a fifteen years’ contract subject to - 
 renewal on the s.ame terms. It is claimed that Mr. Patten’s iustruments will multi- 
 ply the transmitting capacity by eight and that the cost of construction and main- 
 tenance will not exceed 25 per cent, of the amount paid for Morse lines. He stated i 
 that the Western Union Company’s lines between New York and Philadelphia would ' 
 cost .^4,000 a mile, while the wires required to do all the business by the Patten svs- , 
 tern would cost |500 per mile. 
 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 59 
 
 [St. Louis Star Sayings, March 30.] 
 
 In his closiuj; arguiueut in favor of Government control of the telegraph, delivered 
 lefore the House Conirnittee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, at Wasliington a few 
 lavs ago, Mr. E(l. Rosewater, of the Omaha Bee, himself a practical telegraj)}! man, 
 ironght out prominently some of the faults of the present system of operating tele- 
 ;raph lines in this country. Among other things he said : 
 
 There are 40,000 ])ost-offices in the United States to-day having no telegraph serv- 
 ce. We are told that these people are not entitled to the use of the telegraph ; that 
 hey are nothing but common farmers and clodho])pers and would not send anything 
 >y *telegrai)h except a death message occasionally. I claim in the first place that the 
 8,000 otfic<is that are now reported to exist in this country for public service, are not 
 n condition to transmit the business of the people living at those stations; that they 
 ,re merely adjuncts, making a little income for the telegra[)h company without any 
 pecial facility to do the business of the public. 
 
 All of you are aware that in most of these small railroad stations the railroad cora- 
 •anies maintain a very cheap oi)erator. Sometimes they pay them from !$’20 to|i25or 
 30 2 )er month. They are what professionals call pings, or unskilled operators. They 
 xe not competent to do commercial business. They are competent in the vocabulary 
 ;hich they have, which is a limited one, to handle railroad business, because the same 
 fords occur all the time to the railroad operator, such as baggage, checks, conductor, 
 ar, station, etc. These^words, perhaps 500 in all, are all that this operator readily 
 eceives. When he gets any other i)art of the English language he genei ally breaks 
 own. Now' yon come to one of these stations and yon want to transmit a message, 
 ’he oi)erator will receive it, but he is bound to do his railroad work, he gets no extra 
 ay from the telegraph company, and it is no interest to him whether he does the 
 fork or not. The message is put on the hook and it may be there a day or only a 
 iw hours. But at any rate ten chances to one you wdll reach your destination before 
 he message gets' there. That service is practically worthless, so that a very large 
 umber of our cities of from 1,500 to 2,000 inhabitants are deprived of the use of the 
 elegraph, and the traveling public, w'hich comprises a very large number of the 
 leople of this country, are also badly served. 
 
 It the Government liad in the various post-offices in these small cities a postmaster 
 fho w^as chosen wdth a view to his capacity as a telegraj)her the business w’oiild be 
 one much more to the interest of the public — that is, it w'ould be done more effi- 
 iently and be better taken care of. I believe that the time w'ill come w’hen 20,000 
 f these 40,000 post-offices wdiich can not now' be reached bj' telegraph w’ill be supplied 
 fithout any extra expense to the Government. 
 
 [Maunfacturer (Philadelphia), April 1.] 
 
 The interesting ad<lress made at the last club meeting by Mr. Gardner G. Hubbard, 
 f Washington, in relation to the i)ostal telegraph scheme, may serve as a text for 
 ame comments upon the subject in this [ilace. The facts tliat only 1,000,000 Ameri- 
 ans out of a population of 00,000,000 use' the telegraph, and that but 2 per cent, of 
 he messages in this country are of a social character, as against 50 per cent, in Eng- 
 uid, indicate that there must be in this country some olistacles to popular emplo^''- 
 leut of the wires which do not exist across the water. In our view' those obstacles 
 re high rates and ])Oor service. A 25-cent rate for a ten-word message to New' York 
 lay not appear excessive wh.en regarded by itself, but in f ict it is relatively high, 
 'wo cents will carry a letter to New Orleans or to San Francisco ; and in comparison 
 fith such service transmission of a few'er words less than a hundred miles at a charge 
 f 25 cents is dearly paid for. And the service is by no means what it ought to be. 
 n a large iiercentage of dispatches errors of vexations and sometimes hurtful char- 
 cter are made. Ordinary messages are not transmitted with such speed as the 
 3nder is entitled to. 
 
 It is witi in the experience of every business man that messages might sometimes 
 ave been sent by hand on one of the tw'o-honr trains from Philadelphia to New' 
 [ork with a fair chance of reaching the destination as quickly as if they had been 
 *nt by wire. The service betw'een the large cities is, however, better than that to 
 ae smaller tow'iis. Not far from Philadelphia is a town of six or seven tliousand 
 iihabitants, having great industrial interests. It costs but little more to send a 
 lesseuger thither from the city by rail than to use the wdres, and ordinarily such a 
 iessenger can go out and return before a telegram sent in one direction wdll reach 
 jie person to w'hom it is addressed. No telegrams are delivered in the town after 8 
 ’clock in the evening unless it is of vital importance. The operator is the person 
 'ho estimates its importance, and he rarely fails to give the benefit of the doubt to 
 le legs of his boy. If the post office gave such inefficient service in the matter of 
 stters, it would be compelled by ])ublic opinion to improve its methods. 
 
 The strongest argument for transfer of this business to the post office, however, is 
 
60 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 that it is now ^vholly within the control of one man. This individual possesses the- 
 power to inform himself of the nature of any intelligence transmitted over the wires, 
 whether it refers to hnsiness, to family matters, or to politics. He also has the press- 
 of the country at his mercy. No daily newspaper could conduct its business if it 
 should be denied press-rates for its dispatches while its rivals were accorded that 
 favor. Thus the entire daily press of the country is open to most hurtful assault from 
 the telegraph monopoly, and this will account for the timidity with which the news- 
 papers have treated the ])ostal telegraph scheme. They shrink from incurring the 
 disfavor of a power that may do them great injury. It is possible that the telegrajih 
 magnate in question has never used his opportunity to menace the press, to manipu- ' 
 late the stock market, to pry into the secrets of others, or to balk the purpose of a 
 political party ; but he should not have such an opportunity. The power involved 
 ought not to be in the hands of any one man or body of men not holding positions of 
 official responsibility. A nation that understood its own interests would not trust 
 a man as good as George Washington with a weapon of such tremendous force. But 
 this man who may vield the weapon if he will is probably less worthy of such trust 
 than any other well-known person who could be named. He has a record as an un- 
 scrupulous wrong-doer, which even the gigantic fortune he has accumulated has not 
 sufficed to obscure. 
 
 Opposition to the conduct of the telegraph business of the country by the General 
 Government is offered upon the ground that it is adnovenient in the direct on of pa- 
 ternalism that it wilhestablish a precedent for the encouragement of those persons 
 who wish the Government to meddle with all the private affairs of the people. Pater- 
 nalism is a favorite scare-crow with other persons than telegraph managers — with 
 free-traders, for example. But the American people are not easily alarmed by the 
 word* They run this Government. Politically they are orphans. The benighted 
 red man talks about the Great Father at Washington ; but the rest of us know who 
 elects that individual and who turns him out when he fails to behave himself prop- ‘ 
 erly. The function of any government is to do for the people that which individuals ; 
 can not so well do themselves. This is the ground upon which is based the assump- ; 
 tion by the Government of a monopoly in the matter of letter carriage. Carrying J 
 messages by rail and carrying them by wire are services of a similar character per- l 
 formed by different methods. They are essentially the same ; they belong together,, 
 and every argument that may be used to defend the operation of the post-office by , 
 Federal authority will apply with equal force to the operation of the telegraphic bus- j 
 iness of the nation by the same authority. In fact, as Mr. Hubbard showed, the tel- - 
 egraph at the beginning was intrusted to the post-office, and simply because that 
 was obviously the proper authority to conduct a traffic so nearly akin to letter car- . 
 riage. What we want to do now is to put the business back where it was in the first ‘ 
 place. There is far greater cause why that course should be pursued now than there • 
 was at the, outset, because correspondence by Avire has become a positive necessity of ; 
 modern life and it touches the interests of the peo))le at every point. The people • 
 simply propose to take into their own hands what is essentially their own business ; ^ 
 to have it conducted to suit then), and at fair rates. The assurance that they can do it \ 
 better than it is now done is supplied by the fact that the Post-Office is the best man- { 
 aged D. partmeiit of the Government, gnd for the reason that it comes into close con- ' 
 tact with the entire nation. \ 
 
 Objection has been made to the project upon the ground that the party in power ■ 
 will always have access, through operators of its own faith, to the messages of a 
 rival party in a political campaigu. But cipher messages are by no means an impos- 
 sibility and we may fairly entertain the hope that before long the American people 
 will have advanced sufficiently in civilization to adopt civil service rules forbidding 
 partisanship to be the chief recommendation for appointment to public office. When 
 we forbid politicians to use public places for payment of their debts we shall have 
 public servants who will prefer to serve their country before serving any party. 
 And, at the worst, the people we imagine AA'ould rather trust this telegraph business, 
 even in critical times, to Democratic or Republican operators than to have it wholly 
 within the control of the individual who now is master of it. Mr. Wananiaker’s 
 project is for a postal telegraph in small measure; but it will come soon in large 
 measure, and after that we shall have a parcels post, which will break down the 
 monopoly now held by the express companies. 
 
 [Petersbiirgh Index- Appeal, xVpril 3 ] 
 
 Before the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, which is hearing, 
 arguments on the subject of Governmeut telegraphy, ihere appeared the other day^ 
 a gentleman who set forth the claims of a new invention which, if found practicable, 
 would at one stroke solve all the difficulties that are sujiposed to lie in the way of thejj 
 oiieration of a telegraph by the Government. This gentleman represented a “ print-i 
 ing telegraph” comi)auy and claimed that his company could do business at prices* 
 
 I 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 G1 
 
 that would tempt tlie public to use the wires instead of the mails. * * * There 
 
 is much in these statements that is allurinjy to ])eople to whom, by reason of prevail- 
 ing high rates, the telegraph is an unknown and practically unattainable luxury. 
 
 f Portsmouth (N. H. )reiiny Post, April 4.] 
 
 The comprehensive apd well-digested i)lans laid before Congress in the address before 
 the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, made by Postmaster-General 
 John Wananiaker, has brought the attention of the country to a measure the bene- 
 ficial results of which, if passed, are at once palpable to the public at large, and 
 at the same time can not be tortured into any appearance of partnership, or op- 
 posed on the ground of possible invasion of the rights of any private citizen or in- 
 cori)orated association of citizens. The address is replete with common sense state- 
 ments that comm<;nd the proposed action of Government — plain propositions from an 
 •eminently practical business man intent on opening the waj'^ to economical communi- 
 cation by wire to that vast proportion of American citizens unable under present 
 circumstances to avail themselves of rapid transit in the transfer and exchange of in- 
 telligence and information of vital interest to each and all. 
 
 That the legislative department of Government may not fail to understand its 
 great privilege and seemingly undeniable duty, the Postmaster-General hedges his 
 recommendations by indisputable facts and a display of the necessities which prompt 
 him to urge the taking of the important step he suggests, with incontrovertible argu- 
 ments and an earnestness and vigor of purpose that betoken the best results, born 
 of unselfish desire to institute a much needed reform that shall take its place in the 
 front rank of the important measures that have made eminent the annals of the 
 nineteenth century ! 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker concisely asks authorization “ to enter into con- 
 tract with responsible parties to connect a certain number of post-onices with each 
 other for telegraphic purposes by leased wires and instruments to be operated by 
 post-office employes to carry messages for the Government and the public * * * uot 
 proposing that the Government should purchase or build a telegraph line * * * nor 
 
 the creating of a new body of employes, but the utilization of the post-office build-, 
 ings, clerks, and carriers now in use for a convenience and economy of service — a 
 union of post and telegraph on a basis that will not interfere with any existing 
 rights.’’ One benefit promised is the public privilege of allowing citizens to drop 
 njessages to be wired in the mail boxes, to be collected by carriers as letters are, and 
 telegraphed, payment for same being made by stamps affixed to the messages to 
 be sent, thus dispensing with the keeping of other than stamp accounts. The author- 
 ity and the wires secured, there can be nothing w^orse expected from the project than 
 , complete satisfaction and public support equal to that wliich sustains the postal serv- 
 ice and accommodates sixty millions of citizens. The sooner the favorable action of 
 Congress is secured the better for the public, and the more credit will be accorded the 
 representatives chosen to carry out the wishes of their constituents. 
 
 ! [Manufacturers’ Record, Baltimore, April 5.] 
 
 I 
 
 In the concise and business-like report of the Postmaster-General of the United 
 States that was transmitted to Congress by the President, there may be found on 
 pages 14 to 16, inclusive, some interesting statements, followed by a conclusive argu- 
 ment for the establishment of a limited post and telegraph system as an addition to 
 the post-office service of the country. This proposition has been largely misunder- 
 stood, many supposing that the Postmaster-General was trying to introduce the old 
 fashioned general postal telegraphy, instead of the limited, which is quite a different 
 affair. 
 
 The adoption of the proposed scheme would interfere with no vested rights, nor would 
 it establish a monopoly. On the contrary, it would give all who desired to do so a 
 chance to bid on all contracts for carrying messages by wire, just as railroad, steam- 
 boat, and stage companies do now for the carrying of the mails. Other capital could 
 then bid for a share of the tremendous business now virtually monopolized by one con- 
 cern, and such open competition would certainly cheapen the cost of telegraphy to the 
 people. The Western Union pays a good dividend on a stock that, it is understood, 
 has been watered to an extravagant extent, thus confessing the profits of its business. 
 It stands to reason that, with an open field and no favor, there would be plenty of 
 competing capital eager to establish and maintain such a system as Mr. Wanamaker 
 has outlined. 
 
 This subject having been officially presented to Congress immediately attracted 
 public attention. Since then five bills have been formulated, which are now under 
 consideration by the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads of the House of 
 Representatives. Four of these were originated by others, the fifth by the Post- 
 master-General. The first hearing on this subject was on the 11th of February, and 
 
62 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 others have been held at intervals, and at all much valuable information has been 
 elicited. 
 
 ff- ^ ^ ^ if. 
 
 This carefully elaborated plan seems to be entirely practicable. It proposes to fur- 
 nish a popular as distinct from a favored business service and to place a low-priced 
 but speedy means of communication within the reach of all citizens without the ex- 
 penditure of large sums by the Government. “An entirely new class of business,” said 
 Mr. Wanamaker, “would be developed in serving the family and-the slower business 
 circles that could afford to use the telegraph when lowered in cost. Besides the mes- 
 sage service, it would perform an equally important and needed service in telegrai)h- 
 ing between the post-offices the transmission of money orders. This would greatly 
 serve many people.” 
 
 The distinction in the mind of the Postmaster-General is apparently this : That while 
 one million business people, including Government and State officials, use the wires 
 now, the fifty-nine million that constitute the balance of our population are largely 
 prevented from doing so because of the high rates maintained. He thinks, judging 
 by the rejieated demands that have been made by the people for ten years or more, 
 that the service should be popularized; and, after studying the business since he has 
 been at the head of the postal department, he has devised what he and many others 
 consider a practicable plan for reaching the desired result. 
 
 Carefully reviewing the official reports of the several hearings that have been hjeld 
 to date, the unprejudiced reader is compelled to think that the onlj" serious oppo- 
 sition to this plan comes from the Western Union Telegraph Company. The spirit 
 which that great corporation has, through its acknowledged representatives, mani- 
 fested in the committee meetings at every available opportunity has been anything 
 but commendable. The attempt made by the company’s president to })rejudice the 
 committee against the Postmaster- General (although it failed of its object and was 
 quietly but caustically rebuked by a member of the committee), nevertheless showed - 
 the animus of the company. 
 
 It is claimed by the Western Union Company that it is impossible to transact tele-- 
 graphic business at the low rates that the Postmaster-General thinks are sufficient. ’ 
 ,On the other hand, -various parties of known wealth and business experience say that) 
 it can be done, and are urgent and anxious to secure the privilege of undertaking it, ' 
 and to give bonds for any reasonable amount for the faithful performance of their 
 contract. * 
 
 In favor of the scheme are scores of boards of trade, hundreds of weekly and country * 
 newspapers that do not now get the latest news by wire, because they can not afibrd to 5 
 pay the rates, and are therefore not afraid to speak their minds ; and besides these are > 
 the Farmers’ Alliance, the Knights of Labor, and various other potential industrial ; 
 organizations. ; 
 
 We do not know what Congressional wires the Western Union may be able to pull, ) 
 but of this we are sure, that the people of the North and South will gladly wolcome ' 
 any reasonable legislation that will help them to rid themselves of this burdensome < 
 monopoly, and that shall secure to them a low-priced and well-regulated service, j 
 Because the limited plan proposed by the Postmaster-General is in the line of this ; 
 general demand and is entire practicable, it ought to, and we hope will, receive the 
 sanction of Congress. 
 
 [Pottsville (Pa.) Miner’s Journal, April 9.] • 
 
 The postal-telegraph system, as projected by Postmaster-General Wanamaker, may 
 be delayed, but its adoption is only a question of time. It is hard to name a reason 
 why it should not be adopted. The question has been asked if the Government has 
 a right to run the postal business of the country, as it does at present, has it not the 
 right to say whether it shall transmit its messages by telegraph as well as through 
 the mail pouch ? 
 
 To this question there has never been a satisfactory negative answer. Even the 
 old-fashioned Democrat who has been taught that it was political sacrilege for the,. 
 ])aternal Government to lay its hands upon anything for good or bad, outside of the 
 District of Columbia, has ceased to worry about the Government’s taking hold of the ‘ 
 postal business, and in his good-humored moments acknowledges it to have been a 
 good thing. He has even been known to be willing to take a post-office himself. 
 
 There is no doubt that the postal-telegraph system would soon be as popular as the 
 Government postal business. At any rate it will cost but a trifle to make the experi- 
 ment, and that is all Postmaster-General Wanamaker proposes at present to do. If 
 it proves to be a failure no one will be injured. The principal objector to the scheme.^ 
 is the great telegraph cor))oration itself. Mr. Wauamaker’s plan is for the Govern- 
 inent to give all of its facilities in the way of wires and buildings, and the use of the ’ 
 post-office service for telegraph purposes, and to receive bids from private parties J 
 who wish to accept these facilities and furnish the Government and the people withal 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 63 
 
 telegraj^b service with fixed schedule prices which must be at least 50 per cent, lower 
 than present rates. It is this i)art of the scheme that the telegraph companies do 
 Pot like. They would be only too glad to serve the Government at present rates, but 
 Mr. Wauarnaker, who has made a study of the business, is satisfied that a jirivate 
 corporation could build new lines, and with the facilities which the Government can 
 give it, produce a telegraph service at one-half the present rates and far more satis- 
 factory. 
 
 If the question were left to a vote of the peojile we believe that they would decide 
 in favor of making the experiment by an overwhelming majority. As there is no 
 question about the popularity of the project, why hesitate about adojitiug it? 
 
 [Noiristown Herald, April 11.] 
 
 Mr. Gardener G. Hubbard, who has made the subject of telegraph facilities a study 
 for twenty-two years, points out in certain statements before the Committee on Post- 
 Offices and Post-Roads, at Washington, that this is the only country where the tele- 
 graph is not a part of the postal system, and that the present system do>iS not meet 
 the wants of the })ublic. 
 
 He favors a system in analogy with the postal service of the country, telegrams to 
 be carried to the iiost-offices as letters are, to be transmitted by the telegraph com- 
 panies and delivered by the Post-Office Department, just as are letters and papers and 
 other articles. 
 
 He proves by facts and figures that his statements are correct. He believes the 
 Post-Office Department can do a business of this kind for the people without any in- 
 crease of expense and without adding to the number of employes, and that the ex- 
 periment ought therefore to bo tried. 
 
 All this confirms the wisdom of Postmaster-General WanamakePs recommendations 
 on the subject, which are now being considered bj’^ the committee. His proposition 
 has met with a cordial response from business men all over the country. It is to be 
 expected that Congress will act favorably upon it at the present session. 
 
 [Ilicliuioiid Dispatch, April 12. J 
 
 The advocates of a Government telegraph are confident that for the Government 
 to lease telegrai)h lines will only be to postpone for a few years the establishment of 
 new lines as a part of the postal system of the Union. I'he telegraph will certainly 
 be a part of the system before long. It is written in the book of fate that the people 
 are soon to have telegrams delivered to them as cheaply in proportion as letters and 
 papers are now delivered to them. 
 
 One of the experts who appeared in Washington City, on the 18th of last month, 
 before the Committee on Post-Offices and Post- Roads, to aid in informing that com- 
 mittee as to the merits of the jiroposition of Postmaster- General Wanamaker to make 
 contracts with the existing telegraphic lines for transmitting telegrams, was Mr. 
 Edward Rosewater, of Omaha, Nebr. He is the editor and chief proprietor of the 
 Omaha Bee. He was for thirteen years actively engaged in the telegraph service, 
 for more than two years in the military telegraph corps, and part of that time in the 
 field, and for nearly a year in the War Department. He was for seven years manager 
 of the Western Union Telegraph Company at Omaha, and for one year manager of 
 the Atlantic and Pacific and Great Western lines. We get these details from the 
 testimony of Mr. Rosewater as it appears in the pamphlet containing the report of 
 the proceedings of the Post-Office Committee in connection with the Postmaster- 
 General’s proxiosition, aboy'e alluded to. 
 
 What says this expert ? He says tliat for more than twenty-five years he has been 
 firmly convinced that the safety of the Government demands the control of the tele- 
 graph system by one of the branches of the Government. This is rather a singular 
 remark, seeing that the Post-Office Department is the only ‘‘branch of the Govern- 
 ment ” w’hich could properly control the telegraph system. Mr. Rosewater must have 
 been thinking of wmr times when he made that remark. He afterwards said that 
 with what knowledge he had of the telegraph he would rather trust the Govern- 
 ment of the United States than any private corporation or any manager of any pri- 
 vate corporation. Here, too, Mr. Rosewater seems to have had the exigencies of war 
 in his mind ; but his remark suggests that whether the Government takes control of 
 the telegraph system now or not it will be sure to do so whenever it shall deem it 
 fiecessarj^ to take that step. 
 
 Mr. Rosewater suggested to the committee that a rate of 10 or 15 cents would be 
 remunerative to the Government or to anybody else who Avas working the wires. He 
 did not specify the number of words, but we suppose he had reference to messages of 
 not more than ten words, these to be sent any where in the Union. In this connection 
 the following will be found interesting. We learn from Mr. Rose winter’s testimony or 
 talk, that at the eighth annual meeting of the National Board of Trade, held in Wash- 
 
'€4 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 ington in 1888, Mr. Pope, a Chicago merchant, made an exhibit of what their ex- 
 perience bad been in running a cheap telegraph service between Chicago and 
 Milwaukee. The Western Union was charging them for messages between Chicago 
 and ^Milwaukee 20 cents for ten words, so they established a system of their own be- 
 tween those cities. 
 
 [Newport (K. I.) Mercury, April 12.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker is putting into the management of the Post-Office 
 Department the same indomitable energy and correct business principles that have 
 made him so eminently successful in his private business. He has been industriously 
 at work wdth Congress for some months past in trying to secure cheap and rapid 
 methods of communication for the people in all iiartsof the country. He is pushing 
 vigorously the postal telegraph scheme now before Congress, and if he succeeds he 
 will not only confer a great boon upon the people but make for himself a lasting repu- 
 tation as the ablest Postmaster General this country has had for many years. His 
 plan contemplates the contracting with some line or lines of telegraph already built 
 or to be constructed to transmit messages at a low rate. These messages are to be re- 
 ceived and delivered from the post-offices the same as letters are now received. The 
 plan virtually makes the telegraph lines that do this work a part of the Post-Office 
 Department, and as presented by the Postmaster-General is a thoroughly i)ractical 
 one. The Western Union Telegraph Comjiany is a gigantic monopoly, and is of 
 course fighting the proposition of the Postmaster-General to bring the telegraph 
 within the limits of all business people, but thus far The monopoly has had the worst 
 of the argument. Reliable people have come forward and have offered to contract 
 with the Government to send all messages of ten words within a' radius of 250 miles 
 for 10 cents, or 500 miles for 15 cents, 1,000 miles for 25 cents, and over 1,000 miles the 
 highest rate to be 40 cents to the extreme parts of the country. 
 
 [Eichmond Dispatch, April 13.] i 
 
 We suppose we need not make any apology for saying a few words more on the’ 
 proposition of the Postmaster-General to contract with some or all of the telegraph 
 lines to transmit messages for tlie Post-Office Department ; or, to express it otherwise, * 
 the proposition to make the teUgrapli a part of the postal system. i 
 
 We quoted yest' rday from the talk or testimony of Mr. Rosewater, of Nebraska. ^ 
 He'is an expert in telegraphy, and has no doubt that the Government ought to do 
 something in order to make ours a nation of telegraphers. He told what had been- 
 done on a line of telegraph between Chicago and Milwaukee, and must have made a 
 •decided impression upon the committee. 
 
 On the 11th of last month Mr. Gardner G. Hubbard appeared before the same com-* 
 mittee — the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads. He said he was after any; 
 plan which would give cheap telegraphing to the people, whether through the West-' 
 ern Union or any other company. He said we in this country use the telegraph less; 
 than most of the countries of Europe, though we need it more. Also, that whilst we' 
 use the telegraph less than other countries as a whole, yet for some purposes it is‘ 
 used more extensively here than elsewhere. Also, that the ‘^sore spot” in the West-' 
 ern Union Company was that it was a system for speculators and business-people, i 
 Also, that the United States is the only country where the telegraph is not a part of 
 ■the postal system. 
 
 This last is a striking fact. Surely it must be regarded as pointing out the policy 
 which ought to be adopted as soon as possible in this country. Congress need not 
 Uesitate to make the telegraph a part of the postal system because of a fear that to do 
 so would be to run the risk of incurring an enormous expense. The peojile of the 
 United States are an active, enterprising people. They will just as certainly make a 
 Government telegrapli pay as they have again and again made the Post-Office Depart- 
 ment self-sustaining so far as letters were concerned, although the rates of postage on 
 letters have been reduced again and again. Theoretically, a railroad across the con- 
 tinent ought never to have been undertaken ; but in point of fact the construction of 
 such a railroad — or rather, several of them — has paid Uncle Sam a handsome protit ; 
 not in dividends, but otherwise. We may claim several new States as owing their 
 existence as States to the railroads which run from the Mississippi River to the Pacific 
 Ocean. So street railroads are found to jiay in towns which to the non-hopeful and 
 non-enter[)rising citizen seemed to hold out no inducements to their construction. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard says that twenty-five years ago, when the English system was as our 
 own is now, there were more telegrams sent in the United States than in England 
 in pro{)ortion to population; but the system was changed in England, and now they 
 send more teli'grams than we do. The Government of Great Britain is entitled to 
 credit for this change. Place our Government in control of the telegraphs as a part 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 65 
 
 of the postal system, and we shall in the course of a few years find telegrams flying 
 thick and fast from town to town all over this wide extended land of onrs. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard said : 
 
 ‘*Dr. Green proved conclusively, I think, that the telegraph does not meet the 
 wants of the people when he said that only one out of every sixty of our people ever 
 used the telegraph. How can this want be supplied? Reduce the rates, and the 
 business and profits will both be greater. An examination of the telegraphic system 
 will show that a reduction of 50 per cent, in rates has in two years increased the 
 business TOO per cent., and within three years gave greater profits at the reduced 
 rates than at the high rates.” 
 
 These facts seem to us to be convincing. 
 
 [Harrisburg Telegraph, April 15.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wauamaker has prepared a Government postal telegraph bill 
 in which the rates are made higher than in the original measure. In any event they 
 will be so low as to make telegraphy popular with the masses and prove Mr. Wana- 
 maker’s assertion that the measure must certainly succeed. The people are ready for 
 the service, and it can not come too soon. 
 
 [Norristown Herald, April 15.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanarnaker has prepared an amended postal-telegraph bill 
 which removes some trivial objections to his former proposition. Some legislation 
 on the subject at this session is probable. 
 
 [Denver Republican, April 15.] 
 
 Every city which has a carrier system should petition Congress to pass the bill pre- 
 pared by Postmaster-General Wanarnaker ibr the purpose of enabling the Post-Olfice 
 Department to establish postal telegraphy between all such cities. It is probable 
 that contracts on favorable terms could be made by the Government with the exist- 
 ing telegraph companies for this service, but if not, the Postmaster-General should 
 be authorized to make contracts with other companies which are willing to build 
 telegraph lines between all the principal cities of the country. Nearly all the civilized 
 nations, with the exception of the United States, have the postal telegraph now, and 
 it works well everywhere. Why should we lag in the march of progress? 
 
 [Manufacturers’ Record (Baltimore), April 19.] 
 
 The statements made before the House Committee on the Post-OfiQce and Post- 
 Roads have supplied information of great value to Congress and the country. 
 
 The methods by which the Western Union Company's stock was gradually increased 
 from $385,700 in 1858 to $80,000,000 now were, to say the least, highly objectionable. 
 When, under the laws of the land, a single corporation can cover the whole country, 
 killing off all competition, and then charge the people whatever rates it chooses for 
 doing their business, something must be done for the people’s protection. 
 
 The most reasonable and feasible plan yet proposed is that of Postmaster-General 
 Wanarnaker to add to the Post-Office Department of the United States a limited postal 
 telegraph system. The more this proposition is examined the more it grows in the 
 popular favor. Businessmen and commercial bodies everywhere approve it. On the 
 12th of last month the New York Board of Trade and Transportation adopted the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 “Whereas the Postmaster-General has drafted an act to establish a limited 
 postal telegraph system between all carrier delivery post-offices, by which the useful- 
 ness of the telegraph will be greatly extended and the public given a nniform service 
 at a much lower rate than that charged by existing companies ; and 
 
 “ Whereas the first telegraph line was constructed between Washington and Balti- 
 more with an appropriation made by Congress and placed under the superintendence 
 of the Postmaster-General, who adopted regulations to bring it into constant service 
 as a means of transmitting intelligence accessible to all and prescribed the rate of 
 postage, but this great instrumentality for good was afterwards allowed to pass into 
 the hands of corporations, which have used it as a means to tax the public for this 
 most important system of conveying intelligence ; and 
 
 “ Whereas the United States is the only country of importance on the face of the 
 globe that does not operate the telegraph as a part of the post-office system ; and 
 
 “ Whereas the National Board of Trade, representing the principal" commercial or- 
 ganizations of the country, and this board have repeatedly passed resolutions favor- 
 ing a postal telegrax)h, and various measures have been recommended by the different 
 P T 5 
 
66 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 postmasters-general and committees of Congress to this end, and have been defeated by 
 the influence of the great corporations that now control the telegraph business of the 
 country, and in whose boards of directors leading men in both political parties are 
 found : 
 
 “ Resolved, That this board re-affirms its previous declarations favoring the increased 
 usefulness of the telegraph in connection with our postal system, and although we 
 •would prefer to see th^e Government own and operate its own lines, yet we welcome 
 the proposition of the present Postmaster-General as a step in the right direction, and 
 heartily commend same to the favorable consideration of Congress.” 
 
 The foregoing resolution expresses very clearly and decidedly the sense of the peo- 
 ple at large by saying, “ We welcome the proposition of the present Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral as a step in the right direction.” That is it exactly. It is not all that the public 
 demands, but it is a beginning in the right direction. Let us hope that Congress will 
 have the wisdom to take that step and so prepare the way for larger and better things 
 in the future. 
 
 [New Orleans City Item, April 19.1 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has convinced a good many members of the House 
 of the feasibility of his postal telegraph policy, and there now seems a likelihood that 
 an act on the subject will be passed either at the present session or the next. As The 
 Item has explained, it is designed to be a sort of mean between quick telegraph serv- 
 ice and the fast mail with the speedy delivery feature added. The friends of the 
 scheme expect it to create a new business, and that it will not materially affect ex- 
 isting telegraph work, or lessen the number of letters sent by mail in the ordinary 
 way. Under its operation a New Orleans merchant can, after the close of business, 
 send a dispatch to a correspondent in New York or any other city where letter car- 
 riers are employed, and have it delivered with the regular mail next morning. By 
 paying ten cents more, however, he can have speedy delivery as now in case of ordi- 
 nary letters. A dispatch will consist of twenty words, including the address and sig- 
 nature, for which 25 cents will be charged fur any distance less than three hundred 
 miles and double the rate for any greater distance, and to all distances 5 cents addi- 
 tional for each multiple of five words or part of five, over the first twenty. These 
 charges include the telegraph service and the postage. The bill pending before the 
 Committee on the Post-Office and Post Roads comprises eighteen sections, is simple in 
 its provisions, and would be readily understood by the public if it should become a law. 
 
 [American Dairyman, April 24. ] 
 
 Almost every year for many years bills have been introduced in Congress for in- ; 
 creasing the usefulness of the Post-Office Department by connecting a telegraph with • 
 it in some form, thus using the post offices and post-office employes with but small \ 
 additional cost to extend the benefits of electrical communication to the general I 
 public, which, on account of the present high prices charged for telegraphing, are .( 
 confined to a comparatively small number. ^ 
 
 The measures, however, have been repeatedly defeated through the influence of the v 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, which comprises in its direction a large number | 
 of influential men in both political parties. Recently the president of that company 
 argued against a postal telegraph because he said it was not used by farmers and poor - 
 people generally. Unwittingly, he gave the strongest possible argument in favor of ' 
 a postal telegraph. If a telegram could be sent for 10 cents or 20 cents, a great num- 
 ber of people of moderate means would. use it who can not now do so. Farmers would 
 be able to have telegraphic advices of the markets or send messages in case of sick- 
 ness, which they are now largely deterred from doing on account of the expense, and i 
 the same is true of small juerchants and persons of moderate means generally. 
 
 With every reduction in the postage on letters there has been an enormous increase 
 in the number sent, and consequently in the usefulness of the post-office to the peo- . 
 pie. The present Postmaster-General proposes to make a beginning in this direction^ • 
 by contracting with existing telegraph lines, or those to be constructed, to carry tele- ; 
 graphic messages just as railroads carry letters of the Post-Office Department, but | 
 using the present post-offices and postal employes at free delivery points to receive 4 
 and deliver telegraph messages. If this works well it can be further extended. I 
 
 It is stated that Jay Gould, who is the largest owner of the Western Union Tele- f 
 graph Company, has uotified President Harrison that he must sit down ” on this | 
 plan of Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s ; otherwise, Mr. Gould will not be willing 
 to contribute to the next Prevsidential election campaign fund. This may or may not 
 be true, but the argument of the president of the Western Union Telegraph Com- • 
 pany that the farmers do not want a postal telegraph is not true, and they are enti- 
 tled to the use of electrical communication as much as any other class. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 67 
 
 [Atchison Champion, April 25.] 
 
 The postal telegraph in England last year puts a surplus of $450,000 into the treas- 
 ury. The opponents of postal telegraph in this country might explain why the tele- 
 graph managed by the Government would not pay here as well as in England. 
 
 [Denver Republican, April 27.] 
 
 The Washington Post opposes the adoption of Postmaster-General WanamakePs 
 postal telegraph scheme on the ground that it would be a step toward paternalism in 
 government. It thinks that the Government might as well engage in the telephone 
 or in the telegraph business. 
 
 Unless the entire post-office system is an improper exercise of paternalism on the 
 part of the Government, the adoption of a postal telegraph system would not be ob- 
 jectionable on the ground of paternalism. No intelligent man will deny that the 
 post-office is properly in the hands of the Government. To leave the transmission and 
 delivery of letters to private enterprise would be folly. The telegraph is but an in- 
 strument for the transmission of information. The adoption of a postal telegraph 
 system would be nothing more nor less than the application of electricity to the postal 
 service. 
 
 The postal telegraph would be in line with the true development of the postal 
 service. If the Post wishes to criticise the Post-Office Department on account of 
 paternalism, it should direct its attention to the efforts that some men are making to 
 turn the post-office into a national express company. Properly the post-office is for 
 the transmission of information. The so-called parcel post is a form of the postal 
 service which may be called in question. But the postal telegraph would be as prop- 
 erly a branch of the post-office as the collection, transmission, and delivery of letters. 
 
 If the telephone were mechanically adapted to such use, it would be proper to 
 employ it in the postal service. But in its present stage of development it is impracti- 
 cable to use it in this way. It is adapted to little beyond local use. It must there- 
 fore be left to private enterprise. The Post’s argument that a postal telephone would 
 be as advisable as a postal telegraph falls, therefore, to the ground. 
 
 [Omaha Bee, April 30.] 
 
 The Western Union Company refuses to accept the schedule of rates prepared by 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker. It does not refuse Government business, however, 
 and permits its claims to remain unsettled until a more liberal man succeeds the 
 present officer. This is one of the old tricks of that corporation. Jay Gould pulls a 
 strong oar in a Presidential campaign, and whicheA^er party shows a friendly spirit 
 is certain of a liberal contribution for “ legitimate expenses.” 
 
 [Denver Republican, May 2.] 
 
 The members of the Southern Press Association who oppose the establishment of a 
 system of postal telegraph on the ground that it would be an improper application of 
 the functions of Government, are laboring under a mistake. 
 
 Evidently they look upon the establishment of a postal telegraph in the same way 
 that they would look upon the establishment of a Government railway system. 
 
 There is a radical difference between a Government telegraph and a Government 
 railway system. 
 
 It will not be denied that whatever is of the same character as the postal service 
 is a proper subject of Governmeutal control. The postal service is for the transmis- 
 sion of intelligence or information, and that is all that the telegraph is. A postal 
 telegraph would be logically much more consistent with the primary purpose of the 
 post-office than the parcels post system or even the money- order system. The par- 
 cels post is a system of express and not of postal service ; and the money-order system 
 is a kind of banking and express system combined. 
 
 The postal telegraph would be used ehietly for the transmission of information from 
 one part of the country to another. This is now done by means of letters carried in 
 the mails. Men, horses, wagons, and steam railway cars are now employed to trans- 
 mit letters from one part of the country to another. No one questions that this serv- 
 ice is properly under the care of the Government. The employment of the telegraph 
 to transmit messages from one part of the country to another belongs to the same 
 class of service. 
 
 [Atlantic City Review, May 3.] 
 
 Should the Government take charge of the telegraph system of the United States, 
 we have no doubt but that it would give equally as good service as the present 
 monopoly does, although the Government would not assume any responsibilities for 
 
68 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 delay or loss of messages, as is the case with letters and packages, yet this percentage 
 is so small that no more inconvenience is experienced by the business world through 
 the mails than through transportation companies which are responsible. There are 
 rnany instances occurring daily in which letters, mailed from the same points later in 
 the day than telegrams have been sent, reached their destination ahead of the tele- 
 grams. The special-delivery system of the Government is still more sure of prompt 
 delivery in short distances. As the postal service, which is under the control of the 
 Government, is as equally reliable as the telegraph system under the control of an out- 
 side corporation, there is every reason to believe that, as it should be a superior serv- 
 ice to the postal, that if it was connected with it it would be greatly improved. Mr. 
 Rosewater, editor and chief proprietor of the Omaha Bee, in his remarks befoie the 
 Committee of Post-Offices and Post-Roads, in support of Postmaster-General Wana- 
 maker’s proposed postal-telegraph service, said that for more than twenty-live years 
 he has been firmly convinced that the safety of this Governmi-ut demands the control 
 of the telegraph sysrem by one of the branches of the Government, whether it be postal 
 or otherwise, is not so material. Mr. Rosewater was for thirteen years connected with 
 telegraph companies in Omaha and speaks from experience. 
 
 [Salt Lake Times, May 3.] 
 
 The Postal Telegraph Company will have a line into Denver from Kansas City 
 within the next two months, and in all probability the extension will then be pushed 
 to Salt Lake City, and eventually to the Pacific coast. The new line will be welcome in 
 this city, where better telegraph facilities are needed. Competition is what we want, 
 as monopoly is entirely too independent and insolent. The new company will work a 
 revolution, not only in DcnA^er but in Salt Lake, and at all other points where it comes 
 in opposition to the Western Union. We hope the day is not far distant when the 
 Government will have a telegraph system of its own for the use of the public. Such 
 is the plan proposed by Postmaster-General Wauamaker, and nearly every business 
 man in this country hopes that Congress will at this session establish a postal-tele- 
 graph system. It will cheapen the rates, facilitate business, and in many ways prove 
 a great benefit to the public. The employes of the Government system would no 
 doubt consider themselves the servants of the public, and not masters. In this 
 respect they would be the opposite of many of the monopolistic employes, who, like 
 their employers, regard themselves as the masters of the public and owners of the 
 earth, and, in the language of the late lamented Vanderbilt, say “ the public be 
 d d.” 
 
 [Pittsburgh (Pa.) Commoner, May 3.] 
 
 It is amusing to note to what lengths the friends of the Western Union Telegraph 
 monopoly will go in their efforts to defeat what must sooner or later become an es- 
 tablished fact — a people’s postal telegraph. The measure now before Congress pro- 
 poses only a limited service, connecting some four hundred of the principal post-offices, 
 and yet when the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads announces a public hear- 
 ing on the question the committee room is always filled with people who are in no 
 way directly interested, you know, but who are jealous to guard the rights of indi- 
 viduals and citizens from interference on the part of the Government ; people who 
 were not sent here by the Western Union Company to oppose the measure, but who 
 just dropped in to tell the committee that the Government should not intrude upon 
 the legitimate domain of the news carrier, and to remind them that, anyhow, the 
 Government don’t know enough to run a telegraph line, and that the present monop- 
 oly rates are lower than Uncle Sam could possibly establish without great loss to 
 the people. It is noticeable, however, that when these wholly disinterested (?) peo- 
 ple are before the committee, there is usually an official of the telegraph company 
 somewhere about the building who drops into the committee room occasionally just 
 to keep posted as to how the case is going. 
 
 At previous sessions the opponents of postal telegraphy have contented themselves 
 with ridiculing the measure ; but the idea that the Government should own and 
 operate the means of transportation, whether of intelligence or freight, has been 
 steadily gaining ground, and now we find the same opponents endeavoring to stem 
 the tide which has clearly setin favorably to the measure by such methods as are here 
 indicated. Being routed at every step by legitimate argument, they’" resort to bluff 
 and buster to throw dust in the eyes of the people and of Congress. 
 
 Within the last two weeks a new scheme has been launched which it is thought by 
 the newspai)ers and others friendly to the Western Union will insure the defeat of 
 the postal bill. It is the cry of inconsistency. If there is one thing more than an- 
 other which the American ])eople dislike it is insincerity ; and certain infiuential 
 newspapers have discerneil that some one individual who has been advocating postal 
 telegra[diy before Congress owns a few shares of stock in some telephone company. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 69 
 
 Why don't yon fellows advocate Government ownership of telephones as well as 
 telegraphs?” exclaims the learned editor of the Washington Post, and his query is 
 echoed by every monopoly mouthpiece iu the country ; and then, in articles two col- 
 umns long, the reading public are told that these people are not honest in their ad- 
 vocacy of one measure of reform while remaining silent on the other, and thus seek to 
 create a stampede in opposition to the proposed law. 
 
 No attention would be paid to this guerrilla style of warfare were it not for the fact 
 that many people believe all they read (and sometimes a little more), especially when 
 it comes from a source in opposition to organized labor. Now, the situation is simply 
 this : The great movement for Government ownership of the means of transportation 
 originated with the Knights of Labor before the telephone came into general use ; 
 but as soon as that time came, several years ago, the telephone took its place with the 
 telegraph and railroads in the preamble to our constitution. Can anyone discern 
 where the inconsistency comes in ? 
 
 “ But,” says our learned editor, “ why don’t you tackle the telephone now, along 
 with the telegraph ? ” 
 
 For this reason : First, because there is no measure before Congress looking to that 
 end ; and second, because the one is now within our reach, while the other is not. 
 And, too, there are many reasons why it is most important that the Government should 
 own and operate the telegraph. The telephone has not yet become a necessity for all 
 the people. It is a recognized luxury for all, a convenience for a great many and a 
 necessity for a comparatively few. Yet the time will soon come when the Government 
 will be asked to take hold of the telephone also; and then will Bellamy’s dream of a 
 penny-post and a telephone in every household be a possible reality. 
 
 The charge of inconsistency against the friends of the postal telegraph because 
 some advocates of it own telephone stock is the merest rubbish and does not des'^ rve 
 consideration. On the same basis of reasoning, what assurance has the public that 
 the editors of newspapers which oppose the measure do not own Western Union 
 stock, or, what is more likely to be the case, have not been subsidized in another way ? 
 Such argument but serves to strengthen the measure in the eyes of a thoughtful pub- 
 lic. The logic of Ralph Beaumont before the Congressional committee, and that of 
 other advocates of the proposed law was simply unanswerable, and unless some ex- 
 traordinary pressure be brought to prevent the bill from coming out of the commit- 
 tee, the present Congress may be confidently expected to enact a postal telegraph 
 law, which shall embody the recommendations of the Postmaster-General for a lim- 
 ited service, with the amendments advocated by our national legislative committee, 
 providing that Uncle Sam shall build and maintain the entire system independent of 
 all individual or corporation schemes. 
 
 [Omaha Democrat, May 3.] 
 
 The Dry Goods Chronicle has a very interesting article on the subject of the propo- 
 sition by Postmaster-General Wanamaker to establish a postal-telegraph system. It 
 speaks of an address recently delivered by Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, of Boston, who 
 is the father-in-law of Professor Bell, the inventor of the telephone, but who is a level- 
 headed man, if he is a father-in-law. The Dry Goods Chronicle says: 
 
 “ Mr. Hubbard recently delivered an address on the postal telegraph before the New 
 York Chamber of Commerce, which Mr. John T. Terry, one of the directors of the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, tried to prevent being published, which gave 
 some most interesting figures showing the enormous stock- watering of the Western 
 I Union Telegraph Company, and what was not watered had been principally contrib- 
 uted by the public in the shape of excessive charges for telegraph service. 
 
 “ The Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads of the House of Representatives has 
 several bills before it providing a postal telegraph, and has been taking some very 
 interesting testimony. The bill proposed by the Postmaster-General seems to be 
 the one most likely to be adopted. It simply provides that a beginning shall be made 
 by utilizing the post-offices and Government employes to receive and deliver messages 
 at the carrier delivery points, the Government contracting with existing telegraph 
 lines, or others to be formed, to carry telegraph messages, just as railroad lines carry 
 letters at the present time for the department. The rates proposed in the Postmaster- 
 General’s bill are from one-third to one-half less than the rates now ruling, and 
 resxmnsible parties have offered to construct lines and carry messages at these rates 
 if existing lines will not. 
 
 “In the discussion of this subject before the National Board of Trade at its annual 
 meeting, January, 1888, it was shown that a company formed to build and operate a 
 line between Chicago and Milwaukee, did business at first at one cent a word, and 
 within two years paid back to the stockholders 90 per cent of the money they had paid 
 in ; then they reduced the rate to half a cent a word, or five cents a message, and at 
 this rate paid over 40 per cent, upon the entire stock ; then (to use the words of 
 Hon. R. W. Dunham, of Chicago, one of the stockholders, who made the statement): 
 
70 
 
 POSTAL TELEGKAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 “ ‘Business went on that way for about two years; then the stockholders concluded, 
 as something might happen sometime in the way of unusual expense, they would 
 water the stock, and we doubled our stock from |14,000 to $28,000 ; still the result 
 was about the same, and from 25 to 40 per cent, is still paid back on the five cents a 
 message paid by the patrons, and we stockholders are getting our 14 per cent, on an 
 investment which cost us nothing.’ 
 
 “The United States paid for constructing the first line of telegraph for Professor 
 Morse between Baltimore and Washington, and it is a shame that this most impor- 
 tant agency for transmitting intelligence should ever have been allowed to pass into 
 the hands of corporations and used as a machinery for taxing the public. 
 
 “Mr. Wanamaker is the first business man we have had in the position of Post- 
 master-General in a long time, and should have the support of business men in ob- 
 taining this boon for the public. If his administration can be signalized by giving 
 the people a postal telegraph, it will be long remembered. 
 
 “ The chief argument against a postal telegraph, heretofore, has been a large increase 
 in the force of Government employes. This is obviated by Mr. Wanamaker’s plan, 
 and if the fight between the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Bell Tele- 
 phone Company will expedite the Postmaster-General’s plans, then we ‘ give it God- 
 speed,”’ 
 
 [Fort Wayne Gazette, May 6.] 
 
 (Dry Goods Chronicle) 
 
 An interesting fight is on the tapis between the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
 pany and the Bell Telephone Company, in which great incidental advantage will 
 accrue to the public. 
 
 Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, of Boston, and more recently residing in Washington, 
 has been a life-long advocate of a postal telegraph. He is the father-in-law of Pro- 
 fessor Bell, of the Bell Telephone Company, and is largely interested in that com- 
 pany. 
 
 The similarity of the functions of the telephone and telegraph companies led to 
 close business connections and alliances between the two companies, which have 
 been approaching a termination, and Mr. Hubbard, stimulated by a proposition of 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker to increase the usefulness of the Post-Office Depart- 
 ment in the direction of electric communication, has again begun to agitate his old 
 hobby of postal telegraph. 
 
 This has excited the ire of the Western Union Telegraph Company, which has be- 
 gun to iuspire attacks on Mr. Hubbard in newspapers, and is now sending them 
 broadcast over the country. In this they have the more or less active co-operation 
 of a portion of the press. 
 
 It seems that some years ago Mr. Murat Halstead, editor of the Cincinnati Com- 
 mercial Gazette (now of the Brooklyn Standard-Union), was secretary of the Western 
 Associated Press, and issued a circular to the papers in the association calling 
 attention to the fact that their contract with the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
 pany stipulated that the press should discourage the movement for a postal tele- 
 graph. Mr. Hubbard got hold of a copy of this circular and published it. This had 
 the same eft'ect upon Mr. Halstead and the Western Union Telegraph Company that 
 a red flag is supposed to have upon a bull, and they have not been able to say enough 
 mean things against Mr. Hubbard since. Just now they are attempting to 
 
 Excuse the si ns they are inclined to, ^ 
 
 By damning those they have no mind to. 
 
 The charges by the Bell Telephone Company which, by the way, there is no doubt 
 are exorbitant, are held up as an argument why the people should not have what the 
 people of every other country on the face of the earth have — a cheap electric commu- 
 nication by postal telegraph. 
 
 # # if- ii if- -n- 
 
 [Cedar Kapids (lo-wa) Gazette, May 6.] 
 
 We are growing firmer in the belief that John Wanamaker is one of the best men 
 in the Cabinet, one of the ablest, and in close accord with the wishes of the people. 
 His s])lendid work for a postal telegraph must be sincere, and it requires nerve to do 
 what he has done. We are surprised that the people do not see to it that their Con- 
 gressmen join in the work of inaugurating a postal telegraph system. The Gazette 
 will not support any man who is not in favor of such a thing. It is one of the most 
 important measures that ever came up in behalf of the people. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 71 
 
 [Denver Republican, May 7.1 
 
 Of all the objections to the postal telegraph, the most absurd that we have seen is 
 the following, advanced in an editorial in the St. Louis Republic : “It would mean 
 Government control of the telegraph service of the newspaper press, and with that 
 there would be no living in the country, except through the clemency of the particu- 
 lar clique of politicians which happened to have the upper hand.” Possibly the Re- 
 public prefers Jay Gould, rather than the Government, to control the telegraphic serv- 
 ice of the newspaper press. Tbe Government would have the same control over the 
 telegraphic service of newspapers that it has over the letter and paper service now. 
 Is it burdensome for the Republic to receive and send its mail through a Government 
 post-office? 
 
 [Savannali Times, May 8.] 
 
 The Southern Press Association has unanimously condemned the scheme of a Govern- 
 ment postal telegraph. It is not surprising. Cheaper telegraph would give the peo- 
 ple more newspapers and break the neck of monopolies in journalism. No, the 
 Southern dailies do not want a rival line to GoukPs little Western Union plant. They 
 are" satisfied to occupy the field of journalism exclusively. Rival telegraph lines 
 mean rival morning newspapers. So the most progressive measure that has been 
 prepared in thirty years in the interests of the people is condemned for purely selfish 
 reasons. 
 
 This action of the Southern Press Association is likely to weaken the powers of the 
 newspaper in the advocacy or condemnation of public measures. If the newspaper’s 
 own interest is the measure of its judgment and the pilot of its conscience how then 
 can it have the effrontery to denounce measures or opposition to measures which 
 originate in the same sort of narrow self-interest ? 
 
 Fortunately the condemnation of the postal telegraph by those new^spapers will 
 carry no weight, unless to strengthen the hands of the Postmaster-General in his ef- 
 fort to carry out the plan of Government telegraphy. That plan may be defeated 
 for a time but it is bound to materialize. 
 
 [Petersburg)! Rural Messenger, May 10.] 
 
 Almost every year for many years bills have been introduced in Congress for in- 
 creasing the usefulness of the Post-Office* Department by connecting a telegraph with 
 it in some form, thus using the post-offices and post-office employes, with but small 
 additional cost, to extend the benefits of electrical communication to the general pub- 
 lic, which, on account of the present high prices charged for telegraphing, are con- 
 fined to comparatively a small number. 
 
 The measures, however, have been repeatedly defeated through the influence of the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, which comprises in its direction a large number, 
 of influential men in both political parties. 
 
 Recently the president of that company argued against a postal telegraph because, 
 he said, it -was not used by farmers and poor people generally. Unwittingly he gave 
 the strongest possible argument in favor of a postal telegraph. 
 
 If a telegram could be sent for 10 cents or 20 cents, a great number of people of 
 moderate means would use it who can not now do so. Farmers would be able to have 
 telegraphic advices of tbe markets or send messages in case of sickness, which they 
 are now largely deterred from doing on account of the expense, and the same is true 
 of small merchants and persons of moderate means generally. 
 
 With every reduction in the postage on letters there has been an enormous increase 
 in the number sent, and consequently in the usefulness of the post-office to the 
 people. 
 
 The present Postmaster-General proposes to make a beginning in this direction by 
 contracting with existing telegraph lines, or those to be constructed, to carry tele- 
 graphic messages, just as railroads carry letters for the Post-Office Department, but 
 using the present post-offices and postal employes at free-delivery points to receive 
 and deliver telegraph messages. If this works well it can be further extended. 
 
 It is stated that Jay Gould, who is the largest owner of the Western Union Tele- 
 graph Company, has notified President Harrison that he must “sit down” on this 
 plan of Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s, otherwise Mr. Gould will not be willing to 
 contribute to the next Presidential election campaign fund. This may or may not 
 be true ; but the argument of the president of the WesWn Union Telegraph Com- 
 pany that the farmers do not want a postal t< legraph is not true, and they are en- 
 titled to the electricity communication as much as any other class. 
 
72 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [Macon News, May 10.] 
 
 Congress may at a near day be called on to discuss the feasibility of the govern- 
 mental control of the telegraph lines. The debate will occur under much more favor- 
 able conditions than when this subject was first broached. The movement has gained 
 strength, and many once arrayed in antagonism to the scheme are now active sup- 
 porters of it, or at least are neutral and passive. The mere mention of the subject 
 brings up some facts illustrative of the growth of the telegraph. To-day, and across 
 oceans and continents, the news of the world is gathered and transmitted. In 1843 a 
 Congressional committee was astounded that Professor Morse telegraphed over a few 
 miles of wire the words “Mr. Brown, of Indiana, is here.” The Postmaster-General 
 of that day was greatly disturbed because he had been selected to look after the ex- 
 penditure of $30,000 which Congress had appropriated to aid Professor Morse. He 
 feared that the people would think him a fool, and that he should lose his influence 
 and popularity. If the Government should assume control of the telegraph many 
 millions will have to be expended, not only in the building and purchase of lines, but 
 in the pay of officials. Gentlemen who are tender on this subject of the surplus can 
 easily see in this scheme a way to get rid of our extra money for the present and some 
 time to come. Once the Government could have had control of the whole matter for 
 a song, for Professor Morse olfered to sell out all his interests and rights for the 
 small sum of $100,000. 
 
 [New York News, May 12. J 
 
 A Jacksonville paper, in opposing the postal telegraph bill before Congress, ex- 
 poses the weakness of the argument against it by declaring that the Government 
 should not be intrusted with the conduct of such business, as it has been unable, with 
 a century’s experience, to make the postal system pay. That is the kind of argument 
 that is generally being used against the postal telegraph scheme, and for which, no 
 doubt, the telegraph monopoly is responsible. But the facts are that the postal 
 system of the country does pay, and pays well, if the star routes be excepted and 
 the expenses of the free delivery at offices which do not have a business to warrant 
 such expense. In order to secure patronage in their districts the Congressmen have 
 extended the free-delivery system to hundreds of small villages in the United States 
 which do not have postal revenues sufficient to pay for the carriers. Hiring carriers 
 to deliver letters in a town that does not have a gross postal revenue of $10,000 does 
 not furnish any argument that the postal business of the Government will not pay. 
 Nor does the expenditure of millions of dollars on star routes in Territories where 
 there are no inhabitants for 50 miles at a stretch offer a legimate argument against 
 governmental control of the post-office. It must be remembered that the postal 
 rates are constantly being lowered, and that the Department is managed in accordance 
 with the laws which direct the extension of the free-delivery system and the star 
 routes and other such things which call for large expenditures. 
 
 All this has nothing to do with the postal telegraph system. It is not proposed to 
 extend that to the star route offices. The postal business in the large cities pays a 
 large revenue to the Government. In this city the net annual revenue amounts to 
 nearly $4,000,000. The limited postal telegraph scheme proposed in Congress would 
 no doubt add largely to this revenue, while at the same time giving the people cheap 
 telegraphing without the necessity of paying dividends on “ watered ” stock. But 
 the telegraph monopoly is hard at work to defeat such legislation, and it will no 
 doubt succeed. 
 
 [Denison (Iowa) Keview, May 14.] 
 
 Take, for instance, as another illustration, the great telegraph monopoly. There it 
 stands on one side solitary and alone; on the other side is the convenience of the 
 people and the example of foreign nations. In England the cost of telegraphing has 
 beed reduced to 121 cents per message; and, although the conditions there are en- 
 tirely dilierent from those iu the United States, the postal telegraph system has paid 
 expenses. First, the English Government purchased the telegraph lines for $s0,000,000 
 when it could have erected new lines for $20,000,000; and the iiiierest has been 
 charged up to the ])ostal telegraph system at 3 per cent, for the $80,000,000 and it has 
 paid it on that watered stock. Second, England is a small country in territory, no 
 larger than the State of Iowa, and therefore railroad communication reaches so rap- 
 idly each point that there is not the same necessity for telegrams as in a country of 
 continental dimensions. Third, the masses of the English people are so poor that a 
 telegram at a cost of 15 cents is as far beyond their reach as if it were $50, while in 
 the United States even the boot-black can easily conimand 15 cents to send a telegram 
 to his mother. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 73 
 
 I 
 
 We have already stated, and we repeat it, that the Government telegraph con- 
 lected with the postal service would be a saving in these particulars: First, in the 
 ;reat majority of cases, especially in the county-seat towns and smaller places, there 
 vonld be no additional expense for room, light or fuel, nor would there be additional 
 lixpense for operators, because the postal clerk could be a telegraph operator and could 
 |iischarge the fuuctions of both. Second, there need be no new system of accounts or 
 jook-keeping of any kiud whatsoever, because the Post-Office Department would 
 ssue telegraphic stamps, precisely as it now issues postal-cards or postage-stamps, 
 ind the postmaster would have to account for these stamps at the end of each quar- 
 [;er, no matter whether he ate them np or gave them away. As the postmaster now 
 receives his percentage on the post-office business he transacts, so would he receive his 
 jercentage on the telegraph work which he did, and therefore he would be stimulated 
 io extend and popularize the service. Third, if telegraphic postal cards were issued 
 )f the size of the present postal-card, on which any one could write a ten-word nies- 
 lage and drop it into a box, every person in transit wffio had friends along the route 
 it different points would be provided with these cards, so that they could notify such 
 riends of his safe arrival, wffiile commercial travelers would in thousands of instances 
 )rder every night their goods by telegraph in place of the slower mail process, 
 bounty newspapers could also establish a syndicate for new’S gathering, so that on 
 rublicatiou day they could receive a synopsis of the very latest news at such a limited 
 ;ost that it wmuld be within their reach of expenditure. 
 
 Now, all these things have been argued over and over again for the past twenty 
 rears. There is not a new statement contained in these paragraphs in this regard, 
 livery Senator and Representative has had again and again his attention called to t^hese 
 acts, and yet the telegraph monopoly laughs the people to scorn and Congress seems 
 .0 be hypnotized. 
 
 [Elmira Advertiser, May 17.] 
 
 I call attention to the last statement where the fathers of the Republic, who formed 
 he Constitution, did not see any obstacles in the way to prevent the Postmaster-Gen- 
 iral from organizing a stage line between New York and Philadelphia for the purpose 
 )f carrying the mails aud passengers as well. The Government, as is seen, went into 
 he business of carrying passengers, building coaches, buying horses, and employing 
 Irivers in order to facilitate the speed of the mails. All this was equal to building a 
 ailroad or telegraph lines in these times to promote postal facilities. John Wana- 
 naker, our present Postmaster-General, is not Adolating or stretching the Constitution 
 vhen he seeks to lease old or build new lines of telegraphy to insure cheap postal 
 nessages, but rather is following the example and precedent set by the founders of 
 he Government. 
 
 [American Grocer, May 21.] 
 
 All that is needed now to belt up the new service is the authority and the wires, aud 
 i new thrill of life and satisfaction will be quickly felt throughout the country.” — 
 J’ostmaster General Wauamaker. 
 
 Nothiitg stands between the great blessing of cheap wire service, at a uniform 
 ■ate to all points, but politics and the Western Union Telegraph, provided every 
 iitizen will ask his rei»reseutative in Congress to vote for a postal telegraph aud use 
 lis influence to acquaint the people with iis great advantages. 
 
 The facts are simple. The Western Union Telegraph Company’s method is expen- 
 sive and behind the times, as compared with the newer or “multiplex telegraph.” 
 rhis is a system whereby, by the use ot a new iin^eiition, one wire represents eight 
 tvorking circuits, or twelve, as may be desired. Any number of diflerent messages 
 jan be sent at the same time over a single wire connecting two distant points. 
 
 The essential gnin in such a system is this. The two large items of expense for 
 ■elegraph companies are, first, the maintenance of the line, and second the services 
 ind maintenance of offices, delivery of messages, and the ordinary office work. Of 
 ihese two the maintenance of lines is a large item of cost. It is by all means the 
 argest single item of expense in operating a telegraphic system, audit is by reason of 
 he fact that they have to maintain so many wires. Where there are thirty or forty 
 ines on a pole, if an accident happens to that pole, a number of linemen have got to 
 JO out, and it takes some time to put the line in working operation. Now, if when 
 me lineman goes out and puts up one wire he puts up eight or twelve wires, the dif- 
 erence and advantage that would accrue from a system where one wire represents a 
 jreat many can be easily seen. 
 
 The twelve messages, or eight, according to circumstances, may all be sent in 
 ither direction, or there may be six going and coming at the same time, or, in fact, 
 ny )>art of the entire twelve operators may be sending while the rest are receiving, 
 md any one can change from sending to receiving without disturbing the others, 
 rhe system is so sim})ie that it does not require a skilled operator as it does to manage 
 ind adjust the quadruplex. It is the ordinary straight Morse system, with each wire 
 
74 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 to itself, and the operator on No. I wire can communicate independently with No. 1 
 wire at the other end of the line as if he had a separate wire. 
 
 There are other multiplex systems, hut the above description is sufficient to indi- 
 cate its value to the country and why the Western Union Telegraph Company oppost 
 its being taken under Governmental control. It is true, as the Postmaster-General, ir 
 his advocacy of the scheme, said, that — 
 
 “Experience has shovvn that in the post-office, as well as the telegraph service, 
 every decided advance in the way of adc’ed facilities, convenience, and cheapness 
 has found an immediate response from the public, and this response has usually been 
 more ready and pronounced than the most sanguine exponents of the ‘new departure 
 have expected. 
 
 “What I am after is to extend these great benefits to fifty-eight and three-fourths 
 millions of the people, who, it is said, do not now use the telegraph, and I want tc 
 do it without causing a deficit, and I l3elieve I can soon prove to you that it can be 
 done. Pass a bill to permit the Postmaster-General to contract with a telegraph 
 company now organized or to be formed for this purpose and the post-office will 
 increase its business largely and increase its receipts.” 
 
 Let us, one and all, work for the postal telegraph. It is something with which 
 party bias should have nothing to do. 
 
 [Omaha Bee, May 18 .] 
 
 “ The postal telegraph scheme is not likely to get much beyond the committee-room 
 during the present session. The more it is examined, the worse it appears. No news- 
 paper man who knows anything of the methods which prevail in the Government 
 Departments could possibly favor it if he consulted his own interests. Government 
 supervision would mean for the newspapers an exasperating amount of red tape, pettj 
 inconveniences, and insufferable delays.” 
 
 The above extract from the Washington correspondence of the Springfield (Mass.) 
 Republican does not speak well for the proverbial intelligence of reporters at the 
 national capital. No newspaperman who knows anything about the methods whicl^ 
 prevail in the present telegraph system will be in the least alarmed over the proposed 
 establishment of a postal telegraph. 
 
 The leading papers of the country either have their leased wires exclusively employed 
 in the transmission of their specials, or by arrangement with the telegraph companies 
 they have wires in their offices manned by operators detailed for their accommoda- 
 tion. The New York, the Western Associated and United press service is done on 
 leased wires and manned by operators directly in the employ of the respective press 
 associations. In Great Britain, where the postal telegraph has been in successful 
 operation for years, the press fares just as well as it does in America. The great Lon- 
 don dailies and the provincial dailies of extensive circulation receive their dispatches 
 over wires leased at reasonable prices from the Government, and while it is true that 
 short distances and perfect mail service enables them to receive the bulk of their news 
 by post, they are not in the least inconvenienced by Governmental red-tape so far 
 we can learn. 
 
 But as a matter of fact the postal telegraph bills now pending in Congress, and 
 more particularly the bill favored by Postmaster-General Wauamaker, which we 
 print in full elsewhere in this issue, do not contemplate the least interference with 
 any arrangement or contract which any newspaper or press association may have 
 with existing telegraph companies. On the contrary, section 11 of this bill provides 
 that nothing in the act contained shall prevent any telegraph company from per- 
 forming business for the public, which includes the newspapers, the same as is now 
 done, the only restriction being that tbe company doing postal telegraph service 
 shall not engage directly or indirectly in the sale of press reports, election reports, 
 market quotations, or general news, or be interested in the sale of such reports, quo- 
 tations, or news by reason of the ownership as a company of stocks, bonds, or securi- 
 ties, or tbrough any contract or arrangement with any individual, firm, or company 
 engaged in such sale beyond the service of transmitting such reports, quotations, or 
 news in the form of telegrams at rates which shall be uniform to all who may send 
 such telegrams. 
 
 In other words, the telegraph com])any shall be exclusively confined to the func- 1 
 tions of a luiblic carrier and not dabble or deal in commercial news, election reports, 
 and quotations in speculative stocks. This is in the interest of the press as well as 1 
 the public. But, independent of all selfish or mercenary considerations, it is the duty I 
 of the press to favor any and all measures that tend to extend to the people at large 1 
 that most potential agency of rapid intercourse, the telegraph. 
 
 While we should prefer to have the Government purchase all existing commercial ' 
 lines and supplant the existing telegra})h monopoly by a telegraph system absolutely 
 under Governmental control, the bil l which Mr. Wanamaker has indorsed will go far j 
 toward giving the people cheap telegra]di service, and very much increased and iin- , 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 75 
 
 )roved facilities. If the bill is enacted into a law every carrier delivery post-office 
 vill be a telegraph office and a telegraph money-order office within three years. And 
 ;he rates will be within the reach of every wageworker, while now the telegraph is 
 ilmost exclusively used by the mercantile class, people of means, gamblers in pred- 
 icts and stocks and sporting men generally. 
 
 [Memphis Democrat, May 21.] 
 
 The newspapers of the country can not be too careful in taking a position regard- 
 ng the scheme to establish a system of postal telegraph. In England the Govern- 
 nent has for a number of years had charge of such a system, and there is just as much 
 reason why it should transmit telegraphic communications between individuals as 
 vhy it should transmit their letters. We understand that in England the Go vern- 
 nent telegraph is of great benefit to the people. Rates are low, and all newspapers 
 ■jhere stand on equal terms in regard to telegraph tolls. The result is that there is 
 dO telegraph monopoly in England, and such an organization as the Associated Press 
 3 an not be used to further the interests of a monopoly like the Western Union. The 
 Associated Press is popularly supposed to be a collection of newspapers organized for 
 ;he purpose of heli)ing each other to get the news. 
 
 It is necessary, however, for such an organization to have a management. This 
 nanagement is composed practically of one man, who is elected by the stockholders 
 )f the association. Now, this man can very readily have an understanding with Mr. 
 Jay Gould or his representative, by which the interests of the Western Union may be 
 ooked after. The most innocent looking telegram sent out by the Associated Press 
 nay be “loaded.” It may be worth a million dollars to the Western Union. The 
 hundreds of weary telegraph editors all over the country do not detect the scheme. 
 Recently the management of tlie Associated Press and of the Western Union combined 
 bo get from a press association a condemnation of a Government telegraph. They 
 JOt it, and sent it-flashing over the wires everywhere. Under a Government system 
 such monopolistic schemes would be impossible. The newspapers of the country, 
 whether they are in the Associated Press or not, should think twice before they con- 
 iemn the Government telegraph. 
 
 [Memphis Commercial, May 21.] 
 
 We direct general attention to the speech of Dr. Norvin Green, made yesterday 
 before the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, in opposition to the pro- 
 oosed establishment of a postal telegraph system. The doctor is an able man, and 
 in the subject of telegraphy has no superior on either continent, but in running 
 munter to postal telegraphy, he is simply kicking against the pricks and trying to 
 stem the inevitable. There is nothing surer than that the Government, in an exten- 
 sion of the most modern facilities to the people for intercommunication, must build 
 lines of telegraph or absorb those of the Western Union Company at a reasonable 
 rate of compensation. Postal telegraph is one of the great reforms to come in the 
 near future. 
 
 [Denver Eepublican, May 21.] 
 
 The Postal Telegraph Company — which is the same as the Mackey Company— -will 
 reach here by July 1, This is good news for the people of Denver, who have been 
 laboring so long in bondage to the Western Union. They will have the advantage 
 of competition between the two companies. Even if this does not cause a reduction 
 in tolls, it will cause an improvement in the way of transacting business. The West- 
 ern Union is a monopoly of the very worst kind. Like other monopolies, it is not 
 particular as to the accommodations it furnishes the public in the transaction of 
 business. The advent of the Postal Telegraph Company ought to be followed by a 
 reduction in the rates on telegrams. The rates now are much too high. The busi- 
 ness could be done for a great deal less than the Western Union charges for it. The 
 Postal Company could gain many friends by making a cut in the rates. It ought to- 
 mark its commencement of business in some such way as this. 
 
 [Los Angeles Times, May 22.] ^ 
 
 To the Editor of the Times : 
 
 Dr. Green, of the Western Union corporation, says we can not. But all of his pre- 
 decessors said the same thing every time a reduction was proposed during the last 
 thirty years. Yet the prices went down, time after time, and still there was money 
 enough in the business for dividends on its stock, watered, though it was, to the 
 amount of more than half its volume. This word can’t has become chronic, so to 
 • peak, in the dictionaries of the telegraph managers. Its use was commenced by two 
 Congressmen in 1843, who negatived Morse’s proposition to send intelligence over a 
 
76 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 wire a distpce of 10 miles. “ It can’t be done/’ said they, and they voted againsi 
 the asked-tor subsidy to try the experiment. Again, after Morse had proven his abil- 
 ityto transmit intelligence correctly and speedily, and offered his patent and com 
 structed line to the Government for the sum of $100,000. the Postmaster- General, b^ 
 order of Congress, investigated the line and its business, and reported that as a con- 
 of intelligence it “can’t be made to pay expenses.” Later, the science and skill 
 of the Western Union corporation put their “can’t be done” on the project to work 
 a transatlantic cable, and it took a dry-goods merchant— Cyrus W. Field— to show 
 ^TTT professed knowledge was simply assumption. And it is to be 
 hoped Mr. Wanamaker will prove another Field to them, and demonstrate, as he cer- 
 tainly will if an opportunity is given, that a large reduction in rates can be made and 
 lines still be self-supporting it the money earned is appropriated solely to the working 
 cost of the service. x j s 
 
 Let me cite a few burdens the paid traffic of the Western Union is now bearino- to 
 prove that Mr. Wanamaker’s proposition has more than working expenses in^it. 
 rirstly, I will state on the authority of a gentleman long in the employment of that 
 company that fully one-fourth of the matter passing over its wires pays no direct 
 revenue— IS dead-head, as the craft phrase it. The corporation has contracts with 
 over htty railroad companies, and the business of said railroads is either done entirely 
 u ^ discount of 50, 30, or 20 per cent., as the case may be. In our own State 
 
 the Western Union pays the Central Pacific and leased lines $100,000 per annum and 
 passes the correspondence of the railroads and Wells, Fargo & Co.’s express free in 
 order to have a nmnopoly of the railroad stations and wires. These are burdens a 
 Government line traffic would not have to bear. 
 
 Secondly, by the sale of stamped message blanks an immense saving of clerical 
 work over the Western Union system would be effected. The present post-office 
 stamp clerks would have all the money, and the large force now employed in the 
 check-error” department of the telegraph company could be turned over to more 
 congenial and more profitable employments. In office rents, lights, fuel, and inci- 
 dentals there would also be large savings. Again, in the saving of district and di- 
 vision superintendents, secretaries, treasurers, electricians and their attaches, a 
 huge out-go would be stopped. 
 
 Thirdly and lastly, the Western Union stock is said to be about $85,000,000, and the 
 ITLa n ^ noticed declared was at the rate of 5 per cent., being the amount of 
 $4,250,000. This immense amount of money Mr. Wanamaker would not have to earn 
 in order to keep his project afloat should he be fortunate enough to launch it success- 
 fully. 
 
 I think that I have made it plain that with the discontinuance of the free business 
 and corrupting rebates of the Western Union system, and the further saving in cleri- 
 cal and incidental expenses, which would be made by uniting the offices and stopping 
 4ihe huge dividend maelstrom, the telegraph business would be self-supportino', even 
 with a rate reduction of even 50 per cent, on present charges. This is a 'candid 
 opinion of many veterans in the service, and in it I most fully concur. 
 
 R. R. Haines. 
 
 [Newburyport (Mass.) Herald, May 22. j 
 
 The Western Union Telegraph Company is after Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s 
 scalp on rates of tariff for Government work. The Postmaster-General seems to be 
 having the best of the fight. 
 
 [Omaha Bee, May 22.] 
 
 The liberality of the Western Union in catering to the public is singularly unself- 
 ish. With almost reckless liberality the company contributes a two-column serial 
 through the Associated Press, without money and without price, solely to prove that 
 Dr. Norviu Green, president of the company, is opposed to the pokal Telegraph. 
 Of course he is not moved by fear of competition, because he assures the public 
 that Ihe Western Union is not a monopoly. It is the political danger that might 
 follow Government control that thrills the soul of the good doctor and causes him to 
 tremble for the permanency of the republic. Such patrifffism deserves to beenibalmed ' 
 in print, and the doctor is determined, so long as he controls the wires, not to waste 
 his mental sweetness on the desert air of the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-n 
 Roads, but publish it far and wide. 
 
 [Scranton Times, May 23.] 
 
 X 
 
 The Jacksonville Times-Union, in opposing the postal-telegraph bill before Con-^ 
 gress, exposes the weakness of the argument against it by declaring that the Gov-*, 
 erumeut should be intrusted with the conduct of such business, as it has been uu-N 
 
 i 
 
 
j 
 
 1 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 77 
 
 ible, with a century’s experience, to make the postal system pay. That is the kind 
 if argument that is generally being used against the postal-telegraph scheme, and 
 or which, no doubt, the telegraph monopoly is responsible. But the facts are that 
 he postal system of the country does pay, and pays well, if the star routes be ex- 
 cepted and the expenses of free delivery at offices which do not have a business to 
 '^arrant such expense. 
 
 In order to secure patronage in their districts the Congressmen have extended the 
 ree-delivery system to hundreds of small villages in the United States which do not 
 lave postal revenues sufficient to pay for the carriers. Pliring carriers to deliver 
 etters in a town that does not have a gross postal revenue of $10,000 does not fur- 
 lish any argument that the postal business of the Government will not pay. Nor 
 oes the expenditure of millions of dollars on star routes in Territories where there 
 <re no inhabitants for 50 miles at a stretch offer a legitimate argument against 
 lovermental control of the post-office. It must be remembered that the postal rates 
 ,re constantly being lowered, and that the Department is managed in accordance 
 vi^h the laws which direct the extension of the free-delivery system and the star 
 outes and other such things which call for large expenditures. All this has nothing 
 
 0 do with the postal-telegraph system. It is not proposed to extend that to the star- 
 oute offices. The postal business in the large cities pays a large revenue to the 
 Jovernment. In this city the net annual revenue amounts to nearly $40,00i'. The 
 imited postal-telegraph scheme proposed in Congress would no doubt add largely to 
 his revenue, while at the same time giving the people cheap telegraphing without 
 he necessity of paying dividends on “ watered ” stock. But the telegraiih monopoly 
 3 hard at work to defeat such legislation, and it will no doubt succeed. 
 
 [Lynn (Mass.) Item, May 23.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, of the Western Union Telegraph Company, claims that Post- 
 aaster-General Wanamaker is making unreasonable demands. The general public 
 pinion, however, is that the movement for lower rates of service for the Government 
 3 simply a justitiable resistance against extortion. This is not the first instance in 
 ehich Wanamaker has aroused enmity by his earnest efforts in behalf of the interests 
 f the National Government. 
 
 [St. Louis Star- Sayings, May 31.] 
 
 A writer in the Forum reviews the experience of the English people under goveru- 
 leut control of the telegraph since July 31, 1868, when Parliament passed a bill ‘^to 
 nable the postmaster-general to acquire, work, and maintain electric telegrai)hs.” 
 
 He shows that notwithstanding the enormously high price which the Government 
 aid to the corporations — it was at the rate of $416 per mile of wire, and the French 
 rovernraent practically duplicated such a plant for its own use at $66 a mile — the 
 luglish people are satisfied with their bargain. 
 
 The tolls under public control have become the lowest in the world. The service 
 
 1 marked by high efficiency in all its departments, “There has never,” says the 
 writer, “ been even the slightest intimation that the telegraph is used for political 
 urposes or the slightest fear on the part of the people that their secrets are not safe 
 rith the Government.” 
 
 “The public,” he continues, “ look back with surprise on the time when the claim 
 ^as made that the business could be better conducted by private enterprises than by 
 he Government.” 
 
 He then points out that the new order of things has been of vast benefit to the 
 ewspaper press, that such a thing as raonopolj'^ in news is impossible under the 
 Inglish system, and that the country press has the use of telegraphic service which 
 ould never in point of completeness have been attained under private or monopo- 
 stic control of the telegraph. 
 
 The experience of a people to whom we are so closely allied, aud with whom we 
 ave so much in common, in so important a means of intercommunication as the tele- 
 raph, amounts almost to a conclusion, and the time is not far off when American 
 batesmen, without regard to party, will give the proposition to put the telegraph in 
 he same category with the mails their earnest attention. 
 
 It is a fit and timely subject for Congressional discussion and action, if there ever 
 ras one, aud the public will watch the attempt on the part of the Government to 
 et control of the telegraph business very much in the light of a trial of strength be- 
 ween itself aud one of the biggest monopolies in the world. 
 
 [Boston Traveller, June 4.] 
 
 Mr. Bronson C. Keeler contributes to the June Forum a most interesting article on 
 he topic of Government telegraphy, and presents what is certainly a strong if not a 
 onvinciug argument in its favor. At the very beginning he adroitly calls attention 
 
78 
 
 POSTAL TELEGKAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 to the fact that China is the only country in the world in which the postal service is 
 conducted hy private enterprise, while the United States is about the only country 
 where the tele^jraph serAuce is so conducted. As regards tolls, Denmark, Switzerland, 
 Belgium, and Great Britain are about the only European countries where rates are 
 materially less than in the United States, those m Germany being, all things con- 
 sidered, a trifle higher; while in France and Italy they are about the same as here. 
 In most of the European countries the Government has controlled the telegraph serv- 
 ice from the beginning, and Great Britain alone is able to furnish the United States 
 much light in the solution of the problem that confronts it. Prior to 1868 telegraph 
 service in the United Kingdom was supplied by a number of competing companies, 
 which charged rates varying from 24 to 48 cents, according to distance, for messages 
 of twenty words or less. When the Government took possession of the roads the rates 
 were at once made uniform, 24 cents, and the service was greatly extended. Mr. 
 Keeler emphasizes the fact that, in spite of this reduction and extension, the Govern- 
 ment has done the business at a profit aggregating in twenty years $12,000,000. But 
 England made a bad bargain when it purchased its telegraph system. It paid 
 $32,000,000 for 77,000 miles of wire, which had cost the companies but $11,000,000, and 
 could have been duplicated for $8,000 000. In France, where the Government con- 
 structed its own lines, they cost less than one-sixth as much per mile as the English 
 Government paid. 
 
 Whether or not Mr. Keeler overstates the extent to which the British taxpayers 
 were defrauded there is no doubt but that the fraud was enormous. The result of 
 this has been that the interest ou the purchase has in twenty years amounted to 
 $17,000,000 more than the profit arising from the business. Mr. KeleeFs argument in 
 favor of the purchase by our Government of existing telegraph lines would be stronger 
 could it be guarantied that our Government would not make the same mistakes which 
 England has made. We might buy the existing telegraph lines on better terms than 
 did England, but it is doubtful whether, with our present financial and civil-service 
 system, we could operate them as cheaply as England operates hers. It is to be 
 wished that we might try the experiment in postal telegraphy proposed by Postmaster- 
 General Wauamaker first. We might find in such experiment the key which will 
 successfully solve the whole telegraph problem. ; 
 
 [New York Standard, June ,4.] 
 
 The only thing that now stands in the way of the House Post-Office Committee report^ 
 ing in the important matter of the postal telegraph is the testimony of Dr. Norvin 
 Green, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company. There has been much 
 delay over this. Dr. Green has requested to be heard, and yet has sent many excuses 
 for non-appearance on Tuesdays and Fridays, when the committee meets, until 
 patience is about exhausted, and the president of the great corporation will be given^ 
 to understand that he must send his testimony in writing if he can not personallyr 
 appear. * ' 
 
 Dr. Green’s whole opposition seems to be centered on the Wanamaker bill, which, as; 
 before described, authorizes the Postmaster-General to “ enter into a contract witU 
 responsible parties to connect a certain number of post-offices with each other for 
 telegraphic purposes by leased wires and instruments, to be operated by post-office em- 
 ployes, to carry messages for the Government and for the people.” The other bills — 
 Representative Taylor’s, based on the English system, and providing for the building 
 or purchase of lines; RepresentatiA^e Wade’s, looking to the establishment of a complete 
 Government system without reference to existing lines, and Representative Anderson’s, 
 supplying $10,000,000 for the equipment of a Government system — appear to have no 
 chance of passage. All the opposition is concentrated against the plan of the Post- 
 master-General. It may be to compromise with this opposition that the bill has twice 
 been changed, and that a third bill is now about to be offered as a substitute for the 
 others. It is declared, however, that the changes are improvements, and thatthe bill 
 is much strengthened. Although it really takes but a short, timid step toward Gov-' 
 ernment ownership and control of a complete telegraph system, yet it is seen to be the 
 entering wedge and excites all the hostility that a bill going further would rouse.’ 
 The bill simply proposes to give the Government telegraph business out at contract,, 
 just as the carriage of the mails is contracted for with various trausportation lines — 
 it being observed, however, that the wires are to run into the post-offices and that] 
 the operators are to be Government employes. But though a good deal of public' 
 interest has been awakened in the project, it is doubtful if special interests are not 
 more active and therefore more potent. It is a question if the little finger of the' 
 Western Union corporation is not more powerful than the people’s waist. 
 
 Politicians liaAm been snuffed out before for raising their Amices against the corpora-.^ 
 tion, and they can be as quietly and completely snuffed out to-day. Never was thej 
 corporation so poAverful. It is only necessary to go into a man’s district and take’ 
 away from him a few of his chief supporters. It is said to be in some such way that 
 
 4 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 79 
 
 Charles A. Snmuer, of California, who made such a vigorous fight for a Government 
 elegraph system during th^ Forty-sixth Congress, and A. J. Warner, of Marietta, 
 |)hio, who came later, were not permitted to come back to Washington, so that those 
 vho move in this matter in Congress know that they have much to fear from a most 
 )Owerful and subtle enemy. A strong lobby is here working in defense of the West- 
 jru Union, and in its ranks are said to be Colonel Dudley, of “ blocks of five ’’fame, 
 ind ex-Senator Joe McDonald, of Indiana. 
 
 I am assured on the best of authority that Mr. Wanamaker is ambitious to become 
 me of the great Postmaster-Generals, and is throwing his whole energy into the work 
 »f his Department with a view to making all the improvement possible. His repu- 
 ation he hopes to make on four cardinal improvements, the first of which is the pos- 
 al telegraph, concerning which, I am told, he entertains very radical views. If he 
 8 successful in this he will next try to have the mails closed to the Louisiana and 
 ►ther lotteries, and after that hopes for the adoption of postal savings banks and the 
 ntrodnction of penny postage. It will not be long now before the House Post-Office 
 Committee makes its report and the open war begins. 
 
 [Memphis Democrat, June 6.] 
 
 The Postmaster-General’s postal-telegraph scheme certainly deserves the hearty 
 indorsement of all people who would like to see an equalization of telegrai)h tolls. 
 
 [Erie Dispatch, June 10.] 
 
 Among the important projects under consideration by Congress the scheme to estab- 
 isn a postal telegraph is not the least. Three bills have been introduced in the 
 iouse, but the one most likely to secure attention is draughted in accordance with 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s suggestions and ideas. His plan is not, as has been 
 requently stated, to purchase or control existing lines, but to utilize them in the 
 lervice of the public, just as the Post-Office now uses railroads and steam-boats through 
 ts contracts for mail service. 
 
 Of course the Western Union Company is strongly opposed to the postal-telegraph 
 icheme, as it would interfere seriously with the enormous profits of that great corpora- 
 ion. But the people’s interests in the question are first to be considered, and there 
 8 no doubt that a great preponderance of public sentiment is in favor of the project, 
 dr. Wanamaker has given the subject much study, and this bill, as modified by the 
 jommittee, ought to be reported and passed into a law at the present session. There 
 lave been delays enough in the matter and the public are getting impatient to have 
 omething practical accomplished. 
 
 [Memphis Democrat, June 10.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has taken up the project of a Government tele- 
 graph, and two bills looking to this result have been introduced in Congress. 
 
 There are objections to this plan, but there are, as we conceive, unanswerable ar- 
 guments in its favor, and the people should be put in possession of the merits of the 
 lase. 
 
 The objections urged to it are that it is an interference with a private enterprise ; 
 hat telegraph tolls will not be as cheap as they are now ; that a telegraph system 
 vill cost a tremendous amount of money and will run the Government in debt ; and 
 hat it will be turned into a political machine. 
 
 None of the these objections will hold good as against the facts. If it is legitimate 
 or Jay Gould to crush out a rival telegraph company by competition, it is just as 
 egitimate for the people to crush out Mr. Gould’s Western Union monopoly. As to 
 he price of tolls, it costs more per word to send a telegram in the United States than 
 ilmost any country on the face of the earth, and the United States is the only country 
 )f any importance where the telegraph is not conducted by the Government. Out- 
 lide of the United States and Canada, 95 per cent, of the telegraph of the world is 
 inder Government control, and in England, France, Russia, Belgium, Austria, and 
 >ther countries, the telegraph is considered just as much within the province of the 
 Government as the postal service. 
 
 England unfortunately bought out half a dozen telegraph companies at an exorbi- 
 ant price, and also paid them for their estimated profits for twenty years or more. 
 There is no particular reason why the people of the United States should treat Mr. 
 lay Gould in this considerate way. He has never refrained from crushing any small 
 ival that stood in his way. The United States Government can easily crush the 
 iV estern Union, or buy up its property at a reasonable price. 
 
 As for the political argument, that is the most serious yet advanced; but even 
 iursed as it is with politics, the postal service of the country is more satisfactory than 
 t could be if controlled by a private corporation ; and there has been no trouble about 
 
80 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 the telegraph system in England from a political stand-point. The steady advance c 
 civil-service reform in this country will offset any movement to convert the telegrap 
 system into a political machine. 
 
 [St. Louis Star-Sayings, June 11.1 
 
 In his efforts to break down the telegraph monopoly for the benefit of the people an( 
 the Government, Postmaster-General Wanamaker is making good use of the busines 
 sense that has made him so successful in private affairs. The people feel convince( 
 that the telegraph nionopoiy and certain personal influences that control it are in 
 imical to their best interests. It has grown to overshadowing proportions bv a ra 
 pacity which no government on earth, save ours, would tolerate. It has laid ai 
 e^argo on the news of the day, and in this way has made it a matter of exceeding 
 difnculty for newspapers remote from the great news centers to get a foot-hold. Th( 
 recent discussion on the comparative prices of telegraphic service under monopolisth 
 and Government control has served the important purpose of convincing newspape: 
 readers that the people of these United States pay too dearly for an enterprise whicl 
 their native intelligence and love of information have fostered. 
 
 Although the telegraph business in this country has expanded in a manner eutireb 
 unprecedented, when the distances to be traversed and a scattered population are 
 taken into consideration, it is to-ciay still in its infancy. The extent of its business 
 at the present rate of increase can only be conjectured. But taking into account th( 
 wonderful development of our country and the daily increasing demands upon the 
 improved means of intercommunication, it is entirely safe to say that the close of the 
 present century will see an increase of the telegraphic business, which will cause ite 
 present state to appear insignificant in comparison. 
 
 It has been the proud boast of the Republican party that it is opposed to monopolies 
 
 In Mr. Wanamaker’s present endeavor to establish a postal telegraph as an entering 
 wedge toward governmental control of the telegraphic business, the party has g 
 chance to make its vaunting good. 
 
 The great mass of the people are with the party in this endeavor. The country' 
 press is with the Postmaster-General. His every attempt to break down the monopoly 
 in news and in the means of distributing it will receive the unstinted praise of the 
 newspapers in all the interior towns throughout the country. Where they remain 
 silent they will do so for party reasons, and that in itself will be an indorsement. ' 
 
 Let the good work go on of compelling the telegraph monopoly to a more liberal 
 policy, or tailing in that, let all Republicans unite in aiding their party and the pres- 
 ent administration in breaking down that monopoly. 
 
 It is an undertaking worthy of the Government, the people, and the party. 
 
 [Conshockton ( Pa. ) Recorder, June 13. J •! 
 
 The House Committee on Post-Office have under consideration a postal telegraph] 
 This provides for the sending of cheap messages by wire by the Post-Office Department’ 
 ot the Government. This is a step towards Government control of telegraph, and a 
 blow at one of the greatest monopolies in the country. 
 
 [‘‘Iron Port,” E.scambia, Mich., June 14.1 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker is pressing his scheme for postal telegraphy, and 
 with some prospect of success. His plan is so framed as to avoid the great objection 
 to other plans — that of employment by the United States of an army of operators — as 
 it proposes to collect and deliver merely, leaving the transmission to be done by cou-^ 
 tract, as the mails are carried. It is not satisfactory to us for that very reason, but'® 
 we hope it may succeed in Congress, for we hold it inevitable that, once embarked ih‘ 
 the business to the extent proposed by Mr. Wanamaker, the rest will follow ; and we] 
 hold, further, that the only hope (at least for many years) of any advance in the] 
 methods of transmission lies in the assumption of the whole business by the Govern- 
 ment. The Morse system has been developed to its utmost capacity, and it and allj 
 the systems which make use of characters requiring translatiou by the operative are] 
 in that respect crude and unsatisfactory. The line of progress is in the direction of| 
 facsimile transmission, and only when that is made rapid enough to meet the demands 
 of business can the miiiinum of cost and the maximum of security be achieved. This 
 the established companies, with their huge plants, which would be rendered obsolete,' 
 and their patents, which would be rendered valueless, do not try to bring abont, but 
 this would naturally be the aim of the United States Government. The ingenuity of 
 electricians is sufficient for the task if the reward were sufficient to set it at work; so" 
 long as it is not, they will work at motors and lighting devices and dolls. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 81 
 
 [Portland (Me.) Express, June 19.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has by no means abandoned his idea of a postal 
 ;elegraph, and has been iuA^estigating the operations of a printing telegraph company 
 svhich is operating a wire betwen New York and Boston, a description of which has 
 ilready appeared in the Express. The system is that of transmitting printed char- 
 icters. In other words, by the operation of a typewriting machine in connection with 
 bhe wire in Boston a similar machine in New York prints out the messages. At all 
 ;he connecting points messages can be sent in the same way. It is in brief an electrical 
 ;ypewriter, by means of which the message is printed in the presence of the transmit- 
 ;ing operator, and a duplicate of the same is printed at all receiving stations on the 
 ine. The Postmaster-General expressed the 0 [)inion that it would be just the thing 
 br the working of a limited postal telegraph scheme such as he proposed. The de- 
 aiand for a postal telegraph would become universal were its objects and aims fully 
 explained to the public, but the great telegraph monopolies of the country, backed by 
 die Bell telephone people, are endeavoring to crush out any desire on the part of the 
 ;)ublic for such a service. It is a contest of monopoly for existence, and the public 
 vill surely sympathize with the Postmaster-General in the long run. Postal teleg- 
 •aphy may be defeated for a time, but it will eventually be triumphant. 
 
 The reasons that gave rise to the Government control of the mail service are equally 
 ipplicable to a Government postal telegraph service. The pressure of business to- 
 lay necessitates the rapid communication between the business men of one city and 
 ihe business men of another. Even our improved railway mail service, with its 
 jorps of trained employes, its moving post-offices, and its means of rapid transit, is 
 iltogether too slow for the practical, and yet necessarily hurried interchange of in- 
 formation regarding the business conditions in markets liable to such sudden changes. 
 
 An order frequently has to be countermanded by wire, and the telegraph to-day is 
 relied upon as one of the most necessary adjuncts to a successful business career, 
 fhe telegraph companies furnish fairly reliable service, yet it must be remembered 
 that they are corporations run in the interests of their stockholders, with the view of 
 )btaining from the public the largCvSt possible returns upon tlmir investments with 
 he least possible expenditure. Our experience with railroads, as a well-known 
 vriter has said, “has shown what we might expect from private affairs of this kind — 
 unsteadiness and diserrmination of rates and development of competing and favored 
 Doints at the expense of others.” The mail service was designed to promote and eu- 
 arge business and social communication. The Post-Office Department has done and 
 8 doing a wonderful work, and its railway trains and fast lines of steamboats are 
 ;reat improvements upon the mail coaches and the packets of a few generations ago, 
 ind yet they are as much behind the rapid progress and demands of business as the 
 nail coaches and sailing-vessels of our grandfathers were behind our present system 
 :)f transmission of the mails. The Post-Office Department should be equipped to-day 
 io do the busii ess of to-day after the necessities of to-day. 
 
 ^ The far-seeing business man now at the head of the Post-Office Department realizes 
 his fact, and in the face of adverse criticism and strong opposition, he is quietly,but 
 bone the less effectively, pushing his views to the front. Postal telegraph will con- 
 fiiuue to grow in importance. In fact, in many European countries, the telegraph 
 fom the beginning was developed in connection with the post-office, and for the past 
 fwenty-one years in England, the telegraph has been under the control of the postal 
 lepartment. 
 
 Nor is the business side alone to be considered. It is estimated that in this coun- 
 ry, so high are the rates of telegraphy, that business communications form 9b per 
 ent. of the business of the telegraph companies and the social messages but 5 per 
 ient., while in Great Britain the social messages occupy a very much larger propor- 
 ion in the returns. Under Government control, with lower rates for telegraphy, the 
 ocial messages would soon become an important feature of the telegraph business. 
 ^ostmaster-General Wanamaker can not be too strongly supported in his efforts to 
 obtain such a service for the people of this country. 
 
 [Newark (N. J.) Journal, June 19.] 
 
 i Dr. Norvin Green, the president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, is very 
 •unctilious about the rights of property and«the wrong of invading them in any way 
 vhen the interests of his mammoth corporation are at stake. The proposition in 
 Congress for a postal telegraph for the use of the Government he yegards as simple 
 onliscation of Western Union rights. 
 
 “ What government under the sun,” he says “has ever established a postal tele- 
 ;raph without first taking and paying for, at a fair and full valuation, all existing 
 elegraph properties, where there were any ? If the Government must have a tele- 
 ;raph as part of the postal service, why not take existing properties rather than 
 reate a new company backed by the power and support of the Government, to dam- 
 .ge and destroy the old ones.” 
 
 P T 6 
 
82 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 There are two corporations in this country that have grown and fattened into 
 colossal proportions upon spoliation of other people’s property. They are the Stand- 
 ard Oil Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company. The property of the 
 latter, which consists'mainly of poles and wires, nas been paid for a hundred times 
 over by extortion. The public is to-day paying dividends on tens of millions of 
 stock water that doesn’t represent a penny of investment. 
 
 If Dr. Norvin Green and the owners of the Western Union could be capable of an 
 honest act they would make some restitution of their ill-gotten wealth by surrender- . 
 iug their property and franchise to the United States Government, to be used for the 
 benefit of a long-swindled people. 
 
 [ Pittsburgh Times, June 20.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has for some time been considering with great 
 favor the type-writing machine in connection with the postal telegraph. There is a 
 line of the kind in Boston. It is an electrical type- writer, by means of which the 
 message is printed in the presence of the transmitting operator and a duplicate of the 
 same is printed at All the receiving stations on the line. It does not seem probable 
 that Congress will act on the postal telegrai>h question. The reason given is that 
 ‘Hhere is no public demand for it.” That is what Ja}’^ Gould has always said, and will 
 ever say. 
 
 [Trenton State Gazette, June 21.] 
 
 Among the bills pending before this Congress in which the people of the whole 
 countr^’^ are deeply interested, is that providing for the establishment of postal teleg- 
 raphy. There has been a desultory discussion of this subject in the press by boards 
 of trade, and before Congressional committees, but it is yet only vaguely understood 
 by the general public. Indeed, comparatively few people have a clear and distinct 
 conception of exactly what it is that the Government proposes to undertake in giv- 
 ing the country a system of postal telegraphy. 
 
 In the first place, it is not proposed, as some imagine, for the Government to go 
 into the telegraph business itself. It does not contemplate the purchase of telegraph ' 
 lines or the erection of new ones. It simply proposes to use the present lines for the 
 transmission of the messages intrusted to it by the people, just as it now uses the 
 railroads and other public vehicles for the conveyance of the letters, postal cards, ‘ 
 newspapers, and other mail matter placed in its hands by the people for delivery. 
 The National Government does not own a single vehicle for the transmission of its 
 enormous mail matter. It makes contracts with the owners of such vehicles for 
 carrying it. It proposes to do the same for the transmission of postal telegrams. 
 
 And the service will be performed at the post-offices by'" the present employes, with 
 the possible addition of a very^ few additional clerks at some of the larger offices. 
 The bill i^rovides for the establishment of postal telegraph stations at all post-offices - 
 where the free- delivery system now exists, between four and five hundred in num- 
 ber. The rates are fixed at 10 cents for messages of twenty words or less within the ■ 
 State; 25 cents for any distance under 1,500 miles, and 50 cents for any greater dis- ' 
 tance. 
 
 That the people of this country would hail the adoption of this system with great 
 satisfaction can not be doubted. Nothing in the history of Government activities ; 
 has proven so uniformly popular as the increase and cheapening of postal facilities 
 to the people. Every reduction of rates has been followed by a more than commen- 
 surate increase in business. Every new facility added has at once been eagerly 
 availed of by the public. The reduction of letter postage from 3 to 2 cents ; increase 
 in the unit of weight from a half ounce to an ounce, and the reduction from 2 to 1 
 cent per pound on second-class matter, all seemed like hazardous and reckless liber- 
 ality ; but while they entailed more loss of revenue on the start, the large and steady 
 increase of business which they caused very soon brought about recovery. There is 
 no doubt that postal telegraiihy would result in a similar experience. The experi- 
 ence of Great Britain proves it. Before that country adopted postal telegraphy we 
 sent more telegrams per capital than she did. Now, under postal ^telegraphy, Great 
 Britain sends uearl.y two telegrams per capita to our one. It is among the most pop- 
 ular and cherished institutions of the British Empire. Of course- it would be the 
 same here. Congress will make a mistake if it fails to give this country postal teleg- • 
 rap by. 
 
 ^ [Omaha Eepublican, June 21] 
 
 “ But,” argues Dr. Norvin Green, “ if the Government must have a telegraph as 
 part of the postal service, why not take existing properties rather than create a new 
 com{)any, backed by the power and support of the Government, to damage and destroy 
 the old ones ? ” 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 83 
 
 I Dr. Green should have added, at our own price. ” This is the reason the Govern- 
 ment does not wish to purchase existing telegraph property. A transfer of this kind 
 could not be consummated without a gigantic steal. If the Western Union telegraph 
 company is really frightened let it make a straight business proposition to the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 [Denver Eepublican, June 22.] * 
 
 ' The House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads has postponed the further 
 consideration of the postal telegraph bill until next session. Possibly, owing to the 
 lateness of the session, this action was advisable. But the postal telegraph subject 
 should not be permitted to die. 
 
 The Washington Post in discussing the subject of a postal telegraph, the other day’ 
 opposed it on the ground that it would be a s tep in the line of paternalism in the 
 government. If it is proper fur the government to take charge of everything legiti- 
 mately coming within the scope of the postal service, then the adoption of a pcTstal 
 telegraph system would not be a step toward paternalism. The paternal theory of 
 government is essentially erroneous and it should receive no encouragement in the 
 United States. But it is recognized, in almost every country of the world that the 
 aandling of the mail is properly the work of the government, and the postal tele- 
 graph would be as legitiniately a part of the postal service as the handling of letters 
 ind newspapers. 
 
 Another objection which has been made to the postal-telegraph system is that ex- 
 pressed in the statement that “ the people who use the telegrai)h ought to pay for it.’’ 
 This is partly right and partly wrong. It is right just to the same extent that it is 
 true of the present postal system. The people who send letters and newspai)ers 
 through the mail are the people who ought to pay for maintaining the post-office to 
 i certain extent. But the Government, as representing the whole people, has an in- 
 rerest in maintaining the postal system and every part of it. The expenditures of 
 naintainiug the postal service ought not to be limited to the receipts. Every intel- 
 igent consideration of the subject brings one to this conclusion. It would be a cor- 
 rect c'ouclusion if applied to the postal telegraph, just as it is now when we consider 
 d in reference to the transmission of only letters and newspapers. 
 
 It is true that, if the choice were between making the ordinary postal service as effi- 
 pient in all parts of the country as it ought to be and the adoption of the postal-tele- 
 ?raph system, then we ought to let postal telegraphy go for awhile in order to make 
 ihe ordinary postal service as useful as practicable. But there is no such limited 
 dioice as this. The country is rich enough to make the ordinary postal service ail 
 jhat it ought to be, and at the same time to extend to the public the benefits of the 
 Dostal-telegraph system. 
 
 [Wasliington Gazette, June 22.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green stated to the House Committee on the Post-Office°and Post-Roads 
 )n Tuesday last, that the Postmaster-General’s proposition to establish a postal tele- 
 iraph in connection with the post-offices throughout the country was a huge job 
 :o foster and build up a uew^ company.” Will the doctor inform the public who is in 
 ;he job and what new company is to be formed ? Assertion is not argument. 
 
 [Kansas City Journal, June 22.] 
 
 Dr Norvin Green, the president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, has snb- 
 nitted a final statement to the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, in 
 ippositiou to the postal • telegraph scheme. Apparently Dr. Green recognizes the 
 )robability that a postal telegraph measure of some sort will, before long, be passed 
 )y Congress, for he devotes a considerable portion of his letter to setting forth the 
 njustice of the Government’s entering the field as a competitor of existing telegraiih 
 jompanies, and urges the propriety of buying out the present lines. “ What” ••■ov- 
 ^nment under the sun,” asks Dr. Green, ‘'has ever established a postal telegraph 
 Vithout first taking and paying for, at a fair and full valuation, all existing tele- 
 graph properties, where there were any in its dominions? Whatever the Goverii- 
 nent does for the people it must do exclusively. If the telegraiih be held as a [lart 
 ind parcel of the postal service, the Government should do it all. It would bo an 
 inprecedented outrage for the Government to enter into competition with lono- es- 
 -ablisbed enterprises of its own citizens.” ^ 
 
 'pereis justice in this. Mr. Wanamaker’s plan to lease certain telegraph lines, 
 ind thus have the Government and the telegraph companies divide the business, does 
 lot seem very practicable or fair. Of course the Government’s leased lines wumld tap 
 me great centers of population, and take the cream of the telegraph business. To 
 
84 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 make up for such losses to the companies, the people in more remote sections would 
 he made to sutler. AVhen the Government goes into the telegraj^h business it should 
 go fully equipped, aud ready to perform at least the same service which the compa-. 
 uies now render. And it should monopolize the field, not enter it as a competitor. 
 
 , [Des Moiues ISTews, June 23.1 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker is proving himself a firm and fearless official in his 
 dealings with telegraph aud other corporations. He is evidently the right man in 
 the right place. 
 
 • [Attleboro’ -Mass.) Sun, June 23.] 
 
 Whatever may justly be said against the present Postmaster-General, he should be, 
 given the credit of tr^dng earnestly and honestly to secure for the people of this 
 country freedom from the power now wielded by the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
 pany, which is, without exception, the most outrageous robber of the people’s money 
 in existence on this continent to-day. There is absolutely no reason why the Govern- 
 ment should not in this, as in almost every other civilized country, control the entire 
 system of telegraphs, and give to the public their use upon the same cheap terms 
 that govern the transportation of the mails. To this end Mr. Wauamalier has exerted 
 all the influence of his power; if the effort fails, it will be because the wealth aud^ 
 influence of the Western Union has been improperly exerted to prevent what shoulcb 
 be done. To no slight extent is the press of this country interested to have this “re- 
 form,” for such the movement really is, carried into effect. The discrimination of the 
 company against the smaller papers, in favor of the great Associated Press, is one 
 evil which would cease to exist if the plan of a postal telegraph should prove suc- 
 eessful. But there are many other ways in which the country at large would profit 
 by the triumph of the Postmaster-General’s pet idea. 
 
 • [Scrauton Times, Juno 24.] , 
 
 Representative Ketcham, of New York, who is a member of the Post-Office Committee 
 in the House of Representatives, gives an excuse of the failure of that committee to^ 
 report the postal telegraph bill that there is no public demand for such legislation. ■ 
 Mr. Ketcham is mistaken in that view of the case. There is and has been for years a i 
 public demand for a postal telegraph, but the House Committee does not intend to- 
 listen to the public or even allow Congress to vote on the question. 
 
 There is an evident intention to pigeon-hole the entire matter, and at the same, 
 time to misrepresent before the public the object of the Postmaster-General’s bill. It . 
 does not provide that the Government' shall either build or purchase telegraph lines. ; 
 It merely provides that the Government.shall contract with the lowest bidder to da( 
 the business that may be offered. | 
 
 The Western Union Telegraph Company, under the bill, would have precisely thej 
 same opportunity as every other company to compete for this business. If it is will-j| 
 ingto do it at a rate low enough, it could have the contract, but if some other com-^ 
 pany is willing to do the business and give a satisfactory bond at a lower rate than^ 
 the Western Union, then that other company should have the privilege of doing it.‘ 
 President Green, of the Western Union Telegraph Company, says that messages can 
 not be sent at a profit at the rates offered by the ^Postniaster-General, but if the busU 
 ness can not be done at a profit, then no company will undertake to do it, and noth-’ 
 ing will be lost. " _ - 
 
 D. H. Bates, who was president of the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph Company up 
 to the time of its absorption by the Western Union, has declared his willingness to 
 undertake the contract and to furnish plenty of capital to carry it out. j 
 
 As showing how cheap telegraphing can be done at a profit, Mr. Bates has filed 
 with the Post-Office Committee at Washington the audited accounts of theBaltimoro 
 and Ohio Telegraph Company while it was in existence. These show that it not only 
 paid expenses, but made a small profit, and that, too, after it had paid the railroad 
 company for the rental of offices and the transportation of employes aud other such 
 expenses. According to this showing the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph at the time 
 of its sale had cost a trifle over it!!, QUO, 000, and owned 52,000 miles of wire. The last' 
 fiscal year the gross earnings wete 4(5 per cent, of the capital cost. The rates that 
 were in force on the line were very low; for instance, from New York to Portland,* 
 Me., 10 cents; New York to AVashington and intermediate points, 10 cents; New, 
 York to Chicago, 15 cents; New York to St. Louis, 20 cents. If the Baltimore aud 
 Ohio line inade^ a profit at these rates, it is very clear that a large profit could be 
 made at the rates pro])osed by the Postmaster-General. ■ 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPPI P^ACILITIES. 
 
 85 
 
 [New Ilaven Palladium, June 24. J 
 
 \ 
 
 ‘ The indorsement of Postmaster-General Wanamaker gave favor to the postal tele- 
 graph idea which a very few years ago was conffidered a rattle-brain scheme ; and it 
 is probable the country will adopt It. Congress has put off its discussion, however, 
 until next session. 
 
 [St. Loui.s Star-Sayings, June 25.) 
 
 The success of the opponents of postal telegrapliy in putting otf the consideration 
 of Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s suggestion, until the next session of Congress is 
 only a truce in the fight. The struggle will be renewed and the hope of the tele- 
 graph monopoly crowd that the postponement of the question, as ordered by the 
 Post-Office Committee, is the death of the mea.sure will prove to be short-lived. It 
 is to the credit of Mr. Wanamaker that he has brought the subject prominently be- 
 fore the country, and the fact that there are indications that in his advocacy of the 
 pleasure he stands practically alone in the administration does not detract iu-the 
 least from the honor of his endeavor. 
 
 [Liberty (lud.) Herald, June 26. J 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker still refuses to pay the Western Union Telegraph 
 pompa-ny their price for the telegraph service for his Department, which he regards as 
 exorbitant. The company threaten to carry the matter into the courts ; it is to be 
 tioped it will do so, as it will be the means of lighting up many dark corners and nooks in 
 Jiud about this devil-fish monoiioly. The correct thing i'or the people to do is to 
 elect Congressmen and Senators pledged to the establishment of a Government postal 
 ^legraph system and also a package post system in connection with the mail service. 
 iThis would put an end to two giant monopolies, the telegraph and express company 
 trust, and also put a quietus on members of our national Legislature speeulatiug in 
 the stock of these companies. 
 
 [Ambler (Pa.) Gazette, June 26.] 
 
 The postal-telegraph bill, providing that one could send telegrams at a cheap rate 
 through the mails, has been postponed by Congress till its next session. This was 
 me of the pet projects of Wanamaker, but the great monopoly, the Western Union 
 Zlompany, has been too much for him. ^It has no notion of having the United States 
 Post-ofiSce.Departmeut as a competitor. 
 
 [Talraage (Nebr.) (Jbampion, June 27.] 
 
 In speaking of the postal telegrapn bill. Dr. Green, president of the Western Union 
 relegraph Company, says there are no elements sufficiently strong to threaten the 
 stability of the Government, and hence we conclude that he thinks that robbery 
 )f the people should not be stopped. While we oppose Government control, it must 
 )e exercised in an emergency. 
 
 [E,eligio-Phi!o=sopliical Journal (Chicago), June 28.] 
 
 The Postmaster-General is in favor of a postal telegraph system, and the subject 
 las been pressed in the House Committee on Post-Offices ; but the influence of the 
 vVestern Union Company has been sufficient to cause postponement of action. The- 
 3 ill originally suggested by the Postmaster-General authorized him to enter into a 
 iontract with responsible persons to connect a certain number of post-offices for tele- 
 graphic purposes by leased wires and instruments, to be operated by post-office em- 
 )loyes, to carry messages for the Government and for the people. The House com- 
 hittee will probably come to a decision within a few days. But for millionaire cor- 
 )oration influence and op[)08ition the country ere now would have had cheap postal 
 .telegraphy. The system worksadmirably in England. Why should it not be adopted 
 n the United States ? 
 
 [Washington Gazette, June 29.] 
 
 When the proposition was made by a distinguished Postmaster-General some years 
 iuce that the United States purchase existing lines of telegraph, and earry on that 
 ervice in connection with the other business of the post-office, the Western Union 
 nade no sign. Government control of the telegraph was then a welcome idea to the 
 •fficials of that company, because they expected to sell out at a high valuation. No 
 alk of paternalism then. 
 
 To-day the same officials view the proposal from another point. Under the limited 
 ystem of telegraph service proposed by Mr. Wanamaker ^here would be an oppbr- 
 
86 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 tiuiity for other lines to perform the service for the Government, and at cheaper rates 
 than the Western Union Company now dictate to the public. 
 
 It is a great pity that well-meaning men should have permitted themselves to be. 
 deceived by the flimsy arguments of* the company and the alleged danger of having 
 the service pass from private to public hands. Onrletters are to-day safe from public 
 inspection. The seal is regarded as inviolate. But can this be said of the contents 
 of our telegraph dispatches, in view of the frequent instances in which their contents 
 are made i)ublic property in some mysterious way? 
 
 It is time that the public should fully understand this telegraph business. Having 
 swallowed up its rivals piecemeal and put up its rates, the Western Union Company' 
 does not intend that -the United States shall perform its functions of fiiruisbing cheapj 
 and rapid intercommunication between the people if persistent falsifying on the onei 
 hand and influencing” members of Congress and subsidizing the press on the other] 
 can prevent it. 
 
 So far they liave succeeded in postponing action in the House committee. But this 
 is not final. The friends of cheap telegraphy should see to it that the importance of 
 the subject is laid before the public in a plain and intelligible way, and that the! 
 schemes and methods of the company are fully ex'posed. j 
 
 How many United States Senators and Representatives, to say nothing of State 
 legislatures, do good Dr. Green and innocent Mr. Gould carry in their breeches pock- 
 ets? 
 
 That is the kind of “paternalism” with which they wish no interferemce. 
 
 [Northwest Trade, Minneapolis, Minn., July 5.] 
 
 Cheap John writers have had a good deal of fun in poking at Postmaster-GeneraF 
 Wanarnaker, and yet the commercial world, we believe, recognizes the fact that Mr. 
 Wanamaker is not one of the weakest merchants of his time; that he has some busi- 
 ness acumen and experience ; that the postal service has not deteriorated under his- 
 management, and that if he succeeds in giving the country a serviceable postal-tele-vj 
 graph system he will be remembered when ninety-niue-one-hundredths of the Cabinet! 
 ministers haven’t even a name in history. ^ 
 
 [Andes (New York) Recorder, July 14. J ' 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker seems to have solved the problem of postal tele: 
 graph. This is the only Government in the world that does not in part, at least,)! 
 control and operate a telegraph system. The cost of telegraphing to the people of 
 Great Britain, for instance, is .50 per cent, less than in this country. The principal, 
 objection to xjostal telegraph heretofore has been that it would multiply to such an 
 extent the number of the employes of the Government that it would be almost im-, 
 possible to defeat a party once in power. Mr. Wanamaker, who is a thorough, practi- ! 
 cal business man, proposes that the Government contract with existing telegraph] 
 companies to transmit telegrams the same as they now contract with railroads to 
 carry the mails, and that at all free-delivery offices a telegraph office be located at the 
 post-office, and that the messages shall be delivered by the regular employes of the, 
 Government. The telegraph companies are to provide all materials, to pay all the' 
 expenses, and provide all the operators, the Government to pay the telegraph com- 
 panies a fair remuneration for transmitting messages. By this method the cost of 
 telegraphing to the public would be diminished at least one-half. Telegraph stamps 
 would be sold at the post-office the same as postage-stamps are now sold. There are 
 now three bills before Congress providing for postal telegraph. If any are adopted 
 it will doubtless be the bill based on this system proposed by Mr. Wanamaker. 
 
 [Santa Fe (N. Mex.) Review, July 17.] 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker’s ideas on postal telegraphy have taken a firm hold on Congress,., 
 and the chances are that provision will be made at this session for a limited service 
 to test the expediency of the Postmaster-Generars views. Originally the Western 
 Union hooted at the idea of such a possibility, but lately that corporation has modi- 
 fied its tone very decidedly, and now asks to have the act so framed so that, in casef 
 a postal-telegraph system is established, the Western Union may have an opportunity 
 to compete for the Government work. Time does indeed work changes. ’ 
 
 [Hartford (Conn.) Post, July 17.] 
 
 Senator Sawyer yesterday introduced a now postal-telegraph bill providing alL 
 post-offices whore the freo-dolivery system exists shall be postal-telegraph stations, 
 and in addition the Postmaster-General may designate other post-offices and telegraph 
 
 a 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 87 
 
 offices as postal stations. The Postmaster-General shall contraet with one or more of 
 the telegraph companies now in existence for a period of ten years. Rates proposed 
 are as follows: For the first twenty words or less, counting address and signature, 
 between postal stations in the same State, and less than 300 miles apart, 15 cents; 
 
 ; between stations not less than 300 miles apart and not in the same Stivte, 25 cents for 
 the first twenty words or less. The Western Union will fight the bill, of course, but 
 there is a strong demand for this reform. 
 
 ^ [‘N’ew York Evening News, July 17.] 
 
 The postal-telegraph bill, which was pigeon-holed in the Post-Office Committee of 
 the House, has made its ajipearance in the Senate. Mr. Sawyer, of Wisconsin, has 
 introduced it in that body, and as he is chairman of the Senate Post-Office Committee 
 it is fair to assume that he will see that the bill gets proper treatment. General 
 Bingham, of Philadelphia, who introduced the bill in the House, and who is chair- 
 man of the House Post-Office Committee, was never, favorable to the measure, but 
 merelj'^ offered it to oblige Postmaster-Ueneral Wanaraaker, who has taken an in- 
 terest in this subject. 
 
 Should the bill get before the House once thcfte is reason to believe that a majority 
 of its members would favor it, as it does not commit the Government to any expend- 
 iture, merely providing that the work shall be done by contract to the lowest bidder 
 at the rates named in the bill. If the measure had not been pigeon-holed in the House 
 committee, through influences pretty well understood in Washington, it would prob- 
 ably have passed the lower body long ago. Under Senator Sawyer’s management it 
 may get through the Senate and come before the House in that way. But it must be 
 confessed that the Senate has never shown any great favor- to measures of this kind. 
 Anything that interferes with a rnono})oly or corporation stands a poor chance of get- 
 ting through the United States Senate. Hence the outlook for this bill is by no means 
 as good as its friends might wish. 
 
 [Dover (N. 11.) Democrat, July 18.] 
 
 A bill to establish a postal telegraph service has been introduced by Senator Sawyer, 
 iOf Wisconsin. It provides that all post-offices where the free-delivery system exists 
 shall be postal-telegraph stations. In addition to these the Postmaster-General may 
 designate other post-offices and telegraph offices as postal stations. The bill provides 
 that the Postmaster-General shall contract with one or more of the telegraph compa- 
 nies, now in existence, for a period of ten years. The subjoined rates are proposed : 
 For the first twenty words or less, counting address and signature, between postal 
 stations in the same State and less than 300 miles apart, 15 cents. Between stations 
 not less than 300 miles apart, and not in the same State, 25 cents for the first twenty 
 'words or less. No rate shall be greater than 50 cents for twenty words. 
 
 ' [Piiiladolpliia Item, July 18.] 
 
 The exertions of the Hon. Henuiker Heaton, M. P., for cheaper postage — particu- 
 larly cheaper ocean postage — are sure to be suceessful. In America he has the co- 
 operation of that brainy and patriotie worker. Postmaster- General Wanamaker, and 
 in England the Royal family have taken a hand in the agitation. The good Queen is 
 [Working for it, and her influence is all-powerful. 
 
 All the English papers second the efforts of Mr. Heaton, and many of the American 
 Epapers second Mr. Wanamaker. 
 
 The efforts now being made to lower the telegraph between England and France 
 are a part of the movement to aid the intercourse of the world commercially and 
 socially. 
 
 ! It is the duty of every well-wisher of society to help these benefactors. 
 
 I f H ivdr’uill Bulletiu, Ju’y 19.] 
 
 i A bill to establish postal-telegraph service has been introduced by Senator Sawyer, 
 jof Wisconsin. It provides that all post-offices where the free-delivery system exists 
 ishall be postal- telegraph stations. In addition to these the Postmaster- General may 
 :designate other post-offices and telegraph offices as postal stations. The bill provides 
 that the Postmaster-General shall contract with one or more of the telegraph corn- 
 ipanies now in existence for a period of ten years. The subjoined rates are proposed : 
 [For the first twenty words or' less, counting address and signature, between postal 
 ^stations in the same State and less than 300 miles apart, 15 cents; between stations 
 [not less than 300 miles a[)art and not in the same State, 25 cents for the first twenty 
 words or less. No rate shall be greater than 50 cents for twenty words. 
 
88 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 I Scranton (Pa.) Times, July 19. J 
 
 The ease with which the postal-telegraph hill was shelved in Congress indicates the 
 power of corporations in that branch of our National legislature. The Chairman of 
 the House Post-Office Committee did not want the bill iiassed for reasons kuown to 
 those well informed at Washington, and he pocketed the bill. The House is not al- 
 lowed to pass upon it. How much easier it is to deal with a small committee, or the 
 chainyan of one, than with three hundred and thirty members of the House ? 
 
 [Atlanta (Ga.) Journal, July 19.] 
 
 Senator Sawyer’s postal-telegraph service bill, introduced on Wednesday, provides 
 that all post-offices where the free-delivery system exists shall be- postal-telegraph 
 stations; that the Postmaster-General shall contract with one or more of the tele- 
 graph companies now' in existeude for a i)eriod of ten years. The rates proposed are 
 as follow^s: For the first twenty wmrds or less, counting address and signature, be- 
 tween postal stations in the same State and less than 300 miles apart, 15 cents; be- 
 tw'een stations not less than 300 miles apart and not in the same State, 25 cents; no 
 rate shall be greater than 50 cents for tw'enty words. 
 
 0 
 
 [Boston Traveler, July 21.] 
 
 The postal-telegraph bill introduced by Senator Saw^yer is a conservative measure, : 
 and if the experiment of a postal telegraph is to be made at all the lines indicated by 
 this bill can not seriously be objected to. It provides that all post-offices where the 
 free-delivery system exists shall be postal-telegraph stations, and in addition the 
 Postmaster General may designate other post-offices and telegraph offices as postal 
 stations. The Postmaster General shall by its provisions contract with one or more 
 of the telegraph companies now in existence for a period of ten years, and rates shall 
 be established as follow's: For the lir.st tw'euty wmrdsor less, counting address andsig- : 
 nature, betw'een postal stations in the same State and less than 300 miles apart, 15 
 cents; between stations not less than 300 miles ax>art and not iii the same State, 25 ; 
 cents for the first tw'enty words or less. The measure will of course be strongly i 
 fought by the Western Union, but there is a strong and growing demand on the part 
 of thepeoi^le that the jiostal-telegraph exjierimeut be given a trial. 
 
 [Philadelphia Call, July 21.] 
 
 This is rather late in the session to introduce such an imxiortant measure into Con- 
 gress as a bill to establish a postal telegrajih, especially since there are so many mat- 
 ters to be acted upon. The tariff bill, tile election bill, the shipping bill, the orig- 
 inal package bill, the bankruptcy bill, and some other important measures are to be ; 
 acted upon by one or both branches of Congress, and there will not be much time for 
 consideration of Senator Saw'ver’s postal telegraph bill. This is a measure that has \ 
 been before the public for years, and it is one that is sure to bring out a great deal of ■ 
 talk on both sides. Perhaps Senator Sawyer does not expect the bill to go through i 
 this session. 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker, who has given the jiostal-telegraph proposition a , 
 great deal of thought, is convinced that it w'ould be a good thing for the country, and 
 he has show'ii very conclusively in his speeches and w^ritings on the subject that such . 
 an addition could be made to the Post-Office Department,- and could be operated to the 
 benefit of the people without much if any cost. His controversy with President Green, ; 
 of the Western Union Telegrai>h Company, showed that he was not ignorant of the v 
 subject, nor did Dr. Green, wdth all his knowledge of the telegraph business, get the ' 
 better of the argument. A postal telegraxffi is sure to come in the near future, but ^ 
 there is not much prospect of the bill that Senator Sawyer introduced last week of ' 
 becoming a law' this year. ‘ \ 
 
 [Philadelphia Item, July 21.] I 
 
 Our brainy and hard- w'orking Postmaster-General is as enthusiastic as ever in ad- « 
 vocacy of iiostal telegraphy. He wants the best possible service at the lowest pos- \ 
 sible price. The House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads having decided ’• 
 not to reiiort the bill at this session, the matter is being pressed by the Postmaster- | 
 General before the Senate committee, and an investigation is being made to showy j 
 exactly what can be done and how' much cheaper the service w'ould be than at pres- 
 eut. The bill before the Senate committee for consideration is the Saw'yer bilL It jj 
 gives the proxiosed system to free-delivery ])ost-offices, one-half the first year and the 3 
 rest in tw'o years, authorizes the Postmaster-General to contract with existing tele- J 
 graph companies, and fixes a graded rate for dispatches, ranging, according to dis- 1 
 tance, from 15 to 50 cents for twenty words. This bill w'ould not cost the Depart- ^ 
 ment as much as a bill creating more postal-telegraxdi stations. 3 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 89 
 
 I ^ [Norristown (Pa.) Ilerald, July 22.1 
 
 ! The postal telegraph proposition is being discussed by a Senate cominittee. A 
 conclusion may be reached to carry out the plan before the close of the session. 
 iEverytbiug that adds to promptness and efficiency' in the mail service is a public 
 benefit. • There is no question as to the necessity for cheap telegraphy which the 
 measure would gain. 
 
 [Kansas City (Mo.) Star, July 23.] 
 
 The Postruaster-Geueial’shill for cheap telegraphy by the Government was promptly 
 shelved by the House committee. But Mr. Wanamaker knows that there is more than 
 one way to the mill. He now has the bill before the Senate committee with a pros- 
 pect of its being favorably reported to that body. 
 
 I [Holyoke (Mass.) Transcript, July 24. J 
 
 ' There are four bills now pending in Congress to establish postal telegraphs. The 
 ane indorsed by the Postmaster-General is brielly to establish a cheap and uniform 
 telegraph rate between the carrier-delivery post-offices of the country, and contract 
 for the conveyance of messages with existing telcgrai)h companies, or others which 
 paay be established, that are willing to convey messages at these rates; stamps for 
 this service will be used just as postage-stamps are uow. It is estimated that mes- 
 sages could be sent at one-half the present rate, and [)eople who are now debarred 
 from using telegraphic communication could enjoy the facilities offered by the new 
 system. People will not submit to being taxed so exorbitantly for the use of the 
 most improved means of conveying intelligence, and the modilied plan proposed by 
 |;he Postmaster-General is the most likely of acceptance. 
 
 ^ [Anniston (Ala.) Blade, July 24.1 
 
 The Postmaster-General is still fighting for a cheap telegraphic service. 
 
 ' [Burlington (Iowa) Gazette, July 24.] 
 
 i Senator SawyeFs bill to establish a postaj-telegraph service provides that all post- 
 jffices where the free-delivery system exists shall be j)ostal-telegraph stations, and in 
 iddition thePostmaster-General may designate other post-offices and telegraph offices 
 IS postal stations. The Postmaster-General is to contract with one or more of the 
 telegraph companies uow in existence for a period of ten years. The rates proposed 
 ire as follows : For the first twenty words or less, counting address and signature, 
 3etween postal stations in the same State and less than :300 miles apart, 15 cents. Be- 
 tween stations not les's than 300 miles apart and not in the same State, 25 cents for 
 :he first twenty words or less. No rate is to be greater than 50 cents for twenty 
 ^ords. 
 
 Within two years after the passage of the bill one half of the postal-telegraph sta- 
 dons contemplated are to be connected by wires of the companies receiving the con- 
 tract, and within the next succeeding year at least one-half of the remainder must 
 )e connected. The Postmaster General is to j)rescribe the rules and regulations for 
 jarrying out the purposes of the bill. 
 
 [San Francisco (Cal.) Call, July 25.1 
 
 Senator Sawyer’s bill for the establishment of a postal-telegraph service provides 
 hat all free-delivery post-offices shall be postal-telegraph stations, and in addition 
 he Postmaster-General may designate other offices and telegraph offices as postal- 
 elegraph stations. The Postmaster-General is to make contracts with telegraph 
 jompanies for a i)eriod of ten years. The rates propo.sed are : For twenty words or 
 ess between postal stations in the same State less than 300 miles apart, 15 cents ; 
 between stations not less than 300 miles apart and not in the same State, 25 cents for 
 weuty words. No rate is to be greater than 50 cents for twenty words. 
 
 [Bloomington (111.) Leader, July 25.] 
 
 A bill has been introduced into Congress for the establishment of a posral-telegraph 
 ystem. The bill provides that every post-office where the free delivery is used shall 
 )e a postal-teie^raph station. ThePostmaster-General is to contract with 'one or 
 noreof the existing telegraph companies now in existence for a period often years, 
 die rates proposed are : For the first twenty wordsor less, counting address and signa- 
 ure, between postal stations in the same State and less tlian 300 miles apart, 15 cents ; 
 between stations not less than 300 miles apart and not in the same State, 25 cents for 
 
90 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 the first twenty words or less. No rate shall be greater than 50. cents for twenty 
 words. The pa.ssage of this bill and the snccess of the system if established would 
 mean the future control of the telegraph by the Government and its use as an auxil- 
 iary to the mail service. 
 
 [Keunebec (Me.) Journal, July 26.] 
 
 The postal-telegraph bill, introduced by Senator Sawyer, is a conservative measure, 
 and if the experiment of a postal-telegraph is to be made at all, the plan indicated 
 by the bill is as free from objections as any bill can be made. It x>rovides that all 
 post-offices where the free delivery exists shall be j)ostal-telegraph stations, and in 
 addition the Postmaster-General shall by its jmovisions contract with one or more of 
 the telegraph companies now in existence for a period of ten j-ears, and rates shall be 
 established as follows: Por the fir.st twenty words or less, counting address and sig- 
 nature, between postal stations in the same State and less than 300 miles apart, 15 
 cents; between stations not less than 300 miles apart and not in the same State, 25 
 cents for the first twenty words or less. The measure will, of cour.se, be strongly op- 
 posed b}' existing companies, but there seems to be a growing demand on the i)art of 
 the joeople for a postal telegraph, and if the experiment is to be given a trial it may 
 as well come now as later. That it will come some time is a foregone conclusion. 
 
 [Frank Le.slie’s Illustrated Newspaper, July 26.] 
 
 THE POSTAL-TELEGRAPH. 
 
 Four bills are now xiending in Congress to establish a x)ostal telegraph. Most of 
 these contemplate the inirchase of existing companies or the construction by the Gov- 
 ernment of cornxieting lines. One proposition, indorsed by the Postmaster- General^ 
 however, differs from either of these method.s, and it seems jirobable that if any meas- 
 ure is adojited it will be this. 
 
 In brief, it is to establish cheap and uniform telegrajih rates between the carrier- 
 delivery x)ost-offices of the country, and contract for the conveyance of messages with 
 existing telegraph companies, or others which may be established, that are willing to 
 convey messages at these rates. In other words, the Government will contract with 
 telegrajih companies to carry messages just as it contracts with railroad lines to 
 carry letters. It will utilize exi.sting fiost-offices for the receipt of messages, and will 
 have the carriers at free-delivery points deliver the messages. The telegraph com- 
 jiany transmitting the messages will simjjly have office room in the j)ost-offices for its 
 operators, and furnish its own supplies. Telegraph-stamps will be sold and used just 
 as postage-stamps are now, and as they are used in all other countries. 
 
 It is estimated that messages could be thus sent for about one-half what they now 
 cost, and the benefits of telegraphic communication thus jilaced within the reach of 
 the masses, who are now debarred from them by the expense of using the telegraph. 
 
 One of the arguments of the oiiponents of a postal telegraph has been that the tel- 
 egraph was used by but a small part of the population, and that the rest of the pub- 
 lic ought not to be taxed for the benefit of a minority. The opponents of a postal 
 telegraph are indeed hard pressed for arguments when they put this forward as a 
 reason, for, unwittingly, in doing so they give one of the strongest arguments in favor 
 of a xiostal telegraph. j 
 
 When the ])ostage on letters was double what it now is but a small part of the j 
 public used the post-office.s, but with every reduction there has been an enormous \ 
 increase in the usefulness of the Post-Office Department to the peojde. ' 
 
 In 1843 the average postage was 14 cents, and only 27,831,000 letters were sent, one ] 
 and one-half letters to each inhabitant jier annum. The postage was reduced to an , 
 average rate of cents, and in 1847 the number of letters increased to 57,173,000, or 
 three letters to each inhabitant })er year ; and at a jiostage of 2 cents the number has ; 
 increased to over 2,500,900,000, or forty-one to each inhabitant x^er year. At 14 cents \ 
 postage there was a loss to the Department, while at 2 cents (exclusive of printed < 
 matter) there is a large profit. ' ] 
 
 The other objection which has been held ux) as a bugbear, and which has influenced ] 
 many worthy x)eople, has been that a postal telegrax>h would necessitate a vast in- 4 
 crease in Government patronage. The x^roposition of Postmaster-General Wana- i 
 maker to have telegrams conveyed by existing or other lines under private owner- j 
 ship meets this objection, as it does also that of x^eople who think that the Govern- ^ 
 meut has no right to take the propert.y of existing companies away from them against ^ 
 their ^yill, although this point is fully met by a law passed many years ago, and ac- j 
 cexffed* by the Western Union Telegrax")!! Company, permitting the Government to .. 
 take their lines whenever it wished to do so at a valuation to be fixed by arbitrators. 
 
 The United States is the only country in the world of any note which does not own 
 and oi)erate its telegraphs as a x>5irt of its x>ostal system. The x>eople of the United ■ 
 States are the only x>eoxde on the face of the earth who intrust their business, social, .! 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 91 
 
 I and political secrets to a few men who, if they see fit, can violate secrecy without 
 : fear of detection or penalty ; and yet these men have the assurance to claim that the 
 ! people’s secrets are safer in their hands than in those of sworn Government employes 
 exi)Osed to heavy penalties for violation of their duty. 
 
 * The opinion of the secretary of the Loudon Chamber of Commerce was recently 
 ! asked upon this point, and his rejoinder was: “It is the general belief in Great 
 
 Britain that ‘the quickness, certainty, and secrecy of the service have improved 
 under the post-office,’ and that the overwhelming, in fact almost unanimous, feeling 
 j would be an opposition to return the telegraph to ])rivate management.” 
 
 ! The National Board of Trade, representing the ])rincipal commercial bodies of the 
 j United States, has repeatedly recommended increasing the usefulness of the Post- 
 ' Office Department by the addition of a i)ostal telegraph, but the influence of the 
 f Western Union Telegraph Company has thus far been sufficient to throttle all efforts 
 j to this end. 
 
 I How they have been able to do this can be comprehended by a glance at the board 
 I of directors of the Western Union Telegraph Company, which comprises leading men 
 in both political parties, and represents the most remarkable. aggregation of capital 
 in this country. 
 
 Norvin Gree'n, Thomas T Eckert, John T. Terry, John Vanliorne, Jay Gould, Rus- 
 sell Sage, Alonzo B. C<trnell, Sidney Dillon, Samuel Sloan, Robert C. dowry, George 
 J. Gould, Edwin Gould, John G. Moore, d’rus W. Field, Henry Weaver, Percy R. 
 Pyiie, Charles Lanier, Austin Corbin, J. Pierpont Morgan, Frederick L. Ames, John 
 Hay, William D. Bishop, Collis P. Huntington, George B. Roberts, Sidney Shepard, 
 
 I Erastus Wiman, William W. Astor, Chauncey M. Depew, James W. Clendeuiu, Henry 
 I M. Flagler. 
 
 All the leading railway lines are here repre.sented, besides the Standard Oil Com- 
 pany and several of the greatest i)rivate estates in the country. In character, ability, 
 influence, and capital they are not equaled by any similar number of men in the 
 I United States, yet it is to their interest to control the transmission of intelligence in 
 this country and tax the people all they can get for that service. 
 
 The people of the United States paid for the construction of the first line of tele- 
 j graph in the United States, and demonstrated its practicability — that between Bal- 
 timore and Washington, constructed under the superintendence of Professor Morse and 
 [ paid for by a Congre.ssional appropriation ; but this great power for good has been 
 ! allowed to pass into private bauds and become a machine for taxing the people whom 
 i it might have blessed to an extent many times greater than it has heretofore done. 
 
 Throughout Great Britain a 10- word message can now be sent for sixpence (12^ 
 i cents). What messages can be sent for under a Government administration strong 
 I enough to try experiments in the line of cheap telegraphy, as it has in the line of 
 cheap postage, remains to be seen. 
 
 In the discussion of this subject before the National Board of Trade at its annual 
 meeting, January, 1888, it was shown that a company formed to build and operate a 
 line between Chicago and Milwaukee did business at first at 1 cent a word, and 
 within two years paid back to the stockholders 90 per cent, of the money they had 
 paid in ; they reduce^I the rate to half a cent a word, or 5 cents a message, and at this 
 rate paid over 40 pe rcent. upon the entire stock ; then (to use the words of Hon. 
 R.W. Dunham, of Chicago, one of the stockholders, who made the statement) : 
 
 “Business vent on in that way for about two years; then the' stockholders con- 
 cluded, as something might happen some time in the way of unusual expense, they 
 would water the stock (laughter), and we doubled our stock from $14,000 to $28,000; 
 still the result was about the same, and from 25 to 40 per cent, is still paid back on 
 the 5 cents a message paid by the patrons, and w^e stockholders are getting our 14 
 per cent, on an investment which cost us nothing.” 
 
 The practice of watering stock mentioned by Mr. Dunham has prevailed exteu- 
 
 • sively with railroads in this country, but nowhere, probably, to the same extent as in 
 our telegraph service. 
 
 Many attempts at organizing competing telegraph lines have been made, but they 
 I have invariably been broken down and absorbed by the Western Union Telegraivii 
 t Company, accompanied by a stock inflation which, according to competent judges, 
 now represents more than five dollars of fictitious capitalization for every oneflollar 
 paid in by stock and bond holders. 
 
 This state of things ean not go on forever, nor will the people always submit to be 
 taxed exorbitantly for the use of the most improved means of conveying intelligence, 
 i The subject is daily growing in importance. In fifteen years from now we shall have 
 over 100,000,009 of population, and I believe it to be to ithe interest of the public that 
 : the people should avail themselves of the provision of the existing law permitting 
 1 them to buy all telegraph lines at a fair apprai.sed valuation ; and even if we have 
 I to |)ay more than they could be duplicated for, in a few years it would become a good 
 I investment, and the public would no more think of relegating their telegraph service 
 ! back into private hands than the people of Great Britain would or the people of the 
 j Uflited States wmuld consent to their postal service going back into private .hands. 
 
92 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 V i 
 
 If, however, it be deemed not wise and practicable to take over all existing tel^- ^ 
 graph lines, then let ns try the modified plan proposed by the Postmaster-General, ■ 
 which will give ns much lower and uniform rates, and place the telegraph service 
 within the reach of a much greater number of persons. 
 
 F. B. Thurber. 
 
 [Bankers’ Monthly (Chicago), August, 18!)0.] 
 
 Postmaster General Wanamaker wishes his administration to be distinguished by 
 at least four radical improvetnents in this branch of the public service. These are, 
 first, the establishment of postal telegraphy; second, the divorce of lotteries from the 
 mails; third, postal savings banks, aud fourth, penny postage. The three latter ■ 
 essentials of his general plan have not yet been brought to the public attention, but 
 the postal-telegraph idea has been vigorously pressed upon the attention of the House 
 committee. There is one thing certain, that so soon as the full limit of pension ap-' 
 propriations is reached the whole country will rise up as one man in favor of postal 
 telegraphy. It could hardly be started without some considerable expenditure, and 
 Congress would not sanction the sale of bonds for the expense must . 
 
 come out of revenue, and judging by the claims made in the organs, a further vote 
 will be needed of all the surplus there may be next year for pensions in addition to 
 the late increase and the previous !$80,000,000 annual rate. So patience in new ven- 
 tures must be exerci.sed. Mr. Wanamaker should remember we have to shoulder a 
 dead investment of $60,000,000 for our silver purchase in the next twelve months. 
 
 [Brookfield (Md.) Uniou, August 1.] 
 
 A bill to establish a limited postal-telegraph service was introduced by Mr. Sawyer. 
 
 It provides that all post-oflices where the free-delivery system exists there shall be 
 postal-telegraph stations, and in addition the Postmaster-General may designate 
 other post-offices and telegraph offices as postal stations. The Postmaster-General 
 shall contract with one or more of the telegraph companies now in existence for a • 
 period of ten years. Rates proposed are as follows: For the first twenty words aud . 
 less, counting address and signature, between postal stations in the same State and 
 less than 300 miles apart, 15 cents ; between stations not less than 300 miles apart 
 aud not in the same State, 25 cents for the first twenty words or less. No rate shall 
 be greater than 50 cents for twenty words. Within two years after the passage of 
 the bill one-half of the postal-telegraph stations contemplated shall be connected by ' 
 wires of the companies receiving the contract, and within the next succeeding year 
 at least one-half of the remainder shall be so connected. The Postmaster-Geiieral 
 shall prescribe the rules and regulations for carrying out the purposes of this bill. 
 
 [Clinton (Iowa) Herald, August 2.] 
 
 A postal-telegraph bill has been introduced in Congress by Senator Sawyer that 
 has the merit of being a very conservative measure. It provides that all post offices 
 where the free-delivery system exists shall be postal-telegraph stations', and in addi- 
 tion the Postmaster General may designate other post-offices aud telegraph offices as 
 postal stations. The Postmaster-General shall by the provisions of the bill contract 
 with one or more Of the telegraph companies now in existence for a period of ten 
 years, and rates shall be established as follows : For the first twenty words or less, ' 
 counting the address and signature, between postal stations in the same State and ' 
 less than 300 miles apart, 15 cents ; between stations not less than 300 miles apart | 
 and not in the same State, 25 cents for the first twenty words or less. 
 
 [Bay City (Mich.) Tribune, August 3.] ’ 
 
 • ^ 
 
 The Postmaster-General is working industriously in behalf of his bill in Congress, 1 
 which is the first important atop toward government telegraph, and we believe that ■ 
 the present Congress will i)ass it without imaterial amendment. In connection with I 
 its consideration of this bill, the Senate committee on postal affairs has received , 
 suggestions from more than one quarter that if we are to have government control * 
 of telegraphing, we should have government control of telephones. And this seems j 
 to be ?i perfectly tenable ground to occupy. The telephone is of more universal use j 
 than the telegraph, and the monopoly of telephone service is equally grasping aud j 
 op])ressive. This question is already a live one in Great Britain, and the Toronto j 
 Mail has this to say of it: < 
 
 “The Hritish post-oflice authorities are being urged to define the policy of the de- 
 partment in the matter v)f telephone communication. The courts long since decided 
 that the existence of the telephone companies in Great Britain is virtually an in- 
 fringement of the electrical monopoly of the Government — in fact they have declared 
 that telephonic communication is simply a branch of the telegraph service, aud that 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 93 
 
 ! the right of use is vested iu the postal department. The Government, however, 
 
 I gave permission to the companies, upon payment to it of 10 per cent, of their gross 
 I receipts, to continue operations for thirty years, reserving to itself the right of pur- 
 chase at the expiration of seven, fourteen, or twenty-one years. One of these periods 
 will soon expire, and the Postmaster-General stated recently to the House of Com- 
 mons that the Government did not intend to exercise its right ; but the public want 
 a more definite statement.’^ 
 
 The decision of the English courts that “telephonic commiinication is simply a 
 branch of the telegraphic service” is very interesting in this connection, and will set 
 many people in the United States to thinking whether it will not be wise to destroy 
 the telephone and telegraph monopolies at the same time and relieve an oppressed 
 public of the burdens of interest and dividends on several hundred millions of watered 
 telephone stocks. It is a fact that can be promptly demonstrated that telephone 
 charges are vastly in excess of what is reasonable and just, and the public is fully 
 aware of the unsatisfactory and ineffective service that is for tne most part rendered. 
 We believe that Congress should give early consideration to the (question raised by 
 the memorialists of the Senate committee on postal affairs, and that the Postmaster-' 
 General should give it attention in connection with his efforts to secure Government 
 control of the telegraph. The monopoly’ of electric communication in every form should 
 be forever broken up and the public served by the agents of a responsible govern- 
 ment at the actual cost of the service. 
 
 [Cliicago Tribune, August 4.] 
 
 Col. Abner Taylor is a convert to the idea of a postal-telegraph system controlled by 
 the Government. He began to study the subject last winter, and the result was the 
 introduction by the First district member of a bill which provided for a complete Gov- 
 ernment system. Colonel Taylor’s bill was broader than th,e one prepared at the Post- 
 Office Department. Postmaster-General Wanamaker would be satislied to get legisla- 
 tion which is only a starter in tbe direction of jiostal telegraphy, but Colonel Taylor 
 is one of those members who believe that half-way plans are not apt to give satisfac- 
 tion, and he wants the experimeut thoroughly tried. The House subcommittee some 
 time ago postponed action on the subject until next session on the plea that there was 
 no public demand. It however invited Colonel Taylor to a])pear before it and explain 
 his bill, which he will do. The colonel has gatheretl a good deal of official literature 
 on Government telegraphy abroad and he thinks the evidence will show that the sys- 
 tem is a success and Avorthy of adoption by the United States. 
 
 [Liberty (N. Y.) Register, Augusts.] 
 
 Postmaster-General AYanamaker seems to have solved the problem of postal 
 telegraph. This is the only Government in the world that does not iu part at least 
 control and operate a telegraph system. The cost of telep’aphing to the people in 
 Great Britain for instance is 50 per cent, less than in this country. The principal 
 objection to postal telegraph heretofore has been that it would multiply to such an 
 extent the number of the employes of the Government that it would be almost impos- 
 sible to defeat a party <»ncein power. Mr. Wanamaker, who is a thorough, practical 
 business man proposes that the GoAmrnment contract with existing telegraph com- 
 panies to transmit telegrams the same as they now contract with railroads to carry 
 the mails, and that at all free delivery offices a telegraph office be located at the post- 
 office and that the messages shall be delivered by the regular employiSs of the Gov- 
 ernment. The telegraph companies are to provide all materials, to pay all the ex- 
 penses, and to provide all the operators. The Government to pay the telegraph com- 
 panies a fair remuneration for transmitting messages. By this method the cost of 
 telegraphing to the public would be decreased at least one-half. Telegraph stamps 
 would be sold at the post-office the. same as postage stamps are now sold. There are 
 now three bills before Congress providing for postal telegraph. If any are adopted 
 it will doubtless be the bill based on this system proposed by Mr. AVanamaker. 
 
 [Indiana (Pa.) Gazette, August 27.] 
 
 I 
 
 Postmaster-General John AVanamaker has some substantial schemes on h^iaid for 
 the betterment of the public other than the exclusion of Tolstoi’s naughty “ Kreutzer 
 Sonata from the mails. To a correspondent at peaceful Saratoga Mr. AVanahiaker 
 unfolded some of the little plans nearest his heart. First, he said : 
 
 “The postal telegraph is bound to come some time. It may not come during my 
 administration of the Department, but the people have the right to have their infor- 
 mation forwarded iu this way as well as by mail, and I expect to see the time when 
 there will be a postal telephone. I believe that telegrams would be more sacred 
 under the Government than they are in the hands of private corporations, and they 
 
94 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 \vouId have all the sanctity that the mails have to-day.” Then he warmed up and 
 went one better : 
 
 *‘‘Tbe postal savings bank will also be a thing of the future, and if we could have i 
 these they would be especially valuable in bringing the South closer to the general | 
 government. The United States in this way becomes the banker of the common < 
 people, and confidence and trust go with the man or institution to whom you intrust i 
 your money.” 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker might give away all the suits and stockings in his store and not 
 win as many thanks as if he were to carry iuto elfect just one of the plans outlined 'I 
 above. One would be a sufficient task for one man in one term of office. The aboli- ^ 
 tion of the present telegraph companies would mean grappling with one of the biggest ! 
 corporations in the country. But if Mr. Wanamaker wants to be President some j 
 day he couldn’t play a better card with the people than the institution of a postal J 
 telegraph and tele}) hone. i 
 
 The Postmaster-General has another idea that’s a good one, although smaller. He 
 wants to make mail agents of country school teachers. He says ; J 
 
 “ 1 will have the postmasters of these school districts send the mail for the families ^ 
 represented in the school to these school teachers, and will pay them something to > 
 give out the letters and papers once a day to the scholars to carry them home to their 
 families. It seems to me that the postal facilities of the country might be very much < 
 increased in this way.” ; 
 
 Good again ! 
 
 [Denver (Colo.) Eepublican, September 5.] 
 
 The history of the postal telegraph in England, as stated by Mr. Heaton, who was ' 
 prominently connected with the establishing of the postal-telegraph systena in that : 
 country, shows that postal telegraphy has many advantages over the private coni- ^ 
 pauy system, and that it can be conducted with profit to the Government. 
 
 The first step taken in the establishment of postal telegraphy in England was the 
 purchase of the lines and equipment of certain companies at that time doing the tel- ’ 
 egraph business of the countr3^ The Government paid about $40,(100,000 more than , 
 the property of these companies was worth, and this excess in payment has been a , 
 burden upon the postal-telegraph system since that day. But it appears that at last ■ 
 the Government is securing a profit upon the business. It should be considered in • 
 this connection that rates upon messages were very much reduced after the Govern- 
 ment purchased the telegraph lines. The telegraph business was increased in con- ^ 
 sequence of this reduction, and’ so the receipts have grown to be greater than the 1 
 expenses. 
 
 Postal telegraphy has several advantages over the private system, consiiicuous ' 
 among which are cheaper rates of sending messages and the greater confidence which - 
 the public has in the secrecy of the business. People, it seems, do not have as much , 
 confidence in the employds of a private company as they do in the employes of the ; 
 Government. This lack of confidence interfered with the telegraph business of Eng- 
 land before the postal system was established. i 
 
 There is no doubt that if postal telegraphy were established in this country it ; 
 could be made self-sustaining in the course of time. The cost to the people of send- ■ 
 iug messages would bo very much less than it is now, and as a natural result the bus- 
 iness of the telegraph would be very largely increased. But there is a great deal of- 
 opposition to any attempt to introduce postal telegraphy. The existing telegraph 
 companies, and more particularly the Western Uuion, can bring to bear a powerful 
 inriuence upon the members of Congress and the^'- do not fail to exert this influence 
 whenever an attempt is made to establish a postal-telegraph system. This ought to 
 suggest to the public the danger to be feared from the power of a great corporation 
 like the Western Union. It has altogether too much iuHueuce upon legislation in, 
 Congress. 
 
 Unless the power of the Western Union and other telegraph corporations shall 
 I)rove to be greater than public sentiment, postal telegraphy will sooner or later be' 
 established in the United States, for it is indirect line with the natural develoj:fment , 
 ot the postal service. There is no more reason why the Government should take 
 charge of the transmission of letters and newspapers than of the transmission, of tele- 
 graphic messages. The telegraph system would bo as natural a branch of the postal: 
 servi<^‘. as the mail system if it were permitted to grow. The Post-Office Department 
 will not be doing its full work until it includes the telegraph service. 
 
 [Joliet (111.) Xews.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, president of the great Western Uuion Telegraph Company, in 
 his statements respecting the [lending }>ostal telegraph bill before the House Com-; 
 mittec on Post-Offices and Post-Koads, naturally endeavors to throw cold water on the 
 plan [U’oiioseil by Postmaster-General Wanamaker. Mr. Green contends that the 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 95 
 
 Government could not successfully conduct a telegTax)h plant, and by a preponder- 
 ance of evidence in the way of figures and conclusions drawn therefrom, tries to 
 bewilder the House committee with the huge responsibilities involved in the un- 
 dertaking. That the proposed scheme means a contract of no small dimensions no 
 one will deny, but that the Government, with its unlimited resources of brain and 
 muscle, is unequal to the task is unreasonable, in the light of its wonderful progress 
 in the past. Take the postal service, for instance. There is no business in the coun- 
 try embracing such a wide and varied range of details, all of which demand the 
 closest attention of those in charge. Notwithstanding all this, the Government has 
 built up a service that gives popular satisfaction — excepting, possibly, in the political 
 features that arise. The Government should not be frightened by President Green’s 
 assertions. He is an able manager and no doubt possesses a fund of information re- 
 garding the telegraph business, in this instance, however, his position is that of 
 the fox lecturing the chickens, and Mr. Green only demonstrates his loyalty as a good 
 employ^ when he says the Government can not conduct the Western Union’s business. 
 Postmaster Wanamaker’s plan is in the line of the practical, thinking economists of 
 the day, and the people are anxious to have Uncle Sam take hold. 
 
 [Philadelphia Item.] » 
 
 In his statement to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, the Postmaster- 
 General was so clear, so strong, so admirable, so just, that he carried conviction to 
 every mind. In this important matter of the telegraph, as in other matters, Mr. 
 Wauamaker is struggling for the public good.- He thinks the bill should be passed 
 giving the Postmaster-General the right to fix the rate, and to allow it to be changed 
 from time to time. 
 
 He says: “ If i was a member of the Congress, and not the Postmaster-General, I 
 would advocate that proposition.” 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker disclaims all personal feeling. He says : “ No matter who is hurt, 
 we have all got to stand aside for the public good.” There you have the whole argu- 
 ment. Pro hono jyuhlico. This is fidelity. It is courage. It is patriotism. 
 
 The Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads is working diligently for the good of 
 the people, and they are ably assisted by Mr. Wanamaker, the Postmaster-General, 
 who is always at his i)ost and ever striving for good results. 
 
 The committee consists of Bingham, Evans, Montgomery, Beckwith, Blount, and 
 Turpin. All superior, and they are earnestly for reform, progress, and safety, as sug- 
 gested and pressed by the Postmaster-General. 
 
 During the last thirty years the telegraph has exerted a most important influence 
 on the affairs of the country ; but never has it 'served any one or anything so faith- 
 fully as itself. It has ever been used selfishly, especially during the war in times of 
 great peril. 
 
 The history of the telegraph, as related before the committee, is most admonitory 
 and full of interest and warning. 
 
 The testimony of Editor Rosewater, of the Omaha Bee, is highly important, an ad- 
 monition, indeed, to the Government and to the people. He was for thirteen years 
 actively engaged in the telegraph service. For twenty-five years he has been of the 
 opinion that the safety of this Government demands the control of the telegraph sys- 
 tem by one of the branches of the Government, postal or otherwise. 
 
 This testimony, from an experienced, thoughtful, patriotic gentleman, is of the 
 highest importance, and it establishes the position and justifies the fears of Mr. Wana- 
 maker, showing that his sagacity and instinctive forecast are masterly. 
 
 All this sustains the opinions that the Item has expressed of the Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral, and proves his eminent fitness for the Postmaster-Generalship. 
 
 We hope that the Congress will approve of his suggestions and carry them out. 
 
 [Boston Advertiser.! 
 
 The chances for a system of postal telegraph are better than they ever were before. 
 There can be no doubt of that much. With the exception of the Western Union 
 people, nearly every one who appeared before the Post- Office Committee was in favor 
 of the postal telegraph scheme. A. B. Chandler, of the Postal Telegraph Company, 
 was hardly in favor of it, but his opposition was not at all vigorous, and he appeared 
 undecided in his mind as to the exact merits or demerits of the scheme. But the tes- 
 timony of D. H. Bates, Hon. J. M. Varnum, Ralph Beaumont, and the others refutes 
 Norvin Green’s arguments, and leaves the Postmaster-General’s scheme unimpaired. 
 Mr. Bates, for instance, appeared as the representative of a party of capitalists who 
 stood ready to build a complete system of telegraph lines if the postal telegraph bill 
 becomes a law. Norvin Green said he could not afford to send a message at the low 
 rate which is desired. Chandler said he thought it would be difficult to do business 
 
96 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 at such a rate aud make a profit. Bates and bis fellow-capitalists (and Bates knows I 
 more about the telegraph business than most telegraph men) are perfectly willing to i 
 take the contract. ' 
 
 [Pittsburgh Despatch.] 
 
 \ 
 
 It is interestinV to observe that Dr. Norvin Green is so wrought up over Postmaster- 
 General Wauamaker’s efforts in behalf of postal telegraphy as to' denounce him be- j 
 fore the Congressional committee as having issued an order of confiscation, and to 
 declare that he had no right to “ coach the committee.” 1 
 
 As to the first point — if it can be dignified by that term — we do not observe by the ^ 
 stock quotations that either Mr. Green or his associates have made auj^ difference in 
 the price at which they will sell their shares in the confiscated property. As to the 1 
 second, it is likelj' that the country will recognize the same right on the part of the ' 
 Postmaster-General to coach a Congressional committee on a matter of postal policy, 
 that Mr. Green has to coach it in the interest of the Western Union Telegraph. 
 
 Norvin Green’s bitterness against Mr. Wanamaker’s project can be taken as evi- 3 
 * dence that the Postmaster-General is working for the public interest. « Mr. Green’s ^ 
 attitude for years has been that this countrj' was made for the enrichment of his 
 especial corporation. j 
 
 [Pittsburgh Times.] . 
 
 Dr. Green, the i)resideut of the Western Union Telegraph Company, emphasizes | 
 what he states as a fact, to wit, that the postal telegraph system of England is con- J 
 ducted at a loss. Hence, says he, it would be unwise to adopt it here. The post-ofiSce \ 
 system of the United States is conducted at a loss and there is small prospect of a j 
 year when there will be no deficit. According to the argument employed against the J 
 ])ostal telegraph, the post-office system of the United 'States should be abolished. ^ 
 It has never been the serious aim of the Post-Office Department in recent years to j 
 bring its expenses within the revenues. As the people’s Department it has been man- 1 
 aged to confer on the jjeople the greatest benefit. Dr. Green says the deficit entailed j 
 by the postal telegraph would have to be made up by those who did not use it, who, j 
 he says, would be by far the greatest number. This is precisely the case as i^o the 1 
 mail system of the country. He said gamblers, speculators, and immoral classes | 
 were the great patrons of the Western Union, and it was from this source that a large ij 
 part of the Western Union’s revenues were derived, therefore, the Government should j 
 not go into the business. The good doctor expressed no regrets that the Western ' .5 
 Union was in the business, but was concerned for the Government. The mails are ^ 
 extensively used by gamblers, stock and other gamblers. Jay Gould, owner, being a ^ 
 dead-head. If the argument of the doctor is good for anything it is only as an argu- 
 ment why the Government should go out of the mail business and give it up to the ' 
 Western Union. That would suit Mr. Gould unquestionably. If Jay Gould, speak- ^ 
 ing through Dr. Green, has no better arguments than these to offer why the postal 
 telegraph should not be set up, then few persons will be convinced. j 
 
 , [Grand Island (Nebr.) Independent.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, the president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, has 
 been before the House Committee on Post-Offices, and has tried to convince this com- ! 
 mittee that our Postmaster-General’s jjlan for the introduction of a kind of postal ■ 
 telegraph must be a failure, because the Government would have to lose money aud ' 
 the public would not gain anything by it. If the Western Union was certain of such i 
 a result. Dr. Green would be the last mau to oppose AVanamaker’s proposition, be- 
 cause such a failure would secure the present telegraph company’s monopoly for a 
 long time to come. It is a great deal more probable that Dr. Green is insincere in 
 his whole statement that he does not at all intend to protect against loss the United , 
 States, but the monetary interests of his company and its power to rob at its pleasure ; 
 by unreasonable charges all those who are compelled to use the telegraph. It may ' 
 be doubted even whether the telegraph company will lose anything by reduced 
 charges as the business will increase enormously. 
 
 At any rate it is worth while to try the Postmaster-General’s plan, which we be- 
 lieve will be quite a success ami lead to more improvements in the same line. Aud 
 that is just exactly what Dr. Green and his company is afraid of. 
 
 The ])re 8 ident of theAVestern Union Telegraph Company appears to be greatly afraid 
 that the Government can not m.ike a success of a postal telegraph system. Of course 
 he cares more for the General Government fhan for his own company, and argues 
 purely from his greater concern for the Government, which he says can not conduct 
 the business as cheaply as his company. And if not, pray why not ? Has not the 
 General Government conducted the postal business cheaper and better than any. 
 l)rivate corporation on earth would, and attbrded better facilities to the people, pro- 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 97 
 
 r 
 
 viding good mail privileges in localities where jn-ivate corporations would have pro- 
 vided none at all because it would not pay in that particular locality. President 
 Green declares that at some post-offices there would not he sufficient business to meet 
 expenses. Does he not know that the same is true of mail facilities now, and for the 
 reason that a locality is in but the struggling stage of development, does he think it 
 ought to be deprived of these facilities if they can be provided, and the system as a 
 whole made to pay ? This argument of his is one of the very strongest that could be 
 made for giving us a postal telegraph system in harmony with our postal system, and 
 upon a somewhat similar plan. The Western Union pays large salaries, pays divi- 
 dends on actual and watered stocks, and makes mints of money. Would it not be 
 better for the people for the General Government to afford better facilities to the peo- 
 ple at actual cost, and in that way could not the rates be reduced to at least the ex- 
 tent of the profits of the private corporations? Postmaster-General Wanamaker is 
 upon the right track, and if he pushes his measure to success a grateful people will 
 rejoice and thank him, and generations to come will bless him. 
 
 The general verdict must be that President Green, of the Western Union, lost his 
 head and made a fool of himself in his argument before the Hou.se Committee on Post- 
 Offices and Post-Roads. He proved himself a man of smaller brain capacity and self 
 control than one has a right to expect from a person holding such a high position. 
 He made a splendid showing of the necessity for establi.shing postal telegraph, while 
 no doubt intending to do directly the opposite. 
 
 [Irish World.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has .shown the public that he has been .studying 
 to some profit the best interests of the great department of the Government intrusted 
 to his direction. He has submitted to Congress for adoption a proposition to estab- 
 lish a telegraph service in connection with the post-office, which is certainly worthy 
 i of a fair trial, as it promises at small cost to place within the reach of the public a 
 i system of telegraphic communication at a fraction of the rates now paid to the tele- 
 graph companies and messenger deliveries. Mr. Wanamaker mentions the pertinent 
 fact that during the past twenty years the Government has paid to the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company about 1100,000,000, and he proposes to lessen that expense and 
 at the same time give the public a cheaper service in the transmission of such mes- 
 sages as the Post-Office Department may conveniently handle. 
 
 There are nearly 60,000 post-offices in the country, all situated with special reference 
 to the greatest convenience of the people. There are less than half that number of 
 telegraph stations operated .solely as money-making enterprises by the Western Union 
 and other corporations. The Postmaster-General does not propose to buy out any of 
 those corporations or construct an independent system, but to lease on the best terms 
 such lines as could be operated in certain post-offices to the public advantage. A 
 ' large part of the telegraph and special messenger service contemplated by the Post- 
 master-General could be transacted with the present force of employes, so that the 
 ‘ extra cost would be comparatively small and the rates to the people for their current 
 messages could be greatly reduced. 
 
 Opinions vary as to the expediency of the Government assuming control of the en- 
 tire telegraph .system of the country as has been done by England and Germany, but 
 there seems to be no reasonable ground for objection to the practical and business-like 
 proposition of the Postmaster-General, and there is every likelihood that the bill 
 recommended by him or another embodying its main provisions will be speedily 
 enacted by Congress. 
 
 [San Francisco Bulletin.] 
 
 In his annual report Postmaster-General Wanamaker outlined his idea of a postal 
 telegraph service. A bill is now before Congress embodying his plan. It authorizes 
 the Postmaster- General to contract with telegraph companies for the use of wires 
 between towns having free letter deliveries, the messages to be taken out by the let- 
 ter-carriers on their regular routes. The Department will decide upon rates and the 
 extent of .service. 
 
 Such a service would be partial and experimental. Partial because it would be too 
 slow for the commercial and speculative service which now makes up about seven- 
 eighths of the telegraph business. The main object of the Government would be to 
 cheapen and popularize the service. It would require a very large reduction in rates 
 to bring it into general use for purposes of correspondence other than those which 
 require the greatest promptness. How can the Government do by contract with the 
 telegraph companies much better than they can and will do themselves? They will 
 not lease their lines except at a profit, and that would not leave the Government a 
 very large margin for reduction. 
 
 As an experiment this scheme can not be conclusive as to the advantages or disad- 
 
 P T 7 
 
98 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 vantages of Government operation of the telegraph. It would, in fact, operate it less 
 than it now operates the carrying of the mails. The Government carries all the mails 
 hy contract, while, by this plan, it will only carry a small part of the telegraph bus- 
 iness. Postal telegraphy in its full development contemplates the ownership and 
 operation of the whole business by the Government. Its prospective advantages are 
 estimated upon the success which has attended the development of Government mail- 
 carrying. As a matter of fact the Government does not carry the mails. It puts up 
 expensive post-office buildings (sometimes) at a cost for site and construction largely 
 in excess of what a private person or corporation would pay, at which it receives and 
 distributes mails in a reasonably satisfactory manner on the average, although the ex- 
 press companies usually beat it on delivery. The rest of the business is done by the 
 private or corporate enterprise of stage lines, railroads, etc., which carry the mails 
 from one end of the country to the other by contract. What the result would be if the 
 Government owned and operated these lines of communication is purely a matter of 
 speculation. With their present light the American people would be slow to try that 
 experiment. 
 
 Something of a parallel nature, however, is the logical outcome of this proposed 
 experiment in postal telegraphy. It can hardly exist permanently in connection with 
 corporate service. Eventually the Government must do the whole work or'retire from 
 the business. The former will involve ownership and the operation of the lines as 
 well as the receipt and delivery of messages' because the telegraph, unlike stage and 
 steam lines, performs only the single function of carrying messages. Foreign experi- 
 ence affords no assured data for an opinion as to the advantages of such a service. 
 In England the Government charges a, regular rate equal to one Cent a word, including 
 address and signature. Comparing the density of population and the short distances 
 in England with those of the United States, this does not seem to be an excessively 
 cheap rate, yet the Government loses money on it every year. So far as English con- 
 ditions permit a comparison, the prospect is not conclusively in favor of postal teleg- 
 raphy in the United States. 
 
 It will do no harm to make the experiment in partial postal telegraphy proposed 
 by Mr. Wanamaker, provided the partial results obtained shall not be accepted as 
 conclusive regarding further development of the business. The movement, however, 
 is notin line with the policy which is coming to be recognized in this country as 
 wisest in connection with quasi-public corporations as common carriers. In railroad- 
 ing, corporate ownership and operation under Government regulation is believed by 
 most authorities and the public to offer the best guaranties for cheap and effective 
 service. The rule is more applicable to telegraph business, because it is far simpler 
 and more easily regulated. Much of the demand for postal telegraphy arose from 
 the fact that the business in the United States was for many years practically in the 
 hands of a single corporation. Lately a strong competing company has entered the 
 field, and is gradually extending its system throughout the country. If not absorbed 
 by its older rival, it offers the conditions best adapted to good service — a reasonable 
 and wholesome competition, to which should be added a just and effective Govern- 
 ment supervision. There would then be less reason for experimenting in Govern- 
 ment telegraphy. 
 
 [The Financier.] 
 
 Other things equal, we favor anything that tends to give the people a better-means 
 of interchanging ideas. We understand that the honorable Postmaster General is 
 striving to inaugurate a postal telegraph system which will permit — for the present 
 at least — night telegraph disi)atches to be delivered by mail carriers in the morning, 
 for the cost of letter postage. 
 
 The whole plan may be found in Mr. Wanamaker’s fiscal report, and so far as we 
 now see the subject, it certainly commends itself to the hearty support of the people. 
 
 As Mr. Wanamaker suggests, it might be tried, and its advantages learned as well 
 as the unfoldment of ideas likely to grow out of it. 
 
 Certainly nobody can object to the low-priced service he now recommends before 
 Congress. 
 
 [Philadelphia Bulletin.] 
 
 The postal-telegraph bill, which is in the hands of a committee of which General 
 Pingham, of this city, is chairman, will listen to arguments against it by President 
 Green, of the Western Union Company, and to Postmaster-General Wanamaker in 
 its favor, after which it will be reported to the House, presumably iu its favor. 
 The bill provides for a limited post and telegraph service under the Government 
 auspices iu cities where the free delivery service now exists, through the various 
 post-olfices. The Postmaster-General is authorized to make contracts with telegraph 
 companies existing or to be incorporated, on the best obtainable terms. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 99 
 
 The charges are to be not more thau 15 cents for less than 300 miles for twenty 
 words or less; between postal-telegraph stations not less than 300 miles apart and 
 not in the same State, east of and including Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Ten- 
 nessee, and Mississippi, 25 cents for the first twenty words or less; between postal- 
 telegraph stations not less than 300 miles apart and not in the same State or Terri- 
 tory, west of and including Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, 
 25 cents for the first twenty words or less ; between i)ostal- telegraph stations not less 
 than 300 miles apart and not in the same State, 25 cents for the first twenty words 
 or less, in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michi- 
 gan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin ; between all other 
 postal-telegraph stations 50 cents for the first twenty words or less. The charges 
 for all words in excess of the first twenty words shall be at the rate of 1 cent per 
 word. 
 
 If the Western Union Telegraph Corax)any can make millions of profit by its system 
 and rates, it is evident that the Government, which will be satisfied to have the 
 postal telegraph self supporting, can give the public the benefit of the profit in cheap 
 tolls, especially by operating in cities, where the telegraphic service is always re- 
 munerative. If the Government can afford to carry for 2 cents a letter which express 
 companies charge 25 cents for, it can afford to make similar reductions in its trans- 
 mission of telegrams. , 
 
 [Titusville (Pa.) Herald.] 
 
 The project of a postal telegraph urged in a masterly argument before the Post- 
 Office Committee by Postmaster-General Wanamaker, is gaining favor in Congress. 
 The Pittsburgh Dispatch says: “Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard, father-in-law of Prof. 
 Alexander Graham Bell, of telephone fame, made an eloquent closing argument in 
 favor of the project of a Government telegraph, and Mr. F. B. Thurber, the well- 
 known New York merchant, representing the New York Board of Trade, made a pow- 
 erful plea of a similar character.’’ We trust that the coming State convention of 
 Pennsylvania will give the enterprise its moral support in resolutions of strong and 
 pointed indorsement. It is a measure in the interest of the people of the whole coun- 
 try, and Congress could perform scarcely any act and adopt scarcely any measure 
 which would more certainly earn the thanks of the country than the giving the peo- 
 ple cheap telegraph in their business and social affairs, through the agency of the 
 post-office. 
 
 Let the Republican party have the credit of introducing this most useful and pop- 
 ular movement. 
 
 There is no department of the United States Government more closely connected 
 with the .social and business affairs of the people at large thau tl.e Post-Office De- 
 ' partment, and a liberal and progressive policy, adapted to the wants of society and 
 1 commerce and the advancement of civilization, should be pursued and kept steadily 
 ' in view. 
 
 i It is gratifying to see that the present administration is alive to the wants of the 
 ! country and demands of the times in this respect, and that it has a Postmaster-Gen- 
 eral of large views, o'f business training and experience, who proposes, so far as his 
 influence goes, so far as his influence can be exerted, to place tbs' post-office on a 
 business basis, and to promote the interests and convenience of the business classes 
 and of the people at large by adding, from time to time, such new features and im- 
 provements as experience suggests, and as the successful example of other nations 
 seems to recommend and warrant as useful, economical, and necessary. 
 
 [Brooklyn Times.] 
 
 Those who have accepted the narrow partisan view of Mr. Wanamaker, or have 
 sympathized with the outcry against him as the “ shop-keeper of the Cabinet,” must 
 be surprised at the practical knowledge, the rhetorical ability, the grasp of his sub- 
 ject to its minutest detail which he exhibited yesterday when he appeared before the 
 House Committee on the Post- Office and Post-Roads to argue in favor of a limited postal 
 telegraph. Mr. Wanamaker does not propose a general postal telegraph on the Eu- 
 ropean plan as yet. He only asks that a few short lines be leased connecting the 
 principal cities, and that the experiment be tried thus in sensible and economical 
 fashion. His plan is thus summarized: 
 
 “ He was not proposing, he said, that the Government should purchase or build a 
 telegraph line, nor the appropriation of a large sum from the Treasury, but simply 
 the utilization of the office buildings, clerks, and carriers now in use, and by conveni- 
 ence and economy of service greatly to accommodate the public in a business that 
 should not be divorced from the Post-Office, as it was nothing more or less than the 
 (iarrying of messages. 
 
100 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 “The people bad uow the business offices, the clerks, -who could soon learn the tick 
 of the machines, the curriers who traveled with bundles of letters over the same streets 
 traversed by telegraph boys, and the stamps for payment that dispense with book- 
 keeping, and ail that was needed to build up the new service was authority and a 
 wire, and a new thrill of life would soon be felt throughout the country.” 
 
 The country has paid , 1100,000, 000 in profits to the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
 pany in twenty-three years, besides paying more, for the expense of the service than 
 it would have cost if it had been conducted in the same offices as the postal busi- 
 ness and besides putting up the funds for such destructive competition as the present 
 monopoly has waged with its weaker rivals. The telegraph business ought to have 
 been a part of the postal department from the first, but it is not too late to begin even 
 now by adopting Mr. Wanamaker’s sensible suggestion. 
 
 [Xew York Mail and Express.] 
 
 In another column will be found an account of the apx)earance of Mr. A. McKinley 
 before the Congressional Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads in behalf of the 
 Essick Printing Telegraph. 
 
 The Mail and Express has made repeated allusions to this system, having seen its 
 l)ractical working on a line over 600 miles long, running from New York to Pittsburg,’ 
 via Oleau. 
 
 This system is simply a long-distance tyjje- writer, by which the ordinary employes 
 of any jjost-office can transmit letters and type -write them in page form at the distant 
 end of either long or short wires. A call at the company’s office, No. 171 Broadway, 
 will secure to the interested an exhibition of the working of the system, where day 
 after day the system is worked between Boston and New York. 
 
 This is certainly the greatest advance in telegraphy since Morse transmitted his 
 first message from Washington to Baltimore. 
 
 This system is the nucleus of a great telegrajihic enterprise. By it there can be no 
 difficulty in putting into practical operation Postmaster-General Wanamaker’s scheme. 
 By it all the new.spapers within a radius of 500 miles or more can simultaneously be 
 supplied with the current news by a single transmission from a central office. By it 
 the stock reports can be delivered in the same manner to all brokers within the same 
 radius. It is a substitute for the telephone, making a record of all messages. 
 
 Its sux)eriority over the Morse system is in the fact that it requires no receiving 
 operator, thus dispensing with about half the force, and what is transmitted is re- 
 ceived wdth absolute certainty. For railroad jiurposes it will greatly" lessen the lia- 
 bility to accidents and for private lines it is indispensable. 
 
 AGAINST POSTAL TELEGRAPHY OR NOT EAVORARLE TO IT. 
 
 [Philadelphia Telegraph, February 13.] 
 
 It was to be ex^iected that the Postmaster-General, notwithstanding the many and 
 vigorous criticisms of his postal telegraph scheme, would earnestly press it on the 
 attention of Congress. Before the House Committee on Post-Offices yesterday the 
 plan was presented in detail, and presumably the strongest jioints possible made in 
 its favor. Tho Postmaster-General insisted that his plan was “practical and free 
 from valid objections.” Such a sweeping claim as this, in view of the statements 
 previously made, shows how even the brightest-minded men will sometimes deceive 
 themselves through their zealous devotion to an idea. For instance, it is proposed 
 to x)rovide for the delivery of the telegrams coming over the wires leased by the 
 Government by the mail-carriers in the first delivery following the receipt of the 
 message. Now, it is as clear as anything can be that this means one of two things: 
 First, either that the delivery of the telegraph message is simply to be placed on the 
 same schedule as the delivery of letters by carriers, already in many instances over- 
 burdened, and this would mean unreasonable and often exasperating delay, or a 
 very large increase in the number of Government enqiloyds, the same of course being 
 just so much of an addition to the already unwieldy and almost uncontrollable and 
 more or less demoralizing jiolitical machine. There are many other imints of “ valid 
 objection,” showing that this latest iiostal telegraph scheme is not practical or desir- 
 able, but this is one that will become apparent to every intelligent man. 
 
 fPhiladelpbia Record, February 13.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker jiresents his plan of a limited postal telegraph 
 with much force and plausibility. But in its restricted form this measure must bo 
 regarded as n first aiid a long stride toward the complete Government absorjition of 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 101 
 
 i the whole telegraph business of the cuuutry. Under the plan outlined by the Post- 
 I inaster-Geueral the benefits of cheap telegraphy would be confined to cities and towns 
 I that had a free post-office delivery. But once carried thus far it would not be long 
 before it would be extended to every village i)ost-office, and a vast Government tele- 
 graph system would be only a question of a little time. To the present inconven- 
 ience of a private telegraph monopoly would succeed a vast, costly, and burdensome 
 ])ub]ic monoiioly. Resist the beginnings. 
 
 [San Francisco Chronicle, February 13.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has been before the House Committee on Post- 
 Offices and Post-Roads with an explanation of his plan for the institution of postal 
 telegraphs. He submitted a scheme providing for the lease by the Government for 
 ten years of wires for carrying on business and for the delivery of telegrams by car- 
 riers at the first delivery following the receipt of the telegram. This scheme, he 
 urged, was practical and free from objections. 
 
 At the very threshold, however, of his plan there appears a very serious objection, 
 which is that the portion of the public which makes the most use of the wires would 
 not be satisfied to wait for its dispatches until they could be delivered in the regular 
 course of mail delivery. The very essence of a telegram is the immediate transmis- 
 sion of news and information, and no one would be willing to .iwait the very deliber- 
 ate movements of the letter-carriers to receive a message which might tje upon a 
 matter of life and death. 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker is quite right in saying that the transmission of news by wire is 
 within the legitimate work of the Post-Office Department, and that the people are 
 justified in stoutly demanding telegraph facilities at postal stations: but he will 
 have to decide upon a better plan than the one he has outlined before the people will 
 take kindly to the postal telegraph. If a message is delayed half an hour in trans- 
 mission or delivery under the present system the recipient files a formal complaint at 
 the central office, and the official in charge admits the justice of his complaint. Under 
 the proposed system the message might not leave the office for two hours or more 
 after its receipt, and then it would have to be delivered in the regular course of the 
 carrier’s rounds, which might mean two hours more of delay. 
 
 No system of postal telegraph will be acceptable which does not give as good serv- 
 ice as is given at present, and a reduction in rates would not compensate fcr the 
 extra time. If the Government goes into the telegraph business it will have to pro- 
 vide in some way for the immediate delivery of telegrams, for unless it does it can 
 not compete with the telegraph corporations which make rapidity an essential feature 
 of their business. 
 
 [Pittsburgh Leader, February 19.] 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker’s postal telegraph scheme has not been hailed with special rejoic- 
 ing by the House Committee on Post-Offices and Post Roads, which has under consid- 
 eration the Postmaster-General’s bill formulating his idea of reform in the Government 
 telegraph service. President Chandler, of the Postal Telegraph Company, put the 
 objections to the project in a nut-shell when he said to the committee : 
 
 “ We do not want to see a Government telegraph established, or the begining of a 
 Government telegraph that will destroy $7,000,000 or $8,000,000 vrhich we have in- 
 vested in this property and make it valueless. We do not think the Government has 
 a right to do that ; and if it has that right, we think it would be unjust and very 
 unreasonable to exercise it.” 
 
 The justice of this argument is manifest. It would be unfair and oppressive for 
 the National Government to enter into competition with a telegraph company or with 
 the owners of any other private enterprise merely for the sake of reducing Government 
 expenses to a minimum. One step in this direction has already been taken in the 
 monopolizing of the mail service. Mr. Wanamaker wants to go a step farther and 
 monopolize the telegraphs, and if his recommendations should be adopted, it is only 
 a question of time until the railroads and pos.sibly other valuable interests are brought 
 under Federal control. It is to be hoped that the game will be blocked in its 
 present stage, and that the wisdom of the committee will rise superior to the insist- 
 ance of a bumptious Cabinet official. 
 
 [Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette, February 19.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker, from an early day in his official life, has given 
 himself tribulation about the telegraph. His views have had an interest that is gen- 
 eral ; first, because he is the head of one of the most important Departments of the 
 Government, and, second, because he had before he assumed duties as a i)ublic officer 
 a national reputation as an uncommonly shrewd and capable busine.ss man. 
 
102 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILI'JTES. 
 
 In regard to the relations of the Government with the telegraph, in that which he 
 had to say in his annual report and accompanying documents, and his interview the 
 other day before the House Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, he seems to be 
 proceeding upon information that is imperfect and to be leading up to Eurd^iean ideas, 
 the most important of which is that it is the duty of the Government to hold x>os- 
 session of the telegraphic system, and i)aternally bestow upon the peojde at large 
 such intelligence as it is the jiolicy of the authorities to im^iart. 
 
 It would be doing the Postmaster-General an injustice to assume that he has di- 
 rectly indicated a design of this scope, but the logic of the observations that he has 
 made and the suggestions that he is urging, is that we shall have a postal telegrajihic 
 system, and with us that would go a great way. 
 
 His recommendations in the recent consultation with the committee of the House 
 having jiostal matters in charge, amount to formulating an anxiety to furnish addi- 
 tional telegraiihic facilities where they are already abundant. It can not be said of 
 any of the considerable American cities that they are lacking in accommodations for 
 telegraphy, and we are not aware that it is a legitimate part of the business of the 
 Government to cultivate on the part of the i^eople the habit of using the wires. 
 
 If the Government should go into postal telegraph}^, the end of it would be a tele- 
 graph office in every post-office in the United States. There are forty-eight thou- 
 sand post-offices and eighteen thousand telegraph offices at this time. Postal teleg- 
 raxihy would require the addition of thirty thousand offices. The cost of the jilant, 
 jmles, wires, and instruments would be enormous, and not one in a hundred of the ad- 
 ditional facilities would be self-sustaining. The telegraphic service in the United 
 States requires 178, 5.54 miles of poles, and 647,697 miles of wires. One can not ascer- 
 tain exactly the additional pMes and wires required to treble the number of telegraph 
 offices, but certainly something more than double those in existence would be de- 
 manded, and calculations show that about $15,000,000 a year would be needed for 
 maintenance, and that without messengers and with no responsibilitj" for delivery. 
 
 It would interest the Postmaster-General to know, if he has not x^icked up the fact, 
 that of the sixty million pco])le in the United States, only about one million use the 
 telegraxih, and it would hardly be a popular measure to tax sixty peox^le for the re- 
 duction of the cost of an accommodation for one, and we are not aware that it is 
 XHiblic x^olicy to x>romote po])ular telegraphy. 
 
 The Postmaster-General has been interested in an extraordinary degree in the cost 
 of telegrax)hing to the Government, and has apx)arently formed the judgment that a 
 great deal more is i^aid for messages relating to Government business than should be 
 charged. Among the statistics not according to surface indications is the item that 
 pool-rooms in the city of New York do five times the telegraphing of the Government 
 of the United States, and the x^i’ess receipts with which Mr. AVauamaker is so fond of 
 comparing the cost of official service, amount to ten times the expense of telegraxdiing 
 to the Governnmnt. It is one of the favorite projiositions of the Postmaster-General 
 that the service of the Government should be at as low rates as for the Associated Press, 
 and we invite him to know that in a great deal done for the xiress the words delivered 
 exceed the words sent ; thar is to say, a message from one x)lace is many times multi- 
 X^lied. For instance, in the year 1889 there were sent in the regular service of the 
 ])ress 58,*27‘2,463 words, while there were received at all stations 332,731,804 words. 
 There is nothing coiresxionding to this in official telegraxihiug ; and great care ought 
 to be taken in making comjiarisons of word rates that they should conform to all the 
 conditions. 
 
 The number of words in Government messages, counting address and signature, 
 average about twenty-four, twelve for the address and signature, and tweh^e for the 
 body of the message. It is especially necessary to secure certainty of delivery, to 
 give an officer’s signature and address comiilete, and that is the custom. In the aver- 
 age of other messages there are eight words for the address and signature, and thir- 
 teen body words. It should not reijuire a gentleman of Mr. Wanamaker’s acuteness 
 in arithmetic to discover that there would not be anything unfair in a higher rate for 
 the body-words in messages whose addresses and signatures are excexitionally elab- 
 orate, and that the x>roposition so much promulgated, that the Government should 
 have the same rate given the Associated Press, counting all the words delivered in 
 half a dozen x>laces sent from one, is founded upon misajiprehension. 
 
 The most careful comparison of the ditferent classes of telegraiihic business, shows 
 that the speculative is about 48 jier cent., tradii 34 per cent., press 12 iier cent., and 
 social 8 jier cent. The siiedulative includes AVall street, with all the tinancial centers, 
 base-ball, and horse racing — in fact, all that relates to the affairs of enterprise tinct- 
 ured with sporting schemes and incidents. It will be noted this constitutes almost 
 one-half of the business of the telegraph comnany, and it will not seem to be desirable 
 to the farmers andcountiy peo]>le at large, and thecpiiet dwellers in pleasant A'illages 
 and the smaller towns, that they should be taxed to cheapen the rates at which 
 gamblers in stocks, and in corn, wheat or i)ork, or on base-ball or horse racing, and 
 other advent ures and games of chance, and strife for speed, shall xmy forthe telegraph 
 til)s that put them on the inside. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 103 
 
 Does tbe'Postmaster-General fancy that to reduce the rates for the sporting people, 
 charging the expense to the general account, is likely to he a peculiarly popular 
 measure ? Or would he propose, if the telegraph were in the grasp of the Govern- 
 ment, to refuse the transmission of intelligence promoting schemes of speculation or 
 games of chance, or betting on the hazards of athletic Exercises, and would one of 
 the early requirements he an official censorship on messages by telegraph? Is this 
 the entertainment to which we are invited ? 
 
 The Postmaster-General assumes that the public good would be accomplished by 
 increasing the volume of social messages. We do not know that it is part of the busi- 
 ness of the Government of the United States to force messages over the wires rather 
 than through the mails. When the rates on the lines between New York and Phila- 
 delphia, owing to the competition of the Western Union and thfe Baltimore and Ohio 
 companies were 10 cents per message, the social business showed no material increase, 
 but the speculative and trade messages increased in volume, though not in receipts. 
 The growth of social and family business keeps right along with the increase of 
 population, and is not to any marked extent governed by the rates covering it. In 
 what does that concern the Government? 
 
 There is a larger percentage of social messages sent in western Europe than in the 
 United States. There are two causes for this : One, severe restriction upon telegraph- 
 ing imposed by the Governments and the lack of community of interests between the 
 several nations, so that the general telegraphing is largely restrained, and even sup- 
 jiressed; and the inferiority of the European press compared with that in this coun- 
 try, in enterprise to gather and circulate the latest intelligence, as well as the re- 
 straints officially placed upon the circulation of news; and, second, there are some 
 hundreds of thousands of travelers all the time going about Europe, a very large pro- 
 portion of them Americans, and they are the most persistent patrons of the telegraph. 
 It does not appear to be an essential or reasonable department of the Government’s 
 affairs to stimulate the people to the social use of the telegraph, and, as only one 
 million out of the sixty millions of the peo[)le telegraph at all, the vast majority of 
 communications passing between families are conlined to the mails, because they are 
 more confidential ; and counting cheapness of the distribution of the maiis, and the 
 rapidity with which letters pass from one part of the country to the other, and are 
 in important communities delivered, it is neither a surprise nor rei)roach that social 
 telegraphing is a smaller percentage of the aggregate business than in Europe, where 
 the wires are kept clear of high iiolitics and great affairs, and the travelers of all 
 nations swarm. 
 
 If the lines of enterprise which the Postmaster-General seems disposed to organ- 
 ize and advance shall be not merely surveyed but attempted, we do not see the 
 stopping place until he places the telegraphic instruments in each post-office and 
 educates in telegraphy an array of additional ernployds of the Government, putting 
 “we the people” in for the expense of maintaining this force, and providing a 
 bureau for the dissemination of all the news for everybo<ly ; and then it will become 
 the business of the Government to furnish through the telegraph acceptable informa- 
 tion to the people ’of the United States duly stamped with the official seal of the 
 administration. Every little newspaper must have its official dispatches, and at 
 each post-office it will be desirable to put up official bulletins instructing the popu- 
 lace in current history ; and, as general manager of this comprehensive machine, the 
 Postmaster-General, or perliaps the President of the United States, will have the 
 most potential and prodigious occupation ever known ; and it will not consist with 
 the sale by the Government to the press of department intelligence. 
 
 There is nothing in the history of mankind comparable with it. At the beginning 
 Mr. Wanamaker does not seem to comprehend the difference between the Western 
 Union Telegraph Company and the Associated Press. He does not appear to be 
 aware that the entire duty of the telegraph company is discharged when it transmits 
 intelligence furnished by others ; that it is the common carrier for all stories; that 
 it has no responsibility in the collection, preparation, or publication of alleged news 
 on the wires ; that the two organzations — the telegraph company and Associated 
 Press — are always distinct, and often antagonistic. 
 
 If the Government does not propose to go thoroughly into the telegraphic business ; 
 to establish a new system of wires and compete with individual enterprise and em- 
 brace the whole country to the remotest townships in the scope of its huge enterprise, 
 and to make it the primary duty of the postal department to issue information by 
 official proclamation, or taking np the work of furnishing the people their daily food 
 in the daily history which is journalism — it would seem to be the better way to let 
 the reasonably good service that we have alone. It is probably right the Postmaster 
 General should have the revision of the rates at which the Government is served by 
 the telegraph company, and certainly it should have as low a rate, all things consid 
 ered, as any customer — a rate that can be had for the showing — but the official busi- 
 ness is not so extensive as to demand revolutionary proceedings, and the tentative 
 proposal that the cities that are already thoroughly accommodated with telegraphic 
 
104 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 facilities shall have additional offices under the immediate supervision of the postal 
 department, does not commend itself to the judgment of citizens at once well in- 
 structed and imj)artial, because it is a manifest supertlaity. 
 
 Much is said of the cheapness of telegraphing in other lands, and little account is 
 taken in the estimates paraded by those who fancy themselves on the highways of 
 reform, to the fact that the United States is geographically far more extensive than 
 any other civilized nation, with the exception, possibly, of Russia, where telegraphing 
 is but an instrument of imperial suppression, or of Australia and Canada, which are 
 not counted or quoted by the reformers. In Europe the address and the signature 
 areall counted, and there is practically no responsibility by the Governments for mis- 
 takes in messages or for failures to deliver, and in England there is four times the 
 service to the mile of poles or wires that is carried in this country. We contend that 
 the telegraphic service in this country is at a low rate, and excellent in itself, and 
 better than the Government would do. 
 
 It has been intimated by the Postmaster General in one of his many conversational 
 communications upon the fascinating theme of the telegraph, that it might be well 
 to inquire into the value of the news that the several departments of the Government 
 furnish to the press, and we believe he has gone so far as to observe that as news is 
 recognized by the newspapers as of value, the journals ought to pay for the general 
 intelligence communicated through the newspapers to the people. This shows how 
 far the official mind may go in grappling with the large and difficult questions that 
 arise out of the consideration of the relations of the Government to the telegraph 
 where speculative tendencies are indulged. 
 
 We fancy it would appear upon discriminating examination of the subject that it 
 is an advantage to the Government to be able to use the press in its independence 
 freely for the transmission of tho intelligence of the several departments. We do ■ 
 not desire to contemplate the idea of the Government furnishing to the people the 
 news that they are to believe, and establish, according to the theory of the Imperial- ■ 
 ists, official obstacles to the circulation of the matter those who are taking care of ; 
 the people denominate false news, and which is often most true. These things had ; 
 better be left to the free press and a telegraphic system conducted by individual en- ‘ 
 terprise in the old-fashioned way, and under that system there will be the better 
 chance that the dying falsehoods may be speedily overtaken by the conquering truth. ' 
 We can hardly contemplate the sale of the President’s message or the Postmaster- ' 
 General’s report as news matter, and turning over the proceeds to the Treasury of 
 the United States, thus swelling the surplus revenue. 
 
 [Omaha World-Herald, February 20.] 
 
 The Postmaster-General has been before the House committee and has explained to > 
 it his views in relation to the establishment of a national postal-telegraph system, j 
 His plan is, generally, to contract with the Western Union for the use of its wires, j 
 and to extend them to post-offices and have delivery made by carriers in the same | 
 manner in which letters are now handled. Mr. Wanamaker volunteered the informa- ' 
 tion that his relations with the telegraph company were very pleasant, and that he * 
 had never had any personal difficulty with any of its officers. This knowledge will i 
 afford particular satisfaction to the people at large, who would be deeply grieved if i 
 high public functionaries were known to fall out and chide and ffght. 
 
 The Postmaster-General thinks that he should havethe power of fixing rates for serv- 
 ice on the new system of telegraph, and the desire that he has always shown in the 
 conduct of his private business to give the public great bargains, should perhaps serve 
 as a guaranty that those rates would be fixed as cheaply as possible. Perhaps if a 
 corner of some kind could be got on somebody, the work might be done at less than 
 cost. 
 
 It is painful to be obliged to differ with the Postmaster-General upon any point, 
 but yet truthfulness com])els the ex])ression of thie opinion that the recommendation 
 of that gentleman that “ some i)enalty be provided to prevent the use of the wires for 
 political purposes by oflicers and employes of the Government,” amounts to what may 
 be termed an excess of public virtue. Why should not officers of the Government 
 use the wires for any puri)o.se they please, provided they pay for the messages ? Au 
 officer of the Government has as much right to meddle in politics as any other man, 
 if he does so at his own expense, and does not become an “ offensive partisan.” The 
 mails are used for political purposes by all alike, upon payment bj' stamps, and there 
 is no reason for any different rule in the telegraph. 
 
 One thing, however, should be carefully guarded against, and the retiring nature 
 of Mr. Wanamaker has doubtless prevented him from mentioning it. The Postmas- 
 ter-General should be positively })rohibited from furnishing to Senator Quay copies 
 of the messages [)assing over the wires between Democrats, such being of a political 
 character, or sent ui)on the approach of election time. Upon the whole, perhax>s it is 
 better to let the Postmaster-General run the whole business, he is used to “ bossing ” 
 things, and could perhaps manage the entire matter entirely to his own satisfaction. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 105 
 
 [Steubenville Gazette, February 21.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wauamakers fool notion of wanting the Government to go into 
 the telegraph business in connection with the post-office is on a par with the many 
 other Republican-Federal schemes of Government control under the plea that the 
 people will get cheaper service than at present. The people who use the telegraph 
 may get a cheaper service directly, but in the end when the big deficits are made 
 up, they will find that taxes will have to be paid that will more than equal the pres- 
 ent cost of telegraphing. Mr. Wauamaker ought to know that the Government does 
 nothing cheap. It costs the Government a great deal more to run its big printing 
 office in Washington than it would cost it to let the work to a private corporation, 
 and the postal telegra})h would be likewise. There would be an army of telegraphers 
 at big salaries and of course they would all be party heeler.s, and the telegraiffi would 
 be run as a political machine just as all other Federal offices, extravagantly and 
 costly to the people. Even if the Government does jjay too much tor telegraphing 
 now, it would i^ay more under the Wanamaker hobby by 25 per cent, and the service 
 would not be near so good. In addition to the cost. Government has no business en- 
 tering into competition with private capital in business enterprises, and it has no 
 right to engage in enterprises that individuals will and do conduct. All such schemes 
 as the one proposed by Wanamaker are in opposition to .Jeffersonian ism, and in vio- 
 lation of the democratic principles upon which this Government was founded. The 
 Government has no more right to go into the telegraph business than it has to start a 
 big store in opposition to the business of John Wanamaker. 
 
 [Michigan City (lud.) Despatch, February 24.] 
 
 Wanamaker has a postal- telegraph scheme. We have not given it much consider- 
 ation. This small-fry demagogue is so fertile in plans that he is not worthy of much 
 attention except to see and understand his folly. He proposes that the United States 
 Government shall have such a service. It is looked upon merely as another “ attract- 
 ive novelty” of the season by Philadelphia’s big advertising merchant. The Boston 
 Post says of it : 
 
 “ It would be difficult to devise a more complex attachment to the Department of 
 which he is the head, or one better calculated to lead to entanglements of a disagree- 
 able sort. A person of broader views than Mr. Wanamaker would at once recognize 
 the incompatibility of the several features of a scheme which mixes the functions of 
 the Government and private corporations in such an inextricable manner.” 
 
 Wanamaker’s thirst for fame has led him to do some very silly things, and he has 
 not managed his department anything like as well as he can superintend a five-cent 
 counter. His position cost him many thousand dollars to start with. The money 
 was distributed in this State, not to buy votes of course, but to gain the good will of 
 the people. It would be a blow at hypocrisy to accuse the Republican party of brib- 
 ing voters. Wanamaker shows business shrewdness, but he has very little idea of 
 the qualifications of a great statesman. 
 
 [Troy Press, March 1.] 
 
 Postmaster-General John Wanamaker is in favor of a postal-telegraph system, and ■ 
 has made an elaborate plea for its introduction before a Congressional committee. 
 His plan is practically the consolidation of post-office and telegraphic facilities, and 
 is wanting in the elements of sound statesmanship. 
 
 Such a scheme would enormously enhance the patronage of Mr. Wanamaker’s de- 
 partment. It would raise into being a new army of Federal office-holders and de- 
 pendents, and destroy a great and successful and satisfactory private enterprise. The 
 telegraph corapanres could not compete with the Government, and very soon Uncle 
 Sam would have a monopoly of the vast telegraph service of the country. Then par- 
 tisanship could dominate the telegraphic as well as the postal-service, and the partj' 
 in power would have a great additional horde of satellites from which to extort sup- 
 port at the polls and levy political assessments. 
 
 It is plainly to the interest of the peoi)le that the telegraph system of the United 
 States be kept out of politics. 
 
 The same is true of the express business. Very low rates for packages through the 
 mails give a great store, like that conducted by the Postmaster-General, a chance to 
 send goods for a nominal figure all over the United States to the detriment of local 
 merchants everywhere. It is said that Mr. Wanamaker’s houses are already flooding 
 the mails with circulars, and he is making rulings and managing the Department in 
 a manner that will redound to the success of his private business. Mr. Wanamaker 
 unfortunately seems utterly unable to sink tlie tradesman in the statesman, and there- 
 fore when he becomes the special advocate of new measures, such as postal telegraphy, 
 his statements must be regarded with extreme caution. With cheap postal telegraphy 
 
106 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 aad cheaper postage for mercliandise brought about through his official influence hi 
 office would be worth $1,000,000 to him as a business investment. 
 
 The American people will do well to keep the telegraph system in private hands 
 and not enlarge the opportunities of official corruption. 
 
 [Minneapolis Journal, March 1.] 
 
 Dr. Noryin Green ofterssome very strong arguments from the purely financial stand 
 point against Postmaster-General WanamakePs modified postal teleo-raph system 
 Of course the system wouldn’t pay the Government, but the Government isn’t run 
 mug Departments for profit as a business speculation. The Post-Office Departmen 
 rarely shows a surplus, and if it didn’t it would not make any difference if the serv 
 ice was well performed. The Government must run the service to give the laro-es 
 amount of convenience to the public whether it pays a profit or not. If the limite) 
 postal telegraph system is really needed, the Government ought to undertake it 
 Ihe proposition to establish it seems, however, to be in advance of the demand of tli 
 public thus far. 
 
 [Indianapolis Journal, March 2.] 
 
 It is well to discuss the project of having the Government control the telegraphs- 
 .0 bring out all the arguments for and against the proposition. There are those wh< 
 believe that the thing, or creature, they call Government should own and run all th. 
 railroads and all the coal mines, and there are others who would have this paterua 
 creation run everything and divide the net results among the people. But to sucl 
 persons the arguments which appeal to the prudent sagacity of conservative am 
 level-headed people can not be addressed. Those who notice the telegraph-wire: 
 stretched from pole to pole throughout the country may jump at the conclusion tha' 
 It would be an excellent thing for the Government to own them and manao-e them ii 
 tne interest of the people. The lines seem not to be expensive, and the current pric< 
 of transmission of messages very high, so that, between the expenses and the receipts' 
 there should be a good margin, even when the rates are reduced, to go into the pub 
 iic Treasury. That is what some of us might conclude, but actual experience of Gov- 
 erunieut control of telegraphs under the most favorable circumstances, in the smal* 
 and densely populated area of Great Britain, shows that with a rate about 15 per cent- 
 less for short distances the Government telegraph does not pay its running expenses 
 and that, too, where telegraphic labor is only half as expensive as in the United 
 fetates. 
 
 Experience shows that no government can perform any service as cheaply, and 
 rarely as efficiently, as can individuals or private corporations. Consequently thd 
 Government contracts with outside parties for the building of its ships, the" run/ 
 ning of mail routes, etc. If governments could let out their wars in contracts they 
 would probably be ended more satisfactorily. It is proper that the postal service* 
 which is for the whole people and which is a necessity of civilization, should be undei 
 tae control of the Government, but still there is every reason to believe that privatd 
 entei'prise and energy could atford as complete a service and at the same time nav 
 Its way. ^ •’i 
 
 But the mail service is for the people, while the telegraph service, from its cost, 
 must be confined to a class of people whose business requires speed and who are near 
 teffigrapb offices. Probably three-fourths of the voting population of the countrv 
 V ill not use the telegraph three times in a life-time. Not being a generally-used 
 means of communication, it should not be made a Government service at a cost iuexcess 
 of its earnings. Indeed, if the Government is to manage those enterprises which are of 
 greatest service to the masses it should take charge of the railroads rather than the 
 telegraph. I or the present it seems needless to give much heed to the proposition, 
 since the Government appears to have all that it can attend to in the mail service. 
 
 hen the head of the I’ostal Department can say that the mail system is as nearly 
 ])eifect as human experience and skill can make it, it will be time to take into con- 
 siueration outside enterprises like telegraph management. 
 
 [Salt Lake Herald, March 2.1 
 
 Ml . M anamaker has got it into his head tliat he would like to distinguish him- 
 se.r by inaugurating a postal telegraph service. There is a central aim or object 
 jU the iiiiiid ot every head ol an Executive Department of the Government. Eveiy 
 C.ibinet ofiicer wants to do something that Avill characterize his administration. The 
 postal telegraph is l\Ir. M anamaker’s hobbv, and he is riding it furiouslv. Let uai 
 hope that he will soon ride it to death. 
 
 J here are vsome things which the Government can legitimately undertake, but a 
 postal telegrajih is not among them. It is possible that in time there will be need for 
 
 ! 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 107 
 
 , but that time is uot now, and to establish the proposed system would be wrong in 
 rinciple and debidedly bad in practice. Tliere is very little to commend it, and very 
 uch to condemn it. 
 
 In the first place, it would be wrong for the Government to go into the telegraphic 
 isiness as a competitor with private individuals or a company; nobody will dis- 
 ate this proposition. If the Government thinks it legitimate to engage in the busi- 
 3SS it should take it all, buying out the plants and purchasing the “ earning ability,” 
 hatever that may be, of all the telegraph companies. Are the people of the United 
 ;ates, the tax-payers, who form the Government, prepared to invest millions in a tele- 
 r'ai)h plant, and then contribute other millions annually for the privilege of carrying 
 1 the business. We think not. Of course, if the Government goes into telegraph- 
 g, it will be with thejview of reducing the cost of the service to the people, and the 
 duction will mean a drawing upon the Treasury to make good the difference be- 
 veen the cost and the receipts. It will not be claimed that the Government can do 
 le work as cheaply as it can be done by private parties. Government work always 
 •sts more than the same work would cost individuals. 
 
 But there are two objections to the Government telegraph, either of which should 
 ^ sufficient to give the death-blow to Mr. Wanamaker’s scheme. One is this : Of 
 e 60,000,000 people in the United States only 3,000,000 patronize the telegraph or 
 ive any use for it ; only these 3,000,000 ever send a message or receive one ; the 
 ,000,000 being absolutelypudifferent. The 3,000,000 are of the well-to-do class, finan- 
 ally. They comprise the capitalists and the business men, tlie 57,000,000 being the 
 rmers, the mechanics, and laborers. Now, are the 57,000,000 who have no use for 
 e telegraph willing to tax themselves in order that the 3,000,000 may have cheaper 
 iegraph service ? Would it be right to tax the many who do not employ the tele- 
 aph at all for the benefit of the few who make money for themselves by using the 
 Iegraph ? It seems to us that the country has had enough of the schemes and sys- 
 ms which take money from the poor and give it to the rich, as the Postmaster-Geu- 
 al would do. 
 
 Hut tlie greater evil in this plan would come from the great increase of i)olitical 
 >wer which the Government control of the telegraph would give into the hands of 
 e administration party. Every man in the telegraph service, from the superintend- 
 ,t down to the fellow who sweeps out the country office, would be an active parti- 
 u, attached to the administration, and working for the adA^ancement of that polifi- 
 1 organization. The control of the Post-Office De])artmeut gives the party in power^ 
 i advantage Avliich is felt in every cam])aign, whether national or local, and the 
 my of telegraph empioyds would make the “ ins” almost invincible. 
 
 It is probably true that telegraph rates are too high ; they must be too high when 
 .ey are made to pay dividends on so much “ Avatered ” or fictitious stock ; but the 
 ay to reduce tolls is by legitimate competition or restrictive legislation, and not by 
 e GoA’ernment engaging in a business which Avould be no more legitimate than 
 juld be a GoA'ernment hat factory. 
 
 [Salt Lake Tribune, March 2.] 
 
 We think Norvin Green is right in his protest against the proposed course of the 
 )stmaster-General. When Postmaster Vilas insisted that certain steam-ships, owned 
 ' private citizens and under uot the slightest obligations to the Government, should 
 rry the mails of the United States at such rates as the company had fixed for ordi- 
 ry freights, Ave denounced the assumption of the Postmaster-General as a mere ex- 
 cise of unjust arbitrary power. We think this Avork of Postmaster-General Wana- 
 iker is a suit off the same pattern; that if the Government is dissatisfied Avith the 
 tes charged by the telegraph company, the remedy should be to build indepetjdent 
 )\"ernment lines. Tliis ought to have been inaugurated years ago. As it is, the Post- 
 aster-General does uot know the cost of maintaining and operating a telegraph sys- 
 tu. A Government line from Washington to Now York and another to New Orleans, 
 mid give the Government full knowledge of the expense of the system in a year or 
 [o, and without knowledge he must be working in the dark uoav. The first tele- 
 aph line in the Avorld Avas made possible by the act of a Postmaster-General. In 
 e interest of the Post-Office Department he had a line stretched between Washing- 
 a and Baltimore. That Avas enough to inaugurate the stretching of lines the world 
 ouud. The start was on the right track and should have been followed by a raini- 
 ation of lines our country OA^er, and they should Inwe been carried on by the Post- 
 fice Department. 
 
 In priAuxte hands probably more im])rovemeuts have been added than AA Ould haA^e 
 eu by the Government, but it has cost the people a great deal more than it Avould 
 we cost had the Government assumed and maintained control. The inotiA'e of the 
 istmaster-Geueral is a good one. Ho thinks the people are paying too much, that 
 tes should be reduced, but we can not understand by Avhat authority he insists that 
 has a right to fix the rates for GoA crnmcnt messages and to compel the company 
 carry messages at those rates. " 
 
108 
 
 POSTAL TP^LEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 I San Antonio Express, March 2.] 
 
 Dr. Norviii Green is thoroughly acquainted with the business of telegraphy and ii 
 able to show, possibly more clearly than another, that it will not pay the Govern 
 ment to buy the wires. So far, however, as the general public is concerned, the Ex 
 press believes his argument to have been unnecessary. The pepple understand tha 
 telegraphic service is now very nearly as low as it is possible to bring it, and pay j 
 dividend on the capital invested. It has been the policy of the Western Union com 
 pany, of which Dr. Green is president, to steadily lower its rates as fast as busiuesi 
 justified it. In Texas, for example, they are 100 per cent, less than ten years ago 
 The Government can not give us cheaper service, and its ownership would create i 
 very undesirable class of office-holders. Of these we have too many now. 
 
 [Detroit 'N’ews, March 2.J 
 
 President Norvin Green, of the Western Union Telegraph Conqiany, in his argu 
 ment before the House Post-Office Committee last Friday, in opposition to John Wan 
 amaker‘s''postal-telegraiih scheme, did the public a valuable service. This is rathe: 
 much to expect from a corporation or any representative thereof, but it was done al 
 the same. In dealing with the question of telegraphic communication. Dr. Green hai 
 a decided advantage over the superintendent of the Bethany Sunday school. H< 
 knows what he’s talking about from experience. Whether the change would hurt o] 
 benefit his company is hardly a ([uestion at issue in this controversy. The principh 
 of the thing is most largely at stake, and the falsity of the principle can be ampl;j 
 backed up by the possibilities of its execution. The Government has no businesi 
 with the management of a telegraph system, any more than it has with the manage- 
 ment of a shoe factory. It would have rather more show of reason in dealing witl 
 the latter than with the former, on the score of more general public adaptability: 
 There are more people who wear shoes than there are who use the telegraph, yet it i^ 
 scarcely credible that Mr. Wanamaker would care to be considered the father of ^ 
 scheme for a series of Government shoe factories and retail stores for their sale. ■ 
 
 Whether a Government telegraph would pay or not has no bearing on the principle 
 The Government is not a profit-making institution. It is not managed on any prini 
 ^ ciple that requires it to show a large balance sheet on its books at the end of everj 
 commercial period, but rather on a converse principle. Its expenses should be as low 
 as they can be judiciously made, and its receipts gauged to meet these expenses anc 
 no more. But even granting the Wanamaker proposition that the Goverumem 
 must make as much money as possible, to the exclusion of private capital, there has 
 been no argument adduced that the telegraph business will pay for itself. Our ordij 
 nary commercial rates in this country, all things considered, are as low as the races 
 under the English postal system. Our systems have to be larger because our counj 
 try is larger. Proportionately to the size of the respective countries w’e do not do 
 tithe of the business done in England. Our regulations are more lax. Ten words id 
 England mean ten words, address and signature counted in. Ten words here mea£ 
 ten wmrds of message, address and signature uncounted. So that our English cous- 
 ins haven’t such a decided advantage over us in the way of rates that the advocates 
 of the system like to make us believe. 
 
 Dr. Green brought these facts out more clearly than any other man in the country 
 could do. His interest and his experience make him peculiarly adapted to the expo-i 
 sitiou. Once in a while some good can come out of Nineveh. 
 
 [Austin (Tex.) Statesman, March 2,] 
 
 Dr. Green, president of the Western Union, is making a magnificent and able figlii 
 against Wanamaker and a Government telegraph. 
 
 [Cincinnati Tinies-Star, March 3. J j 
 
 The old ({uestion of a postal-telegraph system has again been revived. Its mostj 
 enthusiastic advocates are found among men who rarely have occasion to use the teh; 
 egraph and upon ^Yhom w’ould tall its heaviest burden if once the system went iuto| 
 vogue. The old shop.- worn argument in its favor is the one England’s system has fur- 
 nished. Great Britain and Ireland only comprise a few' more than 1*21,000 square mileSf 
 They lack fully 47,000 square miles of being as large as the State of California alone^ 
 Their population of more than :U),000,000 people is bunched. It is not scattered oveE 
 an area of 3,547,000 square miles as is the ])opulation of this great country. The cost 
 of maintaining ai>ostal telegraph system there is no more to be compared wdth one in 
 this country than would the cost of maintaining a large family, all under one roofj 
 and the same family if each individual member had a separate house and carried on 
 a separate establishment, each one located a thonsand miles apart. Il 
 
 C 
 
 j 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 109 
 
 Did it over occur to the riuisses that they would not want to telegraph, even if they 
 onld do it at the coyt of writing a letter ? The people most benefited by this Gov- 
 rninent innovation would be the people who now use the telegraph. The tremen- 
 dous reduction in rates contemplated would make a tremendous deficiency inevita- 
 le, and the burden of it would fall upon the tax-payers. The great majority of 
 hese tax-payers are the people who seldom, if ever, have occasion to telegraph. A 
 lostal telegraph system would lighten the telegraph burden of the business men. It 
 eould particularly l)enefit the newspapers compelled to annually pay telegraphic 
 oils that mount lip into the thousands, but business men and newspapers are able to 
 'car the burden. Upon the masses, heaven knows, taxes are now heavy enough. 
 Vhy should the masses of the country clamor for a reduction in the cost of diamonds f 
 'hey don’t employ them now to keep out hunger and cold and they wouldn’t if the 
 ost were reduced. What would they sa^ if the price were reduced and the differ- 
 nce between present and future prices were assessed as taxes upon the people ? 
 
 Fully advised as to the consequence of the Government extending its ownership 
 ver the telegraph lines of the country, they would be as clamorous against the 
 cheme as they are now clamorous for it. A postal telegraph system over the im- 
 (leuse area of this country could only have one meaning, and that a decided benefit 
 b the few at a tremendous cost to the many. 
 
 [Spokane Falls Keview, March .5.J ^ 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker supports his proposition fora postal telegraph with 
 onsiderable ability and show of reason. His bill contemplates a connection between 
 1,11 letter-carrier offices. The letter-carriers would collect the messages, and the 
 mploybs of the Post-Office Department would do the telegraphing over the leased 
 ines. In the oxiinion of the Review, this proposition is the weak spot in the bill, 
 dr. Wanamaker says the x>resent employes could go to schools of telegraphy and study 
 he art. Telegraphy has been reduced to a skilled profession that can not be learned 
 n a fe w weeks or mouths. Of course a quick scholar can pick up the Morse alphabet, 
 )ut proficiency comes only with long exx)erience. Take the Western Union company 
 or instance. It emi^loys skilled operators, and yet its messages are full of errors, 
 business men who are frequent i)atrons of the telegraph can readily understand the 
 )luuders that would be liable under Mr. Wanamaker’s system of depending upon 
 inskilled employes of the Post-Office Department. So much depends, in time of cli- 
 natic disturbance, upon the skill and experience of the operator that a “ raw” man 
 vould be as helpless as a child. 
 
 The control of duplex and quadruplex wires has become a science, a science so del- 
 cate and i^erplexing that it wmuld be far safer to place a college fledgling in the 
 ■e8i)onsible position held by Mr. Wanamaker than to turn loose a young man fresh 
 Tom a school of telegraphy in a large operating room and depend upon him to take 
 iontrol of the switchboard. And yet Mr. Wanamaker proposes to do exactly this. 
 
 If this experiment should prove a success, the system would be gradually extended. 
 Che charges for messages sent within the limits of one state would be 10 cents for 
 iiwenty words or less, counting address and signature ; 25 for any distance under 
 ‘.,500 miles, and 50 cents for any greater distance. 
 
 Mr. Wauamaker’s scheme will hardly be favorably received in Spokane Falls, at 
 east not at jn’esent. The people at Washington have an irnxiression that the post- 
 )ffices in this State already have more business than they can handle satisfactorily. 
 They would prefer an improvement in the present service before an extension. After 
 ihat is done it will do to talk about an extension. After that is done it will do to 
 ;alk about a postal telegraph. 
 
 [ Belltbnte (Pa.) News, March 5.1 
 
 The time has fully come when the Republican press of the country should demand 
 i halt upon the Postmaster-General in his attempt, officially, to commit the jiarty to 
 
 i)olicy utterly at variance with its every principle, its past purposes, and its pres- 
 mt aims. 
 
 The party has been built upon the broad foundations of protecting j)rivate enter- 
 irise, of dispensing equity and justice, and of insuring prosperity alike to the people 
 ind the Government ; and while it has been in the control, of statesmen of clear 
 uulerstanding and broad comprehension its success has been fully attained. 
 
 It has been the custom, and quite the practice, upon the accession of any one fresh 
 Tom the fields of finance, or of a limited career in the legal profession, or from hab- 
 erdashery as a xmrsuit, for the x^rofessional lobbyists to seize upon him and thor- 
 lughly inflate him with their assurances of his comprehensive statesmaushij) ; this 
 iccomiilished he soon becomes larger than his party and a weak prey to their schemes. 
 
 It would bo idle to attempt to conceal the apparent fact that Mr. Wanamaker, in 
 |bhe new vocation of a Postmaster-General directing the legislation of Congress, lias 
 
110 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 entirely lost his head and forgotten his place, and painfully manifests that he i| 
 
 most ignorant of what he is most assured.” His personal assumptions might pass 
 with him, on his retirement from office, into oblivion, and we might now pass them 
 by were it not that our pride and faith of party is greatly wounded with the exhibb 
 tion he makes while prompted by a lobby of designing scamps, to schemes that have 
 neither the demand of the people, the sanction of the party, nor the commendation 
 of the President for their justification. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury, by requirements of the constitution, reports direct 
 to Congress, and is not infrequently asked by that body for information touching 
 proposed legislation ; other cabinet ministers report to the President by law, and only 
 through him by precedent and practice have communication with Congress. 
 
 ^ That a great political party should be held responsible for the vagaries of a Cabinet 
 minister is quite deplorable, but when thesf affect in their purpose the material in- 
 terests of large classes of the people, his attitude visits the party as a calamity by 
 insuring its defeat in great States, precariously Rexniblican. 
 
 [Pittsburgh Post, March 5.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green has made some statements before the House Committee on the 
 Post-office and Post-Roads which, if verified, should cause the committee to think twice 
 before recommending the adoption of the Wanamaker scheme of postal telegrai)hy.- 
 He says for one thing that the ratio between our own and the British telegraph rateg^ 
 is as 25 to 20. And yet the Postmaster-General proposes to reduce our rates one-half, 
 in face of the fact that the British system has been operated at a loss of !|11, 800,300 
 in the last eleven years. Assuming the fact as to the British service and the ratio off 
 rates to be as statefi, it raises a presumption, though of course it does not fully prov6,j 
 that our lines could not be operated without loss under a 20 per cent, reduction or 
 rates, while the 50 per cent, reduction projDosed by Mr. Wanamaker would almost 
 certainly result in heavy loss. There is no good reason why our Government should^ 
 run the telegraph business, or any other business, at a loss. The telegra];)h service isj 
 not for charitable purposes, and only to a very limited extent for social purposes. It’ 
 is chiefly a business service and should be conducted on a business basis like trauspor-] 
 tation, and not at the public expense. 'i 
 
 The whole idea of a Government telegraph belongs to the paterual notion that'.! 
 those in authority should provide everything for the dear people from waffles to war.j! 
 
 Making the thousands of telegraph operators and workmen in the United States'! 
 the agents of Wanamaker’s political party, with the right of iusxtection of all me8-*| 
 sages going over the lines — as to a great extent in the Tilden campaign of 1876 — wouldV 
 be rushing things with a vengeance. < 
 
 [Houston (Tex.) Post, March 5.] j 
 
 Dr. Green, president of the Western Vuion Telegraph Company, recently appeared'> 
 by request before the House post-office committee and gave that body of savants a| 
 few facts and figures regarding telegraph service in this country and Europe that will, 
 probably have the effect of retiring the Wanamaker postal telegraith scheme for the 
 present. He demonstrated that there are in America more telegraph than post 
 offices; that telegraph rates are lower, distance considered, than in England; that 
 it would cost the Government at least P,000,000 a year in excess of receipts to carry' 
 out the Wanamaker idea, which sum the 57,000,000 of people who do not use the wires 
 would have to pay. 
 
 [St. Louis Itepnblic, March 5.] 
 
 The element of common sense and common justice is altogether lacking in any. 
 X)ostal telegrai^h scheme under which the force and j)Ower of the Government would 
 be used to com])el private lines to transmit j)opular messages in competition with their 
 own interests. Such a policy would be a war measure — that is, an act depending for' 
 justification only on the law of the stronger. ' 
 
 The Federal Government has no constitutional authority to go into the private 
 business of ox)erating railroads or telegraphs, but supposing that it had no constitu- 
 tion, three courses would be oiien to it: 
 
 It could build lines of its own and comi)ete the existing lines out of existence — in- 
 directly confiscating them. 
 
 It could buy them at an agreed jirice and prohibit competition. 
 
 It could confiscate them directly. 
 
 The ]dan of allowing them to remain ostensibly in the hands of their owners and 
 using them as a part of government machinery against the consent and to the detri- 
 ment of the owners is more unfair than the outright confiscation which has bold' 
 
 
: POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. Ill 
 
 ►rutality to comraeiid it. The sneaking indirection of the method makes it as con-' 
 ernptible as it is unjust. 
 
 No sensible person doubts that if the Government goes into interstate telegraphing 
 T railroading at all, it must monopolize the business as it does that of carrying the 
 uails. The people would demand and enforce from Congress a rate with which pii- 
 rate enterimise could not compete. So, if it be assumed that the Government is to 
 lo the work at all, it is a contemptible, swell as a futile, evasion to attempt to avoid 
 he alternative that if the Government does not extinguish existing property rights 
 >y direct purchase, it must do it by direct or indirect confiscation. ” 
 
 ! There is really no alternative. The Government can not as well afford to pay for 
 ailroads and telegraphs as it could to pay for the slave property confiscated. Pur- 
 ihase is out of the question. If the Government goes into the business of a general 
 jOinmon carrier, it must by direction or indirection confiscate the property of com- 
 fioii carriers now in the business. 
 
 i [Financier (N. Y. ), March 8. ] 
 
 The president of the WesteruUniou Telegraph Company, Dr. Norviu Green, before 
 he committee appointed to inquire into the expediency of Government telegraphy, 
 aid the Western Union Tlegraph Company had no desire to compete against the 
 Inited States Treasury. He added much else to show that the projected programme, 
 'persisted in and enlarged upon, would prove a practical confiscation of the Western 
 Fnion’s business. 
 
 We are inclined to think he is right; this whole matter resolves itself down to a 
 nestion of honesty; can the people afford to take possession of a private enterprise, 
 onfiscate its business,;ruin its prospects and capital, and cause distress to many em- 
 iloyds, even if a cheaper telegraph service should be given them ? 
 
 I This is a very grave issue, and clearly shows that there is more in Mr. Bellamy’s 
 bcialism than many of our business men imagine. For might not such a government 
 rogramme, if carried out, be an entering- wedge toward encouraging our Govern- 
 ient to go into quite a variety of industries to the detriment and ruin of many other 
 leople engaged in such particulars? 
 
 : There are very few business people who fully take into consideration what social- 
 mi in practice means ; they are inclined to class that phase of organization with 
 tanks and closet theorists to the exclusion of the weight it now — in this country — 
 Iready has among solid business men. Not that these men fully appreciate what 
 hey are doing or toward what their aims inflexibly lead ; nevertheless, the move- 
 lent is rapidly gaining ground, and it becomes high time a halt is taken, that this 
 rave matter may become more generally understood. 
 
 We need no better proof of the growth of this insidious mischief and disastrous ele- 
 lent than the very proposition in question, involving an inquiry of a House com- 
 littee to look into it with a view to its adoption. 
 
 As this act of Congress may be insufficient, in the minds of many, to support the 
 ssertion we have made, we will give another instance that will remove all doubts 
 bout the matter. 
 
 The following is a summarized statement just received from the German liberals, 
 f Berlin, which contains the gist of the great movement that has recently attracted 
 ae world’s attention ; it is the socialistic platform condensed : 
 
 “ Their chief aim will be to substitute for, the present condition of things one in which 
 le state shall become the possessor of all capitals, land, houses, machinery, and pro- 
 isions. All independent industries shall cease operation, and everyone, without 
 xception, shall become employes of the state. 
 
 Such a, revolution, in the opinion of the socialists, would remedy present evils 
 rising from the unequal distribution of wealth and from the inability of those en- 
 aged in small industries to compete with the great capitalists.” 
 
 Now apply this platform to the question before ns, and it will be seen that the pro- 
 osed Government telegraph system is in exact keeping with socialistic precepts, 
 pd it is in exact harmony with the ideas contained in Mr. Bellamy’s books : there- 
 )re the question now before us is, will the people, if called upon, vote for socialistic 
 jnfiscation of private business by our Government, or will they vote for the present 
 Dmpetitive system, and require our Government to let private enterprise alone ? 
 lo show how dangerous this issue has already become, the merchants of this coun- 
 'y may well be alarmed when their attention is called to the fact, that if a vote was 
 iken to-day whether the Government should or should not adopt Mr. Wanamaker’s 
 Ian, few would hesitate in saying the vote would be carried in the affirmative. 
 
 The people want all they can get, and so long as Mr. Wanamaker’s plan jDromises a 
 aeaper telegraph service, a service that claims postage rates, few would be found to 
 ote against it. 
 
 Now we ask this question : Would not such a proceeding be equivalent to highway 
 )bbery ? Could the Western Union or any private line compete, as Dr. Green said. 
 
112 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 against the United States Treasury? We fail to see how they conld, whether the 
 proposed telegraph service was run at a loss or a profit. 
 
 And the people in voting for a Government telegraph w'onld not necessarily appre- 
 ciate the fact that they were voting for socialistic principles ; to them the snbject 
 would be a matter of course, and us reasonable as the present method of conducting 
 our postal affairs. 
 
 Here is a precedent already est<ablished ; our post-office is run on socialistic princi- 
 ples by the people, for the people ; and the matter is so reasonable, and in the minds 
 of most business people so fascinating, that by comparing their feelings upon the 
 question as here presented they should become agitated by the question, “Where 
 will it all end ? ” 
 
 Mr. Bellamy says in his book that his system is the natural outgrowth of the 
 times; that his socialistic system grew out of the common tendencies of the present 
 industries of the day; that trusts, corporate management, etc., grew to such propor- 
 tions that it, in practice, was but a step from them to a general appropriation of all 
 industries by the Government— that is, the people. Here he makes a tremendous error, ' 
 for no such orderly growth as he describes is a possibility ; because corporate and all 
 private property would have to be confiscated ; and such an act would produce a big- 
 ger war than that of the rebellion. 
 
 But recommending that our Government should take gradual possession of the 
 Western Union’s business, regardless of the property rights of that corporation vested 
 in it by our Constitution, is a large movement in the socialistic direction; it is that' 
 confiscation we point out that if generally applied would produce the greatest civil i 
 war in history ; therefore we say to this Congressional committee, “ Look well what ' 
 you do, for where would this precedent stop if once established ? What industry in| 
 this country could safely count its own resources overnight with such Congressional^ 
 acts threatening them with confiscation? | 
 
 Once habituate the people to such wholesale robberies, and who knows where the; 
 matter would end ? ” S 
 
 As Dr. Green said, private enter|)rise can not compete with the United States Treas- ’ 
 ury. (' 
 
 [Fresno (Cal.) Expositor, March 8.] (j 
 
 Under the plan outlined by the Postmaster-General the benefits of cheap telegraphy ;j 
 would be confined to cities and towns that had a free post-office delivery. But once -I 
 c.arried thus far, it would not be long before it would be extended to every village post-!! 
 office, and a vast Government telegraph system would be only^ a question of a little' 
 time. To the present inconvenience of a private telegraph monopoly would succeed’! 
 a vast, costly, and burdensome public monopoly. Resist the beginnings. ! 
 
 [Detroit Free Pres.s, March 8.] | 
 
 The scheme of Mr. Wanamaker to establish telegraph lines in connection with the? 
 Post-Office Department is, as has been well said, simply the entering- wedge to govern- 
 mental control and possession of the whole telegraph system. This multiplies Federal ' 
 officials, and is another long step in the progress to an absolute centralized govern- ; 
 ment. 
 
 Wanamaker’s plan, without going any further, makes an expert telegraph operator 
 necessary in every office that is connected with the system and will swell the expense 
 of the Department far beyond its receipts. The deficiency must be paid by the mil- 
 lions w’ho never will derive the slightest benefit from the postal telegraph. 
 
 It is to be regretted that Democratic organs and leaders expend their efforts in one 
 direction, that of tariff reform alone, while the enemies of real democratic govern- 
 ment advance steadily on other lines to permanent conquest. Shall the country ever 
 have a party that advocates a full and real democratic creed, as it now has one in 
 power of un, adulterated monarchism ?—Ypsilauti Sentinel. 
 
 [Ashband (AVis.) Press, March 10.] j 
 
 While there is no doubt of his honest motives, the postal telegraph scheme of Mr.' 
 Wanamaker will not receive a popular indorsement. In the first place, it would Hood; 
 the country with half-breed telegraph operators, as it provides th.at all post-office 
 employes sli.all be required to learn the trade. 
 
 There is no doubt but that it would cheapen rates and put it within the power ofi 
 even the poorest people to communicate with jerked lightning. But can not this same! 
 object be accomplished without a demoralization of the trade f i\ 
 
 The telegraph .and postal service may be closely allied, but .t^i© Press believesi 
 they should be kept se]>arate and distinct. E.ach has specific functions. There must I 
 be a distinction, or the m.ail service will be entirely obliterated. The newspaper 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 113 
 
 franchises are destroyed, Every man his own operator” would result in a confu- 
 'sion that would be appalling. The prompt and reliable telegraph service of the pres- 
 leut time would be but a memory. If cheaper rates are denied, the Government should 
 control the telegraph service and establish a minimum rate, but not bunch it with 
 ithe mass of mail matter. Each would be deteriorated. 
 
 ' [Spriugfield ^Mass.) Kepublican, March 10.] 
 
 It is a pity that the busim ss capacity of Postmaster-General Wananiaker can not 
 be employed in developing the legitimate features of the postal service instead of 
 tinkeriug with such schemes as that of the ])ostal telegraph. He has made several 
 appearauces before the House committee on Post-Offices in behalf of this scheme and 
 endeavored to make them uuderstaml what he wants. His plan is worse than complete 
 Goveinmeut control, for it estaldishes a hybrid system with divided responsibilities 
 aud unfair competition of the Government against private lines. Old Dr. Green the 
 president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, has been pouring some hot shot 
 into the Wananiaker scheme uuring the past few days. He has had no difficulty in 
 demonstrating that a government telegraph would not pay its way at the rates pro- 
 posed by the Postmaster-General, and that ir, has net proved economical in England 
 where the conditions aie infinitely more favorable than incur more thinly settled 
 country. A number of members of the committee were disposed to favor the plan of 
 the Postrnaster-Geueral, but Dr. Green’s stuldmrn facts and figures have opened their 
 pyes. It is barely iiossible that the te legraph lines of the country will be placed under 
 the control of the Interstate Con merce Commission, but it would be difficult to enforce 
 the long and short distance) clause which has been incorporated into the bill reported 
 to the Senate. 
 
 [Cincinnati (Ohio) Commercial Gazette, March 10 ] 
 
 It is not quite half a century since the first telegraph line became practically avail- 
 able in the United States or in the world. It was what was kuowu as the Morse sys- 
 tem. And It is a remarkalile fact that the Morse aljihabet is the one still in use. It 
 has not been improved u|)ou. That was the result of private enterprise. The Con- 
 gress of the Unite t States contributed a few thousand dollars to the first experiment 
 and did that in a way that can best be expressed by the word churlish. * 
 
 In lr'4(i, we think, the first telegraph message was received in Cincinnati, That 
 line, over the mountains from Pliiladel[diia, was coustructed under the manao-ement 
 3f Henry O’Reilly, and the money was obtaTlued with the greatest difficulty, “it w^as 
 years, too, before the business pai<l, and most of the people who invested in it lost all 
 ffiey contributed. Henry O’Reilly is a poor man, if he is alive. J. D. Reid, the first 
 general manager, is a poor man, and was recently appointed, through the influence 
 Df fri nds, to a small consulate in Scotland. 
 
 In 1847 it was umlertaken to transmit a President’s message from Washington. It 
 was done after a fash'on, but it required the greater part of two days “and two 
 aights to do the work. We mention this'toshow what the system was at that time, 
 'low a President’s message is transmitted in two hours. This marvelous progress is 
 ;he result of private eurer()rise, and out of this has grown nearly every invention in 
 ;he field of electricity. With all this t he Government has had nothing to do, except 
 ;o issue patents. It did not aid to the extent of a dollar. The progress has been 
 nade independent of it. 
 
 Does any mortal su{)po8e that if the Government of the United States had assumed 
 (ontrol of the telegraph system even twenty years ago any considerable improve- 
 neuts would have been ma<fe ? No one. A government moves in ruts. The life of 
 Ml employe is meaMtred by the life of the administration under which he is appointed. 
 Tot faithful service he has no hope of reward. There is no incentive to the exercise 
 >f inventive genius. The science of electricity would not have been developed as it 
 las been if Government had been in control of telegraph lines. 
 
 The post-office system has progressed, but not as it should have done, and as it 
 vould have done had it beeu managed as express companies are governed. Even 
 low it is in every respect far behind express companies. Every newspaper publisher 
 mows this. Iii the transmission of correspondence and the distribution of papers 
 vheie quickness is necessary the express companies are used in preference to the 
 mst-office, and that too regardh-ss of cost. So it would be in the case of a Govern- 
 aent pcistal service. Private enterprise would beatthe Government unless the latter 
 hould destroy privaie enter|>rise by adopting losing rates and paying shortages out 
 f the National i'reasury. Would that be uood policy? 
 
 The Goveiumei.t might build a railroad from New York to New Orleans, make rates 
 o low as to destroy compel ition, aud call upon Congress every year for a deficiency 
 all. Would that be good policy ? Would it be tolerated ? Yet that is precisely the 
 'imciple upon which Mr. Wauamaker proposes to go into the telegraph business, 
 le proposes to cripple private enterprise at the expense of the people and at the cost 
 f the service. ■ 
 
 P T 
 
 ■8 
 
114 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 It is argued that the telegraph is a great monopoly, but this is not true except in 
 the case of patents. The enterprise started with a monopoly, but with the expiration 
 of the Morse patents the country was free to capitalists that desired to venture money 
 in the construction of telegraph lines, as it is free to-day, except so far as improve- 
 ments have been made which are covered by letters patent. These so far as valua- 
 ble are mainly owned by the Western Union Telegraph Company, but still there is 
 a large field outside of these, and, in point of fact, there is a formidable competition — 
 powerful enough to prevent the establishtheut of extortionate rates by any corpora*- 
 tion. 
 
 There have been many consolidations of telegraph lines, but it is a fact that charges 
 are lower in this country to-day than at any former time. Every consolidation was 
 followed by a reduction in the tariff, except in cases where there had been temporary 
 suicidal cutting. But the general changes have been in a downward rather than an 
 upward scale. If it were otherwise, if the policy of the telegraph companies should 
 be to make unreasonable charges. Government interference would be justifiable. 
 But thus far public opinion has been sufficient to keep charges within reasonable 
 bounds. Furthermore, the telegraph service of this country was never near so good 
 and never so cheap as it is now, and in the hands of private enterprise, under the, influ- 
 ence of an intelligent public opinion, it will never be less efficient or dearer than it is 
 now. 
 
 With the controversy between Mr. Wanamaker and the Western Union Telegraph 
 Company as to charges for public service we are not specially advised, but we feel as- 
 sured from our experience in the management of the general press business that the 
 Government can hire its business cheaper and secure more satisfactory service than 
 if it owned and undertook to manage its own lines. 
 
 The Associated Press is by far the largest customer of the telegraph companies, 
 and its managers have carefully considered the question of owning its own lines, but 
 it foresaw difficulties that would lie all along its path. The press knew more about 
 details than Mr. Wanamaker seems to comprehend. Therefore it preferred to be a 
 renter rather than an owner. , 
 
 There is an impression abroad that the Associated Press is a monopoly, and that 
 it is specially favored by the telegraph company. There is no ground for this. In 
 the first place, there are at least three associated press organizations in the country , 
 competing for business, and our contract with the telegraph company is that no com- 
 peting association shall be charged lower rates than are exacted from us. If there 
 has been a departure from the letter and -spirit of this agreement it has been against 
 and not in favor of the Associated Press. 
 
 But on general principles we would no more favor the Government control of tele- 
 graphs than we would that of railroads. 
 
 [New Orleans Picayune, March 12.] 
 
 The whole policy of the Republican party is towards the assumption by the GeneraF 
 Government of paramount authority over everything in the country. There is not a 
 function which by its nature is not wholly confined to the individual that this 
 party of centralization does not desire to control ; there is not a social or commercial ; 
 (juestion it does not aspire to regulate. 
 
 Among the usurpations it meditates is the possession and control of the telegraph 
 lines in the Ignited States, and it is proposed to be done under the pretense that it is 
 to be made a part of the postal system of the United States for the benefit of the 
 whole peo])le. But this pretense is wholly specious and deceptive', and it is only 
 necessary to call attention to a few points of difference between the letter postal 
 service and an alleged telegraph postal service. The mails are open to all who can 
 write or can procure the writing of a letter and can pay 2 cents of postage upon it. 
 There arc more than sixty millions of people in the United States. It is a fair and 
 reasonable assumption that the mails are actually used by a very large majority of 
 the people of the United States. There pass through the mails in a year more than 
 one thousand million letters and sealed packages written probably by not less than 
 forty million of the ])eople. It is estimated that not more than one million of the 
 people use the telegra])h. It is not then, like the mail service, a public necessity for 
 the whole peoi)le, but it is a necessity only for certain classes of the people, as about < 
 DO per cent, of the telegraphing is done by and for the mercantile classes and the 
 newspapers. 
 
 The telcgra})h service is therefore best carried on as a private enterprise, and the 
 Government has no more reason to assume the conduct of it than it has to take the 
 management and control of all the mercantile and manufacturing and transportation 
 onlerprises in the country. Even all this is demanded by the centralizing socialists, 
 but it would be going out of the way to consider that branch of the subject. 
 
 , Without touching on the abstract questions of the con.stitutiouality of the claim 
 that the Government can of right assume control of the telegraph service, let us look 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 115 
 
 at the practical side of the question of right. It is very clearly argued by Mr. E. B. 
 Vedder, of Buffalo, in a pamphlet of thirty pages, which we happen to have at hand. 
 He says in effect that if the Government should undertake to establish a Govern- 
 ment telegraph it could only do so either by purchasing the property of the existing 
 telegraph companies or by constructing special lines of its own. Suppose either 
 alternative, can the Government make an exclusive Government telegraph service 
 and abolish every other? “Certainly not,” argues Mr. Vedder. He continues: 
 
 “ The Government will have no right to use a single uuexpired patent, nor any im- 
 provement for which a patent may be taken hereafter, unless it gets it Ijy purchase. 
 In short, as to using the inventions which have been made and patented, and shall 
 hereafter be made and patented, the Government does stand and will stand in the 
 same predicament as that of every private individual in the country. It can avail 
 itself of rights as to which the patents have expired only just as every individual can, 
 and will be precluded from using any that are under the protection of a patent just 
 as long as individuals generally will. When the patent by which a right is secured 
 has expired, that right becomes public property, and may be used by any and every 
 person in the country, and if all the existing companies should sell all their property 
 and rights to the Government, they could not sell the rights of the public to make 
 use of what has become public property by the expi^-ation of patents, nor the right 
 to use anything which is at present secured by and under the protection of patents 
 still running, when they shall have expired, and shall also have become public prop- 
 erty. 
 
 “ That is not all. If Congress should buy the exjsting telegraph lines of the exist- 
 ing telegraph companies, the persons constituting those companies could proceed to 
 construct and operate new lines for themselves the same as other persons could, un- 
 less they had precluded themselves from doing so by agreement with the Govern- 
 ment, and the right given by the Constitution to Congress to purchase their property 
 (if any such right is given) does not carry with it the right to exact any such agree- 
 ment. In short, if the Government shall buy out all the property and rights of the 
 existing telegraph companies, uiion the familiar legal principle that the grantor can 
 not convey, and the grantee can not get, what the grantor does notown, the Govern- 
 ment could not get the right to prevent any persons who might wish from construct- 
 ing telegraphs so long as those companies themselves had no right to prevent them. 
 
 “ There is a great difference between those rights which a government has as a 
 part of its sovereignty derived from the source of sovereignty and those which it 
 acquires by contract from private persons, in which latter case it has nothing by 
 virtue of its sovereignty, but only by contract with the individual, and only what 
 the individual has the power to give it, and by his contract does give it.” 
 
 But the greatest popular objection to an exclusive government telegraph would be 
 its constant and most formidable menace to our fret* institutions. The Government 
 of the United States is in reality a government of parties. At the present moment 
 the Government is in the hands of a most aggressive sectional party. If that party 
 icontrolled the telegraph service, it would have, through the rweuty thousand officials 
 required to handle the service, direct and complete knowledge of eA*ery telegram 
 passing over the wires. Not even cipher dispatches would be sacred because there 
 is no system of cipher or cr\ ptograpli that can not be translated into intelligibility. 
 
 With a political system which practicall}’’ consists of the party in power and the 
 party out*of power, the one seeking by every means to keep itself in possession of 
 jControl, while the other is equally desirous and determined to get in, a government 
 'telegraph would be simply a gigantic political machine to be operated by the party 
 in pow'er in its own interests and against the party out of power. The mail service 
 is enough of a political engine as it is, but suppose all the letters it handled were 
 open to its managers, what a monstrous agent of despotism it would be. This is 
 □ either more nor less than it is proposed to make of a government telegraph. 
 
 [Jacksonville Times-Union, March 17.] 
 
 I Before the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post Roads there was a very in- 
 teresting hearing last week on the matter of a Government postal telegraph. Mr. Ralph 
 Beaumont, of the Knights of Labor, addressed the committee, and (juoted Dr. Nor- 
 vin Green, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, as sajnng: “If the 
 jrovernment wants to hel}) the peojile, why donT. it go into the coal business? Lots 
 >f people use coal. Why don’t the Government go into the railroad business ? There 
 ire lots of people who use railroads. Why select the telegraph business? Very few 
 )f the people, comparatively, use the telegraph. .Not one {lercent. of the whole pop- 
 ilation is comprehended in those who are habitual patrons of the telegrafih. It is a 
 fact, however, that thirtj’ per cent, of the Western Union’s business is from specula- 
 ■jion and base-ball.” 
 
 Mr. Beaumont doubtless quoted Dr. Green correctly in the use of the “don’t.” The 
 Western Union president probably said “doesn’t,” but that is neither here nor there. 
 
116 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 The Knights of Labor man regarded the president’s statement as rather singular. It 
 does not appear so, however, to any one at all conversant with the uses to which the 
 'telegraph wires are put. In this connection it will doubtless surprise luauy to learh 
 that from Jacksonville alone, since the three league ball teams have been here in 
 Florida, there have gone out nightly over the wires after match games an average of 
 nearly 10,000 words in the form of newspaper specials. On one or two occasi ms the 
 nightly aggregate has reached 15,000 words. This Florida base-ball season is only a 
 little side-show compared to the regular season from April to October. With two 
 great leagues in the business, and many other professional organizations, the tele- 
 graph business in these six months must reach enormous proportions, taking the 
 whole country and Canada into consideration. 
 
 As a conclusion from Dr. Green’s information, Mr. Beaumont argued : “From this 
 statement I learn that the great Western Union Telegraph monopoly is not on a very 
 sound financial footing. For, according to this statement, if Ben Bntterworth suc- 
 ceeds in getting his bill to suppress gambling in futures passed and signed by the 
 President, and the presidents of the two national base-ball leagues succeed in their 
 efforts to get the courts to enjoin each (rom playing during the next season, the 
 Western Union will have to go to the wall. There is no way out of it.” 
 
 He leaves out of the consideration entirely the remaining 70 per cent, of the com- 
 pany’s business derived from sources outside of base'-ball and speculation. But then 
 Congress isn’t going to pass the Butterworth bill. It can’t afford to break ui) the 
 buying and selling of stocks, options, and margins. And again, this base-ball con- 
 troversy, both in the courts and out of them, is only giving an added interest to the 
 sport. More people will patronize it this year than ever before. 
 
 The Western Union will hardly go to the wall this year by lack of tolls on base-ball 
 specials over the wires. 
 
 [J7ew Orleans Picayune, March 17. J 
 
 The Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads of the House of Representatives , 
 has been for some time busy with a proposition to establish a postal telegraph system, 
 a matter which has Postmaster^eueral Wauamaker for its especial champion. The 
 most important witness that appeared before the committee was, of course, Mr. Norviu 
 Green, President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, who naturally was op- 
 posed to the Government having anything whatever to do with telegraphic interests. 
 He characterized Mr. Wauamaker’s scheme as the entering wedge in a movement to 
 break down the present telegraph business of the country, and the substitution there- 
 for of a complete Government system. 
 
 With regard to the charge that the cost of telegraphing in this country was higher 
 than in England, Mr. Green maintained that rates in the United States, taking into 
 account the free addresses and signatures and the great distances to be covered, were , 
 in reality lower than the English rates. He also contended that the Government ; 
 could not carry out the Postmaster-General’s scheme except at a loss unless it bought ■ 
 out all the existing companies and retained to itself the exclusive right to maintain 
 the telegraph service. 
 
 Although Mr. Green evident^ spoke through interested motives, as was naturally 
 to be expected under the circumstances, it is equally evident that he said some whole- 
 some truths. It is evident that the Government has yet much to do in the way of 
 perfecting the mail service that is anything but efficient in some sections of the coun- 
 try before attempting to tamper with a telegraph service in addition. Besides, there 
 are many people who believe that the Federal Government abrogates to itself too 
 many functions already for the good of the public service or 'for the safety of the 
 people. 
 
 With the control of the telegraph service it would not be long before attempts 
 would be made to control the railway system as well, with the result of vastly in- 
 creasing the already numerous army of Government employes. It would also help to 
 a dangerous extent to increase the power of the General Government beyond what is 
 accord^ed it by the Constitution. 
 
 The results would accelerate the centralization tendency that has been in the 
 ascendant for so long and further diminish the consequence and power of the sover- 
 eign States. Government ownership of the railroads and telegraphs would soon bring 
 about the aggrandizement and growth of a great central power which would essay 
 control of every social and political interest and reduce the States to mere geograph- 
 ical divisions and convert the citizens into subjects. 
 
 5 
 
 [Rocky Mountain News, March 18.] ' 
 
 Wauamaker’s scheme to establish a telegraph system under control of the Govern- ij 
 ment appears to collide with Frye’s bill for funding the debt of the Pacific railroads. | 
 If the Wauamaker scheme, to which the administration is committed, meets with 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 117 
 
 nothing more serious than the funding bill, it is sure to pass. It is doubtful, however, 
 if a majority of the Congressmen and Senators are, ready for the muster-in of another 
 army of pnl>lic servants. If the civil-service reform were on solid ground, there 
 would be less danger of the Government telegraph descending to the level of a com- 
 mon nuisance, but, as matters stand now, it had better be postponed. The organiza- 
 tion of rival lines .will reduce rates and increase the facilities of the service much 
 faster than Government interference. The American people have not yet confessed 
 their inability to manage the telegraph. • 
 
 [Norfolk Virginian, March 20. J 
 
 The testimony given by President Green, of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 before the House Committee on Post-Offices, and the statistical exhibits submitted 
 by him, have just been printed, and they make bad work of some of the Postmaster- 
 General’s theories. Mr. Green stated that the Government could operate the tele- 
 igraph if it saw fit, as is done in every Euroi)ean country. “None of them, however,” 
 he declared, “ have ever operated it as cheaply or as efficiently, in my judgment, or 
 as satisfactorily' to the public, as private managers.” He add d: 
 
 “ If they furnish service to the public somewhat cheaper, they do it uniformly at a 
 loss. Evei.ybody knows that the principal reason for the Government taking the 
 itelegrai)h under its control is to protect the Government from the people. In this 
 country the people need to be protected from the Government. The Government is 
 the servant of the people. Probably the cheap rates at which they furnish the serv- 
 ice is to placate the people in the use of this powerful engine of espionage.” 
 
 [New York Times, March 22. J 
 
 The dull monotony of a Congressional inquiry has again been relieved by the ap- 
 pearance and testimony of Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard, the w'ell-knowu telephone mill- 
 ionaire, as “friend of the public.” This time Mr. Hubbard has aired what seemed 
 to be his opinions concerning the pro[)osed postal-telegraph system before the House 
 Committee on thePost Office and Post-Roads. A few days ago he appeared before the 
 House Committee on the Judiciary to o[)[)ose, “in behalf of the public,” the pending 
 bill for international co})yright. With complete devotion to the service of the people, 
 he declared then to the Judiciary Committee that “ if the public demanded the works 
 of an American author the demand should be granted,” even if it should be necessary 
 to withhold from the author a copyright and thus to deprive him of his power to 
 obtain pay for the work of his brains. He sought to convince the committee that the 
 writings of authors ought, above all things, to be made cheap, apparently without 
 regard to auy rights these wretched creatures might claim to have in tbeir own prop- 
 erty. And the possibility of monopoly, hehad very decided opinions a’'Out that. He 
 was torn with anxiety lest thereshould be “a monopoly of book j)ublication.” Now 
 he tells the Committee on Post-Offices that he is “ in favor of a cheap telegraph.” He 
 finds that the Western Union Company is unable to do the business “ economically.” 
 He thinks the Government should take charge of the business and do it by means of 
 contracts with theconlpauy. He longs to relieve the people by reducing the cost of 
 telegrajihing. 
 
 How Mr. Hubbard’s heart must ache as he contemplates the greed and selfishness 
 of his wicked partners in the Bell Telephone Company! We suppose there can be 
 nothing more harassing to a warm-hearted philanthropist than to be associated iu 
 business with monopolists whose exactions have become notorious. Every trans- 
 action in which their greed is shown must shock him. Every time the Bell Com- 
 pany collects S14 a year in rent for the use of telephone instruments, the entire cost 
 of which is only $3.42, Mr. Hubbard must be moved by shame and indignation. 
 With reluctant fingers he takes the great dividends that are the fruit of greed and 
 monopoly, pra3Mng that the time may soon come when his partners shall see the 
 error of their ways and he shall be spared this humiliation. 
 
 . We presume Mr. Hubbard will admit that there was a time when he was equally 
 culpable and greedy. At the beginning of the life of the Bell Company he owned 
 one-third of the stock, and Bell, his son-in-law, another third. In April, 1886, he 
 still owned a large interest, and the third originally lield by Bell had come into the 
 possession of Mr. Hubbard’s daughter. The stock was watered several times. In 
 1880 the present company was formed with a nominal capital of $10,000,000, and no 
 less than $6,500,000 of this was allowed for the capital stock of a preceding company, 
 that capital stock being only $850,000, and representing about $110,000 paid in. Un- 
 til a comparatively' recent date the transactions of the comiiany, or rather those of 
 :he wicked partners, must have had Mr. Hubbard’s approval, for he appears to have_ 
 aeld two-thirds of the stock in his family and to have been the person who “de- 
 veloped the property.” 
 
 Even when the companies in and around Boston were consolidated, and the Boston 
 
118 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 exchange was “ put in ” by the Bell Company at ^3,894,300, although the net cost of 
 it had been only l|129,550, we snspect that Mr. Hubbard was a consenting partner. 
 And when the Bell Company began to take the local companies all over the country 
 by the throat and to compel them to surrender from 35 to 50 per cent, of their capital 
 stock for the privilege of paying |14 per year for the use of instruments costing |3.42^ 
 Mr. Hubbard may not have lifted up his voice in dissent. When in this way the 
 parent company had accumulated more than $22,000,000 in stock ; when it was com- 
 pelling economically managed local companies to water their stock ; when it made 
 that remarkable contract with the Western Union at the end of the Dowd suit; when 
 it sought by deceptive proceedings in the Patent Office to prolong and perpetuate its 
 monopoly and its power to exact extortionate rates, we are inclined to believe that 
 Mr. Hubbard’s attitude was still one of approval. 
 
 But now we are assured upon the anthoritj'^ of Mr. Hubbard himself that he is the 
 unrelenting foe of monopoly and the champion of the public against extortion and 
 exaction. We must assume, therefore, that the shameful exactions and greedy mo- 
 nopoly of the Bell Telephone Company are maintained against his most vigorous X)ro- 
 test. We expect to see him cut loose from the wicked associates' who compel him to 
 share the odium of these things, and to assist the people in overthrowing the monop- 
 oly these unphilanthropic men enjoy. 
 
 [ Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, March 23.] 
 
 Mr. Abner McKinley does not know as much about telegraphy as bethinks he does. 
 It is well, however, to have a few patents to apply to postal telegraphy. There is a 
 good deal of lumber of that kind. Any practical telegrapher will laugh at the fan- 
 tastical ignorance that proposes the abandonment of the Morse system. 
 
 [Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, March 25.1 
 
 Mr. Gardiner Hubbard, whose anxieties on the subject of postah telegraphy are un- 
 abated by the. advance of years, has from time iintremorial been unable to emancipate 
 himself from the original illusion that there is an identity between the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company and the Western Associated Press. If the venerable gentleman 
 could fix in his mind the fact that the Western Union Telegraph Company has noth- 
 ing to do with the Western Associated Press, or any style of Associated Press, 
 other than to transmit a certain number of words at a fixed rate under a carefully 
 drawn contract, and that the two institutions, owing to their intricate business re- 
 lations, have had a good deal of friction in the way of differences of opinion between 
 the officers of the concerns, he would open the gates of his mind for the comprehen- 
 sion of the intelligence he needs, before he undertakes to enlighten the country about 
 the relations between the press and the telegraph. It doesnot seem to interfere with 
 the placidity of the conscience of Mr. Hubbard to accept his share of the profits from 
 the use of the telephone, and he ought to be able to understand the rights of those 
 who have during many j'ears organized and adjusted the busiuess of the Associated 
 Press, arranged a vast system for the collection and dissemination of news, employed 
 hundreds of agents, and carried on a comprehensive bnsiness requiring the most 
 scrupulous attention to details. 
 
 He .should not be hasty, not to say vindictive, in denouncing thi.s press organization 
 as a monopoly. He would probably contest the justice of others coming in and tak- 
 ing up the telephone and, when they have done nothing in the invention of the in- 
 strument or the arrangement of its affairs so as to make them profitable, sharing with 
 him and others ; but he seems to regard it as a shocking circumstance that the mem- 
 bers of the Associated Pre.ss, who have been for thirty years building it up, do not 
 invite everybody to partake with them in the enjoyment of its advantages, but re- 
 quire to be compensated before turning over to new enterprises the facilities that 
 have been gradually developed. The truth is the Associated Press has dealt very 
 liberally with new applications for membership, and one who is as familiar with the 
 value of delicate instruments as Mr. Hubbard may be supposed to be, as he has prof- 
 ited so largely through them, ought not to be precipitate in accepting responsibility 
 for the utterance of accusations, that dealing with news as a commodity to be bought 
 and sold, and increasing the value of newspaper property through the extension of 
 its good will, implies a grasping trust and a criminal policy. 
 
 [Brooklyn Citizen, March 26.] 
 
 Before the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads at Washington yes--i 
 terday a hearing upon the proposition to establish a Government postal service was. 
 given to representatives of various industries in New York. Mr. Thurber, as a rep- ; 
 resentative of the Board of 'I'rade and Transportation, argued in favor of such a tele- : 
 graph, but without giving any reason for desiring it further than that 1,000 firms 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 119 
 
 were now using the Western Union lines and that the hoard at its annual convention 
 had always favored a Government telegraph. Mr. Gardner G. Hubbard, of Wash- 
 ington, made the point that inasmuch as the company had erected its lines out of the 
 tolls levied upon the public it had no vested interests, arguing from that premise 
 that the Government could not be restrained from entering into competition with it. 
 A great deal more was added to the same purpose, which may be summarized as the 
 application of Republican arguments for centralization to a proposition to centralize 
 the Government. 
 
 The subject has come before Congress frequently, but not in some years with any 
 chance of success, because the principle embodied in it is glaringly opposed to one of 
 the fundamental principles of Democracy. Now, with both branches of the national 
 legislature in sympathy with all movements to centralize authority and to interject 
 Government control into everything possible, there really is a slender chance at least 
 that a bill of this kind may pass. No Democrat who understands why he is such is 
 in the slightest danger of allowing himself to be betrayed into any sort of counte- 
 nance to the scheme. It is a sound Democratic doctrine that the Government which 
 has the least to do with the affairs of the peojile is the best, and in harmony with this 
 principle is the Democratic practice of allowing the people to do, as private individ- 
 uals or corporations, whatever is to be done, subject only to the restrictions and regu- 
 lations of the Government, made with the object of protecting the people at large 
 against wrong. 
 
 The demand for a Government telegraph is based upon the broad general proposi- 
 tion that the people are wronged by the Western Union Telegraph Company, because 
 that is a monopoly, and the only remedy for a monopoly is to establish a Government 
 rival. That the Western Union Telegraph Company is practically a monopoly is true. 
 That the people are daily and hourly wronged by it, are subjected to extortion and 
 other villainy, is perfectly true. That the only remedy is to establish a rival which 
 the monopoly can not buy up is wholly and mischievously false. 
 
 When did the Government of the United States lay down its arms and surrender to the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, by solemn treaty or otherwise, the right to regulate 
 in the most specific manner its affairs ? Who gave to Jay Gould imperial rights over 
 and above those of the railroad companies of the United States, and supreme control 
 over the Federal Government, with its arms to back it? Since when was this odious 
 association of robbers erected into a Bey of Tunis, to which the United States must 
 pay tribute? Does it possess inherent rights and powers of aggression and defense 
 greater than those of the Southern Confederacy ? We think not, and if it did, ten 
 times over, the duty of this Government would be to treat it as it treated the South- 
 ern Confederacy, to attack with shot and shell if necessary, rather than recognize its 
 independence or make cowardly treaty with it as with an equal. That is democratic 
 and sound American doctrine, and any other is treason. 
 
 The way to deal with the Western Union Company, then, is to apply precisely the 
 regulative priucijdes applied with great success to the railroads of the country. No 
 Democrat can afford to agree to the Republican proposition without stultifying his 
 party in relation to the interstate-commerce act. 
 
 fBellville (111.) News, March 28.] 
 
 The whole policy of the Republicans is towards the assumption by the General Gov- 
 ernment of paramount authority over everything in the country. There is not a func- 
 tion which, by its nature, is not wholly confined to the individual that this party of 
 centralization does not desire to control ; there is not a social or commercial question it 
 does not aspire to regulate. Among the usurpations it meditates is the possession and 
 control of the telegraph lines in the United States, and it is proposed to lie done under 
 the pretense that it is to be made a part of the postal system of the United States for 
 the benefit of the whole people. But this pretense is wholly specious and deceptive, 
 and it is otily necessary to call attention to a few points of difference between the 
 letter postal service and an alleged telegraph postal service. The mails are open to 
 ail who can write or can procure the writing of a letter, and can pay 2 cents of post- 
 age upon it. There are more than 60,000,000 people in the United States. It is a fair 
 and reasonable assumption that the mails are actually used by a very large majority 
 of the people of the United States. There pass through the mails in a year more 
 than 1,000,000,000 *letters and sealed packa ges, written probably by not less than 
 40,000,000 of the people. Itis estimated that not more than 1,000,0(30 of the people 
 use the telegraph. It is not then like the mail service, a public necessity for the whole 
 people; but it is a necessity onh’^ for certain classes of the people, as about 90 per 
 cent, of the telegraphing is done by and for the mercantile classes and the newspapers. 
 The telegraph service is therefore best carried on as a private enterprise, and the 
 Government has no more reason to assume the conduct of it than it has to take the 
 management and control of all the mercantile and manufacturing and transportation, 
 enterprises in the country. Even all this is demanded by the centralizing socialists, 
 but it would be going out of the way to consider that branch of the subject. 
 
120 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [Omaha World- Herald, March 30.1 
 
 The hoys had gathered at Gas’s place and indulged in the usual number of cigars 
 and shop talk. About every branch of the Telegraph service had been discussed and 
 several very thrilling personal reminiscences indulged in, when the subject of postal 
 telegraphy was broughr, up and immediately the views of the operators were expressed 
 on the subject. And, strange to say, unlike the Knigh s of Labor, the operators are 
 bitterly opposed to Government control of the telegraphs. The “old man,” as the 
 boys term one of their number who has grown gray in the service, gave his reasons 
 which to the telegrapher who is thoroughly acquainted with the situation strikes the 
 key-note. 
 
 “ 1 am opposed to Government control of telegraphs because there is reason for it,” 
 he said. “ First, 1 will take up the habits of the craft. As you all know a large pro- 
 portion of the men engaged in telegraphing travel about the country at their will 
 and as long as they are sober, reliable men have no trouble in securing work at the 
 salary their ability commands, if the telegraph was put under control of the United 
 States postal service, this feature would be eliminated. Without the travel incident 
 to a telegrapher’s career, the protVssiou would hold out no inducements forthe men to 
 remai.i in the service, and the travelers would soon drop out, leaving the places to 
 the stay-at-homes, who rarely become expert telegraphers. If civil-service rules 
 would be adopted, then all telegraphers would be compelled to pass an examination 
 and be classified. Often a man with a better knowledge of geography and mathe- 
 matics would be classed above men deficient in that class of education but far superior 
 in penmanship and the an of telegraphy. Even then a man after securing a place, 
 should he wish to exchange to another city, would be compelled to wait mouths and 
 wrestle with yards of red tape before the transfer could be made. This one fact would 
 be sufficient to cause me to leave the service. But this is but a drop in the bucket. 
 In fact this argument is insignificant as compared with the others which I will men- 
 tion. 
 
 “ Place the telegraph under Government control and it would at once become a 
 part of the great political machine which is used to keep one party in power and 
 another out. Even with civil-service rules the service would gradually drop down 
 to the same slough the postal department is now in. That is, in order to hold a pay- 
 ing position a man would be compelled to adopt the political views of the party 
 domiuant*or he would soon be out. If the telegraph is placed under Wauamaker, 
 Clarkson &. Co.’s control it would be in a far worse position for the employd than 
 under Gould, Green & Co. With the latter a man who is a first-class telegrapher re- 
 ceives first-class wages and is under no obligations to cast his vote for any party or 
 parties; but should Clarkson be placed at the head of affairs it would be but a short 
 time until all the Republicans would have the plums and the Democrats be used to 
 fill in until Republicans could be taught sufficiently to di8i)lace tl#em. 
 
 “ Of course corporations are considered to be soulless affairs, and we are aware that 
 wages have declined and are much less than they should be, yet it remains a fact 
 that experts are [laid expert’s wages and poor operators })oor wages. This is just. 
 Should the Government take charge you would soon find miserably poor operators 
 drawing salaries of $1,000 per year and upwards and first-class men rated down to 
 $600 per year. You ask why would it be thus? Easily answered; one word is suffi- 
 cient, and that is ‘ influence.’ Through the influence of men who are known as ward- 
 workers and party-iighters a man with no ability to speak of would be appointed to 
 remunerative places while other men with ability would be compelleil to do the heavy 
 work at a reduced salary. The superintendents, managers, and chief operators would 
 be appointed more for their ability to pull wires than to work them and use them to 
 the advantage of the commonwealth. Men wdio would work for the appointment of 
 a certain person as postmaster and manager would of course be rewarded by posi- 
 tions. P^riends of (jongre.ssmen would have berths jjrovided for them, and, in ])laiu 
 words, the whole thing would be run for the benefit of some person’s candidacy. 
 Civil service, theoretically, is a fine thing, but practically it amounts to chaff. It is 
 a delusion and a snare and is of no practical service, nor would it be in the telegraph 
 service. 
 
 “Then Wauamaker says; ‘It would require but a short time to teach the post- 
 office employes the art.’ Tbere is the main objection. To put the telegraph in the 
 hands of the Government sounds the death-kuell of the profession. All the work 
 done to reduce the ])roduction of operators and limit the supi)ly to the demand would 
 come fo naught. Plvery [)Ost-office would be teeming with students, learning the 
 art, and every person taught the bnsine.ss crowds out one wdio has put in years in the 
 service. The jiromise would be given, ‘ Suiiport me and I will see that your son or 
 your daughter is taught to be an o|)erat{)r.’ Idiis [iromise fulfilled w'ould glut the 
 country with a jioorcr class of ojierators, while the old men would be crowded out. 
 To work a heavy wire is hard labor, and w'ell worth the salaries paid, but once indis- 
 criminately teach the business to young people just that quick will the salaries be 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 121 
 
 lowered. An economical politician would soon reduce the expenses of bis depart- 
 ment by dismissing; the liigher paid men, provided they were of the opposite political 
 faith. Under Government control an employe would have no guaranty of the per- 
 manency of his place. The Democratic postal clerks had but little show under 
 Clarkson. Trumj)ed-np charges were preferred against them, and Republicans now 
 fill their places. No, postal telegraphy, like the civil-service reform, is a delusion. 
 I want nf n) of it in mine, and I hope never to see it become a reality. I understand 
 thousands of Knights of Labor have petitioned for this. Now, these men undoubt- 
 edly know as little about the telegraph service as I do of architectural drawing, and 
 I think they step out of their sphere in petitioning for a thing that would injure 
 the telegraphers and be of no use to them. It would benefit the speculators and 
 gamblers and injure the employ^ and the country at large.” 
 
 fCiiicinnati Conunercial Gazettee, March 30.] 
 
 Old Father Hubbard is still in Irouble about the circular issued by the executive 
 officer of the Western Associated Press twenty-three years ago, reminding the mem- 
 bers that they had valuable considerations in their contract for giving their special 
 business to the Western Union. Whenever Father Hubbard goes into his cupboard 
 to get a bone, he pulls out this dry one. The inference is he has not got anything 
 with meat on it. Eleven years have passed since a contract of the sort was made by 
 the Western Union Company. Twenty-three years ago the Western Union had done 
 the Western Associated Press a good turn by giving them substantial aid in defeating 
 the New York Associated Press, and there was an occasion in that for good feeling so 
 far as the West was concerned, and it was pioof that neither the New York nor any 
 other Associated Press could, control the Western Union Company. Ifit had been 
 the policy of th i Western Union to establish a news monopoly, that was the time to 
 have done it. The course of the comj)an,y was opposed to that. The Western Asso- 
 ciated Press has no combination with the Western Union, but contracts for the trans- 
 mission of a certain numl)er of words at certain hours. That is the whole connection. 
 The Western Associated Press has an immense arrangement tor the collection of news. 
 It extends all over the country and abroad, comprehends the continent and all lands 
 touched by the vires. Any other company c;in have the same work done on the same 
 terms. 'I'his does not seem to be in the natuie of a monopoly. 
 
 The postal telegraphic movement has become something more than a raid on the 
 , Western Union. It is meant to be the beginning of a vast enterprise. It propo.sCs to 
 enlist capital, thiMugh a sort of partnership with the Government, to make telegraph- 
 ing official, and, under pretense of cheapening it, to destroy existing interests. The 
 I leading idea, to take the four hundred towns best supplied with telegraph facilities 
 and multiply them, is an absurdity, for it is asuperfiuity. The intention is that this 
 shall be the preface. The volume to follow is to contain many chapters. Labor is 
 invited through its organizations to co-operate, because it is meant to be the first step 
 in a socialistic crusade. The arguments thi^t apply to capturing the t* legrai)h ex- 
 tend to the railroads. If Government must do the telegraphing as in Europe, why 
 not the railroading also as in Europe! But tlien, of course, the tele{)hone must be 
 taken in, and \ . e presume the street-cars of all descri|)tions. The express companies 
 are to be absorbed, as a matter of course. The pretense that postal telegraphy is 
 wanted because telegraphing is costly can not be sustained. The object to be attained 
 by those engaged in it is something else very difierent. That which is sought with 
 the greatest avidity is power. The potentiality of handling all the telegraphic mes- 
 sages and supplying official news bulletins; of spending twenty millions to extend the 
 telegrai)hic system, and fifteen millions a year to maintain the extension ; to add an 
 army of messengers to the army of operators, and see, as in Europe, that the press 
 news w’as supplied according to official views — and then to grab the railroads and 
 go on extending the offices of the Government, — this is the programme, and it is a 
 que.stion of principle rather than of such testimony as may be found in fractional 
 facts. We do not think the Postmaster-General has viewed the landscape o’er care- 
 fully. — (m. h.) 
 
 [Cinciuuati Commercial Gazette, April 15.] 
 
 There is a venerable gentleman in Washington known to one class of his admirers 
 as Old Mother Hubbard, in the silver of whose beard scalding crocodile tears are 
 ever sparkling. The.se are shed in never-ending streams over visions wdiich he sees 
 of oppressions by the Western Union Telegraph Comjiany and the daily jiress of the 
 country. He seems to think that an organization which enables all publishers of 
 newspapers to furnish their readers with column after column of telegraphic news 
 from every quarter of the earth for from 3 to 5 cents is a ruthless, crushing, and blood- 
 sucking monopoly. 
 
 And so this old gentleman, with his guileless face, haunts the committees of Congress 
 year after year with obsolete contracts and stale statistics of the days when the tele- 
 
122 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 gpph system- was being developed, and sheds his tears, and bemoans the terrible in- 
 flictions of monopoly. 
 
 No one would suppose this sanctimonious old gentleman to be a very hi<rh priest of 
 monopoly. Mr. Gardner G. Hubbard is the professional mourner of the^Bell Tele- 
 phone Company. His daily business, and the source of his enormous revenue is to 
 sit in public places in Washington, and mourn and wring his hands, and weep over 
 the extortions of the Western Union. 
 
 denunciations.of monopoly he never gives a hint that he is one of 
 the chiet directors m a company which earns 23^ per cent, on a capital stock which 
 IS nine-tenths water and some of the rest wind. He says nothing of 18 per cent, divi- 
 dends which he has received, or of a surplus of over 12,000,000 after nearly another 
 rnihion had been hidden in a corner called “general depreciation.” Not he. For 
 he 18 not that kind of a professional mourner. It i« the sins of others, not his own, 
 tllat move his heart. He says not a word of the regular charge of |l4 a year to 
 branch companies for rattle-box telephones which only cost |3.42 to manufacture, the 
 cheapest and worst of several excellent patents. Mr. Hubbard has been as silent as 
 the grave over the fact that at a meeting where he presided the directors put in 
 the plant of a branch ofhce which cost |129, 550 at a capitalized valuation of $3,894,300. 
 And yet this genial and benevolent old gentleman and professional mourner over the 
 monopolies ot telegraphs, while upholding and practicing and proflting by the giant 
 el^trical monopoly of the age, cries aloud day and night for cheap telegraphino-. 
 
 The beam in his own eye is about the size of a switch-board in one of his Ingest 
 exchanges. It is, therefore, not strange that he can not accurately measure the mote 
 in the eye of the Western Union. i 
 
 The Washington newspapers show him to be a pillar of that fashionable church j 
 where the administration chiefly worships. He is, so to speak, one of the directors - 
 there. His contributions on public occasions are impressive. As he bows his venera- ■ 
 ble head m comfortable meditation thousands of telephone girls at three dollars a ’ 
 week are loading the quiet of Sabbath hours all over the laud with “ Hello, hello ; ’ 
 number, please.” It is almost as sad a subject as the “ Song of the Shirt” suggests. ' 
 But because of this grinding of the poor a steady stream of dividends flow in^o the 
 pockets of Brother Hubbard at a rate which makes a good showing for every second * 
 ot time. Indeed, the income which flows in during one of the average prayers of ^ 
 Dr. Hamhn would go far toward supporting a foreign missionary station. But it is 1 
 a part of the play that as these revenues wrung from the poor and made up also of ■ 
 inexcusable, extortions from every rank of society come pouring in. Brother Hubbard ■ 
 shall parade his mourning and mild gnashing of teeth over the monopoly of tele- 
 graphing, which, by the side of his giant monopoly, becomes a full fledged benevolent 
 institution. ® ! 
 
 [Denison (Tex.) Gazette, April 20.] | 
 
 } 
 
 It is reported in New York that Mr. Wanamaker’s pet postal telegraph scheme has 
 suflered a sudden collapse. The story goes that Jay Gould gave Mr. Harrison to un- ! 
 derstand that the propo.sed system was inimical to his interests, and hinted that his < 
 influence was worth something in a political campaign. The result was that Mr. | 
 Wanamaker was advised to drop his favorite hobby for the present | and there is | 
 little doubt the public have heard the last of it, so far as the Postmaster-General is I 
 concerned. I 
 
 [New Orleans States, April 23.1 s 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker’s postal telegraph scheme is apparently as dead as a mackerel, j 
 and it is stated at Washington that Jay Gonld dealt it the fatal blow by giving the I 
 Ben Harrison administration to understand that if snch a bill was passed by Con- 
 gress that the Republican })an would never again get any of his fat, and that he 
 would make it warm for the Republican party in many other ways. This shot brought 
 the bird ofl the roo.st, and Mr. Wanamaker has been given to understand, it is 
 staled, that he will have to ])igeon-holo his little scheme as a matter of expediency^ 
 and for the sake ot money for the next presidential campaign. i 
 
 • ' I 
 
 [Abingdon Virginian, Ma 3 ' 1.] 
 
 Ibe "Wh^stern Union has acquired a monopoly of the telegraph business. Its plant- 
 could be (luplicati'd for less than one-fourth of the securities it has outstanding ; or! 
 in plain English, the idant is \yorth $20,00(),fl00, and the public pays interest on $80,-J 
 009,000, viz : 4 he ])ublic pays interest on $60,000,000 of mere water. 
 
 Gould j)ractically owns the telegraph. The following news item is interesting : 
 
 Postma.ster Wanamaker has been arguing for a Government telegraph. The Presi- 
 dent has ordered him to let the subject drop, because the Gould influence was on the 
 side of the administration. i 
 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 123 
 
 [Providence Journal, May 1. ] 
 
 ' New York, April 30.— The Times says that one of the first pleasures which Mr. 
 
 I Gould will enjoy on his return from the southwest to-day will be a report made to 
 I him by a confidential representative, whom he lately had looking over things at 
 Washington. This report has particularly to do with the Western Union Telegraph 
 i Company, and the recent eft’orts of Postmaster-General Wanamaker to establish an 
 opposition company under Government patronage. It is said to be declared iu this 
 report that the Wanamaker scheme is already practically disposed of, that a close 
 canvass of the views of members of Congress reveals the fact that, even if the com- 
 mittee were to report in favor of it at once, it could never pass, as there is a majority 
 of not less than ten votes in the House against the scheme. 
 
 [Rome (N. Y. ) Sentinel, May 2. ] 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker’s postal telegraph scheme, whereby he hoped to immortalize his 
 name, appears to have been eft'ectually sand-bagged by President Harrison in the in- 
 terest of good politics. The efforts of the Postmaster-General to establish telegraph 
 lines under the Government patronage in opposition to Jay Gould’s Western Union 
 monopoly were commendable enough in the abstract, but Mr. Wanamaker, in his zeal 
 to do something for the public weal, does not appear to have weighed the matter 
 in all its bearings. But the President, upon advice, served his notice upon the Postmas- 
 ter-General that he would better let up on his war against the Western Union, in 
 view of favors received in 1888, and further favors expected in 1892. The postal tel- 
 egraph bill reposes in the House committee, and there is no danger that it will be the 
 source of further trouble to Mr. Gould. Mr. Wanamaker promises to become quite a 
 politician if he remains under tutorship long enough, but he has a great deal to learn, 
 and his innocence in pouncing upon Jay Gould must have brought a grin to the face 
 of many a crafty old wire puller of the g. o. p. 
 
 [ Omaha World-Herald, May 8.] 
 
 Some time ago the country at large heard with delight that a postal telegraph sys- 
 tem was to be inaugurated by Mr. John Wanamaker — a system in which the prompt- 
 ness and efficiency of the Post-Office Department was to be skillfully blended and 
 gracefully mingled with the low charges which have made “ the store” so famous iu 
 the land. The public had visions of youthful and beautiful maidens who did not 
 f chew gum Receiving the most intricate messages with the sweetest smile, and finger- 
 ing the nickel-plated instrument with deft and rosy fingers like the morning as they 
 sent messages on their winding way over the mountains and through the valleys to 
 their destination. 
 
 The offices, instead of being dingy and dirty, were to be hung with beautifully 
 illustrated mottoes, such as Respect youiisuperiors ; ” “ Cheaper than the cheapest ; 
 “Eschew beer and base ball; ” “ 100 miles for a dime ; ” “ We can not be undersold.” 
 These would have been gotten up at public expense, in the highest style of art, and 
 distributed profusely among all operators. The service was to have been prompt and 
 effective, each message received having precedence of all others, so that no one could 
 complain. The price would have been something wonderful from its cheapness, and 
 * this economy would have been rendered possible by the enforcement of the simple law 
 of supply and demand, which has proven so successful in Mr. Wanamaker’s business 
 experience. All the young lady operators needed for the service could have been 
 employed at |3 a week, as has been abundantly proved at the Philadelphia estab- 
 lishment. “A thing is worth what it will bring,” and why should a girl be paid 
 more than she can be hired for, has been the rule there, and it has worked success- 
 fully. And the great energies of Mr. vVanamaker were to be bent in utilizing this 
 I scheme of economy for the benefit of the public. 
 
 But the Western Union and its alliances came down upon the administration “ like 
 i a wolf on the fold,” speaking of ptlitical favors already rendered, and of assistance 
 I hoped for in the future, and “like the baseless fabric of a vision,” Mr. Wanamaker’s 
 dream of cheap telegraphy silently faded away. And Mr. Wanamaker sighs in his 
 : seclusion, at the frustration of his ambitious plans, and tearfully teaches his Sunday 
 ; scholars, “ put not your faith in princes.” 
 
 [Bellefonte (Pa.) Republican, May 8.1 
 
 It is said to be declared that the Wanamaker scheme is already practically disposed 
 I of. It is known that President Harrison, some time ago, served notice on Wanamaker 
 i that the much exploited postal telegraph scheme had very bad political bearings, and 
 the Postmaster-General was virtually notified that he must cease his aggressiveness- 
 I against Mr. Gould’s Western Union Company — in view of favors received in 1888 and 
 
124 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 expected in 1892. Irora that time Mr. Wanamaker has been going very slow. His 
 postal telegraph bill reposes calmly in a Congressional committee, and according to 
 this report now made (after carelul investigation), there isn’t the slightest probability 
 that it can be resurrected at this session uf Congress. 
 
 1 he maker of this report says that he made a close canvass of the views of members 
 of Congress, apd he finds, he says, that even if the committee were to report in favor 
 of it at once, it could never pass. According to the reports, there is a majority of not 
 less than ten votes in the House against the Wanamaker scheme — a scheme, by the 
 by, which isn’t quite] so much Mr. Wauamaker’s as it seemed to be a little whileago, 
 before the Postmaster-General and his worthy chief, the President, swapped some 
 ooufidences about the value of Jay Gould’s friendship and came to an understanding. 
 
 f Jacksonville Times-Union, May 8.] 
 
 It is sincerely to be hoped that tho Jacksonville Board of Trade will not lend its 
 influence to the furtherance of any Congressional measure looking to the absolute or 
 oven partial control of the American telegraph system by the National Government. 
 The Govepiment flnds it impossible to make its postal-service self-sustaining, and it 
 has been in the business for over a hundred years. It could never make a postal- 
 telegraph system— not even a limited one— self sustaining. It might possibly give 
 the people cheaper telegraphy — and this is a matter of much doubt- but the people 
 would have to pay the difference and perhaps more in the form of taxes. 
 
 I he hisforj^ of the telegraph system in this couutrv shows a constant decrease in 
 rates. This decrease is going on every day. Why should the (ioverument, which 
 has no right to meddle with the business of individuals, engage in an occupation of 
 which it knows nothing? The result of a measure of this kind would be ouly the 
 creation of a vast number of offices to be filled by political preference, an enormous 
 ■expense in their maintenance, and a consequent burden upon the people instead of a? 
 boon. In many respects the telegraph rates in this country are already cheaper than* 
 in those countries where the system is under Government control, and all the world' 
 knows that the service is far superior. These statements can easilv be proved. 
 
 The Government has too much to look after now— and do it well. Let it not bur- ■ 
 den itself with new responsibilities which ouly breed infinite mischief and do thepeo-^ 
 pie no good. : 
 
 [Buffalo Times, May 21.] 
 
 Postmaster-General Wanamaker has little sympathy in his efforts to secure a postal* 
 telegraj)h system. The whole people should not be taxed to maintain telegraph lines' 
 which only a few would use. The people who use the telegraph are not required to( 
 pay exorbitantly. . j 
 
 [Galveston N^s, May 22.] 
 
 ^ Once more Dr. N. Green has appeared before a Congressional committee to answer^ 
 inquiries regarding the operation of telegraphs and their expenses, with reference' 
 to Postmaster-General Wananiaker’s ])roposition to establish a Government service 
 as a branch ()f the postal business. On a former occasion Dr. Green compared the 
 Western Union service with the English Government service, showing the excellent 
 results attained, and that the service in the United States compares favorably with 
 any other telegraph service in the world in extent and responsibilitv to its customers 
 and in cheapness according to distances, even though, as all will admit, the popula- 
 tion of this country has not yet the degree of density required for a favorable com- 
 parison to be expected. All who have fairly and carefully studied the question are 
 forced to admit that the demands of business, both mercantile and that of the news- 
 paper jiress, are tolerably well served by the telegraph in the United States, whether 
 •compaiison be made with Government servicei n the same line in other countries or 
 with Unitecl States Government service in other spheres, or with other branches of 
 piivate bnsines recjuiring anything like a similar conibination of capital and organ- 
 ization of working tor<*es, and to admit also that there has been a steady advance, 
 lesponding fairly to demands for extension ot lines and lowering of charges. If such 
 a system is to be lightly disorganized in order to try experiments in Government con- 
 trol, the change will involve serious risks. 
 
 Di . (ii'een’s information is exhaustive and his candor is unquestionable, for he is. 
 dealing with s(*arching and hostile critics, and being a man of high intelligence he 
 knows that a trntht'nl statement of facts is the only rock of defense. According to 
 Di . Green s testimony Mr. W anamaker’s plan would cut rates 40 percent., but to 
 make the ft'legraph conqiany run at a loss it would only be necessary to cut rates 25 
 per cent. Here is a proposal to fix certain rates and offer them, and they are such 
 low rates that no existing com|>any could accept them and live. Such a' plan may 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 125 
 
 be preliminary, of course, to a concealed scheme for the Government to acquire the 
 telegraphs in bankruptcy or engage in construction to ruin existing companies by 
 governmental competition. There are so many olqections to these sorts of dealing 
 that the embarrassment is as to which are the strongest. Should the Government 
 dictate terms that involv’-e loss to the companies f Should Government officials be 
 permitted by support of Congress to wreck establivshed private enterprises and make 
 a field for the organization of new ones in which prominent men may become in- 
 terested and which could never succeed on the proposed t- rtns unless l)y t e aid of a 
 subsidy that could not be granted without suspicion of a job? Should the telegraph 
 service of 'the country, including market and press reports, political matter of the 
 Associated Press and all dispatches, even the Washington s{)ecials of independent 
 papers, be put under the control of partisan officials ? The patriotic citizen may well 
 shiver with dismay when he contemplates such a prospect. And what shall be said of 
 the plain business aspect as to connnercial and ordinary domestic dispatches? At 
 present if such messages are not sent correctly and accor<ling to contract the customer 
 can get damages. Bub whenever the Government handles a message it is not res})on- 
 sible for error or carelessness. The" objections are so numerous and grave that they 
 can not be discussed in the limits of a newspaper article, but would reijuire a vol- 
 ume, This has induced the News to brietly indicate son;e of them by asking these 
 few questions for the citizen and business man to reilect upon. 
 
 The Wanamaker scheme is fraught with even greater dangers, for it can not be 
 carried out according to the general plan which ol)tains in all Government De|)art- 
 ments, viz, that where the Go^'ernment is engaged it will have no competitor, with- 
 otit ultimately disallowing all private wires even for the service of opposition m^ws- 
 papers. It does not matter what i)reteuses the paternalists and invaders of private 
 rights make to get their hands in, and if some of them do not see the whole scope of 
 their pleas and acts, others see more than t.hey care to avow. 'I’he Wanamaker lull, 
 if not absolutely dishonest in inteut, is one which no wmll lellecting honeet man can 
 sup'iort, for it starts with an arbitrary offer below the market price and cost of serv- 
 ice and tends to twist an important enterprise out of joint, to force it to the wall, 
 and from th very first to substitute Government irres{)onsibility aud the delays of 
 the post-office system for the promptness and responsibility of one of the greatest 
 private enterprises in the world. Mr. Wanamaker started his campaign against the 
 telegraph company by arbitrarily refusing to pay half what the. service costs. He 
 made and published the gross statement that the Western Union charged Govern- 
 ment for what it does not charge the business public for — alluding to address and 
 signatures — which is no more true than it would be against Mr. Wanamaker if he 
 sold the Government pantaloons at half price, but charged 1 cent for the wrapper. 
 Such methods of advocacy do uot show scrujiulous car> or argue quite the right 
 spirit. They are fit for observation as warnings a ainst base demagogism. 
 
 The News sini erely trusts that Congressmen will look carefully into any scheme of 
 mixing Government with a business like the telegraph service before they giv it an 
 inch of support, and that they will not lose sight of the inevitable end of any such 
 complicatioi , which will lie as certain as the judgment day, to land the entire serv- 
 ice in a partisan administrative control, as the admitted foreign prototype is Govern- 
 ment ownership and operation of the lines. There is much in a Fiench proverb which 
 says that the first step is practically everything. In this dangerous aud slippery 
 scheme let us beware of the first step or the entering wedge. 
 
 [ Buffalo Times, May 22 ] 
 
 If Postmaster-General Wanamaker would pay more attention to the postal service 
 and put aside his hobby of a costly postal telegraph, the country would be better 
 served. 
 
 [Petersburg!! Index-Appeal, May 23.] 
 
 When Dr. Norvin Green, the president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 appeared before the House Committee on the Post-Office and Post- Roads, the other day, 
 he had a most sympathetic questioner in Chairman Bingham. The latter’s interrog- 
 atories were always so framed as to elicit the most advantageous responses. Aside 
 from this, however, if the figures adduced by Dr. Green state accurately the relative 
 cost of the transmission and <lelivery of messages now and what it would be if the 
 postal telegraph bill favored by Postmaster-General Wanamaker were to become a 
 'law, his statements go a long way to prove that the views heretofore expressed on 
 this subject by the Index-Appeal are pretty nearly in the straight line of equity and 
 justice. 
 
 The Government can not afford to do anything to injure the property of its citizens, 
 whether such property be held by an individual or by a corporation. Dr. Green put 
 the case in a nutshell when he declared that if the Government wants to be fair and 
 
126 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 just, it ought to buy existing telegraph lines, just as European governments have 
 done in similar cases. There is neither rhyme nor reason in the Government becom- 
 ing a competitor of existing corporations, for with unlimited resources and preponder- 
 ating influence it would pitilessly crush all opposition. 
 
 Now, it would not be a fair price for the Western Union property, for instance, to 
 take it at the fictitious valuation placed upon it by means of its watered stock which, 
 we believe, runs up into the neighborhood of a hundred million dollars. It has been 
 repeatedly stated by telegraph experts, examined by Congressional committees, that 
 the entire plant of the Western Union company could be duplicated for thirty million 
 dollars. Taking this to bo the very lowest estimate, and the Western Union com- 
 pany’s figures as the very highest, we should think that fifty million dollars might 
 be a fair price for this property. The correct valuation of this property, however, 
 and of all other properties which the Government would have to acquire, could be es- 
 tablished only by the decision of a commission composed of men of such unquestion- 
 able integrity that their verdict would be absolutely unassailable. 
 
 There is but one reasonable and perfectly just mode of procedure. Public senti- 
 ment is in the main in favor of the Government’s taking control of telegraphic com- 
 munication, such as it now has of the mails, so as to make it as cheap as possible for 
 the people. Two ways are open to accomplish this ; either the Government must 
 build its own lines, or it must purchase those already built. The first of these prop- 
 ositions ought not to be tried until the attempt to carry out the other has been made. 
 The Government ought to become the purchaser of existing telegraph properties, pro- 
 vided, of course, that they can be bought, as Dr. Green says they were bought in 
 Europe, at a fair price. 
 
 Another, and we take it quite forcible reason why the Government should purchase 
 existing lines, is that by that means it would at once obtain possession of the com- 
 plete machinery required for a postal telegraph service. The construction of lines 
 covering the entire country as fully as it is now covered by the Western Union, the . 
 Postal Telegraph- Cable and other systems, would require many years of labor, and. 
 people in some parts of the Union would be anxiously waiting for the good time com- 
 ing, while people in other parts were already in the full enjoyment of it. Besides the 
 building of a Government telegraph system should only then be undertaken when it , 
 becomes evident that a purchase of existing properties at a fair price can not be ac-' 
 complished. , 
 
 [Toronto World, May 23.] 
 
 The Postmaster-General of the United States is making strong efforts to secure con- , 
 trol of the telegraph lines and have them operated by the Government. This would 
 be quite an extensive piece of patronage, and would aid materially in keeping any( 
 Government in power. | 
 
 [Cincinnati Times-Star, May 27.J 
 
 The efforts to secure Government encouragement toward the establishment of a ; 
 postal telegraph system have not proved a monumental success. Dr. Norvin Green 
 succeeded in convincing the committee, to which were referred the Edward Bellamy 
 plans, that they were entirely impracticable in a country of so wide, an area as Amer- 
 ica. He showed that the rates for telegraphing in this country had been reduced as 
 fast as the business would warrant a reduction," but that a horizontal reduction, such 
 as the postal-telegraphing scheme contemplated, would mean either ruin and bank- 
 ruptcy to telegraph companies or enormous Government subsidies, A reduction 
 of 40 per cent, in the telei)hone rates, Dr. Green said, would close every telephone' 
 exchange in America, and one of even 25 per cent, would cause many exchanges to 
 forever close their doors, and telegraph companies’ rates were figured on even closer 
 margins. He did not believe it to be the part of good Government to start in busi- 
 ness^ to the detriment of companies it is sui)posed to protect. Even the English postal 
 system was not started in competition with English citizens. 
 
 This country has not reached that paternal stage where it can safely be trusted 
 with the care of its citizens as a father cares for his children. 
 
 Governmental ownershij) of the railroads, of telegraph lines, of schoolbook publish- 
 ing houses, is not yet desirable. We have had a taste of Government ownership right 
 here in Cincinnati for several weeks, and the flavor has not yet gone from our mouths. 
 Our water-works have been run by an arm of the GovernmenI, and have had so much 
 politics mixed in them that screws have twisted themselves from bolts, and steel cast- 
 ings have warped until the horrors of a water famine for several days stared the 
 people of this city in the face. 
 
 The people of this country must wait until it has been thoroughly demonstrated that 
 politics will not steathily and inevitably creep in and take the place of business 
 management, before the Government is intrusted with the control of interests which 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 127 - 
 
 so closely concern their weal or woe. Interests which are now kept alive by the ut- 
 most efforts of the best business talents that can be bought will not be apt to thrive 
 under the indifferent management of men whose best recommendation is that they 
 can make a good stump speech, are good hand shakers, or control a certain number 
 of votes in their ward. 
 
 [Franklin Falls (N. H.) Journal, May 30.] 
 
 The Wanamaker proposition on telegraph rates and systems seems to he worsted 
 Dr Greenes testimony shows that the rates for telegraphing have been reduced as 
 last as possible. It also appears that the proposed postal telegraph scheme is backed 
 by interested parties who can not raise the capital to put such enterprises throueh 
 pthout Government aid. The Government has quite enough to do without publish- 
 ing school books or Bibles, or taking charge of the telegraph, telephone, express and 
 railroad companies. Private enterprise will always manage these lines of business 
 better than the Government, which has enough trouble with Indian agencies, consuls 
 and other public officers. ’ ' 
 
 [Lancaster (N. H.) New Era, May 31.] 
 
 Although Postmaster-General Wanamaker is an ardent advocate of a postal tele- 
 graph service, and has tried to secure a partial one at least, all hope that one will be 
 passed during the present session of Congress seems to have vanished. It will cost a 
 ^rge amount of money y many Republicans will oppose it for that reason. The 
 Democmts are opposed to it because it will increase the number of office holders. It 
 would be likely to prove a costly experiment. 
 
 [St. Louis Repiiblic, June 4,] 
 
 In the June Forum Mr. Bronson C. Keeler discusses the subject of Government 
 control of telegraphs, and endeavors to prove that such control is advisable and 
 necessary. His own figures, however, show that Great Britain, whose example he 
 would have us follow, m assuming the telegraph lines paid for them an average of 
 more than $416 per mile, being $350 per mile more than they cost to build The in- 
 • ^ purchase money in nineteen years has been £5,800,000, and the present 
 
 indebtedness of the department is about $50,000,000— nearly double the original in- 
 debtedness. From the economical stand-point, therefore, the change has proved far 
 Irom an unqualified success. Yet when this purchase was made, nineteen years ago 
 the telegraph business may be said to have been almost in its infancy. The British 
 Government had only to buy up the franchises of six comparatively small companies 
 Bad as the bargain was they made, it is not likely that the United States Govern- 
 ment , could do better, while the probability would be that it would be let in for a 
 generation?^^*^^^^ Proportions, which would be an incubus on the tax-payers for 
 
 But, in addition to its failure as an economic scheme, the government control of 
 telegraphs in England has created a horde of government underlings whose liberties 
 are restricted to an extent unknown among the employes of private concerns. The 
 cable now and then brings lis hints of the grievances of this class of workers. *A case 
 in point is that of the telegraph clerks at Cardiff, Wales. For three years they had 
 appeale-d to headquarters, representing that the staff at that point was entirely in- 
 adequate tor the work, the office “not fit for pigs to live in, ” and delays of nearly 
 two bours often occurred, especially on press work, owing to their harasW and over- 
 TrW a earnest and respectful appeals proving unsuccessful, they 
 adopted the method of wiring their grievances before the public in a series of letters 
 to the Western Mail— a course which every native of Great Britain considers his 
 prerogative. The Postmaster-General immediately took steps to punish these “ kick- 
 ers, who objected to overwork in pig-sty quarters. As the authorship of the letters 
 could not be proved against any one of them, a number of the clerks were put on 
 overtime, while eight were transferred to second-class posts, where their opportuni- 
 ties for promotion were cut off. Their places were filled by juniors; they were re 
 quired to move at 12 hours’ notice ; their homes broken up, and they felt themselves 
 disgraced and punished for what was really no offense. 
 
 If abuses such as this occur in a country so small as Britain and with a compara- 
 tiveG small telegraph system, they would be more liable to happen unnoticed and un- 
 cbecked in a system so great and growing so rapidly as ours. We might well look 
 tor a reproduction of almost Russian meddlesomeness and tyranny when it was too 
 late to prevent it. 
 
128 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [Toledo Commercial, Juoe 7.] 
 
 Forum for June contains an article advocating Govermnental control of the tele- 
 graph, the argument being based on comparison of prices for telegraphic service in 
 the United States compared with the prices ruling in countries where the telegraph 
 lines are under the management of the Government. Like other special pleas there 
 is much truth in the article, the chief defect being in what is not considered. To 
 place the cost of service in one country in comparison with the cost of service in an- 
 other country, estimated simply in money, may be right or it may be very misleading, 
 according to circumstances. In a country in which the laborer is well paid when he' 
 gets 50 cents per day, wJiere the price of materials is far less than what it is in this 
 country, the same price for telegraphic service, or any other, to be equal in fact 
 should be as much less in the cheap country as the general range of jirices is lower. 
 Unless considerations of that kind ari; regarded, comparisons of prices may be very 
 misleading an<l this we think has been done in the article referred to. It is never- 
 theless gratifying to know that over 50 per cent, of the telegraph lines in the world 
 are constructed in the United States, although the population is not nearly 50 per 
 cent, of that inhabiting the countries which have assumed governmental control of 
 the service. When the magnitude of the service from that broad stand-point is viewed 
 the query must arise in the minds of conservative men whether it be safe to intrust 
 such a gigantic bure ui in the hands of politicians as 30 per cent, of the telegraphic 
 facilities of the whole world ? Charges of selhshness and disregard of the public con- 
 venience have been made against the telegraph companies in this country for more 
 than twenty years, the higher rate for messages has been a constant accusation by 
 those Socialists who persistently endeavor to centralize power in the hands of the' 
 Government under the mistaken notion that the Government and the jieopfe are one. 
 
 The arguments have been of the same nature as those urged for the governmental 
 assumption of power for many years, but the facts are that the United States has asi 
 efficient and satisfactory telegr phic service s any nation of no greater density of , 
 population and as cheap as any in comparison with the competitive plane of general'' 
 prices for commodities and services. Even were it otherwise, and all the charges 
 were true, that the companies are monopolies, that they do not push their service into 
 unprofitable localities, that their prices are high in comparison with the actual cost^ 
 to them of the service, is there anything in all these that should lead the [iractical 
 intelligence of this age under a republican form of government into the forms of 
 socialism which arise in monarchies in an effort to play the government as a commer- 
 cial enterprise as an offset to its political tyranny ? The commercial or business man 
 will see it to be reasonable under a republican form of government which is based , 
 upon the acknowledgment, in the broadest sense, of the manhood, intelligence, con- 
 science, and general social competency of the citizen, that he should bo tree froin( 
 governmental leading strings in commercial affairs. There is wide distinction be- , 
 tween forms of government in this resj^ect which the socialistic authors fail to dilate'* 
 upon. Governmental interference in a nionarchy is more in accordance with the fitness 
 of things than in a republic, where individual self-government is the basis of all civil 
 organisms. Considering all governments and all prices as practically the same, be- 
 cause they may be expressed in like terms, is a grave error into which the writer in ' 
 the Forum fell. 
 
 [Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, June 11.] 
 
 Among other propositions to which the assent of candidates for Congress is de- 
 manded in some instances, is that of purchase and operation by the Government of 
 the railroads and telegraphs of this country. It ought to be entitled, ‘‘A proposition 
 to perpetuate in power the Republican pai;ty.” It would require a debt to be created 
 greater by double than the present national debt, and the exactions upon the people 
 now are as great as they can well bear up under. With the additional load upon 
 them, the spirit of discontent would grow in intensity. 
 
 The political features of the question are simply appalling. The Republican party, 
 if such a law should be enacted during the Harrison administration, would never lie 
 dislodged from power. That party is odious enough now to the people, but it would 
 be immensely more so when the appointing of half a million additional office-holders 
 was given to such men as are at tlie head of this Government. Quay, Dudley & Company 
 would fairly revel in delight, and nothing would be done except from a purely party 
 stand-point. We should like to know how our good friends at Evergreen, Biewton, 
 Greenville, and other points would fancy negro depot agents, negro porters, and negro 
 brakemen, yet there are men in thisdistrict who favor displacing Colonel Herbert with 
 some other man in Congress, unless he will favor a measure which will result in such 
 a. state of afi'airs if it is enacted into law. 
 
 The same remarks apjily with equal force to Government ownership and control of 
 the telegraph lines. Every man connected with them would be a Republican partisan. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 129 
 
 The ownership of property by the Government is undemocratic and only to be tol- 
 erated when there is actual necessity for it, as in the case of custom-houses, post-ofihces, 
 court buildings, etc. The idea of ownership of property involving a standing army 
 I of appointees will not do for free America. It is pre-eminently an idea borrowed from 
 mouarchial countries. The proposition is one of the most dangerous ever made, and 
 its natural result would be a standing army of officeholders more dangerous to the 
 liberties of the country than a standing army of soldiers. 
 
 [Oshkosh Times, June 14.] 
 
 One of the remarkable features of the legislative programme of some of the move- 
 ments alleged to be organized in the interest of the farmers of the United States is 
 the proposition that the Government shall acquire the ownership of the various tele- 
 graph systems of the country and undt^rtake to carry on the telegraph service as a 
 branch of the post-office, says the Washington Democrat. It is argued that the tele- 
 graph service should be extended to every village in the country and that the farm- 
 ers should have the same facilities for using it that the mercantile classes now enjoy. 
 It is proposed to greatly reduce the rates whicn are now paid by the patrons of the 
 telegraph and thereby to encourage those who already employ it to use it more freely 
 than they now do. 
 
 The people who use the telegraph ought to pay for it, and that the proposed postal 
 telegraph scheme would settle upon the non-users of the telegraph a large part of the 
 expense of the service, itrwe believe easily demonstrable. Not one citizen in ten has 
 frequent, occasion to employ the telegraph, nor would the case be different if the rates 
 were reduced to less than half what they are now, and this could not be done with- 
 out requiring a large appropriation of the peoj)le’8 money to make up the inevitable 
 deficit. 
 
 But there is another reason why everybody ought to oppose the transfer of the 
 telegraph service to the Post-Office Department. Suppose that in 1888 Mr. Quay had 
 been able to offer the contract of the telegraph service of the country, with its vast 
 patronage, as one of the prizes of the campaign. How much more easily he could 
 have raised money for hiring the ^‘tloaters’’ in the doubtful States to vote for Har- 
 rison. To be sure he had enough. But next time he may not have, unless the peo- 
 ple turn over the telegraph service .as a fresh prize to bo scrambled for and gambled 
 for in the great game of national politics. 
 
 The Democratic idea is and will continue to be to keep the telegraph service sep- 
 arate from the Government. The big Western Union corporation may be a Republi- 
 can corporation, but it isn’t half so valuable to the Republican party now as it would 
 be if its business was turned over to Wanamaker and Quay. 
 
 [Newark (N. J.) News, June 19.] 
 
 Dr. Norvin Green, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, makes a 
 powerful argument against the Postal Telegraph bill, introduced at the suggestion of 
 the Postmaster-General, and he does not scruple to insinuate, in pretty plain terras, 
 that something differing widely from the interests of the public is at the back of the 
 scheme. 
 
 Dr. Green neatly disposes of the argument that European Governments control tel- 
 egraph lines by showing that the peculiar ruling systems there, and the dangers by 
 which these Governments are surrounded, compel the ceaseless vigilance of espionage 
 and censorship alike of messages and of the movements of the people. No such con- 
 ditions exist heivq and the placing of such powers of espionage and censorship in the 
 hands of the dominant political party for the time being would be clearly an outrage 
 on the rights and privileges of the j)eople. 
 
 Then, again. Dr. Green says: “ If the Government must have a telegraph as part 
 of the postal service, why not take existing properties rather than create a new com- 
 pany, backed by the pow^^r and support of the Government, to damage and destroy 
 the old ones?” Why not, indeed? Dr. Green adds in conclusion: “The bill is a 
 huge job to foster and build up a new company which will alone be entitled to the 
 Government contract and support.” 
 
 [Milwaukee Journal, June 21.] 
 
 If the po.st-office committee of the House of Representatives never do another 
 praiseworthy act they should always be held in grateful remembrance by the Ameri- 
 can people for their sensible work on the Wanamaker scheme of a Government postal 
 telegraph in burying it from their sight. The committee has examined the matter 
 very closely, and no doubt would have been glad to reach a different conclusion if 
 there had been any popul irity to gain by it, but full investigation, as the committee 
 declare, shows that there is no popular demand for postal telegraphy. The testimony 
 
 P T 9 
 
130 
 
 POSTAL TELEGEAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 taken by the committee has shown that nobody wants a postal telegraph except a 
 few politicians who seek a hobby upon which to ride into notoriety and au occasional 
 enthusiast here and there who would have the Government own everything and pro- 
 vide little work with big pay for everybody, a la Edward Bellamy. The majority of ; 
 the people believe that the Government has enough to do in its present sphere, and 
 that whenever the Utopian schemes of public ownership of transportation linea 
 should be adopted we would inevitably drift into a despotism where it would be ab- 
 solutely impossible to dispossess the party in power, no matter how it might rido 
 over the rights of the people. They also know that public employment never brings 
 out a man’s energy as private employment does, and that the only hard work he 
 does as a rule is to hang on to his place. Mr. Wanamaker may as well abandon his 
 scheme of postal telegraphy until the year 2,000 or thereabouts, as it will not fit into> 
 this age of the world. 
 
 f Utica Observer, July 1.] 
 
 Concerning the question of Government telegraphy there are many arguments pro: 
 and con. No doubt there are many intelligent citizens who believe that the control 
 of the telegraphic service by the Government would yield substantial benefits to the 
 people at large. Among the foremost advocates of this plan is Postmaster-General 
 Wanamaker, who expressed his views in favor of it in his first annual report. It is 
 a subject, however, upon which the average citizen will bear enlightenment. One of 
 the most instructive articles that have yet appeared upon this topic is that of Bron- 
 son C. Keeler, of St. Louis, in the July Forum. He is a champion of Government 
 telegraphy, and in support of his proposition he presents many valuable facts relat- 
 ing to the experience of other countries. These are well worthy of repetition and 
 examination. 
 
 It is perhaps not generally known that this is the only country in the world in 
 which the telegraphic service is conducted by private enterprise. Aside from the 
 United States, Mr. Keeler informs us, 88 per cent, of all the telegraphic lines are 1 
 under public control. What we are chiefly interested in knowing is the efiect Gov- 
 ernment control would have upon the rates. According to Mr. Keeler’s figures, 
 the rate in Germany is 1.4 cents per word. In the United Kingdom six pence 
 for twelve words. Iti Switzerland one-half cent per word. In New Zealand from 
 six pence to two shillings for ten words, according to urgency. Here the price is from 
 25 cents to $l for ten words, according to distance. But notwithstanding our greater i 
 distances the average charge for each message is 31 cents here as against 32 cents in 
 Germany. Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium and Great Britain are the only European 
 countries in which the average tolls are conspicuously less than here. Switzerland 
 makes the best showing of all the foreign countries in this regard. 
 
 When Great Britain bought out the telegraph companies in 1868, the average rates • 
 charged were from 24 cents to 48 cents per message of twenty words. This was re-^* 
 duced to 24 cents for the whole United Kingdom. Under this arrangement the profit ] 
 for twenty years has aggregated $12,000,000. But during the same years the interest I 
 on the investment has amounted to $29,000,000, making the net loss to the English * 
 tax-payers $17,000,000. The English telegraphic department, however, has in the 
 meantime extended its business fourfold and its plant nearly three-fold. 
 
 A comparison of the figures bearing on the case shows that the amount paid by the 
 British Government on its telegraphic plant has been greater proportionately than 
 the people of the United States have paid to the Western Union Company. But Mr. 
 Keeler seeks to destroy the force of this contrast by showing that when it pnrchased 
 its telegraphic system the British Government was victimized in the price paid. He 
 says that it paid $32,000,000 for 77,000 miles of wire, which had cost the companies 
 but $11,000,000, and could have been duplicated for $8,000,000. In France the tele- 
 graphic lines cost only one-sixth as much per line. To prove that Great Britain was 
 swindled, it is related that the shares in one of the companies that sold out rose from 
 132 in November, 1867, when Government purchase was first proposed, to 255, whon 
 it was consummated. In another company the shares rose from 30 to 133. In his argu- 
 ment Mr. Keeler contends that the United States could avoid the mistakes of Great 
 Britain. But it is asserted by the opponents of Government telegraphy that the 
 English people with 36,000 miles of lines and 6,500 officers are paying interest upon a 
 capitalization of $50,000,000 ; the American people with 171,000 miles of wire and 
 1,700 offices are paying dividends upon a capitalization of $100,000,000. This is a de- 
 cidedly good relative showing for the United States. 
 
 Those facts, as we have said, are worthy of examination. But we should always 
 keep in mind the fundamental and unanswerable objections to Government control 
 of the telegraphic lines. First of all, it would add considerably to the office-holding 
 class, and further complicate the operation of Federal government. One great party, 
 at least, is irrevocably opposed to it on this ground. Secondly, the benefits of a Gov- 
 ernment telegraph service would be enjoyed by a comparatively few, as the masses 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 131 
 
 rarely have occasion to send messages by wire. These two objections are serious 
 ones, and until they are answered it is not likely that the movement for Federal 
 control will reach the proportions of a popular demand. 
 
 [Clinton (111.) Public, July 4.] 
 
 Every Postmas'er-General has some fad which he desires to popularize in connec- 
 tion with his administration of the postal department. Mr. Wanamaker’s hobby 
 is the postal- telegraph service, and he would not be opposed to the adoption of 
 1-cent letter postage. The people at large are not clamoring for the postal-telegraph 
 system, for but comparatively few iti number wouM be benefited by it. That the 
 telegraph sysem of this country is a great monopoly no one can deny, and because of 
 its extortionate charges the wires are not used by the common people except in the 
 most extreme cases. The telegraph is more of a luxury than a necessity, and for 
 that reason it is mainly used by those who are able to pay for its use or by those 
 who are fortunate enough to have a ‘‘dead-head” privilege. There is a deal of 
 cheap balderdash expended in argument why the Government should own and con- 
 trol the telegraph lines, but we fail to find anything that would convince a farmer 
 or people living outside of the large commercial centers that there is any urgent 
 need why the Government should expend millions of dollars for the benefit of the 
 comparative few. 
 
 A postal-telegraph system would add thousands of names to the rolls of Govern- 
 ment employes, and at every election there would be so many offices to fight over. 
 If the Government goes into the business of furnishing cheaper telegraphy, why 
 should it not take charge of the railways and express companies and the manufact- 
 ories, and finally get down to running the mercantile business in every cross-road 
 store in the country ? Our paternal government now furnishes every man who 
 wants them with printed envelopes, and thus robs the printers of the country of a 
 portion of their legitimate business. 
 
 Why not the Government take charge of Mr. Wanamaker’s great clothing business, 
 and thus furnish cheaper clothing to the million? It would be just as legitimate as 
 furnishing printed envelopes or cheap postal telegrams and a deal more profitable to 
 the pockets of the people. Everybody must wear clothes, but few have any use for 
 the telegraph. The less the Government has to do in managing the business enter- 
 prises of the country the better it will be for the people. The mail service is a public 
 necesi-ity that could not be handled so cheaply or safely by any private corporation, 
 therefore the necessity of governmental control; but there is no sense in cutting down 
 the revenue lo the !-cent rate. The poor would receive but little benefit, while 
 the cheaper rate would only add to the wealth of those who are largely benefited by 
 the postal service. No one can certainly complain of excessive charges when a letter 
 weighing one ounce is carried from one end of this country to the other for the insig- 
 nificant sum of two cents. There are other and more important reforms to which the 
 Government can give attention. The people are not sufiering for cheaper telegraph 
 or postal service. 
 
 [San Antonio (Tex.) Express, July 8.] 
 
 England has a postal-telegraph system. Every operator is an official. The cost of 
 it and the poor service rendered can be estimated by the fact that employes are going 
 out in dozens because they are not paid living wages. Government ownership of tel- 
 egraphs and railways in the United States would result in about the same thing on a 
 larger scale. It is true that the Western ynion makes money; but it is also true that 
 in proportion to the distance covered it is the cheapest service in the world, and it 
 is far and away the best service in the world. 
 
 [Ottawa (111.) Journal, July 17.] 
 
 The bill prepared by Postmaster- General Wanamaker to establish a limited postal- 
 telegraph service was introduced in the Senate yesterday by Senator Sawyer, of 
 Wisconsin. As the Congress of the United States is now constituted there is no pos- 
 sibility that a bill will ever be passed to improve the service or cheapen the rates. 
 This bill does not contemplate the one nor the other. It simply provides for the 
 leasing of a few wires from the Western Union between important cities and the 
 transaction of purely Government business at a low rate. A queer postal telegraph 
 that! 
 
 [Scranton (Pa.) Times, July 21.] 
 
 The United States Senate has the reputation of favoring anything that helps mo- 
 nopoly, and anything that interferes with its progress stands a poor show of ever 
 passing that body. This branch of our legislative government will soon have an 
 opportunity to give the lie to the reports referred to. Congre-sman Sawyer, of Wis- 
 
132 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 consin, has withdrawn the postal-telegraph bill from the pigeon-hole which has pro- 
 tected it for months past, and it has made its appearance before that branch of Con- 
 gress. Mr. Sawyer is the chairman of the Senate Post-Office Committee, and since he 
 has brought it forth it is fair to presume he will stand by it. Congressman Bingham, 
 of this State, first introduced the bill in the House, not because he favored it, but : 
 because his friend, Postmaster-General Wanaraaker, asked him to. Now that the 
 bill is fairly before the Senate let us watch closely and see what that august body 
 will do with it. Of course everybody knows that the Western Union Telegraph i 
 Company isn’t in favor of it. 
 
 [Yankton (S. Dak.) Press, July 31.] i 
 
 John Wanamaker has received the unqualified indorsement of the State Republican 
 convention of Nebraska for his Government postal-telegraph scheme. This will i 
 please Mr. Wanamaker and may encourage him to recommend the nationalizing of ' 
 railroads and the express carrying business. 
 
 [Atlanta (Ga.) Journal, August 2,] ’ 
 
 The Senate Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads has stricken out of the postal- ; 
 telegraph bill the section prohibiting any telegraph company which contracts for i 
 the postal service from giving special rates to newspaper associations or clubs tak- 
 ing market reports. What is this but countenancing monopolies? 
 
 [Chicago (111.) Tribune, August 5.J 
 
 The Farmers’ Alliance of Nebraska has held a State convention, has nominated a 
 ticket, and has adopted a platform which contains several of those wild ideas which 
 are having such a go just now, and which the demagogues are telling the farmers will 
 be a sure cure for the evils that afflict them. 
 
 One is that “the General Government shall own and operate the railroads and' 
 telegraph and furnish transportation at cost, the same as mail facilities are now 
 furnished.” How did it happen that there was not in this convention one man 
 bright enough to ask the committee which drafted this resolution how the Govern- 
 ment was to get possession of the roads. There are but three ways in which it can 
 be done — by the owners of the roads making a free gift of them, which is not prob- 
 able, by the Government confiscating them, or by its buying them with or without ' 
 the consent of the owners. 
 
 Confiscation may as well be put out of the question. It is against the morality of 
 the age. When it came to the pinch the farmer would no more rob a man of his rail- 
 road than he would of his horse or his wagou. The roads must be bought, therefore, 
 and a fair price be paid for them. Whatever that price may be the Government i 
 would have to assume the present bonded debt of the roads of ^4,500,000,000 and^^ 
 pay the interest on it — which the roads do not always do. ' 
 
 So when the convention speaks of furnishing transportation at cost it must mean 
 that the Government is to charge enough to pay the interest on these bonds it has 
 become responsible for, and also on the capital, which may be as many millions more, 'I 
 which it has sunk in the purchase of the roads. But if it means that every man is to 
 have his products transported for what it will cost to do it, leaving out these items, I 
 then the expenses of the roads will have to be defrayed in good part by general tax- i 
 ation, and those who are not shippers will prote.st against something which will be i 
 80 unjust to them. If the Government did not run the roads as economically and effi- t 
 ciently as the present owners the Nebraska farmer might find his bills for transporta- 
 tion quite as grievous as they are now. 
 
 Another demand of the convention was that our financial system should be reformed i 
 by the restoration of silver to its old-time place in the currency and its free and un- c 
 limited coinage on an equality with gold and by the increase of the money circula- 
 tion until it reaches $50 per capita, and that all [)aper issues necessary to secure that i 
 amount should be made by the Government alone and be full legal tender for all debts, 1 
 public and private. 
 
 This means simply an overwhelming flood of paper money. The present circula- 
 tion is about $1,420,000,000, and its proper increase is provided for by existing laws. 
 The circulation asked for by the farmers would be $3,225,000,000, or nearly three 
 times the present quantity. If the entire silver product of the world were bought 
 and coined by the United States it would take thirteen years to make up the $50 per 
 capita on the basis of the population of to-day. But that is not what the farmers 
 a^e driving at. They think that if there were more currency in the country, whether 
 “fiat” or not, they would have more; that if there were more there would be a 
 better demand for their crops, and that men who are not purchasers now would be- 
 come so merely because of an expansion of the currency. Such would not be the 
 case, however, and the farmers’ condition would not be "bettered. If the currency 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 13a 
 
 were in excess of the legitimate demands of trade it would drop out of circulation as 
 the silver of France has done. If the contemplated inflation were in inconvertible 
 paper, which is probably what the farmers want, silver and gold would disappear. 
 The prices of their products would go up, but what they bought would be propor- 
 tionately dearer. There would be a seeming prosperity, followed by wild specula- 
 tion, and then a disastrous smash. 
 
 [Chicago (111.) Press, Augusts.] 
 
 The senate post-office committee has reported a bill providing a postal-telegrapL 
 system. A bill for 1-cent letter postage would be far more popular. Not one person 
 in a thousand sends or receives a telegram once a year; but everybody is constantly- 
 writing and receiving letters. 
 
 I 
 
 I . [Lancaster (Pa.) New Era, August 22.] 
 
 I Those who are so anxious that the American Government shall take charge of the 
 itelegraph service of the country and run it as a regular department of the Govern- 
 ment will do well to consult the facts which are developed by Great Britain’s owner- 
 ship of the telegraph lines in that country. In the first place, the original cost was 
 three or four times as great as it was believed it would be when the project was first 
 undertaken by the Government. Since the hour when the latter got possession of the 
 I ines, there has been a steady, continuous loss. Not for a single year since January 1 
 1872, has the venture been a ]iaying one. The interest on the consols issued to meet 
 the purchase is onl^^ 3 per cent., yet there has been a deficiency of $15,000,000 even on 
 deficiency was only $560,000, while in 1886-’87 it amounted to 
 
 I It is true most European countries control their several telegraph lines, for reasons 
 [that are not quite as cogent with us as with them. Should the occasion arise this, 
 pountry can at once secure instantaneous possession of all the wires in the country 
 quite as effectively as though it had continuous possession. That Government con- 
 trol of our telegraph lines would result far more disastrously in a financial sense in 
 ijhis country than the same plan has done in Great Britain may be asserted with th© 
 nost positive certainty. In that country more messages are sent than here, and th© 
 imallness of the country and the comparative shortness of the lines render the keep^ 
 ng of the lines in a state of efficiency comparatively cheap in comparison with th© 
 ong lines reaching into every corner of our vast country, where the expense of main- 
 lenance is the all-important item. 
 
 It may be taken for granted that Government ownership of our telegraph lines 
 ivould mean a heavy drain on the people for half a century to come, if not for alwavs. 
 
 1 0 would be hard for auy one to give a good reason why this voluntary burden should 
 i)e assumed by the nation. The Government is no more justified in helping its citi- 
 zens to pay part of their telegraphic correspondence than it is to pay part of the cost 
 •I their flour or coffee. Every one must admit that the service is admirably admin- 
 stered. In proportion to the amount of business done the errors are astonishingly 
 ew ; and when they are made recovery at law is possible. Neither are the prices ffir 
 ervice exorbitant. There is little complaint from this cause. This is a case wher© 
 t IS best to leave well enough alone. 
 
 [Cincinnati (Ohio) Post, Angust 25.] 
 
 The suggestions of Postmaster-General Wanamaker that have taken definite legal 
 nape in the introduction of a bill under which the Government may assume control 
 I the transportation of mail and of commercial telegraphing have doubtless given 
 great impetus to the idea of Government control and even ownership of railroads* 
 nd the probabilities are that the idea will grow into a more momentous and decided 
 jsue with every strike. 
 
 [Florida Times-Union.] 
 
 It would hardly be possible for the Government to improve or to cheapen the presi nt 
 astern more rapidly than is now being done. The people are not crying for a postal 
 negraph; when they do demand it, or when private enterprise fails to come up t© 
 heir every requirement, then it will be high time to make a howl. 
 
 [Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette.] 
 
 It will be the duty of Congress to touch the subject of empowering the Postmaster- 
 eneral to enter into a contract to put up Government wires, with extreme caution — - 
 3memberiug that there are more telegraph offices everywhere than there is businesa. 
 
134 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 to make them desirable — that it is not the part of the Government to help the peo- 
 ple to telegraphic any more than newspaper facilities — that the adoption of the 
 British system would add two millions a mouth to the postal deficiency — that this 
 would be done in behalf of less than two per cent, of the people — tliat the great cus- 
 tomers of the telegraph are the Wall street and other gamblers, the bucket shops and 
 pool shops and the base ball betters and horse race sharps — that a Government tele- 
 graph would mean to double our civil service standing army, and the dangerous en- 
 largement of the office of the Government, in furnishing official news to the people — 
 a, prerogative and power with which we would never trust any administration. 
 
 Mr. Gardiner Hubbard, whose anxieties on the subject of postal telegraphy are un- 
 abated by the advance of years, has from time immemorial been unable to emahci- 
 pate himself from the original illusion that there is an identity between the Western 
 Union Telegraph Company and the Western Associated Press. If the venerable gen- 
 tleman could fix in his mind the fact that the Western Union Telegraph Company 
 has nothing to do with the Western Associated Press, or any style of Associated Press, 
 other than to transmit a certain number of words at a fixed rate under a carefully 
 drawn contract, and that the two institutions, owing to their intricate business rela- 
 tions, have had a good deal of friction in the way of differences of opinion between 
 the officers of the concerns, he wmuld open the gates of his mind for the comprehen- 
 sion of the intelligence he needs, before he undertakes to enlighten the country about 
 the relations between the press and the telegraph. It does not seem to interfere with 
 the placidity of the conscience of Mr. Hubbard to accept h*s share of the profits from 
 the use of the telephone, and he ought to be able to understand the rights of those 
 who have, during many years, organized and adjusted the business of the Associated 
 Press, arranged a vast sybtem for the collection and dissemination of news, employed 
 hundreds of agents, and carried on a comprehensive business requiring the most ' 
 scrupulous attention to details. 
 
 He should not be hasty, not to say vindictive, in denouncing this press organization . 
 as a monopoly. He would probably contest the justice of others coming in and taking 
 up the telephone and, when they have done nothing in the invention of the instru- 
 ment or the arrangement of its affairs so as to make them profitable, sharing wdth , 
 him and others; but he seems to regard it as a shocking circumstance that the mem- 
 bers of the Associated Press, who have been for thirty years building it up, do not 
 invite everybody to partake with them in the enjoj^ment of its advantages, but require 
 to be compensated before turning over to new enterprises the facilities that have been 
 gradually developed. The truth is the Associated Press has dealt very liberally with 
 new applications for membership, and one who is as familiar with the value of deli- ■ 
 cate instruments as Mr. Hubbard may be supposed to be, as he has profited so largely . 
 through them, ought not to be precipitate in accepting responsibility for the utter- ( 
 ance of accusations, that dealing with news as a commodity to be bought and sold, | 
 and increasing the value of newspaper property through the extension of its goodt* 
 will, implies a grasping trust and a criminal policy. 
 
 Mr. Wanamaker, in his notion of leasing wires and establishing a business over! 
 them in competition with their owners, and going on from that to doing the tele-' 
 graphing and furnishing the news officially to the peoide, has an able helper in 
 Senator Blair, who wants to issue a cheap edition of the Congressional Record ! 
 
 This sort of thing will not do, gentlemen. Senator Blair fills sixty-four pages of 
 the Congressional Record on one subject, and then complains that his facts are not 
 placed before the people by the Associated Press. 
 
 If the Senator can not place his facts and arguments in two thousand words, he 
 never in the world will get a hearitig, and the Associated Press agent who loaded 
 the wires with his tediously detailed matter would be bounced at once. The assur- 
 ance of Blair in this matter is surprising and funny. 
 
 He and others who go on day after day in the Senate filling the Record with words 
 «o multitudinous that it is im])Ossible to read them, should be peremptorily checked. 
 That’s the point where the interference of the Government should come in. 
 
 The talk in Congress lacks interest because it does not approach busin* ss. There 
 are not debates ; there are essays. And, frightful as it may seem to Senator Blair, 
 there is no information in his s]>eech. He has not made a point before the country, 
 because he has not any. He has shed no light. It was not in him to shed. 
 
 The peojile do not need to be assured of the importance of education. Let it be 
 assumed that the jieople know something. 
 
 We do not want a universal military compulsion in education, and a standing army 
 of school teachers and another standing army of telegraphers and an official bureau 
 to look after The newspajiers and bulletin the news to the ]>eople officially. 
 
 The cheap Congressional Recoial ])ublishe<l with Blair’s iiaragraphs of sixty-four 
 3>age8, or two hundred and fifty thousand words, for the dear people at large, and i 
 telegraph offices in every iiost-office, cover too much of the surface of the earth. The 
 surplus that scared Cleveland might all be expended in those enterprises and yet j 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 135 
 
 there would be unhappy persons dangling on the ragged edge of civilization howl- 
 ing for education. 
 
 . Postmaster-General Wanamaker does not appear to have mastered the relations 
 between the We&tern Union Telegraph and the Associated Press, or the reasons 
 why the pool- rooms pay more for telegraphing than the Government. And yet these 
 things may be said to lie elementary. 
 
 Why should the Postmaster-General want to force telegraphy upon the people at 
 large ? Are not the Americans going fast enough to please him ? Letters are so 
 swiftly carried as to answer the social and business purposes of ninety-eight people 
 out of the hundred. Why insist upon hurrying them up ? 
 
 " [New York Times.] 
 
 Wall street has a story which tells of trouble between B. Harrison, President of 
 these United States, and J. Wanamaker, Postmaster-General of the same. Jay Gould 
 figures in it, too. Jay Gould, in sooth, is credited with having introduced the grim 
 ghost of war and all that. Mr. Gould has been indignant over the scheme suddenly 
 evolved by Wanamaker to create a telegraph company on Government capital to com- 
 pete with the Western Union Company. 
 
 The fact of this indignation was some time ago communicated to the head of the 
 Harrison Administration. Not onlv this notice of dissatisfiiction is said to have been 
 served, but it is declared that Mr. Jay Gould caused it to be made very plain to his 
 friend Harrison that he felt that he had been betrayed; and incidentally it was ex- 
 plained to Mr. Harrison that Mr. Gould could be a pretty good fighter as well as a 
 contributing friend. 
 
 The result of this frank statement from Mr. Gould is said to have been that Presi- 
 dent Harrison one day last week sent for Mr. Wanamaker and gave him to under- 
 stand that he must go slow with his postal-telegraph scheme. 
 
 According to reports current in Wall street — and supported by good authority — the 
 President told his Postmaster-General that he had been entirely too rapid in his pos- 
 tal-telegraph mov'ements. ^‘I made no recommendation in my message,” the Presi- 
 dent is reported to have said, “ warranting you to proceed as you have. The effect 
 of your work is to deprive my Administration of valuable friends — friends who de- 
 serve better treatment and are not to be slighted. The friends you have slapped in 
 the face were most valuable to us in 1888, and we will need them in 1892. To attack 
 them is political insanity. There is no need for it. This whole postal-telegraph 
 scheme might just as well be dropped; it never should have been begun.” 
 
 The authority for this report of the interview between the Postmaster-General and 
 the President is a Republican friendly to Mr. Wanamaker, and inclined to be indig- 
 nant over what he terms the unjust treatment of the Postmaster-General. It is prob- 
 able that he reflects Mr. Wanauiaker’s personal feelings. He speaks of the Presi- 
 dent’s position as “ a surrender to Jay Gould,” who is credited with having quietly 
 contributed something like $100,000 to Boss Quay’s campaign funds in 1888. Mr. Gould 
 never gives money for fun. 
 
 [Florida Times-Union.] 
 
 Wanamaker got a set-back in the board of trade yesterday. His limited postal- 
 telegraph project didn’t secure an indorsement from this quarter. The board’s re- 
 fusal to lend its aid to the scheme for a further centralization of power in the Na- 
 tional Government and for a waste of the public money was very proper, too. If you 
 give these fellows an inch they’ll take an ell. The next thing we shall hear of, if 
 this measure prevails will be a bill to give the Government full control of the coal 
 and ice business under the plea that the people ought to be warmed up more cheaply 
 and then cooled ofl:’ at less expense. And before we know it there won’t be any busi- 
 jness left for the people — to whom it belongs — to transact. The Government will 
 have scooped the whole box and dice. Let the people alone. They can manage their 
 own business best. This “fostering” trick of the Government is getting played out. 
 ilt’s altogether too attenuated to catch the public any longer. 
 
 [Dallas News.] 
 
 Some of the points made by Dr. Green in his remarks before the House Post-Office 
 Committee were on the same line as those of a representative of the labor societies 
 recently referred to, but the doctor, having access to all information on the telegraph 
 system of this country, and having made a study of foreign systems, is able to present 
 comparisons at all points and of such significance that they will command attention 
 wherever the report is read. The 57,000,000 people in the United States who do not 
 use the telegraph may be persuaded that they should undertake to pay in taxes 
 
136 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 enough to give the stock speculators and sporting people messages at half price, but 
 if so they will exhibit evidence of their lack of business judgment. 
 
 Government telegraphy is a political craze as far as the United States is concerned, 
 for the Western Union’s rates are lower, distances and population considered, than 
 the English rates. As for doing justice to the country by establishing stations, the 
 telegraph as it stands compares favorably with the post-office, there being more tel- 
 egraph offices than post-offices iu the entire country. Mr. Wanamaker has proposed 
 telegraph -postal service at hundreds of places where the Government has no post- 
 office buildings. Mr. Crain’s question was a searching one, viz, why did Dr. Green 
 appear against the bill if it be impracticable ? It transpired that the doctor appeared 
 by request of the committee. And here it seems fair to consider the usual course of 
 schemes iu which the Government becomes involved. Their projectors do not find it 
 essential to arrange all parts for a complete and economical operation. Once enlist 
 the sentiment of the country and a measure which is imperfect can be supplemented 
 with other bills involving almost any expense. When a thoroughly well informed 
 practical manager states that Mr. Wanamaker’s plan would cause the Government a 
 loss of $3,000,000 a year he is not to be disbelieved without some evidence to the con- 
 trary. The surplus should be expended, but not in giving uncalled-for aid to ono 
 class of communications to the injury of a magnificent private enterprise which has 
 given this country more mileage of wire than all the rest of the world, and has dem- 
 onstrated superior capacity in practically meeting demand and cheapening service, 
 superior management and promptitude to what the Government has displayed where 
 the two services, that of the corporation and the Government, can be brought into- 
 comparison. 
 
 [Washington Post.] 
 
 The Florida Times-Union “sincerely hopes” that the board of trade of Jackson- 
 ville will not lend its influence to the furtherance of any Congressional measure look- 
 ing to the absolute or even partial control of the American telegraph system by the 
 National Government. It has evidently considered the subject well, and speaks thua 
 intelligently concerning it : 
 
 The Government finds it impossible to make its postal service self-sustaining, and 
 it has been in the business for over a hundred years. It could never make a postal- 
 telegraph system — not even a limited one -self-sustaining. It might possibly give 
 the people cheaper telegraphy — and this is a matter of much doubt — but the people 
 would have to pay the difference, and perhaps more, in the form of taxes. The his- 
 tory of the telegraph system in this country shows a constant decrease in rates. This 
 decrease is going on every day. Why should the Government, which has no right to 
 meddle with the business of individuals, engage in an occupation of which it knows 
 nothing ? The result of a measure of this kiud would be only the creation of a vast 
 number of offices to be filed by political preference, an enormous expense in their 
 maintenance, and a consequent burden upon the people, instead of a boon. In many' 
 respects the telegraph rates in this country are already cheaper than in those countries 
 where the system is under Government control, and all the world knows that the 
 service is far superior. These statements can easily be proved. The Government 
 has too much to’look after now — and do it well. Let it not burden itself with new 
 responsibilities which only breed infinite mischief and do the people no good. 
 
 What our Florida contemporary says about the inexpediency of extending the ma- 
 chinery of the Government to the control of the telegraph system applies with equal 
 force to various other extraordinary uses to which it is now and then proposed to 
 attach the running gear of centralized power at Washington. It is a dangerous and 
 un-American tendency from first to last, and nothing is so well calculated to weaken 
 the stability of the foundations on which our spleudid system of popular sovereignty 
 rests. 
 
 There is a good deal more danger of too much Government in this country than of 
 too little. The people can get along better when they don’t have quite enough than 
 when they are pampered and over- fed. It is the fault, indeed, with many of our 
 State legislatures that they legislate iu excess of all reason or necessity. Congress 
 tends iu the same direction. It undertakes to do vastly more than the public require- 
 ments really demand, and more than, under any circumstances, it can do well. 
 
 But it is an evil that thrives upon itself. The more the people get into the habit 
 of running to Congress for help, the greater grows their incapacity for helping them- 
 selves. Hence a condition of the public mind that verges upon abject dependence, 
 and a gradual wearing away of that self-respecting self-reliance that should consti- 
 tute the chief glory and adornment of a free people. Hence the growth of the pa- 
 ternal theory that governments were instituted for thesole purpose of supporting the 
 people, and not the people to do their own supporting in their own independent and 
 progressive way. 
 
 The Constitution prescribes iu set terms all the powers with which Congress and 
 the Executive may safely be intrusted, or at least an ample sufficiency. All other 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 137 
 
 rights or powers remain with the States and the people, and can not he too jealously 
 guarded. Yet every broad construction which Congress is asked to put upon our 
 organic law, in order that Federal power may be more generally dilfused and Fed- 
 eral aid more liberally distributed, and Federal assumption of duties to which the 
 Government sustains strained and unnatural relations be in any wise encouraged^ 
 involves an absolute surrender of reserved prerogative and individual liberty. 
 
 Hence when the Government is besought to take control of the public school sys- 
 tem, or to acquire the ownership of the railroads, or to go into the telegraph businesa 
 on its own account, or to do any other thing for the people that the people may do 
 for themselves to better advantage and at no sacritice of pride or principle, it is time 
 for the honest citizenship of the country to call peremptory halt upon all such de- 
 partures from the paths their fathers trod and from the cardinal doctrines of the Con- 
 stitution by which their feet were guided. 
 
 Appendix D. 
 
 CONFIDENTIAL LETTERS, NECESSARILY REPRODUCED ANONYMOUSLY, 
 RECEIVED BY THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL DURING THE CURRENT 
 DISCUSSION 
 
 Philadelphia, . 
 
 In connection with the recent correspondence between the Department and the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, permit me to call your attention to the decision 
 of Judge Wallace in Western Union Telegraph Company vs. Mayor of New York (6 
 Rad way and Corporation Law Journal, p. 105), under date of August 10, 1889. In this 
 case the telegraph company sought to enjoin the city {inter alia) from interfering 
 with its use of an elevated railway in order to carry its wires. This injunction was 
 granted by Judge Wallace, upon the ground that a removal of the wires altogether 
 from the elevated railway was equivalent to a denial of the privilege granted by act 
 of Congress of July 24, 1866. This decision was made April 15, 1889. 
 
 President Green, of the Western Union Telegraph Company, has denied that tele- 
 graph companies claim the right to put poles on streets of towns and cities. As there 
 have not been many instances where they have claimed this right, possibly you may 
 be interested in a case that was tried at Fort Wayne, Ind. Inclosed I hand you copy 
 of a newspaper clipping that I have preserved, and is about as strong eAddence as 
 you may require. 
 
 I am a warm advocate of Government ownership and control of the telegraph, and 
 furnished the data for the legislative committee of the Knights of Labor in 1888, 
 when they were so strongly advocating the measure. 
 
 [ Inclosure. 1 
 
 “Indianapolis, December 5” (1887 or 1888). — “A decision affecting the rights of 
 property owners and telegraph companies was recorded to-day at Columbia City, Ind.,. 
 by Judge Olds. The suit originated at Fort Wayne, and was taken to Columbia City 
 I on a change of venue. J udge Olds says, among other things, that the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company having accepted the act of Congress of July, 1866, the common 
 council of the city of Fort Wayne could not compel the telegraph company to remove 
 their poles from a post road, and that the city, under its police powers, could not 
 ''pass any ordinance or do any act which would deprive the telegraph company of any 
 rights given by the act of Congress or abridge any of its rights under that act. The 
 court refused to grant an injunction, dissolved the temporary injunction heretofore^ 
 granted, and entered a general finding for the telegraph company.” 
 
 Seattle, . 
 
 I Go on with yonr scheme of making the telegraph service a part of the mail service 
 it is feasible and to this remote part of onr country will be of inestimable benefit. We 
 are now paying out $10 to $20 per day, at a rate of $1 per ten words for messages to 
 points of consumption of one of our chief products of this part of the Territory of 
 Washington, viz, hops. We have to do it, for the least time we can possibly write 
 and get answer from Philadelphia and New York, to which cities we ship many car- 
 
138 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 loads these hops, is twelve days. Commercial men have to use telegraph, and, as you 
 see, at very heavy cost. Nine-tenths of my telegrams, at cost of 10 cents for ten words, 
 would answer every purpose of business on this coast if when received were put into 
 mail and delivered by carriers. They should be sent and gotten in that way inside 
 two days at least, thereby saving ten days’ time in so urgent a business as this hop 
 business is, where fluctuations in one day on a car is equal to |100 to $200. The cost 
 of telegraphic service and the slowness of mail are the two biggest drawbacks in the 
 business here. 
 
 I have often wondered when I hear of the Postmaster-General’s idea of the Gov- 
 ernment controlling the telegraph if he had fully studied the situation, and if he 
 realized that in less than two years xhere would be a radical change in both the tele- 
 graph and telephone business. As it is now, the two companies are under contract 
 to not interfere with each other’s business, but the telephone patents and this agree- 
 ment both will expire at that time, and then the war between the long-distance tele- 
 phone and the telegraph will begin, and that it will be a hotly contested battle there 
 is little doubt. 
 
 Port Gibson, Miss., . 
 
 Will you permit me to call the attention of your Department to a matter which is 
 of general interest to all the communities in this portion of our country subject to a ■ 
 visitation of the yellow-fever scourge. Whenever the yellow fever breaks out at 
 any point all cities and towns, and some counties, having communication with the ' 
 infected district at once declare a rigid quarantine. The efiect of this is to cut off \ 
 all communication between themselves and the outside world. Trains and boats are , 
 prevented* from receiving or delivering the mails. Business men are unable to com- 
 municate by letter with their correspondents, and all are prevented from hearing 
 from relatives and friends in the quarantined places except by telegraph, whose rates ' 
 prevent many from using the wire. ' 
 
 Now, my suggestion is this : that Congress authorize the Postmaster-General to 
 contract with the telegraph companies for reduced rates at such points as may be 
 quarantined against diseases during the existence of quarantine, and in those towns 
 where telegraj)h operators receive commissions on receipts of their offices in lieu of 
 fixed salaries that the Gov^ernment allow them extra compensation for the extra work ; 
 fhey are called upon to perform during such times. I am led to make this suggestion ■ 
 from the experience of Port Gibson during the panic which followed the receipt of ( 
 the news that yellow fever had appeared at Jackson, Miss., in September, 1888, when j 
 the strictest quarantine was immediately put into operation. | 
 
 While some members of Congress may be opposed to Governmental control of the • 
 telegraph, none should be opposed to these temporary agreements between Govern- 
 ment and telegraph companies when an emergency requires it. ■' 
 
 You probably know that in 1876 the telephone patents were granted the Bell Com- 
 pany, and that at that time they attempted to introduce the device. They were met 
 by the Western Union Telegraph Company with a similar device known as the Edison 
 telegraph. This was generally considered an infringement, but as the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company was a strong company both as to practical workers and mjney 
 it was thought advisable to compromise and get them out of the way of what was 
 then a very weak company (the Bell Telephone Company). This I have always un- 
 derstood was done, the Western Union Telegraph Company agreeing to turn over all 
 telephone patents to the Bell Company in consideration of the Bell Company paying 
 them 20 per cent, of the gross earnings and an agreement that they would transmit 
 only verbal messages; and I believe this agreement runs to March 1, 1893, at which 
 time the original telephone patents expire. 
 
 Since that agreement was made the telephone company has become as powerful and . 
 wealthy as the telegraph, and just what the outcome will be when the two companies 
 meet on an equal footing some one shrewder than I only can tell. If the telephone is 
 willing to confine their business as in the past, a new arrangement may be entered ;; 
 into and things go along smooth; if not there will be war. 4 
 
 Why I think the telephone will not be satisfied is owing to the fact that from 10.30 ^ 
 p. m. to 8 a. in. their toll lines are idle, and if they collect during the da.v what is v 
 known as night messages, for transmission within, say, 200 miles, they could do it ati> 
 very little expense, owing to the fact that the receiving office would have direct com- ^ 
 jmiinication without the expense of delivery. % 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 139 
 
 The great mass of the people are too intensely occupied in the difficult struggles of 
 life to give such matters the attention they de&erve, but I find that when it is brought 
 home to them that irrespective of party I find the people generally in favor of the 
 postal department controlling the telegraphs. 1 am an old telegrapher myself, and 
 was in charge of lines in this State as superintendent connecting with the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Telegraph Company before their lines were sold out to the old octopus, the 
 Western Union, and I have watched your controversy with the latter company with 
 a good deal of interest ; glad to see a practical man grapple with the question, hoping 
 that it will result ere long in what I consider a grand thing for the people, a cheaper 
 system of rapid comjnunication, and whilel think the profits arising from this service 
 is a secondary consideration with the Government, still I hold and claim that even 
 at the lowest rates propose^! by you that there can be a fair return made upon the 
 money invested, and as evidence of this I will refer to the fact that while what the 
 Western Union called the ruinous competition with the Baltimore and Ohio Company 
 existed they still continued to earn and pa^’^ dividends upon a capital four or five 
 times larger than the actual value of the property represented; and while I could 
 give a good many reasons why the Baltimore and Ohio Company were not as success- 
 ful as they might be, yet under all their faults and disa i vantages they were fast 
 getting on to a paying basis when they sold out at a profit. 
 
 There is a point and a serious one that should be raised in this matter, and that is 
 the inefficiency of the present telegraph system in so far as it is used at least in con- 
 nection with the mail service. If there is any branch of public service that needs re- 
 forming it is certainly this. I am no chronic kicker or anything of that kind, but 
 many of the actions of the Western Union Telegraph Comj)any in regard to business 
 <;onnected with the mail is inexcusable. Take, for instance, as an illustration, last 
 Friday; I received, as postmaster here, three dispatches from commercial traveling 
 men ordering their mail forwarded to three dilferent points. Not one of these dis- 
 patches, but all three of them were transmitted wrong ; that is, the initial of the name 
 was wrong or the name spelled so badly it was absolutely impossible to decipher it. 
 Of course there was some similarity in names or initials so as to give me some clue 
 as to who it was meant, for a postmaster is not safe in guessing at these matters. 
 I was confident they were wrong and refused them and asked the telegraph company 
 to have a second transmission. They did so, and in each case of the second trans- 
 mission the names and initials were absolutely correct; but the second transmis ion 
 did not get here until the next morning, and as a consequence thereof the mail for 
 these gentlemen was delayed in forwarding from twelve to twenty-four hours. I 
 mention this particular date because it is fresh in my mind, but I could give you 
 many others of like character; in fact it is a frequent occurrence at this post-office. 
 
 Again it is simply wonderful the delay in many of these dispatches. One of the 
 leading and most responsible commercial traveling men of this city makes the prop- 
 osition to wager any sum from |100 to $1,00J that he will file in this telegraph office 
 
 in this city, any day in the year, a dispatch addressed to , and after filing and 
 
 paying for the dispatch of the message, he will step across the street and hire a livery 
 
 team and drive to , a distance of 32 miles from here, and his wager is that he 
 
 will reach in advance of his telegram. Certainly such things are inexcusable, 
 
 but your telegraph bill is striking at the very root of the evil. 
 
 Then again some two years ago I had a personal experience which cost me |40. I 
 sent a telegram to the Third Assistant Postmaster-General ordering 20,000 No. 5 2-cent 
 envelopes, first quality, white. The envelopes came but were not first quality and 
 were not white. An investigation showed that the telegraph company in transmit- 
 ting the message left the words “ first quality” and “ white ” out of the message, and 
 the order was filled exactly as the message reached the Third Assistant Postmaster- 
 General with these words left out. The result was I could not use the envelopes and 
 the Department simply redeemed them for their face value in postage stamps. The 
 only thing for me to do was to grin and bear the loss. Of course the telegraph com- 
 pany “ we;^e sorry ;” so they informed me. 
 
 I see that Dr. Green, of the Western Union Company, asserts that the sender of 
 messages had not asked that telegraph companies be placed under Government con- 
 trol. I have asked it many a time ancj, the people demand it. Dr. Green can only 
 speak for his monopoly. You will do the people and country invaluable service and 
 secure their everlasting gratitude by preventing the further robbery of the people by 
 the Western Union Telegraph Company. 
 
140 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 It is proper for you to know that Dr. Norvin Green’s testimony and arguments 
 before the House committee, yesterday and to-day, were telegraphed to all the news- 
 papers of the New York Associated Press, free of telegraph toll, by the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company, as so stated at the head of each day’s dispatch devoted to the 
 subject. It is interesting and in some passages instructive, and therefore, as I 
 observe, it has been quite generally accepted and published in full, on such liberal 
 terms. 
 
 But as Dr. Green might not feel the same interest in disseminating your side of the 
 facts and arguments in the case, I think it fair to notify you of the advantage thus 
 possessed and used by your opponents in influencing public opinion ; and I think sn 
 the more, because my experience with the postal telegraph in Germany and other 
 European countries (as a correspondent only) enables me to see that Dr. Green's 
 statements thereupon include such facts as are in consonance with the object of his 
 argument, and omit some that are not. Believing that your propositions in respect 
 to a post-ofiQce telegraph would, if carried out, be beneficial to the public, and from 
 no other motive, I make this communication. I have no desire to be heard publicly 
 upon the subject. My position as news editor of a daily newspaper enables me tO' 
 notice what appears like an interested desire on the part of the Western Union tele- 
 graph management to furnish the public with the president’s valuable statements 
 before the committee ; but I write you this solely on my own motion, and simply as 
 a citizen, interested as all citizens are, in the good of the postal service. 
 
 9 
 
 Last evening we got the telegraph report of the statements of Mr. Green, of the 
 Western Union, in which he makes use of words to infer that it is the speculative • 
 classes who would be benefited or mostly interested in reduction of rates on the es- ; 
 tablishment of a cheaper system of telegraphy, and to refute that idea I wish to do ] 
 a little work in getting as numerously signed as possible petitions of the business men ‘ 
 of this city in favor of the postal telegraph bill, and unless I hear from you to the 
 contrary will obtain and send them to you. Outside of this I don’t see that Mr. Green ’ 
 does more than rake up the old “ chestnuts,” ai d hgs no valid arguments to offer,^ ^ 
 and in a nutshell I can give the reason why the Western Union Telegraph Company ■ 
 oppose low rates : It is their aim, as of all private corporations, to get the most money 
 they can out of the dear public ” with the least possible return, and they know as- : 
 I know from past experiences, that with reduction of rates will come a flood of new 
 business that will require more servants to do it, and the marker would not then be , 
 gutted with more operators (as now) than are needed, and they would have to pay > 
 compensation more nearly fair for good and hard services performed. They simply < 
 prefer that they do one-half the business at double rates and fix salaries at half-price^ j 
 as they are doing to-daj’^ to a very great extent. ; 
 
 I notice that tlie proposed bill does not mention the newspaper service. Is this an 
 oversight or intentional ? There are certain hours after the closing of ordinary luisi- ^ 
 ness places when the press of service on the wires is very much relieved, and these ■ 
 are the very hours when the newsgatherers are sending matter to their papers for the < 
 morning readers — say from 9 p. m. to 2 a. m., and the use of the wires to a great ex-:^' 
 tent could be turned over to these papers during these hours at considerable profit 
 and no expense whatever to the Department. ll 
 
 Another thing this bill should provide for is, the securing to the Department all ^ 
 the improvements that may be made in electrical appliances on at least as good terms » 
 as any others. Possibly there may be some law reserving to Government Depart- 
 meuts these rights of which I am not informed. With reference to one other detail .> 
 of the service, I will stop. That is the “special delivery” business. I think it only | 
 fair to those paying for special service that, to give it any distinct benefit over ordi- ' 
 nary business, it should be separated into a special class, that all business in this -, 
 class should be transmitted in the order of filing in this class, and shall have priority 1 
 over second-class business. This would result in the larger portion of th “day”^ l 
 business going into the first class, and in addition to increasing the revenue would i 
 give more satisfaction to those using the wires. ' 
 
 Pardon my being so free in my suggestions, and blame it all to my intense interest , 
 in this enterprise, and hope that it will soon be an established fact and start out as- 
 free as can be from auj' mistakes that might hinder or jeopardize its success. ^ 
 
 I see you have been severely attacked by Dr. N. Green, of the Western Union Tele- 
 graph Company. The animus of the attack was inspired doubtless by the “ green- 
 eyed monster,” who certainly looks with great disfavor on the postal telegraph. But 
 nevertheless the postal telegraph is what the people of this great republic want and; 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 141 
 
 greatly need. Be assured that the people of the Uuited States are with you in your 
 ■efforts to secure the postal telegraph. You will receive the support of their sympathy 
 and universal approbation, and, if you succeed, their profound and enduring grati- 
 tude. The more you are attacked hy Dr. Green the higher you will stand in the esti- 
 mation of your countrymen at large. 
 
 I have forwarded you by to-day’s mail au editorial written hy myself on the postal 
 telegraph bill. I learned the business in 1862 and was in the United States military 
 telegraph corps during the remainder of the war. I quit the service a dozen or more 
 years since, when the Western Union began cutting salaries, as did a large number of 
 capable and intelligent men who had been induced to choose it as a profession on 
 account of the reasonable remuneration given for valuable services. Since then a 
 difierent class of men have gone into the business and the service is not what it was 
 formerly. 
 
 I entered the journalistic field after quitting the service, but have always been an 
 ■enthusiastic believer in the postal-telegraph system and made it a study. I*am what 
 is known as one of the “ old timers” and well know ihat the only hope of the pro- 
 fession is the establishment of the postal system. I incorporated as many substantial 
 reasons for the passage of the bill in the article referred to as was possible in the space 
 set aside for that purpose; but there are many more arguments just as forcible that 
 can be advanced in favor thereof. 
 
 As an old operator I beg to lend my humble but practical knowledge to your com- 
 mendable effort in establishing a postal telegraph system. It is necessary, poi)ular, 
 and demanded by the masses. Financially it can l)e made self-supporting, as I will 
 endeavor to show, if conducted as a branch of the Post-Office Departmeut,°by practi- 
 cal telegraphers, and started in a quiet, experimental way. I will begin by taking 
 Dr. Norvin Green’s argument, as I saw it in a daily paper." He does not coniine bin? 
 self to the truth when he says that the average pay of operators of to-day is |61.45 
 in the United States, and $26 to $29 in England. He seems to have manufactured this 
 average from the low-salaried employes in England, leaving out the nobility and 
 other highly-pa\d officials who are feeding on the telegraph there, and has included such 
 in his avei age for the United States. Wherever he obtained his average it does not 
 alter the ffict that nine-tenths of the operators emj^'oyed by the Western Union are 
 paid from $15 to $40 per month, and that many educated, intelligent men, thorough 
 in their profession, are being paid $50 per month. If his figures were correct it wmuld 
 only correspond generally with all other comparison of wages between that country 
 and this, and is no argument that the Government would pay less than the $61.45 
 which, he claims, is being paid by the Western Union. 
 
 It is unfair also to compare the rate charged for messages, because in England the 
 ■distances are short, and the towns being compact there is less telegraphing than at 
 long distances in this country, with which he compares it, and as everything else is 
 cheaper there than here why not the telegraph rate? The comparison of rates of 
 j to-day with those of twenty-two years ago is absurd, unless he compares also twenty- 
 itwo years ago with a prior period, and takes also into consideration what progress 
 laud competition have done. To points where this competition has not reached they 
 [have maintained a rate sufficient to enable them to starve out new and competing 
 I companies. So far as new' companies are concerned, their weakness has been in actual 
 ; capital and in constructing lines, and not because the rate was not a paying one. 
 When once poles and lines are constructed and offices are fitted up, it is then tliat it 
 I costs no more to transmit a message 500 miles than 10. It is then also that the busi- 
 ness pays a profit, and the time for buying out and consolidation is reached. If the 
 I deficit in eleven years amounted to that many million dollars, this is no more than 
 ; can be claimed of the post-offices and other great benefits and accommodations to the 
 (masses. Excepting in the far West the expense of maiutenance is no greater here 
 Than in England The principal expense in this direction is in large cities where the 
 ;net-work of wires requires constant attention. Under the Government there will be 
 no managers required such as he claims. Popularity and natural instinct will lead 
 business to the post-office as goes, the mail. 
 
 Competent operators, with managers, under the postmaster is all that is required. 
 Without rentals, contracts, watered stock, counsel fees, etc., why can’t the Govern- 
 ment do the general telegraphing of the country cheaper than thev ? An operator 
 can not be made in a year, but such as they use are made in less time. There are 
 plenty of able operators whose condition is deplorable. A field such as you propose 
 will be an incentive to young men and women to perfect their profession. If the 
 
142 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 English emi)loy twice as many, so will we ; an admission from the doctor in favor of 
 your system. 
 
 In spite of this blessing to the masses there will always be a private telegraph 
 company. There is a class of business such as cables, brokers, press matter, etc., 
 that will support any company on a reasonable basis. In order to deal fairly with 
 these companies I would respectfully suggest the leasing of one or more wires 
 from the Postal Telegraph Company and gradually absorbing it. Connect the post- 
 offices by telegraph and for all commercial and special business charge the present 
 rate for a term of years, but all general correspondence to be delivered inside of twelve 
 hours a lower rate and a class deliverable inside of twenty-four hours, a still lower 
 rate, distances, etc., considered. Small offices can be worked by register instrument 
 or telephone, requiring little knowledge. It must be begun in an experimental way 
 to grow into a glorious system, when, if successful, the companies be paid a reasona- 
 ble price for poles and wires or to continue as private corporations. 
 
 Dr. Green is misleading in his statement that American operators are better remu- 
 nerated than those in England. By the English system the operator is paid on a sys- 
 tem much similar to the one governing the army and navy. His salary is increased 
 yearly, and at the end of a certain term of service (about twenty years) he is pen- 
 sioned. In the end the British system is the more advantageous to the employes. 
 Dr. Green's statement about the Baltimore and Ohio is ridiculous. Ask Robert Garrett 
 himself. He was sold out by men whom he believed were his friends. It is an open 
 secret in Wall street. Several operators have spoken to me about the Postmaster- 
 General’s plan and all have unqualifiedly indorsed it. Of course we all understand 
 the case when Dr. Green says the Western Union is not controlled by one man ; and 
 after reading his statement I presume we all hummed the comic opera song : “ It is 
 
 near it, very near it.” The question is not whether Mr. Gould has ever used the tele-! 
 graph for his own purposes, but whether he could. There is only one answer. No 
 one man should have this power. The Western Union discriminates in favor of its 
 more influential customers. Stock-brokers have a quick Morse service. Between 
 many important points the slow English (Wheatstone) system is used for ordinary 
 busiuess. All this is wrong. The Western Union is allowing its lines and equipments 
 to decay. If any of its property is bought, the valuation should be set by appraisers 
 who are competent to make a fair appraisal. 
 
 Your relations and business with telegraph companies have been pleasant and sat- 
 isfactory, and all Government employds can truthfully say the same, for this tele- 
 graph company does not wish to offend a Government man and bring complaint, and 
 will do everything possible to rush the business. But let a man come to one of their' 
 offices in the garb of a couutryman or laborer, and see the difference in their manners 
 
 aud price. For example : Last summer, in search of employment, I went to and 
 
 was taken sick there with mountain fever. After getting able to walk around I 
 
 found my money had run short. I had some money at , and went to Western 
 
 Union office and told the manager I wanted to send a ten-word message to , and 
 
 asked the price ; “ 75 cents, sir ; very short. I said, ‘ ' Here, my friend, is 50 cents 
 and a cigar; shoot this message off as soon as possible.” He says: “ What is the 
 matter with you ? It is 75 cents or nothing.” I simply told him I was not so green as 
 I might look, and was pretty well posted as to Western Union rates, having worked 
 at it some myself. He then made all manner of apologies, sent the message for 40 
 cents, and told me he was only receiving $60 a month as manager and could not get 
 a moment's time for his own use ; aud worked for twelve to eighteen hours per day 
 and Sundays. 
 
 Mr. Chandler can not give the names of ten operators his company pays $90, $80, 
 or $75, or even $70 a month to. Instead of giving you the price paid operators he 
 eimiily added office rent, fuel and lights, and gave it as operators’ salaries. The top 
 rung is $75, the lower $5, a month ; aud let any trifling dispute come up after a man 
 has served ten or fifteen years, and is getting the enormous sum of $60 or $75, and the 
 matter is not looked into at all by the officials, but the operator is discharged, without, 
 ceremony, to make room for some man that is compelled to work any number of hours’ 
 cheaper. I am not afraid of ten, twelve, fifteen, or even eighteen hours’ work (if 
 the business requires it) if paid for any over ten hours’ actual work; but who ever 
 heard of an operator getting pay for overtime ? and Mr. Chandler’s advice to go slow| 
 and not take any steps in infringing on their rights that the Government would be 
 sorry for looks to me like a drowning man grabbing at straws. He knows the Gov- 
 ernment’s authority aud ability to construct aud use lines, and will kick himself the! 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 143 
 
 rest of his life if he don’t get a deal at postal telegraphy if it is once established Of 
 course it is to his interest to throw cold water on it now. 
 
 I went to one of our city editors yesterday and told him I wanted to give him some 
 pointers from actual experience in telegraphy; also, wanted him, through his paner 
 the advantages of postal telegraphy before the public. He says * 
 “Hist! hist! notso oud.” “Why,” he says, “if we make such a break the tele- 
 graph companies will cut us oflf from the world entirely.” He said he must handle 
 them like so many eggs in order to get anything, and dare not make a kick about 
 the bulled condition business comes and goes in. I know he, with nearly all business 
 men, ^rees with me in this, but have a Western Union and Mutual Union club held 
 over them. * It is my honest opinion the people will never let up until we 
 
 have postal telegraphy. ^ wo 
 
 I agree with you that it (the telegraphic service at the South) is not such as would 
 commend itself to the commercial world as reliable in a business sense. But there 
 is no apparent remedy for this evil unless we had some strong competitor. This haa 
 been partiady met by the Postal Telegraph Company now constructing lines between 
 the most important southern towns and cities. In my opinion the public service in 
 telegraphing would be greatly enhanced should all the operators of the United States 
 fomi themselves into a joint stock company for the purpose of constructing and oper- 
 ating an independent telegraph system. This company could be based on the asso- 
 ciation plan, that is, each operator paying into the company every month the sum of 
 loi every share of stock be has subscribed for. There is a sufficient number of 
 commence construction upon this plan in one month and operate a con- 
 sideiablo number of miles the first mouth at a cost of construction not exceedin‘'-$lOO 
 per mile. As ail operators would be financially interested in this company and more 
 service, and it being a purely comraerciarundertaking all busi- 
 ness entrusted to its care would receive prompt attention as to transmission, delivery 
 and secrecy. If such an undertaking were started at once and upon business princi- 
 pleS in my judgment it would receive fair treatment from the commercial world and 
 
 the appreciations a large- 
 country entertain towards your efibrts in striving fo 
 of monopoly subservient, if not absolutely a part of the postal sys 
 
 su“iect some ^ ^MP ™ tWs 
 
 liave and no doubt will have mountains of objections to overcome, to do 
 l advocacy of this step. Gould & Co.’s millions will be used to 
 
 overcome’ people are with you, and slowly and surely the oppressors will be 
 
 f Inclosure.] 
 
 HERESY ! 
 
 Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll has, we need hardly remark, a pretty level head 
 
 ffias^e^of niA the New York Herald why he is opposed to the pur- 
 
 Western Union by the Government he replied: “ Simply because I ob- 
 
 md hundipi^ nf I do not want to see millions of leaning polL 
 
 ^1 ^ rusted wire covered with all sorts of con- 
 
 guaranties, pushed over to the Government as though 
 ffie GovArn^An"iT new and prosperous. And besides, I do not want to sle 
 
 iltWbrsVn^sr/ business. Why should not the Government go into 
 
 i tner business ? The fact that a thing is a necessity is no reason whv the Govern- 
 
 necessities, but I do 
 
 the H* all the bakeries, or make all the coffins, 
 
 To Editors Dallg States : 2, 18d7. 
 
 ' oner/tw'th; P.^fasrapli I clipped from your paper of a late date. It wou Id 
 
 dSrs o^he York Herald, as well as a certain class of 
 
 .Qmirers ot the celebiated orator, seems to think that the said article is correct in all 
 
 likT”Sr3thpre f ® subjects divine. We do not all think 
 
 ides’ to aTl mnmintn themselves. There are many 
 
 Ides to all momentous questions. When asked if there is a God, he answered, “I 
 
144 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 xion’t know, do you?” is a self-evident fact that his sensibilities and intuitions are 
 blunted like one in the habitual use of stimulants or narcotics. 
 
 The comparison of the rights and uses of the telegraph to an undertaker, clothier, 
 baker, or newspaper is in keeping with his loud-sounding but weak and shallow 
 arguments, if his harangues can be considered as arguments at all. 
 
 Right of way and expropriation of property are sovereign rights, and should never 
 be delegated to a citizen, a corporation, or a monopoly of any kind, because they are 
 always oppressive. 
 
 Upon mature consideration it will appear there are just reasons why the Govern- 
 ment should have sole control of the telegraph, the railroads, and the circulating 
 medium of the country, as well as now the postal system. Let the Government deal 
 direct with all the people alike and not (as now) for the benefit of a favored few 
 monopolists, thereby impoverishing the many, the workers, for a favored few. Bank 
 charters, telegraph charters, and railroad charters are all combinations of oppression 
 to rob the masses. 
 
 Undertakers, bakers, clothiers, and editors do not expropriate property. They do 
 not pretend, nor can they trample upon private rights under a pretense that it is for 
 the public good. They do not exercise the sovereign power to destroy my farm and 
 your city by passing through it without my consent and pay what they please or 
 nothing at all! The tradesmen do not borrow money from the Government at 1 per 
 cent, and loan it to the people at any price they please and on any security they may 
 demand or lock it up altogether in combinations to make corners, to rob the people 
 with the people’s own money. 
 
 It is not necessary that the Government should buy out any of them ; she can build 
 her own telegraph and railroads, and can loan the circulating medium direct to the 
 people upon the same terms as to the bondholders, on a real estate basis. She could 
 run the railroads for a cent a mile, carry her own mails, pay the laborer living wages, 
 transport its traffics, and do the Government business for the good of the whole peo-^ 
 pie and put a stop to*Wall street gambling millionaires, Goulds, and vultures of all 
 kindg. All such comparisons as the popular “ level head” makes are self-evident' 
 foibles, “ wind-bubbles,” flatteries to the codfish aristocracy of America. I tru^t when 
 the Knights of Labor become settled down to sober second thought some latent thinker 
 will arise and enlighten the minds of the united thousands and awake to these facts' 
 and problems for the benefit and glory of a free people. And that the time may 
 shortly come is the earnest prayer of struggling thousands who know not which way 
 to turn in their deathless efforts for that freedom which is but faintly portrayed in 
 the Constitution of the United States, equal rights, equal privileges to all, exclusive 
 monopoly to none but to the sovereign Government for the sole benefit of the whole 
 
 people and country. 
 
 Respectfully, yours, 
 
 D. W. Eames. \ 
 
 P. S. — Do you dare to publish such heresy as this in your valuable paper ? I think 
 not ; the moneyed aristocracy would be insulted. So it will go into the waste-basket. 
 So mote it be; the world will continue to roll, nevertheless. v 
 
 Yours, j 
 
 Postmaster. 
 
 Appendix E. f 
 
 1 
 
 NEW TELEGRAPH DEVICES BROUGHT TO THE ATTENTION OF THE 
 POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT SINCE JANUARY 1, 1890. | 
 
 Patten’s Synchronous Multiplex Telegraph : 
 
 Lieutenant Patten testified before the House Committee on Post-Offices and Post- 
 Roads to the effect that his system is capable of at least eight transmissions oyer one 
 wire, each transmission being accomplished by a Morse operator at the sending end 
 and one at the receiving end, iii the same manner as a single Morse wire is operated. 
 
 Essick Page-Printing Telegraph : 
 
 Mr. Abner McKinley testified that the Essick system provided for the transmissioui 
 of telegraph signals by means of an electric type-writer similar to the Hammond 
 type-writing machine, the communication being recorded at the distant end of the 
 line in roman characters and in page form at about the rate of Morse transmission; 
 and that any person who can operate an ordinary type- writer can do the work of 
 sending, while at the receiving end no especial skill is required, as the message is 
 recorded automatically, and one person can attend to a number of receiving instru- 
 ments. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 145 
 
 Rogers’ Visual Syclironism Telegraph : 
 
 Mr. .1. M. Varnuiu testified that the Rogers system was capable of transmitting 
 from two hundred to five hundred words per miiiuce over a wire, which is from five 
 to twelve times as rapid as the ordinary Morse transmission over a single wire. 
 
 Jliisha Gray’s Teleautograph : 
 
 By means of this system it is claimed a telegram may be transmifjed as rapidly aS 
 by Morse, and that at the receiving end it will be recorded in the precise form in 
 which the original communication is written. Thus the handwriting of the sender 
 may be reproduced at the receiving end. 
 
 Hathaway’s Printing Telegraph : 
 
 It is claimed by means of this system that telegrams may be transmitted much 
 more rapidly than by Morse, and be recorded in roman characters. A prospectus of 
 this invention gives particulars. 
 
 Writing Telegraj)!! : 
 
 By this system the sending operator transmits the telegram by means of an electric 
 pen pivoted in trout of two magnets which are placed at right angles to each other, 
 the eftect at the receiviugeud being that the telegram is recorded on a strip of paper 
 in the handwriting of the sending ojaerator. 
 
 Mallet Printing Telegraph : 
 
 In this system the telegram is prepared for transmission by an embossing machine, 
 a strip of card paper receiving the impression of a series of stylii, the impressions by 
 their location or position upon the card indicating the letters of the alphabet. Tlie 
 card, which may be of any desired length, containing one or a hundred telegrams, is 
 tlieu fed through the transmitter and at the receiving end the communication is re- 
 corded in roman characters upon a strip of paper. The speed is about the same as 
 that of Morse. No skilled opeiators are required at either end. 
 
 Delaney Multiplex Telegraph: 
 
 This system is used by. the English telegraph department to some extent, and by 
 its means six or eight telegrams are transmitted over one wire by Morse operators. 
 
 Van Rysselbergh’s Phono-Multiplex Telegraph : 
 
 By means of this system it is claimed that eight, twelve, or even twenty separate 
 series of signals may be sent over a wire, each series requiring Morse operators for 
 their manipulation, or four telegrams may be sent over one wire by any of the well- 
 known printing systems, such as that of Hughes. It is held that the result last 
 named has actually been accomplished between London and Paris over the channel 
 cable. 
 
 Van Rysselbergh’s Simultaneous Telegraph and Telephone System : 
 
 By this system it is possible to establish Morse or other ordinary telegraph circuits 
 upon the same wires which are at the same time being used for telephone signals. 
 This system is used largely upon government telegraph lines in Belgium, and has 
 lately been successfully tried between New York and Boston in this country. 
 
 Craig’s Chemical Automatic Telegraph: 
 
 This system is held to be far superior in efficiency and speed to the Wheatstone 
 automatic, which is used extensively in England and to a smaller extent in the 
 United States. The telegram is prepared for transmission by means of a punching 
 nachine, a series of holes being punched in a strip of paper, so that when the paper 
 s passed between a metallic peu, or brush, and a roller the current is made and 
 jroken with great rapidity. The record at the receiving end is upon a similar strip 
 Df paper prepared by being placed in a solution of ferro cyanide of potassium, or 
 )ther substance, one property of which is to show a brown or black mark wherever 
 touched by the electric current. One thousand, and even two thousand, words per 
 ninute can be transmitted by this means, requiring to be translated and copied at 
 ;he receiving end by anyone who is able to read the Morse signals. No special skill 
 s required at either end. 
 
 Hotchkiss’s Automatic Telegraph: 
 
 Some of the details of this system are the same as those of Craig’s, but at the re- 
 leiviug end the strip of paper may be passed between a pair of rollers, and the sig- 
 lals reproduced on a local telegraph sounder at a rate of speed allowing a Morse 
 iperator to write down the communication in the same manner as if the telegram was 
 leing transmitted by hand from the distant end of the wire. 
 
 P T 10 
 
146 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Taucke’s Chemical Telegraph : 
 
 This system is much like that of Craig’s or Hotchkiss’s. 
 
 Sheehy’s Printing Telegraph : 
 
 This system is something like tlie usual ticker system used for the distribution o^ 
 stock and news reports to brokers, but it is said to be much more simple and econom 
 ical. 
 
 Edison Phonoplex Telegraph : 
 
 This device provides for superposing upon an ordinary telegraph circuit or wire a 
 phonic circuit, which in its turn may be duplexed, so that, as in Van Rysselbergh’s 
 system, a double use may be made of each wire. Both telegraph circuit and phonic 
 circuit are operated by Morse operators in the usual way. 
 
 Parker’s Stenograph Telegraph : 
 
 By means of this system a few simple stenographic characters are said to be trans- 
 mitted and recorded \\ ith great rapidity. 
 
 Appendix F. 
 
 AS TO THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 The decisions or notes of decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in re- ’ 
 lation to the power of Congress to regulate telegraphs under the authority conferred^ 
 by‘ the clause of the Constitution authorizing Cougress to regulate commerce be-' 
 tween the States are numerous enough. 
 
 The powers conferred upon Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations and^ 
 among the several States, and to establish post-offices and post roads, are not con- * 
 fined to the instrumentalities of commerce or of the postal service known or in use i 
 when the Constitution was adopted, but keep pace with the progress of the country, : 
 and adapt themselves to the new developments of time and circumstances. ; 
 
 They were intended for the government of the business to which they relate at all ^ 
 times and under all circumstances; and it is not only the right, but the duty, of] 
 Congress to take care that intercourse among the States and the transmission of in- 1 
 telligence are not obstructed or unnecessarily encumbered by State legislation. { 
 
 The act of Congress approved July 24, 1866 (14 Stat., 221, Rev. Stat., sec. 5263 ei 
 seq.), entitled ^‘An act to aid in the construction of telegraph lines, and to secure to ; 
 the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes,” so far ' 
 as it declares that the erection of telegraph lines shall, as against interference, be^ 
 free to all who accept its terms and conditions, and that a telegraph company of one - 
 State shall not, after accepting them, be excluded by another State from prosecuting^ 
 its business within her jurisdiction, is a legitimate regulation of commercial inter-, 
 course among t he States, and is appropriate legislation to execute the powers of Con- 
 gress over the postal service. (Pensacola Tel. Co. rs. West, etc., Tel. Co., 96 U. S., 1.). 
 
 The telegraph is an' instrument of commerce, subject to the regulating power of 
 Congress. (VV. U. Tel. Co. vs. Texas, 105 U. S., 460; Ratterman W. U. Tel. Co.,. 
 127 U. S., 59; W. U. Tel. Co. vs. Seay, governor of Alabama, 132 U. S., 472.) 
 
 Intercourse by telegraph betv een the States is interstate commerce. (W. U. Tel.^ 
 Co. vs. Pendleton, 122 U. S., 347.) 
 
 State legislation compelling electric wires in the streets of a city to be placed under 
 the surface of the streets, although such streets, being letter-carrier routes, are all 
 post roads, is an exercise of police power, and is not an unlawful attempt to regulate 
 commerce or an invasion of the rights of a telegraph company as a business agency 
 of the General Government under the act of Congress of July 24, 1866 (U. S. Rev.' 
 Stat., title 65), to operate its lines “on any post road of the United States.” 
 
 The opinion in the case of McCulloch against the State of Maryland (4 Wheaton,'^ 
 316), which has been followed by that court and by all other courts ever since it was 
 promulgated, governs this whole question. What Chief-Justice Marshall said in 
 regard to the implied powers of Congress under the welffire clause of the Constitution 
 applies with as much force to the building of*telegraph lines and the construction of 
 railroads as to the creation of a bank. In 1 Hare’s American Constitutional Law, pages 
 111.248, and 249, is a statement of that author as to the right of Congress to build 
 “ high roads” and railroads ; and Cougress has without question both built and con-* 
 tributed to the building of canals, to say nothing about its contribution to the seV] 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 147 
 
 eral transcontineutal lines, wliicli included the building and maintaining of telegraph 
 lines. 
 
 Senate bill 208, Fifty-first Congress, first session, was iniroduced by Senator Spooner, 
 of Wisconsin, referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce, and favorably re- 
 ported by Senator Cullom, of Illinois, the chairman, to the Senate. It is “A bill to 
 regulate commerce carried on by telegraph.” The second, third, fourth, and fifth 
 sections say : 
 
 “That all charges made for telegraph service, in the receiving, transmission, and 
 delivery of messages, shall be reasonable and just, and every unreasonable charge 
 for any such service is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. 
 
 “ That it shall be unlawful for any telegraph company, subject to the provisions of 
 this act, to give any unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, 
 company, firm, corporation, or locality, or class of business, in any respect whatever, 
 or to subject any particular person, company, firm, corporation, locality, or class of 
 business to any unreasonable discrimination or disadvantage, in any respect what- 
 ever, or to charge any more for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line. 
 Every such telegraph cojiipany shall afford etpial facilities for the receiving, forward- 
 ing, transmitting, and delivering of messages to and from their several lines and those 
 connecting therewith, and shall not discriminate in their rates and charges between 
 such connecting lines. 
 
 “ That it shall be unlawful for any such telegraph company to enter into any con- 
 tract, agreement, or combination with any competing telegraph company or com- 
 panies to divide between them the aggregate or net proceeds of the earnings of such 
 companies upon their respective lines, or any portions thereof. 
 
 “ That it shall be unlawful for any telegraph company, directly or indirectly, by 
 any special rate, rebate, drawback, or other device or contrivance, to charge demand, 
 collect, or receive from any person or persons, corporation or corporations, a greater 
 or less compensation for any service, rendered or to be rendered, iu the transmission 
 of messages, subject to the provisions of this act, than it charges, demands, collects, 
 or receives from any other person or persons, corporation or corporations, for doing for 
 him or them a like and contemporaneous service ; but nothing in this act shall be con- 
 strued as prohibiting any telegraj)!! company from receiving, transmitting, and deliver- 
 ing messages for the United States, or for any State or municipal corporations, or for 
 the press, intended for publication as news, at lower rates than are at the same time 
 chargedfor social, business, and other messages, but no such company shall discrimi- 
 nate between the publishers of newspapers by allowing terms or advantages to one or 
 more newspapers for alike and contemporaneous service which are not allowed to other 
 newspapers in any city, towu, or place where there is, or may be, a telegraph office 
 from which such messages may be dropped.” 
 
 The members of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce are Senators Cul- 
 lom, Platt, Blair, Wilson, Hiscock, Harris, Gorman, Reagan, and Barbour. 
 
 The postal telegraph discussions before Congress have elicited many undisputed 
 opinions as to the constitutionaliLy of postal telegraphy. 
 
 Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard said before the House Committee on Appropriations on 
 April 21, 1874 : 
 
 “The post-office is established for the general convenience of all classes in every 
 section of the Union. The people are more immediately, constantlj", and directly in- 
 terested in the operations of the Post-Office Department than in those of the other 
 Departments. Every one enjoys the privileges or partakes of the benefits of the Post- 
 Office, while the amount expended on postage is felt as a tax by no one. 
 
 “Not only does the Constitution grant to Congress exclusive control over the Post- 
 Office, but the laws of the United States in execution of this power forbid any private 
 person from carrying letters for hire. 
 
 “The Constitution is a mere enumeration of powers, and does not prescribe the 
 means by which they shall be executed. Our forefathers forsaw that important in- 
 ventions would be made, and that the means then in use for carrying on the opera- 
 tions of the Army, Navy, and Post-Office would be succeeded by others ; that progress 
 was certain, and therefore changes must take place from time to time, and the 
 agencies to be employed by the several Departments could not be prescribed by any 
 immutable law. 
 
 “The Army, the Navy, and the Post-Office have each adopted the inventions which 
 the application of steam has brought into geueral use, but while the Army and the 
 Navy use the telegraph iu various ways, the Post Office has never availed itself 
 of this the most useful of all inventions for speediug the trausmission of correspond- 
 ence. 
 
 “The Post-Office is established for the reception and delivery of correspondence ; 
 post- roads for its transmission The earliest law upon the subject provides for the 
 transmission of letters and pacquets through the mails, and subsequent laws for letters, 
 newspapers, books, pamphlets, and postal-cards. 
 
 “ Letters and newspapers are sent for the purpose of conveying information be- 
 
148 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 \ 
 
 tween x>ersoiis separated from each other, and for this object the Post-Office was 
 established. Whenever new means have been devised for facilitating the perform- 
 ance of its duties they have been adopted. Steam-boats and railroads were unknown 
 to our fathers; but they are used for the transmission of correspondence, and carry 
 more than half of all mail-matter. It is not only within the power, but the duty, of 
 Congress to adopt all such instrumentalities as will facilitate the work of the Post- 
 Office and remier it more useful to the people. The telegram performs the same offices 
 as the letter and newspax)er, and differs from them only in the method of transmis- 
 sion.” 
 
 Mr. J. C. Reiff, before the Senate Committee on Railroads, February 1.3, 1879, said : 
 
 “It will be remembered that the act of Congress, approved July 24, 1866, entitled 
 ‘ An act to aid in the construction of telegraph Hues,’ etc., was originally intended to 
 cover a special charter to the National Telegraph Company, but upon the eve of its 
 jiassage by the Senate, it was converted into a general law; hence, as the special 
 advantages and rights to be conferred by the act were of general application so far 
 as telegraph companies were concerned, the incentive to investment in the National 
 Telegraph Company was taken away. Had the act of 1866 been originally framed 
 as a general law, it can not be doubted that inquiry would have been made into the 
 status of railroads and their necessary telegraph system, so that whatever public 
 advantage might have been served by making the law applicable to all owners of 
 telegraph lines, instead of limiting it to telegraph companies, would certainly and 
 naturally have been provided for. In other words the technical omission of railroad 
 companies in the act originally was an inadvertence, and yet to amend the existing 
 law, now known as Title 65 of the Revised Statutes, by simply incorporating the 
 words railroad, or so as to read any railroad or telegraph company now organized, etc., 'I 
 would make the statute incougruous. Therefore the propriety of a corrective bill like 
 Senate bill 1093. ' 
 
 “The United States Supreme Court, in the Pensacola telegraph case, reported in i 
 6 Otto, page 1, having broadly affirmed the constitutionality of the act of July 24, i 
 b^66, further insists that the telegraiih is such an important instrument of interstate 
 commerce as to place it peculiarly under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, etc., ' 
 and says : ‘It is not only the right but duty of Congress to see to it that intercourse ' 
 among the States and the transmission of intelligence are not obstructed.^ ^ 
 
 •* This decision was rendered in a case raised by the Western Union Telegraph Corn- 
 ])auy, seeking the shelter of the very act which it has persistently op^msed when urged 
 in favor of other telegraphic companies, although the Western Union Company ac- ' 
 cepted its provisions by tiling the necessary j)apers with the Secretary of the Interior.” . 
 
 Mr. Reiff said further, quoting an opinion of Hon. Reverdy Johnson, then Assist- 
 ant Attorney-General, dated April 6, 1874, and given to General Myer, Chief Signal J 
 Officer, as to the constitutionality of the act of July 24, 1866, and the rights of the J 
 Government and the AVestern Union Telegraj)!! Comiiany thereunder: | 
 
 “These power.s, like all others vested in Congress, unless they are expressly re- t 
 stricted by some other provision in the Constitution, are, by their very nature, un- , 
 limited in regard to the subjects with which they deal. It is, we know, an historic v 
 truth that such regulations, more tban any other one cause, led to the adoption of ; 
 the Constitution. * q_’he theory of the Constitution — and all the powers 
 
 with which Congress is clothed are in accordance with that theory — is that every; 
 power which could not be exercised by the States separately should be vested in 
 Congress. The object of the convention was to establish a government for a great ' 
 nation, and was, of course, to repose in it every authority necessary to attain that 
 result and to secure union and harmony at home as well as peace abroad. In relation , 
 to the {lowers so conferred, the Supreme Court has over and over again declared that/"' 
 they are to be construed as if there were no State governments, and quotes the lan- 
 guage of Chief Justice Marshall in the case of McCulloch vs. Maryland, 4 Wheaton, 
 406 : ■ r 
 
 “ ‘If any jiroposition could command the universal consent of mankind we might /' 
 expect it would be this, that the Government of the Union, though limited in its-j 
 liowers, is supreme in its sphere of action; ^ * it is the government of all; its* 
 
 }>owtus are delegated by all ; it represents all ; and acts for all.' J 
 
 “Every power incidental to those exiiressly granted is as much granted as the ex-J 
 pressly granted power; ^ * nor in the exercise of rhe incidental powers whichl 
 
 Congress possesses are they limited to the use of the means known to exist at the date's 
 of the Constitution ; ^ ^ whatever, therefore, is commerce among the States maV; 
 
 be n'gnlated by Congress as well as whatever is commerce with foreign nations. What, 
 then, is commerce as the term is here used ? Is it traflic alone, or is it not also inter- 
 course and the means by which traflic and intercourse may be carried on ? And refers; 
 to the Supreme Court (lecision in the case of Gibbous vs. Ogden, 9 Wheaton, page 
 1 : " * Whatever, therefore, is a regulation by Congress and tends to accomplisli 
 
 the end for which the power was given, must be constitutional. No authority claimed 
 by any State in coullict with it has any validity. Nothing that a State can do by 
 
 ( 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 149 
 
 I legislation or otLerwise can in the slightest degree limit the power. * * * 
 
 (jnotes again from McCulloch rslMaryland, 4 Wheaton, wherein the court says, ‘ Let 
 the end be legit mate; let it be within the scone of the Constitution, and all means 
 which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not in’o- 
 hibited but consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitu- 
 tional.’ 
 
 This. discretion belonging to Congress, the manner of exercising it is for them 
 to decide. The object of the act of July 24, 1866, as declared in its title, is to secure 
 to the Government the use of the telegraph lines ‘for postal, military and other 
 purposes.’ ” 
 
 On January 17, 1884, Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, said before the Senate Com- 
 mittee on Post-Olfices and Post-Roads, discussing postal telegraph bills introduced 
 by Senator Dawes, of Massachusetts, Senator Hill, of Colorado, and himself: 
 
 “ I am perfectly satisfied that Congress has the constitutional power to do what is 
 proposed, and in any of the forms that are proposed under several constitutional 
 heads — commerce, war, post-office, and I might add finance — on the same principle 
 that the Supreme Court held that the old national bank law was constitutional, 
 although all that the Constitution said was that Congress might borrow money, might 
 have a Treasury Department, and might levy taxes, and therefore presumably Con- 
 gress must have the power to provide the means to cairy on the fiscal operations of the 
 Government. If a bank was thought by Congress to be wise for that purpose, it was 
 constitutional. So I think that the constitutional question is beyond the range of 
 fair dispute, and I do not wish to take any of your time u])()n that point.” 
 
 Congressman Charles A. Sumner, of California, said before the House Committee 
 on Post-Office and Post-Roads, on March 25, 1884 : 
 
 “ I lay it down as a proposition that I want to have duly considered by this Com- 
 mittee and the country — that the Constitution of the United States, as "interpreted 
 by a century of unchallenged legislation, does imperatively require that the Congress 
 of the United States shall establish a postal system. I lay it down as a fundamental 
 proposition that the postal telegraph is a part of the postal system of the Govern- 
 ment; the postal system ofdhe United States having been established for the purpose 
 of transmitting intelligence between the inhabitants of the land.” 
 
 Senator Hill, of Colorado, said. May 27, 1884, in a report written for the Committee 
 on Post-Office and Post-Roads : 
 
 “The constitutional right of this Government to establish a postal telegraph, under 
 its power to establish yrost offices and post-roads, seems too clear to require argument. 
 It has always been recognized, and the first telegrairhic line in this country was con- 
 structed aud operated and owned by the United States, and many military lines are 
 now in operation. In all European countries, the business of telegraphing is man- 
 aged by the public authorities. The war power aud the power to regulate commerce 
 between the states are sometimes invoked, aud may be fairly invoked, as also justi- 
 I'yiug this Government in establishing a postal telegraph, but the power to estab- 
 lish post-offices and post roads is of itself abundantly sufficient for the purpose. A 
 practical construction long ago extended it to modes of communication not known 
 when the Constitution was formed, such as steam-boats and railroads, and there can 
 be no difficulty in extending it to other modes Since discovered, such as the telegraph 
 aud the telephone. ” 
 
 Appendix G. 
 
 QUOTATIONS FROM REPORTS OF POSTMASTERS-GENERAL TOUCHING 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 [Hon. Cave Johnson; Doc. No. 2, p. 860; December 1, 1845.] 
 
 The electro-magnetic telegraph, in vented by Professor Morse and put into opera- 
 Jon between the cities of Washington and Baltimore, under appropriations made by 
 Jongress, was placed under the superintendence of the Postmaster-General by a 
 danse in one of the appropriation acts of the 3d of March last. It had been in use the 
 previous year under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, bufhad been cou- 
 lucted more with reference to the testing of its capabilities, and such experiments as 
 rended to perfect and improve its operations. Having been f ransferrcd to the Post- 
 Jffice Department, I at once adopted regulations to bring it into constant service as 
 i means of transmitting intelligence, accessible to all, and prescribed the rates of 
 )ostage. The copy of the order, which accompanies this report, marked No. 11, will 
 ihow the regulations and the rates of postage adopted. One-half of the rates of post- 
 
150 
 
 POSTAL tei,j;graph facilities. 
 
 age suggested by Professor Morse was adopted by me, under the hope that it would 
 greatly increase its revenues. It went into operation on the 1st r.f April, having ex- 
 pended $6S0. 15 before the charge of postage com inenc-^d. From the 1st of A])ril to 
 the 1st of October the exiieuditures amounted to $3,244,99, making the whole expendi- 
 ture $.3,925.14, whilst the revenues for the six months amounted to the S)im of $413.44. 
 
 I deem it my duty to bring to yonr notice the fact that the subject of telegraphic 
 coinmnnicatious, in their fullest extent, as made available by means of this extraor- 
 dinary invention, is forcing itself upon the attention of the public. The proprie- 
 tors of the patent securing the exclusive use of the telegraph, have, since the last 
 Congress, taken the most active measures to establish lines of communication be- 
 tween the principal cities of the Union. Their success will introduce a means of 
 communicating intelligence amply sufftcieut for a great variety of purposes, and 
 greatly superior in dispatch to those of the juiblic mails, and must secure to itself 
 much of the business that has heretofore been transacted through them, and, to that 
 extent, diminish the revenues of the Department. 
 
 It becomes, then, a question of great importance how far the Government will allow 
 individuals to divide with it the business of transmitting intelligeuce — an important 
 duty confided to it by the Constitution, necessarily and properly exclusive? Or v-ill 
 it purchase the telegraph and conduct its operations for the benefit of the public? 
 Experience teaches that if individual enterpiise is allowed to perform such portions 
 of the business of the Government as it may find for its advantage, the Government 
 will soon be left to perform unprofitable portions of it only, and must be driven to 
 abandon it entirely or carry it on at a heavy tax upon the public treasury. In the 
 hands of individuals or associations, the telegraph may become the most potent in- 
 strument the world ever knew to effect sudden and large speculations — to rob the 
 many of their just advantages, and concentrate them upon the few. If permitted by 
 the Government to be thus lield, the public can have no security that it will not be 
 wielded for their injury rather than their benefit. The operation of the telegraph 
 between this city and Baltimore has not satisfied me that under any rate of postage 
 that can be adopted its revenues can be made to equal its expenditures. Its im- 
 portance to the public does not consist in any probable income that can ever be de- 
 rived from it ; but as an agent vastly superior to any other ever devised by the genius ^ 
 of man for the diffusion of knowledge, which maybe accomplished with almost the 
 rapidity of light to any part of the republic, its value in all commercial transactions, 
 to individuals having the control of it, or to the Government in time of war, could not , ' 
 be estimated. The use of an instrument so powerful for good or for evil can not with ( 
 safety to the j)eoj)le be left in the hands of j)rivate individuals uncontrolled by law. i 
 
 [Hon. Cave Johnson; page 683; December 7, 1846. ] 
 
 The telegraph between this city and Baltimore has been kept regularly in operation f 
 until the 1st of December. A statement of the income and expenditures from the i 
 time it was placed under the control of the department is herewith communicated | 
 marked D. j 
 
 Under the authority given at the last session of Congress an arrangement has been | 
 made with Messrs. Vail and Rogers, tli^ principal officers having charge of it, by V ' 
 which the line will be kept up until the 4th of March next for its profits and without J ■ 
 further calls upon the Treasury. i 
 
 In my last annual communication I brought to your notice this extraordinary f _ 
 invention of Professor Morse for the transmission of intelligence; its importance in ; . 
 all commercial transactions to tho.se having the control of it ; and to the Government j 
 itself, particularly in a period of war. I then expre.ssed the opinion that an iustru- j ^ 
 ment so powerful for good or for evil could not with safety to the citizen be per- >> 
 mitted to remain in the hands of individuals uncontrolled by law. Another year’s f i 
 experience gives additional weight to the opinions then expressed. t !j 
 
 Telegraphic lines have been established from New York to Boston, Buft'alo, Phila- ] 
 delphia, Baltimore, and Washington City ; and others are in contemplation from this y'j 
 city south and from Buffalo west, and will be extended to the principal cities of the f i 
 Union in a few years. It now miables tho.se controlling it to transmit intelligence Is 
 instantaneously between the different cities where it has been established, and to the T| 
 important commercial points in the South and West several days in advance of the «| 
 mails. The evils which the community may suffer, or the benefit which individuals 
 may derive from the ])o.ssession of such an instrument, under the control of private 
 associations or incorporated companies not controlled by law, can not be overesti- 
 mated. .8 
 
 I may further add that the Department, created under the Constitution and designed 1 
 to exercise exclusive power for the transmission of intelligence, must necessarily be j 
 superseded in much of its most important business in a few years, if the telegraph be J| 
 l>ermitted to remain under the control of individuals. It is the settled conviction of '3 
 the undersigned that the public interest as well as the safety of the citizen requires 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 151 
 
 that the Government shonld get the exclusive control of it by purchase, or that its use 
 should be subjected to the restraints of law. Entertaining these opinions, I addressed 
 a letter to the president of the association owning the patent right, to ascertain as far 
 practicable the probable cost, if Congress should be inclined to make the purchase. 
 A copy of the reply is herewith c.ommunicated, marked E. 
 
 The association is willing to dispose of the right to the Government, but is unwilling 
 to enter into any negotiation upon the subject without authority first given by Con- 
 gress. I also caused inquiries to be made from the best sources of information as to 
 the cost of construction, the expense of keeping up the lines, the profits, and the 
 capability of such lines for the transmission of intelligence. I have received replies 
 giving minute and detailed statements upon the subjects referred to, which remain 
 on the files of the Department for the use of Congress, should they be deemed 
 necessary. 
 
 [Hon. Alex. W. Randall; page 31; November 26, 1867.] 
 
 The subject of connecting the telegraphic system of the country with the postal 
 service has attracted public attention, and it received to some extent the considera- 
 tion of my predecessor. It has recently transpired that the telegraphic system of 
 Great Britain has been put in charge of the British post-office department. It is a 
 matter of very great importance and its propriety and practicability ought to be 
 thoroughly investigated by Congress. The most efficient mode of examination of the 
 subject, in my judgment, would be the appointment of a special commission to inquire 
 into the working of the new arrangement in Great Britain, and into its feasibility in 
 the United States, and report to Congress for such action as may be wisely taken. 
 
 [Hon. Alex. W. Randall; page 36; December 3, 1868.] 
 
 'I'he subject of connecting the postal service with the magnetic telegraph is one 
 deserving the special attention of Congress. An independent report on the subject 
 will be prepared and submitted for consideration at an early day. 
 
 [Hon. John A. J. Creswell; page 37 ; November 15, 1869.] 
 
 My predecessor addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives a letter, 
 under date of 9th January last, in relation to the postal telegraph, inclosing an elab- 
 orate communication on the same subject from Gardner G. Hubbard, esq., of Boston. 
 This is a subject of great importance, and deserves the most careful consideration. 
 Several European nations have adopted the system with apparent success. I shall 
 defer making any recommendation concerning it until a greater degree of efficiency 
 can be attained in the postal service as at present constituted. 
 
 [Hon. John A. J. Creswell; pages 33, 34, 35, and 36; November 18, 1871.] 
 
 The postal telegraph is by far the most important subject now inviting considera- 
 tion in connection with the transmission and interchange of intelligence. The gov- 
 ernments of the continental countries of Europe have, with few exceptions, claimed 
 and exercised for years past the right of controlling and managing the electric tele- 
 graph, and in every instance with a degree of success commensurate with the care 
 and attention bestowed upon their respective administrations. In Sweden, Norway, 
 Russia, Bavaria, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Spain, great advantages have been 
 gained by making the telegraph a part of the public x)ostal system ; while in Switzer- 
 land, Beigium, the Netherlands, Prussia, and France, where modern appliances and 
 improvements have been more thoroughly utilized, the policy of governmental control 
 has been fully vindicated. It remained for Great Britain to give a practical test of 
 the public system as compared with the management of corporations and companies 
 of private stockholders. After a protracted and most laborious investigation. Parlia- 
 ment passed, on July 31, 1868, “An act to enable Her Majesty’s postmaster-general 
 to acquire, work, and maintain electric telegraphs,” which was followed on August 
 9, 1869, by an act providing the money necessary to purchase the undertakings of 
 the several telegraph companies in Great Britain and Ireland. On the 5th of Febru- 
 aiy, 1870, the transfers were effected, and the work of the postal telegraph began. 
 At first, serious difficulties were encountered by reason of the delay in passing the 
 money bill and the inadequate preparations to accommodate the immense increase of 
 busine.ss which immediately followed the large reduction of rates. 
 
 These difficulties, however, were soon overcome, and thanks to the indefatigable 
 and intelligent labors of Hon. Frank Ives Scudamore, second secretary, and hisassist- 
 , ants, the advocates of the measure can already boast of its triumphant success. The 
 I charges established in the beginning were uniform throughout the United Kingdom, 
 
 [ without regard to distance, and were fixed at the maximum permitted by law, that is 
 
152 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 to say, 1 shilling (24 cents) for tlie first twenty words or part of twenty words, and 3 pence ^ 
 (6 cents) for each additional five words or part of five words, exclusive of signature i 
 and address. Referring to an elaborate report of Mr. Scudamore, it appears that the J 
 average cost of inland messages was about 1 shilling 1 penny (26 cents), against an i 
 average cost prior to the transfer of 1 shilling 7 pence (3'^ cents), showing a reduction 
 in price of nearly one-third. In the first week after the transfer, the number of rues- 
 sages (exclusive of news and press messages) forwarded from all stations was 12':^,872 ; i 
 in the week ending 31st of March, the number had risen to 160,775. The average - 
 weekly number in thirteen weeks to 30th of June was 177,410 ; the average number 
 in thirteen weeks to 3l8t of December was 203,572. In the week ending 31st of De- ^ 
 cember, which is usually considered the worst week in the year for telegraphic work, 
 the number was 144,041, or nearly 16,000 in excess of the number of the first week. 
 The total number of messages forwarded in the three quarters, to 31st of December, ' 
 
 1870, was as follows : j 
 
 In quarter to 30th of June 2, 306, 310 
 
 In quarter to 30th of September 2, 610, 237 , 
 
 In quarter to 31st of December 2,646, 438 I 
 
 
 
 In three quarters 7,563,015 j 
 
 In addition to the foregoing, ample provision was made for the press and news j 
 work. The companies before the transfer sent news to 306 subscribers in 144 towns | 
 only in the United Kingdom ; the postal telegraph sent news to 1,106 subscribers in 
 365 towns. The companies sent news to 173 newspapers only ; the postal telegraph 
 sent news to 467 newspapers : showing an increase of 221 in the number of towns to 
 which uew's was sent, an increase of 800 in the total number of subscribers for news, 
 and an increase of 294 in the number of newspapers taking news. There was, more- 
 over a vast increase in the quantity of news transmitted. The companies sent, during i 
 the session of Parliament, nearly 6,000 words of news daily ; during the remainder 
 of the year, they sent nearly 4,000 words daily. The postal telegraph sent, during 
 the session of Parliament, in behalf of the news associations, nearly 20,000 wmrds ] 
 of new's daily ; and during the remainder of the year, nearly 15,000 words daily. The 
 postal telegraph also transmitted 15,000 to 20,000 words daily for the ordinary news- | 
 paper correspondents ; and seven newspapers rented special wires during the night j 
 at the uniform rate of £500, instead of rates ranging from £750 to £1,000, as before, i 
 The other wires w^ere about to be rented to newspaper projirietors at the close of ] 
 the year, and many more could have been rented if the Department could have j 
 spared them. There has been doubtless a still further increase of messages during j 
 the current year. By an olficial statement received from the British office, the num- | 
 her of messages for the week ended September 23, 1871, is shown to be 256,456, | 
 against 189,636 for the corresponding week of last year. This increase for a single 4 
 week of 66,820, averaged through the year, would exhibit an annual increase of 1 
 3,474,640 messages. The financial results are even more satisfactory. The official j 
 report of Hon. George Chetwyud, receiver and accountant-general of the British 
 office, shows the following most favorable result for the fiscal year ended olst 
 March last : ' ^ 
 
 
 Gross receipts. 
 
 Payments out. [Net produce. 
 
 Amount received for the transmission of telegraphic 
 messages, etc., in cash 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 212, 519 5 4 4 
 
 758,696 8 7^ 
 
 £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 
 Amount received for the transmission of telegraphic 
 messages, etc., in postage stamps 
 
 273, 281 17 3h 697, 933 16 8 
 
 
 
 
 971, 215 13 11^ 
 
 j 273, 281 17 3| ' 697, 933 16 8 
 
 Let it be noted that the net product is £697,933, or, computing the pound sterling 
 at $4.86, $3,391,954.38. 
 
 These facts, all tending with overwhelming force in one direction, demonstrate con- 
 clusively the utility of the i)ostal telegraph for both Government and people. 
 
 Some may hesitate to adopt it in this country because of the great extent of our 
 territory, the paucity of our population in certain large sections, and the great ex- 
 pense involved in extinguishing the rights of telegraph ccmpanies. The first two 
 are the same objections that were urged for many years against all ameliorations of 
 our postal sc'rvice ; nevertheless ])ostages have been cheai)eued and made uniform, 
 and, at the same time, the postal system has been maintained and improved. Rightly ■ 
 viewed, the extent of the country is a strong argnment in favor of a postal telegraph ' 
 and the additional facilities and uniform rates it will afford. It is only in countries 
 of large extent that the value of instautaueous, or nearly instantaneous, comniiinica-^ 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 153 
 
 'tioucaD be appreciated. Who that desires to convey or acquire any information 
 I would hesitate between sending a telegram from New York to California in seven 
 i minutes for 2U cents and sending a letter in seven days for Scents? Our sparse 
 population is rapidly growing more dense by the acquisition of one million and a 
 [quarter of people per annum. As railroads are extended across the plains and through 
 the mountains they banish solitude and reclaim the wilderness with a celerity un- 
 known to men of the last generation. The emigrant of to-day moves as part of an 
 organized community. The railroad preserves for him a channel of constant supply, 
 and the telegraph keeps unbroken the communication between the new and the old 
 homestead. Before many years we shall hear complaints, not that we have too much 
 laud, but rather that we have not land enough. It is true that a large sum of money 
 will be required for the purchase of the present telegraph lines and their appurte- 
 nances. But if this be a difficulty, delay only magnifies it ; for, admitting that the 
 Government must at some time become the exclusive proprietor of the telegraphs, it 
 is clear that every year will add to the amount of purchase-money it will have to 
 pay. The companies now inexistence will extend their operations, and new com- 
 ])auies will be organized from time to time, all of whom would demand compensation 
 for a surrender of their privileges and property. 1 therefore deprecate further delay 
 as injurious to the public interests. 
 
 1 The Post-Office Department is now prepared to undertake the organization and 
 management of the telegraph in connection with its other duties. Indeed, I believe 
 that the Department itself can aid materially in raising the money needed for the 
 j purchase through post-office savings-banks, if Congress will authorize their establish- 
 ment. To prove the feasibility of this plan, I recur to the history of the British office. 
 The total amount in hand after ten years’ oiierations, and for which the British Gov- 
 ierumeut pays only per cent, interest, is £15,463,928, or $75,145,690, a much larger 
 sum than will be required for the purchase and thorough repair of all the telegraph 
 lines in the United States. 
 
 Convinced of the wisdom of establishing the postal telegraph and post-office savings- 
 banks in this country, I earnestly recommend the passage by Congress of the laws 
 necessary therefor. In my judgment those laws should provide as well for the absolute 
 .purchase of the lines and aiipurtenances of all t^elegraph companies now in operation as 
 for the exclusive right and authority of the Government after the several purchases 
 shall be concluded to conduct the business of transmitting telegraphic messages. 
 
 [Hon. John A. J. Creswell, pages 27 to 44, November 15, 1872.] 
 
 ' Grave difficulties have arisen from time to time between the Government and cer- 
 tain of the telegraph companies, which have declined and still decline to furnish 
 such facilities as are deemed essential to the perfect success of the Signal Service. 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH— ITS EARLY ADVOCACY. 
 
 In my opinion a Government telegraph affords the only safeguard against the con- 
 tinuance of such evils. While the embarrassment consequent on the attitude of the 
 telegraph companies toward the Government demands prompt attention, it is but 
 one of the many considerations which point to the adoption of a postal telegraph as 
 a measure of immediate public necessity. 
 
 When, through the liberality of Congress, the first telegraph line had been con- 
 structed, and the partial success of the invention dejuonstrated, the question arose 
 whether the Government should purchase the patent or relinquish to private parties 
 the line which it had built. The reasons whj^ the Government should assume con- 
 trol of this new means of transmitting intelligence were forcibly set forth in various 
 letters of the inventor and in a report of the AVays and Means Committee of the 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 This report (No. 187, second session {Twenty-eighth Congress), after enlarging upon 
 ,the wisdom of the policy which led the founders of our Government, “ devoted as 
 'they are known to have been to the power and importance of the States, and jeal- 
 ously apprehensive of the undue preponderance of the Federal branch,” to “ engraft 
 on that branch a power so great, so growing, so penetrating and pervading as that 
 of the post-office system,” and alluding to the extension of that i)ower by the adop- 
 tion of all the more rapid and imiiroved methods of transmission which had been in- 
 troduced since the adoption of the Constitution, continues : 
 
 “ But, though not anticipated or foreseen, these new and improved modes were as 
 clearly within the purview of the Constitution as were tbe older and less perfect ones 
 with which our ancestors were familiar. * * * The same principle which justified 
 
 and demanded the transference of the mail, on many chief routes, from the horse- 
 drawn coach oh common highways to steam-impelled veliic.les on land and water, is 
 equally potent to warrant the calling of the electro-magnetic telegraph in aid of the 
 Post-Office in discharge of its great function of rapidly transmitting correspondence 
 iaud intelligence.” 
 
154 
 
 POSTAL TELEGEAph I'ACILITIES. 
 
 And again : 
 
 ‘‘Should the arrangements into which he (the inventor) may find it necessary to 
 enter with private individuals or associations stipulate exclusive rights in their favor, 
 it is manifest how greatly Government and people would lie at their mercy. Having 
 in their hands the monopoly of such a medium of intelligence on the important lines, 
 they could make such use of their advantages over the Government and the commu- 
 nity as would at length enable them to exact their own terms as the price of the sur- 
 render of their exclusive right; for the truth can not be too often repeated, or too 
 deeply impressed in relation to this subject, that the people will never submit long 
 to the mischiefs and discredit of the public post being outstripped by any private 
 monopoly or establishment whatever. The loss of revenue will co operate with the 
 complaints and sufferings of the people to do what were better done at once, namely, 
 to establish the telegraph in connection with and as a branch of the Post-Office.’^ 
 
 The following paragraph of the report must now be read with peculiar interest : , 
 
 “The committee might easily add to the views and arguments which they have 
 now presented others of a highly commanding character, especially those which re- 
 late to the extreme value of which the magnetic telegraph would be in the emergen- i 
 cies of war, and its singular adaptedness to render our system of Government easily 
 and certainly maintainable over the immense space from the Atlantic to the Pacitic , 
 Avhich our territory covers. Doubt has been entertained by many patriotic minds J 
 how far the rapid, full, and thorough intercommunication of thought and intelligence , 
 so necessary to a people living under a common representative republic could be ex- ^ 
 pected to take ])lace throughout such immense bounds. That doubt can no longer 
 exist. It has been resolved and put an end to forever by the triumphant success of 
 the electro-magnetic telegraph of Professor Morse, as already tested by the Govern - 
 ment.” 
 
 Owing to the slowness of the public to recognize the advantages of the new inven- 
 tion, and the doubts cast on the feasibility of its operation over long distances, the ^ 
 course recommended by the committee was not adopted, and the line, built and for ' 
 some time maintained at Government expense, was turned over to the holders of the 
 patent. Since that day the above predictions have been gradually approaching real- 
 ization, and many evils, unforseen by the committee, have grown up under corporate ; 
 management of the telegraph sj'stem. 
 
 KIVALRY OF THE TELEGRAPH WITH THE MAIL. 
 
 If the effects of rivalry between the telegraph and the mail upon the revenues of 
 the Post-Office have not been serious, it is due alone to the liberal management of the 
 latter as compared with that of the companies, a management which, since the in- 
 vention of the telegraph, has reduced the rates of postage from 25 to 3 cents, and 
 increased tenfold the correspondence of the country. The natural policy of private 
 companies is to extend facilities slowly and only to profitable points, to let their 
 business augment gradually, and to reap large profits from a small number of messages, 
 while a Government system, managed in the interests of the people, pursues exactly 
 the opposite course. Had the policy of the Post-Office been adopted by the telegraph 
 companies, or had the Government held to the old rates of postage, the telegraph, in- 
 stead of now transmitting one-fiftieth part of the annual correspondence of the coun- 
 try (collecting therefor one-third of the entire ex])enseof the Post- Office establishment), 
 would probably transmit at least one-tenth. The profits required of private enter- 
 prises would not have permitted such a course. But improvements in telegraphy 
 render it by no means certain that in future the telegraph will not to a very great 
 extent supersede the mail as a means of correspondence. The introduction of the 
 duplex transmitter, doubling the capacity of lines for thro igh business, and of the 
 “fast” or automatic system, by which one wire can be made to do the work of six ; 
 the lirobable simplification of the fac-simile system of Caselli, by which an exact copy 
 of anything that can be drawn or written may be instantaneously made to appear at 
 a distance of hundreds of miles from the original, and the countless other applica- 
 tions of electricity to the transmission of intelligence yet to be made, must sooner or 
 later interfere most seriously with the transportation of letters by the slower means 
 of the i)ost. 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 j 
 
 REFECTS AND ABUSES OF THE TELEGRAPH UNDER CORPORATE MANAGEMENT. 
 
 Meanwhile, the immediate defects and abuses of the telegraph call loudly for reform. 
 The system has grown up with and by the side of railroads, and has naturally directed | 
 itself to prolitable and easily-accessible districts. It has followed the march of civil- 
 ization, and not, like the post-ofiice, led the van. It has waited for certain remuner- 
 ation before advancing, without attempting to educate the people through its use to ; 
 an appreciation of its advantages. On the contrary, its spirit has been too often 
 illiberal ami unprogressive. A glance at the telegraph map of the country shows 
 large districts totally unprovided with telegraphic facilities, and many important 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 155 
 
 )laces with post-offices in their business cejiters dependent n})on the ontlying railroad 
 tations for the means of telegraphing. 
 
 OPPRESSIVE TARIFFS. 
 
 The tariffs are exorbitant, uneciual, and complex, supplemented in some cases by 
 mormons charges for local delivery, and regulated entirely by the pleasure of the 
 (ompanies. In this connection 1 ask attention to the table (Telegraphs 1) appended 
 
 0 this report. It has been carefully comi)iled from statistics kindly furnished me by 
 he International Bureau of Telegraphs in Europe, by the directors of the different 
 lational bureaus, by JNIr. George 8auer, an American gentleman residing in Europe, 
 vho has made the subject of government telegraphs a special study, and by the of- 
 icers of several of the American com])anies, to all of whom I desire to express my 
 icknowledgrnents.K The table shows that, with a cost per mile for construction and 
 ;qui})ment much lower here than in Bavaiia, France}, Great Britain, Italy, and the 
 iverage of Europe, and about equal to that in Belgium and north Germany, and with 
 
 1 yearly expense per mile of line which will compare most favorably with that of 
 he countries mentioned, the telegraph in this country collects an average of 70 cents 
 )n each message, against an average of 16 cents in Bavaria and Belgium, *28 in France, 
 J9 in Great Britain, 'S2 in Italy, 22 in Germany, and 38 in Europe generally. On the 
 Ilontinent the minimum taritt is for twenty words, including address and signature 
 which are estimated together to average seven words) ; in the United Kingdom it is 
 or twenty words, exclusive of address and signature; while in the United States 
 he address and signature are excluded, and ten wonls only allowed. 
 
 [ The table (Telegraphs, 2) gives a comi)arison of telegrai)hic tariffs in Europe with 
 :hose in the United States as regards distance, showing the lowest average rate jiei- 
 ;nile on thirty-two messages sent from Washington to points east of the Mississippi 
 liver to be higher than the highest 'average rate per mile abroad (that in Russia), and 
 ;he average rate per mile on ninety-six messages here to be from one and one-half to 
 (our times as high Jis those of Europe, notwithstanding the greater distances in this 
 fjountry. 
 
 The same table also marks most clearly the inequality and discriminating character 
 ')f American tariffs, as opposed to the generally uniform rates of Europe, 
 j The uniform system has recently been adopted in Canada, and a tariff of 25 cents 
 pstablished throughout the Dominion with highly satisfactory results, as will be 
 seen by reference to the statement of the jn'esident of the Montreal Telegraph Com- 
 pany (Telegraphs, 3), for which I am indebted to the honorable postmaster-general 
 L)f Canada. 
 
 The complex and uncertain character of our rates, necessitating sometimes a personal 
 visit to the office, and frequently a lengthy computation to ascertain the cost, is also 
 :)ne of the greatest obstacles in the way of the extended use of the telegraph. A uni- 
 form or simple and well-known rate of charge permits the use of letter-boxes or 
 3ther places of deposit. 
 
 The table (Telegraphs, 4) illustrates the extent to which the rates to large cities in 
 the United States are burdened with delivery charges, which often double the cost 
 of a message addressed to points very far within the free delivery of the post-office. 
 The abolition of this delivery charge in England by the government has produced a 
 most salutary effect. 
 
 pvATES VARIABLE AT THE PLEASURE OF THE COMPANIES AND NOT AFFECTED BY 
 I COMPETITION. 
 
 But perhaps the greatest evil of the American system, in this regjird, is the utter 
 lack of restraint upon the companies as to their charges. When the ‘‘exclusive 
 right,” or patent, referred to in the report above quoted, expired, it was believed 
 that competition would afford a remedy for the evils which were even then oppres- 
 sively felt by those who had occasion to use the telegraphs. Events, however, have 
 bhown this belief to have been unfounded. Although new companies have trom time 
 to time sprung up to divide the profits of telegraphy, they have generally proved 
 short-lived, and their reductions of tariff have been but temporary and within narrow 
 limits. The vast extent of the lines of the companies now consolidated under the 
 name of the Western Union has enabled them to reduce rates between places reached 
 by the opposition to a point which barely enables the latter to meet expenses, without 
 seriously impairing their own revenues. Incredible as it may appear, the official 
 statements of the Western Union Company show that their average receipt per mes- 
 sage has been increased 11 cents, or nearly 20 per cent., since 1867, notwithstanding 
 ^he undoubted reductions of tariff between important points. Whether this is due 
 to the augmentation of rates between offices not reached bj^ competition, or to some 
 bther cause, I do not know. 
 
 i Not only has com])etition thus failed to affect the great mass of the telegraphic 
 business, but, in addition, there are evidences of a combination between the cornpet- 
 
156 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 iug parties which has recently resulted in an advance of rates between points reached 
 by the wires of both. The table (Telegraphs, 5) gives a few specimens of rates in 
 operation previous to and since the 1st of May, 1872, which were fixed by agreement < 
 between companies formerly rivals. The movement is perfectly natural, and, from I 
 the companies’ stand-^point, justifiable; for it can not be expected that a tariff which 
 is perhaps highly profitable to one comiiany will pay, on a divided business, the more 
 than doubled expenses of two, even if the capital invested in the opposition system ^ 
 could afford to wait for its dividends until the lines were so extended as to secure a - 
 fair share of patronage. ^ 
 
 While, as I have stated, I believe that improved means of transmission will ; 
 eventually render the telegraph a formidable rival of the mail, which it can not be i 
 without large reductions in tariff, I am convinced by experience that these improve- | 
 merits will be adopted too slowly to meet the necessities of the people, and that, ^ 
 whatever the rates may be, the wires will be practically controlled by one corpora- ] 
 tion so long as thej’- remain in jirivate hands. The gradual reduction in rates, if ever ■ 
 made, will, therefore, be more than counterbalanced by the growth of the evils at- 
 tending the management of tlie telegraphs by a private monopoly. 
 
 Among these evils may be classed the possible abuse of the wires for personal ends ( 
 by business men controlling them ; the enormous and dangerous extent of the free 'i 
 message business ; the discrimination between the messages of different customers, 
 bot n as to rates and order of transmission ; and the vast and irresponsible influence 
 of telegraphic managers over the press of the country. 
 
 IMPROPER USE OF TELEGRAPHIC INFORMATION. 
 
 However unjust may be the suspicion that those controlling the telegraphs make 
 use of the information passing over their Avires, it will probably continue to impair 
 public confidence in this means of correspondence so long as it remains in the hands 
 of persons engaged in commercial pursuits. The business community, from which in ; 
 this country by far the larger part of the telegraphic patronage is derived, will cer- ; 
 tainly be more reluctant to intrust its dispatches to possible rivals than to officers of ’ 
 the Government. Were the latter, however, to have the same motives for scrutiniz- 
 ing messages, the vast amount of business under a low Government tariff would ren- ■ 
 der it much less practicable. The use of ciphers, now frequent among business men, i 
 has to some extent neutralized the danger of the divulgement of secrets; but these 
 can not be used on every occasion in commercial transactions. 
 
 FREE-MESSAGE BUSINESS. 
 
 The sending of free messages not only imposes a large burden upon the paying pub- 
 lic, but leads to consequences, which I need not here discuss, more dangerous, in 
 proportion to their extent, than those which spring from the abuse of the franking 
 ])rivilege of the post-office. About 7 per cenr. of the entire telegraphing of the coun- 
 try is done without apparent remuneration. ' 
 
 FAVORITISM. r 
 
 r 
 
 The discrimination between the messages of diflerent customers consists, first, in 
 the transmission of “ commercial news ” in advance of its regular order for distribu- 
 tion among subscribers, to the delay of the messages of those who do not patronize 
 the “ commercial news bureaus,” although of the same or an equally important class : 
 and, second, in unequal charges for equal service, from which injustice a portion of j 
 the newspaper press is the chief sufferer. 
 
 OPPRESSIVE INFLUENCE OF TELEGRAPH COMPANIES UPON NEAVSPAPERS. 
 
 The relations of the telegraph to the press are necessarily of a very intimate char- • 
 acter. The imblication of telegrapbic items having become at an early day a large ; 
 and essential part of the business of newspapers, arrangements were soon made for ; 
 their collection and transmission. Press associations were formed, with agencies at i 
 all important news centers, and by co-operation were enabled to secure the transmis- ; 
 sion of their dispatches at rates which, though hardly less profitable to the compa- 
 nies than those for private messages, were still ex< eediugly low when divided , 
 among the several new8pa])ers. In adilition to their associated dispatches, many of ' 
 these pajiers recei veil “specials,” for which the telegraphic charges were also some- 
 what lower than the ordinary tariff. 
 
 For mutual adAmntage and ]>rotection against competition, an exclusive character 
 was given to these arrangements, the newspapers agreeing not to patronize or 
 encourage oiiposition lines, and the telegraph companies agreeing on their part to, 
 charge higher rates lor “ specials ” to ]>apers not helougiug to tlie associations, hut : 
 at the same time retaining control over the associated papers by refusing to enter into • 
 permanent or long contracts with them. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 157 
 
 The result of tliis comhiiuition has been the repression of newspaper enterprise, the 
 associations requiring in some a caseaa unanirnons vote for the admission of a new 
 member, and the rate for “specials” to non-association papers being so high as to 
 prevent, in many cases, their establishment. 
 
 'fhe immediate interests of the associated papers have led many of them, in con- 
 junction with the telegraph compnnies, to oppose a Government telegraph. I ajn 
 satisfied, however, that the press generally would rierive such great benetitsfrorn the 
 change that even those papers to which the sale of dispatches is a source of actual 
 revenue will gain rather than lose by it. The great majority wdll hail with joy a 
 relief from their dependence upon the telegraph companies, without which relief 
 they never can be entirely free. 
 
 The Department could not, of course, attenr'])t to regulate the membership of press 
 associations. It could, however, abolish the distinction in charge between associa- 
 tion and outside papers with regard to special dispatches. Looking upon the press as 
 the great agent of popular education, the Government would make a liberal reduction 
 ill its favor from the tariff for private messages, and would measure the charge by the 
 work done, whether for a single paper or an association. The rates, it is hoped, 
 would be so low as to permit a free use of the telegraph by all. The renting of spe- 
 cial wires by the press would be encouraged. 
 
 DISCUSSIONS IN CONGKESS UPON THE ADOPTION OF A POSTAL TELEGRAPH. 
 
 The considerations above noted have long appealed to Congress for the establish- 
 ment of a postal telegraph. The importance of the measure has been uigedfrom all 
 pi.ints of view — by State legislatures, by boards of trade, by commercial conventions, 
 by the independent press, and by private persons, many of whom have been promi- 
 nently identified with the practical workings of the telegraph in this and other couii- 
 Tries. The legislaiion of Congress, wliich had previously been confined to the liberal 
 encouragement of the telegraph in private hands, was directed, after the close of the 
 rebellion, toward its assumption by the Government as part of the post-office estab- 
 lishment. Strenuous opposition was mauifested to this proposal. The reasons 
 alleged against its adoption were principally : 
 
 (1) That the telegraph was essentially a private interest, and. should not be con- 
 trolled by Government, especially in a republic. 
 
 (2) That under our political system a Government telegraph would be a dangerous 
 instrument in the hands of the party in power, increasing its patronage, and permit- 
 ing it to scrutinize and delay the messages of the opposition. 
 
 (3) That Government management, though more expensive, would be less efficient, 
 and that the public would not be so well served thereby. 
 
 (4) That the cost of the postal telegraiih would be more than the finances of the 
 country would permit, particularly if, as was claimed, it could not be made self-sup- 
 porting. 
 
 The first three of these objections were not deemed sufficient to counterbalance the 
 advantages which the proposition offered. It was contended, and with effect, that 
 the business of telegraphing was substantially the same as letter-carrying, and that 
 no reason could be advanced in favor of governmental management of the one which did 
 not apply with equal force to the other; that the incorporation of the telegraph with the 
 X>ost-office would not at first add largely to the number of officials, and that the tech- 
 nical training and experience which these officials must have in order to perforin their 
 duties at all would preclude their selection for political reasons ; that the simple precau- 
 tion of timing the receipt, transmission, and delivery of messages would prevent their 
 delay, and that their secrecy could be as effectually guarded by Government under re- 
 straint of law as it ever has been by private parties ; that the same motives for efficient 
 management exist on the part of .salaried officials, whether in the employ of the Govern- 
 ment or of a widely extended corporation ; that the people could exert a much greater 
 influence on a Government Department, through Congress and through the press, than 
 they can upon a company managed in the interests of its stockholders, notwithstand- 
 ing the legal responsibility of the latter; that the consolidation of competing lines 
 and the removal of the offices into the post-offices would cause a large reduction in 
 the expense of management, and that the employment of one staff for both postal 
 and telegraphic service at perhaps two-thirds of the stations, besides further reducing 
 the expenses, would enable the Dejiartment to pay better salaries than are now re- 
 ceived by either class of employes, and secure greater efficiency. The fourth objection , 
 supported as it was by statistics claiming to show' that governmental telegraphs in 
 Europe, were not self-supporting, weighed strongly against immediate action on the 
 proposition for a postal telegraph in this country. 
 
 TELEGRAPH ACT OF 186(5. 
 
 The abuses of the existing system were, however, deeply felt. Relief therefrom 
 seemed to be ottered in 1866 by a new company, called the National, which sought to 
 obtain from Congress certain valuable franchises, and proposed, in return, to trans- 
 
158 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 rnit Government dispatclie? in advance of and cbeaper than those of ])rivate parties] 
 and to submit to a proviso reserving the right of Government to step in at anj" tiniej 
 and take its lines, at an appraised value. j 
 
 In the consideration of this proposition, however, the idea of a tnture Government] 
 telegraph still predominated. It was decided not to restrict the privileges asked fori 
 by the National Company to that organization, and they were freely oifered to all* 
 companies who chose to accept the terms of the act. The provision in the origiuail 
 draught declaring that the Government might purchase their lines at any time waf? 
 altered so as to make it operative after the expiration of five years. Its value as a1 
 check on the companies was thus utterly lost, and its intent was changed from thej 
 exertion of a perpetual control over private interests to a notitication that, after 
 certain date, the Governmeut might assume the management of what was manifestly! 
 considered a public business, and to the expression of a willingness to acquire the nec- 
 essary machinery therefor at a fair i)rice from companies already possessing it, in 
 preference to purchasing and erecting new machinery. ’ 
 
 IT.S ACCEPTANCE BY THE COMPANIES. 1 
 
 The act was tiually passed in that shape, and approved on the 24th of July, 186(3; 
 It was at once accepted by the leading companies, of whom the following are now! 
 operating their lines subject to its provisions: Western Union, International, Inrer- 
 national Ocean, Northwestern, Missouri River, Atlantic and Pacific, Pacific and At-i 
 lantic, Great Western, Franklin, Southern and Atlantic, and National. 
 
 PPvOPOSED PLAN IN ACCOBDANCE WITH ITS PROVISIONS. 
 
 The time having now come, in my opinion, when the benefits of a Government 
 telegraph should be secured to the people, it is desirable that advantage should be' 
 taken of the provisions of this act, and tlie lines of some or all of the above com- 
 lianies brought under control of this Department. The other objections to such a 
 course having, it is believed, been fully answered, it only remains to be shown that 
 the expense of acquiring a comprehensive system of lines can be easily borne, and 
 that the system, once acquired, can be so managed as to realize from the receipts of the 
 telegraph itself sufficient, after meeting all expenses, to pay the interest on the pur-* 
 chase-mouey, provide for all necessary annual exteusions, and gradually to recover 
 the principal, even at the greatly reduced rates which prevail in foreign countries.' 
 While the limited data at my command will not permit me to give detailed estimates? 
 my information on the subject is sufficiently accurate to enable me to lay before yoil 
 the following general plan. Before it can be elaborated, it is necessary that I should 
 be authorized to appoint the appraisers provided for in the act of 1866, and, in addi-] 
 tion thereto, that a commission should be appointed, to consist of three members^ 
 conversant with the subject, to examine the different systems of telegraphy, and toj 
 prepare a scheme for submission to Congress with the report of the appraisers. ■ 
 
 Upon the enforcement of the act of 1866, the United States will come into posses-J 
 sion of some 75,060 miles of teRgraph line, carrying about 160,000 miles of wire.' 
 Upon the supposition, however, oiat if the companies not now operating under the 
 act shall decline to accept its provisions, it will be necessary for the Government to 
 build lines of its own, covering their territory, I have made the following estimates? 
 to include the total facilities of all the companies, as shown in the table (Telegraphs,' 
 1), viz, 77,000 miles of line and 165,000 miles of wire. i 
 
 The majority of lines in this country have been built very cheaply, their entire 
 cost, including patents, being probablj^ much less than $10,000,000. In fact, the 
 poles have been erected in many cases entirely without cost to the telegraph compa-- 
 nies, by the railroads along whose tracks they are built. But should it prove impos' 
 sible for the appraisers to ascertain this cost for each of the companies, the sum for 
 which the GoveTnment could duplicate the existing system is easily determined; 
 Data in possession of this Department show that many lines have been lately builtf 
 probably not of the best quality, but fully up to the average standard, for not more 
 than $115 per mile of single-wire line and $30 [)er mile of adiiitionul wire. For equip-] 
 ment an allowance of $5 per mile of line is ample. Were all the wires to be strung 
 at the same time, as they would bo if the present system were to be duplicated bv 
 the Government, the cost would probably be much less. The cost of a new system." 
 equal in extent to the present, would, at the above rates, be $11,880,000. Many of 
 the wires having, however, been in use for a long time, the appraisers would proba-' 
 bly deduct from this amount on account of deterioration ; but the sum so deducted,' 
 at least, wouhl have to be paid out for reconstruction. ■' 
 
 It may be proper to state that one of the companies has advanced the theory thats 
 the Government should purchase, not only its telegraph lines, property, and effects, j| 
 but also the good-will of its business, based on present and prospective profits. As i« 
 is difficult to see how mere good-will can be brought before the appraisers under theJ 
 law as it stands, it is perhaps unnecessary for me to discuss at much length the merit^ 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 159 
 
 of this claim. It has not hitherto been thought necessary for the Government, in 
 ^undertaking enterprises in which private parties are also engaged, either to acquire 
 |the facilities of such private parties or to compeusate them for their loss on account 
 of its competition. Up to the year 1866 the Government was certainly at liberty to 
 compete with telegraph companies, as it now does with banks and express compaiiies 
 in its money-order business and parcel-post. If then, as claimed by this company, 
 the act of 1866 bound the Government not to enter the telegraphic held for hve years, 
 and when it did enter to buy out the existing lines instead of building a more perfect 
 system of its own, the granting of these and the other cot)oessions contained’in the 
 [act ought to have improved the position of the Government, instead of making it 
 [worse. 
 
 There was nothing compulsory about the act ; its acceptance by the com^^auies was 
 [purely voluntary. It looked toward a future postal telegraph, set a time after which 
 the companies might expect to see one established, and offered inducements, which it 
 seems were sufficient, for the companies to agree to yield up their facilities upon the 
 bxpiration of the time designated. 
 
 The manner in which the British Government recently acquired the telegraphs can 
 pot be cited as a precedent for the United States. There was no such previous agree- 
 jment between Her Majesty’s Government and the companies of the United Kingdom 
 jas is contained in our act of 1866. The British Government offered to pay twenty 
 years’ protits, and the companies having accepted the proposition, the sitting Parlia- 
 tnent sanctioned it. Had the companies been earning 5 per cent., which is a fair re- 
 firn to British capital on a reliable home investment, the price would have simply 
 equalled the cost of their lines. It turned out that their profits were nearer 15 per 
 cent. ; but the new Parliament, with some opposition, sustained the agreement, and 
 authorized the expenditure. It must be remembered, however, that the British Gov- 
 ernment has always derived a revenue from its post-office, and naturally took a com- 
 mercial view ot the acquisition of the telegraphs. The argument was, that if the 
 profits were higher than was expected, the Government would get so much more for 
 its money, and the sooner the purchase was completed the better. The comprehensive, 
 suergetic, and careful management of Mr. Scudamore and his associates has enabled 
 the British Government to realize this view. 
 
 ADDITIONAL TELEGRAPHIC FACILITIES. 
 
 Without the data to be acquired by the commission which 1 have asked to be ap- 
 pointed, I can not give an accurate estimate of the additional facilities which will be 
 lecessary to meet the increase of business on existing routes, or the exact extensions 
 which should be undertaken to points not now reached by the telegraph. With 
 thorough reconstruction, however, the use of improved instruments, and the separa- 
 fion of postal from railway wires, the capacity of existing routes may, without doubt, 
 le doubled. Certainly will this be the case if, as is anticipated, the additional mos- 
 sages induced by low tariffs are largely of a social character, sent out of business 
 lours, and permitting a more equal distribution of business throughout the day and 
 light. An increment of 20 messages per day between any two offices will, at an aver- 
 ige receipt of 33 cents, yield $1,980 per year of 300 working days, which will put up 
 )0 miles of additional wire, at $30 per mile, and leave $180 fo/ additional expenses. 
 
 business of 40 messages daily, 20 each v/ay, will yield $3,960, sufficient to build a 
 lingle-wire line 25 miles, at $130 per mile (including $10 per mile for additional ex- 
 pense away from railroads), leaving $710 for operating and expenses. Whenever, 
 therefore, such an increase takes place on a circuit already established, or such a 
 lusiuess can be predicted of an office away from the line, the above extension will be 
 ustified. There are undoubtedly large districts and important points wholly unpro- 
 ffded with telegraphic facilities, but I can not at present indicate them with accuracy. 
 Che present system extends to 6,162 different points, with about 600 branch offices. 
 It perhaps 1,000 of these, principally mere railroad stations, there are no post-offices. 
 Ihould it not be found expedient at any of these latter offices to open post-offices, the 
 ilepartment could secure their use to the public by such arrangements with the rail- 
 oads as prevail in Europe. 
 
 In Great Britain, according to Mr. Scudamore’s report, there are 1,807 railway 
 tations open to the public for telegraphic business, and 3,291 postal telegraph sta- 
 ions ; but the railway offices transmit only 7 per cent, of the messages. While, 
 herefore, these offices must be counted among the telegraphic facilities, their re- 
 eipts and their cost will always be small. 
 
 REDUCTION OF TARIFFS. 
 
 It has been broadly, but I think properly, stated that the transmission of letters, 
 elegrams, or other correspondence should not be considered in itself as a proper 
 ource ot revenue. The tax on correspondence ought to represent merely the actual 
 ost, and the mail and telegraph should be used as freely as possible to stimulate 
 
160 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 other sonrces of revenue. Should the postal telegraph he adopted, the Government 
 will probably start with a business of 15,000,000 messages. After the thorough reno- 
 vation of the lines, I believe the tariff can be advantageously reduced to an average 
 of 30 cents thronghont the United States. As a minimum, such a tariff would be too 
 high. I should, therefore, be in favor of adopting a simple graduated tariff’, based 
 upon well-known geographical divisions. To lay out such a tariff in accordance with 
 the established course of business would be part of the labors of the commission for 
 whose appointment I ask. If afforded the neressary opportunities by the companies, 
 they could perform this work and at the same time learn what new facilities, if any, 
 were likely to be necessary. 
 
 PROBABLE INCREASE OF TELEGRAPHIC BUSINESS. 
 
 The experience of Switzerland and some other countries shows that a reduction of 
 50 per cent, in tariffs was followed by an increase of 100 per cent, in business. 
 In Great Britain, except for porterage, there was no reduction in rates for more than 
 half of the business, a reduction of 33^ per cent, on three-tenths of the messages, and 
 on the remainder a reduction of 50 per cent. Under these circumstances the mes- 
 sages nearly doubled in two years. 
 
 In the communication ifom the president of the Montreal Telegraph Company, 
 addressed to Hon. Alexander Campbell, postmaster-general of the Dominion of 
 Canada, under date of “iSth October, 1872, before referred to, it is stated that, 
 ‘^believing that this system (differential and distance rates) was erroneous, I, with 
 the concurrence of the directors, commenced a gradual and very cautious reduction 
 in the rates ; and I found that every reduction brought an increase of business much 
 more than the reduction and increased expeuses which it entailed came to. Encour- 
 aged by this result, I continued the system of reduction from year to year, till an , 
 examination of the business of the year 1869 showed me that nearly 90 per cent, of ^ 
 our total receipts was obtained from the 25-ceut portion of the tariff. This and the : 
 discouragement of any proposed opposition line induced me to adopt a uniform charge ; 
 of 25 cents for ten words and 1 cent for each subsequent word, irrespective of place 
 or distance.’’ The result of this reduction, which applied to only 10 per cent, of the , 
 business, was an increase of 25 per cent, in the total number of messages in the first , 
 year of its application. , 
 
 ESTIMATED REVENUE. 
 
 From the foregoing examples, I have no doubt that one year of the tariff above 
 proposed, after the provision of proper facilities, would double the number of messages ■■ 
 in this country. In that case our business will be 30,000,000 iihessages, which, at an \ 
 average of 33^ cents per message, will yield a gross revenue of $10,000,000. i 
 
 ESTIMATED EXPENSES. | 
 
 From this revenue will have to beiirovided 5 percent, on cost for interest ($594,000): j 
 5 per cent, on cost for a sinking fund to recover principal ($594,000) ; 20 per cent, on 'j 
 cost for maintenance, supplies, etc. ($2,376,000) ; and 10 [per cent, of gross revenue ;i£ 
 for extensions ($1,000,000); total, $4,564,000; leaving for salaries, $5,436,000. 
 
 The entire cost of 2,700 stations in the United Kingdom, where the postmasters ,] 
 provide for the service, is only about one-fourth as much as the aggregate cost of the ^ 
 600 offices where the department employs a separate telegraphic staff’. While the ^ 
 plan of allowing the postmasters to iirovide the telegraphic service has there worked i 
 satisfactorily, I am of the opinion that it could not be adopted here with equal sue- | 
 cess. Hence, I estimate for a saving in salaries only at those offices where the post- f 
 master could personally perform the work. These offices, it is safe to say, number 
 fully 4,000, at which an average extra allowance of $200 per annum would secure to 
 the Department a skilled operator as postmaster. This would involve an expend!- < 
 ture of $800,000. Arrangements with the railroads for comniissions on private busi- i 
 ness transacted for them would provide for the working of about 1,000 offices, as ’ 
 above stated, costing the Department perhaps $100,000. Fifteen hundred offices, in- j 
 eluding branches, would then be left, now worked by 5,000 employes of all grades, ! 
 whose salaries would have to be borne entirely by the telegraph. An increase of 50 
 per cent, in this force would be sufficient to provide for the doubled business, and 
 the salaries of these 7,500 employes, at an average of $600, would consume the resi- 
 due of $4,500,000. . - ^ ^ 
 
 The foregoing estimates can not be expected to bo minutely accurate. Comparison 
 Avith the figures of the companies will show them to be exceedingly liberal, especially 
 in the item of salaries ; and I believe the actual Avorkiug of the system would give 
 much better results for the Department. The statistics of Europe can afford no ade- 
 quate idea of what may be done in this country. A people who use the telegraph so_ 
 largely as wm do under the great difficulties hereinbefore enumerated will promptly’ 
 respond to the utmost advantages that can be offered them. With a much freer, more; 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 161 
 
 extended, aud more active social and commercial intercourse than prevails between 
 the different states of Europe, with a population rapidly increasing and keenly alive 
 to all the demands of a progressive civilization, aud with a territory ohpring by its 
 vast extent the greatest inducements to the use of the telegraph in preference to the 
 mail, it may be safely predicted that telegraphy in America will hereafter solve prob- 
 lems and accomplish results that will far outstrip its wonderful achievements in the 
 past. 
 
 NECESSITY OF A GOVERNMENTAL TELEGRAPH IN TIME OF WAR. 
 
 In presenting the foregoing views and recommendations, 1 have confined myself 
 f^ncirely to the wants of the people in a state of peace, and have sought only, to pro- 
 vide suitable facilities for the development of our social, industrial, commercial, mari- 
 time, agricultural, and educational resources, and to bind together our extended 
 population by that intimate knowledge which a cheap and extended mode of instan- 
 taneous intercourse can alone give. There is another aspect of the subject much 
 more impressive. In time of war — aud God will not always ward off that terrible 
 calamity— a postal telegraph will become of supreme importance. The Government, 
 when engaged in a struggle which may involve its very existence or the honor and 
 liberties of the American people, can not and will not permit the telegraph, unrivalled 
 as a means of communication, to remain in the hands of any individual, company, or 
 corporation. At such a time public dispatches must be forwarded with the greatest 
 celerity and absolute secrecy. Sworn officers of the Government will alone be trusted 
 to discharge duties involving the most tremendous consequences. Hence, nearly all 
 the great nations of the earth have assumed the management and control of the tele- 
 graph within their respective borders, aud the United States must do likewise. 
 
 OBJECTIONS TO THE PLAN PROPOSED FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TELEGRAPH 
 COMPANY TO WORK ITS LINES IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Before closing this subject I desire briefly to express my disapproval of the scheme 
 proposed for the incorporation of a company, improperly called ‘‘The Postal Tele- 
 graph Company,” to ojierate its lines in connection with the Post-Office Department. 
 It is not in analogy with the workings of the mail service in any important particu- 
 lar. In the latter, the Department transmits the mails under the charge of its own 
 officers, and controls all the machinery needed for that purpose. In the former, it is 
 proposed to make the Department a mere agent to receive and deliver telegraph mes- 
 sages for the benefit aud profit of a jirivate corporation. The terms of the proposed 
 charter require the Government to furnish stamps, stamped paper, and stationery ; 
 to receive the message from the transmitter, take the pay therefor, see that the proper 
 stamp IS affixed, and hand over the message to the operator of the company ; and 
 then, at the office of delivery, to see that it is properly written out, enveloped, and 
 delivered. The Government is required to provide and equip suitable station-houses 
 for all the offices, operators, instruments, and batteries of the company. The Gov- 
 • eminent is also required to keep all accounts arising out of the business of telegraph- 
 ing; make reports to the company at stated times, aud pay over all the moneys 
 chargeable upon the gross number of messages, after deducting 5 cents only on all 
 dispatches other than press dispatches, aud 3 cents only on them. It thus appears 
 that, while the company is only required to provide the lines, batteries, and oper- 
 ators, and the Government everything else, the company is to receive (should the 
 average receipt per message be no bigher than 40 cents) about 87 per cent, of the 
 receipts, aud the Government only 13 per cent. Doubtless a most excellent arrange- 
 ment for the company, but doubtless a most unprofitable one for the Government. 
 
 Furthermore, the supervisory power given the Postmaster- General is a delusion, 
 because every order that he might make, however important or unimportant, would 
 be subject to an appeal, upon the application of the company, to a board of arbitra- 
 tors, and, on failure or refusal of the company to perform any duty, the Postmaster- 
 General, provided he should be sustained by the arbitrators, would- have no remedy 
 other than to take possession of the lines of the company, and “ contract with some 
 suitable party for the [lerformance ” of the service. The Government, inasmuch as it 
 ■would deal directly with the parties sending aud receiving messages, would be alone 
 looked to for redress in case of default ; and yet it would have no adequate power to 
 compel the company to execute its contract. This would lead to endless confusion 
 ami irreconcilable conflicts between the Government aud the company, and would 
 certainly result in great inconvenience and pecuniary disaster t*' the people ; and 
 before the expiration of the ten years of the contract, the Government would find 
 that it had been fostering a mammoth corporation, from whose embrace there would 
 be no escape except by buying it off. 
 
 Authority is asked for the issue a large amount of stock for purposes of mere orgaui- 
 zation ; yet it is not claimed that the new company, when organized, will control a 
 single mile of wire now standing, nor is the company required within any specified 
 
 P T 11 
 
162 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES 
 
 time to enter upon the performance of its contract. To meet its engagements within 
 a reasonable time the company will be compelled to buy out or control some, at least, 
 of the existing lines, without any such previous agreement with them as the Govern- 
 ment enjoys under the act of 1866, and upon the best terms obtainable. Should the 
 charter pass and the new company acquire the lines of the old organizations there- 
 under, the Government would, by permitting their purchase on a good-will basis, 
 lose the advantages of its present position ; and when the time came for the absolute 
 sale of the new company’s lines, which is provided for in the proposed charter (as 
 come it certainly would), the Government could not, without apparent injustice, go 
 behind the transaction between the new company and its predecessors, to which 
 consent had been given by the charter, and would "be obliged to pay a much larger 
 sum for the lines now in operation than could be justly demanded under the act of 
 1866. * , • 
 
 I am decidedly of opinion that, if the public interest requires a postal telegraph, i*t 
 should be put entirely into the hands of the Government. If, on the contrary, a- 
 postal telegraph is not so demanded, then the Government should not favor one pri- 
 vate company to the exclusion of another, nor should it in any wise enter into compe- 
 tition with private enterprise. • 
 
 [Hon. John A. J. Creswell, pages 44 to 49, November 14, 1873.] 
 
 A year ago I earnestly urged the assumption by Government of the control of the 
 telegraph, and gave at some length ray reasons for believing that such action would 
 correct the defects of the present management and result in great benefit to the coun- 
 try. I also presented at the same time estimates of the cost of duplicating the lines 
 and apparatus now in use. There is no need of repeating those reasons or estimates. 
 I desire, however, to express my full confidence in the soundness of the former and 
 the appro ximate correctness of the latter, notwithstanding the eftbrts which have 
 been made to invalidate them. Ample time has elapsed for a full aud free discussion 
 of the subject iu all its bearings, but no points have been developed which have not 
 already been considered. One fact is conspicuous and most significant, and that i» 
 that the opposition to the postal telegraph comes almost entirely from the telegraph 
 companies and those directly interested with them in sustaining their monopoly. 
 Every intelligent disinterested observer who has seen the working of the Govern- 
 ment systems abroad gives them the decided preference. 
 
 The necessity for an efficient and cheap mode of telegraphic communication, which 
 shall be beyond the control of private monopolies and within the means of all, is 
 daily becoming more apparent. Under the present management the use of the tele- 
 graph by the masses of the people is almost prohibited, by reason of arbitrary rates, 
 unnecessarily high charges, and a want of facilities. This assertion is verified by 
 the testimony of the president of the Western Union Company, who stated before a 
 committee of Congress that, out of forty millions of our population, only one million 
 use the telegraph at all. This is certainly an anomalous condition of affairs among 
 a people the first in the world for intelligence and business activity. It may, how- 
 ever, be regarded as settled that, while under the control of private companies, whose 
 chief object is to make a profit for their stockholders and whose skill and labor are ex- 
 ]>ended in efforts to advance the prices of their stock and to enforce the highest 
 rates to which the public can be made to submit, the telegraph will never become a 
 general medium of correspondence. A Government postal telegraph is the only means 
 by which the full advantage of this great invention can be secured ; for, wherever 
 the telegraph is under Government management, it is operated at its minimum cost, 
 and the people receive the benefit in low rates of transmission and in greatly ex- 
 tended facilities. 
 
 Appended to this report are four tables, to which reference may be made for reliable 
 information, derived from official sources, as to the condition, force, and operation of 
 various government telegraphs in Europe. Table 1, kindly furnished by the director 
 of the bureau of international telegraphs of Switzerland, gives condensed returns, 
 showing the receipts, expenditures, and other details of European systems. Table 2 
 gives the number of messages (exclusive of press and news messages) forwarded from 
 postal-telegraph stations iu the United Kingdom during each mouth of 1871 and 1872 ; 
 and Tables 3 aud 4 give a like statement for each week and month of the first three 
 quarters of 1872 and 1873, respectively. 
 
 Nature furnishes an inexhaustible store-house of electricity. The earth aud the 
 atmosphere constitute the never-wearying media of its transmission. Its application 
 to inhnite uses is limited only by human knowledge aud ingenuity. A single genera- 
 tion has filled the earth with wonder, and we are still on the mere threshhold of investi- 
 gation. Successive improvements have contributed so much to the simplification of 
 telegraphic apparatus that the work of the operator is no longer a mystery. Private 
 lines, connecting the residences of merchants and other business mea with their stores 
 and offices, are increasing iu number aud popularity ; and so notable has been the ad** 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 165 
 
 vance that electricity is now called into daily requisition to meet the ordinary wants 
 of domestic life. 
 
 For years past the attention of inventors and scientists has been attracted to the 
 necessity for a more rapid and less expensive mode of transmission than the Morse, 
 which requires the message to be spelled out by a slow and tedious process, at about 
 the speed of an ordinary writer. One of the results of their investigation is the 
 “ automatic’’ or fast system, now in operation between New York and Washington. 
 This system is capable of a speed of from 500 to 800 words per minute. The average 
 of an expert Morse operator is not over 25 words per minute. Therefore it is evi- 
 dent that if the automatic method can be made to accomplish what its advocates 
 confidently predict for it, the capacity of*^a single wire for business will be increased 
 nearly or quite thirty times. This iucreased capacity may be again doubled, or per- 
 haps quadrupled, if the duplex apparatus, now used every day by established com- 
 pauies for sending messages simultaueously in differjnt directions on the same wire, 
 can be successfully combined with the automatic machine. There can be no doubt 
 of the ultimate success of the automatic principle. Its battle with an incredulous 
 public is almost won. As soon as it shall be thoroughly developed and applied in 
 practice, the problem of cheap telegraphy will be dt finitely solved. 
 
 Experiments by the French electricians and inventors, D’Arlincourt and Meyer, in 
 the direction of rapid autographic telegraphing, have resulted in marked improve- 
 ments. By the autographic system a /ac of the message written by the sender 
 
 for transmission is reproduced at the distant oifice of delivery, thus enabling the re- 
 ceiver to verify the signature of his correspondent. Diagrams, maps, plans, tracings, 
 or letters written in stenographic characters or in symbols can also be transmitted 
 by this instrument, and as the message or drawing to be sent is itself used as a 
 medium of transmission and the act of sending is entirely mechanical, errors very 
 rarely occur. 
 
 In truth, there is no limit to the possibilities of electrical and telegraphic inven- 
 tion. Improved processes are constantly being discovered, new instruments de- 
 vised, and new adaptations made ; and in the near future the entire methods and 
 machinery of telegraphic communication will be cheapened and familiarized to such 
 au extent that the Government will be compelled to assume their control, in order to 
 proteet the people from extortion, and to secure for them the most improved and ex- 
 tended facilities at the lowest possible cost. In this wide field of operation no 
 money-making privilege should be tolerated. As well might a charter be granted 
 for the exclusive use of air, light, or water ; as well might a price be set on the winds 
 and waves, on rivers flowing to the sea, on seed-time and harvest, and on the power 
 which causes the seed to germinate and the fruits of the earth to grow, as to re- 
 strict for the sake of profit the use of electrieity, t.iat most subtile and universal of 
 God’s mysterious agents. The electric telegraph should be the common messenger 
 of the human race, and no man or association of men should be permitted to burden 
 it with excessive charges. Surely the great Republic will not hesitate longer to fol- 
 low kingdoms and empires in recognizing and protecting the rights of the people. 
 
 There are now but two parties in the controversy over the postal telegraph — on 
 one side the people, on the other the Western Union Telegraph Company. At a 
 meeting of the directors, held on the 8th of October last, the president of the com- 
 pany, in his report, stated its policy, with commendable candor, in the following 
 words : 
 
 “ The scale of rates fixed by competition on the most impoitant routes and between 
 the principal cities has been applied recently to the whole country east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, so that the inducement to subscribe capital for the extension of competing 
 lines, in order to secure the benefit of competing rates, no longer exists. At the rates 
 now established it is impossible for any competing company to realize profits, and 
 some of them are known to be, and all are believed to be, operating at a loss. As a 
 result the extension of competing lines has ceased and it is not believed that capital can 
 be found wherewith to inaugurate new enterprises in any quarter. The time is not 
 distant, therefore, when the Western Union Company will be without a substantial 
 competitor in the conduct of a business which, notwithstanding the enormous growth 
 of the last seven years, still is in its infancy. With the increase of lines already pro- 
 vided and now in progress, the capacity of which the duplex apparatus hereinbefore 
 spoken of will be able to double at small cost, it is believed that the constantly in- 
 creasing volume of business, the growth of which will be stimulated by the present 
 low and uniform rates, can be successfully handled with a less annual investment in 
 new construction than has heretofore been neeessary ; so that with competition 
 checked and in process of being extinguished, the percentage of expenses may be re- 
 duced and the patience of the stockholders be rewarded at an early day by the re- 
 sumption of regular dividends.” 
 
 The Western Union Company has always contended for high rates and enforced 
 them with a strong hand. When new associations have been formed for the purpose 
 of reducing rates the Western Union has at once entered the lists to destroy its rivals, 
 
164 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 and in pursuit of victory has not scrupled to use any device which the powerful can 
 ■employ against tho weak. Failing to vanquish its adversary in the open field of fair 
 competition, it has resorted to artifice and triumphed by making gold its weapon. 
 Thus it has acquired, by lease or purchase, the lines of the American Telegraph Com- 
 pany, the Illinois and Mississippi Company, the Chicago and Mississippi Company, 
 and the California State Company ; and during the past year it has obtained control 
 of the International Ocean and the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Companies by 
 buying up a majority of their stock. 
 
 Its president has attributed a loss of profits in part to “ a reduction of rates ren- 
 dered necessary by the action of competing companies” along their lines, and in 
 ‘‘‘other sections” to a similar reduction made “ in order to equalize rates and thereby 
 remove the inducement for competing lines to extend still farther,” thus evincing a 
 settled purpose to reduce rates only that it might exterminate competing companies 
 n,lready organized or which it feared would be organized. 
 
 During seven years of this enforced abstinence from high dividends, it is admitted 
 in the above-mentioned report that the company has realized “net profits” to the 
 immense amount of $20,312,618 ; and that, after paying out of such profits for divi- 
 d.ends to stockholders $4,857,239, for interest on the company’s bonds $2,216,194, for 
 its own stock $4,054,483, for stock of Gold and Stock Company $1,173,509, for bonds 
 of Western Union Company, redeemed and canceled, $974,075, for real estate, exclu- 
 sive of Broadway and Dey street property, $318,263, for patent of Page and duplex 
 apparatus $73,758, for sinking-fund $249,555, and other smaller sums, it managed with 
 the residue to effect such extensions and purchases as increased its wires from 70,000 
 to 160,o00 miles. After this admirable exposition of what has been accomplished by 
 ■“ net profits,” it is to be regretted that there had not been placed by the side of it, 
 for the gratification of a curious public, an equally lucid statement of the amount of 
 cash capital paid in by the stockholders of the Western Union Company, and of the 
 companies out of which it has been compounded. Elated as he must have been by a 
 contemplation of the manner in which the “ net profits” had swept away all oppo- 
 sition, present or prospective, President Orton might well say, in the language quoted 
 from his report, that “ the time is not distant when the Western Union Company will 
 be without a substantial competitor in the conduct of a business which, notwith- 
 standing the enormous growth of the last seven years, still is in its infancy.” 
 
 What a pleasing prospect for the people ! Here it is in brief: A powerful monopoly 
 {unchecked by opposition or the/ear of it in the future, has adroitly secured possession 
 cf the whole country, and now issues its proclamation that henceforth there will be 
 no more competition, no more reductions of rates, but always “ regular dividends.” 
 
 But the president of the Western Union Company did not exhaust his candor in the 
 quotation above made. He further declared : 
 
 “The franks issued to Government officials constitute nearly a third of the total 
 complimentary business. The wires of the Western Union Company extend into 
 thirty-seven States and nine Territories within the limits of the United States, and 
 into four of the British Provinces. In all of them our property is more or less sub- 
 ject to the action of the national. State, and municipal authorities, and the judicious 
 use of complimentary franks among them has been the means of saving to the com- 
 pany many times the money- value of the free service performed.” 
 
 In another part of the same report it is stated that the total complimentary busi- 
 ness amounted during the last year to $58,000 Then, assuming the assertion last 
 cited to be correct, the “judicious use” of complimentary franks to the amount of 
 $19,333 secured such action or non-action, whichever the company desired, on the part 
 of the officials of the United States and of thirty-seven States, nine Territories, and 
 four provinces, as was equivalent to “ many times the money-value of the free serv- 
 ice performed.” Truly a most “judicious use ” of patronage ! For if the subsidiz- 
 ing process included only the principal legislative, executive, and judicial officers of 
 the governments. States, Territories, and provinces above mentiouetl, the average 
 value of the “complimentary frank” to each person could not have exceeded $5, or 
 or $10 at the utmost. It is presumed that hereafter very few “ officials” will be will- 
 ing to accept any courtesy, great or small, from the Western Union Company, now 
 that they have been informed that the company will place the recipients of its favors 
 upon its roll of retainers and advertise them as such. 
 
 The telegrajih should be made a part of the postal system without further delay. 
 As Congress does no*: seem inclined to exercise the discretion given in the third sec- 
 tion of the act of July 24, 1866, to appoint appraisers to value the “lines, property, 
 n,nd efiects” of the companies now in operation, and as the Western Union Company 
 appears to be unwilling to make a voluntary sale at a fair price, I recommend that 
 provision be made by law for the immediate establishment of the postal telegraph, 
 and for the construction of all such lines as may be needed, under the direction of 
 competent officers of the Engineer Corps of the Army. The experience they acquired 
 <liiring the war of the rebellion would enable them to do the work in the most eco- 
 nomical and satisfactory manner. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 165 
 
 [Hon. Horace Maynard; page 42; November 13, 1880.] 
 
 During my visit to the British post-office I examined with much interest the sys- 
 tem of telegraphy for several years past connected with the postal service. This 
 method of correspondence is thought to have made a great advance since it waa. 
 changed from the management of private corporations, responsible to nobody, hardly 
 to public opinion, and placed under the control of the Government. The business 
 has increased many fold, the cost of seudiug messages has been largely reduced, and 
 the service is performed in localities it would never have reached under the pecu- 
 niary stimulus of private enterprise. At the same time it yields a margin of profit 
 to the royal treasury. Is it not time for us to renew the inquiry whether it is wise 
 for us to leave this important instrument of correspondence in charge of corporations 
 whose primary object is gain to the managers and stockholders, and the convenience 
 of the public secondary only ? 
 
 [Hon. T. O. Howe; pages 27, 28, 29, 30; November 18, 1882.] 
 
 Another and broader field of activity not yet occupied by our postal establish- 
 ment is that of the telegraph. In almost all countries, save this, telegraph service is 
 conducted by the postal authorities. Presidents, postmasters-general, and commit- 
 tees of both houses of Congress have heretofore urged that the Post-Office Depart- 
 ment of the United States should take exclusive possessiou of that service. Already 
 Congress has provided a mode for adjusting the terms upon which the United States 
 may purchase all telegraph lines, either for postal or other purposes. (Revised Stat- 
 utes, section 5267.) 
 
 After the fullest consideration I have been able to give to the subject, I am forced 
 to the conclusion that the time has fully come when the telegraph and i)ostal service 
 should be embraced under one management. The whole subject has been argued in. 
 former years. I shall do but little more than summarize that argument. 
 
 The business of the telegraph is inherently the same as that of the mail. It is ta 
 transmit messages from one person to another. That is the very purpose for which 
 post-offices and post-roads are established. The power to establish is not limited to 
 any particular modes of transmission. The telegraph was not known when the Con- 
 stitution was adopted. Neither was the railway. I can not doubt that the power to 
 employ one is as clear as to employ the other. 
 
 If the union of the two8ervic<‘s did not improve that of the telegraph at all, I think 
 it would improve the postal service iu some important respects. It would necessitate 
 the employment of telegraph operators for postmasters in many offices. That would 
 result in giving to the administration of not a few offices men who have learned to da 
 one thing in place of those who have never learned to do anything. If the two offices 
 were united whenever a mail did not arrive on time, the public thronging the post- 
 office would learn, not merely that the mail had not arrived, but when it would ar- 
 rive. 
 
 Again the necessity for delivering messages would facilitate and gradually draw- 
 after it the free delivery of mails in places where free delivery iu itself is impracti- 
 cable. 
 
 But a union of two services would, I believe, improve the telegraph more than it: 
 would the postal service. 
 
 I prefer no accusation against the administration of the former service. Admitting 
 it to be honest and efficient, the fact remains that it is not cheap and under corporate- 
 control it can not be cheap. Rent for both services would cost but little more than 
 the cost for one. So of fuel and of light. Where there is now a free delivery of mail,, 
 telegraph messages could be delivered at less cost by the post-office than by a cor- 
 poration. Besides, if the business was controlled by the Government there would be- 
 but a single manageipent for tlie whole. The business is now charged with the cost, 
 of many different managements. One direction is cheaper than several. 
 
 Again, corporations will seek, and ought to have, not only lemuneration for cost of 
 administration, but interest on the capital investecl. Telegraph companies seek and 
 secure a large interest on their capital ; and what is still more burdensome to the 
 public is the fact that the aggregate outlay of the companies is always greatly in ex- 
 cess of the actual cost of their property. 
 
 The office of the telegraph is not indispensable iu the sense that air, water, and 
 food are; but it is so essential to social, political, and commercial life that it must ba 
 had. If it can not be obtained at one price it will be at another. No one corporation 
 has been or will be allowed quietly to monopolize the business. No one set of men 
 will be permitted exclusively to sell services which all must have. And yet, while 
 monopoly will not be permitted, competition be,\ond a certain point can not be tol- 
 erated. When cotnj)etition profits the y)ublic who purchase the service it becomea 
 injurious to the companies which sell. When it becomes injurious to the companies 
 the competition is extinguished by the purchase and absorption of the competitor.. 
 
166 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 The price paid for the franchises of a rival concerns the purchaser but little; it con- 
 cerns the public deeply. The people must pay the fees which will yield dividends on 
 the new and on the old capital. So it has happened that the one corporation which 
 has built most miles of telegraph has been the largest purchaser of telegraph prop- 
 erty. It must continue to be so. No matter how rich a company may be, it is pow- 
 erless to prevent the organization of new and competing eucerprises. Its sole pro- 
 tection is to buy when the new rival proves hurtful. No matter how conservative or 
 just may be the management of the purchasing company, it will demand from the 
 public dividends on the capital invested to exriuguish the rival. The only security 
 capital can have against these recurring raids is to surrender the business to the 
 Government. The only protection the Government can have against these multiplied 
 exactions is for the Government to assume the exclusive control over the transmis- 
 sion of domestic messages by electricity which it now has over the slower methods by 
 steam and stage coach. Safety for those who sell and those who buy telegraph serv- 
 ice is promoted by the same measure. 
 
 But a stronger reason still why the Government should control the telegraph, is 
 found in the fact that it is as potent for evil as for good. Like government itself it is 
 too terrible to be wielded by other than representatives of the whole people. 
 
 In the great commercial centers, public stocks, corporate and mining stocks, bonds, 
 and the staple products of agriculture are bought and sold daily, to the amount of 
 thousands of millions. In all those markets one great telegraph company wags its 
 tongue incessantly. For all those commodities it is the arbiter of prices. Prices go 
 up and down according to its inculcations. Whoever controls its utterances may at 
 pleasure buoy a market in which he wishes to sell, or break one in which he wi-hes to 
 buy. That is an agency much too dreadful to intrust to private hands. 
 
 I am far from assei’ting that a use so malign ever has been made of this agency. I 
 speak of its capabilities, not of its history. Knowing that it can be so abused, it 
 seems to be the dictate of prudence not to wait until it is so abused. It is manifest 
 that even when the Government controls the telegraph a falsehood which may sink a 
 stock or float it may still be sent over the wires. But truth will have equal freedom 
 on the lines. In Government hands the telegraph will maintain an exact neutrality 
 between tlie two tierce parties which day by day and year by year contend for 
 supremacy in the markets. In private hands it may become the mere creature, as 
 malignant as mighty, of that party which its owner from time to time chooses to 
 join. If he choose, he may give free course to falsehood, and if he choose he may im- 
 prison the truth. Who else can trade in a market dominated by such a power? 
 
 It may be objected, and has been, that the measure proposed would largely extend 
 the roll of Federal officials. That increase has doubtless been exaggerated. At a 
 very large percentage of the offices the telegraph operator would not supplement the 
 Postmaster, but would supplant him. Besides, I know of no law but necessity limit- 
 ing the employment of officials. The Government is not wise which employs a single 
 officer not needed. It is unwise if it refuses to employ thousands when they are 
 needed. 
 
 Within the life of this generation this Government employed more than two and a 
 half millions of officers. They were all armed. They did not destroy the country ; 
 they saved it. It is not difficult to find individuals who employ a thousand men and 
 find profit in i^. It does not become fifty millions to shrink'from employing a hundred 
 thousand if they have need for their services. 
 
 [Hon. W. Q. Gresham, pages 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37, November 19, 1883.] 
 
 The subject of telegraphy in connection with our postal system is one of special 
 and increasing interest. It has in all its aspects and relations been so fully discussed 
 in the reports of this Department, as well as in Congress and by the press, as to ob- 
 viate the necessity of an elaborate presentation of it in this report. I may, however, 
 remark that the impiession widely prevails that our means of telegraphic communi- 
 cation should not be lin)ited to such as are furnished by private companies which 
 enjoy a monopoly and claim to be exempt from Government control in their relations 
 with the ])ublic. Several substitutes for the present system have been suggested : 
 1st. The acquisition and oi)eration of the existing lines by the Government. 2d. 
 The construction by the Government of lines which it will operate in competitiou 
 with existing comj)anies. 3d. The creation of a company by which lines of telegraph 
 are to be supplied to the capital of each State, and other places having a given num- 
 ber of inhabitants, or where stations are now maintained, or the business of the 
 country may hereafter require them. The company, in consideration of the special 
 powers conferred by Congress, is, at certain reduced rates to be prepaid by stamps, 
 to transmit messages at a compensation to be paid by the United States not to exceed 
 10 per centum upon its authorized capital stock over and above operating expenses. 
 The Goverument is obliged to furnish at each station the requisite accommodations 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 167 
 
 for tbe officers employed in the transaction of business, and to assume the duty of 
 receiving messages, and delivering by mail or otherwise such as are transmitted. 
 
 I merely state in the most geueral form the leading features of each of these plans. 
 It will be perceived that they are essentially different. The first two contemplate 
 that the Government shall owm and operate the lines, including all the necessary ap- 
 paratus; and the third that a company shall be employed to perform the required 
 service at a stipulated compensation. 
 
 The Constitution confers upon Congress the power to ‘‘establish post-offices and 
 post- roads,” “ to regulate commerce among the several States,” and “ to make all law’s 
 which shalTbe necessary and proper for carrying into execution ” the expressly granted 
 powers. 
 
 The question arises whether, under such comprehensive terms, the proposed 
 changes in the postal system are warranted by the Constitution. So far as the clause 
 relating to post-offices and post-roads is concerned, the subject has received careful 
 consideration by committees of the House of Representatives. In speaking of tbe 
 modes of transmitting intelligence which have been introduced since tbe adoption of 
 tbe Constitution, tbe Committee on Ways and Means, in a report submitted to the 
 House more than forty years ago, makes the following just remarks: “But though 
 not anticipated or forseeu, these uew and improved modes were as clearly wdthin the 
 purview of^the Constitution as were the older and less perfect ones with which our 
 ancestors were familiar. 
 
 # jf # 
 
 “ The same principal which justified and demanded the transference of the mail 
 ■on many chief routes from the horse-drawn coach on common highways to steam- 
 impelled vehicles on land and water, is eipially potent to w’arrant the calling of the 
 electro-magnetic telegraph in aid of the post-office in discharge of its great function 
 of rapidly transmitting correspondence and intelligence.” 
 
 Tbe Committee on the Judiciary of the House lu 1:^75, in an elaborate report in 
 which the constitutional provision is discussed with marked ability, reached the same 
 conclusion. 
 
 Our court of last resort, in Pensacola Telegraph Company r. Western Union Tele- 
 graph Company, 96 IT. S., 1, 9, holds as follow’s : “ 'fhe powers thus granted are not con- 
 fined to the instrumentalities of commerce or the postal service known or in use when 
 the Constitution was adopted, but they keep pace with the progress otthe couutr3% and 
 adapt themselves to the new’ developments of time and circumstances. They extend 
 from the horse with its rider to the stage-coach, from* the sailing vessel to the steam- 
 boat, from the coach and the steam-boat to the railroad, and from the railroad to the 
 telegraph, as these new’ agencies are successively brought into use to meet the de- 
 mands of increasing population aud wealth. They were intended for the government 
 of the business to which they relate, at all times and under all circumstances. As 
 they w'ere intrusted to the Geueral Government for the good of the nation, it is not 
 only the right, but the duty of Congress to see to it that intercourse among the 
 States and the transmission of intelligence are not obstructed or unnecessarily encum- 
 bered by State legislation.” 
 
 From the best consideration w’hich I have been enabled to bestow upon the sub- 
 ject, I have reached the conclusion that Congress has the constitutional power in 
 providing for the postal service o^^ the country to avail itself of all the facilities de- 
 vised bj^ the inventive genius of modern times for transmitting messages and intelli- 
 gence, and that it has full authority to adopt either of the first two plans which I 
 have mentioned. 
 
 The third section of tbe act of July 24, 1886, 14 Stat.,22, secured to the United 
 States, at any time after the expiration of five years from that date, the right to pur- 
 chase at an appraised value “ the lines, property, and effects” of any or all the com- 
 panies which, in the mode prescribed, availed themselves of the benefit and privileges 
 « conferred by the act. All the leading companies have accepted the act. Independ- 
 entlj’, however, of its jirovisions, the United States Government, by the exercise of its 
 right of eminent domain, has the undoubted authority to appropriate property within 
 the respective States, for its own uses and to enable it. to perform its proper functions. 
 “Such an authority,” says the Supreme Court, in Kohl v. United" States, 91 U. S., 
 367,371, “is essential to its independent existence and perpetuity.” In whatever 
 mode the existing lines be acquired, full compensation for them must be made. 
 
 From the earliest period it has been assumed, aud in later times judicially deter- 
 mined, that the power of Congress over the postal system extends to the absolute 
 prohibition of the business of carrying letters upon the established post-roads or 
 roads parallel thereto. It, therefore, follows that if the telegraph be adopted as a 
 branch of the postal service, all competition therewith may be prohibited. 
 
 Tbe commerce clause of tbe Constitution, so far as it bears upon this question, re- 
 mains to be considered. It bas been determined by tbe Supreme Court that the tele- 
 graph is an instrument of commerce, and as such is subject to the regulating pow’er 
 of Congress. “A telegraph company,” says the court-in Telegraph Company v. Texas, 
 
168 
 
 POSTAL TELEGEAPH FACILITIES 
 
 » 
 
 105 U. S., 460, 464, “ occupies the same relation to commerce as a carrier of messages,, 
 that a railroad company does as a carrier of goods. Both companies are instruments- ' 
 of commerce, and their business is commerce itself. They do their transportation in 
 different ways, and their liabilities are in some respects different, but they are both 
 indispensable to those engaged to any considerable extent in commercial pursuits.’^ 
 That clause does not, however, authorize the regulation of the business of transmit- 
 ting messages by telegraph between points wholly within a State. 
 
 The establishment and operation of a postal telegraph as a monopoly, or in compe- 
 tition with xjrivate companies, would, it is insisted, reduce rates which are now exor- 
 bitant and protect the public against the abuses and evils deemed to be inseparable 
 from the service as it exists. In either event an enormous expense must be incurred ► 
 But without dwelling upon that consideration, it is clear that an efficient execution 
 of either plan will necessarily involve the employment of a multitude of operators, 
 messengers, mechanics, and laborers, and thus largely add to the patronage of the 
 Government. An increase of that patronage beyond what is indispensable to the 
 public service is to be deprecated and avoided, and it is one of the dangers which 
 threaten the purity and duration of our institutions. In Europe the telegraph ia 
 under the control of the public authorities. With us, the administration is the gov- 
 ernment in action, and may, for the time being and for all practical purposes, be con- 
 sidered the Government itself. In seasons of political" excitement, and, to some ex- 
 tent at other times, is there not ground for serious apprehension that the telegraph, 
 under the exclusive control of the dominant party, might be abused to promote par- 
 tisan purposes and perpetuate the power of the administration? But if it could bo 
 kept entirely free from such influence, I should hesitate to sanction a measure pro- . 
 viding that the United States shall bfcome the proprietor of telegraph lines, and 
 operate them by its officers and agents. 
 
 The incorporation of a company with a charter having the essential features to- 
 'which I have adverted finds in some quarters advocates, and has been heretofore con- 
 sidered by Congress. Its employment for the purpose in question is not subject to 
 some of the objections justly urged against the other plans, and by many is preferred 
 to either of them. A reduction of rates, will, it is believed, be thereby seemed. The 
 duty of receiving and delivering telegrams will be discharged by the officers of this 
 Department. That the adoption of this plan would result in a considerable increase 
 of officials and employes is undeniable. Conceding that Congress has authority to- 
 incorporate a company and clothe it with the power necessary for the effectual ac- 
 complishment of the purpose in view, such a measure will inaugurate a new policy, 
 the adoption of which I do not feel at liberty to recommend. 
 
 If Congress can create such a company, it may incorporate railway and other com- 
 panies, and contract with them for the carriage of the mails ; and if this may be done 
 it will not be denied that the Government may build railways and other roads, and 
 construct and equip vessels f r postal purposes. The Po.--t master- General in 1800 
 established at the expense of the United States a line of stages for the conveyance of 
 the mails between Baltimore and Philadelphia, and although the contract system now 
 prevails, Congress may unquestionably direct its abandonment and the substitution 
 of its own vehicles in lieu of those furnished by the contractors. Congress by such 
 legislation would thus enter upon a new s})here of action which there is reason to 
 fear would be the first step in a dangerous direction. The patronage of the general 
 Government would be enormously increased, and its jurisdiction extended to matters 
 heretofore confined to State legislation or private enterprise. The injurious tendency 
 of such legislation can not well bo overestimated. 
 
 As to telegraphic service wholly within the several States, unless the power to 
 establish post-offices and post-roads be successfully invoked, the existing rates are 
 beyond governmental control. The opinion has been advanced that inasmuch as 
 Congress ha^ authority to take charge of the telegraph as a jiart of the postal sys- 
 tem, it may do nothing in that direction and yet prohibit citizens and private com-^ 
 pauies from engaging in the business, unless they comply with prescribed terms aud^ 
 conditions. It is said that the greater power necessarily includes the less, or in - 
 other words, that the ab.solute i)ower to prohibit includes the limited power to regu- 
 late. The doctrine has eviden’tly no api)lication. It is only by exercising its power 
 in some of the modes already discussed, or in some other appropriate way, that the- 
 Government can iirescribe terms upon which competition will be permitted, or pro- 
 hibit it altogether. When a line is neither owned, controlled, or operated by the 
 Government, nor in its behalf, a telegra))!! company in the transaction of so much of 
 its business as is confined within the limits of a State is beyond the reach of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 1 have endeavored to maintain the authority of Congress to assume control of the 
 telegra])!! because it has been and still is seriously disputed. The existing com- 
 panies operate their lines solely for the purpose of making money, and while it is^ 
 doubtless true that their rates, as a whole, are unreasonable, yet in view of what 
 has already been said. I do not. think the evils complained of are so grievous as to- 
 call for Congressional intervention. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 169 
 
 [Hon. Don M. Dickinson, November 28, 1888, page 39.] 
 
 If the correspondence of the country is to continue to be under the charge and pro- 
 tection of the Government, the vast and increasing volume conducted by telegraphy 
 and the right of the great body of the people to be afforded facilities for the best and 
 quickest transmission at rates within the means of all will press this subject upon the 
 attention of the Congress with more and more urgency. The chief difficulties in the 
 way are the great cost of present methods and the absence of safeguards which, ac- 
 cording to the theory of the present mail- service, should protect the privacy of cor- 
 respondence. I have given the subject much consideration, and I believe that the 
 inventive genius of this country has reached a stage in discovery in electric science 
 when these problems may be solved. The subject is of such great importance to the 
 people that I believe an opportunity should be given for the presentation and ex- 
 amination of inventions which have been informally presented to the committees 
 of Congress the Department and the public, and that a stimulus should be given 
 to inventors to turn their attention to the improvement of old methods. I recom- 
 mend the appointment of a commission of competent and disinterested men, learned 
 in the science, who may examine inventions and invite others, who shall be author- 
 ized to erect short experimental lines, and who shall report to the President or to 
 Congress the result of their investigations. 
 
 Appendix H. 
 
 BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS, REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS, AND SPEECHES 
 IN CONGRESS, SUPPORTING OR OPPOSING POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS PRINTED. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Subject. 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 June 2, 1866 
 
 Senate Ex. 
 Doc. 49. 
 
 William Dennison, Post- 
 master-General. 
 
 Letter in answer to a 
 resolution of the Senate 
 relative to postal tele- 
 graphy. 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 May 18, 1868 
 
 HouseMis. 
 Doc. 129. 
 
 E. B. Washburn of Illinois (R). 
 
 Paper to accompany 
 House bill 1083 entitled 
 “Union of the Tele- 
 graph and the Postal 
 System.” 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 Jan. 11, 1869 
 
 House Ex.Doc. 
 35. 
 
 A. W. Randall, Postmaster- 
 General. 
 
 Letter transmitting a re- 
 port of G. G. Hubbard. 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 Feb. 24. 1869 
 
 House report 
 32. 
 
 J. F. Farnsworth of Illinois 
 lR.),Committeeon the Post- 
 office and Post-Roads : J. F. 
 Farnsworth (111. R. ), T. W. 
 Ferry (Mich., R. ), G. V. 
 Lawrence (Pa., R. ), R. W. 
 Clark (Ohio R.), W.S. Lin- 
 coln (N. Y., R.), John Lynch 
 (Me.,R.), John Hill (N. J. 
 R. ), John Fox (N. Y, D. ), 
 and J. A. Johnson, (Cal., D.) . 
 
 To accompany bills H. R. 
 1083, 1415, 1504, and 1689. 
 Adverse. 
 
 \ 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 31, 1870 
 
 Senate report 
 18. 
 
 0 
 
 Alexander Ramsey of Minne- 
 sota (R). Committee on 
 Post-Office and Post-Roads ; 
 Alex. Ramsey (Minn., R. ), 
 
 S. C. Pomeroy (Kan., R. ), 
 Alex. McDonald (Ark.,E.), 
 Hannibal Hamlin (Me., R.), 
 Cornelius Cole (Cal., R. ), 
 Ahijah Gilbert (Fla., R. ), 
 and A. G. Thurman (Ohio, 
 D.). 
 
 Cyrus W. Field 
 
 To accompany bill S. 422. 
 FaTorable. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Apr. 14, 1870 
 
 HouseMis. 
 Doc. 126. 
 
 Memorial relative to tele- 
 graphic communication 
 between America and 
 A sia. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 June 24, 1870 
 
 HouseMis. 
 Doc. 149. 
 
 Isaac K. Roberts, president 
 Florida Telegraph Company. 
 
 Memorial of Florida Tele- 
 graph Company. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 June 27,1870 
 
 House Ex.Doc. 
 301. 
 
 George S. BoutweJl, Secretary 
 of the Treasury. 
 
 Letter on gross receipt.^ 
 of telegraph companies. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 June 29, 1870 
 
 Senate Mis. 
 Dor. 161. 
 
 William F. Smith, president 
 International Ocean Tele- 
 graph Company. 
 
 Memorial of the Interna- 
 tional Ocean Telegraph 
 Company. 
 
170 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Bills and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op- 
 posing postal telegraphy — Continued. 
 
 REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS PRINTED -Continued. "" 
 
 Con- Ses- 
 gress. sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Subject. 
 
 41 
 
 41 
 
 41 
 
 41 
 
 41 
 
 41 
 
 41 
 
 41 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 2 July 5, 1870 
 
 2 July 5,1870 
 
 3 Dec. 14,1870 
 
 3 Jan. 18,1871 
 3 Jan. 19,1871 
 3 Feb. 6,1871 
 
 3 
 
 2 Jan. 9, 1872 
 
 2 Jan. 22, 1872. 
 
 2 Feb. 13, 1872 
 
 2 Feb. 21, 1872 
 
 2 Mar. 27, 1872 
 
 2 Apr. 23, 1872 
 2- May 9,1872 
 
 House Report 
 114. 
 
 House Report 
 115. 
 
 Senate Mis. 
 Doc. 15. 
 
 C. C. Washburn, of Wisconsin 
 (R.). Select Committee on 
 Postal Telegraph lines: C.G. 
 Washburn (Wis., R.), Will- 
 iam Lawrence (Ohio, R.), 
 H. L. Dawes (Mass., R.), 
 Noah Davis (N. Y., R.), 
 Frank W. Palmer (Iowa, 
 R.), G.W. Woodward (Pa., 
 D.), and J. B. Beck (Ky., 
 D.). 
 
 F. W. Palmer, of Iowa (R., Se- 
 lect Committee as ab.jve. 
 
 William C. Barney 
 
 House Mis. 
 
 Doc. 36. 
 House Mis. 
 
 Doc. 39. 
 Senate Mis. 
 Doc. 53. 
 
 House Journal, 
 page 173. 
 
 C. C. Washburn. 
 
 Gardiner G. Hubbard 
 
 Robert Squires, Lyman Tre- 
 niain, Erastus Corning, jr., 
 Hiram Barney, Geo. W. 
 Riggs, J. H. Lathrop, Geo. 
 Harrington, and W. C. Bar- 
 ney. 
 
 C. C. Washburn 
 
 Senate Ex.Doc. 
 5. 
 
 Senate Ex.Doc. 
 14. 
 
 Hamilton Fish, Secretary of 
 State. 
 
 William W. Belknap, Secre- 
 tary of War. 
 
 Senate Report 
 
 20 . 
 
 House Ex. 
 Doc, 123. 
 
 Alexander Ramsey, Commit- 
 tee on Post-Offices and Post- 
 Roads: Alex. Ramsey, S. 
 C. Pomeroy, Abijah Gilbert, 
 Cornelius Colei Hannibal 
 Hamlin, T.W. Ferry (Mich., 
 R ), and J. K. Kelly (Ore- 
 gon, D.). 
 
 William W. Belknap, Secre- 
 tary of War. 
 
 Senate Mis. 
 Doc. 86. 
 
 Senate E x. 
 Doc. 14, Part 
 
 2 . 
 
 William Orton, Horace F. 
 Clark, E. D. Morgan, Moses 
 Taylor, Alonzo B. Cornell, 
 and Augustus Schell. 
 William W. Belknap, Secre- 
 tary of War. 
 
 House. 
 
 R. B. Lines, 
 
 House Report. James A . Garfield, Committee 
 69. on Appropriations: J. A. 
 
 Garfield (Ohio, R.), A. A.. 
 Sargent (Cal., R.), O. J. 
 Dickey (Pa. ,R.), Freeman 
 Clark (N. Y., R.), F. W. 
 Palmer (Iowa, R ), Eugene 
 Hale (Me.,R,), W. E. Nib- 
 lack (Iiid., D.), S. S. Mar- 
 shall (111., D.), and Thomas 
 Sw.ann (Md., D.). 
 
 To accompany bill H. R. 
 2365. Favorable. 
 
 To accompany bill H. R. 
 2366. Favorable. 
 
 Memorial praying the 
 adoption of a system of 
 rules for the operation 
 of international tele- 
 graph lines. 
 
 Postal telegraph system 
 in Europe. 
 
 Memorial on the postal ' 
 telegraph. 
 
 Memorial praying the pas- • 
 sage of House bill 2591, ; 
 relating to telegraph 
 communication be- ' 
 tween the U nited States 
 and foreign countries. ; 
 
 Communications from the 
 postal-telegraph admin- 
 istrations of Great Brit- ' 
 ain, Norway, and Swe- 
 den. 
 
 Letter relative to tele- 
 graphic rates. 
 
 Letter recommending the ^ 
 construction of a Gov- < 
 ernment telegraph from ■ 
 San Diego, Cal., to Pres- * 
 cott and Tucson, Ariz. (■ 
 
 To accompany bill S. 341. 
 Favorable. 
 
 Letter on expenses of ob- ; 
 servation and report of , 
 storms by telegraph and 
 signal. ; 
 
 Memorial of the Western j 
 Union Telegraph Com- r 
 pany against the pass- 
 age of Senate bill 341. 
 
 Letter on the necessity for .? 
 telegraphic communica- i 
 tion between the various j 
 military posts and sta- j 
 tions in Arizona, etc. 
 
 Argument before the Com- 
 niittee on Appropria- ^ 
 tions. 
 
 On signal-service and tele- J 
 graph companies, to ac- Jj 
 companyHousebill27i'5. ^ 
 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. • 171 
 
 \piUa and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op- 
 posing postal telegraphy — Continued. 
 
 KEPOKTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS PRINTED— Continued. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Subject. 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 May 23, 1872 
 
 Senate Ex. 
 Doc. 81. 
 
 George M. Robeson, Secretary 
 of the Navy. 
 
 Letter relative to tele- 
 graphic communication 
 between the Eastern 
 and Western conti- 
 nents. 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 May 24, 1872 
 
 Senate Ex. 
 Doc. 82. 
 
 Ulysses S. Grant, President of 
 the United States. 
 
 Message communicating 
 information as to the 
 amount expended by the 
 Government for cable- 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 June 1, 1872 
 
 Senate Report 
 223. 
 
 Zachariah Chandler. Com- 
 mittee on Commerce ; Zach- 
 ariah Chandler (Micb.,R.), 
 H. \V. Corbett (Oregon, 
 R.), W. P.Kellogg (La.,R.), 
 G. E. Spencer (Ala., R.), 
 W. A. Buckingham (Conn., 
 R.), Roscoe Conkliug (N. 
 Y., R.), George Vickers 
 (Md., D.). 
 
 grams. 
 
 With reference to that 
 portion of the Presi- 
 dent’s message that re- 
 lates to the telegraph 
 system of the United 
 States. Favorable. 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 Nov. 6,1872 
 to 
 
 Dec. 30,1872 
 
 
 Joseph Medill and William 
 Orton. 
 
 Correspondence on the 
 Government and the tel- 
 egraph. 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Dec, 19,1872 
 
 Senate Report 
 242. 
 
 Alexander Ramsey. Commit- 
 tee on Post-Offices and Post- 
 Roads: Alexander Ramsey, 
 S. C. Pomeroy, Cornelius 
 Cole, Hannibal Hamlin, T. 
 W. Ferry, J. W. Flanagan 
 (Tex , R.), and J. K. Kelly. 
 
 To accompany Senate bill 
 341. Favorable. 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Dec. 19,1872 
 
 House Report 
 
 6. 
 
 Frank W. Palmer. Commit- 
 tee on Appropriations: 
 Same as those of Forty-sec- 
 ond Congress, second ses- 
 sion. 
 
 To accompany House bill 
 3261. Favorable. 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Jan. 28,1873 
 
 House Mis. 
 Doc. 73. 
 
 James A. Garfield. Commit- 
 tee on Appropriations, as 
 above. 
 
 Proceedings in the matter 
 of the postal telegraph, 
 and paper entitled “ The 
 Relation of the Govern- 
 ment to the Telegraph,” 
 by David A. Wells. 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Feb. 18,1873 
 
 Sen ate Mis. 
 Doc. 79. 
 
 Gardner G. Hubbard 
 
 Memorial in reply to the 
 above paper of David 
 A. Wells. 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 20,1874 
 
 Senate 
 
 William Orton 
 
 Argument on the postal 
 telegraph bill before 
 the Committee (Senate 
 bill 123). 
 
 43 
 
 1 . 
 
 Jan. 23, 1874 
 
 House Ex. Doc. 
 76. 
 
 John A. J. Creswell, P. M. G. . 
 
 Letter in relation to postal 
 savings institutions and 
 also the postal-telegraph 
 system. 
 
 To accompany Senate bill 
 651. Favorable. 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 Apr. 2,1874 
 
 Senate Report 
 242. 
 
 Alexander Ramsey. Commit- 
 tee on Post-Offices and Post- 
 Roads: Alexander Ramsey, 
 Hannibal Hamlin, T. W. 
 Ferry, J. W. Flanagan, S. 
 W. Dorsey (Ark., R ), J. P. 
 Jones (Nev.,R.), Eli Sauls- 
 bury) Del., D.), A. S. Merri- 
 mon (N.C., D.), and J.W. 
 •Johnston ( Va., D.). 
 
 S. W. Dorsey. Committee 
 same as those of Forty- 
 third Congress, first se.ssion. 
 
 Benjamin F. Butler, of Mas- 
 sachusetts (R.). Committee 
 onthe Judiciary : B. F. But- 
 ler, J.M. Wilson (Ind.,R.), 
 L. P.POlaud(Vt.,R.), Lyman 
 Tremain (N Y., R.), W. P. 
 Frye (Maine, R.), John 
 Cessna (Pa., R.), Alexander 
 White(Ala.. R.), J. D. Ward 
 (111., R.), C. A. Eldredge 
 (Wis.,D.), C. N. Potter (N. 
 Y., D.), and W. E. Fink 
 (Onio, D./. 1 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 Feb. 8,1875 
 
 Senate Report 
 624. 
 
 To accompany Senate bill 
 1201. Favorable. 
 
 43 
 
 t 
 
 2 
 
 Feb. 17, 1875 
 
 House Report 
 125. 
 
 To accompany House bill 
 4470. Favorable. 
 
172 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Bills and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op-- 
 posing postal telegraphy— Continued. 
 
 EEPOETS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS PRINTED— Continued. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Subject. 1 
 
 45 
 
 3 
 
 Feb. 20, 1879 
 
 Senate Report 
 805. 
 
 John H. Mitchell, of Oregon 
 (R.). Commitlee on Rail- 
 roads : J. H. Mitchell, H. L. 
 Dawes (Mass., R.), S. W. 
 Dorsey. H. M. Teller (Colo., 
 R.), Alvin Saunders (Nebr., 
 R.), William Win do m 
 (Minn., R.), Stanley Mat- 
 thews (Ohio, R ), M. W. 
 Ransom (N. C., D.), W. H. 
 Barnum (Conn., D.), L. Q. 
 C. Lamar (Miss., D.), and D. 
 H. Arrasti ong (Mo., D.) 
 
 To accompany amend- 
 ment to House bill 6471 
 advising a more thor- 1 
 ough investigation. 
 
 46 
 
 3 
 
 Jan. 27, 1881 
 
 House Report 
 137. 
 
 H. D. Money, of Mississippi 
 (D ).* Committee on the 
 Post-Office and Post-Roads : 
 H. D. Money, A. A. Clark 
 (N.J.,D.), Philip Cook (G-a., 
 D.). J. H. Evins (S.C.,D.), 
 J. W. Singleton (III., D.), C. 
 M. Shelly (Ala.,D.), G. W. 
 Jones (Texas, D.), J. H. 
 Ketcham (N. Y.,R.), C. H. 
 Joyce (Vt., R.), J. W. Stone 
 (Mich., R.), H. H. Bingham 
 (Pa , R.), and T. H. Brents 
 (Wash., R). 
 
 In reply to a resolution of 
 inquiry. Favorable. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 47 
 
 2 
 
 Mar. 3,1883 
 
 House Report 
 2004. 
 
 H. H. Bingham. Committee 
 on the Post-Office and Post- 
 Roads : H. H. Bingham, J. 
 Af Anderson (Kans., R.), 
 Joseph Jorgensen (Va., R.), 
 E. S. Lacey (Mich., R.), S. J. 
 Peelle (Ind., R.), S. S. Far- 
 well (Iowa, R.), H. L. Morey 
 (Ohio. R.), W. M. Springer 
 (lll.,D.),H.D. Money, J.H. 
 Evins, R. F. Armfield(N. C., 
 D.), and J. T. Caine (Utah, 
 People’s). 
 
 To accompany House bill 
 7542. Favorable. i 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 17, 1884 
 
 Senate Report 
 577, Part 2. 
 
 Committee o n Post-Offices 
 and Post-Roads : N. P. Hill 
 (Colo., R.), Philetus Sawyer 
 (Wis., R.), William Mahone 
 (Va., Readjuster), T. W. 
 Palmer(Mich.,R.),J. F.Wil- 
 son (Iowa., R.), S. B. Maxey 
 (Tex., D.), Eli Saulsbury, 
 J. B. (iroorne (Md.,D.),and 
 H. E. Jackson (Tenn., R). 
 
 Testimony, statements, - 
 etc., taken by the Com- 
 mittee on Post-Offices 
 and Post-Roads in rela- 
 tion to the postal tele-; 
 graph. 1 
 
 48 
 
 - 1 
 
 Mar. 4, 1884 
 
 House Ex. 
 Doc. 107 
 
 H. M. Teller, Secretary of the 
 Interior. , 
 
 John H. Rogers, of Arkansas 
 tD.). Committee on thePost- 
 Cffiice and Post-Roads: H.D. 
 Money, S. Reese (Ga., D.), 
 T. B. Ward (Ind., D.). John 
 Cosgrove (Mo., D.), J. M. 
 Riggs ail., D.), J. H. Rog- 
 ers. J. M. Taylor (Tenn ,D.), 
 J. H. Jones (Tex., D.), D. R. 
 Paige (Ohio,D.), H. H. Bing- 
 ham, (j. R. Skinner (N. Y. , 
 R. ). J D. White (Ky.,R.), 
 J. B. Wakefield (Minn., R.) , 
 J. W. McCormick (Ohio, R.), 
 J. T. Caine, and S. J. Peelle. 
 
 Letter on telegraph lines' 
 of subsidized railroads. < 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Apr. 30, 1884 
 
 • 
 
 House Report, 
 1436. 
 
 To accompany House bill, 
 6864. Favorable. 
 
 1 
 
 "l 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 May 27, 1884 
 
 Sen ate Report, 
 577. 
 
 Nathaniel P. Hill, of Colorado 
 (R.). Committee on Post-Of- 
 tices and Post-Roads : N. P. 
 Hill, Philetus Sawyer, AVill- 
 iam Mahone, T. W. Palmer, 
 j J. F. Wilson, S. B. Maxey, 
 Eli Saulsbury, J.B. Groome, 
 
 1 and H. E Jackson. 
 
 To accompany Senate bill j 
 j 2022. Favorable. . j 
 
 ' 1 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 173 
 
 iBills and resolutions, reports and documents, and spe'^ches in Congress, supporting or op- 
 posing postal telegraphy — Continued. 
 
 REPORTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS PRINTED— Continued. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Subject. 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 23, 1888 
 
 Senate Mis. 
 Doc. 39. 
 
 Norvin Green, president 
 Western Union Telegraph 
 Company. 
 
 Memorial against the 
 passage of the bill for 
 the establishment of a 
 Government system of 
 postal telegraph. 
 
 To accompany S e n a to 
 bills 534,614, and 2222. 
 Adverse. 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 Mar. 5,1888 
 
 Senate Report, 
 434. 
 
 John H. Reagan, of Texas 
 (D.). Committee on Post- 
 Office, and Post-Roads: 
 Philetus Sawyer, Jonathan 
 Chace (R. L, R. ), T. M. 
 Bowen (Colo., R.), J. H. 
 Mitchell (Oregon, R.), M. S. 
 Quay (Pa., R,), Eli Sauls- 
 bury, A.H. Colquitt (Ga.D.), 
 and E. K. Wilson (Md.,), 
 and also J. H. Reagan. 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 Mar. 8,1888 
 
 House Report, 
 955. 
 
 Isidor Rayner, of Maryland 
 (D.). Committee on Com- 
 merce : Isidor Rnyner, T. 
 E. Tarsney, (Mich., Fusion- 
 ist), A. R. Anderson (Iowa, 
 
 R. ),M D. Lagan (La.,D.),L. 
 
 S. Bryce (N. T., D.), James 
 Phelan (Tenn., D.), Charles 
 O’Neill (Pa., R.), R W. 
 Dunham (111., R.), J. A. An- 
 derson (Kans., R.), Ira Dav- 
 enpdrt (N. Y. , R. ), and T. 
 H. B. Browne (Va, .R.),the 
 majority. Minority in the 
 next item. 
 
 To accompany House hill 
 3404. Favorable to 
 Governmental postal 
 telegraphy. 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 Mar. 20, 1888 
 
 House Report, 
 955, Part 2. 
 
 Martin L. Clardy, of Missouri 
 (D.). The minority of the 
 Committee on Commerce: 
 M. L. Clardy, C. F. Crisp 
 (Ga., D. ), Thomas Wilson 
 (Minn , D. ), and R. T Davis 
 (Mass.,R.). 
 
 The minority view of 
 House bill 3404. 
 
 BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 •Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Subject and disposition. 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 30,1866 
 
 B. Gratz Brown, of 
 Missouri (R.). 
 
 Senate reso- 
 lution. 
 
 ^'Resolved, That the Committee on 
 Post-Offices and Post-Roads be 
 instructed to inquire into the ex- 
 pediency of authorizing the Post- 
 Office Department to construct 
 and operate postal telegraph- 
 lines along the principal mail 
 routes, or such of them as it may 
 be deemed necessary, or to con- 
 tract with such lines as may be 
 already established, if that shall 
 be deemed more advisable, for the 
 use and control of such lines ; 
 and in connection with its postal 
 business to establish offices at such 
 points as may be determined upon, 
 open at all hours to the public and 
 the press for the safe and speedy 
 transmission of dispatches under 
 proper regulations and at fixed 
 minimum rates, the committee to 
 report by bill or otherwise.” 
 
174 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 Bills and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op- 
 posing postal telegraphy— Continued. 
 
 BILLS AND EESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED— Continued. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 39 
 
 1 
 
 June 7, 1866 
 
 John Sherman, of 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio (R.). 
 
 357. 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 Dec. 10,1866 
 
 B. Gratz Brown, of 
 
 Senate reso- 
 
 
 
 
 Missouri (R.). 
 
 lution . 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 30,1867 
 
 B. Gratz Brown, of 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 Missouri (R.). 
 
 551. 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 May 16,1868 
 
 E. B. Washburne, of 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 Illinois (R.). 
 
 1083. 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 July 10, 1868 
 
 Alexander Ramsey, of 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 Minnesota (R.). 
 
 608. 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 July 10,1868 
 
 John F. Farnsworth, 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 of Illinois (R.). 
 
 1415. 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 Dec. 4,1868 
 
 Thomas E. Stewart, 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 of New York (R.). 
 
 1504. 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 Jan.' 18, 1869 
 
 Burt Van Horn, of 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 New York (R.). 
 
 1689. 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 Jan. 28,1869 
 
 B. F. Rice, of Arkan- 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 sas (R.). 
 
 848. 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 Feb. 27, 1869 
 
 Alexander Ramsey, of 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 Minnesota (R.). 
 
 978. 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 Mar. 16, 1869 
 
 Alexander Ramsey... 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 
 136. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 10,1870 
 
 
 Senate 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 10, 1870 
 
 W. M. Stewart, of Ne- 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 vada (R.). 
 
 367. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 17,1870 
 
 Thomas Fitch, of Ne- 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 vada (R.). 
 
 834. 
 
 Subject and disposition. 
 
 “ To aid in the construction of tele- 
 graph lines and to secure to the 
 Government the use of same for 
 postal telegraph, military, and 
 other purposes.” Approved July 
 24, 1866. (Rev. Stat. § 5267.) 
 
 Mr. Brown oflered again his resolu- ' 
 tion of January 30, 1866. 
 
 “For construction of Government 
 telegraph from Washington ta 
 New York.” Committee dis- 
 charged March 2, 1867. 
 
 “For the construction of a Govern- 
 ment telegraph under the direc- 
 tion of the Post-Office Department 
 between New York and Washing- 
 ton.” (House Mis. Doc. 129.) Re- 
 ported adversely February 24, 
 1869. (House Rep. 32, Fortieth 
 Congress, third session.) 
 
 “ To incorporate the United States 
 Postal Telegraph Company, and 
 to establish a postal telegraph 
 system.” 
 
 “To form the United States Postal 
 Telegraph Company.” Reported ' 
 adversely February 24, 1869. 
 
 (House Rep. 32, Fortieth Congress, : 
 third session.) 
 
 “For the construction of lines of 
 telegraph between Boston, New 
 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
 and Washington, under direction 
 of the Post-Office Department.” 
 Reported adversely February 24, ' 
 1869. (House Rep. 32, Fortieth 
 Congress, third session.) 
 
 “For the« construction of lines of • 
 telegraph between Boston, New ; 
 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, ; 
 and Washington, under direction 
 of the Post-Office Department.” 
 Substitute for House bill 1504. 
 Reported adversely February 24, 
 1869. (House Rept. 32, Fortieth ' 
 Congress, Third session. ) 
 
 “For the construction of lines of 
 telegraph between Boston, New ' 
 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,, 
 and Washington, under direction 4 
 of the Post-Office Department.” % 
 
 “ To establish a postal teleijraph i 
 system in connection with the 
 Post-Office Department.” 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph - 
 system, and to incorporate the I 
 United States Postal Telegraph ’ 
 Company.” ^ 
 
 “ Resolutions of the National Typo- i 
 graphical Union, adopted at" Al- : 
 bany, N. Y., June 7, 1869, in favor 
 of a postal telegraph. (Senate I 
 Mis. Doc. 13.) 4 
 
 “To abolish the franking privilege * 
 and to establish a United States - 
 postal telegraph system.” Com- > 
 mittee discharged, July 15, 1870. v 
 
 “To abolish the franking privilege ^ 
 and to establish the postal tele- J 
 graph.” } 
 
I 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 175^ 
 
 Bills and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op-^ 
 \ ' posing postal telegraphy — Continued. 
 
 BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED— Continued. 
 
 Con- 
 
 Ses- 
 
 Date. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 greas 
 
 sion. 
 
 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 20,1870 
 
 Alexander Ramsey... 
 
 Senate bill 
 422. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 24,1870 
 
 F. W. Palmer, of Iowa 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 (R.). 
 
 973. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 24,1870 
 
 C. C. Washburn, of 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 Wisconsin (R,). 
 
 949. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Feb. 8, 1870 
 
 Senate 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Apr. 11, 1870 
 
 May 2, 1870 
 
 June 24, 1870 
 
 
 Senate. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 
 Hotise 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 Alexander Ramsey . . . 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 1083. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 June 25, 1870 
 
 F. W. Palmer 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 2329. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 July 5,1870 
 
 C. C. Washburn 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 2365. 
 
 41 
 
 2 
 
 July 5,1870 
 
 F. W. Palmer 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 2366. 
 
 41 
 
 3 
 
 Jan, 23,1871 
 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 2834. 
 
 42 
 
 1 
 
 Mar, 16, 1871 
 
 Alexander Ramsey . . . 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 237. 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 Dec, 7, 1871 
 
 S. C. Pomeroy, of Kan- 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 % 
 
 sas (R,). 
 
 341. 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 Mar. 11, 1872 
 
 F. W. Palmer 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 1903. 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Dec. 19,1872 
 
 do 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 
 3261. 
 
 Subject and disposition. 
 
 “To establish and incorporate the 
 United States Postal Telegraph 
 Company.” Reported with amend* 
 ment January 31, 1870. (Senate 
 Rep. 18.) Passed over Decem- 
 ber 12, 1870. 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph 
 system and to incorporate the 
 United States Postal Telegraph 
 Company.” 
 
 “ To establish postal telegraph lines 
 in the United States.” 
 
 Resolutions of the legislature of Ala- 
 bama in favor of a postal telegraph 
 system. (Senate Mis. Doc. 45.) 
 
 Resolutions of the legisiature of 
 Massachusetts in favor of a postal 
 telegraph system. (House Mis. 
 Doc. 124.) 
 
 Resolution of the legislature of Ne- 
 braska in favor of a postal tele- 
 graph. (House Mis. Doc. 133.) 
 
 ‘ ‘ To establish a Transatlantic Postal 
 Telegraphic Service by an Ameri- 
 can cable.” Reported with amend- 
 ment July 2, 1870. 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph 
 system and to incorporate the 
 United States Postal Telegraph 
 Company.” 
 
 “To establish postal telegraph lines 
 in the United States.” Reported 
 July 5, 1870, and recommitted. 
 (House Rep. 114 ) 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph 
 system and to incorporate the 
 United States Postal Telegraph 
 Company.” Reported July 5, 1870, 
 and recommitted. (House Rep. 
 115). 
 
 “To reduce the rates of correspond- 
 ence by telegraph and to connect 
 the telegraph with the postal 
 service.” 
 
 “To reduce the rates of correspond- 
 ence by telegraph and to connect 
 the telegraph with the postal serv- 
 ice.” 
 
 “To reduce the rates of correspond- 
 ence by telegraph and to connect 
 the telegraph with the postal serv- 
 ice.” Reported with amendment 
 January 22, 1872. (Senate Rep. 
 20.) Considered and recommitted 
 April 17, 1872, Reported with 
 amendment April 18, 1872, Con- 
 sidered (see speeches) May 16, 
 1872. Passed over December 11, 
 1872. Recommitted December 16, 
 1872. Reported with amendment 
 December 19, 1872 (Senate Rep. 
 242, Forty-second Congress, Third 
 Session.) Passed over January 
 22, 1873. 
 
 “ To connect the telegraph with the 
 postal service and to reduce the 
 rates of corre.spondence by tele- 
 graph.” 
 
 “ To connect the telegraph with the 
 postal service and to reduce the 
 rates of corresnondence by tele- 
 graph.” (House Rep. 6.) Recom- 
 mitted to Committee on Appro- 
 priations. 
 
176 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACU.ITIES. 
 
 Bills and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op- 
 posing postal telegraphy — Continued. 
 
 BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED— Continued. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Jan. 20, 1873 
 
 W. M. Stewart, of Ne- 
 
 Senate 
 
 
 
 
 vada (R). 
 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Feb. 18, 1873 
 
 
 Senate 
 
 42 
 
 3 
 
 Mar. 1,1873 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 9, 1873 
 
 Alexander Ramsey . . . 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 
 123. 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 18, 1873 
 
 H. L. Dawes, of Mas- 
 
 House bill 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 sachusetts (R.). 
 
 806. 
 
 43 
 
 1 
 
 Apr. 2, 1874 
 
 Alexander Ramsey . . . 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 
 651. 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 25, 1875 
 
 B. F. Butler, of Mas- 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 sachusetts (R.). 
 
 4470. 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 27, 1875 
 
 S. W. Dorsej', of Ar- 
 
 Senate bill 
 
 
 
 
 kansas (R.). 
 
 1201. 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 Feb. 6,1875 
 
 J. C. Parker, of Mis- 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 souri (R.). 
 
 4575. 
 
 45 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 25, 1878 
 
 T. F. Tipton, of Illi- 
 
 House 
 
 
 
 
 nois (R.). 
 
 
 46 
 
 2 
 
 May 3, 1880 
 
 J. E. Ellis, of Louisi- 
 
 House bill 
 
 
 
 
 iana (D.). 
 
 6043. 
 
 46 
 
 3 
 
 Dec. 4,1880 
 
 J. S. Morrill, of Ver- 
 
 Senate 
 
 
 
 
 mont (R.). 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 Subject and disposition. 
 
 Submitted the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the Committee 
 on Post-Offices and Post-Roads be 
 instructed to inquire into aud re- 
 port to the Senate as soon as prac- 
 ticable upon the cost of construc- 
 tion and present market value 
 of existing telegraph lines now in 
 successful operation within the 
 United States; and also the char- 
 acter of the franchises and special 
 privileges connected with such 
 telegraphs.” 
 
 Resolution ot‘ the legislature of Ne- 
 braska in favor of a postal-tele- 
 . giaph system. (Senate Mis. Doc. 
 79.) 
 
 Resolution of the legislature of Ne- 
 vada in favor of a postal-telegraph 
 system. (Senate Mis. Doc. 98.) 
 
 “To provide for the transmission of 
 correspondence by telegraph.” 
 Committee discharged April 2, 
 1874. 
 
 “ To provide for the transmission of 
 correspondence by telegraph.” 
 
 “ To provide for the transmission of 
 correspondence by telegraph.” 
 (Senate Rep. 242.) 
 
 “ To establish telegraphic lines in 
 the several States and Territories 
 as post-roads, and to regulate the 
 transmission of commercial aud 
 other intelligence by telegraph.” 
 (House Rep. 125). Considered 
 (see speeches), February 17, 1875. 
 
 “To establish certain telegraphic 
 lines in the several States aud 
 Territories as post-roads, and to 
 regulate the transmission of com- 
 mercial and other intelligence 
 by telegraph.” Reported with 
 amendments. (Senate Rep. 624.) 
 Recommitted, Feb. 12,1875. Re- 
 ported with amendments, Feb- 
 ruary 16, 1875. 
 
 “ For ‘ the transmission of corre- 
 spondence by telegraph.” 
 
 Submitted the following resolution : 
 "Resolved, Thatthe Committee on 
 the Post-Offic^ and Post-Roads be 
 and are hereby instructed to ex- 
 amine the question (of postal 
 telegraphy) aud report to this 
 House what regulation, if any, is 
 necessary to cai ry out and enforce 
 the proA^isi ns of section 5627 of 
 the Revised Statutes of the U nited 
 States ; and also wha means are • 
 necessary, if any shoul be en- 
 acted, modifying the law in rela- 
 tion to telegraphs.” 
 
 “ To provide for the establishment of 
 a postal telegraphic system for 
 the United States.” 
 
 Submitted the tollowing resolution : 
 "Resolved, That the (Committee 
 on Post-Offices and Post-Roads be 
 instructed to inquire Avhether or 
 not the existing telegraphic lines 
 largely interfere with the busi- 
 ness of the Post-Office Depart- 
 ment, and whether the teleg'^aph 
 service should not be placed ex- 
 clusively in the hands of the Gen- 
 eral Government.” 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 177 
 
 Bills and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op- 
 posing postal telegraphy — Continued. 
 
 BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED-Continued. 
 
 Con- Ses- 
 gress. sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Subject and disposition. 
 
 46 
 
 Jan. 17,1881 
 
 N. Ford, of Missouri 
 
 (N.). 
 
 House 
 
 46 
 
 Jan. 27, 1881 
 
 W. M. S 
 nois 
 
 Springer, 
 
 ofim- 
 
 House 
 
 46 
 
 Jan. 28,1881 
 
 S. J. Kirkwood, of 
 Iowa (R.). 
 
 Senate 
 
 2115. 
 
 46 
 
 3 
 
 Jan. 31,1881 
 
 W. M. Springer 
 
 House 
 
 7096. 
 
 46 
 
 3 
 
 Jan. 31,1881 
 
 W. M. Springer 
 
 House 
 
 7097. 
 
 
 47 
 
 47 
 
 1 Dec. 13,1881 ....do 
 1 do do 
 
 House 
 227. , 
 House 
 
 47 
 
 47 
 
 47 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 16,1882 
 
 Jan. 8, 1883 
 
 Feb. 7, 1883 
 
 Nicholas Ford, of Mis- 
 souri (N.). 
 
 J. A. Anderson, of 
 Kansas (R.). 
 
 H. H. Bingham, of 
 Pennsylvania (R.). 
 
 House 
 
 2990. 
 
 House 
 
 7199. 
 
 House 
 
 7542. 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 Submitted the following resolution : 
 “ Resolved, That it is the sense of 
 this House that every^ interest of 
 this country demands' the imme- 
 diate construction of telegraph 
 lines by the Government, and that 
 the Committee on the Post-Oliice 
 and Post-Koads be, and is hereby, 
 requested to mature and report a 
 bill at the earliest moment practi-' 
 cable providing for the construc- 
 tion of such telegraph lines as 
 may be deemed necessary to re- 
 lieve the commercial and all other 
 classes of our people from po.ssible 
 danger of a restrictive monopoly 
 in an agency used for the dissemi- 
 nation of intelligence and the trans- 
 mission of correspondence.” 
 
 Submitted the following resolution : 
 "■Resolved, That the Committee 
 on the Post-Office and Post-Roads 
 be instructed to inquire into the 
 expediency of establishing by law 
 a telegraphic postal system tinder 
 the United States (government, 
 and also as to the cost of reproduc- 
 ing facilities for transmitting tele- 
 graphic messages equal to those 
 now possessed by existing corpora- 
 tions, and as to the expediency of 
 operating the same, with power to 
 send for persons and papers and 
 to report at any time by bill or 
 otherwise.” 
 
 “To aid the United States Postal 
 Telegraph Company in the con- 
 struction and operation of postal 
 telegraph lines.” 
 
 “To aid the United States Postal 
 Telegraph Company in the con- 
 struction and operation of postal 
 telegraph lines.” . 
 
 “To provide for the appraisement 
 of the telegraph lines, property, 
 and effects of companies acting 
 under the provisions of the act of 
 July 24, 1866, entitled ‘An act to 
 ahl in the construction of tele- 
 graph lines and to secure to the 
 Govei'^inient the iise of the same 
 for postal, military, and other pur- 
 poses,’ and to secure information 
 concerning postal telegraphs in 
 other countries.” 
 
 Same title as that of House bill 7097, 
 third, Forty-sixtb, above. 
 
 Submitted a resolution reqxiesting 
 the Postmaster-General to trans- 
 mit to the House of Representa- 
 tives all correspondence and re- 
 ports in the Department from 
 United States ministers and con- 
 suls in reference to the working 
 of the postal telegraph and postal 
 savings-banks in other countries; 
 which was referred to the Com- 
 mittee on the Post Office and Post- 
 Roads. 
 
 “To establish postal telegraph lines 
 in the United States.” 
 
 “To create the postal telegraph of 
 the United States.” 
 
 “To authorize the appointment of 
 a commission to examine into the 
 telegraph service of the United 
 States.” Reported March 3, 1883^ 
 (House Rep. 2004.) 
 
 r I — 12 
 
178 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 BilU and resolutions, reports and docunients, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op- . 
 
 posing postal telegraphij — Continued. • ’ 
 
 BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED— Continued. / 
 
 » 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Subject and disposition. | =■ 
 
 1 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 4,1883 
 
 G. F. Edmunds, of 
 Vermont (R.). 
 
 Senate bill 
 17. 
 
 “To provide for the establishment ~ 
 of a pOvStal telegraph system.” ’ 
 April 9,1884, substitute reported, lii 
 (Senate bill 2022.) , 
 
 “To establish a sy.stem of postal ; 
 telegraph in the United States.” 
 April 9, 1884, substitute reported. > 
 (Senate bill 2022.) , 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 N. P. Hill, of Colorado 
 (R.). 
 
 Senate bill 
 227. 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 10,1884 
 
 H. L. Dawes 
 
 Senate bill 
 1016. 
 
 “To provide for the transmission * 
 of correspondence by telegraph.” 
 April 9, 1884, substitute reported. 
 (Senate bill 2022.) , ^ 
 
 48 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 Jan. 29,1884 
 
 0. H. Platt, of Con- 
 necticut (Ri). 
 
 Senate 
 
 Submitted resolutions inquiring * 
 whether the cost of telegraphic ^ 
 correspondence has been injuri- % 
 ously affected i y irregularities in ; 
 the Western Union. 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Mar. 24. 1884 
 
 Leopold Morse, of 
 Alassachusetts (D.). 
 
 House bill 
 6130. 
 
 “ To provide tor the transmission of < 
 correspondence by telegraph.” i 
 
 “ To secure cheaper correspondence ; 
 
 by telegraph.” " 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph -j 
 system.” Alay 27, Senate Rep. 
 577; July 4, considered (See ; 
 speeches). Jan. 21, 1885, passed ^ 
 over. 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 ...do 
 
 H. D. Money, of Mis- 
 sissippi (D.). • 
 
 N. P. Hill 
 
 House bill 
 6143. 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Apr. 9,1884 
 
 Senate bill 
 2022. 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Apr. 30, 1884 
 
 J. H. Rogers, of Ar- 
 kansas (D.). 
 
 House bill 
 6864. 
 
 “ To secure cheaper correspondence \ 
 by telegraph.” (House Rep. 2436.) , 
 “ To seciire cheaper telegraphic cor- > 
 respondence.” f 
 
 “To provide for the establishment 
 of a postal Telegraph system." 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 9, 1885 
 
 J. K. J ones, of Arkan- 
 sas (D.). 
 
 Senate bill 
 256. 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 10, 1885 
 
 G. F. Edmunds 
 
 Senate bill 
 337. 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 21, 1885 
 
 S. M. Culloni, of Illi- 
 nois (R.). 
 
 Senate bill 
 755. 
 
 “ To provide for the establishment 
 of a jiostal telegraph system.” < 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 J. H. Rogers 
 
 House bill 
 77. 
 
 “ To secure cheaper telegiaphic cor- ■ 
 re.spondence.” 
 
 “To enlarge the postal facilities of/ 
 the United States by the estab- ' 
 lishment of a postal telegraph.” a 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 do 
 
 J. B. Weaver, of Iowa 
 (N. and D.). 
 
 House bill 
 588. 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 5, 1886 
 
 L, E AlcComas, of Ma- 
 ryland (R.). 
 
 House bill 
 1056. 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph* 
 system in the United States.” » 
 
 “To provide for the establishment S 
 of a postal telegraph system.” h 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 6, 1886 
 
 H. H. Bingham 
 
 House bill 
 2032. 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 7, 1886 
 
 J, A. Anderson 
 
 House bill 
 3083. 
 
 “To create the postal telegraph of ^ 
 the United States.” j| 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 8, 1886 
 
 J. F. Wilson, of Iowa 
 
 (Rj- 
 
 Senate bill 
 946. 
 
 “ To establish a postal telegraph sys- S 
 tern.” 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 8, 1886 
 
 H. L. Dawes 
 
 Senate bill 
 966. 
 
 “ To establish a postal telegraph 
 system.” 
 
 49 
 
 1 
 
 Feb. 1, 1886 
 
 A, A. Ranney, of Mas- 
 sachusetts (R.). 
 
 House bill 
 5162. 
 
 Do. 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph 
 system.” On this date reported 
 favorably with an amendment rec- . 
 ommending the first eleven sec- 
 tions ot the bill reported by the^ 
 committee in the Forty-eighth* 
 Congress, Senate bill 2022. 
 
 49 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 21,1887 
 
 1 
 
 J. F. Wilson 
 
 Senate bill 
 337, 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 12,1887 
 
 G. F. Edmunds 
 
 Senate bill 
 534. 
 
 ‘ ‘ To provide for the establishment of 
 a postal telegi^pph system.” Re- 
 ported adversely, March 5, 1888.' 
 (Senate Rep. 434). 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 1 Dec. 12, 1887 
 
 M. C. Butler, of South 
 Carolina (D.). 
 
 1 
 
 j 
 
 Senate 
 
 Submitted the following resolution : 
 '^Itesolved, That a select commit- 
 tee of five Senators, to be ap- 
 pointed bi’ the President of the 
 Senate, be directed to inquire into 
 the advisability and practicability 
 of establishing and maintaining a 
 Govei’iiment postal telegiapll,' 
 with power to report by bill or 
 otherwise.”. 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 Dec. 13,1887 
 
 Jan. 4, 1688 
 
 j S.M.Cullom 
 
 ^ J. H. Rogers 
 
 Senate bill 
 614. 
 
 House bill 
 12C0. 
 
 “ For the establishment and opera- 
 tion of the United States Postal 
 Telegraph Company.” Reported 
 adversely Alarch 5. 1888. (Senate 
 Rep. 434.) j 
 
 “ To secure cheaper telegraphic cor- 
 respondence.” i 
 
50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 60 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 179 
 
 'esolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op~ 
 ^losing postal telegraphy — Continued. 
 
 BILLS AND KESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED— Continued, 
 
 Date. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Subject and disposition. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 4, 
 
 1888 
 
 J. B. Weaver. 
 
 House 
 
 1355. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 4, 1888 J, A. Anderson 
 
 4, 1888 I. Raynor, of Mary- 
 lanu (D.). 
 
 House 
 
 1425. 
 
 House 
 
 1513. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Jan, 
 
 4. 1888 L. E. McComas 
 
 6.1888 H.L. Dawes... 
 
 5. 1888 P. Sawyei-, of Wiscon- 
 
 sin (R.). 
 
 9. 1888 J. M. Glover, of Mis- 
 
 souri (D.), 
 
 House 
 
 1517. 
 
 Senate 
 
 1174. 
 
 Senate 
 
 1195. 
 
 House 
 
 3404. 
 
 Jan. 16,1888 
 Feb. 13,1888 
 
 Feb. 13,1888 
 
 Mar. 5,1888 
 
 E. D. Hayden, of Mas 
 sacbusetts (R.). 
 
 S. I. Hopkins, of Vir- 
 ginia (K. of L. and 
 
 Henry Smith, of Wis- 
 consin (People’s 
 Party). 
 
 J. H. Reagan, of Texas 
 (D.). 
 
 House 
 
 4971. 
 
 House 
 
 7071. 
 
 House 
 
 7076. 
 
 Senate 
 
 2222 . 
 
 May 14, 1888 
 
 Frank Lawler, of Illi- 
 nois (D,). 
 
 House 
 
 June 25, 1888 
 
 I. Rayner 
 
 House 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 bill 
 
 “To enlarge the postal facilities of 
 the United States by theestablish- 
 ment of a postal telegraph.’’ 
 
 “To create the postal telegraph of 
 the United States.’’ 
 
 “To establish an interstate po.stal 
 telegraph system, and for the ap- 
 l)ointmeut of an interstate tele- 
 graph commission.’’ 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraph 
 system in the United States ’’ 
 
 “To establish a postal telegrajth 
 system.’’ 
 
 “To provide for the establishment 
 of a postal telegraph system.’’ 
 
 “To amend an act entitled ‘An act 
 to regulate comnietce,’ approved 
 February 4, 1887 ’’ Reported with 
 amendnientvS, March 4, 1888. 
 (House Rep. 955.) 
 
 “To establi.^h a postal telegraph 
 system.’’ 
 
 “To establish postal telegrai)hs and 
 for other purposes.” 
 
 bill 
 
 “ To provide for the establishment of 
 a postal telegraph system.” 
 
 bill 
 
 “To regulate commerce carried on 
 by telegiaph.” (Senate Rep. 434.) 
 Relerred, March 15, to the Com- 
 mittee on Interstate Commerce. 
 
 Submitted the following res<du(ion: 
 “ Whereas petitions bearing the 
 signatures of more than two mill- 
 ions of eitizensof thelHiited States 
 re(iuest Congress to pass a bill and 
 provide for the estaplishment of a 
 postaltelegraph system ; thcrelore 
 be it liesolved, Tliat the Commit- 
 t«‘e on Rules be, and are her< by, in- 
 structed to set apart a day for the 
 consideration of House bill 3404, 
 reported by the Committee on 
 Commerce.” 
 
 Submitted the following resolution: 
 ‘ ‘ Whereas the Committee on Com- 
 merce has reiiorted to this House a 
 bill providing for the creation, con- 
 struction, and maintenance o^ a 
 Government telegraph ; and where- 
 as petitions have been pre.sented 
 to Congress at this session signed 
 by a million and a half of citizens 
 praying for the passage of said 
 measure; and whereas the Com- 
 mittee i n the Post -Office and Post- 
 Roads have announced their in- 
 tention to raise a point of order in 
 this Housein reference to the juris- 
 diction of the Committee, on Com- 
 merce upon said bill so re])orted ; 
 and win reas the Commiitce on 
 Commerce are prepared to sustain 
 their juiisdiction, and it is a mat- 
 t(‘r of great importance that the 
 matter vshould be consiilen d ai the 
 
 present SI ssion and not be im]n ded 
 and delayed by technical objec- 
 tions, now, be it Resolved In view 
 of the large public interests in- 
 volved, that Monday, the 2d day 
 of July next, be set apart for the 
 consideration of the (piestion of 
 jurisdiction of the Committee on 
 Commerce over said bill and said 
 report, and that each side be al- 
 lowed one hour and a half for the 
 discusvsion ot the same.” 
 
180 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. j 
 
 Bills and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op~ ] 
 posing postal telegraphy — Continued. | 
 
 BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED-Continued 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Author. 
 
 Number. 
 
 1 
 
 Subject and disposition. 
 
 51 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 18,1889 
 
 J. A. Anderson 
 
 House bill 
 328. 
 
 “To create the postal telegraph ot 
 the United States.” 
 
 51 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 18,1889 
 
 E. A. Morse, of Massa- 
 chusetts (R.). 
 
 House bill 
 442. 
 
 ‘ ‘ To provide for a postal telegraphic 
 system.” 
 
 “To establish a postal telegraphic 
 system in the United States.” 
 
 51 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 18, 1889 
 
 L. E. McComas 
 
 House bill 
 1000. 
 
 51 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 20,1889 
 
 S. M. Cullom 
 
 Senate bill 
 1557. 
 
 “To provide for limited postal tele- 
 graph service.” 
 
 “ To proAude for limited postal tele- 
 graph service.” 
 
 . 51 
 
 1 
 
 Dec. 20, 1889 
 
 H. H. Bingham 
 
 House bill 
 3319. 
 
 51 
 
 • 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 6, 1890 
 
 H. L. Dawes 
 
 Senate 
 
 j Sxibmitted the following resolution : 
 liesolced, That the Postmaster- 
 General be directed to furnish the 
 Senate with such information as is 
 in possession of the Department 
 upon the probable cost of connect- 
 ing the free delivery post-offices of 
 the country with the Western 
 Union or some other telegraph 
 company, and the opinion of the 
 Department upon the feasibility 
 and desirability and cost of making 
 such connection ; also such infor- 
 mation as is in possession of the De- 
 partment, and the conclusion of 
 the Department thereon, upon the 
 probable cost of the brection by 
 the Government of an independent 
 telegrapji line connecting such of- 
 fices between the cities of St. Louis, 
 Chicago, Philadelphia, and New 
 York. (Congressional Record, p. 
 328.) 
 
 51 
 
 1 
 
 Feb. 18,1890 
 
 W. H. Wade, of Mis- 
 souri (R.). 
 
 House bill 
 7167. 
 
 ‘ ‘ To establish a postal telegraph, and 
 for other purposes.” 
 
 51 
 
 1 
 
 Mar. 19, 1890 
 
 Abner Taylor, of Ill- 
 inois (R.). 
 
 House bill 
 7846. 
 
 “To provide for the establishment 
 of Government telegraphs.” 
 
 SPEECHES MADE IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 1 
 
 Date. 
 
 
 42 
 
 2 
 
 Dec. 5, 1871.. 
 
 Discussion in the House of a resolution submitted by Henry L. Dawes, of ' 
 Massachusetts (R.), to refer so much of the President’s message as re- i 
 lates to postal telegraphy to a special committee. 
 
 Favorable to resolution:' H. L. Dawes, F, W. Palmer (Iowa, R.), -Jas. A. 
 Garfield (Ohio, R ). 
 
 Op]) 08 ed to resolution : J. F. Farnsworth (111., R.), S. J. Randall (Pa..D.), 
 
 W. E. Niblack (Ind., D.), J. B. Beck (Ky., D.). 
 
 (Globe, 2, 42, pp. 16-21.) 
 
 42 
 
 
 Dec. 7, 1871.. 
 
 Remarks in the Senate on Senate bill 341, “To reduce the rates of corre- 
 spondence by telegraph, and to connect the telegraph with the postal 
 service.” 
 
 Favorable to the bill : Alexander Ramsey (Minn., R.), Hannibal Hamlin ' 
 (Me., R.), Charles Sumner (Mass., R.), Philetus Sawyer (Wis., R.), S. C. x 
 Pomeroy (Kans., R.). /• 
 
 Opposed to the bill : J. W. Nye (Nev., R.), Roscoe Conkling (N. Y., R.), 
 
 J. W. Patterson (N. H., R.). i 
 
 Favorable to cheap telegraphy, but criticising some features of thisbill : 
 
 F. T. Frelinghuysen (N. J., R.),‘ John Scott (Pa., R.). 
 
 (Globe, 2, 42, pp. 3554-3562.) 
 
 43 
 
 2 
 
 Feb. 17,1875. 
 
 Remarks in the Hoxise on House bill 4470, “ To establish telegraphic lines 
 in the several States and Territories as post roads, and to regulate the 
 transmission of commercial and other intelligence by telegraph.” 
 Favorable to the bill : Benj. F. Butler (Mass., R.), Charles Albright (Pa., 
 R.). 
 
 Opposed to the bill: C. W. Willard (Vt., R.), J. A. Garfield (Ohio, R.), 
 
 C. L. Merriam (N. Y,, R.),jC. N. PotteCj (N. Y., D.), G. F. Hoar (Mass., R.) 
 
 E. H. Roberts (N. Y., R.), W. E. Fink (Ohio, D.), J. D. Ward (111., R.) 
 (Record, 2, 43, pp. 1419-1429.). 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 181 
 
 BiUs and resolutions, reports and documents, and speeches in Congress, supporting or op- 
 posing 2 )ostal telegraphy — Continued. < . 
 
 SPEECHES MADE IN CONGRESS— Continued. 
 
 Con- 
 
 gress. 
 
 Ses- 
 
 sion. 
 
 1 
 
 Date. 
 
 
 ^ 47 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Jan. 19,1883 
 Jan. 20, 1883 
 
 Remarks in the Senate on the post-office appropriation bill, in favor of a 
 Government system of postal telegraphy, by 0. H. Platt (Conn., K.), 
 John Sherman (Ohio, R.), G. F. Edmunds (Vt., R.). 
 
 (Record 2, 47, pp. 1334, 1375 and 1378.) 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 14, 1884 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 An elaborate speech in the Senate in faA^or of Senate bill 227, “ To establish 
 a system of postal telegraph in the United States.” Nathaniel P. Hill 
 (CoIo.,R.). 
 
 (Record l,48,pp. 374-381.) 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 July 4,1884 
 
 Remarks in the Senate on Senate report 577, in favor of the postal telegraph 
 by N. P. Hill (Colo., R.), S. D. Maxey (Texas, D,). 
 
 (Record 1, 48, pp. G039-C041. ) ^ 
 
 Appendix I. 
 
 OPINIONS OP PRESIDENTS. 
 
 [Ulysses S. Grant, December 4, 1871.] 
 
 The suggestions of tlie Postmaster-General for improvements in the Department 
 presided over by him are earnestly recommended to your special attention. Espe- 
 eially do I recommend favorable consideration of the plan for uniting the telegraphic 
 system of the United States with the postal system. It is believed that by such a 
 course the cost of telegraphing could be much reduced and the service as well, if not 
 better, rendered. It would secure the further advantage of extending the telegraph 
 through portions of the country where private enterprise will not construct it. Com- 
 merce, trade, and, above all, the efforts to bring a people widely separated into a 
 community of interest, are always benefited by a rapid intercommuuication. Edu- 
 cation, the ground-work of republican institutions, is encouraged by increasing the 
 facilities to gather speedy news from all parts of the country. The desire to reap the 
 benefits of such improvements will stimulate education. 1 refer you to the report of 
 the Postmaster-General for full details of the operations of last year and for com- 
 parative statements of results with former years. 
 
 [Ulysses S. Grant, December 2, 1872.] 
 
 I wonld recommend also .the appointment of a committee or commission to take 
 into consideration the best method (equitable to private corporations which have in- 
 vested their time and capital in the establishment of telegraph lines) of acquiring the 
 title to all telegraph lines now in operation, and to connect this service with the 
 postal service of the nation. It is not probable that this subject could receive the 
 proper consideration during the limits of a short session of Congress, but it might be 
 initiated, so that future action may be fair to the Government and to private parties 
 concerned. 
 
 [Ulysses S. Grant, December 1, 1873.] 
 
 Your attention is also called to a consideration of the question of postal telegraphs 
 and the arguments adduced in support thereof, in the hope that you may take such 
 action in connection therewith as in your judgment will most contribute to the best 
 interests of the country. 
 
182 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [Chester A. Arthur, December 4, 1882.] 
 
 As matters which may fairly claim particular attention, I refer you to his (the 
 Postmaster-Geueral’s) observations iu reference to the advisability 'of changing the 
 present basis for fixing salaries and allowances, of extending the money-order system, 
 and of enlarging the functions of the postal establishment so .as to put under its con- 
 trol the telegraph system of the country, though from this last and most important 
 recommendation I must withhold my concurrence. 
 
 [Chester A Arthur, December 4, 1883.] 
 
 The Postmaster-General devotes much of his report to the consideration, iu its 
 various aspects, of the relations of the Government to the telegraph. Such retiectious 
 as I have been able to give to the subject since my last annual messagehas not led me to 
 change the view which I there expressed, in dissenting from the recommendation of 
 the then Postmaster-General, that the Government assume the same control over the 
 telegraph which it has always exercised over the mail. Admitting that its author- 
 ity in the premises is as ample as has ever been claimed for it, it would not, in my 
 judgment, be a wise use of that authority to purchase or assume the control of ex- 
 isting telegraph lines, or to construct others with a view to* entering into general 
 competition with private enterprise. The objections which may be justly urged 
 against either of those projects, and indeed against any system which would require 
 an enormous increase in the civil service list, do not, however, apply to some of 
 the plans which have lately provoked public comment and discussion. It has been 
 claimed, for example, that Congress might wisely authorize the Postmaster-General 
 to contract with some private persons or corporation for the transmission of messages, 
 or of a certain class of messages, at specified rates and under Government supervis- 
 ion. Various such schemes of the same general nature, but widely ditferiug in their 
 special characteristics, have been suggested in the public prints^ and the arguments 
 by which they have been supported and opposed have doubtless attracted your at- 
 tention. It is likely that the whole subject will be considered by yon at the present 
 session. In the nature of things it involves so many questions of detail that your 
 deliberations would probably be aided slightly, if at all, by any particular suggestions 
 which I might now submit. I avow my belief, however, that the Government 
 would bo authorized [by law to exercise some sort of supervision over interstate 
 telgraphio communication, and I express the hope for attaining that end some 
 measure may be devised which will receive your approbation. 
 
 Appendix K. 
 
 NEWSPAPER OPINIONS COLLECTED DURING AND AFTER THE TELE- 
 GRAPH STRIKE OF 1883. 
 
 * 
 
 [New York Herald, July 21, 1883.] 
 
 WAGES AND WATER. 
 
 The telegraph strike goes on, and so far without unlawful disturbance. Both 
 sides, the companies and the strikers, express themselves satisfied with the result and 
 determined to hold out. That is the usual way. Very soon the contestants will, it is 
 to be hoped, come together to discuss their differences and submit them to arbitra- 
 tion, or in some other way bring about an amicable settlement. For the ])re>ent the 
 strikers have public sympathy with them ; they need to be careful iu all their con- 
 duct and language iu order to retain it. The public does not comprehend the de- 
 tails of their demands, but it sees that some at least of these are reasonable; and 
 we believe the general feeling just, that the Western Union Company ought, as a 
 powerful corporation, by kindly and considerate treatment of their workingmen’s 
 statement of grievances, to have opened the door to a friendly arbitration. No harm 
 can ever come from such a moderate and conciliatory course on the part of corpora- 
 tions which are great employers of labor. 
 
 The Tribune thinks that “ no course was left open to the telegraph companies but 
 to refuse to accede to extravagant demands. * No doubt some of the conces- 
 
 sions asked by the men, such as extra pay for Sunday work, would have been granted 
 by the telegraph companies if properly laid before them. But as a whole the demand 
 of the operators was unreasonable, and was especially objectionable in the way that 
 
. POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 183 
 
 it was presented.” It seems to us that if the demands were just, the “ way they were 
 presented ” need not have prevented at least an attempt by the Western Union at a 
 friendly discussion of them. It is not necessary that workmen shall get on their 
 knees when they present a list of what they believe to be grievances to a corporation 
 which employes them. If the Telegraph Brotherhood spoke hastily, which we do not 
 think to be the case, they -gave their employers an opportunity, by moderate and 
 friendly treatment, either to convince and win over the reasonable members of the 
 Brotherhood, or, failing in that, to put them clearly in the wrong before the public. 
 
 The Evening Post goes further than the Tribune, and thinks telegraph operators 
 ought not to be allowed to strike at all. LaTws ongljt to be passed, it seems, to forbid 
 them to do so ; and if they do not like such laws other employments are open to them. 
 Well, we suspect it will be a long time before such laws are adopted in the United 
 States. Before that is done the interesting question will be fully discussed whether 
 corporations may water and water and water their stock, without limit, excej>t the 
 green of those who manipulate them, and then, in order to secure dividends on such 
 M^atered stock, cut down the wages of their servants. The Triuune says that to give 
 its operators what they ask ‘‘would cost the Western Union Comx)auy alone a million 
 and a half dollars annually.” We do not know how that may be ; possibly it is so. 
 But when a prominent journal jn-oposes laws to forbid the servants of telegraph and 
 railroad companies to “strike,” and when another prominent journal thinks the man- 
 ner in which the servants of a great corporation presented their grievances in this 
 case was “specially objectionable,” it is timely to call attention to the financial his- 
 tory of such a corporation. 
 
 Because the question is thus raised whether, if the capital of the Western Union 
 Company re[)resented only the fair value of its property and franchises, it could not, 
 at present rates of telegraphing, earn fair and even largo dividends on such capital, 
 even though it acceded to all the requirements of its servants. 
 
 The present capital of the Western Union Couipany is eighty millions. How was 
 it raised to that prodigious figure ? By building telegraph lines or acquiring other 
 property ? No ; for it owns but a part of the lines — and not the larg:er part, we have 
 understood — which it works. It holds a great part under lease from the owners, rail- 
 road companies and others, and it owns comparatively little real estate. 
 
 How, then, came about these eighty millions, on which a dividend is regularly 
 'declared? Last, year an ingenious })amphlet was issued to demonstrate the extraor- 
 nary value of Western Union stock as an investment for country gentlemen. In this 
 the prosperity of the company was set forth at length, and there we find the follow- 
 ing passage : 
 
 “The authorized capital of the company then was |r)0U,000, of which only about 
 three-fourths had been issued. On August 19, 1858, the first scrip dividend was de- 
 clared, being 33 per cent, on $369,700, the amount of outstanding stock. On Sep- 
 tember 22 of the same year, after the amouht of the authorized capital had been in- 
 creased, a scrip dividend of 414.40 percent, on the capital stock of $485, 700 was issued. 
 Three more scrip dividends were issued previous to the purchase of other lines by is- 
 suing stock. They were as follows ; July 16, 1862, ‘27.26 per cent, on the capital stock 
 outstanding of $2,355,000; March 16, 1863, 100 per cent, on the capital stock out- 
 standing of $2,979,300 ; and December 23, 1863, 33|^ per cent, on the capital ofii!5,962,- 
 600, increasing the capital stock to $7,950,700. About January, 1864, an arrangement 
 was made for the i^urchase of the Pacific Telegraph Company, a corporation chartered 
 in the State of Nebraska and aut horized to buy, build, and operate a telegraph line 
 from some point within a Territory or State east of the Rocky Mountains to San Fran- 
 cisco. Its capital was $1,000,000. The purchase was effected by an exchange of the 
 Western Union stock issued for that purpose for the stock of the Pacific Telegraph 
 Company, the amount being $1,277,210.” 
 
 Here we read of one “scrip dividend” after the other — 33 })er cent., 414 per cent., 
 27 per cent., 100 per cent., 33^ per cent. ; and then we read of the purchase of other 
 companies by issue of Western Union stock. 
 
 A writer who last December criticised the statements of this Western Union 
 pamphlet in a letter to the Herald which, so far as we know, was never noticed by the 
 company, remarked on this : 
 
 “It is nowhere said that the Pacific Telegraph Company owned any wires or had 
 any line actually built, though they received over $1, ‘250, 000 for their charter and 
 supposed property. That in the purchase of the United States Telegraph stock the 
 $7,216,300 j>aid for it was, according to good authority, fully five times its true value. 
 The capital of the American Telegraph when it was absorbed was almost as much in- 
 flated as that of the Western Union, and arnounted to $3,833,100 ; yet $11,833,100, or 
 a bonus of $8,000,000 in Western Union stock, was issued in exchange for its proj)erty. 
 In these ways the stock was watered to $41,000,000. In January, 1881, the pamphlet 
 shows this prodigious ‘ water’ was again watered, and the capital of Western Union 
 was increased from $41,000,000 to $80,000,000, by the payment of $15,000,000 in stock 
 for the property and franchises of tlie American Union Telegraph Company, not worth 
 
184 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 then more tlian $3,000,000. At the same time the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Com- 
 pany was absorbed by Western Union at the expense of $8,400,000 more of stock for 
 property also worth about $3,000,000, and then a scrip divl iend was issued to the 
 stockholders of Western Union on top of all this of over $15,500,000 more.” 
 
 It is a very general and freely expressed belief among telegraph experts that the 
 whole Western Union plant could be duplicated to-day for $20,000,000 or at most 
 $25,000,000. To put it at $40,000,000 seems to every expert we have heard speak on 
 the subject— which is one very frequently discussed— laughably extravagant. There 
 would remain even in that case forty millions of water,” on which a 5 per cent, 
 dividend is paid. The journals which thifik laws should be passed to forbid telegraph 
 operators from striking would do well to consider whether laws should not first be 
 passed to forbid great corporations from watering their stock. 
 
 Strikes of working men and women are disagreeable events, but they a’ e. often the 
 only means these have to make their grievances known to the public or to get them 
 remedied at the hands of their employers. So long as strikers conduct themselves in 
 a lawful manner, without violence and without trying by intimidation to prevent 
 others from taking the places they have vacated, they are within their rights and 
 pretty certain of the sympathy of the general public, especially where, as in this case, 
 they api^eal against a corporation which pays dividends on a heavily watered capital. 
 
 We do not think it wise in such corporations, by over-haughty and supercilious con- 
 duct towards their servants, to hasten the raising of the issue between wages and 
 Avater, which is sure to come up some da3\ Our advice to the managers of the Western 
 Union Company is to come to terms with their striking servants as soon as possible. 
 
 []yew York Herald, July 26, 1883.] 
 
 GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPHS. 
 
 One of the numerous rumors circulating on the street relates that Mr. Jay Gould, 
 who is believed to hold a considerable number of millions of Western Union stock and 
 water, has been for some time anxious to get rid of it, and hopes by embarrassing 
 the public through a telegraph stoppage to create a demand that the Government shall 
 buy out the Western Union Company and itself monopolize the telegraph. 
 
 We do not believe this report. Mr. Gould is an astute man ; he may be ever so anx- 
 ious to unload his telegraph sto'ck, but he is too shrewd to believe that he can unload 
 it on the Government. It is true there has been for some time past a growing belief 
 that the Government might usefully take part in the telegraph business, and at the 
 last session of Congress a resolution was reported and, unless we mistake, adopted, 
 authorizing an inquiry into the actual cost of laying wires and completing a telegraph 
 “ plant.” But Mr. Gould does not delude himself with the thought that such an in- 
 quiry would lead to the purchase b}^ Congress of the Western Union Company. He 
 knows that his company owns but a part of its wires; that it has in fact, represent- 
 ing its eighty millions of stock in part, a great lot of leases of other people’s wires, 
 and that in other- ways it is not a property which would bear that close preliminary 
 examination which even the Government makes before it buys. 
 
 Nor will the public, -even under the irritation Avhich the Western Union’s needless 
 quarrel with its operatives is causing, jump to the conclusion that the Government 
 ought to monopolize the telegraxth ; because the one lesson of the present derangement 
 is that SO important and vital an interest can not be safely trusted in any single hand, 
 not even in that of the Government. EAmrybody now sees that if the Western Union 
 stock-waterers had not shrewdly contrived to destroy or absorb all their rivals, and 
 thus made themselves substantially a telegraph monopoly, the present trouble and 
 loss could not have been put upon the public. If the rival companies consolidated 
 Avith Western Union were now in existence the Western Union managers could not 
 have ox)pressed the i>ublic, whatever they might haA'e attempted with their Avorkmen, 
 because the xiublic would have had recourse to the other companies, which were 
 equally capable of serving it. ' 
 
 This consideration leads directly to the effectiA e means by Avhich the Government 
 can })roteot the juiblic against telegraph monoi)oly. Congress may, if it sees fit, au- 
 thorize the construction of a conqdete net-work of postal telegraph lines, to be used 
 in connection with the letter mail and as part of the x‘ostal system of the country. 
 Such a GoA^ernment line could be j^roperly used for ex^ieditiug x)rivate correspondence. 
 Letters mailed Avould be sent for two cents, as the neAV law iirovides. Letters tele- 
 graphed Avould pay a heaAuer charge; they Avould be telegraphed to the otfice of des- 
 tination, and there defiAmred by carriers in the ordinary course of mail delivery. 
 Thus, for a moderate extra charge, the time noAV required in transmission by rail 
 Avould bo saved. 
 
 Such an arrangement would be a great public couA'enience, but it would not create 
 a monopoly nor ])revent the jirofitable prosecution of iirivate telegraph enterprise. 
 A large and rapidly increasing mass of business correspondence requires instant dis- 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 185 
 
 J)atcli, and tliis would still go over pwvate lines ; so would the news reports of the dif- 
 ferent press associations, which require quick dispatch. There would, in fact, remain 
 for Avell-couducted and unwatered private companies abuudaut business to secure 
 ithem satisfactory profits, just as the surface railroads iu this city continue profitable, 
 although they have now to compete wfith the elevated roads. But the Government 
 lines would staud as an effective i^rotectiou for the people against the unreasonable 
 exactions of speculative companies having for their chief aim, by any means, to secure 
 a dividend on heavily wat ired stock. 
 
 I A Government telegraph line such as we are suggesting would, iu fact, do for the 
 jpeople of the whole country what the Erie Canal does iu an equally important rela- 
 ition. The Erie Canal prevents the trunk-liue railroads from combining to charge 
 excessive rates of freight. It does not prevent the operation of these railroads, nor 
 their profitable operation. The Central, the Erie, the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore 
 and Ohio and an increasing number of other railroads carry the products of the AVest 
 to the East, and do a good business. But the Erie Canal, which can carry cheaper 
 [than they, not only has a valuable traffic of its own, but, what is of vital importance, 
 it protects the people against the combination of railroads to exact unreasonable 
 rates. 
 
 This is the true office of a Government telegraph line, if we ever have one. It will 
 jhe a useful and very convenient adjunct to the mails, but it should not and need not 
 drive out private telegraph com])anies. It will enable a letter written, say, in Cin- 
 'cinnati to be delivere(t at its New York address as quickly as it would be delivered at 
 a Cincinnati address if mailed there for city delivery. That is a convenience for which 
 a great number of people wmuld pay a moderate extra charge. But for stock ^orders 
 land a great mass of other business correspondence, and for news reports, the lines of 
 private companies would still be used, at a somewhat higher charge for quicker dis- 
 patch. 
 
 We are surprised that an^' one should think it desirable or practicable iu this coun- 
 try for the Government to assume the monopoly of the telegraph. But we confess we 
 lare still more surprised that such astute men as Mr. Jay Gould, Mr. A. B. Cornell, and 
 jthe other managers of Western Union d-id not foresee that whenever they made the 
 Ipnblic feel the iron hoof of their monopoly upon its neck, thaf could only result iu a 
 igeueral determination of the jieople to protect themselves against such oppression, 
 not by buying the monopolists out, but by setting up an independent Government 
 line. 
 
 ' [New York Herald, July 30, 188:5.] , 
 
 WANTED — A I’OSTAL TELEGRAPH. 
 
 The strike of the Western Union Company against the public has had one good 
 (effect. It has forced the attention of the people to the expediency of a Government 
 ( or postal telegraph. The question is getting discussed by thoughtful journals in all 
 parts of the country, and the discussion is likely to continue. We print elsewhere a 
 few extracts from many at hand, to show the general drift of ])uhlic opinion. 
 
 Several important points seem aheady fixed iu the public mind : 
 
 First. It is generally admitted that a monopoly of the telegraph by the Govern- 
 ment would be as inexpedient as one by a private company, such as the Western 
 Union stock- waterers have been for years engaged iu establishing. 
 
 Second. It is everywhere held that the Government ought not to think of buying 
 ithe Western Union out, and for the reason that it can build a more complete system 
 of lines for a small fraction of the Western Union’s nominal capital. On this head 
 the cautions and accurate Journal of Commerce says: 
 
 “ Its nominal capital is 180,000,000, while all of its present property could he re- 
 Xffaced iu better working order at a cost not to exceed ^15,000,000 at the outside, and 
 I probably at not over .^10,000,000 or $12,000,000. It has issued large blocks of stocks, 
 partly to buy up opposing lines and partly by way of watering its own shares. It has 
 never paid much regard to the public accommodation. Its rates have been far too 
 high, and its treatment of its customers is arbitrary and insolent to the highest de- 
 gree. It has fought off or purchased, as far as it could, all competition, and it has 
 refused every reasonable concession to the demands of the press and the general pub- 
 lic.” 
 
 The Chicago Tribune points out that the British Government wffiich bought out 
 English lines paid much more than they were worth. It adds: 
 
 “The demand for postal telf^graphy has been immensely quickened by the occur- 
 rence of the present strike. But in insisting that the idea of the post-office be so 
 I widened as to include electric letters the people of this country, taking counsel of 
 their own good sense, as also of their experience, will hold to two points nnwaver- 
 lingly. These are : 
 
 “1. No purchase of existing lines which are bloated with watered stock. 
 
186 POSTAL TiiLEOPAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 ‘‘2. Genuine Government civil service to run the telegraph free of all office grab- 
 bing.’’ 
 
 Third. It is generally seen that the Government, wntli a moderate expenditure, can 
 construct lines which will cover the cOuntr}’^ more completely than Western Uoion 
 has ever done, and that the postmasters at smal^post-offices can learn the art of teleg- 
 raphy and thus unite their present duties with those of telegraph operators, greatly 
 to the public convenience. 
 
 Fourth. It is seen, also, that a Government telegraph will not supersede or drive 
 out i)rivate companies, but will, by a wholesome competition, compel these to serve 
 the public at fair rates and punctually. 
 
 The New Haven Palladium recalls the speech of Senator Edmunds at the last ses- 
 sion in favor of a postal telegraph. We hope this eminent Senator will take up the 
 subject as soon as Congress reassembles. He will find, unless we are much mistaken, 
 very general support from both parties, and a full discussion of the question will, we 
 believe, bring the next Congress to the determination to establish at once a general 
 postal-telegraph system. The Government, as Ihe Palladium properly says, will not 
 need to expend money for right of way, as it has the right to run wires over all 
 posf-rontes, and that is everywhere. 
 
 Hitherto a good deal of opposition to the Government undertaking telegraph work 
 has arisen from the fear that in some way Congress would be induced to follow the 
 British example and buy out existing lines. But it is now clear that the country would 
 not for a moment tolerate any such scheme^as this. No one desires the Government to 
 monopolize the telegraph business. In that it is seen there would be many dangers 
 and inconveniences. But the idea of a postal telegia[di used as an adjunct to the mail 
 service gains favor everywhere because it is not open to the just objections of the 
 other plan. The true use of a postal telegraph will be, as we pointed out the other day, 
 to effect a speedier letter delivery. Dispatches or letters sent by postal telegraph will 
 be put into the general mail delivery at the point of destination ; and thus, for a tri- 
 fling additional cost, a letter- writer will save, in point of time, the whole distance 
 between the x>hxce where he writes and the place where his letter is to be delivered. 
 A letfer for New York, written at Cincinnati, Chicago, New Orleans, or San Francisco 
 would reach New York the same day and be there delivered in the ordinal’}* course of 
 the letter-carrier’s work. 
 
 For that convenience the public will pay what it costs ; and the Go\*ernment, which 
 does not water its stock, will charge no more than cost. But a great and increasing 
 mass of business and press correspondence which requires immediate delivery will 
 still go over well-managed i)rivate lines, of which under such a system there would 
 probably be more and nuTre. Everybody who has considered the question knows that 
 the telegraxih is not yet used to one-tenth the extent that it ought to be and would bo 
 were it not that rates have been kept unduly high by the Western Union stock-wa- 
 terers in order to secure ‘dividends on their enormously iuflati'd stock, and were it 
 not, besides, for the i)oor and irregular service, which discourages the use of the tele- 
 graph except when it is absolutely required. There is no reason why a dispatch 
 taken at New York at 10 a. m. should not be delivered in Cincinnati before 2 or 3 
 p. m. Yet such delays are frequent, and no one who uses the telegraph but has been 
 annoyed at such vexatious loss of time, and by the uncertainty as to how soon his 
 dispatch will get to its address. 
 
 The establishment of a postal telegrajih will compel private companies to content 
 themselves with reasonable charges, and, what is of even greater importance to the 
 public, will force them to pronqit delivery, because that will be necessary to secure 
 them business. The telegraph is still oxien to great iinjirovement in this matter of 
 handling the business which comes to it. But such imxirovement, however urgently 
 required by the public convenience, will never be luade without such conipetitian as 
 a Government postal telegraph will x)rovide. 
 
 [New York Herald, August 1, 1883.] 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH NOT A MONOPOLY. 
 
 We jn'int elsewhere another set of extracts from journals in different x^arts of the 
 country which favor the establishment of a x^ostal-telegraph system. The question 
 is very widely discussed, and we could till iiages of tin* Herald with the arguments 
 made by journals North, South, East, and West which demand that the Government 
 shall undertake the telegraph service either entirely or, as the Herald has suggested, 
 in x>art, and as a more exjieditious letter-service. Many newsx>apers which oppose 
 Government lines because they fear a Government monopoly of the telegraph, freely 
 admit that the question is one which ought to be dispussed, and must be met, and 
 that it may be better to have a Government monopoly than a private monopoly of 
 the telegraph, such as has been created by the Western Union stock- \vaterers. 
 
 The proposition which rtnds most favor does not look to a Government telegraph 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 187 
 
 monopoly at all. That is not necessary and is not desirable. We need not and 
 should not follow blindly European precedents. The British Government bought 
 out the private telegraph companies and paid, as is now known, much more for their 
 wires and otlier property than these were worth. That is a plan which would suit 
 the telegraph monopolists here very well ; but to that the public will not consent. 
 
 The plan favored by Senators Edmunds, Sherman, and Platt looks to the building 
 of an independent Governnmnt line, to be operated as an adjunct to the mail service. 
 There isnothing impracticable about that ; nor Avould such a Government line drive 
 out . or take profitable business away from private lines. The Government line would 
 enable a person to telegraph a letter instead of sending itby railroad; the telegraphed 
 letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of mail delivery ak its point of des- 
 tination. This would be a great public convenience; but it would not supply the 
 business and press demand for the utmost speed, and the private companies would 
 still have their lines full of business. Only the competition of Government lines 
 would force them to reasonable rates, and, what is even more urgently required and 
 less attainable under the present private monopoly, to accurate and quick transmis- 
 sion and delivery. i 
 
 The Chicago Tribune, which discusses this plan in an extract which we reprint 
 elsewhere, remarks that a Government telegraph will not extinguish or discourage 
 private companies any more than the Post-Office Department undertaking to carry 
 merchandise parcels has extinguished or injured the express companies. The cases 
 are precisely parallel, and the Chicago Tribune’s illustration makes clear what would 
 be the effect and what the uses of a postal telegraph. 
 
 The World does not think well of a Government telegraph. We did not suppose it 
 would. It will find its arguments met and overthroAvn in the different extracts from 
 intluential journals which we print in other columns. When Congress meets and the 
 postal telegraph is urged, there will be, of course, the usual outcry of “ vested inter- 
 ests no doubt some Senatorial friend of monopoly will, like the World, shake the 
 Constitution in the face of Congressmen ; but we agree with that other Deinocratic 
 journal, the Star, which says: “We have every expectation chat not many more 
 weeks will pass before the press all over the countrj’ will urge the consideration of a 
 postal-telegrftph. bill next winter. That is the only real, reasonable, and permanent 
 hope of relief against the present oppressive and parsimonious monopoly which has 
 crippled the business of the continent in order that it may assert its power over the 
 strikers.” 
 
 The telegraph business, as now conducted, must be extraordinarily profitable, for 
 it enables Western Union to pay large regular dividends on an enormously weltered 
 stock. In the usual course of events, in a free country like this, great profits induce 
 competition. It has been so in this case. A number of competing telegraph lines 
 have from time to time been established. What has become of them ? They have 
 been bought up and combined with Western Union. For years this process has been 
 going on, with the unconcealed object of creating a huge telegraph monopoly, wli,ich > 
 should be able to charge the public what it pleased, and give it as poor service as it 
 chose. In a pamphlet, circulated last year with the object of inducing country peo- 
 ple to invest their savings in Western Union stock, this monopolistic purpose was 
 even boasted of and its success proclaimed. To persuade investors that Western 
 Union was a particularly good thing, they were told that this company possessed now 
 a monopoly of telegraphing ; that it had no opposition to fear ; and the Western Union 
 was boldly likened to “an army of occupation,” in these words: 
 
 “ In truth, the Western Union Telegraph Company may be more aptly compared 
 to an army of occupation than almost any other organization in the country. Pre- 
 sided over by a general of experience and renown, its employes are a host distrib- 
 uted in ranks and divisions, and in possession of the country more completely than 
 , could be otherwise acquired, except by peaceful acquiescence following upon neces- 
 sity, usefulness, and efficient service. No competing company could .supplhiiit it or 
 lessen its hold upon vast portions of its territory so completely preoccupied. To be- 
 lieve so would be to believe that capital could be turned into channels iTtterly un- 
 profitable, unsafe, and disastrous. One might as well try to induce water to run up a 
 hill. New inventions of an experimental character, such as automatic systems and 
 postal-telegraph (levices and the extension of telephonic facilities, may threaten the 
 completeness of the gras}) which the Western Union Company has upon the power of 
 instantaneous communication in this country, but until there is some better evidence 
 of ability to compete, with proiit, with the ])erfection of system attained by this com- 
 pany, no fear need be entertained Imt that it will retain iibs capacity to earn in larger 
 proportion than almost any other enterprise in the country.” 
 
 This was after Western Union had gobbled up the Atlantic and Pacific and Ameri- 
 can Union competing com])anie8, and when the Mutual Union’s turn to be enveloped 
 in the arms of the great Western Union cuttle-fish was near at hand. 
 
 There has been, therefore, no such free competition as in the natural course would 
 have come about. Competitors have been bought off or bought up by men who had 
 
188 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 determiued to monopolize this vitally important means of communication, and who 
 have, in fact, succeeded. They did not care what it cost them, for they were ^oing 
 to make the public paj^ the cost by high rates and poor service, and make their work- 
 men help pay the cost by low wages. 
 
 It is clear that in this case “ the laws of trade ” have beeu deliberately prevented 
 from working. It remains for the Government to step in — not to assume a monopoly 
 itself, but to provide that wholesome and proper competition which alone can liber- 
 ate the public from the grasp of this Western Union “ army of occupation.” 
 
 Il^ew York Herald, August 2, 1883.] 
 
 THE TELEGRAni STRIKE. 
 
 The Chicago Tribune thinks we misunderstood one of its articles the other day on 
 the relations of the strikers to the public, We will not dispute with our contemporary, 
 which has a right to define its own meaning; and in later articles it has shown itself 
 on the right side — the side of the puldic. 
 
 In a strike like this of the telegraph operators the public must necessarily suffer a 
 good deal of inconvenience ; but that can not be helped. It would be much better to 
 settle all such disputes by arbitration ; but to accomplish that employers must show 
 a friendly and conciliatory spirit toward their people. . 
 
 Where competition in business is free and open, there, again, strikes are not so fre- 
 quent, and when they happen the public is not inconvenienced. The Western Union , 
 has been engaged for years in either absorbing or disabling its competitors; it has 
 destroyed competition and established a monopoly. If the companies it has absorbed ; 
 were in existence to-day the ])ublic would not be inconvenienced by the trouble be- ; 
 tween the Westerii Union and its people. ' 
 
 The Senate Committee on Education and Labor is to meet here next Monday to < 
 look into the causes of the telegraph strike. Its inquiry will probably give important 
 information to Congress on the subject of the necessity for a postal telegraph system i 
 as a means to secure healthful competition in the telegraph business. Meantime the ( 
 strike goes on ; and we regret to see that different journals continue to discuss it from ^ 
 a merely sentimental point of view — they are friends and supporters of the company, j, 
 or they are friends of the strikers. But the real party interested is the public. The ; 
 real question is how to prevent hereafter another telegraph blockade. The workmen ; 
 have a right to strike. The company, even if it is a monopoly, has a right to stand 1 
 out ag;fiust its workmen. Between these two it is a trial of endurance in which the I 
 public has nothing to do but to look on. But the i)ublic has a right to ask Congress ; 
 to do the onlj" thing* which can prevent a rex)etitiou of its losses, and that is to estab- ■ 
 lish a Government line in competition with the private lines. There is no other way, i 
 and there is now a very peremptory and general demand for that way. * 
 
 * [Xew York Herald, August 6, 1883.] } 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. ‘ 
 
 We print elsewhere this morning another collection of extracts from influential | 
 journals in different parts of the-country discussing and favoring the establishment , 
 of a postal telegraph sj'stem — not as i Government monopoly, but as an adjunct to 
 the letter-mail service, and by way of a wholesome and, as is now generally seen, 
 necessary competition with private lines. 
 
 A Government monopoly, as sou)e of these journals clearly argue, is not wanted and 
 is not desirable. But competition of some kind is absolutely required by the most ■ 
 important public interests ; and private competition with the Western Union has been i 
 deliberately* made impossible by the monopolists who control that concern. 
 
 How they have done this, by what persistent and unscrupulous use of courts and 
 other means, <luring a number of years, is shown in an instructive Congressional re- ^ 
 port, from which we print extracts elsewhere. This report, made by Mr. Bingham, ; 
 of Pennsylvania, from the House Committee on Post Offices and Post-Roads, at the 
 close of the last session of Congress, brings to light some new facts concerning 
 the operations of the Western Union in its deliberate plot to drive out all competitors ^ 
 and monopolize in its own hands the telegraph communications of the country, and ' 
 make of itself, as the famous Western Union pamphlet boastfully said, an “ army of ■ 
 occupation.” 
 
 In its remorseless determination to establish a monoimly of the telegraph, the i 
 Western Union, this re])ort relates, began by preventing, on a tlimsy excuse, the 9 
 passage of a law by Congress enarteriug an opposition enterprise. The inducement 9 
 at that time,” says this Congressional report, “ to invest a large sum of money in the 9 
 development of a separate telegraph system was withdrawn by the failure of Congress* 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 189 
 
 grant this act of national incorporation. Since that time (1866) the Western Union 
 Telegraph Company has practically monopolized the telegraph business of tho 
 country.” Then follows, in this report, the long list of Western Union’s “ absorp- 
 tions the Pacific and Atlantic Company, the Great Western Company, the Franklin 
 Company, the Southern and Atlantic, the Atlantic and Pacific, the American Union, 
 and so on — all swallowed by Western Union. 
 
 Next comes, in the Congressional report, the story of Western Union in the courts, 
 where this monopoly “constantly contested” with opposition lines “the rights 
 intended to be granted by Congress under the act of 1866, granting the rights of way 
 along the railroad post-routes of the United States,” while, when it had its own ends 
 to subserve, it turned about and pleaded in the courts for the very rights which, as 
 the report says, it “ theretofore always denied to other telegraxdi companies.” The 
 report also relates the Western Union’s dealings with patents. But we refer the public 
 to the document itself, printed in another column. '> 
 
 It is x)lain from the facts there stated by a committee of Congress that “ whether a 
 postal-telegraph system shall be • established or not, or whether the control of the 
 telegraph business'of the country shall be left in private hands, subject to such legii?- 
 latiou as Congress may deem advisable to secure reasonable competition without the 
 danger of constant absorption by the Western Union Telegraph Coinjiany, is a ques- 
 tion to be seriously considered.” 
 
 That is the real question, and to it the country is making h very decided answer. 
 
 It is plain that the Western Union monopolists do not mean to tolerate competition. 
 They have got the jiublic and their workmen by the throat. They mean to make a 
 dividend on their eighty millions of stock at all hazards. A X)Oor and dilatory service 
 for the public and low wages for their work people are necessary to achieve this, it , 
 seems. If the underpaid workmen strike, the public must suffer ; if the low wages 
 bring only incompetent workmen, again the public must suffer. If an ojiposition and 
 competing line is attempted, it must be harried in the courts and finally absorbed if it 
 can not otherwise be destroyed. That is the system by which tl,ie monopoly has 
 made itself, as its friends boast, an “ army of occupation.” 
 
 If the Western Union had not made tree competition impossible there would be no 
 such general outcry for Government postal lines as now is heard all over the country. 
 But when a gigantic monopoly deliberately makes free competition impossible in a 
 business so vitally important to the whole community as is communication by tele- 
 graph the Government must step in to liberate the citizens from oppression. Fortu- 
 nately it is not necessary that the Government should itself monopolize the telegraph. 
 Its lines, used for the transmission of letters, to be delivered at destination as letters 
 are now, will serve as a sufficient protection to the public, and will no more dfive out 
 or injure legitimate private telegraph companies than the transmission of merchandise 
 through the mails has ruined or injured the exiiress companies. 
 
 [Xew Yoi;k Herald, August 7, 1883.] 
 
 POSTAL-TELEGRAPH SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 General Huidekoper, postmaster of Philadelphia, has given practical consideration 
 to the problem of such a postal telegraph as the Herald has urged, and in a conver- 
 sation with a Herald correspondent, printed elsewhere, makes some valuabe statements 
 and suggestions on the subject. He has no doubt that telegrams can be delivered by 
 letter-carriers in cities as quickly — at least to those parts distant from telegraph or 
 post-office centers — as the telegraph companies now send them, and of this no one who 
 has experienced the vexations and dilatory delivery of telegrams at even short distances 
 from the main offices in our great cities will have any doubt. General Huidekoper 
 says on this ]Doint : 
 
 “ One hundred and fifty-six of our carriers are taken from this office four times a 
 day to distant parts of the city by wagons and brought back again immediately after 
 they have made each delivery, so that they can reach their routes, without sutfering 
 the detention which they would if they w ere transported by street-cars ; and I am 
 inclined to think that telegrams now received in this city for points two miles from 
 the central office are not now delivered as xnomptly as if tliej^ were intrusted to the city 
 delivery department of this office for carrying. Of course in the business center of 
 the city the deli''xry of letters should be made every hour ; and if the delivery of 
 telegrams w'as also a part of our business an intermediate delivery could readily be 
 made of these. I think every one who lives in the outskirts of Philadelphia or in 
 the suburbs believes that telegrams are not now delivered until a sufficient number 
 accumulate to warrant the sending out of a messenger, and that the postal service is 
 now almost as rapid between the central office and substations as the present tele- 
 graph service.” 
 
 As to country offices he makes the following useful suggestion: “ It seems to me 
 that the postal service should be extended to every x)ost-office in the United States 
 
190 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 by having certain post-ofiQce centers from which telegriims could he distributed by 
 mail. For instance, a telegram sent from here to a small post-office 15 miles from 
 Chicago could be sent to the Chicago office and mailed there — the sender being in- 
 formed at this office as to when the mails for the office of destination would leave 
 the Cdncago office and the telegrams could be sent with reference to the time om 
 schedules so as to make the proper connections.” 
 
 [New York Herald, August 10, 1883.] 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH. 
 
 We print elsewhere this morning a fourth series of extracts from influential jour- 
 nals in all parts ot the country discussing the various aspects of the telegraph ques- 
 tion. It will be seen that the demand for competing lines, to be established by the 
 Government, is widespread and general. The Chicago Tribune, in a leading article' 
 of great ability, takes up the different points of the question and holds— 
 
 First. That iniblic sentiment will not tolerate the purchase by the Government of 
 the present private lines. 
 
 Second. That the Government must construct its own lines. 
 
 Third. That there should be no attempt at a Government monopolv of the tele- 
 graph. • ^ 
 
 fourth. That competition between Government and private lines is possible and ■ 
 necessary, because in that case any abuses on Government lines would be remedied by 
 the public using the private lines. 
 
 fifth, lhat the Government has the same right to build and operate telegraph' 
 lines as private individuals, and there is no pretense that private individuals or cor- i 
 porations may not build new and competing lines. ] 
 
 To these considerations other journals add that — 
 
 Sixth. The amalgamation policy of the Western Union has made healthful compe-I 
 tiUon by private effort inqiossible. All new competitors are either crushed or bono-ht 
 off or “swallowed.” Hence it is necessary that the Government shall come to the \ 
 help of the public. j 
 
 Seventh. That the use of the telegraph is still capable of very great extension, and j 
 that as fast mails have superseded slow mails, so it is necessary to make the teleo-raph | 
 not only “ the rich man’s mail,” but the poor man’s as well. ^ 
 
 Eighth. That, as several experienced postmasters have explained, there is no diffi- ' 
 culty at all in making the telegraph an adjunct of the post-office, and having post-! 
 office telegrams delivered by the letter-carriers, or in small places simply delivered at '1 
 the local post-office. ■■ 
 
 Ninth. That the cost of the service will not be great, and that it wdll be iindoubt- ^ 
 edly self-supporting. | 
 
 Tenth. That the necessary employment of skilled operators will be a help towards 
 civil service reform. : 
 
 Finally, the opinion is very generally expressed ‘that the next Congress ought to, 1 
 and very probably will, pass a xiostal- telegraph act. •; 
 
 [New York Herald, August 14, 1883.1 ! 
 
 GOVERNMENT COMPETITION NEEDED. 
 
 We print elsewhere this moraing another series of extracts from journals in di^r- 
 ent parts of the country arguing in favmr of a Government line of telegraph to com-, 
 pete with private lines. Two of these articles— one from the New York Public andi 
 one from the Chicago Tribune — are so valuable, that we make extended extracts from' 
 them. They discuss the various phases of this important matter with such ability as' 
 shows that these iutluential journals have made a careful study of it. From the New t 
 York Star, also, we reprint an article in which that journal with conspicuous ability; 
 answers the objections raised to Government competing lines by the World and the' 
 Sun. 
 
 I here is no longer any doubt that the popular mind is determined upon a Govern- 
 ment or postal telegraph system. The objections to it in the press, here and therej 
 arc feeble and for the most part doctrinaire, resting upon grounds which could be 
 just as strongly urged against the Government carrying the mails. On the otherj 
 hand, it is quite clear that the longer the plan of Government competing lines of; 
 telegraph is considered the stronger and more numerous are the reasons developed 
 for it and the more practical and necessary to the public convenience and security it 
 is shown to be. " i 
 
 It is the general opinion that the Government ought not to assume the exclusive 
 (jOiitrol of the telegraph, because a Government monopoly wmuld be almost as danger- 
 ous and objectionable as that from which the public now suffers. Competition is 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 191 
 
 needed. The competition of private effort and private companies would be prefer- 
 able, but that has been deliberately destroyed by tlie Western Union Company, which, 
 as one of its friends wrote in a now’ notorious pamphlet, holds the country like “an 
 army of occupation. There remains, therefore, no protection for the public except 
 such as the Government can "ive by competing lines. 
 
 The Public, in a very able discussion of the problem, declares rightly that “ there 
 is safety only in preserving permanently two competing systems, either of w’hich must 
 depend for its revenues and its very existence upon rendering service w’ith prompt- 
 ness and fidelity.’’ And the Public adds: 
 
 “The Government itself absolutely needs a telegraphic system for its ow’ii protection. 
 This will not seem the language of exaggeration when it is considered that the ordi- 
 nary enforcement of law’s, the capture of offenders, the success of fiscal operations, the 
 protection of the country against domestic insurrection or foreign invasion have come 
 to depend in these days upon the instant transmission of intelligence w ith certain and 
 absolute secrecy. It may at any time come to pass that the jnivate interests of those 
 controlling a telegraph system shall require the non enforcement of the law’, the 
 escape of a criminal, the prevention or delay of a financial operation, or the partial 
 success of a domestic outbreak or foreign inroad. It is nonsense to say that this can 
 not happen. If Mr. Gould could suppress for a few" hours or days uew’s of an outbreak 
 on the Pacific coast, or of the departure of a hostile iron-clad from Europe, he could 
 make millions by it. The Government has no certainty that he would throw’ aw’ay 
 millions. It has no certainty that its orders bearing on great financial operations may 
 not be betrayed, and its aims thwarted.” 
 
 To the World’s plea that {)rivate competition ought to be the sole remedy for the 
 l)resent troubles the Star pertinently replies : “Had the editor of that interesting 
 paper lived long in the United States ho would know that competition has had its 
 way and day in the telegraph business and has utterly broken dow’ii. The present 
 state of things has grown directly out of the very competition he clamors for as a 
 remedy for the present state of things.” The Indianapolis Times remarks: 
 
 “Tlie Signal Service of the Government has become a necessity in the preservation 
 of property and shipping upon the rivers, lakes, and seas, and for the preservation 
 of human life, and its im{)ortance to the intere.st8 of commerce is incalculable; yet 
 in 1870 these interests w’ere all jeopardized and the Signal Service brought to a sus- 
 pension by the refusal of the telegraph company to accept the terms offered by the 
 Government. The business of the commercial w orld has been thrown into confusion 
 during the past three weeks by the strike of the operators. But there is still another 
 and greater danger. The telegrai>hic lines of this country are practically in the 
 hands of one man, and that man a gigantic speculator. He basin his pow’er the only 
 means of instantaneous transmission of new’s, not only throughout this country, but 
 across the ocean. Having this power, he can at any time, for his own speculative 
 purposes, suppress the transmission of news until the business of the w’hole country 
 could be paralyzed.” 
 
 The Chicago Tribune sensibly says : 
 
 “ It is better in every way that the Government should comxiete in the transmission 
 of telegraphic correspondence than endeavor to monopolize it. If the men in control 
 of the Government should ever take advantage of its telegraphic facilities to pay ex- 
 cessive salaries to its employes and to that end charge the public exorbitant rates, or 
 if confidential communications on business, social, or political aff'airs were betrayed by 
 the Government service, the people would have the competing private lines to fall back 
 upon, and would prefer to pay the companies higher rates to make sure of inviola- 
 bility. In this way competition would be a wholesome and permanent restraint upon 
 the Government and the men in control as well as upon the private companies.” The 
 New York Evening Post perceives that “ a larger and larger number of people are be- 
 ginning to see that Government competition is the only one which will ever prove 
 effective against the Western Union, and the only remedy for w"hatever inconveuionces 
 arise from having the telegraphy of the country in the hands of one corporation. The 
 Western Union has found so little difficulty for many years in destroying competition 
 by buying out rival competitors that the creation of rival companies for the express 
 purpose of being sold out to it, after a period of fictitious activity and furious de- 
 nunciation of monopolies, has long been a favorite device of tricky financiers. In fact, 
 the cori)oration is largely made up of these purchased champions of popular rights. 
 What we ueeal now is a Government telegraph, in connection w’ith the post-office, to 
 compete with the commercial corporations.” 
 
 These quotations from influential and thoughtful journals fairly represent the 
 thought of the country, and there can be little doubt that Congress will act upon 
 this thought at the approaching session. We regret to notice that the Sun, almost 
 alone among journals of influence, opposes the proposed remedies for the evils of tel- 
 egra]>h monopoly. 
 
192 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES, 
 
 [Xew York Herald, August 23, 1883.] 
 
 THE PUBLIC VOICE DEMANDS A GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPH. 
 
 The telegraph strike has broken cIowd, and the Western Union chiefs are busy mak-i^ 
 ing hard and humiliatiug conditions for the strikers who ask it for employmeiiL But a 
 the demands for a Government telegraph to compete with private lines continues, and ' 
 the longer it lasts, the more numerous and cogent the reasons which are urged by" 
 journals in all parts of the country in favor of it. We print elsewhere another set oU 
 extracts from thoughtful and influential journals, North, South, East, West, on the: 
 subject. ■ 
 
 The Galveston News and Kansas City Times show the futility of the World’s propo- 1 
 sition that it would be a sufficient remedy of present telegraph abuses if Congress ; 
 were to pass laws forbidding- the amalgamation of companies and the watering of , 
 stock. Both.these able journals point out what it is curious the World, under its pres- ' 
 ent management, should have forgotten — that similiar laws passed in Missouri to pro- 
 hibit the consolidation of railroads have been contemptuously disregarded. The 
 Galveston News says : 
 
 ‘‘ The World must be very poorly informed, or it would know that the constitutional ^ 
 provisions or statutory laws in Missouri, Texas, and other States against the cousoli- 1 
 datiou or parallel and competing railroads have been practically ineflectual. Corpo- 1 
 rations and syndicates have found a way to overcome or circumvent all legal difficul- 1 
 ties, and to consolidate and pool to any extent desired by interested and contracting ' 
 parties.” 
 
 The Kansas City Times adds : 
 
 “Missouri has the statute, but it is of no practical utility. It has been set at', 
 naught by the railway companies of the State. Since its enactment wholesale con- ! 
 solidations of parallel and competing lines of railroads have been effected with im- . 
 punity. In one instance a line competing with the Missouri Pacific, built with town- 
 ship subscriptions for the express purpose of competition, was bought by Jay Gould, 
 consolidated and then destroyed. In another instance two great lines traversing the 
 State from east to west were seized by the same hand and placed under the same ' 
 management.” j 
 
 It will strike many people as queer that the World, strenuously opposing a Govern- 
 ment competing telegraph, urges as a sufficient remedy a law which, it seems, Mr. 
 Gould himself, the head of the Western Union monopoly, has defied. The Mobile 
 Register, by the way, remarks ; “In the midst of the cotton season a single tick of 
 this private company, instigated by the money kings of New York, might sweep 
 away in an hour the hard earned means of business men all over the South.” The: 
 Albany Express adds : “ It is easy to conceive of situatiops in which the interests of 
 such a capitalist and speculator might induce him to take advantage of exclusive: 
 knowledge, obtained by virtue of his ownership of the telegraph, in regard to fiscal' 
 operations of the Government, or other wants affecting the value of stocks.” 
 
 [New York Herald, August 30, 1883.] 
 
 THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL ON GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPHS. 
 
 The Herald’s Washington correspondent reports that Postmaster-General Gresham 
 is making a careful study of the telegraph question, and intends to give some recom- 
 mendations upon the subject in his annunl report. It is believed in Washington that 
 bills for the establishment of a Government line will be introduced in both houses as 
 soon as Congress meets. Postmaster-General Gresham regards the matter asone which' 
 ought to receive attention from him and from Congress, because for the first time it' 
 has become a practical question, in which the public takes a lively and positive in- 
 terest. 
 
 We trust Mr. Gresham’s studies will lead him to the conviction, almost universally, 
 entertained by the public, that the Government ought not to monopolize the telegraph 
 service ; , that it ought uot to repeat the costly blunder of the British Government by, 
 buying out existing lines, and that the Government lines ought to be used as adjuncts 
 to the postal service. 
 
 There will be a heavy pressure from speculators to persuade Congress to buy out the 
 present companies. The Evening Post, which some weeks ago held that telegraph 
 operators ought to be prevented by law from striking, yesterday broke ground with' 
 an argument that the Government ought to buy out the Western Union and other 
 existing companies as a matter of justice. The Post will presently tell the people of 
 New York that they ought either to shut up the Erie Canal or buy out all the railroads,’ 
 and that the elevated railroad companies in this city ought to buy out all the surface 
 lines. ' 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 193 
 
 There is room enough for a dozen well managed telegraph companies in this country. 
 The use of the telegraph has been limited and checked by the monopoly of the West- 
 ern Union Company, which has steadily absorbed its competitors and thus prevented 
 that healthful and necessary competition which alone brings any great invention into 
 general use. If a single corporation could have managed to keep control and owner- 
 ship of all the steam-boats in the country for the last forty years, steam navigation 
 would, like the telegraph, be still in its infancy. The Western Union is said to have 
 transmitted 30,000,000 of messages last year, and this in a country with 50,000,000 of 
 people. With proper competition in this business in five years the people will be- 
 come so accustomed to use the telegraph that they will send 300,000,000 rather than 
 30,000,000 of messages per annum. Even that would be less than six messages per 
 head of population. 
 
 As for Government lines, we wonder how many allies of corporations will have the 
 impudence to pretend that the Government has not the same right as private citizens 
 to build competing lines. The telegraph monopolists can not hope to “absorb” a 
 Government line, that is true. But it is to secure the needed competition, which the 
 monopolists have deliberately made impossible, that the people demand a Govern- 
 ment competing line. 
 
 [From tlie Chicago Tribune.] 
 
 NATIONAL TELEGRAPHS. 
 
 The demand for postal telegraphy has been immensely quickened by the occurrence 
 of the present strike. But in insisting that the idOa of the post-office be so widened 
 as to include electric letters the people of this country, taking counsel of their own 
 good sense, as also of their experience, will hold to two points unwaveringly. These 
 are : 
 
 1. No purchase of existing lines which are bloated with watered stock. 
 
 2. Genuine Governmeut civil service to run the telegraph free of all office-grabbing. 
 
 The English bought their lines from the private companies and were shockingly 
 
 cheated. Mr. Scudamore, of the British post-office, made a careful estimate for Par- 
 liament, in which he calculated that the purchase of the lines would cost not to ex- 
 ceed $20,000,000, and that the extensions and transfer to offical hands would cost not 
 to exceed $500,000 more. The extensions in five years after the purchase had cost 
 $12,500,000 instead of $500,000, with more to come, and the total expenditure of the 
 British Government had reached the enormous sum of $50,000,000, instead of the mod- 
 est sum of $20,500,000 they were assured would be the outside. 
 
 The Government has plenty of money — more than it knows what to do with. Let it 
 build telegraph lines connecting Washington with the principal cities of the Repub- 
 lic, binding together the political, commercial, and financial centers by wires not at 
 the mercy of any monopoly, whether of labor or of capital. Let these be gradually 
 extended as the money-order post-offices have been until the whole country enjoys all 
 the blessings of the postal telegraph. The Governmeut and the private companies 
 will act as a beautiful system of checks on each other. The competition of the Gov- 
 ernmeut will keep down the private tendency to extortionate rates. The competition 
 of the private lines will keep the officers of the Government enterprising and alive to 
 new methods and new wants. 
 
 The Government will have no monopoly, but neither will a private and watered cor- 
 poration have a monopoly. 
 
 [From the Baltimore American.] 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 The strike of the telegraph operators has brought into renewed prominence the 
 question of the advisability of annexing a system of telegraphy to our ordinary mail 
 service. It is true that an army of telegraph operators would be added to the Gov- 
 ernment pay-rolls, but on the other hand, the income of the Government from teleg- 
 raphy would more than meet that expense. Moreover, the time required to learn 
 to become a skilled operator involves an apprenticeship, and this enforces a perma- 
 nence of tenure of office which mere political clerkships do not naturally enjoy. There 
 would be no department of the Government, except perhaps the Coast Survey, in 
 which the principles of civil service reform would more easily be cariied out. As to 
 espionage and monopoly of information, there is no more danger in telegraphy than in 
 postal monopoly. The Government has never abused the sanctity of the mails. Why 
 should it violate the privacy of telegrams ? 
 
 The advantages are very obvious. In the 6rst place, cheapness and uniformity 
 would be obtained, and far greater perfection of distribution of wires. The Govern- 
 ment, not having dividends to pay upon immensely watered stock, could work very 
 
 P T 13 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 191 
 
 clieaply. Its income from the great cities would be so large that it could afford to 
 'establish country lines where they would not pay. For example, the income of the , 
 Post-Office from the mails between New York and Philadelphia is enormous, and gives 
 it a margin for establishing post-offices in remote places where the mails are carried : 
 at a loss. It costs as much' to send a letter to Towson as to San Francisco. Some- 
 thing of the same sort might he done in telegraphy. It would not he the object of 
 the Government to make money by telegraphy, but only to make it pay its own ex- 
 penses, as the Post-Office does, and at the same make telegraphic communication ' 
 as uniform in cost and as cheap as the case will permit. Every post-office would have 
 its telegraph, and perhaps even the lowest might in time combine the functions of ! 
 postmaster and telegraph operator. The Government could build its own lines for 
 less than one-fourth of the inflated value of Western Union. It is already announced 
 that a bill to carry out this plan will be introduced in Congress at the coming ses- ! 
 sion, and it would be well for the people to think over it and make up their minds on : 
 the subject. ' 
 
 [From the New Haven Palladium.] i 
 
 GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPH. , 
 
 Whatever may be the result of the telegraph operators’ strike it is safe to predict ] 
 that it will so sharply call attention to the relations of the telegraph to the Govern- 
 ment and the people as to give a renewed impetus to the postal telegraph scheme or ; 
 to some other plan for the better regulation of telegraph communication. Our ^ 
 readers will perhaps recall the speeches made in the national Senate on this subject ; 
 at its last session. They were made in connection with the debate on the Post Office 
 appropriation bill, and attracted, much attention at the time. The first was made by 
 Senator Platt, of this State, who was followed by Senators Sherman and Edmunds. ! 
 The three Senators took the same ground, that the time had come for the Government - 
 to seriously consider the advisability of establishing telegraph lines of its own. The ' 
 general tenor of these speeches is indicated by the following extract from that of Sen- 
 ator Edmunds : What the United States in regard to the postal affairs and the wel- i 
 fare of its people needs to do more than anything else is to construct a postal- 
 telegraph, beginning moderately between great points in the country and all ^ 
 intermediate points, and then extending it, just as we have the mail system, as the ' 
 needs of the community and fair economy would require, until every post-office in 
 the country should have, or be within immediate reach of a postal telegraph. That 
 is what ought to be done and what will be done within a very few years beyond all 
 ■question.” Senator Edmunds gave notice that he should at the first opportunity in 
 the next Congress introduce a bill for a postal telegraph, and the present strike, with ' 
 fhe general inconvenience and derangement of business resulting from it, can not fail 
 to win strong support for it. 
 
 One thing should be thoroughly understood at the outset, and that is that Govern- ‘ 
 ment control should not take the direction of purchasing the lines of the pres mt cor- j 
 porations, with their watered stock. Competent telegraph men say that the Govern- 
 ment. with the right of eminent domain which it has under the power to establish " 
 post routes, could establish a postal telegraph system for |15, 000, 000, which would be 
 practically equal as'to all central points to the Western Union Company with its 
 almost $100,000,000. It would not be necessary for the Government, in building its 
 lines, to buy the right of way, as it would unquestionably have the right to establish 
 a postal telegraph along any post route. The public would thus be relieved of the ' 
 necessity of paying dividends on watered stock, and the operators would be assured 
 of a ‘'fair day’s pay for a fair day’s labor” without the necessity of resorting to a 
 strike. It is to be hoped that Mr. Edmunds will make good his x)romise to introduce 
 a postal telegraph bill at the earliest date possible. 
 
 [Fj om the Council Bluflfs Nonpareil.] 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. ' ; 
 
 The serious interruption of the business of the country, and the damage sustained 
 'by other interests innumerable on account of the telegraphers’ strike is renewing at- 
 tention to the practicability of postal telegraphy. The right of the nation to facilitate 
 the business of its citizens by means of wires is as undoubted as is its right to do so 
 through the medium of mail bags. The- capital stock of the Western Union is' 
 $100,000, 000, and yet gentlemen thoroughly conversant with the subject have stated 
 with precision that the Government could inaugurate a complete i)Ostal system, nowi 
 throughout, serving the same territory now under the wires of the Western Union, - 
 for $15,000,000. The subject, in view at least of the possible recurrence of just such 
 troubles as are now upon us, deserves, as it will most assuredly receive, the careful- 
 consideration of press and public. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 195 
 
 [From tlie New Haven Journal and Courier. 1 
 THE GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPH. 
 
 The question as to whether the Government shall establish a system of telegraph 
 lines throughout the country is pressing forward upon public attention. The manifest 
 weakness of the Western Union in the present contest is rapidly producing a profound 
 impression upon the people. A gigantic monopoly is always looked upon as a sort of 
 public enemy, because it means high prices and arbitrary regulations. But the public 
 is fast huding out that a monopoly controlling one of the great interests of the 
 conntry, vitally important to its commerce, involves something more than a question 
 of prices. When the monopoly becomes disabled its work stops and business suffers 
 without a remedy. Telegraphy is much too important to our commercial interests to 
 be left subject to such vicissitudes as the present strike. The people can not afford to 
 trust any corporation with such power that it can stagnate the business of the country 
 whenever it chooses to quarrel with its employes. The question of Government tele- 
 graph will be pretty sure to press itself upon the attention of the next Congress. 
 
 And why should we not have the Government telegraph ? It would not be neces- 
 sary to condemn and pay for the franchise of the Western Union. The Government 
 could establish competing lines of its own. The competition would be a pretty safe 
 one so far as the Government would be concerned. The Western Union pays good 
 dividends on enormously watered capital stock. To enable the company to do this 
 the people are made to pay much more than they ought to for the transmission of 
 their dispatches. The Government can duplicate the Western Union system of wires 
 for, probably, a third of the present capital of that company. It need charge for 
 messages no more than the actual cost of their transmission. It may charge enough 
 to produce a revenue and still fall far below the price of the Western Union. In short, 
 the Government telegraph will save the country the dividends. It is a scheme in 
 which the profits are pocketed by the people instead of a corporation. 
 
 The common objection to this is that the business would not be as economically 
 done by public as by private enterprise. What business is more economically man- 
 aged than the postal service ? It can safely challenge comparison with the Western 
 Union, and the employes of the postal service are not underpaid. Nobody has been 
 known to strike from it. The situations are always full and plenty of applicants 
 waiting. 
 
 [From tlie Montreal Gazette.] 
 
 THE TELEGRAPHERS’ STRIKE. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell was quite right when he denounced the absorption of the Montreal 
 Telegraph Company by the Western Union, through the intermediary of the Great 
 Northwestern, and the applause with which his remarks were received showed how 
 generally his opinions were concurred in. To us, who incurred some odium because 
 of the position taken by the Gazette on this question, these views are at least a vindi- 
 cation of onr course. Had merchants generally taken as warm an interest in the 
 question then as they are forced to do now the absorption might have been prevented, 
 and the Canadian system at any rate would have been in the hands of gentlemen upon 
 whom the pressure of public opinion would have had some iudueuce. And Mr. Magor 
 was quite right when he pointed out the responsibilities of the companies under their 
 charters and the way in which those responsibilities are being ignored. We have no 
 doubt that the solution of this trouble is to be found in the Government taking control 
 of the telegraph system, and that the sooner this is done the better will it be for the 
 public interests. 
 
 [From the Chicago Tribune.] 
 
 The New York Herald says : 
 
 I ‘‘ This consideration leads directly to the effective means by which the Government 
 I can protect the public against telegraph monopolies. Congress, may, if it sees fit, 
 authorize the construction of a complete network of postal telegraph lines, to be used 
 in connection with the letter mail and as part of the postal system of the country. 
 Such a Government line could be properly used for expediting private correspondence. 
 Letters mailed would be sent for 2 cents, as the new law provides. Letters tele- 
 graphed would pay a heavier charge, but still light compared with Jay Gould’s charges. 
 They would be telegraphed to the office of destination and there delivered by carriers 
 in tlie ordinary course of mai Idelivery.” 
 
 This is a very fair presentation of the case as it is formulated in the public mind. 
 I It starts with the theory that the telegraph has become as necessary a vehicle for the 
 transmission of intelligence as the mails, and that the public has the right to expect 
 
196 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 protection from the Government against a suspension of telegraph facilities by any ! 
 combination of private capital or secret conspiracies of labor. The surest, most prac- ' 
 tical and most effective way to secure such protection to the people is for the Govern- i 
 ment to construct telegraph lines, beginning with the routes most used, and extending ' 
 them as rapidly as possible to all the regular post-routes, and to operate them at a : 
 self-sustaining rate upon the same principle as the mail system. The Government 
 does not handle the mails to make profit. It is not obliged to earn dividends on stock, 
 and it would have no telegraph bonds issued on which it would be required to pay in- 
 terest. The Government would build its telegraph system with spare money, surplus 
 revenue, and it would only have to charge enou’gh tolls to defray operating expenses < 
 and repairs. 1 
 
 It will be by no means a -formidable undertaking for the Government. Probably j 
 an expenditure of $25,000,000, expended over half a dozen years, will provide a tele- 1 
 graph service as extensive as that now covered by the private corporations, and of a ’ 
 much more durable character, and one which need not charge the public half as high - 
 tolls. The Government may proceed without any reference to existing telegraph : 
 companies, which may continue in business if they choose. The transmission of small 
 packages by mail at cheap rates, assumed by the Government a few years ago, did ■ 
 not drive the express companies out of business, but merely forced them to moderate 
 tbeir charges, and nobody thought of suggesting that it was the duty of the Govern- 
 ment to buy up all the watered express stock in the country. The addition of tele- 
 graph facilities to the Government postal system stands upon precisely the same foot- 
 ing. The Government is in no wise committed, and is under no possible obligation 
 to allow the jobbers and manipulators of telegraph stock to unload it on Uncle Sam 
 at three or four times its actual value. 
 
 The advantages which will accrue to the public from a Government telegraph sys- 
 tem are obvious. There will be no watering of stock. There will be no strikes of' , 
 operators. There will be no dividends to pay on real or fictitious stock. There will 
 be no blackmailing lines, built to sell out under threat of undermining competition. , 
 The same perfection in detail can be achieved in telegraphy that has been reached in • 
 the mail service. The public will be better served at greatly retluced rates, and there , 
 will never be any danger of a suspension of facilities pending a disagreement about 
 operatives' wages. If Senator Edmunds will take hold of this project with his known 
 ability and energy, it will not take long for him to concentrate a public sentiment j 
 which Congress will not dare to disregard, no matter how corruptly the telegraph ^ 
 companies may act, and he is the sort of man who wdll not tolerate any jobs coutem- i 
 plating the purchase of watered stock as a means to secure the necessary telegraph 1 
 poles, wires, and instruments, which constitute all the machinery the Government \ 
 needs to go into the telegraph business. 
 
 \ From tlie W orcester Spy. ] * 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH. 
 
 Another proposition is that the United States, without interfering wMth the property ! 
 or franchises of the existing companies, shall establish its own lines over such routes 1 
 as Congress may direct, and do a telegraphic business in connection with the postal ‘ | 
 service, not to the exclusion of, but in competition with any private corporations ! 
 now in exisrence, or which might be established. Such a postal telegraph, with rates j 
 fixed so as to meet all of the current expenses, with a low rate of interest on the cost | 
 of the lines, w ould provide a permanent competitor to the private lines, compelling 
 them, in order to secure a fair proportion of the business, to serve the public at mod- 
 erate rates, with speed, accuracy, and civility. It would not probably prevent them 
 from earning a fair profit, for it is believed that official management, wdth its 
 greater formality, its subjection to laws and regulations not readily changed to suit 
 changing conditions, and without the stimulus of private interest, can not adapt 
 itself so well to the poi)ular requirements as that of a private corporation can. 
 
 [From the Vicksburg Herald.] 
 
 THE REMEDY -FOR THE TELEGRAPH STRIKE. 
 
 To begin the postal telegraph would cost the Government little or nothing, for it 
 could issue 3 per cent, bonds and arrange the tolls to pay the interest. If the next 
 Congress does not pass a law to commence the good w ork, it will woefully fail in its 
 duty to respond to popular sentiment. 
 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 197 
 
 [From the New Haven Palladium.] 
 
 CHEAP TELEGRAPHING. 
 
 Not the least of the advantages which the postal telegraph has to commend it to 
 popular favor is the low rate of tolls. The telegraph of to day is, as Senator Platt ex- 
 presses it, ‘‘the rich man’s mail.” With monopoly crushed out by the powerful aid 
 of the Government it could be brought within the reach of every individual in the 
 land. In this connection the statistips of tolls in those foreign countries whose gov- 
 ernments provide telegraph facilities for the people are of interest. In Belgium mes- 
 sages are sent anywhere within the Kingdom for the uniform price of 10 cents; in 
 Switzerland, 10 cents ; in Greece, IS cents ; in France, from 10 to 20 cents, according 
 to the distance; in Baden and the Netherlands, 13 cents; in Wurtemberg, 15 cents; 
 in Italy, 20 cents; in the North German Union, 12^ to .37^ cents, according to dis- 
 tance; in Austria and Hungary, 10 to 40 cents, according to distance; in Norway 
 and Sweden, 28 cen^s ; in Australia, 25 cents. Great Britain was the last of the 
 European nations to abandon the system of private management of telegraphs and 
 unite them with the postal service. The. rates of charges in that country previous to 
 February 5, 1870, were: For a distance not exceeding 100 miles, 24 cents; over 100 
 but not exceeding 200, 36 cents ; over ‘200 miles, 48 cents. For additions of ten 
 words or less than ten words half rates were charged. Since February 5, 1870, the 
 period when the telegraph lines passed under the control of the post-office depart- 
 ment, the rates have been uniformly, and without regard to the distance, through- 
 out the United Kingdom, 24 cents for the first twenty words of each message, not 
 counting the name or address of the sender or receiver, and this sum covers the de- 
 livery of the message by special foot messenger within the limit of one mile of the 
 terminal telegraph office. 
 
 [From tlie "Waterbury American.] 
 
 GOVERNMENT AND THE TELEGRAPH. 
 
 The postal-telegraph scheme, however, does not propose to do away with the tele- 
 graph companies as they now exist for certain kinds of business. It only proposes to 
 bring within reach of all in their communications the speed and convenience which 
 is now enjoyed only by the few. 
 
 [From the Memphis Appeal.] 
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS MONOPOLY. 
 
 The telegraph business in this country is already in the hands of a huge and un- 
 scrupulous monopoly, and the tendency is toward further monopoly. Whatever 
 objection there may be to add to the number of the Government’s employds, it is no 
 relief from that difficulty to be grasped by the other difficulty — corporate monopoly.’ 
 
 [From the Nashville Banner.] 
 
 MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE MAIL. 
 
 Were telegraphs under the supervision of the Post-Office Departnlent, or a separate 
 one of its own, such troubles as the present would never result. And further, we 
 should thus secure a cheaper service for the business and public interests of the country, 
 iind be confident of a continual decrease in rates, as has been in postage. Communica- 
 tion by wire has become of equal if not superior importance as that by mail. An 
 opportunity is offered for the agitation of this question, and the papers of the country 
 should take every advantage of it. Use the National Treasury surplus in buying or 
 erecting telegraph lines for the people, to be controlled and conducted as a public 
 service for the general good. 
 
 [From the Trenton State Gazette.] 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPHY. 
 
 As to the creation of a dangerous army of office-holders, the fear is chimerical. The 
 country would never know, by any interference with public affairs, that such an army 
 <3xisted. The people selected for the service would necessarily be experts. They 
 ■could not be displaced by wholesale at the change of every administration. Besides, 
 
198 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH EACH ITIES. 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 the new civil service reform system would apply to them. They would be secure in ,'i 
 their places, both by the impossibility of filling their positions, and by civil service , 
 reform. They would, therefore, be under no temptations to take au active part in 
 primary packing and convention running. .) 
 
 [From the Montreal "Witness.] 
 
 NO VESTED RIGHTS IN CANADA. ' , 
 
 We trust that the Government will come to a decision at once in favor of the pro- ' 
 posal, which they have had so long under consideration, to establish a telegraph . 
 system iu connection with the postal system. It is to be hoped that the people will 
 urge upou the Government the immediate necessity of doing so without apprehen- 
 sions as to any obstructions which stand in the way of a cheap undertaking of the 
 work. 
 
 [From tlie New York Star.] 
 
 CHEAP, UNIFOI^M, AND SAFE. 
 
 The incorporation of the telegraph into the postal service is required in order to ■ 
 secure a cheap, uniform, and safe method of telegraphic communication. To-day the 
 charges on telegraphic messages are four times higher than they should or need be» 
 The Western Union has doubled its stock with water, until the original money capital i 
 has become as diluted as the high attenuations of the homeopathic school. Yet it ; 
 pays an enormous dividend ou this water by levying a tax on every message sent over 
 its wires. A telegraph costs comparatively little. It can be cheaply operated. It 
 could carry messages for a trifle. In three-quarters of the post-ofiQces of the country • 
 no additional attendant would be required. An immense impetus would be given to 
 business by such a reduction of postal rates. The tariff would be systematized and ^ 
 uniform. In the third place, the telegraph should be incorporated into the postal : 
 service in order to break down the despotism of monopolies, and prevent such a costly i 
 and damaging interruption of business as our community is suffering from to day. ! 
 Suppose the post-offices were controlled by a private corporation, with such men as I 
 Gould, and Sage, and Eckert, and Green at its head. The whole correspondence of " 
 the country would be at the mercy of their greed. If they saw fit to reduce the wages 
 of employes and precipitate a strike, the entire business of the country would stop, t 
 and the people in ten millions of homes would be isolated from their friends. The 
 telegraph represents the most vital part of the intelligence of the country. It carries ^ 
 the most important communications. It is burdened not only with news affecting i 
 trade and prices, the fortunes of business men, but with messages of woe, and joy, < 
 and grief, and death. No private corporation should have the power to control such ^ 
 an agency for speculative ends in a country iu which the people are supreme and the { 
 Government is their agent. ' 
 
 [From the Indianapolis Times,] ^ 
 
 LET THE GOVERNMENT BUILD. ^ 
 
 It is said by some that the Government ought not to come in competition with pri- i 
 vate citizens. A sufficient answer to that is that the Government has the exclusive-' * 
 right to carry the mails. The sqme argument was used when it was proposed to 
 carry small packages through the mails and to introduce the money-order system, yet J 
 the Government did not see fit to buy out either the express companies or the banks. ? 
 The Government could build new lines cheaper than to buy the old ones, or cheaper j 
 than individuals, for it would not be required to purchase the right of way, as it has | 
 the right to use any post route, and all railroad lines are post routes. The Govern- i 
 ment has the money to build with, and it ought to have the control. Then the people J 
 and business interests of the country would not be under the dictation of a monopoly, i 
 
 [From the St. Paul Pioneer Press.] J 
 
 THE PUBLIC AND THE TELEGRAPH. 
 
 On the other hand, the objection which has always been most unanswerable is in 
 a fair way to disappear. The lion in the path has been the matter of patronage. The 
 fear that the telegraphic service would be used to intrench a political party in power ; 
 has fought more powerfully against it than any other consideration. This argument 
 loses its force iu the presence of a system of civil-service reform already in operation. ; 
 "With the rigid application of that to the service, and the repeal of the four years^ ^ 
 tenure, the i)olitical objection would have little force; and besides the nature of the ; 
 occupation, requiring skill and previous training, would make it less liable to thD, 
 abuses of rewards and* appointments for political reasons. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 199 
 
 [From the Trenton State Gazette.] 
 
 The New York Herald has taken up postal telegraphy, and is pushing it with char- 
 acteristic energy. There is little doubt the country is about ripe for this progressive, 
 step. Postal telegraphy must come. 
 
 [From tie Washington Star.] 
 
 DUTY OP THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Talk of Government telegraphic service in connection with the Post-Office Depart- 
 ment is again becoming quite common, based upon the prolonged operators’ strike,, 
 and it is altogether likely that the proposition will gain considerable strength it the 
 present interruption continues much longer. It is more than probable, too, that if 
 its business is to be liable in future to further demoralization from the same cause, 
 the managers of the telegrai)h interests will themselves seek a way out of their 
 troubles by transferring their lines to Government ownership and control. They 
 would doubtless be glad to do so now if Government or any other customer would 
 take their property at the fictitious value they put upon it. This, however, ought 
 never to be permitted, so far, at least, as Government is concerned ; and it is not likely 
 that private customers could be found who would be willing to pay so much for so 
 little. Counting watered stock anti all the capital of the Western Union Company- 
 now stands at about $80,000,000. Of this sum, however, not more than $10,000,000, 
 if so much, was actually paid up in cash. The balance represents water, or issues of 
 shares for which no equivalent in money or anything of value was ever rendered, and 
 it is certain that a plant capable of performing as good service as the country now 
 enjoys at the hands of the monopoly can be furnished for the sum last named. When, 
 therefore, the time for negotiation between the Government and the company conies, 
 if it ever does come, that amount ought to be adhered to as the maximum basis of 
 purchase. If more than that sum is insisted upon, the Government should go ahead, 
 and build its own lines, leaving the present inflated concern to take care of itself. 
 
 [From the Paterson Press.] 
 
 AN INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENT LINE. 
 
 The idea of a “ Government monopoly,” however, is a hateful one to most people^, 
 and few are found so bold as to advocate the purchase by the Goyernment of all ex- 
 isting wire lines and the establishmeut of a monopoly under the control of the pub- 
 lic ; for of all absolute masters in matters of transportation or communication there 
 is no despot that the people would fear as much as itself. But the proposition that 
 finds favor with such influential journals as the New York Herald and the Chicago- 
 Tribune does not look to a Government telegraph monopoly at all. It does not look 
 to following the example of the British Government which bought out the private 
 telegraph companies and paid much more for their wires and other property than they 
 were worth. Any suggestion that our Government should buj^ that bloated monstros- 
 ity, the Western Uniou, with its dropsical weight of water, would be met with a 
 storm of indignation fiom everybody except the monopolists themselves. The plan 
 favored by the New York Herald and" the Chicago Tribune, and by Seuators Edmunds,. 
 Sherman, and Platt looks to the building of an independent Government line, to be 
 operated as an adjunct to the mail service. The Herald says: 
 
 “ There is nothing impracticable about that; nor would such a Government line 
 drive out or take profitable business away from private lines The Government line^ 
 would enable a person to telegraph a letter instead of sending it by railroad.” 
 
 The Chicago Tribune remarks that a Government teleuraph will not extinguish or- 
 discourage private companies any more (han the Post-Office Department undertaking 
 to carry merchandise parcels has extinguished or injured the express companies. 
 
 [From the New York Evening Post.] 
 
 “the poor man’s mail.” 
 
 While it might not be possible to obtain so cheap telegraph service as the peoi)le of 
 Great Britain enjoy, even if our Government should take control of the wires, it is 
 certain that the time predicted by Senator Platt when the telegraph shall be the only 
 the rich man’s mail, but the poor man’s mail as well, would be brought closer to us. 
 by governmental control. 
 
200 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [From the Boston Globe.] 
 
 COMPETITION AS AGAINST MONOPOLY. 
 
 There are many arguments in favor of supplementing the mail service with a sys- 
 tem of postal -telegraph lines, while there are few valid objections to a system prop- 
 erly established. It is not necessary for the Government to purchase or assume con- 
 trol of existing lines. To any such plan as that there are objections enough, and it 
 should not be thought of. Having no dividends to pay on watered stock, the Gov- 
 ernment can compete with the private companies, and so compel them to come down 
 to a legitimate business basis. Competition will insure good service and prompt at- 
 tention to the public needs, and there will be no monopoly. 
 
 [From the Richmond State.] 
 
 A BOLD SCHEME OUTLINED. 
 
 It may be that Jay Gould has forced this strike on his operators with the intention 
 of creating a demand among the business people of the country for a governmental 
 telegraph, when he will try to lobby the Western Union lines and property through 
 Congress for an enormous price, say from $80,000,000 to $100,000,000; but in this we 
 are inclined to think he will fail, for the people will watch Congress with keen eyes. 
 
 [From the Reading Times.] 
 
 “in the SWEET BY AND BY.’’ 
 
 This can best be done by the passage of an act of Congress establishing entirely new 
 Government telegraph lines over every mail route in the country, and that is every- 
 where. The building of these lines will afford employment to thousands of people, 
 and the purchase of poles, wires, and other fixtures will be advantageous to large 
 numbers of farmers and mechanics. Our surplus revenues can in no way be better 
 expended. After the lines are completed, a five-ceut stamp ought to take a message 
 of, say, twenty or thirty words to any part of the country. The stamped message or 
 telegraph card can be dropped into any post-office in town or country, or little boxes 
 in the large cities, and the dispatch will be sent by the postal operators and answer 
 returned in the same way without further trouble. lu this way all the business of 
 the country can be transacted without recourse to the slow process of letter writing 
 and letter-mail service. What is more, the postal telegraph will pay from the start 
 ev^en at the low rates we have suggested, and yield after paying all working expenses 
 a fair interest bn the investment. The Government can. establish a plant better than 
 the Western Union’s at one-sixth or oiie-seventh of the Western Union’s bloated capi- 
 tal of $80,000,000. There will not be a dollar of watered stock in the Government 
 enterprise, and the people will not have to pay a high dividend on a fictitious capital 
 as they are now doing. But by all means let the present lines be continued in private 
 hands. They will be a great accommodation as competing lines, and will bring the 
 telegraph rates, whether by postal or private lines, down to the lowest figure. 
 
 [From the Mobile Register.] 
 
 SENSIBLE VIEW OF THE SITUATION 
 
 So long as the wires remain in the hands of a monopoly so long will the business 
 of the country be subjected to the interruptions and losses which we now experience. 
 Leaving out of view entirely the question of the justice or injustice of the demands 
 of t he Brotherhood, we look at the matter entirely from the selhsh stand-point of the 
 business community. The people are compelled to pay rates yielding an enormous 
 percentage upon stock iucrea.sed to a fictitious value. 
 
 [ Fi’om the New York Star.] 
 
 A NATURAL ADJUNCT TO THE 'MAIL SERVICE. 
 
 It is easy to account for the hostility of the Tribune, World, and Sun to the postal-, 
 telegraph entei’in’ise ; their interests lie in the direction of maintaining the present 
 monopoly, to which they are indebted for exceptional favors. Besides, Gould and 
 Vanderbilt have a rigid gri}) on some of them. The Herald, however, is strong 
 enough and rich enough to attach but comparatively slight importance to its Associ- 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 201 
 
 ated Press privileges ; hence it is found with the Chicago Tribune, the Cincinnati 
 Enquirer, the Star, and other independent, outspoken journals, waging the x)eople’s 
 fight against an overgrown monopoly. Only those papers that owe nothing to mo- 
 nopoly can afford to speak the truth and advocate even-handed justice in a crisis such 
 as must now he met. 
 
 If a postal telegraph is an enterprise menacing to popular liberty, then we should 
 reconstruct the Post-office and place it in the hands of Mr. Jay Gould and his associ- 
 ate capitalists. 
 
 We are surprised at the attitude of the World, which has ostensibly abjured Jay 
 Gould only to retain the form of a promonopoly advocate. Borrowing the s])eciou8 
 fallacies of the Suuj it contends that if the Government establishes a postal telegraph 
 it should also go into the business of buymg up and operating railroads, taking 
 charge of all the schools in the country, etc. To some persons this may seem plausi- 
 ble, but it will not bear scrutiny when we recollect that the postal telegraph is pro- 
 posed simply and entirely as the natural and fitting adjunct of the mail service. A 
 project to secure cheap, speedy, and p opular telegraphy of this sort is no more un- 
 democratic than’ a general penny post — to which complexion, in these days of en- 
 larged mail facilities, the post-office system must sooner or later come. 
 
 One other fear oppresses the opponents of a postal telegraph. They apprehend 
 that political messages would no longer be safe, but would be tampered with by the 
 minions of the party in power. It is not a weighty argument. In the first place, 
 cijiher codes are accessible to everybody. In the next place, no service could hardly 
 be more untrustworthy than was that of the Western Union Company in 1876, when 
 the Republicans controlled its disi)atches and the corporation permitted the secrets 
 of its patrons to be violated and bandied about. Now that we have begun to in- 
 augurate civil-service reform, a much more reliable service could be assured. A post- 
 master or letter-carrier may be appointed as a reward tor partisan services, but no 
 such method could apply to exj^ert telegraphers. Their positions could not be filled 
 from among ward workers or party hacks. 
 
 Desirable as it obviously is, still it will bo no easy matter to obtain the establish- 
 ment of a postal telegraph. Any bill for that purpose will be strenuously antago- 
 nized in Congress by tbe agents of the existing monopoly. Money will not be spared 
 to defeat such a measure and postpone the inevitable. Consequently the people 
 should now begin to bring pressure to bear on their Representatives, and enlist them 
 for the overthrow of monopoly. 
 
 [From the Boston Traveller.] 
 
 IT WOULD BE A PROTECTION TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 The proposition that finds most favor, as we gather public sentiment, is that the 
 Government shall construct a telegraph system of its own, connecting all the chief 
 centers of business activity, and capable of amply protecting the public from a sudden 
 cessation of telegraph service, and run it as a branch of its present postal business. 
 This would leave the existing companies still in the field, but not its absolute masters. 
 The postal telegraph vvould be always there to protect the public from extortionate 
 rates, and at the same time to deprive the employes aud the companies alike of the 
 temptation to carry their contentions to unreasonable lengths. 
 
 [From the New Haven News.] 
 
 IT WOULD ESTABLISH A STANDARD OF COMPETITION. 
 
 The Government, we believe, should be fully equipped for the transmission of intel- 
 ligence by telegraph or by mail, but from neither occupation should it exclude pri- 
 vate enterprise. It should establish a standard of competition — a reasonable service 
 at a low price, but not so low as not to yield a moderate percentage of profit. It 
 would thus render it impossible for a stock watering company to subsist by^ robbing 
 the public. Only companies doing business at fair rates and declaring honest divi- 
 dends could enter into rivalry with it. Not having to purchase any right of way, the 
 cost to the Government of a newly c instructed telegraph, touching every post-office 
 in the country, would not exceed $20,000,000, and some expert estimates have been 
 made which fix it as low as $10,000,000. Why should the people continue to pay a 
 profit of 6 to 8 per cent, on $80,000,000-of bogus capital for an inefficient service, when 
 for 3 or 4 per cent, on $20,000,000 they would be served better ? In five years the 
 whole cost of the Government system would be saved to the people in the difference 
 between 6 per cent, of $80,000,000 and 4 per cent, of $20,000,000. 
 
202 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [From the Boston Journal.] 
 
 The charges for telegraphic service could be largely reduced aud yet make the 
 system self-sustaining. The Western Union lines, it is estimated, could be duplicated 
 for $20,000,000 at least, but the company receives a revenue which enables it to pay 
 6 per cent, dividends on over $80,000,000 of stock. This being the case, it is fair to 
 assume that the usual rates could be reduced one-half and yet be sufficient to pay the 
 interest on the cost of a new system and pay the operating expenses. In thiscoiiutry 
 the general sentiment is not favorable to the interference of the Government in 
 strictly business matters ; consequently, if the telegraphic business could be nianaged 
 wisely and efficiently by private enterprise and make the cbst of telegraphic service 
 just and reasonable, the general sentiment would favor a private rather than a Gov- 
 ernment telegraph. If there comes to be a general demand for a postal telegraph, it 
 will be due to the conviction of the people that under existing conditions in this 
 country it is impossible to secure fair service otherwise. 
 
 [From the Rome Sentinel.] 
 
 THE POST-OFFICE WILL NOT MONOPOLIZE THE BUSINESS. 
 
 A.11 who have given the subject any attention know that telegraphing pays im- 
 mensely on the actual capital invested. The telegraphers, one would think, should 
 be the best paid workmen in any calling of equal importance. That they are not, and 
 perceive no tendency to betterment of their condition otherwise than by united pro- 
 test, they strike. Whereupon the Republican leaders array themselves by the side of 
 one of the most cheeky and foxy corporations in existence and take part against the 
 workman, who will do well to note the fact and govern himself accordingly. * ^ * 
 
 What is the carrying of packages weighing 4 pounds or less but direct competition 
 with the express companies ? It so happens that both of these facilities of the De- 
 partment are a great public convenience, aud as they can be done without loss, as^ 
 the revenues of the Department clearly prove, they will remain, and at lower rates, 
 too, from October next. It would be impracticable for the Post-Office to undertake 
 to handle all telegraphic business. It is neither asked nor desired that it do so. But 
 as it monopolizes the means of postal communication, it might very well add thereto 
 the latest improvements in the rapid interchange of messages such as are furnished 
 by the telegraph system. 
 
 [From the Washington Post.] 
 
 ITS GREAT ADVANTAGES WILL BE W’ELCOMED. 
 
 Why say to a citizen “We will haul your message to San Francisco by steam, aud 
 we will not let anybody else haul it; but if you can’t wait for our slow coach go to 
 Mr. Gould and he will wire it there in a few minutes”? 
 
 These are the strong arguments on both sides, and they will be repeated in a thou- 
 sand shapes in the houses of Congress next winter. To us it seems evident that there 
 is a strong tendency toward the consummation aimed at by the advocates of postal 
 telegraphy. When it comes its great adv^antages will be welcomed by all, but thero 
 will be a deep-seated and well-grounded apprehension of bad results from a vast in- 
 crease of the number of office-holders. 
 
 [From the Chicago Herald.] 
 
 A WONDER THAT IT HAS NOT BEEN DONE BEFORE. 
 
 Considering the value of such an adjunct to the Post-Office in the mere matter of 
 regulating telegraph taritfs we wonder that it has not been erected before this. But 
 don’t let us think of a Government monopoly of telegraph service, for that means 
 buying out the extremely thin stock-water of the present companies aud transforming 
 Mr. Jay Gould’s Western Union stock into Government bonds. Not just yet. Let 
 us have a new deal and see how it will work. 
 
 [From the Salt Lake Tribune.] 
 
 LET THE PEOPLE SUBSCRIBE FOR THE STOCK. 
 
 The remedy is the postal telegraph, and, if necessary to carry it out without taxing 
 directly the Treasury of the United States, let postal savings banks be added and 
 the people be permitted to make from .$5 to $100 subscriptions to the stock. If the 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 20 ^ 
 
 Democratic Congress will this winter undertake and carry this through to success^ 
 there is enough in it to elect a President next year on the success which will follow 
 the measure. 
 
 [From the Wheeling Register.] 
 
 . IT WOULD BENEFIT EVERY ONE. 
 
 It is certain that the time predicted by Senator Platt, when the telegraph shall be 
 not only the rich man’s mail, but the poor man’s mail as well, would be brought closer 
 to us by Governmental control. 
 
 [From the Chicago Evening Journal.] 
 
 IT WOULD PREVENT FURTHER MONOPOLY. 
 
 The first step in the new movement is to determine that the telegraph business shall 
 cease to be a monopoly in this country, and then the details can easily be arranged 
 afterward. There is no obligation on the part of Congress to buy out any of the ex- 
 isting telegraph companies. Wh u a bill is passed providing for a postal-telegraphic 
 system, it will then be time enough for the Postmaster-General, or the officers in 
 charge, to entertain the proposals of those who might then have a certain amount of 
 depreciated telegraph stock to dispose of, together with a liberal amount of “ water.” 
 “ Water” has become mighty cheap in this country, and the feeling against selfish 
 monopolies is rapidly increasing in the minds of the people. Let it be directed 
 against the most perfect specimen of a monopoly that has ever grown up in this 
 country until the people are exempt from its exactions, and then there will be hope of 
 relief in other directions from similar evils. 
 
 [From the New Haven Palladium.! 
 
 ITS STOCK WILL NOT RE WATERED. 
 
 The talk about the Government monopoly of the telepraph is the supremest non- 
 sense. Nobody asks for such a monopoly. What is wanted is the kind of Govern- 
 ment telegraph outlined by Senator Edmunds in his speech at the last session of Con- 
 gress — a telegraph supplemental to the postal system, with wires established at first 
 along the leading postal routes, and gradually extended until all the post-offices in 
 the country are connected, one with another. For the convenience thus afforded the 
 public will pay what it costs, and the Government, which does not water its stock, 
 will charge no more than cost. Such a system would not necessarily result in a mo- 
 nopoly. It would not drive the private telegraph companies out of existence any 
 more than the extension of the postal service a few years ago put an end to the express 
 business, as many at the time predicted it would. Holders of the Western Union’s 
 sixty millions of watered stock might mourn over the shrinkage of their dividends, 
 but there would be no call for sympathy with them. The people would be benefited, 
 and the telegraph would no longer be “ the rich man’s mail,” but be at the service of 
 the humblest citizen in the land. 
 
 [From the Troy Budget.] 
 
 IT WOULD NOT LARGELY INCREASE THE PUBLIC SERVICE. 
 
 As to the fears expressed with reference to a probable large increase in office-hold- 
 ers and office-seekers, there do not appear sufficient or reasonable grounds on which to 
 base them. In thousands of small post-offices the clerk would simply need to be a 
 telegraph operator. As to the revolution which it is apprehended might follow in 
 the changes ordered by an incoming administration, there could not possibly be more 
 than is constantly going on. A change of postmasters might produce a change in 
 clerks, and still not a like change in telegraph operators, h’or many years to come 
 skilled operators could not be replaced as readily as ordinary post-office clerks am 
 now. Again, if the civil-service rules are not wholly inoperative, they would tend 
 to prevent any such wholesale changes as are dreaded. 
 
 As to the other branches of the argument urged against a monopoly by the Govern- 
 ment, this is to be said: When the Government added to the postal department the 
 business of sending parcels, it did not crush out or buy up the express companies. 
 The latter were simply forced out of a monopoly and into a competition which re- 
 duced the rates to a more reasonable standard. When the money-order system was 
 devised it was not considered necessary for the Government to buy up all the banks. 
 
204 
 
 POSTAL TEJ.EGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 The Western Union company is a huge telegraph monopoly. It has absorbed nearly •( 
 every competing telegraph company, and boasts of its success. Its actual stock of •: 
 $30,000,000 has been “ watered” to $H0,000,000. It is calculated that $25,000,000 would i 
 establish a postal telegraph. A message which now costs 25 cents could then be sent > 
 for 10 cents or less. 
 
 [From the Springfield Republican.] 
 
 ITS ESTABLISHMENT IS A CLEAR DUTY. j 
 
 The first duty and the clear duty of the continental Government of the United States 1 
 is to regulate the telegraph business. 
 
 i ' 
 
 [From tbe Indianapolis Times.] i 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT IS AT THE MERCY OF THE PRESENT MONOPOLY. ; 
 
 The business of the country has outgrown even the fast-mail lines, and the de- ^ 
 mand is for still more rapid transmission of the mails, and for this rapid transmis- ‘ 
 sion the country is dependent upon a private corporation, and the cost is so great : 
 that a large propoition of the people are cut off from its use. Again, the people de- 
 pend upon the press for its news, and the press is absolutely at the mercy of the 
 telegraph company. The company has its power to ruin any newspaper in this land 
 at any time by simply changing the rates for dispatches. Papers have been so ru- 
 ined. A payer can not live without obtaining and publishing the news. It can not 
 obtain the news except by the aid of the telegraph. The company can, when it sees 
 -fit, fix a tariff so high that the pajier can not pay it, and thus shut it off from ob- 
 taining the only thing which makes it valuable property. The Government itself is 
 a-t the mercy of the telegraph company. 
 
 [From tbe Hartford Times.] 
 
 THE INSOLENCE OP THE WESTERN UNION. 
 
 ] 
 
 One of the insolent and dictatorial orders of the Western Union is that a private ^ 
 house (a broker, for instance) who receives stock reports and pays for them shall not ‘ 
 sell them to any newspaper, nor permit any newspaper to copy them from the broker’s ■ 
 bulletin, though the newspaper shall agree to purchase the regular reports of the 
 Western Union, or the Press Association, and pay for them at regular prices. The 
 object of the newspaper in purchasing of the broker would be to accommodate the 
 public with news of the latest sale of stocks perhaps ten minutes earlier than it could 
 do so l*y purchasing the regular press reports. No one would be harmed should the 
 reports be taken from the broker’s bulletin; but the Western Union says: ‘‘No; if 
 you (the broker) permit the copy to be taken we will cut you off from the wire.” 
 This is one instance of its insolence. There are other grievances, of which the press 
 all over the country complains ; and we look upon it as an encouraging indication of 
 better times when the press speaks out upon this subject with so much freedom and 
 frankness as has marked its course the past two weeks. Let us have peace and fair i 
 l)la3L The New York Herald says: 
 
 “Everybody who has considered the question knows that the telegraph is not yet 
 used to one-tenth the extent that it ought to be, and would be were it not that rates 
 have been kept unduly high by the Western Union stock- waterers in order to secure 
 dividends on their enormously inflated stock, and were it not, besides, for the poor 
 and irregular service, which discourages the use of the telegraph except when it is 
 absolutely required.” ^ 
 
 [From the Easton (Pa.) Free Press.] 
 
 A CHECK TO DISHONEST GREED. 
 
 A postal-telegraph system, whereby the best telegraphic facilities will be given the 
 people at the very lowest cost, is wliat is wanted. Let the Government pay for a new 
 plant, and let the established companies, which have swindled the public, take care 
 of themselves. There is no reason, except the dishonest greed of the Western Union , 
 Telegraph Company, why the ])eople should not have ample means of using tbe tele- ; 
 grajih at one-third of what telegraphing now costs. This proposition for a Govern- ’ 
 ment postal-telegraph service is being advocated very generally by the press not sub- 
 ject to the dictation of big monopolists. The objections against it that it will too v. 
 largely augment the power of the Government, ,:ind enable a successful partisan or- ‘ 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 205 
 
 ganization to wield too great an influence through official patronage, can not be 
 urged with reason. No party will stay in power that ignores civil-service reform^ 
 which has begun to develop under a regularly-constituted commission, and which 
 will hereafter prevent the use of Federal patronage for partisan ends. The Forty- 
 eighth Congress will probably receive a loud call from the people to establish a postal- 
 telegraph system, to be conducted as successfully and satisfactorily as the ijresent 
 postal system. 
 
 [From the New York Star.] 
 
 The revenue of the Western Union in 1882 was $17,140,000. 
 
 [From the Nashville American.] 
 
 'a bill to come before the next congress. 
 
 As to the apprehensions touching the civil service, the Baltimore American thinks 
 that the time required to become a skilled operator involves an apprenticeship, and 
 this enforces a permanence of tenure of office which mere political clerkships do not 
 naturally enjoy. It is claimed that the Government could build its own lines for less 
 than one-fonrth of the inflated value of the Western Union, and it is announced that 
 a bill to carry out this plan will be introduced in Congress at the coming session. It 
 is asserted by telegraphic experts that the Government could establish a postal tele- 
 graph system for $15,000,000, and without necessity of buying right of way, as it can 
 establish aline along every post-route. 
 
 [From theNewburyport H<irald.] 
 
 CONGRESS EXPECTED TO SOLVE THE DIFFICULTY. 
 
 Most likely Congress will look upon it and solve the difficulty by having its own 
 lines in competition and ready at all times to do the whole telegraphic business of the 
 country with competent operators and at reasonable rates. 
 
 (From the Memphis Appeal.] 
 
 FURTHER EXTORTION MADE IMPOSSIBLE. 
 
 4 
 
 The dispatches would be delivered in the ordinary course of the letter-carriers 
 rounds, and would have for one of the results an extension of the postal-delivery sys- 
 tem. For this the people would pay only what the cost was to the Government ; 
 there would be no watered stock to provide dividends for, and no extortionate, greedy 
 monopoly to support and submit to. Under this system a great and increasing mass 
 of business and press correspondence, which requires a quicker than post delivery, 
 would go to private lines as at present. Upon those lines the postal telegraph, with 
 its moderate charges, would be a check, and further extortion would become impos- 
 sible. 
 
 [From the Covington Commonwealth,] 
 
 IT WOULD PUT A CHECK TO ARROGANCE. 
 
 As a general rule we are opposed to either the general or local government taking 
 part in outside matters, but here is a bloated monopoly that has arrogantly arrayed 
 itself against the public, and which has attained such vast proportions as either to 
 buy out or swamp all opposition, for the only attempts that have been made with any 
 vigor have been ended with the inevitable “ amalgamation.” Most of the Canadian 
 press is anxious to cut loose from the Western Union, which is described as a “ grind- 
 ing monopoly, which, for its own greed, cares not how much it may convulse the 
 business of the whole country, derange traffic, interrupt communication, or put all. 
 classes to inconvenience.” 
 
 [From the Rome Sentinel.] 
 
 THE PRESENT LINES WOULD STILL EXIST. 
 
 The Government telegraph, according to the idea which obtains among the majority ^ 
 of those who have considered the subject, should be an adjunct of the postal system..' 
 With wires running'into every office, a message or letter from Chicago to Rome 
 
206 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 would be received within a few hours, and put into the box of the person to whom 
 it was addressed. In the case of cities having carriers the telegrams would be deliv- 
 ered the same as ordinary letters. The charges could not help being very moderate ■ 
 compared with the present cost of messages. The Government has no watered stock, 
 nnd no business with any. The present lines would exist and be welcome to all the 
 business they could obtain. The Government would thus have no monopoly. Its 
 rates would regulate those of private lines, the competition would be the healthiest 
 known, for it would be competition incapable of being bought off by any pretext, de- 
 Tice, manner, or means whatever. 
 
 [From the Buffalo Express.] 
 
 NO PAYMENT TO JAY GOULD FOR WATER. ; 
 
 Undoubtedly there would be a strong popular feeling against buying the property j 
 of the existing telegraph companies at anything like the value which their wires, | 
 poles, etc., are supposed to represent in capital stock. The people would not be will- 1 
 ing to have the Government pay Jay Gould, or any other monopolist, any very large i 
 sum for water. There is a strong opinion that the telegraph autocrats have taken 
 out of the public already, one way or another, much more than they ever put into 
 "the business, and if the business should be ruined for them, and their vast blocks of : 
 shares prove worthless on their hands, the public would not care much. ' 
 
 [From the Pottsville Miners’ Journal.]. 
 
 ALMOST SURE TO BE ADOPTED. ' 
 
 It is reasonably certain that a bill for the carrying out of this project will be in- 
 troduced in the next Congress. If the sentiment of the country shall be found un- j 
 mistakably favoring it, there will be an almost absolute certainty of its passage. 
 
 [From the Public, New York.] ' ' 
 
 BUSINESS MEN AND THE PEOPLE AT LARGE DEMAND IT. ! 
 
 Finally, we have the postal telegraph plan, which Senators Edmunds and Sherman I 
 have already advocated very ably. Mr. Edmunds has announced that lie will intro- * 
 du(fe a bill to that end as soon as Congress assembles. The Herald has devoted much ^ 
 space to the advocacy of the plan, and many inlinential journals are already com- f 
 mitted to it. The essence of this plan is that Government shall establish lines at i 
 first between the principal post-offices, and afterward to other points as fast as may J 
 be consistent with a reasonable economy, until it shall eventually be enabled to send j 
 any letter to its distination by wire if the sender chooses to pay a moderate additional J 
 charge. At a great number of places the same persons could aco as postmasters and | 
 telegraphers; extra expense for offices would not be required ; the right to establish -I 
 post-routes would be invoked to secure rights of way at a very low cost, and thus, 1 
 without interfering with existing lines for telegraph or railroad purposes, the public jj 
 would obtain a separate telegraphic system in no way connected with the jobs of the J 
 stock market, and forever preventing a monopoly in telegraph service. v 
 
 Constitutional objections to this plan are hardly to be considered, since lawyers so J 
 sound and conservative as Senators Edmunds and Sherman have committed them- f.j 
 selves to it. Senator Platt, of Connecticut, also a lawyer of high rank, advocated the 
 same measure very ably, but with the notion that, in order to establish a postal sys- -V 
 tern, the Government would purchase the lines of the existing companies. That plan . J 
 would meet, and ought to meet, a determined opposition. The great merit of Mr. a 
 E dmunds’s proposition is that it secures the country against a monopoly. We want ^ 
 no monopoly in this business, whether in the hands of the Government or of a corpora- || 
 tion. There is safety only in preserving permanently two competing systems, either f 
 of which must depend for its revenues and its very existence upon renuering service / 
 with promptness and fidelity. ^ 
 
 The Government itself absolutely needs a telegraphic system for its own protection. J 
 Tills will not seem the language of exaggeration when it is considered that the or- S 
 dinary enforcement of laws, the capture of offenders, the success of fiscal operations, J 
 the protection of the country against domestic insurrection or foreign invasion have M 
 come to depend in these days upon the instant transmission of intelligence with cer- 
 tain and absolute secrecy. It may at any time come to pass that the private interests H 
 of those controlling a telegraph system shall reipiire the non-enforcement of the law, fl 
 the escape of a criminal, the prevention or delay of a financial operation, or the par- ■ 
 tial success of a domestic outbreak or foreign inroad. It is nonsense to say that this 9 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 207 
 
 can not happen. If Mr. Gould could suppress for a few hours or days news of an out- 
 break on the Pacitic coast, or of the dei)arture of a hostile iron-clad from Euroj)e, he 
 could make millions by it. The Government has no certainty that he would throw 
 away millions. It has no certainty that its orders bearing on great financial opera- 
 tions may not be betrayed and its aims thwarted. When the Government was hunt- 
 ing for star route offenders, how many would have been caught if its dispatches had 
 bet'u secretly betrayed ? An important witness happened to be a Government director 
 of the Union Pacific Railroad, and it has always been a mysterious fact that the of- 
 ficers in search of him could never catch him. The administration has been blamed 
 for that. Who knows that the administration was at all in fault ? On the other hand, 
 a monopoly in the hands of the Government would be equally dangerous to the peo- 
 ple. These is no need of arguing this point — Americans instinctively realize its force. 
 Americans do not mean to give power to any one party in such shape that they shall 
 never have an equal chance to take it back if they choose. Therefore they will not 
 tolerate a Government monopoly of telegraphic service. 
 
 More broadly, the people in their political capacity absolutely need two complete 
 systems. This country needs two parties in order to make the Government pure and 
 healthy. But it will soon be seen that there can not be two parties with a chance 
 of success for either, if there are not two competing telegraphic systems, neither of 
 which can ever buy, absorb, or crush out the other. The Government will have no 
 temptation to earn large dividends on watered stock, and the competition will at all 
 events keep down the charges for telegraphic service to a reasonable figure. 
 
 The main reason for a change is not economy, nor relief from the possibility of 
 strikes; it is the public safety. A double system of telegraph lines, that can never be 
 consolidated, secretly bought up, conducted for stock-jobbing ends, or crushed out in 
 competition, has become a national, public, and political nect^ssity. We do not agree 
 with Mr. Edmunds that the postal system should be constructed little by little. Gov- 
 ernment can sell 3 per cent, bunds at par, and the revenues from the wires will pay 
 the interest as fast as the system can be extended. If there is need, there is need now. 
 If it is the right of the people in their capacity as a nation and as individuals to have 
 their choice of two servants, with respect to secrecy, certainty, and speed, the sooner 
 they have that choice the better. 
 
 [From the Chicago Tribune. 1 
 
 THE 'PURCHASE OF EXISTING LINES WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. 
 
 The discussion of the project fora national telegraph system is broadening every 
 day, and public sentiment promises to be well organized by the time Congress meets. 
 If, then, a man like Edmunds or Logan in the Senate, and Randall, Carlisle, or Holman 
 in the House, shall take hold of the matter, it may be pushed forward to a realization 
 before the end of the next session. 
 
 There are some general principles upon which all the advocates of Government 
 telegraph are ready to agree. One is that the Government shall construct its own 
 lines. Another is that there shall be no attempt at a Government monopoly of the 
 telegraph business. A third is that telegraph facilities shall be added to the existing 
 postal system, just as express facilities were added two or three years ago. 
 
 1. No business principle will indorse, and the sentiment of the country will not tol- 
 erate, the purchase of telegraph lines now in operation at a price corresponding to 
 the aggregate of fictitious capital stock. The capital stock of the Western Union 
 Company is $80,000,000. It has grown abnormally under the influence of irrigation. 
 Its assets are made up in large part of leases, payments made to extinguish competi- 
 tion and intangible manipulations. 
 
 2. There is not the slightest moral obligation upon the Government to buy out the 
 existing companies upon any terms. This is apparent enough from the fact that the 
 Government has never interfered, and nobody would ever think of suggesting an in- 
 terference, with the construction of competing telegraph lines with private capital. 
 Such competition would be too clearly in the interest of the x^eople to admit of Gov- 
 ernment discouragement, if experience had not demonstrated that in private hands 
 it is merely a species of black-mail. If the Government shall build an indei)endent 
 system of telegraph, there will be a guaranty against black-mail, and protection for 
 the public against combination. 
 
 3. It is better in every way that the Government should compete in the transmis- 
 sion of telegraphic correspondence than endeavor to monopolize it. If the men in 
 control of the Government should ever take advantage of its telegraphic facilities to 
 pay excessive salaries to its employes, and to that end charge the public exhorbitant 
 rates, or if confidential communications on business, social, or political affairs were 
 betrayed by the Government service, the people would have the competing private 
 lines to fall back upon, and would prefer to jiay the companies higher rates to make 
 sure of inviolability. In this way comxietition vvould be a wholesome and permanent 
 
208 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 restraint upon the Government and the men in control, as well as upon the private 
 companies. 
 
 4. While the Government’s right to set up a competing telegraph service can not he 
 denied, and while the Government could not justify the purchase of existing lines at 
 the fictitious price represented as their capital stock, it must be admitted that it would 
 be conspicuously unfair for the Government to establish its own system and then use 
 its power to declare a monopoly of the telegraph business. There is no need, and 
 there would be no excuse, for such a course. All the people want is assured competi- 
 tion, which shall furnish the telegraph service at the lowest rate, and a guaranty 
 that electric correspondence shall not be cut off at any time by combinations of cap- 
 ital or by combinations of labor. 
 
 The course for the Government to take in this matter has been completely outlined 
 by the addition of the parcel or express business to the postal system. The machin- 
 ery and the work of the postal service were increased enormously by taking in this 
 new branch of service, but the result has proved that competition in the express 
 business could be furnished to the public through Government agency without in- 
 volving the Post-Office Department in loss, and without driving the express compa- 
 nies out of business. Precisely the same thing may be done with the telegraph. 
 There is a popular demand for it which Congress should recognize at the very next 
 session. No party opposition can be organized against it in reason. In 1882 the ex- 
 penses of the postal service were something more thair$40,000,000, and it was admin- 
 istered at a little profit, which led to the reduction of letter postal to 2 cents. It 
 will be a small matter to add |5, 000,000 a year of expense to the present machinery — 
 and this is about the total amount of salaries and wages paid by the Western Union 
 Company — and the receipts of the telegraph branch of the Department, at low rates, 
 will still make the Department self-sustaining. The undertaking is not nearly S 0 ‘ 
 formidable when looked at closely as it appears to be at first sight. Private capital- 
 ists are not dismayed at a proposition to span the continent with telegraph wires ; 
 certainly the Government, which can borrow money at 3 per cent., need not hesitate 
 to assume an investment of $20,000,000 for the benefit of the people, which is bound 
 to be self-sustaining. 
 
 [From the New York Star.] 
 
 CONSERVATIVE AND WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION. 
 
 It is a significant coincidence that both the World and the Sun had editorials yes- 
 terday morning condemning a postal telegraph, and that both of them presented the 
 same stale objections to that measure, which have been auswered time and again. 
 The style of the two editorials is unlike, but the spirit is the same, as though both 
 were inspired by one person. And as they both represent the interests of the W^'est- 
 ern Union monopoly, contending that it is safer and wiser and better to put the whole 
 telegraph business into its hands than to trust it to the American people, to be man- 
 aged as they manage the postal business, it needs no search with a lantern to dis- 
 cover the person who probably inspired them. But the difference between the two 
 editorials is striking, as though the editor of each paper undertook to venture some- 
 thing beyond his instructions on his own authority. 
 
 The objections pressed by these organs of monopoly have no real force. For in- 
 stance, the World says it will be dangerous to put the telegraph into the control of 
 the Government, because this would ^‘establish a partisan telegraph monopoly,” for 
 “ in the United States, every Federal officer is required to be a political adherent of 
 the party which gives him his position, and to aid it with his vote and his assessment 
 at every election.” Our esteemed contemporary has evidently forgotten that the last 
 Congress passed a bill, which the President signed, forbidding the assessment of any 
 Federal office-holder or employ 6 for partisan purposes under heavy penalties; that Con- 
 gress passed a civil service bill, which the President also signed, under which every Fed- 
 eral officer is not “required to be a political adherent of the party which gives him 
 his position.” It would be well for the World to learn the facts of the situation be- 
 fore it rushes into the whirlpool of controversy. Besides, if the Government control 
 of the telegraph service would be dangerous, because it would be partisan, the Gov- 
 ernment regulation of the telegraph service, which would be equally partisan, would 
 be dangerous also. The World proposes that the same partisan Government which 
 can not be trusted to control the telegraph service — that is trusted to control the pos- 
 tal service, and does the work wonderfully well — shall x>ass laws forbidding the con- 
 solidation of parallel telegraph lines, and “prohibiting the illegal issue of stock, 
 and making the watering process impossible.” It insists that competition is the sole 
 remedy for all the abuses of the present system. Had the editor of that interest- 
 ing paper lived long in the United States, he would know that competition has had 
 its way and day in the telegraph business, and has utterly broken down. The pres- 
 ent state of things has grown directly out of the very comj)etition he clamors for as a 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 209 
 
 reiueuy to the present state of things. The result of the efforts made thus far to pre- 
 vent the consolidatiou of railroad lines and the watering of stock should convince 
 every reasonable man of the futility of trying to prevent the practical consolidation 
 of parallel telegraph lines. The tendency to monopoly in railroad and telegraph cor- 
 porations is ingrained and virtually irresistible. Besides, if the federal Government 
 is so demoralized by its partisanship that it can not be trusted to control the tele- 
 graph service as it does the postal service, how can it be trusted to settle all the in- 
 tricate questions respecting the rights and interests of rival telegraph corporations 
 operating in thirty-eight States and half a dozen Territories? 
 
 We respectfully submit that the World should lose no time in consulting Mr. Gould, 
 the fountain-head of information on all questions which involve the interests of the 
 telegraph monopoly. 
 
 The Sun starts out with the assertion that a considerable number of the advocates 
 of the postal telegraph “seem lately to have become convinced that Government 
 regulation, instead of Government ownership and direct control, will suffice to pro- 
 tect the interests of the people.” It is unfortunate that our contemporary did not 
 take the trouble to mention at least one of the advocates of a postal-telegraph service 
 who has abandoned that idea as impracticable. We know of no such man. Almost 
 every mail brings some paper advocating a postal telegraph which had never taken 
 that ground before. The drift of public sentiment, as shown by the press of the 
 country, is decidedly in favor of a postal telegraph, and the volume of that sentiment 
 is increasing. The Sun has drawn upon its wishes for its facts, and bases an argu- 
 ment on an assumption that can not be supported. 
 
 The striking point in the Sun’s article, however, is that it takes no stock whatever 
 in the World’s project for Government regulation of the telegraph business. It con- 
 cedes that the measure “is more conservative and worthy of consideration” than 
 that of a postal telegraph, but still there are so many difficulties in the way that it is 
 virtually impracticable, and can hardly be discussed until the advocates of the meas- 
 ure agree as to what they want the Government to do. We commend the discreet 
 and energetic skepticism of the editor of the Sun to the somewhat impulsive and al- 
 together too effluent editor of the World. ^ 
 
 The Sun informs its readers that it has already shown that the proposed postal tel- 
 egraph “is one of the most objectionable and dangerous political projects of recent 
 times.” This will be startling news to its readers and the rest of mankind. As that 
 paper has merely repeated in oracular and autocratic terms the forceless, fallacious, 
 and stale objections raised by monopolists against the measure, it is hard to tell 
 which is the more remarkable — the coolness of its assumption, or the absurdity of its 
 claim. 
 
 [From the New York Sun.] 
 
 UNWORTHY OF CONGRESSIONAL FAVOR. 
 
 Neither the plan to buy out tlie existing telegraph companies nor the proposal that 
 the Government shall build new lines and enter into competition with the Western 
 Union and other companies, deserves the least favor from Congress. 
 
 [From the Indianapolis Times.] 
 
 IT WILL PREVENT PARALYSIS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 The business of the country has outgrown e ven the fast mail lines, and the demand 
 is for still more rapid transmission of the mails, and for this rapid transmission the 
 country is dependent upon a private corporation, and the cost is so great that a large 
 proportion of the people are cut off from its use. Again, the people depend upon the 
 press for their news, and the press is absolutely at the mercy of the telegraph com- 
 pany. The company has the power to ruin any newspaper in this land, at any time, 
 by simply changing the rates for dispatches. Papers have been so ruined. A paper 
 can not live without obtaining and publishing the news. It can not obtain the news 
 except by the aid of the telegraph. The company can, when it sees fit, fix a tariff so 
 high that the paper can not pay it, and thus shut it off from obtaining the only thing 
 which makes it valuable property. The Government itself is at the mercy of the 
 telegraph company. 
 
 The Signal Service of the Government has become a necessity in the preservation 
 of property and shipping upon the rivers, lakes, and seas, and for the preservation 
 of human life, and its importance to the interests of commerce is incalculable ; yet in 
 1870 these interests were all jeopardized and the Signal Service brought to a suspen- 
 sion by the refusal of the telegraph company to accept the terms offered by the Gov- 
 ernment. The business of the commercial world has been thrown into confusion 
 
 P T 14 
 
210 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 during the past three weeks by the strike of the operators. But there is still another 
 and greater danger. The telegraphic lines of tliis country are practically in the , 
 hands of one man, and that man a gigantic speculator. He has in his power the only 
 means of instantaneous transmission of news, not only throughout this country, but 
 across the ocean. Having this power, he can at any time, for his own speculative 
 purposes, suppress the transmission of news until the business of the whole country 
 could be paralyzed. 
 
 [From the Davenport Gazette.] 
 
 ITS RESULTS WILL BE BENEFICIAL. i 
 
 If, therefore, such results attend the extension of postal operations and the increase 
 of their service to the people in all directions, what is to hinder attainment of simi- 
 larly beneficent results were telegraphy also included in the functions of the Post- 
 Office Department ? 
 
 [From the Denver News.] 1 
 
 THE ONLY HOPE OF THE PEOPLE FROM EXACTION AND DELAY. 
 
 In this scheme lies the only hope of relief which the people have from such occur- , 
 rences as strikes and such exactions as excessive charges. 
 
 The Government has as much right to forward communications between the peo- , 
 pie by wire as by mail. It is only a different form of the same service. It would be • 
 a saving of millions every year to the business interests of the country if the Govern- 
 ment had a telegraphic service which would forward and deliver messages at cost, as 
 letters and periodicals are now forwarded and delivered. j 
 
 It is quite certain that at the next session of Congress a determined effort will be ' 
 made to secure the establishment of a postal telegraph, and the probability is that it J 
 will prove successful. 
 
 [From the Trenton Times.] 
 
 THE PROJECT IS FAVORABLY RECEIVED. I 
 
 The proposal to establish a postal-telegraph system under the supervision and con- . 
 trol of the Government is being widely discussed and favorably received. The New 
 York Herald deserves the credit of starting the movement. That newspaper, with its 
 accustomed zeal, is feeling the public pulse on the subject and influencing the public 
 mind. 
 
 The second plan is a largely commendable one. The present telegraph service is 
 not satisfactory. Monopoly too largely controls it. This has been made painfully 
 evident during the past few weeks. The striking operators and the stubborn com- , 
 panics have blocked public trade and inconvenienced the people in a thousand ways. . 
 If the Government had lines of its own the strike would have been short lived, if it : 
 had occurred at all. The Western Union would not have dared permit a strike with , 
 the Government in the field against it. 
 
 The postal-telegraph scheme is well worth consideration. The Herald deserves 
 credit for its activity in the matter. 
 
 [From the Newburyport Herald.] 
 
 IT WILL BE CONTROLLED BY THE PEOPLE. 
 
 The Western Union has pursued a policy which has made free competition impossi- 
 ble in the business, and the question is whether there shall be a central power of 
 which Jay Gould is the head, or one where the people can make a change at will. 
 Centralization is not to be stopped by any political party, but it is a question as to 
 whether it is to be of telegraphic and railroad and standard oil monopolists, or of the 
 Government, controlled by the people. 
 
 i 
 
 
 [From the Florida Times-Union.] 
 
 A SELF-SUSTAINING GUARANTY AND SAFEGUARD. 
 
 The establishment by the Government of a system of telegraph lines would be a 
 guaranty against such interruption as the business public has suffered of late, and a 
 safeguard against a worse one which may come when the present manipulators of the. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 211 
 
 telegraph keys have been inveigled into the Telegraphers’ Brotherhood and induced 
 to go “out.” It could be run at rates n erely self-sustaining, and thus, while forcing 
 the private companies to adopt reasonable rates, it would not be a burden on the 
 Treasury. At the terminal and important points the present system of letter delivery 
 could be utilized, thus guarantying prompt delivery of dispatches. It would in 
 reality, as one of our contemporaries has expressed it, be a system of electric letters 
 added to our present system of letters by pen and pencil. Its adoption is sure to 
 come. 
 
 [From the Galveston News.] 
 
 THE ENTIRE BUSINESS WILL BE IMPROVED. 
 
 Private competition could hardly fail to promote accuracy and quickness of trans- 
 mission and delivery and a high degree of general efficiency in the Government branch 
 of telegraph service. Thus the two systems would act and react with checks and 
 stimulants for the improvement of each. There is a strictly analogous case to support 
 the conclusion that private telegraphy and Government telegraphy may exist side by 
 side and each succeed after its fashion. The express companies were not driven out 
 of business when the Post-Office Department undertook a few years ago to transmit 
 merchandise parcels at cheap rates. The private express business was really improved 
 and largely expanded, while its charges were moderated. 
 
 [From the New York Evening Post.] 
 
 THE ONLY REMEDY FOR EXISTING GRIEVANCES. 
 
 This last affair has undoubtedly had the effect of greatly stimulating the demand 
 for Government competition. That this will come before long we have not the slight- 
 est doubt. A larger and larger number of people are beginning to see that Govern- 
 ment competition is the only one which will ever prove effective against the Western 
 Union, and the only remedy for whatever inconveniences arise from having the teleg- 
 raphy of the country in the hands of one corporation. The Western Union has found 
 so little difficulty for many years in destroying competition by buying out competitors 
 that the creation of rival companies for the express purpose of being sold out to it, 
 after a period of fictitious activity and furious denunciation of monopolies, has long 
 been a favorite device of tricky financiers. In fact, the corporation is largely made 
 up of these purchased champions of popular rights. What we need now is a Govern- 
 ment telegraph, in connection with the post-office, to compete with the commercial 
 corporations. 
 
 [From the Brooklyn Union.) 
 
 GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION A NECESSITY. 
 
 The representatives of neither will be able to dodge the issue which the telegra- 
 phers’ strike has forced on the attention of the people — the necessity for Government 
 intervention in a sphere which public convenience and public protection alike make 
 it desirable that it should occupy. Competition has been tried and found wanting. 
 State legislation is impotent to prevent the use of public franchises for private ends, 
 and municipal ordinances, while available for “striking” purposes, are entirely use- 
 less as a protection to the public. 
 
 [From the Sacramento Record Union.] 
 
 IT WILL COUNTERACT EXISTING DANGERS. 
 
 That a system of postal-telegraph lines is one of the early probabilities is the belief 
 of very many earnest friends of postal telegraphy in the United States. With the 
 news avenues — commercial and financial and journalistic — in its control, and the pri- 
 vate correspondence of the people open to its inspection, the private-telegraph com- 
 pany holds the commerce of the country at its will and the people at its mercy. 
 While it may be said the trust in the past has not been violated, there is no positive 
 evidence of that being true; but we do know that the possibility exists of a private 
 corporation of news transmission using its powers to punish enemies, reward friends, 
 and gain information of exceeding financial value to it. 
 
212 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [From the Galveston Xews.J 
 UNFORTUNATE IN ARGUMENTS. 
 
 The New York World is unfortunate in arguments to eornbat the proposition of a ■ 
 Government telegraph service as a safeguard equally against mischiefs of strikes and 
 monopolies. It first protested against the proposition on the gratuitous assumption 
 that it meant simply the transfer of the whole telegraph business from chartered 
 monopoly to Government monopoly. The leading advocates of the proposition hav- 
 ing signified their desire to leave the telegraph field open to private enterprise and ■ 
 private competition, the Vforld is still unsatisfied and insists that a Government tele- 
 graph service as an extension of the present postal system could offer no possible 
 benefits to offset in any degree its great and certain evils. * * * The World pro- 
 fesses to be a Democratic paper of a thoroughgoing sort, but on this postal-telegraph 
 question it has more Republican than Democratic papers to keep it company. The i 
 New Orleans States is among a large and imposing numberof Democratic papers which ; 
 are widely at variance with it. The States holds the exact reverse of the World’s ^ 
 opinion. 
 
 The World, however, has a remedy of its own to propose. “The true remedy for 
 abuses of monopoly in the telegraph as in every other business is in competition,” • 
 says the World. And thus it develops its plan for applying the remedy : 
 
 “ In order to encourage competition we need laws prohibiting the consolidation of 
 parallel lines of telegraph or the increase of capital stock except under stringent re- 
 strictions. In Missouri a provision in the State constitution distinctly prohibits not 
 only the consolidation, but even the pooling of parallel railroads, and does not allow 
 parallel lines to be managed by the same directors. Other States by law prohibit the 
 consolidation of parallel railroads or telegraph lines.” 
 
 The World must be very poorly informed or it would know that the constitutioual - 
 provisions or statutory laws in Missouri, Texas, and other States against the consoli- 
 dation of parallel and competing railroads have been practically ineffectual. Cor- » 
 porations and syndicates have found a way to overcome or circumvent all legal diffi- , 
 culties, and to consolidate and pool to any extent desired by interested and contract- 
 ing parties. \ 
 
 [From the Kansas City Times. ] 
 
 THE TELEGRAPH MONOPOLY. 
 
 Two ways to avoid the evils of telegraph ^^onopoly have been suggested. The first 
 is the ownership of the telegraph lines by the Government. The proposition to that ^ 
 effect has more than a newspaper advocacy. It was gravely maintained in an official f 
 report of the Post-Office Department, and has in its favor distinguished official an- i 
 thority. f 
 
 The late consolidation of telegraph lines and practical monopoly^ of the telegraph ^ 
 business by one company has given new vitality to the question, and another plan f 
 has been proposed — to wit, national legislation prohibiting the consolidation ofparal- 
 lei and competing telegraph lines. The statute of Missouri, applying the principle to ^ 
 railroads, has been quoted in favor of the plan, and its zealous advocacy urged, as if ; 
 the Missouri idea had worked like a charm. 
 
 Our complimentary contemporaries of the East are unfortunate in their illustra- 
 tions, however. Missouri has the statute, but it is of no practical utility. It has 
 been set at naught by the railway companies of the State. Since its enactment whole- 
 sale consolidations of parallel and competing lines of railroad have been effected with 
 impunity. In one instance a line couipetiug with the Missouri Pacific, built witli 
 township subscriptions for the express purpose of competition, was bought by Jay 
 Gould, consolidated, and then destroyed. In another instance two great lines travers- 
 ing the State from east to west were seized by the same hand and placed under the 
 same management. The practice has become so common in Missouri as scarcely to 
 create public concern or to elicit newspaper disapprobation. Why this singular 
 ajiathy ? inquire the advocates of statutory inhibition. The answer to the question 
 introduces us to the infirmities of the the plan proposed. 
 
 The law is not executed. The offi<;ers charged with its execution place themselves 
 umh'r obligation to the railroad companies by accepting their favors and have no 
 heart for the wurk. They are often weak men, and shrink from confronting in the 
 courts the able attorneys of the railroad companies. They are generally politicians, ‘ 
 and fear to antagonize the unified power concentrated in the management of great J. 
 corporations. 
 
 The press also is too often placated with the “ courtesies ” extended, or discouraged 
 by the futility of its protests, and the entire body politic is paralyzed in the presence^ 
 of the power that reiiresents $1100,000,000 in the State and multiplied millions in other \ 
 Slates. Would the general movement be subject to the influences that nullify the w 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH EACILITIES. 
 
 213 
 
 laws of the States ? Would the Congress enact and the national authorities execute 
 the prohibitory law more faithfully than the States? Will the national officials that 
 accept the favmrs, covet the comforts, anti fear the power of the corporations he any 
 more eager to exact the penalties of the laws than the officials of the States? We 
 most respectfully solicit the opinion of the Eastern press on the questions propounded. 
 
 ■* IFrom the San Francisco Post.] 
 
 A GUARANTY OF SECRECY. 
 
 There are patents within reach of the Government of the United States which the 
 Western Union does not control that would reduce the cost of telegraphy to a point 
 w'hich would in great measure supersede the expensive postal system for all pur- 
 poses, and entirely so for commercial uses. For example, it is possible to transmit a 
 fac-simile message almost any distance for a few cents and make a profit, a transcript 
 of which over the Western Union wires would cost as many dollars. Furthermore, 
 there would he a guaranty of secrecy under a postal-telegraph system, which is 
 only measurahly true at present. For these and other reasons^that might he adduced 
 a postal-telegraph system should he estahlished, and if the telegraph operators’ strike 
 does nothing more than compel Congressional action in this direction it will not have 
 been in vain. 
 
 [From the Memphis Appeal.] 
 
 TELEGRAPH REFORM. 
 
 The question of a telegraph service in connection with the post office is widely dis- 
 cussed by the public press, and the outcome of the discussion appears to he as follows : 
 The Government not to buy the present private lines, hut must construct its own. 
 It has the same right to build and operate as corporations have. The GoYcrnment 
 lines should not be a monopoly ; competition would check abuses on the part of the 
 Government and of the cor])orations. The Western Union is a monopoly injurious to 
 the public interest and to commerce. The telegraph lines can be largely extended 
 with advantage, and quick postal communication is wanted to take the place of slow 
 mails. The telegraph should be the po r man’s mail as well as the rich one’s. The 
 l>ostage authorities agree that there would be no important difficulty about adding a 
 telegraph service, the letter carriers delivering the telegrams. The cost will not be 
 great and the service will pay its own expenses, while rates will be lower. The neces- 
 sary service will be appointed, not by the politicians, but under the civil-service rules. 
 The opinion is general that at its next session Congress must take some step toward 
 checking telegraphic monopoly and for the protection and furtherance of general 
 quick communication among the people. 
 
 [From the Rochester Union and Advertiser.] 
 
 THE HEAD OF THE MONOPOLY. 
 
 The same Jay Gould, who acknowledged under oath, in 1873, before a legislative 
 investigation committee, that he contributed money to control legislation in favor of 
 the Erie Railroad in four States, the angregatu amount used for that purpose being 
 proven to exceed $1,000,000, is still unwhipt of justice and free to ply his vocation as 
 the head and front ot the Western Union monopoly. 
 
 [From the Chicago Herald.] 
 
 HEAVY BLOW TO THE WESTERN UNION. 
 
 Mr. Mackay’s interest in the postal telegraph means that he will take an active part 
 in conducting the affairs of the compan 3 \ He always does that. He will prove the 
 wheel horse in details ; the quiet conservative night and day worker that he used to 
 be when he was sinking shaft, driving drifts, openii.g levels, and turning out bul- 
 lion at the rate of $3,000,000 a month. If he makes up his mind that the Western 
 Union lines are to be paralleled they will be, for he can swing $10,000,000 of his own 
 to accomplish it. We look upon tlie securing of Mr. Mackay’s wealth and influence 
 in this enterprise as the heaviest blow the Western Union has yet had. 
 
214 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [From the Austin (Texas) Statesman.) 
 
 WHOLESOME COMPETITION A NECESSITY. 
 
 The Western Union Telegraph Company has unconsciously done more to develop 
 seutiment in behalf of a Government telegraph system than all other agencies com- 
 bined. One thing is settled iu tbe public mind, and that is that there must be whole- 
 some telegraph competition of some sort. 
 
 [From the Washington Sunday Herald.) 
 
 A TEST OP PRACTICAL STATESMANSHIP. 
 
 There is no need to spend space in discussing the question. This is just one of those 
 tests of wise and practical statesmanship that constantly arise and demand to be 
 dealt with. A country that leaves its most vital means of intercommunication, the 
 very nerve of thought, in the grasp of a Jay Gould, deserves to have a strike every 
 week that will paralyze correspondence, railway traffic, governmental operations, 
 and everything else, until it learns sense in the school of experience. Tbe next Con- 
 gress will find no more popular work laid ready to its hands than the blending of our 
 present grand postal system and its proposed electrical extension into one harmon- 
 ious whole. 
 
 [From the New Haven News.) 
 
 NO PURCHASE OF EXISTING LINES. 
 
 No proposition to buy the existing lines of the Western Union will be tolerated by 
 the people. They do not desire to substitute a new monopoly for the old one. They 
 want only to insure a permanent competition which will place them above the mercy 
 of a robber corporation, but at the same time will not restrict them to the exclusive 
 use of the Government accommodations. The telegraph monoply is doomed. 
 
 [From the Boston Globe. 1 
 THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH MUST COME. 
 
 The talk about a postal telegraph continues fast and furious. And, strange to say, 
 the sentiment of the different sections of the country, as represented by the press, is 
 quite unanimous, not only on the main question of the desirability of Government 
 telegraphy, but also on the kindred questions of methods and means. There are a 
 few objectors here and there, bnt it is seldom that the press of the country has been 
 so nearly united upon any question of public importance as it is upon this. 
 
 The main features of a government system, as they are almost unanimously advo- 
 cated by the press of the country, are that the Government shall not buy the Western 
 Union lines, but shall construct lines of its own ; that it shall not have a monopoly 
 of the business, but shall simply be a competitor, and by its low rates compel the 
 lines of private companies to reduce their prices, and that the system shall be made 
 supplementary to the present postal facilities. 
 
 [From tbe Indiana polie Times.] 
 
 AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE. 
 
 The postal-telegraph idea is fast seizing hold upon the people. But few papers 
 oppose it, and they are almost exclusively confined to those who are connected with 
 the Associated Press, the twin sister of the Western Union. In fact, the two have 
 been living in unholy wedlock for years, and it is not surprising to hear the one defend 
 the other. The people would be better served by having au independent Government 
 line. The operation of a private company would make the Government more careful, 
 while the Government being in the field would prevent extortionate rates. The 
 opposition between the Government and the express companies in the transportation 
 of small packages has worked for the good of the people. So it would be in the matter 
 of telegraphy. 
 
 [From the Troy Telegram.] 
 
 GOVERNMENT SHOULD CONTROL THE TELEGRAPH. 
 
 If the telegraph is a valuable adjunct to the postal system let it be a part of it and 
 under Government control, and for the benefit of the people. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 215 
 
 [From the Albany Express.] 
 
 DANGER OP THE MONOPOLY. 
 
 The fact is that the public are now at the mercy of a monopoly, and that there is 
 virtually no private competition in telegraphy because the Western Union has been 
 able to maintain an excessive rate ol charges by its repeated consolidations with com- 
 peting lines. This policy has made Jay Gould the absolute controller of a very large 
 proportion of the correspondence of both the Government and of the people. It is 
 easy to conceive of situations in which the interests of such a capitalist and speculator 
 might induce him to take advantage of exclusive knowledge, obtained by virtue of 
 his ownership of the telegraph, in regard to fiscal operations of the Government, or 
 other wants affecting the value of stocks. In short, the establishment ot a postal 
 telegraph by the Government would probably act as a safeguard against unreasonable 
 charges by a corporation of monopolists in the same way that the canals of this State 
 operate to lessen the charges of the railroads for transporting freight. 
 
 [From the Philadelphia Press.] 
 
 ENCOURAGING INDICATIONS. 
 
 Mr. Mackay is supposed to be exceedingly rich, and his buying into the postal-tele- 
 graph concern has boomed its shares and depressed those of its mighty rival. If the 
 iNevada mines had ceased to pay on account of Mr. Mackay’s investment in them there 
 would be some ground for viewing his association as damaging to an enterprise, blit 
 it is hardly fair to hold him responsible for the exhaustion of the pay rock in the 
 Cou)stock lode. If he still has a considerable portion of the magnificent dividends 
 his mines yielded him in their palmy days, and is willing now to invest what is neces- 
 sary of them to build up a strong rival to the Western Union, there is abundant rea- 
 son why the shares of that overgrown monopoly should take a tumble. 
 
 [From the Providence Press.] 
 
 ANYTHING TO BEAT MONOPOLY. 
 
 If John W. Mackay and Senator Fair, of Nevada, should decide to give the new 
 postal-telegraph company all the financial backing it needs, it will probably extend 
 its wires all over the country, and place itself entirely above all influences of the 
 Western Union Company. Almost anything to break down the present monopoly 
 would be welcomed by the majority of people. 
 
 [From the Chicago Press.] 
 
 SHOULD BE WIPED OUT. 
 
 The Western Union Telegraph Company has made competition impossible. It is 
 such a gigantic and far-reaching monopoly that it has absolute control over the tele- 
 graph business of this whole country. Hence its ability to impose upon the people, 
 and oppress its employes. The Government alone can wipe it out, and this it should 
 do, in the face of recent developments, without the slightest compunction of con- 
 science and in the quickest time possible. A postal telegraph is what the people 
 want, as an adjunct to the Post-Office Department, to be conducted under a similar 
 system. 
 
 [From the Philadelphia Times. 1 
 WHAT THE PEOPLE WOULD GAIN. 
 
 Many of the most widely read and influential public journals have, for the first 
 time, arrayed themselves on the side of Government telegraphy, and the issue prom- 
 ises to be a vital one in the next Congress. If the Western Union can pay dividends 
 on nearly $100,000,000 by sending 35,000,000 dispatches in a year, what could the 
 Government do with a system costing probably one-tenth of the Western Union 
 capital, with no buildings, dividends, or offices to supply? And what would the 
 people gain by the reduction of telegraphy to its legitimate cost, as has been done with 
 the mails? 
 
216 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [From the San Francisco Examiner.] 
 
 ADVANTAGES OP COMPETITION WANTED. 
 
 The Government is restrained by no moral obligation not to compete with a private 
 company. A business enterprise is as open to the Government as to an individual. 
 But in this instance the postal telegraph would be instituted by the Government at 
 the suggestion of the people, and for their use, on the same principle precisely that 
 mail facilities exist. The public system would operate as a check in the way of ex- 
 cessive charges in the private enterprise, and as competition would necessarily spring 
 up the public would get the benefit of it. The Examiner is by no means in favor of 
 a monopoly ot the telegraph system by the Government. We believe that such a 
 condition of affairs would lead to a multitude of evils, not the least of which would 
 be a centralization of power which is too great already. The purpose in view is to 
 supply the people with cheap and reliable telegraph facilities. A public monopoly 
 would be as fatal to this purpose as a private monopoly. What is wanted is the com- 
 peting advantages which wdll result from x>ermanent independent telegraphic facili- 
 ties. 
 
 [From the Atlana Constitution.] 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM. 
 
 The Sun says the Government might as well be expected to engage in the express 
 business as to establish a postal telegraph. The illustration is not an apt one. If the 
 postal service of the country were as perfect as private enterprise has made the ex- 
 press companies the Government would do a large and growing share of express busi- 
 ness through the mails. Even as matters stand hundreds and thousands of valuable 
 packages are carried through the mails, for while the service is not perfect it is rea- 
 sonably sure. Not a day passes that the Government does not compete with the ex- 
 press companies. The truth is a Government postal telegraph w’^ould not only increase 
 the efficiency of the postal service, but woulu effectually dispose of one of the most 
 dangerous monopolies the country has ever seen. But if there are any real arguments 
 against a Government postal telegraph, we should like to see them. If ic is really a 
 movement in the direction of centralization, we should like to have it explained. 
 
 [From the New Bedford Mercury.] 
 
 A CHANCE FOR DEMOCRATIC LEADERS. 
 
 If the Democratic leaders in Congress desire to make their party popular they have 
 one of the best opportunities that ever fell to their lot. The party’s best move now 
 will be to take up the idea of a Government postal telegraph and to carry it straight 
 through Congress at the very first opportunity. The people are all ready for it. 
 They would look upon any reasonable measure to accomplish this end with approval. 
 The party which succeeds in putting the idea into actual practice can not fail to help 
 itself thereby. 
 
 [From the Erie Dispatch.] 
 
 JUST WHAT IS NEEDED. 
 
 A way out of the present telegraphic difficulty would seem to be the establishment 
 of a postal-telegraph system in connection w'ith the mail service over which impor- 
 tant mail matter could be transmitted and at a uniformly low tariff. By the duplex 
 and quadruplex systems — making one wire do in the place of twm or four, according to 
 the kind of instrument used -a moderate number of lines would be sufficient to meet 
 all probable requirements. With the lever of competition, the Government would 
 be able to prevent extortionate rates, compel efficient service, and provide against 
 the business of the country being left at the mercy of a monopoly of its dissatisfied 
 operators. At the same time it would not shut out private enterprise or private 
 capital. 
 
 [From the Mobile Register.] 
 
 SAFEGUARD AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 
 
 There is less danger from the telegraph in the hands of the Government than in 
 private hands. The Government would have no object in misusing it. If they should 
 attempt to turn its power to private and partisan ends the remedy would be with 
 the people. But when Gould and Vanderbilt use this great power to advance the 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 217 
 
 riches of themselves and friends or to destroy the power of a rival the people have 
 no remedy against such tyranny. In the midst of the cotton season a single tick of 
 this private company, instigated hy the money kings of New York, might sweep away 
 in an hour the. hard-earned means of business men all over the South. 
 
 [From the New Haven Palladium.] 
 
 A HIGHLY POPULAR MOVEMENT. 
 
 The movement in snpport of a Government telegraph as a supplement to the postal 
 system has already assumed proportions which practically assures its success, pro- 
 vided its friends relax none of their efforts in its behalf. Many of the leading news- 
 papers of the country have come out in open advocacy of the project, while othere are 
 evidently only waiting until they can assure themselves positively of the popular 
 desire concerning the matter to go with the tide. One of the most noteworthy of 
 recent additions to the ranks of the newspaper advocates of postal telegraphy is Har- 
 l)eFs Weekly, which discusses the subject in a thoughtful way in its current issue. 
 
 [From Harper’s Weekly.] 
 
 ONLY A QUESTION OP EXPEDIENCY. 
 
 The Government conducts the post-office, which is simply ‘^business,” and a tele- 
 graph supplement to the post-office is only a question ot expediency. Such inter- 
 ruptions as those arising from the strike produce not only incalculable inconven- 
 ience, bnt loss, and it is only for the people to decide whether they shall be tolerated. 
 They will be always possible and imminent under the existing conditions of vast 
 counter-organizations of labor and capital. They will become more probable as in- 
 telligent labor becomes more selfishly grasping. But the primary source of the situ- 
 ation is monopoly. To destroy the monopoly is of course to relieve the situation. 
 The sneer that it is not the business of a Government to go into business is only silly, 
 because the Government has gone into business. In the post-office it has often de- 
 liberately gone into a losing business, because the convenience and prosperity of the 
 people are inore important than the cost of the service to the Treasury. A general 
 -Strike of the telegraphs and railways would in a very short time cost the Government 
 and country very much more than the constrnction of a telegraph. The operation of 
 such a work should of course be placed beyond the interference of trading politicians. 
 But it is clear that the expediency of postal telegraphy has become a pressing and 
 important question. 
 
 [New Haven Palladium.] 
 
 THE ONLY SECURITY FOR COMPETITION. 
 
 National legislation forbidding the consolidation of parallel lines of telegraph and 
 the watering of capital stock is suggested by those who oppose a Government tele- 
 graph. The ineffectiveness of legislation to prevent the consolidation of competing 
 railroaus has too often been illustrated to leave any ground for expecting lasting re- 
 lief from this source. As in the past so in the future will corporations and syndicates 
 find a way to circumvent. the law. The only hope is in a competition that can neither 
 be bought off nor consolidated out of existence. The Government can alone insure 
 such competition by constructing a postal telegraph, or, in other words, by supple- 
 menting its present postal system with facilities for electric communication. 
 
 [Lockport Uuion.] 
 
 CONFIDENCE IN CONGRESSMEN. 
 
 The relation of our legislators and Representatives in Congress to corporate influ- 
 ence will henceforth be closely scrutinized, and no lawmaker who indorses a policy 
 that favors the extortion of dividends from the people upon the fiction of watered 
 stocks can hope for their confidence and approval. 
 
 [Waterbary American.] 
 
 THE PLANT WILL BE CHEAP. 
 
 It is comforting to bear in mind that competent witnesses agree that the Govern- 
 .ment can duplicate the telegraph plant of the country for about $25,000,000 ; that a 
 great many influential public men are in favor of the Government going into the 
 telegraph business, and that the number is increasing every day under the education 
 which Western Uuion is unwittingly giving. 
 
218 
 
 POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 [Detroit Free Press.] 
 
 THE MONOPOLY WILL FIGHT. 
 
 What the company would probably do if there were any real danger of a Govern- 
 ment telegraph would be to combat the movement in Congress. And if we can judge 
 anything by the success which wealthy monopolies have had in the past in securing 
 or defeating legislation desired or objected to the company would succeed. 
 
 [Kochester Herald.] 
 
 NO ARGUMENT AGAINST IT. 
 
 The Morning Herald has always said that there could be no legitimate and effective 
 argument against a postal telegraph that was not equally effective against the post- 
 oJBfice system of the country. ^ business of the American Government is 
 
 exceptionally well managed, notwithstanding the everlasting carping of political 
 soreheads and the hobby riders who perpetually affect and express a fear of centrali- 
 zation. The tide is moving strongly in favor of a postal-telegraph system, and after 
 it has once been tried all of the chronic grumblers will not only be satisfied, but will 
 wonder why it was not long before adopted. 
 
 [Oakland Transcript.] 
 
 IT WILL BE BENEFICIAL. 
 
 The recent interruption of public business in consequence of the telegrapher’s strike 
 has awakened renewed interest, but the azoic men are abroad suggesting all kinds 
 of difficulties and obstructive barriers to a successful development of the scheme in 
 this country ; but all these ugly mountains have been crossed in other lands where 
 the love of law, equity, and justice is as strong as here. Within a few days past, 
 while the obstructionists were busy trying to persuade the people that England had 
 a big elephant on hand, she has been reducing telegraph rates to a minimum. It is 
 no experiment. The scheme has been thoroughly tried and proved a success. If a 
 postal telegraph is a big thing in England, is found to save time and expense where 
 railroads can carry the mail from one border to the other in a few hours, how much 
 more beneficial in a country so vast as ours, where the best locomotive in the world' 
 could not pass from one extreme to the other in less time than a week. 
 
 [San Francisco Post.] 
 
 DESTINED TO BE A RIVAL. 
 
 A dispatch from New York states that John W. Mackay has become a large stock- 
 holder in the Postal Telegraph Company and been elected president of the company. 
 The Postal Telegraph Company is so named because it is its intention to do business 
 after post-office methods — that is, it will issue stamps of certain denominations to be 
 affixed to dispatches. It is a strong concern and possesses a system which enables it 
 to transmit messages much more rapidly and cheaply than can be done by the meth- 
 ods used by the other telegraph companies. It owns the patent for the compound 
 wire, the Gray multiplex, and the Leggo automatic. It can send as many as nine mes- 
 sages at one time each way over a single wire. The compound wire possesses many 
 advantages over ordinary wire, and by the automatic facsimile messages can be trans- 
 mitted. It is destined in time to be a great rival to the Western Union, and its stock 
 is in such shape that it can not be sold out to that or auy other company. 
 
 [Adrian (Mich.) Times.] 
 
 EXPECTED BY THE COUNTRY. 
 
 A trade assembly in Chicago a few nights ago passed this resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That we demand of the American Congress the establishment of a postal- 
 telegraph system on a self-supporting basis, that the business men may transact their 
 business through a rapid system of communication at an expense founded on the act- 
 ual cost of conducting the system, and not be subject to delay by strikes or be dis- 
 criminated against by unscrupulous capitalists. 
 
 The fact is, the postal-telegraph system is soon to come, and the political parties 
 will not long wait to commit themselves in favor of a measure so fast becoming popu- 
 lar with the people. 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 219 
 
 [New Orleans Times-Democrat.] 
 
 THE PROJECT GROWING STRONGER. 
 
 The agitation in favor of a.postal telegraph is evidently gaining rather than losing 
 strength. There seems to be a general feeling throughout the country that something 
 must be done to provide Sbhonajide opposition to the Western Union comiiany. 
 
 [New York Star.] 
 
 LEGISLATURES ASK FOR IT. 
 
 There is a great deal of significance in the action of the New Hampshire State leg- 
 islature which has just passed a joint resolution advocating the establishment of a 
 postal telegraph. Since the recent telegraph strike began the ablest and most influ- 
 ential newspapers in the country have indorsed the position long ago taken by the Star 
 on this subject. They indicate the unmistakable drift of public opinion. Other State 
 legislatures will in turn cast their weight into the scale with New Hampshire, and 
 there is no reason to doubt that Congress will before long approve the project and 
 vote the necessary funds to inaugurate it. 
 
 [Davenport (Iowa) Gazette.] 
 
 OPPOSITION PUERILE. 
 
 It has taken a long and weary time to even start the discussion of a postal-telegraph 
 system in this country, but now that it is started the fact that the troubles of the re- 
 cent telegraph companies are now over will not quiet it nor diminish the favor in which 
 it is held by a large and respectable portion of the public. The discussion has been 
 the means of closely drawing the line between that portion of the public press which 
 is on the side of the people and that which is on the side of the monopolists. The 
 atguments which have been adduced against a postal telegraph have with one or two 
 exceptions been of an exceedingly puerile nature, and unworthy of serious refutation. 
 
 [PittHburgh Dispatch. | 
 
 A MATTER OF NATIONAL POLICY. 
 
 The Government postal-telegraph idea is clearly one that will not down. The mat- 
 ter has been brought so distinctly to the people through the medium of the telegraph 
 strike that the question of policy becomes one of the important topics of the time, 
 and its consideration in Congress, which seems almost certain to take place at the 
 coming session, will be listened for eagerly by an interested people. It will not be 
 surprising if the discussions of the coming Congress upon this point occupy many 
 days of the session, and it is certain that the combination of capital monopolizing most 
 of the telegraph facilities of the country will make a bitter fight. There are two 
 strong sides to the question of establishing a Government line of telegraph wires. 
 There is no doubt as to which is the popular side. The public will recognize the utter 
 impossibility of conducting a service of such character as that of the United States 
 mail by private capital, and who are aware of the firmness and solidity of the national 
 banking system, are fully prepared to believe that the Government can successfully 
 conduct a telegraph department and relieve the country from such dangers to business 
 as have lately prevailed and threatened. 
 
 [Richmond Dispatch.] 
 
 COMMERCE DEMANDS IT. 
 
 The chamber of commerce of Richmond will soon, we suppose, pass upon the ques- 
 tion recently submitted to it by the chamber of commerce of New York City — namely, 
 whether the former chamber of commerce agrees with the latter in favoring a national 
 telegraph system to be owned and under the control of the General Government. Since 
 wahold that the adoption of a national system of telegraphs, to be owned and con- 
 trolled bj the Government, is unavoidable, and therefore can not be prevented by dis- 
 cussion, it is not necessary from our point of view to discuss the subject exhaustively. 
 .We appreciate its dangers, foresee its benefits, and are prepared to accept the latter 
 and to try to avert the former. 
 
220 
 
 POSTAL TELEGPtAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 [Galveston N’ews.] 
 
 THE RATE TO BE UNIFORM. 
 
 John W. Mackay has been made trustee of a majority of the stock of the Postal 
 Telegraph Company. He intends to have a nuiform rate of 1 cent per word to all 
 ])oint8 reached, and to sell stamps for various amounts, which can be affixed to any 
 message. 
 
 [Brooklyn Union.] 
 
 THE RESULT WOULD BE SATISFACTORY. 
 
 The proposition that Congress should pass a law prohibiting, under heavy penalty, 
 the leasing or consolidation by one telegraph company of any competing line, is 
 not likely to bring about such satisfactory results as would the establishment of a 
 Government telegraphic system, to be managed under the regulations of the civil- 
 service reform act. 
 
 [Buffalo Express.] 
 
 THE RAPID company’s INJUSTICE. 
 
 The action of the Rapid Telegraph Company toward its operators and toward the 
 public seems to have been worse even than that of the Western Union, and, indeed, 
 about as bud as could be. First it refused an increase and let its men strike, instead 
 of taking advantage of the opportunity to cut into the big company’s business, and 
 establish itself, as an honest new line would have done. Next, when the pressure 
 of business that could not be forwarded made things uncomfortable for Western 
 Union, the Rapid gave in to the men and resumed business, taking the precaution, 
 however, to i)ut up its theretofore low rates io the Western Union standard. The 
 Rapid’s opening relieved the strain on Western Union and helped that monopoly to 
 weather the strike. Now the Rapid announces that it will cut wages down to the 
 old standard before the strike ; but it does not say a word about reducing its tariff to 
 the old rates. It looks as if the Rapid had been playing the part not of a rival, but 
 of a tender to Western Union. 
 
 [Indianapolis Times.] 
 
 IT WILL BE INDEPENDENT. 
 
 A postal telegraph will not breed conspirators nor corruptionists. The operators * 
 will be just as intelligent, just as loyal, under Government employ as under Jay 
 Gould, and far more happy, independent, and contented. \ 
 
 [Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, j ] 
 
 A NEW ORDER OF THINGS. 
 
 The cable company which is to operate in connection with the Postal Telegraph 
 Company may prove very troublesome to the old companies and the Western Union. 
 The latter company has guarantied to the existing cable lines 5 per cent, for ninety- 
 nine years on $65,500,000 of stock. The new company has contracted $2,500,000 or 
 the immediate laying of a cable, and another at the same price in eighteen months. 
 Besides this advantage from lower capitalization, the couipauy controls patents issued 
 on inventions made since the Western Union contracts with the cable companies were 
 made, by which sixty words a minute, instead of twenty as at present, can be sent 
 over the cables. The tariff proposed is 25 cents a word, which will be low enough to 
 make it very uncomfortable indeed for the established order of things. 
 
 [St. John (N. B.) Sun.] 
 
 IT IS THOROUGHLY POPULAR. 
 
 Another and probably more popular proposal is uot that the Government should 
 take sole control of the telegraph service of the country, but that it should erect and 
 run a competing service in connection with the postal system, and thus preserve all 
 the advantages of competition and possibly avoid some evils which might be insepa- 
 rable from an entire Government control. It is argued that in this way a service 
 
POSTAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES. 
 
 221 
 
 could be given at a small expense to all the principal places, and that this could be 
 gradually extended until it should be co-extensive with the postal service. The pub- 
 lic would still have the choice of patronizing the Government or the company sys- 
 tem, and, as there could be no collision between the two, a healthy competition could 
 be secured. The company would be obliged to cheapen rates and be prompt in busi- 
 ness, and keep in employment capable and satisfied servants ; and if at any time a 
 strike did occur on the company’s line, the people would not be without a competent 
 and complete means of communication. There is no doubt at all but that this matter 
 will be forced upon the attention of Congress, g,nd little doubt but that action on one 
 of the two above-mentioned lines will be undertaken, which wdll be determined by 
 the progress of the discussion ; but the weight of opinion, as so far expressed, seems to 
 be in favor of Government competition. The question does not press quite so strongly 
 upon us in Canada, but it is a growing and important one. It has already received 
 some discussion in the press and will very probably soon enter the arena of parlia- 
 mentary deliberation. 
 
 [Albany Times. ) 
 
 NOT THE GOVERNMENT LINE. 
 
 A great deal is said lately about the Postal Telegraph Company, which should not, 
 by the way, be confounded with the Govern meut telegraph scheme. The postal is 
 simply a private enterprise, with fair prospects of success, and these are because of 
 certain improvements which it controls. These improvements are strong proofs that 
 telegraphy is only in its infancy, and that the time is coming, and near at hand, when 
 all except the most trivial corresyiondence will be done by electricity. 
 
 [Rome Sentinel.] 
 
 THE GRINDING WESTERN UNION. 
 
 Dr. Green makes the following remarkable declaration : “As I told General Eckert 
 this afternoon, the several hundreds of thousands of dollars which have been lost in 
 the strike I regard to be the best financial investment made by the company. Here- 
 after General Eckert tells me that he will get one-third more w^ork out of a man fora 
 day’s services, and the economy of such a step will retrieve the loss in less than six 
 months.” How much the strike has cost the Western Union there is no finding out ; 
 but whatever the amount may be, the bold assertion that it will be made up, say, by 
 .January 1 next, by the simple process of getting 33^ per cent, more work out of 
 the operators, wdll go very far toward proving much which the strikers alleged in their 
 notices to the public. One-rhird more work is what is written, and the Western Union 
 is not the sort of concern to let go its grip on any such a percentage of increase. If 
 w’e suppose the loss to the company during the strike was $500,000 in round numbers ; 
 if, as asserted, it can be made up in six months, then in another six months there 
 will be in the treasury $500,000 clear profit, and so on at the rate of $1,000,000 a year 
 till such time as this sort of unscru])ulou8uess is brought to a halt by methods the 
 future must bring forth. 
 
 [Macon (Ga.) Telegraph.] 
 
 PEARS OP A GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY. 
 
 It comes from Atlanta that the legislature contemplates instructing the Congres- 
 sional delegation to move lor the establishment of a postal-telegraph service by the 
 Government. A monopoly run by an individual or a syndicate is bad enough ; a 
 Government monopoly must prove a great deal worse. 
 
 [New York Herald, September 6, 1883.] 
 
 “let the GOVERNMENT BUY US OUT.” 
 
 The Sun believes the proposition to establish a Government telegraph line as an 
 adjunct to the Post-Office “preposterous,” “ hasty and ill-considered,” and not to be 
 entertained. 
 
 To all that Mr. Jay Gould in his interesting testimony before the Senate Labor Com- 
 mittee yesterday said, “ Me, too.” 
 
 The Sun adds : “ The Government would, we suppose, have to buy the existing lines. 
 These could not compete with the Government, and would have to sell or go under. 
 The bitterest opponents of Mr. Gould would hardly wish that all the other 2,599 stock- 
 holders of the Western Union should lose the value of their stock that he might be 
 more effectually plundered. Mr. Edmunds will have to discuss that question.”