New-York tribune., 1871-12-18
LILLE PONTiL TELEG GRAPM

Mr. CrrSwcl, in his argument Tor the cOnsol-
idatOn of the Telegraph system with The Post
Office, relies chiefly upon the experience of
Great Britain, where, if his statements are cor
rect. the Government has derived from its tel
cgrapls, in the first year of the new system,
net revenue of more than three millions OF
dollars. If that were true, it would he no
rule for u.s. Great Britain is compact little
manufacturing island, where the lines are short
and the ratio of messages to the whole popu-
Iation is very high. The British figures quoted
by Mr.. Creswcll represent an annual trans
mission of about 13,OOO,OOO messages, exclusive
of the voluminous news dispatches to the
press; while in the United States two years
ago. with population nearly onc-third greater
than that of the United Kingdom the whole
number of messages was about the same
Considering the enormous length of onr lines
and our vast area of agricultural country III
which there cannot be very general popular
use OF the telegraph, it is evident that the
system would he far more expensive in Amer
lea than it is in Europe.
But Mr. Crtswells statement OF The lrcunl-
ary result of the consolidation in England il
not correct. He quotes from g the official re-
sport of Honorable The is not an honor
| ablcl George Chetwynd. receiver and ac-
&" co,,ntant- general of the British Office" to
show the receipts and expenditures for the
fiscal year ending March 81, 1871, and gives
the following figures Gross receipts, f07l,2l5
13s. lid; payments out, f213,2S1 lis. 3!d.;
net produce, f697,GS3 1Gs. 3d.. or S3,30l 9j4 3S.
Now we have before us the official statement
of Mr.. Chcwynd of the income and cxpcndi-
ture of the postal telcGaphs, not for the fiscal
year, but for the IA months ending March 81,
1871. and an accompanying report to the
Chancellor of the Exchcquer, by Mr.. Frank
Ives ScudamOrc, Secretary to the Post-Ofce;
and both these documents tell very different
story from the one with which Mr.. Creswcll
favOrs MS. 1t appears from MIR. Chctwynd's
report that the gross receipts of the IA months
were f10GS,jS5, from which must be deducted
f270005 paid to submarine telegraph COM
panics in respect of collections on their be-
half, and allowed to pOstmastcrs and others
for delivery of messages and refunded message
money. This is evidently the item of "pay-
"mcnts out" which Mr.. Crcswcll committed
the extraordinary blunder of suppOSing to be
the gross expenditure; and the rcsiduary
G79S,58O represents not the net profit but the
gross rcvenuc Mr.. Crcswcll. in short, has not
got at the expenditure at all.
What the cost of working the lines has
been is not clear from the British reports.
The whole outlay, exclusive of payments to
the companies whose lines were purchased,
amounted to no less than f1 ,397,3S9; but Il
part of this is fairly chargeable to capital ac-
count. Mr.. Chetwynd estimates the actual
working expenses at G41O,495, and charges the
remainder, f92G894, to capital expenditure.
But this is deceptive classification. Under
capital expenditure he places not only the cost
of extensions, amounting, well as we can
make it out, to f17S,933, but all manner of
outlay upon the plant (such as the very i'm
pOrtant item of maintenance and repair, for
which the Western Union Company in America
spends a million dollars year,, f117094
for engineering salaries, wages, travelling,
land other expenses" which we should GER
tainly charge to current expenditure, and the
money spent for preliminary instruction" and
bonuses to lcarucIs.' If we refer these and
various other items to the heads under which
they really belong, We shall find the expense
of the British Postal Telegraph system during
IA months to be G1,21s,456 and the income
f79S5S0, leaving deficiency OF f4l0,S7G.
That would be- equivalent to a loss of 81 49,
09l year Gn gOld), instead of the magnificent
"nct produce" of $3,39l,9j4 discovered by Mr..
Crcswc. What confidence can we place in
our Postmaster -Gcncrals reasoning when he
has erred 80 cgrcgiOusly respecting his facts 7