The south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1879-1883, 1883-08-14
SOUTH KENTUCKiAN.
ADVERTISING RATE.
WASHINGTON LETTER,

., 10 ", aug. IL, 80.
The telegraph operators strike is
canvassed and watched with more
interest here, perhaps, than any other
city for while Washington is not a
great commercial centre, it is great
news and political centre. Public
sympathy here has been from the first
unanimously with the Brotherhood,
but the odds seem to be on the side
of the great monopoly whose greed
and arrogance have been so offensive.
Packs cartoon of the tournament be-
tween capital and labor portrays the
situation, to the shame of the Nmefi-
can people be it said. The political
significance of the strike is two-fold.
First it may serve to forcibly direct
the attention of Congress to the ne
cessity of government control of the
telegraph. When Jay Gould with his
millions Of ill-gotten wealth can sub
sidize the press-or portion of it-and
sit at the head of the concern whose
profits have swclled its capital TO
morethan ten times the original in
vestments, and there grind down to
starvation wages the army of men
from whose labor this profit is earned
and when his arrogant monopoly COB
bleS up evrey competitor and openly
boasts thatit-caB starve out all oppo-
sltion to its sway, it is time for Con-
gress to realize that the people have
some rights. t,f ~. ,t.
This state ofaffairs directs attention
to the approaching triumph of the
democratic party. 1t il the natural
foe of monopoly and the steadfast
friend of acknowledgment. No such
state of things as now exist couldhave
grown up under democratic adminis-
tration of the government, because
the defiant corporations would be
held to accountability and compelled
to obey the laws. The statements Civ
en- out by the western Union Com
pany that it is handling its business
readily and promptly and that the
service is improving day by day are
absolutely false. Its service is in
state of chaos. Dispatches are de-
layed abominably and transmitted in
such bad shape as to be often mislead-
ing or useless. Its elacrity in spread
Ling reports Of interference with its
Ewires is malicious, the fact being that
there is not single authenticated
case of interference by the strikers,
who are under strict injunction from
the power that guides them to avoid
all such mischief, which would only
harm their cause. These misrepre-
sentations are merely part of the tao
ties Of the company in its desperate
game of bluff, which is too transpar-
ent to win. fe
There are bureaus in the various
executive departments here that
would not be crippled by reduction
of the-number of clerks employed in
them. With all the clamor in nearly
every department for more clerks and
larger appropriations, ii is capable of
easy demonstration that fully one
half the employees now enrolled
perform very light duties. While in
some offices the clerks have enough
to do and do it faithfully, in many
o hers there is systematic loafing and
almost continuous idleness. By
possible readjustment of divisions
and the enforcement of a little better
discipline, or closer application, the
present force of employees in every
; department would be. .fouud more
than ample. But this would; give
some of the clerks less time to read
newspapers and run about the halls
of the building, and would involve
taking feet down from desks to some
extent and bracing up to work as
4 people in callings work. These re-
! hections are suggested by complaints
emanating from the Patent office of
lack of force there to do the worry
rapidly accumnlating. There is no
doubt that the Patent Office is one Of
the hardest worked government bu-
reaus. The development Of Ameri-
, can inventive genius continually in
creases the amount Of work which
, the employees of the Office must do.
, But if the clerks and big-priced. ex-
aminers all applied themselves as
! closely and constantly to their cases
as a successful lawyer must do TO his
or as business men do to their duties,
there would be less delay in reaching
decisions and the business of the Of
flee would be nearer up to date.
Great improvements have been made
: in this respectunder Nh. Marble, the
present commissioner but there is
/, Eroom for still more. In nearly every
division there is an accumulation of
cases from two to,four months ahead
of the examiners, and many inpor-
tant applicationslie untouched sever
lalmonths entailing great inconven-
: ience and often loss upon the poor in
ventor, The telephone cases recently
decided had been pending until they
: were almost forgotten by all
9 except those directly interested.
THE interference were de-
! clared several years ago, and the ar
guments were closed more than one
+ Year and half ago. The eases We're
II - 4 AZ, f,,un1uinn nrfnl,-