The daily gazette., 1879-02-18
From the N. Y. Herald.
Congress aMd the Telegraph.

In the days when there were gross
abuses in telegraphic ic admit istration, and
when remedy for those abuses was
greatly needed, the Herald called often
upon Congress to consider the subject of
the practical irresponsbility to the law
of power that exercised an enormous
influence even over the daily | fe and
current interests Of the people; but it
called in vain. In those days heavy re-
publican speculati0ns were dominant,
and the men Who ran the Southern States
to plumber the Sout bern pr ople, and " no
maneuvled the Pad tic Railroad jobs, did
not care to touch the telegraph lines.-
But change bas taken place, and now
there is a b II before the Senate and an
| other before the House on this subject,
and the telegraph Interest is brought be-
fore Congressional committees. How
much Of this is due to he smart of recent
| political disclosures made by tie publica-
| ion Of dispatches aud how much is due
to all honest regard to the interests Of
the public service We shall not undert axe
to say but We do not regard as an evil
the "A tention that Congress is inclined to
give though late I'd the regu alton of a
power that II 1t de1ls justly by the peo-
| pie, as on the whole We believe it does.
does this not because the people have any
authority under the law to enforce il,
but because the power as now handled
Is fairly and hon stly disposed. Proper
lation-legislalion such as is propos-
ed in the two bills before Congress-will
do 10 harm to the Yves ern I'm on Com
pany i'll the legitimate sphere of its oper-
silons-wll, on the cont ary, be Leu.-
ticlal 10 il, "A. d We are of opinion the
president Of ma, company Is hot well ad.
vl,ed in p!e'en ing Himself as an oppo-
nelt of that legislation. One bill pro-
pnsts t. gite to evey rail oal company
the ght TO cOnst ruct and operate ines
| for us own or pubic use on It's railway
route, AMI the W, stern Union can onlv
opp Sc lhi. III the Ghal acter Of claimant
to Z eat and oppr ssivc monopoly.
1t argues that ii gan seud all these mes
sages cheaper than u Z companies. If It
au l need not fea. their rivalry. I'll. II
wi y oppose the eX ension to Them If a
privilege which in fact should be open to
all ? In the House bill ths re are many
loilts laid co"n u r he resulatl, II Of the
telegraph, and tidy ae e nerally wise
and = Oh ones. .iu enforced ,qaa.iy OF
ra'es Is ohe Il the IA eifo. ced secrecy is
another penalty for TIN d sclosure Of
dts atches 10y agents 5 an admifatle Iu'e,
and til" pr ncii lie tn the Telegraph CON-
pany shall be re,tlict-d ID Transmission
) AM shall n't be tws gathefer or buyer
or sci er is the best OF all. All The Sc
points are III tie Interest Of the public,
and, Wi at it may pstuni.h Coneressmeu
To hear, they a even more IN the iLt-r-
est OF tie newspaper press. For in what
is said in these valious inquiries we find
that the Co gressInen are not a tile ami
mated agalI ST the press in the great cities
and that they are as ign. rant OF the rela-
uons OF the II. wsIaper to the telegraph
company, and espec ally Of the nature of
that chosen aversion Of theirs-,he Asso-
clatei PIese-as thy probably are OF
count ct quetie i'll the Chinese Empire.
Even man SO commonly well informed
as General Butler is troubled with a sad
! cohfdslon of ideas when he puts the re-
: iuSal of The AssUGla ed Press to sell it,
Leas TO u Gelinquent customer as An at.
teinpt on the freedom of the press, or as
| fact that h.s some conCriy able relation
with the admin straion Of a telegram
company.