The New York herald., 1868-02-10

plans with fcgaru TO Italy mas become neceB-
sary.
Tho ToIe9rcph, and tho Prcss-Impotcncy
Of Monopoly.
/ The attempt Of a single company 10 buy up
all the telegraphslines in the country, and by
this means to create monopoly in the
business of telegraphing all over the United
States. would probably never have been made
but for tho erroneous supposition' that the
newspaper press is wholly dependents upon its
telegraphic news for it's success, and asia conse-
| quence could be Influenced, if not entirely
controlled, by any association that might
| succeed in getting this means of comlnnnica-
| tion into lis own hands. more faNacious
idea never misled men of ordinary business
| intelligence. The telegraphic news published
in the columns of the daily journals is simply
one, and by no means the greatest. Of the
many features that go 10 make up the interest
and Importance Of newspaper. Money
articles, stock quotations, local news, the
intelligent discussion of the political issues OF
tho day, court proceedings and many other
topics combine to make the daily press a
necessity to the community. Abova all, a
widely circulated Journal is most valuable
as an advertising medium. It brings
buyers and sellers of all descriptions of
property into direct communication with
out the intervention of agents or third parties;
it enables thousands Of persons to Obtain en-
ployment without the slow process Of seeking
1t through personal application; and it affords
everybody who is in want o. help, Of houses,
Of goods or property Of any kind, to procure
just what he requires without difficulty or
delay. paper with large advertising patron
age and extensive circulation is the greatest
conceivable boon to business community,
and would be of priceless value even though
no single item of telegraphic news should ever
appear in its columns.
Is is true the telegraph Is valuable when the
enterprise and capital Of journalism employ
it ms means Of laying the latest and most
| important intelligence before its renders but
there is no more reason on this account for
supposing that the telegraph possesses the
| ability to control and coerce the press than
there is for imagining that the Stock Exchange,
| from which. quotations are obtained, or the
courts, from which law news erassnates, possess
a similar power. A telegraphic monopoly
may impose upon the newspapers as well
as upon the general public by adopting
an exorbitant tariff; but the press could
readily remedy this evil, shonld il grow TO an
unbearable magnitude, by investing portion,
of its vast capital in constructing lines of its
own from one end Of the Union to the other.
Thus, the Western Union Telegraph Gem
pany, in supposing that 1t was the master: Of
the press, has shut Its eyes and run, Its
stupid head against = stone wall. II imagined
that because ii had secured a monopoly of the
telegraphic business over great portion Of
the country it could, therefore, control all the
newspapers of tho United States and impose
upon the public without fear Of exposure or
rebuke. But 1t now begins to discover its
error and to find that the press il independent
Of its influence. The enormous amount of
capital represented by the company, in conse-
quence Of its purchase Of all manner OF worth
loss lines and broken down speculations, has
necessitated tariff exogbitantly high; and
this has SO restricted the business of telegraph.
ing that, even al its extravagant charges, the
line has not been made to pay. Hence the
attempt on the part Of the "outs" among the
stockholders to sell the company to the gov.
ernment OF the United States, turn adrift the
present management and put nice opium
into their own pocke!s But this is not all
The press has very properly exposed from
time to time the impositons Of the Western
Union monopoly, and this has had tho effect t
strengthen and extend the opposition line
until they now reach the most important points
throughout the United States. The beneff
which the public have derived already from
the establishment Of those independent line
: may be gathered from comparison o
the tariff to = few leading places under th'
monopoly Of tho Western Union and at th'
present moment To Boston the monopoly
rate from New York was sixty cents, while thu
present rate Is thirty cents. The opposition
: has reduced The tariff from this city to Bangor
( Maine, from 81 20 to sixty-6ve cents to Port
D land, from ninety cents to fifty cents to Pnila
+ deiphlo, from forty cents TO twenty-five cents
to Baltimore, from seventy cents to tbirty-nv
4 cents to Washington, from scventy-6ve cent
: to forty cents; to Augusta, from 81 20 =
J. sixty cents to Cincinnati, from 81 80 to 81
8 to Albany, from fity-Rve cents TO forty cents
! to Syracuse, from scventy-nve cents to aft
{ cents; 70 Buffalo. from soven:y-0ye cspb !