The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-03-10
ANOTHER SPECIES or REGuLArIoN.

4
seems to feel that his mission is to see to il
that all the great public conveniences Of
the state are regulated" in their manage.
ment by statutory ensctments. AS tie
railroad and telegraph companies have the
greatest amount of business and money
and come into public service the most
prominently, these special lines of bust
ness are those upon which the greatest
amount of legislative buncombe is ex'
pended. II matters not TO the ambitious
legislator, thirsting for glory, and sure OF
the applause of the unthinking among the
masses, who unfortunately comprise a
large class, that these companies represent
vast amounts of private capital are private
property, ana entitled to such protection
as all other kinds of property receive. 1t is
enough if there is demagogical cry for
regulation" As a consequence, we have
before our legislature bills for regu-
the operations and office work of the, West
ern Union Telegraph company. This lat
ter bill is still in the lower house, and it is
an open question at least whether it ought
statute. We were gratified TO notice the
manly and Just remarks made by the Waco
Examiner in its criticisms upon this meas-
ure, and we agree with it in most of the
positions taken. In the first place, it per-
fectly absurd for u man who knows nothing
about a peculiarly technical matter to un.
dertake TO frame u bill and have it become
law that shall declare how and when, and
for what price that matter shall be used for
the public service, At least it is absurd,
unless we first agree that justice and the
rights of property play no figure in
legislation. But the business of the West
ern Union Is peculiarly technical one,
and one different from all other kinds ore
about which its managers, operators and
employees must have a special education TO
handle, and yet there are unskilled mem
bers OF the legislature, who never speut an
hour in telegraph office and who hardly
know how message ia sent or the amount
or peculiar character Of work done, who
fancy that they can frame statutes 'regu-
lating" even the interior working of the va
rious offices, and run the whole busiQess OF
the state with ease. The absurdity q the
claim is displayed in the presence of two
provisions IN the bill, to so no further, The
bill provides that all messages shall be sent
within two hours from the date oil their re-
ceipt, and that messages shall be repeated
TO the sending Office without extra
charge. The one provision is impraCticable
and the other unjust, 1t is matter of
small consequence to ten men out OF
dozen whether their messages are sent in
two hours or six, so they are sent during
the day and without unnecessary delay.
But now, with the large amount of COM
mercial and private business in such offices
as the Dallas Galveston ana Austin offices,
together with the large telegraphic news
report to be received in time for publication
IN the morning papers, and the large num-
Der of special newspaper kilograms, it
would be utterly impossible to comply with
such u regulation without dropping the
Associated Press aud special dispatches, in
which the entire public are interested, and
devoting the time to twenty-five
or thirty private messages that
represent an interest OF forty
or fifty dollars only, perhaps, and that
might just as well be sent twelve hours az
forwards. Private messages are the least
important of the Western Unions business,
represent u smaller number and smaller
paying PATRONS but this business is not
only to take precedence of all else, but to
be done by the company under heavy
penalty just within given time, And then
add TO this the fact that this character OF
business is to be repeated, thus consuming
double time and labor, and the company
not TO receive cent extra pay. Thsis
sample of the legislation proposed by this
bill and the impracticable character thereof
may be readily seen. The general laws Of
the land protect the public against any neg
lect or mistakes by the telegraph company,
and if the patrons desire any especially safe
There is but one matter that II
bill could with any reason handle
or regulate, and that is max.
imum charge for service. But both reason
and common sense teach us that the laws
of trade will regulate such matter. Ii a
company charges exorbitant rates, the pub.
lie patronage will be proportionately small,
and vice-versa, and the managers of the
company know this full well. We cannot
refrain, while on this subject, from repro.
ducing u sensible extract from the tx.
aminer 1.-THE telegraph companies have
never asked or received any favors from the
state. Not dollar in subsidies or land has
been given them. They pay taxes on their
property as other people do, and special
and heavy occupation tax besides. They
have strung their wires all over the state,
often years in advance Of railroads, and
played an important and valuable part in
developing every commercial interest, their
rates are cheap, and they maintain large
number OF offices simply as public con.
venisnce." In short, this whole character
of legislation is unwise, ill-timed and un.
Just, and an infringement upon private
business rights, and necessarily crude and
defective because the workmanship of mem
who are acting from popular clamor rather
than thorough, personal and technics
knowledge of the subject.
-~s----
A CHANCE FOR A REPUTATION.
A week ago We called attention to tn,