National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1873-01-20


raise no such question. II Congress gives the
authority 70 twenty or thirty gentlemen TO col
let O o6o, 200 from the public, and e distribute
right to property knew OF. But Congress exacts
| nothing from them In return, imposes no obRa-
ton on them then and thereafter 20 do anything.
and divide the q, OOO, OOO and then faithfully and
ludloiously exPend the other million, and the
| scheme falls. They have burrowed hole In the
Post ONCE, interfered with and interrupted the
| postal service, vexed and hnrassed the custom
en- Of the telegraph, who have been many times
| caught sending messages by the Government
line 70 points not reached by 1t, Disguised the
public generally, and certainly II seems To me that
the people Will not be In avery evangelical frame
| OF mind toward governmental connection with
the telegraph, with such a specimen Of the re-
| suits before them.
But suppose It goes on and does better, what
them The Government has created a monopoly
OF which II can never be nd except by purchase.
| There may he no obligation on the part Of the
Government 70 buy the existing lines; there Ger.
tainly would be no obligation on the part Of the
Government 70 buy that line. I submit that
every share Of stock subscribed TO the corpora
ton created by this act would he so subscribed
on the Inducements held out by the Government
| Of the United states, either that that company Ia
TO make ten per cent on ts capital, with an added
million for expenses Of organization; or falling
IN that, the United States Ia 10 buy the property
| Now, read In the public prints that the Sec
Rotary Of the Treasury has recently been before
committee OF Congress-, asking for legislation
TO enable him to pay larger commission than Is
now allowed by law for the negotiation Of bonds
| OF the United States At lower rate OF Interest
than II paid to the greater part Of the public
debt. Tits bill is a scheme TO enable a private
corporation, after Its corpOrators have made
tl,OOo,COo, 70 make ten per cent; on all the bal-
ance Of their investment, with the q, 100000 ln-
| cluded. What Ia the prOprety OF such partner
ship, with such quasi guarantee Of such rate Of
interest on the part Of the United States, which
certainly Ia abundantly able to 70 into market
and borrow money at half that rate OF inteTestT
What Ia the necessity for the Government to set
up partners In the business who do not own a rod
| of tpnUraDh the IFnitQd VI N
did an hours work at the telegraph business In
their liyes-what Is the proprlety Of the Govern
ment setting Gp such parties in opposition to the
twenty yean, have been developing telegraph
system which, Notwithstanding the dlsparaging
statements made concerning u In the report of
the Postmaster General, compares favorably with
any telegraph sytem on the glObe7
Now, word on the subject OF rates. More
| than sixty per cent. Of the cost Of conducting
the telegraph business Is paid for labor, yet we
| are obliged constantly to meet statements and
Arguments based upon the rates paid In Europe.
The Chairman. Does that refer TO the running
| expenses, or to the building expenses a. well7
Mr.. OrtOn. II refers to conducting the bust
ness. Sixty per cent. Of the whole cost Is for
Mr. Nback. What do you include In the word
"laborf-do you include opeAt0rsf
Mr.. Orton. include the wages Of operators, Of
course. II Ia work Of men aud Of hands, not
Of steam engines-a work OF individuals, the ex-
pense Of which Increases almost In the direct
ratio OF the Increased volume Of business. II Ia
mass Of il il can 5e done more cheaply. Ask Inc
| stenoqrapher there who Il reportinr these pro-
eeedlngs how much cheaper he can work II he
| There n a lImN to human canacity' n GORE.
| spondence were ali maid Tor by Inc written word
would the price Of It be any cheaper Il the vol:
ume was largely increased5 And yet every word
of every message Is written out In detail by the
| fingers OF the telegraph operator. No matter
| sion, or cheSpen some Of the processes, every
single message 4 the product OF the labor OF hui
man fingers. Now, understand il 10 have been
| the settled policy OF every Administration for
more than forty wears TO secure a higher rate Of
| wages for labor In the United states than II
paid In any other country and especially
has II been the pOllcy Of the Initial
States to protect ia iAborinR citizens
| from competition with the product OF the
cheaper labor Of Continental Europe. In view OF
this TACT, and Of that nIch have already stated
that more than sixty per cent, OF the current
expenses Of condHciihr telegram business h
paid directly In waRes-Is Il fair 10 ask that pri-
vate capital and enterprise shall perform in his
country a service which Ia so largely the product
In detail Of labor, az rates corresponding with a
similar service IN other cOuntries7 believe Il Is
susceptible OF simple demonstration that CON
sllering the difference In cost Of labor and Of
material In Europe and In the United States tel
egaphlng In the United states Is decidedly
going to say than the average hut say in any
country In Europe II you Will consider the dlf-
ference simply IN the wages paid to the employees
and the difference IN tue cost Of materials, you
will ind that ieegraphlng Is cheaper in the Uni-
ted States than In any country In Europe
But that Is not all. A days work by the EN-.
eight hours, while the employees Of the telegraph
are required TO work at least ten, and In many
cases Twelve hours: ! assume z will not Be
the Government would do any more work In the
same time than II in the service Of private PAT
tcsi OF that the former could hire telegraph OPP
eratlyes Ut lower rates OF wages than are now
paid. II follows, therefore, that on the basis OF
eight hours as a days work, the present annual
expenditure TO operate the telegraph would yleld
Of that to maintain The present product would
require an increase OF force and 81 expenditure
Msny-nve per cent, greater than han ne present;
against operatives and mechanics In the tele-
graphic department OF its business, and require
g %SE SS% I've e SS S Ssy
chanics, and lab0rers,
In the report OF the Postmaster General refer,
ense Is male to the Government telegraph o.
to the consideration Of the question OF a uniform
rate. Now, sir, admit that II II were practica.
I bic to remove the 4O,OOO,OOD OF people OF the
United States into tho territory comprised in the
States Of New England and New York, II would
be entirely practicable to establish q uniform
. | rate But see how unjust II IL to compare this
country with Great britain or France. each hay.
ing 4 population approxlmAting to our own
, settled on an area but little larger than New
area equal Sinoi . tie contineRt Of Europe
, | Ten 70 fifteen miles Of telearaph LIuEt be con,
structed and kept In repair ~ the United state,
to reach the same number Of persons as In Great
Britain or France are reached by one mile; and
when you sohsluer lhat " costs on an average =
lines Up Tepair, you win see what difference
there u N ihSgF ~ those countries OF densel
population. Permit me ~ rGherki turther, u
connection win the EhRllsh teleRrhpht MLhl
represented TO be success, land ] believe " tt
be success so iaF q - administration Is con
} cernedb that J think very erroneous View
are entertained concerning the result Ol
It's operations financially. WhqteVer u Wal
become hereafteL the British telegraph
has cost the British Government more
money every month since u has been IN opera
ton under the Government tnan u has received
= IN revenue from such operations, NOW an
aware That an EXHIBIT mas been made showing
pront. nave examined thAt eNhlbt eareiully
and IND that the apparent pront resulting IRON
the operation OF the British telegraph ~ obtained
by charging an arbitrary sum TO capital account
0 There " no evidence let TO satisfy me mat tht
British Telegraph u seltsustblnlhg to-day, Ant
9 yet u ought to be self-snslAl9lnR, and have M
doubt that u VIII ultimately become seH-susIall
4 ing. Very much mas bean hall concerning th
g enormous Increase In the volume OF misl1oN
h since the English Government took the TELEGRAPH
d aud established uniform rate. Let me make
y statement In that connection. There are n
s more messages sent IN Great Britain to-day, y
e proportion 10 the hIlpper OF miles OF wire an
= the number Of stations and OF EMPLOYEES, tina
II there were before the GOvernIhent t0ok tle inc
h from private hands AMI estaDlbheua unlioff