Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-08-25

10 such. Bat, says the learned essayist,
there is precisely the same reason why the
State should regulate its business and keep
its charges within the limits of reason that
applies to railway business. The telegraph
exists only by permission of the State. It
is only constructed by the aid Of the right
Of eminent domain. It's object is to pro-
mote the public convenience, and Incl
denEally TO promote the profits and gain
Of its constructors and owners. II the /
charges that produce this profit for the /
members Of the company may be imposed /
at discretion the State is at the mercy Of /
the agent 1t has created the main purpose |
is subordina5ed to tho incidental one. Now,
fair and reasonable use Of the grant to a
company must be understood, and so what
the public shall pay, reasons the jurist, for
the oonveniences the grant secures, ia a
matter Of the highest moment. And he
thus concludes that branch of his subject
&" It is just as much within the proper
police authority OF the State TO keep 4 tel
egraph company from abusing its powers in
the matter of charges, as it ia TO prevent
other abuses, and this may be done in strict
accord with the principles OF the common
Law, and by virtue of powers which are in
herent in every sovereignty" The reason
ableness and justice OF the regulasive pol
icy for telegraph companies, Just as far as
it Is applicable to other corporations, the
charges OF which the sovereign State under
takes to regulate, is undeniable. The tele.
graph and telephone companies use the pub
lie highway and cross them. They have pe-
oial privileges and special police protection.
They have seized upon the avenues Of pub
lie intelligence and communication, and
they are in truer sense illustrative of the
essential features Of monopoly than are the
/ carriers Of passengers and freights, since
the natural highways in the latter cases re.
main as Fompetitors. The telegrapbic
rates are propOrtionally higher here and
more exasperating than in any part Of Che
world. The relation of the telegraph and
telephone companies to the business Of the
country ia as intimate, and more SC than
any that exists between the railways and
the public. and, therefore, whatever force
in the reasoning based on public neces.
sity for the regulation OF freights and fares,
applies, as We said at the outset, TO tele-
graph companies. The demand for : pos
tal telegraph, 50 general in the country, is
in Itself a premouition of the demand to
be made by the public that the State shall
exercise its sovereign authority to prevent
tFe abuse Of the power to fix charges that
the telegraph companies now exercise with
ont legal restraint. Whatefec the compe.
tition between the rival telegraph compa-
nies which may come into existence here,
as in the East, it viii be short-li7sd, and.
as Amos puts it, there viii at the last be
illustrated the doctrine Of The survival of
the tittest, or an adjustment Of terms he
tween two or more Of the rivals. BY ex-
cesaive charges for Transmission Of public
: anu private IuettiiESLCe5 t1c aGtEgIaNQ COM
psnies, after supersediug the primitive,
modes OF communication, establish prso-
tioal monopoly and exclude large portion
of the public from The use Of the improved
means. Precisely this argument mas been
used by interpolation against railway
companies aud in favor Of extreme and IN
Just reduction of rates. But IL applies far
more truthfully to telegraphic companies.
There is no more warrant for unjustly re.
ducing and regulating the charges they
make than in the case Of railways. but
there is the same reason for regulating
justly. There is no intention to examine
the subject extensively now, but simply
10 call attention to the inevitable in this
matter of protecting the masses Of the
people from the undue advantages which
wealthy telegraph corporations enjoy. The
mere suggestion Of the subjec! ig sufficient
TO furnish food for thought and texts for
subsequent elaboration.