Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-07-27

stigation of Mr.. Butler, Chief I'M
peacher, the Government took forcible
possession of the telegraph Office at
Washington and imprisoned Mr..
Wooley on evidence cleaned there
from, and twice, of my own knOwl-
edge, have the satraps put over the
people of the South, threatened inn
prisonment to the attaches of tele-
graph offices, for refusing to divulge
the contents of certain dispatches, and
then threatened to take charge of
them, at the point Ofthe bayOnet, which
they failed to do, however, at those
points, but which Uas done by Butler
at Washington, and Clayton in Ar
kansas. Instead of freeing us of the
evils, it would only augment them,
/ when every mans business and social
communications are put under the es-
piOnage of Government officials, di-
rected to note everything that can be
used for party or selfish purposes.
Under the present system, private
companies can build competing lines
and reduce tariffs and the other evils
complained of, but let the Govern
ment get control of them and this will
be impossible. Our Merchant Princes,
at the National Board of Trade at Gin
cinnati, discussed this question fully,
and set the seal of condemnation upon
it. 1t is true that at the Commercial
Convention here, a resolution favor
ing a Government monopoly (instead
of a private One) vas passed, but it
was done u%nadvisedly at a late hour
at night, when three-fOurths of the
delegates had left for their homes, and
will a|ssuredly be undOne at Louis
vile, next October.
The following, which you publish
from the Spirit Ofthe Times, does great
injustice to Mr.. Orion, the President
| of the Western Union Telegraph:
"But for Mr.. Orion the Western
press would have Withdrawn from the
| New York association. The influence
of the great company was thrown in
favor of the great monopoly. 1t
would be far wiser, W. think, for Mr..
OrtOn to serve three or four neWspa-
per associations than one; but he does
not seem to think So"
Now the writer of the above was
either wofully ignorant of the subject
on which he wrote, Or else Wilfully
misrepresented the case. The truth
is the Western press Withdrew
from the New York monopoly
nearly three years ago, and has been
ever since a separate organization
and the contract between thetwO assO-
Citations for an interchange of news,
expires on the first Of August. The
New York association notified the
Western association that they would
have to increase the amount that they
were paying the New York association
for cable news, which the Western
association declined to do, and re-
solved to "set up shop for them
selves" And the first step toward
this was the renewal of their contract
with the telegraph company; and, on
showing a bold front, the New York
: association come into their terms.
When the Southern Press COnVen-
ton met at Mobile last spring, in reply
to an inquiry, Mr.. Orion informed
Col. Lamar. the President, that he
would transmit reports for them on
precisely the same terms that were
granted the New York monopoly; and
/ feel warranted in saying that he
will do the same with the South
western, whenever it shall have per-
fected its organization.
In regard to the charge that the
Telegraph Company by mOnOpOlizing
these reports virtually prevents new
papers from being started, the writer
is again befOgged. The Telegraph
Company have nothing whatever to
do with the reports except to trans
nit them, in the same manner that
commercial messages r transmitted,
and as for the matter of their being
mOnopOlized by a few papers, that is
a matter which the local press, who
are members, have under their entire
control, -as in the case Of the Sun, of
this city. And the fault, if such it is,
is with the press, and not the tele-
graph.
BY publishing the above you will
show "that there is always two sides
to a question" W.