Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-28
sTEMPHTS APPEAL
sATURDAf MORNING. DEC. IS, 1872.


s,runnlt noRSrse. DEC. IS, 1879.
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aIIE POSTAL TELEGRAPH SCHEME
The postal telegraph scheme is the
on IL important measure likely to come
h, fore thepresent Congress. It is diff
cult to 'foFeteJ It's fate, but we are salts
fed that the present Congress win pass a
law establishing a general postal tele-
e aph. The Administration fayOrs the
scheme. and the HOstmaster-General is
u-zing the measure with great energy.
He shows that (" when facilities were
small and postsge high the number of
Io tiers sent did not exceed One-tenth Of
ia six or seven hundred millions which
naw pass annually through the mails.
7. is wonderful increase is owing to the
OK .ension Of facilities and to thecheapen-
ing Of rates. So with regard to the tele-
graph business The multiplication Of
facilities and the reduction of rates,
in .tead of limiting the BUSH
mss. one million, will extend
1t to many millions Of the
r,cople of the United States. Instead of
being luxury of the rich, as now, it
will become equally the privilege of the
many. This has been verified in Swift
erland. in England, in Canada, and in
every other country where Geographic
facilities have been increased and the
rates have been lowered. And herein
lies the distinctive principle between
/ the management by private companies
and that Of the Government. On the
one hand the companies are managed
in the interest Of the stockholders and |
to make money; on the other hand, the |
postal telegraph will be managed for the |
public benefit" These are pretty strong
reasons in favor of Mr.. CressweIl's |
scheme. But his premises are wrong, |
and consequently his conclusions are
false. Experience has proved that Gov
eminent work is poorly done and at
greater cost than when left to the COM
petition of privste enterprise. The New
York journal, s sound and dispassion-
ate paper, sums up in the following ex-
tract the main grounds of opposition to
the scheme:
Government would then have the ap-
pointment of thousands of more Office
holders, and 50 strengthen its network
OF patronage and political influence
enormously. II an administration were
unscrupulOus-and administrations have
never been. over nice about election timer
1t could make the most valuable parti-
san use Of the telegraph. 1t could send
or keep back dispatches at viii. 1t could
supervise and shape kilograms TO the
llrsss, dOctOring them to suit itself. In the
hands of constituencies managers the
telegraph could be made an engine of de- ,
ceit and oppression, aud where would be
the remedy? In a suit against the gov
ernment, attended at every stage by the
greatest expense and difficulty, and per |
haps rendered of no avail whatever by {
laws which the government could make
to protect itself against redress. As pol :
iticians 20, and as things are managed I
in election times, We are unwilling to c
trust the present or any other admins I
istratin with powers 50 vast and invit-
ing such gross abuses. Let the people !
be heard on this great question before q
the committee and through the press. {
Those who oppose the scheme insist L
that the government has no right to tax v
the country to maintain a telegraph sys
TEN for the benefit Of a few, while thou
sands of citizens lack the common
Of life. The government in Z
with the telegraph service sa-
vors Of imperial power, and is openly u
urged as being a copy of the English \
experiment in the same line. 1t also
savors Of corruption and jobbery in the q
purchase of existing lines and the Il
erection Of new ones. 1t adds at one c
sweep twenty-Odd thousand truculent q
to sustain the administra- n
ion and manipulate caucuses. A clause Il
n the bill requires the original of every III
message TO be sent TO Washington Sc
or tine inspection Of any governmental IL
Ipstart who chooses to busy himself W
with the private affairs Of the citizen, or Ut
who wishes TO make merchandise Of VI
heir business, social or political secrets. cI
There should be but one sentiment on OF
his subject among Democrats and con- Ia
ervative men. We believe the bust 1"
less men Of the country are almost a al
init in opposition to the scheme, and 50
We rejoice to notice that the leading pa VI
ens Of the county, without regard to - -
arty, unhesitatingly stand firm against II
J, and yet, from the character Of the men sd
rhO are engineering the. matter through IA
congress, and the generally admitted WI
vet that there is Il strong and well paid DC
'bby urging its passage, We have grave Oe
.ars that it will DE saddled upon the al
1untry. The project is being manipu- u"
ted by the same men who have con- y
antly endeavOrei to add to the already ln'
sspotie powers of the Government in "
lie interests Of the Radical party-the Iu
Fry same men who gave power to Pres N'
ent Grant 10 suspend the writ of ha6e- rel
corpus at his pleasure, and to use the
my to enforce his imperial DEGREES. ms