The Osceola times., 1884-11-29
A Postal Telegraph.


In view OF the power shown bv
Jay Gould over the Western Union
Telegraph Company and the Asso-
ciated Press, and the manifest DIS
position on his part to use it in be-
half Of bis favorite Presidential can
didate, the following utterance OF
Senator Windom, OF Minnesota, Just
before his appointment to be Secre-
tary of the Treasury, is exceeding
ly apropos:
The channels of thought and the
channels of commerce thus owned
and controlled by one man, or few
men, what is to restrain corporate
power, or to fix a limit to its exac-
tions upon the people? What is
then to hinder these men from de-
pressing or initiating the value of all
kinds ofproperty TO suit their caprice
or ayarice, and thereby gathering
into their own Golfers the wealth OF
the nation? Where is the limit to
such Il power as this? What shall
be said of free people who will
submit without protest to be thus
bound hand and fuot?n
With a postal telegraph on the
plan proposed to the last Congress,
by Sumner, of California, and SEN
ator Edmunds, of Vermont, coupled
with a Civil Service system which
would place the tenure of Office be-
yond partisan control, such danger
as that above noted would be obviat-
ed. Referring to the existing situa-
ton, the n. Y. Times says:
''For the past forty-eight hours,
Mr.. Jay Gould has been using the
Western 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 Journal
ist in New York. Mr.. Gould did
the same thing in October with ref
erence to the election in Ohio, when
not one specific statement capable
Of veriication or exposure was al
lowed to pass over the Western
Union wires tor more than thirty
hours. and when the statements that
were sent were shown within two
days to be conspicuously and inten-
tionally false.
As to the vote Of New York the plot
has been nearly identical aud has
been carried out with more persis-
tence. The returns have been sent
out in Jumps of election districts,
which are not named aud cannot be
identified, and the publication of
these has been made IN amounts and
at times to suit the sohemers. Oc-
casional pronunciamentos from the
Blaine Committee have shown that
returns from comparatively remote
points have been used promptly,
while those from points within an
hours ride of the Western Union
Building have been held back. = u
"Mr. Gould's performances dur
ing the past forty-eight hours have
made a Government postal telegraph
necessity in this country"
Electricity is the quickest, and
therefore the most valuable, means
OF conveying intelligence. The peo-
pie of the United States paid for
constructing the first line Of tele-
graph for Prof. Morse between Bal
timore aud Washington; thereby
demonstrating tie feasibility Of using
electricity to convey Intelligence.
Instead Of adding it to our postal
system il was allowed to pass into
the hands of corporations, which
have used il as means of taxing the
people rather than to give them its
service at the lowest practicable cost.
If it had developed with our postal
system, experts estimate that we
would now be sending messages at a
cent a word throughout the length
and breadth of the United States.
Does any one suppose that if our
present postal system had been run
for corporate profit rather than foI
public benefit that postage would
have been reduced from 4 shilling
per letter to two cents! As regards
the integrity Of management, il
must be placed somewhere, and docs
any one suppose that it would not be
safer in the hands OF the Post OllicC
Department, directly responsible tC
the people, than in the hands of Q
corporation responsible to no one,
Republicans like Senator Edmund,
and Democrats like Congressman
Sumner, of California, think that il
would be safer in the hands OF tn,
people, as it is in all other couutrie.