Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-07-26
PROGRESS OF THE TELEGRAPH
hrRIKE.

The New York Times says OF the tele-
graphic strikers: "The strike has been free
from every one Of the Objectionable features
which usually mark strikes. 1t has been
simply a fair, straiyhtfor ward effort to get
what the t~elegraphers have thought was
Just. 1t has won, and deserves the respect
Of all fair-minded men. Ga the other hand,
the company which in~solenily and arbitrarily
refuses to ever consider the propositions OF
men who were just IS much entitled TO pre-
cent their claims as the ompaD was TO put
forward its own has been guilty OF frequent
and outrageous violations OF its obligations
to the community" The Times reviews the
manner in which the Western Union Com
psny has watered its stock, and comes to the
conclusion that "its profits for i've years
have been nearly twenty times its original
capitSl.' 1t adds that if the operators de-
msnds were granted the profits would still be
ten to fifteen per cent. upon the properly
really invested, and finally concludes: That a
company thus managed should infict iucAl-
culable injury on the business Of the coun-
try in order TO keep It's employees in absolute
servitude 10 its arbitrary dictation is Simply
monstreus, and the unchecked preparation
of such an outrage is serious stain upon
the Justice of the government under which
we liye.7 The New York Hersld learns that
u plan is preparing by which the American
Rapid Telegraph Company and Baltimore
and Ohio Geographic Company and the
Brotherhood of TeIegraphic Operators are to
combine. These two companies, it Is said,
are TO yield all that the operators demand.
The wires of these two companies do
not cover as much surface as those
Of the Western Union, but they
occupy the heart Of the country and
reach all the points where teIegraphing lie
most profitable, and they have possession Of
the newest and best appliances. In Wash
ihgton there is much inconvenience from the
defective Geographic service. No assurance
could be given that press dispatches could be
sent to the principal interior cities. The
commissioner from North Carolina was re-
ceiving no dispatches, though important
matters there require attention The Signal
Service is badly crippled, having no returns
HUN oOOut lb btohAOh11
are received are too late to be of use. The
Internal Revenue Office was notified that its
dispatches we're likely TO be delayed. A
very serious feature occurred in one matter
of government business OF vital national inn
portance. The state Department cAbled fuii
instructions to the Consul-General in Lon-
don in regard to inspecting and reporting the
sanitary condition OF ali vessels clearing for
the United States, and, on Monday after
noon, mailed full instructions. In or
der to expedite these mailed copies the
State Department, the same afternoon, tele-
graphed, through the Western Union office
at Washington, to the collector at New York,
to 20 to the postofice that night, and take
those Instructions from the mail and put
them aboard a fast steamer TO sail at 4 o'clock
in the morning. On Monday night, TO make
sure this had gone, an officer of the State
Department came Town 10 the telegraph
Office to see, when no record of the dispatch
could be found, and no copy, and nothing to
show whether it had been forwarded or not.
The law is very explicit with respect 10 the
Signal-Service kilograms, and much interest
is felt as to the course Gen. Hszen may take
as to the omissions.