Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1884-12-05
A Postal Telegraph.

In view of the power shown by
JAY Gould over the Western Union
Company and the Asso-
ciated Press, and the manifest dispo-
sition on his part to use it in behalf
of his favorite Presidential candidate,
the following utterance of Senator
Window, of Minnesota, just before
his appointment to be Secretary of
the Treasury, is exceedingly apropos
'The channels of thought and the
channels of commerce thus owned
and controlled by one man, or by
few men, what is to restrain corpo-
rate power, or to fix limit to its eX-
actions upon the people? What is
then to hinder these men from de-
pressing or initiating the value of all
kinds OF property to suit their caprice
or avarice, and thereby gathering in
to their own Golfers the wealth OF the
nation? Where is the limit to such
a power as this? What shall be said
Of the spirit of free people who will
submit without protest to be thus
bound hand and foot?"
With postal telegraph on the plan
proposed TO the last Congress by Con-
gresham Sumner, Of California, and
Senator Edmunds, of Vermont coup
led with a Civil Service system which
would place the tenure of office be
You'd partisan control, such danger
as that above noted would be olivia
ted. Referring to the existing situa-
ton, the N. Y. Times says:
"For the past forty-eight hours Mr..
Jay Gould has been using the Wes-
tern Union Telegraph to spread
abroad through the United States
false information as to the result of
the election in the State of New York.
The proof of this is well known to
every intelligent journalist in New
York. Mr.. Gould did the same thing
in October with reference to the cleo
ton in Ohio, when not one specific
statement capable of verificat,on or
exposure was allowed to pass ov,r
the Western Union wires for more
than thirty hours, and when the state
ments that were sent were shown
within two days to be conspicuously
and Intentionally false. AS to the
vote of New York the plot has been
nearly identical and has been carried
out with more persistence. The re-
turns have been sent ont in Jumps of
election districts, which are not
named and cannot be Unidentified, and
the publication of these has beer,
made in amounts and at times 10
SUIT the schemers. Occasional pro-
nunciamentos from the Blaine Com
mittee have shown that returns from
comparatively remote point have
been used promptly, while those from
points within an hours ride of the
Western Union Building have been
held back. x
MIR. Jay Gould's performances for
the past forty eight hours have made
a Government Postal Telegraph a
necessity in this country"
Electricity is the quickest, and
therefore the most valuable, mean:
Of conveying intelligence. The PEG.
pie of the United States paid for con
: structing the first line Of telegraph
for Prof. Morse between Baltimore
and Washington, thereby dcmonstra
ting the feasibility of using clectricit!
u to convey intelligence. Instead o
= adding it to our postal system it wa
e allowed to pass into the hands of cor
e poratlons, which have used it as
. means of taxing the people rathe
f than to give them its service at tb
: lowest practicable cost. If 1t had de
!, veloped with our postal system, eX
! pcrts estimate that we would now b
e sending messages at cent a wor'
/. throughout the length and breadt
+ of the United States. Does anyOn
suppose that if our present posts
system had been run for corporat
profit rather than for public benef
y that postage would have been redu'
i ed from shilling per letter to tw
J. cents? AS regards the integrity
d management, it must be placed SOM
f. where. and does anyone suppose thu
. it would not be safer in the hands I
W the Post Office Department, direct
responsible to the people, than i'll Il
hands of a corporation responsible
a no one? Republicans like Senat
- Edmunds and Democrats like Co
,o gresham Sumner, Of Californ
. think that it would be safer in I
a. hands of the people, as it is in all OF
r, er countries of the world. 4
,ts AVERAGE CITIZEN,
al & :