The New York herald., 1868-08-17
Tue Telegraph Businsss-Abuses of the
Western Union Monopoly.

graph company. The honest cost of construc-
ton Of line, with the best posts, wire and
equipments, Is, at liberal estimate, two hun
dred and fifty dollars mile. Calling the
working expenses, interest upon investment
and depreciation altogether forty per cent OF
the gross receipts, and taking as a basis OF
calculation the business now done by the
Western Union, a line of that capacity would
yield net dividend upon the capital stock of
twenty to thirty per cent. Yet in the face of
these facts we find the stock of company that
has swallowed up nearly all opposition and that
enjoys monopoly to most points in the United
States selling at thirty per cent on the dollar
in deprecated paper, which makes its actual
value about twenty-one, and paying a dividend
of two per cent per annum when it pays any at
all. At the same time we find also that the
rates of telegraphng are raised to so exorbi-
tant an amount that the masses of the people
are excluded from the use of this now indis-
pensabe mode of communication, which, in
stead of being great public benefit, has be-
come an instrument Of undue power in the
hands OF capital
The reason Of these evils is obvious. The
Western Union Telegraph line, which now
nearly monopolizes the business, is neither
honestly constructed nor honestly managed. 1t
is fraud and swindle upon it's face. 1t pur-
ports to have capital of forty million dollars ,
but the capital has been swelled to nearly four
times its legitimate amount by watering the
original stock and buying up competing lines
lines that had no existence at all. This policy
has been the work of the inside ring of mana
gers, who have thus robbed the numerous small
stockholders and original investors in the seve-
raj consolidated lines and put. the money into
their own pockets. The actual value of all the
lines and assets of the company represented
by this bogus capital Of forty millions is, in
fact, less than thirteen million dollars. The
men who have by such sharp practice turned
the United States lines consolidation the Cali
fornia lines purchase the Russo American
cable bubble and other dishonest jobs to their
own profit commit still further depredations
upon the stockholders in the practical manage
ment of the business. They make the working
expenses, independent of interest and depreca-
tion, reach over sixty per cent Of the gross re-
ceipts, and thus swallow up all the profits of
the company or leave paluy dividend Of two
per cent only TO be distributed among the
stockholders. Every person conversant with
the business Of telegraphing knows that no such
amount can be honestly expended, and that
fifty per cent OF the working expenses is a cor
ruption fund divided up among the ring and
its friends.
In order to retain their hold Oh these dis
honest gains the Western Union managers are
necessiiated to preserve monopoly of the
telegraphing business. They must crush out
present enormous tariff, and, above all, they
must get the press in their power TO prevent
the newspapers from encouraging the construc-
tion OF competing lines and aiding them by
their valuable patronage. They seek, there
fore, to control the whole business OF collect
ing and distributing news, so as TO render the
daily journals dependent upon the company
and its agents for all teegraphic Intelligence.
They have another object in this. If they can
insure themselves against the publication of
papers except that which they supply they can
then delay or improperly use the private mes
sages OF individuals and sell the news in
advance TO favored customers who are willing
to pay literally for il, or trade upon il in some
other way for their own emolument This
naturally brings the line into disrepute with
merchants and commercial men, as the recent
protests of members Of the Boards of Trade in
Chicago and other cities against the swindlng
operations of the telegraph people in tamper-
ing with their private messages will satisfac-
torily show. The latest effort of the Western
Union ring in the direction of a news monopoly
is the combination it has recently made with
the Health Officer and employer of the detected
smugglers of Quarantine to secure exclusive
control OF marine intelligence in the port Of
New York and to interfere with the legitimate
business of the press.
We have waited and The merchants of the
country have waited patiently in the expccta-
ton that the stockholders of the Western Union
Telegraph Company would take the reforma-
ton of its affairs into their own hands, turn
out of Office the men who have been impi-
Gated in all these corrupt operations and restore
honesty in the management and prosperity to
the business Of the line. But IL appears by
the recent election that the "ring" is too
powerful in dishonest combinations to be dis
turbed. The people must, therefore, take the
remedy into their own hands. The spirit Of
the age is resolutcly opposed to monopolies Of
all kinds, and especially in business that is
so nearly connected with the public welfare
and that in great degree nterferes with the
revenues Of government department. Eng