The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-04-15
The Telegraph Lines Under Government
Mana cement.

The British Parliament has now before it
bill providing that the telegraphs throughout
the British empire shall be put into the hands
of the government, just as the Post Office De-
partment is, and conducted upon the same
principle, so that uniformity of price for the
transmission of dispatches shall be observed
and private monopolies suppressed altogether.
If this design is carried out-and no doubt it
will be-there will have been no movement
made in later years so conducive to the in
terests of civilization or so favorable to the
free expansion of intelligence. All govern
ments will be compelled very soon to adopt the
same system; for the advantages are so apparent
That, like the improved postal system, it will
become necessity. 1t is especially the in
terest as well as the duty of this government
to assume control of the telegraphs and asso-
ciate them with the Post Office Department,
regulating the price of messages to a fixed
standard and very much lower figure than is
now charged by the private telegraph compa-
mics, which is exorbitant. At present the use of
The telegraph is heavy tax upon the public. 1t
ds an unnecessary tax, too for under the man
;agement of the government the cost could be
reduced more than one-half. Suppose that the
Post Office business was entrusted to private
companies, does any one believe that letters
could be transmitted at the present rate? Not
at all. The cost to the public would be three
times as much as the government can afford to
charge and do the business efficiently.
The government should buy up and take the
management of all the telegraph lines under
dts own control. A department might be
created under the title, for example, of the
Post Office and Telegraph Department, super
INTENDED by scientific men; and no one could
lbe found more competent to place at the head
of the telegraph branch than Mr.. Morse, who
was the first to put the system of telegraphs in
practical operation. He is an old man, to be
sure, but age has brought him wisdom and
experience. He is still hale and hearty and
has quite life enough in him to set the new
system in motion and make the machine run
smoothly. He is just the man for the position.
The government should direct its attention at
once to this matter. No more popular move
ment could be devised. 1t would settle all the
difficulties which embarrass the present tele-
graph system, would liberate the press from
the trammels which the bad management of
the telegraph companies impose upon it, and
would afford the people a mode of communica-
tion all over the country-from San Francisco,
and St. Louis, and Chicago, and New York
at uniform price upon the same plan as our
postal arrangements now operate. In the hands
of the government it would not be necessary to
realize enormous profits, which the private COM
panies require to pay dividends. 1t would be
sufficient to pay the expenses, and that could
be easily accomplished under proper manage
ment There is no movement more progressive
or more valuable in the system of government
or as channel for widespread intelligence thar
that of concentrating the management Of al
the telegraph lines throughout the country in 9
department of the government at Washington