The New York herald., 1873-10-28
The Postal Telegraph System and
tho Western Union Company.


The press and the telegraph are bound to-
gether by the ties Of mutual interest and the
relations between them are necessarily Of q
friendly character. The press is the most
valuable customer of the telegraph; the tele-
graph is the most valuable auxiliary of the
press. Anything that can add to the success
and efficiency Of the telegraph must be adj
vantageous to the press; anything that would
cripple and injure the one must be damaging
to the other. The HERALD uses the telegraph
much more extensively than does any other
newspaper in the world, and hence Is most
deeply interested in securing good service
and reasonable rates. We have advocated
the assumption of the telegraph busi-
ness by the government az part Of
the postal system Of the country, because wa
have become convinced that III tsiadesf Def govern
ment control we can secure better accommoda-
| tions and lower charges than we can hope for
under private management. We publish to-
day communication from the President Of
the Western Union Company in opposition to
the views we have advanced. Our interests
in the matter are the interests Of the people,
and If we believed that private corporation
and monopoly of the business by that COR
poration would bring the telegraphic wires
more completely within the reach of the people
than would o government ownership we
should be as warm an advocate of the Western
Union Company as we now are of postal
system.
Tha cr1ro &c $ha o1 -
almost oil the countries which have adopted it
is beyond question. The statement of Mr..
Orton, that the loss Of the governments oper-
ating the telegraph is several millions per
annum, which is paid by taxation" is not we
think, borne out by the facts. Postmaster
General Creswen, who has every facility for
ascertaining the truth in regard to the working
of the European systems, is about to make
public statistics which prove their prosperous
condition, and as he appears to be resolved to
do all in his power to secure the adoption of
the government plan here it is fair to con-
clude that these statistics are convincing to
his own mind that the postal telegraph is a
financial success. But there is one fact which
even Mr. Orton will not dispute The gov
eminent system has afforded the people
greater facilities, q larger number of
Offices and cheaper rates, and under its work.
ing, wherever it has been adopted, the tele-
graph has grown in popular favor and has
come into general use. In Great Britain the
returns show that the increase in the number
Of messages sent over the government wires
last month averaged one thousand per day
more than in September, 1872; and like in
crease will be found in all countries having
postal telegraph. 1t Is clear, then, that the
people are benefited by the government system,
even if it were true that the working Of the
wires entailed an expense upon the nation. In
the United States, whore the distances are
great and the necessity for telegraphic COM
munication more pressing, the popular advan-
tages of postal telegraph would be far
greater than in any European nation.
The United States government has, we be-
lieve, already received offers from responsible
parties to build telegraph lines all over the
United States, duplicating the Western Union
wires, for twelve million dollars 1t Is fair to
conclude, therefore, that this sum represents
the actual worth of the plant. 1t is impossi-
BILE to estimate the value Of the Western
Union lines or Of the British lines, by their
nominal cost. The Western Union Company
has certainly paid somewhat extravagantly for
several of the lines it has acquired, and the
English government was bled profusely by
the private corporations for the good will''
Of the concerns. This only shows that
government would do better TO build lines than
to take those Of existing corporations, and the
cost can only be fairly estimated by the bids
Of those who are competent to construct the
lines and responsible for carrying out such
contracts as they may make These matters,