, 1872-12-03
POSTAL TELEGRAPHY.
Report Of the Postmaster Gen.
eTal.
Argument Against the Present Tele-
graphic System.


A AGovernmentaI System Advocated
We havs received 4 copy Of the report of the
Postmaster General; but in consequence Of tht
crowded state Of our columns to-day, We car
present in this issue only that portion Of tbs
document which relates to q Postal Telegraph
The other interesting portions Of the report viii
be given to our readers hereafter.
On the subject Of Postal Te1egraphy, Mr. Crea.
we'll says:
POSTAL rELEGEApa.
In compliance With the provisions OF 1av re-
qulrinG the Postmaster General annually to tiS
the rates for official telegraphic dispatches, is
sued an order, dated the 10th Of June, 1875, one
sect!on Of which retained the preriously-estab-
ished rate for ordinary telegrans. viz. one
cent per word for each distance Of two hundred
and fifty miles, or fraction thereof, to which rate
no formal objection had been made by the te1e-
g-aph companies.
The rates established in 1871 for signal service
messages having been objected to as too low by
tho Western Union Telegraph Company, by
whom the greater part Of the service was per-
formed, again availed myself of the expe-
rlenced counsel and assistance of Brigadier GEN
era1 Albert J. Myer, Chief Signal Officer, and
Hon. William Whiting, specially retained as As
sistant Attorney General, with authority to rep
resent Tue united states III negotiations with
:. The Western Union Company contended, first,
tnat the signal service messages, which, to be
effective, require simultaneous transmission
through special circuits at certain times, we're
not covered BY the second section OF the act ap-
proved July ~, 1866, entitled Gan act to aid in
the construction Of telegraph lines, end to &C.
cure to the Government the use Of the same for
postal, military, and other purposes" and
could only bo sent by special arrange
mcnt; second, that the understanding under
which the Company had been transmitting such
reports was not intended to be- continuous, but
was terrninable at the pleasure Of the Company
at the end OF year from the 9th of May, ISL,
when the Company gave formal notice that it
would discontinue the service unless q kieher
rate should be allowed therefor.
On both OF these points / took the opposite
ground, maintaining the right of the Govern
ment to require the transmission Of the weather
reports under the act Of 1866, and also asserting
the permanent character of the assent Of the
Company to thls construction Of the law. In
view, however, OF the representations Of the
Company as to the insuficiency Of the compeu-
sation previously allowed, and acting on the
recommendations OF General Alyer and Mr.
Whiting, advanced the rates for signal service
messages from two to three cents per word for
each circuit they might pass, in accordance with
the plans OF the Chief Signal Officer.
0rave difficulties have arisen from time to
time between the Government and certain Of
kAo 1G4CtsLdpA CO1uJAu465y WHICH nave ueGlQGQ
and still decline to furnish such facilities as arc
essential to the perfect success Of the signal
service.
In my opinion, Government telegraph affords
the only safeguard against the continuance of
such evils. While the embarrassment conse-
quent on the attitude Of the telegraph. conpa-
MES toward the Government demands prompt
attention, it is but one of the many considers
tions which point to the adoption OF a postal
telegraph as o measure Of immetliate nnh3c
When, through the lberality Of Congress, the
first telegraph line had been constructed, and the
partial SUCCESS of the invention demonstrated, the
question arose whether the Government should
purchase tho patent or relinquish to private par
ties the lines which it had built. The reasons
why the Government should assume control of
this new means of transmitting intelligence
were forcibly set forth in various letters of the
inventor, and in report of the Ways and
Means Committee Of the House Of Representa-
tiyes. i
This report, (No. 1877, second session Twenty
eighth Congress- after enlarging upon the wis
dom of the policy which led the founders of
our Government, "deyoted as they are known
to have been to the power and Importance Of the
States, jealously apprehenaiyo Of the undue pre-
ponderance of the Federal branch" to 'engraft
on that branch power so great SO growing, so
penetrating and peryading as that Of the Post
Office system" and alludiug to tho extension Of
that power by the adoption Of all the more rapid
improved methods Of transmission which had
been introduced since the adoption OF the Con-
stitution, continues:
Butt though not anticipated or foreseen, these new
and improved modes were as clearly within the pur
wow OF the Constitution the older aud less
perfect ones with which ancestors familiar
The same principles which justified and de- |
routes, from horse-drawn coaches on common high
Ways to ateam-impelled vehicles land and water is
a II aa of Of ha faa ee 5hs a
:harge Of its great function Of rapidly transmitting
and intelligence.
And again:
Should the arrangements into which he he in7entor)
nay ma It necessary to enter with private njisiduals
associations stipuato exclusive rights in their favor
t is manifest how greatly Government and people
you'd Lie at their mercy. Havng in their hands the
monopoly Of such medium Of intelligence on tho
important lines they could make such Of their ad
'antages over the Government and the community as
the price Of the surrender Of their exclusive rght
or the truth cannot be too often rapeated or too |
'eope will submit long to the iscMefs and dis
redt OF the public post being out5trippcd by amp pr-
ate monopoly or establishment Ehateyer. Ths loss
# revenue will cooperate with the complains and
offerings Of the people to do What better dono
nee namely, establish the telegraph in connection
nth and as branch Of the Post Office.
The following. paragraph Of the report must
loW be read with peculiar interest:
The Committee might easily add to the views md
rguments which they have now presented others Of
gh1y commanding character, especially those which
eIe u 1A1 extreme value ol WHICH tile magnetic tce-
aph would be in the emergencies Of war; and its sin
ular ndaptcdness to render Our system Of Govern
acut easily and certainly maintainab1e over the |
immense space from the Atlantic to the Pacific which
ur territory covers. Doubts have been entertained
Y many patriotic minds how far the rapid, full, and
ence SO necessary to people living under . common
representative republic could be expected to take pace
throughout such immense bounds That doubt can
70 longer exist. II has been resolved and nut an end
forever by tho triumphant success Of the electro
magnetic telegraph Of Professor Morse as already
ested by the Government Il
Owing to the slowness of the public to recogtf:f
he doubts cast on the feasibility Of it's, opera
ION over long distances, the course recomm sra.
q By the Committee was not adopted, and .the +
me, built and for some time maintained at Gov