The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-05-04


A cable despatch from London brings the
information that the steamer Hibsrnian will
leave England tomorrow to attempt the
repair of the French Atlantic cable, and that
the Great Eastern and Edinburgh will start
towards the close Of May on their expedition
to lay the proposed new cable from Valentia
to Hearts Content After this work shall
have been accomplished the Great Eastern
will undertake the task Of recovering and
repairing the broken Anglo-American cable,
and the Edinburgh will proceed to lay two
new cables between Placentia, Newfoundland
and Sydney, Cape Breton. If all these under
takings prove successful there will be four
cables working across the Atlantic and five
across the Gulf of st. Lawrence before the
first of September; those across the Atlantic
being the present working Anglo-American
cable, the other Anglo-American and the
French cables, now broken, and the new
cable. This programme certainly seems to
promise an effective telegraphic service
between England and America, and if we had
any assurance that the company in whose
hands the business is now concentrated would
use the advantages at their command in good
faith in the interest of the public we might
well be satisfied with the prospect. Inter
national telegraphic communication is now o
necessity of commerce The Geographic COM
munication between the States is scarcely of
greater Importance to our people. The evil
has been that Atlantic cable telegraphy has not,
up to this time, been popularized by reason
able rates. This has been due to the fact that
there has been no opposition in the business.
The original proprietors having held control,
have made the public pay all the costs of early
experiments and failures, as well as enormous
profits on the total investment The mischief
of an exorbitant tariff is that it gives large
capital an undue advantage by confning the
use of the cable to the wealthy operator.
This was subject of complaint when
the Anglo-American Company commenced its
business with almost prohibitory charges, and
every one will remember the qualification with
which the intelligence Of the success of the
French cable was received. There was then q
prospect of competition and probability Of
fair rates in consequence The power of the
Anglo-American Company soon suficed to COM
pei union of the two lines, and the hope of
more liberal treatment was at an end. There
were then three cables at the command of the
united companies, but the people derived no
benefit from the increase Of facilities. The
unreasonable tariff was kept up and the adj
ditional cable only served to increase the
profits Of the stockholders. We may therefore
fairly conclude that the four cables now
promised us by the early part Of September
next will only swell the receipts of the COM
pany and not decrease the rates to the public.
Few corporations are more completely en-
titled to the bitter words, greed, extortion. bad
! faith, in the description of their conduct,
than the Atlantic Cable Company. Never in its
history has the company treated the press and
| the public with fairness and common business
integrity. During the Franco-Prussian war
it raised its tolls because the news necessities
Of the HERALD and other journals required q
constant use of the lines. In ordinary bust
by word very like swindling The moral
qualities of the act were not less heinous, for
it was taking advantage, not SO much of other
peoples necessities as of their business pat
ronage to extort money from them. No
usurer ever demanded higher rate of interest
from his customer; no pawnbroker ever hig-
gled more narrowly and meanly to make .
few cents ont Of misery. Now that the
Vienna Exposition has commenced, in conse-
quence Of which the business of the company
is likely to be largely increased, we have q
repetition of the same policy, and that, too,
in face Of promise that the cable tolls
should be reduced to the old rates.
The first increase was from seventy-fve cents
to one dollar per word now from one dollar
to one dollar and fifty cents per word, making
the increase fifty per cent on the new and one
hundred per cent on the old rates. In the
first instance the increased rates were the re-
suit of greed and extortion and criminal dis
regard of the rights Of the public. Now down.
right bad faith and the violation of pledge Of
long standing are added to repetition of the
old offences. All this exhibits meanness and
efrontery that few men would wish to have
written in their obituaries and handed down
as an inheritance to their children.
The excuse put forth for this extorton is
that the company has now but one cable in
operation, and hence desires to drive away
rather than attract business. If we exact ex-
brilliant rates, say the managers, we shall
deter people from using the cable, and thus
keep business down somewhere near it's CO.
pacity, while at existing rates we shall have
more business than q single cable can accom-
modate. This is very poor apology for the
greed of the company. 1t would be an easy
matter for the cable offices to refuse to accept
a greater number Of messages than they could
despatch in the twenty -four hours, unless the
senders we're willing to submit to the delay.
The raising Of the rates is simply dictated by