Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-01-29

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pointed ont. II there were any in thl
scheme proposed, the manager Of such
company would have the strongest motives
to detect them he had triumphed in hi
: opposition, and compelled the people K
come to his terms, and was prepared z
cent. In his pamphlet he makes the follow
| ing points:
First, That ninety-seven per cent. of tht
profits of his company were drawn from {
hundred stations or less, while the othel
three per cent. were drawn nom clever
hundred stations; that a loss would attend
the extension to all the small towns anc
/ villages of the Island.
were unit for the work, and would not de
/ liver promptly; that clerks must be trained
and educated from youth to acquire skill In
Third, That the government, instead O.
purchasing should consolidate the existing
Fourth, That the teIegraphs of England
were better managed than those OF the Con
Fifth, That the district company, which
had served the city of London and Its envi
rons, had shown, by It's advance from six.
pence to a shilling, and previous inability
to make dividends, that low rates would moi
Mr.. Grimston's pamphlet was ably re-
Viewed by Frank I. Scndamore, the Secre-
tary of the Post once Department, gem
tlen4an Of great ability, on whom the man
tie Sir Rowland HiIt seems to have fall
en-
First That the clerks in the post-oflice and
in telegraph offices, banks and counting
: I
ana dId not require long lFst1lngs ano
that many postmasters and their children
knew how to telegrap1i that eompefeni
I when the present offices OF the telegraph
/ were abandoned that with the new bust
ness the post office could give larger sala.
ries and command a higher class Of talent
that they could deliver by special messen-
gers IN the Cities while the letter carriers
could collect from pillar boxes without In
! creased expense; that most of the let
ters were received and delivered in the
| morning and evening, while most of the
kilograms come i'll between ten A. M.
and four P. NJ, when the clerks were
least occupied, and could move with
despatch:
Second, with respect to the extension
Ito many new offices, that the depart
Ilment would use for extension Its sur
| plus income, which the companies de-
vote to larger dividends, and, beginning
/ with the towns now accomm odated,
would discontinue nearly a tnird OF
| the offices existing in towns which had
| stations of rival companies, and would
reduce rents by the use Of post-ofiice
buildings, and gradually carry the BEN
etits of the telegraph to stations which
would give no profit until their business
was developed, and which no company
would accommodate that It was fair
to ascri0e twice the amount they recsiV-
ed to branch offices, as they contributed
as much more to the income Of other Of
fees, and should be Eostered by the
nation.
Third, that the. effect of combining
private companies might be 70 reduce
their expenses, and increase their divi-
dends it might BENEFIT the s6ockhold-
/ ers, but would check extension and
repress energy ); and as respected the
cost and rate of charge, the policy of
Mr. GrimstOn's cpEnpany showed that
after a large reductionin rates, there
had been the following results
1852 1856.
Messages transmitted ....1, ,5st,59O 3,15o, ,149
An increase at the rate Of los per cent.
ssr 1862. 1866.
WorEiag Expenses 7GaoSS o9s ,SSS
Net Produce ......-s,. q $4,000. ssosOOo
Percentage on capitlIa.. z $40 ,7ei 49,
Number of Messages perNi gf .eF7 Gf
mile ot wire 80. ...'.'l 4 A .sr.H 90
The report Of Mr.. Grimston, in the
hands of his adversary became pow
erful weapon against hin, and At was
shown to the satisfaction of the com
mittee that the tendency Of the English
companies was toward an advance of
rates, which checked the growth Of tel
egFaphing and left many important
towns destitute; that rivalry led to
Wasteful competition in towns easily
accessible, while in smaller towns there
were Yexatious delays and the offices
were open for few hours Of the daY
only; that Of English towns traversed
by telegraph lines, thirty per, cent.were
well served, forty per cent indfferently,
twelve badly, and thirteen per cent. not
at all.
Mr.. Scudamore having successfully
met the objections of his opponents, the
com mittee presented their report, and
the bill for the union OF the postal and
fol "a raTbs IN
most Of the debatable stages.
AMERICAN PosT-oEFICEs AND TELE-I
GRAPHS H-
When Morse established the first
successful line of electric telegraph for
commercial purposes, between the eap-
ital and BaltimOreyhe utilized the dis
covery of Franklin, who first grasped
and guided the thunderbolt: and TODAY
the telegraphie system of Morse Is pro-
nounced the best invented. We have
no records to show the progress Of the
American system, but it appears from
the British Blue Books, printed sFby
command of her Majesfy,'' several Of
which are devoted to telegraphv, that
in 1859, before the war, the annual re-
ceipts of the American: companies to
which we have conhded our TELEGRAPH
ing were two millions of dollars, drawn
from five millions of messages, while in
the same year the receipts of British
telegraphs were thirteen hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars, derived
from fifteen hundred and seventy-five |
thousand messages. While the income |
of British lines has increased to TWEEN |
ty-eight hundred thousand dollars, our
American lines, from further extensions |
at higher rates. have advanced their in |
come to seven millions Of dollars. We |
have not the length of our lines, but |
the length OF their wires at the close OF !
the present year is given by the editor |
of the Telegrapher as one hundred and 1
twelve thousand miles; and If we esti- |
mate four wires to each line, we may
at twenty-eight thousand miles, all but |
four thousand of which are held by /
the Western Union Telegraph Com !
pany, whose nominal capital and bonds /
amount to forty-fve millions of dol /
lars.
The actual capital of the other lines.
which average but two wires each, /
cannot exceed two millions, and the !
gross income of the whole may be /
safely set down at seven millions Of
dollars
Most of the American lines have been
absorbed by single gigantic compa-
ny, whose revenue and expenses for
the past two years have been as follows,
Reverue ana exp spses Il the Westera lTnion Tel
egraph Company Tor 1857 aud 1858.
IncUme -. S13, ,177,5f5
Expenses 1907, ,2O2
Net Iaeome IS, ,uO,s4s or ,, CO., ,I72 year.
It has arrived at its large capital by
successive amalgamations and purehas-
es OF Othens lines, on which occasions
additions have been made to the yalu-
ations. The current price of its stock
is now seventy per cont upon the nomi-
nal par, which doubtless exceeds the
actual cost; and were we to reduce the
present price of all our telegraph stocks
to gold, the amount would fall below
twenty-five millions of dollars ct
gold valuation.
The cost Of constructing a new line
with single wire in the United States
does not exceed two hundred dollars
per mile, while each additional wire,
with the apparatus, would fall below ,
one hundred dollars more. Were tel
egraphs to be assumed by government,
10 might well afford 10 allow for them
twenty-five millions In gold, or two
hundred and twenty-five dollars per {
mile of wire. AS the good VIII Is worth