, 1866-03-02


NUMBER 271.
| poses. It Is perhaps known to many that
almost the whole Of the telegraph tines aEr
| consolidated into ostensibly two glaut con
| Germs, the "Western Union" covering
the western lines, the 's American
Telegraph Company corerinz the
stoeEholders own INTO each to such @ M an exts6t @
as to make them virtually ono, nnd one that
/ rules despotically. precludes all lateral COL
nectfons, fixes Its o,yn tariff, aud, according
| to the authority Of Mr. Prescott, will let no
one but the Associated Press, another giant
monopoly, send my special despatch or news
Albany. As these two companies do not
traverse each others ground, as the Associa-
! ted Press uonopolfze5 both, there Is no bcnc-
dt Of competition here, which Is the only
ground On which the claim for leaving the
telegraph to private enterprise Is reposed.
It Is sealed against 1t as much as Brigham
Young's heaven against 4 rebellious wife.
Nov, mark the result. It vas estimated
IN 1861 that there were nifty thousand miles
oftelegTaph tn the United States, Of which
perhaps thirty thousand miles were In the
loyal States. These thirty thousand miles,
1t [t-.CV pEl AllEs HUll4 I1fc CU3L p41o34.u14.
There has, perhaps, been no very extensive
addition made since then, except the line to
the Pacific, say two Thousand miles, which
even at an enhanced price Of say $3.50 per
mile would hare cost SD0, 600. This gives 4
total Of little more than sa,0o, 900, yet, it re.
represented as fifty million capital stock,
on whict the most enormous dividends are
show.
Mr. President, do not. profess to be IN
expert In telegraplic uiatters, and therefore
that will not he questioned. hold in my
hand the latest and fullest publication On the
subject. being WORK by George B. Prescott,
Superintendent Of the Electric Telegraph
lines, rublshcd in Boston In lS0o- It's statc-
Iwish to show, therefore, what the cost Of
construction Of these lines Is. On page 270
bio gives the following as the prica OF mate
rfals used and expense Of erection per mile:
No. iron wire, IA cents per pound. 99 pounds
per mile .---......-..-..-...---. $2t6J
20 posts at 81 cea.s....--.........-. ...... 2L0O
30 1nsulaors At 20 tents-......--... ..--... 500
Setting posss rcF mile -...--....:........ 5-pI
Total cost per mile. iie....-..........,......< <et 50
This Is about the cost Of construction Of
majority of our lines.
Il additional wires are added each wire put mp
NVAAA ~1 fV4 A4+AGsss Tls-3V
The cost Of Instruments, batteries, DC, IS as
follows:
Morse register. SD.90
Morse Eeiay magnet. e'..-.................... 1lG0
heF.: ..-....-.....-.-. 1e9
Local battery. ...-.....-.. ................., AGO
s3aO0
Now, let rs see what The cost of . line Of
telegraph, with say six wires from Washing
ton city to New York, that is 9a0 miles,
would amount to at those prices:
Sss q W. !. e. ps9 s t;;i
1eo a. GIove @ s,iieir i si::6:: 49,: " isS$
3ss,ols.oo
Telegraphs properly constructed, the tim
ber we'll prepared aud wire protected, will
last for twenty years. It may be fairly set
down, then, that net profit Of ten per cent
ontlay to the Government.
Salaries of at Washington Net CITY, 9eS
Incilental expense, stationary, 6c....... a0oa.0o
Total expense pet apunn,. ss5 o. %
turc, help, DC, and it being believed that way
stations will support themselves by their local
business, this estimate Is confined to the
operation Of q throngh line.
OF the capacity Of such A. line to transmit
messages 1t may be said that much depends
the skill Of the operator. Thus the work Of
Mr.. Prescott states that the ",Batn'' instr,1-
mcnt will transmit orer fire thousand words
an hour, TIC *IIouse'' three thousand words,
the Combination" system two thousand
words, and the 9 Morse'' about the same.
general use, aud, to use his own language-
..An ordinarily expert ope.stor can easily irars
nit two thousand words an hour by 1t. and those
we'll skilled much more. Mr.. Darrett, one OF The |
ra'e Of tstntyeighr hundred words an houz, partly
nat and = :, he rate Of nuaFed
The capacity Of a line sucl, as that from
Washington city to New York, withsix wires
and working only half the time, or twelve
hours, ut an average speed of two thousand
words, may be thus set forth:
61H < 1900 sa5-53, 550, 900 words per
annnm.
It becomes evident, therefore, that this
number Of words, flity-two million five h1m-
drcd and sixty thousand, divided into the
minimum cost Of opentlns the line; 81, ,GH:-
so, will give the charge per word At which
ont eona oo! % tha Pu1c tcs
in about one-twentieth Of cent word, or
twenty words for cent, o, sixty words for
three cents, the erst of a postage stamp. The
average Of business letters, however, will not
exceed sixty words, so that from this simple
calculation 1t Will appear that the telegraphic
cuce mny be made as Inexpensive as The pres
ent postal rates. In other words, the post
olllce on wire VIII be cheaper than tile post
office On rail. =. =
Take another view Of this subject In con-
nection with the same data. Compare what
might be the low price md vast diffusion OF
Telegraph facilities with the high rates aud
close monopoly TINT now obtains, Recall the
AEuTes Illustrating the cost Of construction
and operating line from New York to Wash
in.ton:
Cost OF construction, s5s So operating cx-
Renss PEI a1nu, 1nsr' ~ 9 capacity OF
Those flity-otld million words, at the adyer-
tised rates put up in the offices, that is from
Washington city to New York city, seventy
tlve cents Tor the first ten words and sl1 cents
word for every subsequent one, would give
q, ,5GQ, ,00016 2,15S, $1,000, or more than
three million dollars act income On M invest
B,ent OF less tbaa eighty thousand dollars
cash. submit whether the public have not
right to be protected by Government against.
so enormous 2 ta1atfon on Its rigattnl postal
facilities for telegraphs ere nothing else. It is
believed that the, enormous increase Of bust
ness that would result from reducing the
price BY post Office telegraph lines to mini
mum Wonid keep nil such lncs worked to
their full caFacity. On the other hand, 1t Is
admitted that tie present lines are not work
ed 10 their full capacity, and do not get re-
turns 20 dispropoEtionate as those jus. shown |
because theirs IS policy of limited business
III conclusion, have oulE to remark that
as the expiration Of the patents which cover
the principal Instruments used will soon oc
CUT, t136S, be1feve,) and a. the modes Of |
transmission now meet the requirements Of
the postal scryfce-prin.ed dispatches by the |
<sFEnusaS EYEt0fn f3r. kfnffa h1r,t1u