The Arizona sentinel., 1877-08-04
U.. g. Military Telegraph,
Special to the Sentinel.

than half the sum charged by corporai lions for similar service. In Arizona this sum is the equivalent for from 215 to pounds of excellent potatoes, one choice imported Havana cigar, glass of superb beer, two copies of your valuable paper,
 and other luXuries. In the States 1t rep
 resents 30 pounds of wormy potatoes, six
 to eight good Chinese cigars, five glasses of thin beer and S1S copies of the New
 York Herald. It is not in Arizona propor tionate to the cost of every article of ne-
 cessity and luxary; but during the past year competition in the States has made
 decided reductions in telegraphic tolls;
 9 cents is the prevailing rate for all dis
 tances east of the Mississippi river. The
 chief Signal Officer, under whose diree-
 ton the Military Teleg graph lines are con-
 structed and operated, and who is always
 awake to the interests of the people he serves, and in accordance with the down.
 ward tendency in business and prices, de- termining that the Government can and
 should do what it undertakes as low as
 corporations, has ordered reduction by
 which message will hereafter be sent
 300 miles for 9 cents, instead of 250 miles,
 as heretofore. Please notice this in your
 next issue, say word for the "corpse,'
 and oblige. F. NJ. s.
 The foregoing being one of the
 few dispatches over the Military
 Telegraph that has reached this
 journal in time for publication Git
 started early in the week. we
 cheerfully give it room. The SEN
 TINEL persisted for months ill
 having specials from different
 points in Arizona telegraphed to
 It on Thursday mornings; but
 finally gave up the practice, find
 ing that the dispatches very regu'
 larIy reached this office on Satur-
 day mornings, some hours after
 the paper was distributed. The
 experience of business men was
 very similar. The only saiisfac-
 tory explanation was found in the
 crookedness of the line-it took
 the messages so long to get
 around the corners. We have
 never before criticised this line or
 it's workings because we have ta-
 ken into consideration the lament
 ably trashy character and ephem-
 eral purpose of it's original con-
 struction. Crook got it built as-a
 military necessity; a hastily
 erected line that would stand for
 a couple of years was all he want
 ed and it was all that he got
 Wretched service as it gave, it
 was a source of immense comfort
 to army officers, and of consider
 able convenience to citizens. To
 extend a Military Telegraph line
 across the continent was a pet pro- feet of Gen. Meyer, chief of the 1 Signal Service. All these motives
 combined 10 continue and extend
 the liue after it had served its
 original purpose. Te Lieut.. F, Philip Reade was given the dilfi-
 cult task of resurrecting and re-
 vivifying the dead and decaying concern. With the able assistanc ( : of MT. F. M. Speed he has accom- , piished it most admirably. 1t l. still far from being perfect line; . but it frequently does work, and 5 sometimes works well. To con- meet with the Texas lines Reade 7 has put up over 400 miles of new ], wire ina manner creditable tC . any one, besides galvanizing the old corpse intoa nearer approach , to useful life than any one els { l could have done. in all this hf ) has displayed a greater amount O ] brilliant executive ability thar t would have been required in con 5 structing and, operating a new l line. Admiration of these quail s ties has silenced the SENTINEL'' :. disgust with the treatment of it I dispatches. We have considered . also the insufficient appropria S tions under which Reade ha n worked, and the fact that, unlike !, the manager of acivilian concern f he has been unable to pick hi n men. and has had to use such ma