The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-09-09
The Blue and White Sign.

Doiuc tlHlt ago, dt SOCIAL gaLlef1Dg OF
gentlemen in New York, distinguished
scholar who had travelled much in this
and other countries was the guest of the
evening. His shrewd observations and
piquant anecdotes gave zest to CONVEX
satiOn which was both animated and sug-
gestlve. Just as the party was about to
break up, some one jocularly asked him
what had impressed him most in the
United States. "You may laugh" he
answered, "but what most of all excited
my attention and wonder was sign, a
plain looking sign, with the words,
Western Union Telegraph Office in
white letters on blue ground. That
sign positively haunted me. l saw it
in your centers of industry and COM
merce, in the best streets and the worst
slums OF your great cities, in mountain
retreats, on the great plains, and at sea-
side resorts. In advance even of your
furthest outposts it confronted me, and
seemed to say: Beyond this there are as
yet no thoroughfare. no civilization, no
light. 10 me it appeared co-extensive
with American home influence and activ-
ltles." A reply 50 unexpected did at first
move to laughter. If he had mentioned
any OF the many things to which orators
In stump and other speeches often point
with pride, patriotic bias would have felt
gratlfied on the instant. But to have a
sign cited, the sign too of private cor
poratlon, as the object which fastened
Itself most prominently and persistent
ly in the mind of a learned and tray
eled foreigner in visiting this country
was for the moment irresistibly comic.
Thought, however, was afterward
prompted, and when one quietly exam
ines what was said it is seen that a reye-
latlon has been made of fact which
everybody ought to have recognized be-
fore but did not. As the Blue and White
sign has somehow outgrown the need of
advertising, it may not improperly be re-
garded here in the interesting light which
it appeared to the stranger.
That sign, in what it denotes and
connotes, is in reality one of the most
distinctively typical characteristics of our
civilization. 1t marks the receiving and
transmitting offices of Company whose
lines, after uniting on the eastern side of
the continent with the telegraphic cables
which connect the Old World with the
New, reaches west to the Pacific Coast
and Vancouvers Island, south to the
borders of Mexico and north to Mani
toba. Facilities are betokened by it of
that instantaneous intercourse with for
eign countries and throughout the length
and breadth of the land, without which
the unexampled prosperity of our grow
ing millions of people would be we'll nigh
an lmposssbility. A map of its positions
over our vast extent of territory would
afford a fair, graphical presentation of
the relative destiny Of the. population
and of the material growth and intellec-
tual energy of the country. 1t occurs
with frequency in the thickly-populated
sections. 1t darts forward on the crest
of the wave of progress, and stakes out,
as it were, the direction of the coming
tide. Its ubiquity is amazing. The eli
mate, the physical feature Of the land
scape, the habits, manners and Gus
toms of the people NAV
change as one travels through the land
but it's familiar face remains the same,
and seems ever present. 1t stays to give
what cheer it may be to the stricken in
habitants of plague-beleaguered cities.
In the wilds of the Indian Territory,
where the locomotive only stops for
water or fuel, or to drop an occasional
visitor to the Indian Nation, it is dis
played. On the top of Pixies Peak,
where the air is so rare that the blood
sometimes start from the ears and nos
trlls OF those unaccustomed to mountain
climate, the adventurous tourist finds
there the indication that from his remote
and lofty solitude he can defy time and
distance, and speak immediately with
those he left at home. On the long
journey across the plains to California it
hangs at every station where the traveller
alights to stretch his weary limbs,
and at the smaller stations where
there is no stopping for through
passengers glimpses are caught of it
as the train rushes by. During the war
the bearers of the sign not only kept
pace with the army, but more than once
preceding the picket guard entered
towns from which the rear guards of the
enemy was departing, speedily put their
instruments in working order, and on the
arrival of the officers in command of the
victorious army had the sign set up which
assured him that the communication 50
vitally essential to the success of his flu
ture operations was already established.
When Crook and Terry went from Fort
Laramie to the relief Of Fort Fetterman,
100 miles in advance of the pioneer set.
tier, they found the sign of the Western
Union Telegraph Company modestly dis
playing itself beneath the flag of the
American Union. Here let it be said
that it is hardly matter of surprise that
the Government has been asked to be.
stow its appreciation in the shape of pen
sions on the surviving telegraphers who
performed so remarkable and seryiceable
achievements on its behalf.
In peace or in war, wherever there is a
struggle to the front, one is Obliged to
confess that "the blue and the white" is
ever in the van, and, it must lie added,
that, because that it is demanded tbere