The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-09-10

one cable is silent the other will be In working
condition, and in q few days, at tho worst, com
munication can be resumed. II Is in this aspect
that the last achievement of the Gredf E1stern
is OF so great importance. II guarantees the
permaneDce of ocean telegraphy, and therefore
deserves the worlds applause hardly less than
the splendid success which assured its pos
slbilty.
The management of the cable, as a business
enterprise. has been short-sa hted ana improU-
dent. Capable OF being financial success trOm
the dav the Great Edstern landed the shOre-end
at Hearts Content, il has, nevertheless, been
financial failure. The receipts OF the CaOe
Company have not been suiilclent to support 1t.
Twenty (2O) messages day will not maintain
cable 1000 miles long. The cause OF this tinan-
cial failure is obvious. Charging gold dollar
for every letter sent through the WIRE, the Com.
Dauy have pTacnCally driven away hundreds of
messages from their offices; made it impossible
for all but the great news papers of New York to
employ it literally; and forced the commercial
public to con blne Ior the transmission OF des-
patches containing C0mmerc ial news; whereas,
with lower rates, many houses would have pre-
ferred to send more numerous dispatches each
tor It's own exclusive benefit.
In fact the Cable Company have conducted
their business precisely as if they had no cont.
dence in its permanence. Having expended
very large sums IN the pro secuuGn of their
splendid enterprise, they seem to have tn ought
il necessary to make everything bend to the
object OF gettiug back their money in the short
est possible time. FoolIshly supposing that
even at the enormous charge of gold dollar
for each letter, the cable would be occupied
day and night tUr every instant of the twenty
iour hours, they have found it left idle in their
hands for much the greater part of the twenty
tour hours. And, iustead of lowering their
rates I'LL the cheapnCss OF its use did insure its
being Kept busy day and night, they have main.
tanned them at u figure at which the general
public will not use IL at all If they had had
confidence in its permdnenCe, we take II for
granted that, instead OF endeavoring to get back
a = EI-
Bile; instead OF endeavoring to make the hrst
few mon tbs business pay Its prime cost, they
would have treated their money spent as an in
vestment upon which they were to get hand
some but fair Interest-such as lower rates and
constant use of the line would have insured to
them.
The success of the Great Eastern in recovering
the piece and laying the remainder of the cable
OF 1865 should enllghten the directors OF the
Cable Company on this point, and, while assur-
ing them the permanence OF their enterprise,
assure them also OF the stability and perma-
nence OF the investment OF money which their
enterprise has cost. Their rates should now be
lowered so as 10 pay them good interest upon
their capltal and, indeed, II their purpose is 10
recover the capital they have SUNK, this is the
quicker way. The present rates will never pay
such an interest, much less will they return
them their capital.
Another blunder of the Cable Company is in
charging double rates or messages IN cipher.
Nobody VINO understands the telegraph busi-
ness, or indeed who mderstan Is human nature,
neeus to be told that no message conveying
important commercial news affecting the
MAJ kers can be sent from Valentia to London,
or from Hearts Content to New YORK, without
being stolen upon the way, unless 1t be sent in
cipher The telegraph companies should not be
blamed for this until they can find operators,
agents, and employees all uncursed by the talnt
OF original SIN, tor so long as wires can be
tapped, or telegraph operators Drbed, no com
mercial message out OF which money can be
made is sale, unless III cipher. Who would
oil
in an open letter to-day? Nobody would
think OF IT. Seals and envelopes were hardly
sufficient 10 protect such news in the days
when telegraphs we're unknown. Ciphers
were used III letters by Government ministers
and by merchants then, as they are tele-
grams now. 1t would lot have been more
absurd to charge double postage then than 1t
is TO charge double rates now Tor the use OF
cipher. IL is the business OF telegraph com.
panieS to carry messages hither and thitner
with speed and accuracy. IL Is a narrow
minded and absurd policy for them TO endeavor
10 force their customers into sending longer
messages than they wash 10 send, or to dictate
the language III which they shall be couched,
or to require that they and their operatives
shall be taken INTO their customers confidence.
Higher rates Tor cipher messages signify one
OF the other of these abSurdlties The Cable
Company and all other telegraph companies
Will nnu themselves contending against Law
no less universal than that OF "the line OF least
resistance (the law which water ObeyS in
choosing its easiest path Gown hil), il they
contend against the efforts OF those who use
their lines to get the most Information carried,
pTivily, ior the least money, whether by the
use OF ciphers or by the combination of those
" no want the same message, to pay the tele-
graph traction OF the cost OF sending 1t once,
instead oil the cost OF sending 1t twenty or a
hundred times. The telegraph, like the post
ONCE, can obtain increased revenues by lncreas-
ing the number of those who haDltually use
| them, not by imposing high prices or conditions
| upon those who use them.
The English and Continental press have not
| yet walked up to the uses of the cable. Far
! behind American journals in other sorts of
enterprise, they are equally behind us in this.
! Tie news they procure from America by the
! cable is meagIe; and while the World, and other
| New York journals, daily have a cOlumn, more
| or less, of interesting telegIaphic news from all
! parts of the Od World, the London Times con-
| tents itself and its readers with two or three
lines, stating nothing more than the price OF
cotton and Flve.tWenues, or such a TACT AS the
| adjournment OF Congress.
The Radicals and Negro Suffrage.
| From the World.