The New York herald., 1869-02-25


the line cannot, at existing rates be made TO pay
more than its operating expenses, and has never
paid dividends or interest upon its cost There are
already three lines between Washington ana New
YORK and fourth Is building. When the govern
ment enters the held 1t will encounter competition
ol not less than thirty wires and In that competition
ITS lines must go to the wall for however
unremuneratve the tarif may be private
c1panles may make up Their Losses out o.
the government must meet its deficiency out OF the
pubilc purse. The effect would be 10 make low rates
OF higher rates everywhere else short experimental
lines competing with sections only OF great and
failures. Two systems, one puOlic and the other
prvate, cannot work together with success 10 either
or with benefit 70 the public. The functions Of the
government are necessarily exclusive, and when
once assumed private parties cannot be allowed To
exercise them and must be rigdly excluded, as was
the case VIII, the private expresses which attempted
Both Mr.. Hubbard and Mr.. Washburne rely on the
examples OF Belgium and switzerland, but there is
no similarity between the condition OF those countries
and that OF the United States. Belgium has the
densest population OF Europe. nearly four hundred
ten to the square mile. Belgium is less than a
quarter part as large as New York. and yet its popu-
latlon Is double tnat OF Ohio. 1t hes midway be-
tween England France ana Germany, holding the
closest relations with each. Its business
is largely manufacturing, It owns and operates
sesner s M most elssa Of ,hs telegraph oces beng
at railway stations. IL has recently estab-
lished very low ariif for such Of its home
despatch-vlz. hall franc or about fourteen cents
u our currency. There are, however, instances q
between S e@ ~ ana saoe for
siderable time Deen only ten cents, and the distance
y iully equal to the average OF Belgian distances
This Is not supposed TO be rcmuncratve rate nor
Is the inland tarif O Belgium thus lar remuneratye
In 1866 and 1861 the Belgian telegraphic service
showed loss OF three hundred anu nine thousand
francs, and this would have been much greater
II 1t had not been for the receipt IRON
hans os sa SStS is eron Basness os
OF the country which yielded revenue OF l,147,00O
francs against ZOO francs from domestic mes
sages. There are only 3I4 offices IN Belgium, and II
all the domestic messages sent IN 1857 were divided
between them II would give only six messages to
each for each day in The year, and at half franc
these would give gross revenue OF eighty-four
cents in our currency or less than the wages Of the
lowest class OF American operators.
Switzerland is smaller, both IN occupied territory
Invaded by army Of pleasure seeking travellers
who the telegraph for their various wants as it
is used nowhere else IN the world. The government
controls the expresses well as the telegraph and
with quite as much propriety. Both IN Switzerland
and Belgium labor Is cheaper than anywhere else n
Europe and does NOT average half the price OF the
United States Labor constitutes sixty per cent OF
the cost OF operating American lines. A far juster
comparison would be with the whole OF Europe.
Distances are shorter than in this country ana
although the lines traverse the territory OF many
nations there are no national boundaries on the tee
graph map The whole number Of messages sent IN
Europe IN 1866 was Is 1888 900, and the sum received
$i0 S2p, 900 IN American g0ld or $14 900 IN cur
Ttncy M l1u. JudkcS Tue dNtTdkt COSb OI lubSe
messages at seyenty-seven and one-eightn cents.
The Western Union Company, which does about
ninetenths of the American business and which
alone furnished statistics to the committee, for
the year ending June 50, 1867 transmitted 1006s000
messages and received for the same S., 000 equal
to fifty-seven cents message, and in that number
is not included the vast amount OF railway business
nor the regular dispatches 10 the press, III which the
number OF words delivered were 2300OoOo, equal to
Ia, 725,0 900 messages Ol twenty words EACH In Eu-
rope the press dispatches are not a tenth part OF
those OF this country. The number OF offices to pop
sa y AZ sressss se o eyers n peop In In
France 600 Great Britain one to IA 900. in
Belgium one to l2000, III switzerland one to IL, 000
and In the United States one to every 1900; in the
Pacific states, TO every $500. SO in the use
made OF the Telegraph America stands pre-eminent.
In France the number OF messages sent is to every
AZ persons; IN Prussia to every " In Great Britain
20 every s; In Belgium and Switzerland, to every
4, and IN The United States to every rs.
OF strictly governmental line. He asks for char
ter to eiiabehim and his associates TO Incorporate
and operate branch Of the public service which is
to be createu by The same statute. He proposes to
do the Wdfk OF sending messages by. con-
tract. llKening IL TO the carrying Of the
mails. lie aeows that he expects to make profit
able business Of ii and hopes The government may
make something also. What right or pr0priety is
there IN granting nun charter Congress decided
element IN the situation which would justify the
reversal Of that decision. There are no petitions
from the people, legislative resolutions, and the
voice Of the press Is not pronounced IN favor OF any
such scheme. part OF the press Is dissatisfied
with the existing arrangemeltsfor Tor the collection and
transmission of news; but 1t Is not claimed that
the prices charged by the telegraph companies are
unreasonable. On the other hand many OF the most
influential Journals are openly opposed TO any med
ding with The telegraph by the government The
National Board Of Trade convened at CINCINNATI IN
the autumn voted against the postal telegraph
scheme. The constitutional right OF Congress To
grant charter TO private company to build tele-
graph lines within the States without their consent
Is very questionable Except banks, ~ part OF the
public iscal system. it has chartered private
poraiions to act In tue states Congress Is asked IN
this bin to confer on Mr. hubbard aud his associates
the right Of eminent domain--a rlsat which the
federal government never exercises II u possesses
II, even when it desires 70 acquire land
in the States for purely public purposes ii
it wants land for fort, navy yard,
lighthouse or post Office Il applies 10 the State Tor
leave 70 purchase AMI for transfer Of the Jurisdc
fion. II the state consents Il passes an act which
only passes the jurisdiction out also provides for
the appropriation OF the land under It's right OF emil
nen DOMAIN. In ease the owner Will not consent 10
SELL Congress ~ no. likely in behalf or Tor the profit
OF private parties, to exercise powers which are nos
or s e ~ Ss aes tSa he ned STATES
Postal Telegraph Company Is to ne virtually public
corporation because II u designed to aid in the per-
Torrance Of public service, 1t really has no title
to be 40 called as the business essentially pri-
vate one, not hitherto done Dy the government, and
TO be sun shared by private companies. An ex-
tremey Objectionable feature Of the proposed postal
telegraph system Is the right TO secure priority in
the transmission OF messages by paying an extra
price for IL. The rule of all American lines Is, flrst
come first served Any o.ner rule would destroy
the usefulness OF the service and transform IL into
pernlcious instrument Of speculation. Mr.. Hub
bard's scheme violates q radical principle in
respect TO government work. Whatever ser
vice falls within the proper functions Of the
government should be performed by II Immediately
and through the Intervention OF private parties
reaping Intermediate profit. II is proper sub
ject OF taxation. and the whole revenue which IL
Yields belongs 10 the treasury. No company looking
Tor ten per cent dividends can he allowed 10 inter-
vene. The contract system for carrying the mails
does not violate this principle. The postal service
does not consist only or chcGy In carrying locked
mail bags; that Is transportation merely and
trely mechanical! and subordinate part OF the sys
tenn. The government has occasion to build rail-
roads for the transportation Of ,ts mails, because
they already exist for the much more I'm
portant business OF carrying freight aud pas
sengers. But the Transmission OF telegram
over the wires is the essential element OF that
vice. 70 which all the skill ana all the responsibility
attaches, and IL cannot he done successfully except
under immediate responsibility 20 the party
sending. This responsibility the servants Of con-
tractor would never fear. Mr.. Hubbards scheme
mixes the service and the servants Of the contrac
tors and OF the government In such a manner that
the public will fall between two stools. How n this
system 10 he made profitable To the contractorsf II
can oniy he BY putting nearly ali the
cost upon the government. The cost and