Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-10-04

of the Western Union Telegraph Com-
pany, and other sources, we learn
the important fact that telegraph
employees average In England forty
one Gets per day, and in the United States
81 %. Operators in the United States re-
ceive 81 20, and in England 81 cents. In
| Paris The average for adult male labor Is
| 70 cents per day, and for women 80 cents.
In Prussia first-class engineers earn the
uncomfortable sum of 81 10 per day, and
| second-class Scents. Ia Belgium a mould
or earns from A cents to 62 cents per day.
What an incentive are these prices of la
Dor TO the people of this country to adopt
| the European models, in all their ramif1-
CATIONS! And vet with this vast apprecia-
bic difference in favor of American work.
ing men, how can we account for the fact
that kilograms in the United States are
furnished 10 the people 40 per cent. cheap
er, and that all the facilities for telegraph
ing are greater, except upon the hypothe-
sis that the system Of private cooperative
agency, prevailing in this country, Is
more favorable to the development of a
cheap and more popular organization
more conducive to trade and commerce.
more in harmony with the demands of all
classes, and more cOnsOnant with the
spirit of cur institutions, than the close
and repressiV6 European modelY And
notwithstanding the high tariff prevail
ing in Europe, another fact de naIds
our consideratiOn-Jhat in every instance,
even in Belgium, where the lines are
short and easily manipulated, IN which
| the Government owns and manages the
telegraph, It is operated at a loss TO the
Government So it is with our own post
office, which annually eXpends about
81, 200, 0GO more than it earns, thus show
ing how much more efficiently public bus
mess can be conducted in the hands Of
enterprising private agents, than where
- - -. - - gaea,
upon ths public treasury, or where there
is no incentive 70. careful and vigilant at
tention to the public interest, save what
is necessary TO retain a place bestowed on
account Of family or party favoritism.
Leaving this branch of the subject bare
ly limited at, but enough 10 show that we
should be abundantly satisfied with II
present mode of telegraphing, the plan of
operations proposed by MIR. Washburne.
will next be briefly considered. Mr..
Washburne's bill proposes 70 erect, at the
expense of the Government, a line of tel
egraph, of four wires, from Washington
City to New York, unless lines can be
purchased twenty-five per cent. cheaper
than the lowest responsible bid for CON
STRUGGLING said line-this to he an expert
meut, which, if successful, is TO be fol-
lowed up by the erection of other lines
throughout the United States. This,
in brief, is his plan 10 rendor
worthless the entire capital invested
in telegraph lines in the United States,
amounting to over $50, 900, zoe, without
Just compensation" TO the owners. The
bare statement Of the proposition carries
with it the idea of injustice aud wrong,
which no government IN the world should
ever contemplate. Mr.. Washburne, in
this, has not received his inspiration from
European governments. England stipu-
lated to pay a full equivalent to the own
49,. fa. H. NnTA.HaAh Is.Aua wV1-,I.gaI I-
the government, instead of chaffering for.
IS per cent. less than cost. A calm cOuS
sideratiOn of this proposition would indi-
cate that il had its origin in the breast of
a person whose ~prejudices, feelings n
sympathies have been so warped by cur
rent events and the maXims in vOgue dur
ing a highly excited era of violence and
civil war, as TO have blunted his sense of
right and obscured his natural instincts of
equity. The result of these dSents, as is
eVinced every day, lave unduly magni-
fed, in many minds, the Importance and
relation of the Government TO its citizens.
During the war, this feeling was strong
aad overwhelming, and has not subsidized
TODAY, and pahaps will not wholly dis
appear until after the present generation
shall have passed away, A case very
much in point, illustrating this unreason-
able and -unTeasoning prejudice, may be
sdduced, in which Mr.. z. b. Washburne |
was one of the principal actors.
During the war, MIR. Micajah 7. John
son and MIR. David Sheean were arrested at
Galena, Illinois, and imprisoned in Fort
Lafayette at the Instance of Messrs. +. Is.
WashbuTno and J. Russell Jones. They
remained in this fort for soine months.
Mr.. johnson was afierward transferred to
Fort Warren. The charge preferred |
against them was vague and uDacconI-
panied with specifications, and they re-
mained in prison, until, without explana-
ton, they were released.
After the war Mr.. Johnson brought suit |
against Messrs. Washburne and Jones for
false imprisonment. The first plea Of the
defendants WAS Justification But finding
that his plea would be of no avail, they
subsequently, filed the following, after |
having Withdrawn the first plea: |
THAT the said pleas heretofore filed by
them in said case, and the matters and
things therein sci forth against said plain
tiff, are untrue in substance and in fact.
And the sald defendants further confess
the wrongful trespass and imprisonment
set forth in said declaration, and that the
said defendants are guilty in manner and
form as therein stated and set forth, and
said plaintiff has sustained great damage
thereby, a. is alleged IN said declaration,
and said defendants further confess that
the said seizure and imprisonment was
wrongful, unjustihable and without
cause, and the said plaintiff was innocent
of the violation of any law, or OF doing
any act fnimical to the Government cfthe
States, aud that said plaintiff did
no act and uttered no expression, or eX-
ercised. any influence to the knowledge of
said defendants, that was not in support
Of the Government Of the United States,
It's Constitution andiis laws"
These facts are stated by the Albany
n. " Argus, and indelibly impress upon
-he character of Mr.. Washburne the
Of allowing understandable prejn-
Ices to control his action, so far as to be-
ray him into the most unjust and despotie
exercise of power, and into gross eXag-
of the right and duties of the
government, with regard 70 its citi-
ems. M~akingeVery allowance for the eX- !
sting events, which inspired such action,
nd invoking the utmost exercise of char
towards the errors which were likely ,
o arise, amid the tumGltuous scenes Of
ivil conflict, that man cannot be regarded
s a safe arbiter of the rights Of citizens }
who could have committed so fatal a mis- :
axe, in the interest of the Government,
who could have trampled upon privi-
eges 50 sacred, with0utthat reasonable /
s~rtainty which should always accompany 3
D harsh and tyrannica1 an exercise of ex- :
raordinary military power. :
1t is from a spirit ike this, 1 humbly =
that the whole system OF GOV- !
interference in the Transmission q
{ intelligence, proceeds, without refer =
nee to public convenience and without !
sgard TO proprietary rights. With a tele- =
raph thus organized, espionage, may be- =
ONE perfect, repression Of opinion thor I
ugh, and the Government on1nipotent. =
D France, the DEGREES, regulating the .
telegraph, provide hat 1.-THE director of a !
alton may, on grounds of public order =
nd morality, refuse 10 transmit a dis 7
itch. In case. of a dispute, reference y
to be made, in Paris, to the Mipis- y
r Of the Inferior IN tho provinces y
|. the .Prefect, sub-PrefecJ, or other =
authority. On the receipt q,
: a dispatch, the director may With l
I'D Il, for Ike reasons. Pirate cores .,
lHdenee man be SuspeHded at aug time by "
e Government" Persons are Liable, TO o.
.aprisonmaDt and heavy 6pes for trans-
lifting signals, in any WHY. eNoepthy d y
lority of the Government. q
These are the natural and sura fruits of IL
a Government control and to
ynership of the telegraph lines. Ex- ii
eme mDeInOcracYs once prevailed in N
rances but tho Pendulum has oseilla ed tr
to the other eXtretnets and whiie N
me may think that, under awise des pot, IN
xe the present Emperor, the Empire has fu
punished as 1t mover did before, no one SO
a predict whom the extinguishmentsof m
3 feeble flame of life shall bring to the ce
0 q an hnbecile. or a mpnster. Let US ! vi