Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1879-09-24

| W c nave never maue ana never IN
tended to make" was the reply, "any
appeal to the public, financially OIL
otherwise, until we should be able tC
prove. practically and reliably:
"First-That we can telegraph, reli
ably, sixty to ninety thousand words
per hour over long circuits, and sixty
to hundred times faster than can be
done by the Morse or any other hand
key system.
"Second-That we can telegraph
more economically than can be done by
any other system, by from seventy-fve
to ninety per cent.
"Third-That we can telegraph full
five-fold more accurately and ten-fold
more reliably than can be done by any
other system.
"Fourth-That we can and will dc
all telegraph business confined to US,
whether it be one thousand or fifty
thousand messages per day, with far
more promptness than the same busi-
ness can possibly be done by any other
system or company. When the Rapid
telegraph company is prepared to DEM
onstrate these four propositions, its
limited number of stockholders may be
prevailed upon to share their invest
ments with a larger circle of the busi-
ness public, but they will certainly
guard against the possibility of a
single share of their stock passing
into the hands of persons having
affiliations with the Western Union or
other speculative telegraph companies.
a majority of the Rapid" Company's
stock has been placed in the hands of
trustees, with rigid provisions for
holding it for FIVE years or more, so
that no lease, sale, consolidation or
pooling arrangement with other lines
or companies is possible. With FIVE
million of dollars, judiciously expended,
the rapid" Company will cover the
whole country east of the Rocky
mountains with network of wires
capable of telegraphing ten-fold more
matter in a given time than there can
now be telegraphed over all the exist
ing wires of the country, which repre-
sent nearly or quite ninety million
dollars"
SIX DISTINGUISHED FEATURES.
The "Rapid" Company proposes to
inaugurate, upon the opening of their
lines to the public, six distinguishing
features:
l. Express Messages-A uniform
tariff of twenty-five cents for thirty
words or less, including date, address
and signature to all stations east Of
the Rocky Mountains, with one cent,
additional for each word over thirty.
Instant transmission over the wires
and prompt delivery by special mes
sengers is meant by the word express"
3 Mail Messages-Fifty words or
less to all stations east of the Rocky
Mountains for twenty-five cents, with
one cent additional for five words or
less added, to be telegraphed at the
convenience of the company, but
within one hour, and delivery guaran-
teed through the postofice or by mes
senger within two hours from the date
of the message, between s o'clock, A.
M. and six O'Clock, p. NJ
3. Night Messages-Fifty words or
less to stations east of the Rocky
Mountains for fifteen cents, with one
cent additional for five words or less
added, to be telegraphed at the con-
venience of the company, between six
O'Clock, p. NJ. and eight O'Clock, A. NJ,
and delivered through the nearest
postofice, postpaid, by or before 8
o'clock, A. M.
4. Press Reports-For exclusivepub-
lication in one journal in any circuit of
five hundred miles or less, or in any
practical telegraph circuit over five
hundred words or less for ten cents,
and the same tariff for any desired
number of words. No one reporter to
hold a wire to the exclusion of other
reporters over twenty minutes, or,
say, twenty thousand words at any
one time.
5. Stamped Messages-It is pro-
posed to use stamps for express"
''mail' and "press" messages, under
arrangement with the postofiice depart
ment, and the public may purchase and
use the same with the same conve-
nienee as postage stamps are now used
for mail correspondence.
6. Street letter boxes will be made
available, under an arrangement with
the postoffice department, for collecting
stamped kilograms every fifteen min
utes, from A. NJ to P. NJ.
Twenty-Five or thirty years ago
Frederick Hudson, then editorial as
well as business manager of the New
York Herald, predicted that the time
would come when no Herald cores
pondent would think of posting letter
to that paper; wherever he might be
his copy, however lengthy, would seek
the telegraph and not the mail bag.
If the Rapid Company are to carry
out the distinguishing features" 1t
needs no prophet to predict the not
distant day when the business man
will no more think of seeking the
United States mail bag for a letter
than the hurried traveller thinks of
searching for the old-time four-horse
coach.
at is now as certain as anything in
near future" they say, "that by CO.
operation between the postoliice depart
ment and the American Rapid Tele-
graph Company the letter correspon-
dence between New York and Chicago,
and probably between New York and
San Francisco, could be telegraphed at
very nearly the same cost that is now
incurred in transporting the mail bags
between those cities; provided, of
course, that the letters were composed
in proper form for transmission over
the wires by their authors, and also
that the same are translated as quickly
and as accurately, after a few days
practice, as they could write with a
pen or read ordinary manuscript-the
professional telegrapher having no
more ability, in either of those two