The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-27


as he would to set sail on a ship. Can the tax
payers stand this? Will Congress permit it?
Shall we have q First Lord of the Admiralty
at such price?
THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH - ASTON
ISHING THE AMERICAN EAGLE.
From the NJ Y. Herald.
The words of Mr. Washburn, of Wisconsin,
on the postal telegraph are apt and excellent.
They have in them downright common
sense and respect for facts that will not
commend them to the class of hifalutin
patriots; but they will furnish an excellent
basis for the practical legislation that is aimed
to secure the welfare of the people, and not
to make the fortunes of jobbers. Mr.. Wash
burn made these cogent statements:-'I
claim to have shown that the United States is
the only enlightened nation on the globe that
has not taken charge of the telegraph system,
and nearly all have made it an appendage to
the Post Office; that in the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland despatch of
twenty words can be sent at a uniform
rate of one shilling to any part of the
| kingdom, a distance of over seven hun
| dred miles; from one extreme of France to
another, about six hundred miles, for one
| franc, or twenty CENTS all over Belgium and
| Switzerland for half a franc, or ten cents;
Denmark, twelve and half cents; Prussia,
from twelve and half to thirty-seven and a
half cents; Sweden and Norway, any distance
| for thirty cents for a message of twenty words
and one cent for each additional word that
a message may be made to contain; from
Marseilles, in the south of France, to the north
of Scotland, distance of fourteen hundred
miles, traversing two kingdoms and crossing
the Straits of Dover by submarine cable, for
ffty-five cents. Yet in the face of these facts
the Chairman of the Committee on Post Offices
and Post Roads has told this House and the
country, in a solemn report, that telegraphing
in this country is the cheapest and most reli-
able in the world Yet he could not have
failed to know that if he desired to send @
despatch of twenty words to his home in Illi-
nois and was not favored with ID. II. pass,
he would have to pay So; for similar mes
sage to the home of the Missouri member of
that committee $4 would be charged the
Michigan member, $3.50; the New Jersey
member, ST. 20; the Massachusetts member,
$1'25; the Indiana member, So 80; the Ken
lucky member, $3.50; the Nevada member
1928, and the Oregon member, $3.50, oil
1910 more than it would cost to send mes
sage of ten words from Washington to Con
stantinople by the Atlantic Cable and Cont
mental lines.
Now, the worst of all this is that it is true
We are behind the age in the use of this great
agency of modern civilization, at the very
moment that we are pluming ourselves on oui
progressive spirit and on the way in which We
are leading the nations, as we suppose. We
have hurrahed so much and SO long over the
political advantages of our American system
that we have well-nigh deafened ourselves tC
all monition and intimation that there may be
something else important us well as mans
inalienable right to vote for his alderman
This is q common consequence of preoccupa
tion-of the too great concentration of atten
ton upon point that, after all, may not be
the vital point with regard to the happiness
of the people. The result is that while herr
man is politically free he is socially the slav'
of every monopoly; andin such ''downtrodden
countries as France, though individuals are
J politically of small account they have socia
freedom and Importance of which our people
do not dream. The use of the telegraph i
!, one illustration of it. Telegraphs there are
operated with a view to public convenience
here only with view to eKtorting the larges
amount of money for the smallest possible
service. But it is the same in the who'll
| circle of the arts of life-we are behind, ant
} far behind the nations over which we some
: 4 times assume an impertinent superiority be
5 cause of ourpolitical institutions, which woul
f be excellent if they were not rottenly corrupt
] In their railroads, despite our furry of magni
Q ticence in sleeping cars; in their hotels, Il
: their markets, in the general administrator
| Va III lLO t5ONOihhiOhV Vi Oui SAOANN
. the people of Western Europe have every
Q thing to teach us, and little but chicaner
: and greedy extortion to learn from our eS
: ample.
q We hope the facts that Mr.. Washburn ha
0 so clearly set forth may awaken the attentio
0 of the country to this most important subjeC
r of bringing our telegraphic system up to tn
spirit of the age the more especially that jus
, now the great monopoly, whose hold on tn
Q telegraph must be loossned, is maneuvrin
+ in the purlieus of Congress for continuing
md Il I..l.A -