The Portland daily press., 1869-10-12

The New York Tribune. from which we
condense these statistics, thinks, though there
might be Improvement, in the telegraph bust
ness, it is better conducted than if the lines
were managed as the Post Otr.ee by the Gov
eminent. There may be excellenl reasons for
this opinion, but our impressions are differ.
ent.
There is the same reason for the Govern
ment's sending our Geographic dispatches that
there is tor sending our letters, the same rea-
Son why it should build our railroads, that
there is why it should build our un-railed roads.
That reason is because, that, in which the
whole people have universal interest, can
better be done by the whole, and by remova-
BILE agents responsible to the whole, than by
individuals or corporations, who look more to
private profits that to the public good. We
think it would have been better, as well as
cheaper, for the State of Maine to have bnilt
all the railroads within its borders, than to
have them built as they have been, at twice
their cash cost by duping the subscribers in
the first place, and then ekeing them out by
heavy discounts on the credits of towns. who.
after all they contribute to them, are utterly
powerless to control them or defend AGAINST
their extortions. We hope soon to see the
time when all the telegraph lines by fair
purchase of their franchises will pass into the
hands Of the national government, and that
the next generation will see all the great lines
OF railroad owned by the national, and the
minor lines by the State governments. and
ran by companies equipping and hiring them,
for four years. at such rents as shall keep them
in best condition and pay small tariff to the
Treasury.
Who belle yes that letter could be carried
to San Francisco tor cents if we depended
noon an Express Company for the carriage?
Who believes that rates of postage uld not
have risen, as every hing else did, fifty per
ceat. during our war, if private interest had
been allowed to control them?
A letter can be carried by mail to Wash
ington with profit for cents But The cost
OF carrying letter to Washington is the wag-
es and subsistence Of messenger going there,
and the cost of his fare by rail and boat. The
oo''o y. se.'dine dispatch TO Washington, ter
the wires and batteries are furnished !. in
terest and aoear and tear on the erectiops.a md
the subsistence and wages of the two opera
tors that at each end receive transmit, trans
cribe and deliver the message,-probably not
tenth OF the cost Of sending the letter. But
the tariff on the letter is three cents, and on
the message that costs one-tenth as much.
one hundred times as much, or three dollars.
Why can the government send a letter for
Us to Washington for three cents? Because
there are so many thousand persons besides
us, that want also to send letters, that the cost
OF carrying them eau be divided among all the
letter-senders, and SO reduced to three cents
apiece. Can telegraphy be cheapened in the
hands OF government that is not actuated
BY considerations of profit? To certain ex-
tent only 1t cannot to the same extent. I'm
doubleday the cheapening of the telegraphic
rates would increase the use of the wires. end
up to the capacity of the wires and the ipstru-
ments the rates might be lessened as the bu-
siness increased. But telegraphy involves
more labor than mere mail-carrying; for the
operator must actually write the communica-
ton, transmit it, and deliver it, sometimes at
distance from the receiving Office The ser
vice requires time, and any considerable in
crease of business requires additional opera
tors, instruments and wires Cost increases
as business increases at very much greater
ratio than in the postal service.
All this being considered, it would Re doubt.
fu, IL in the present state of the art, telegraph
ing can be cheapened beyond ten times the
cost OF postage, and under government
management we believe that the cost of tele-
grams could be brought to an average of 80
cents, about half what is now charged by
Company that has grown too powerful for any
successful competition.