The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-04-05
GOVERNMENT AND THE TELEGRAPH.

reject all the propositions lookin
to the construction Of postal tele
graph system, or the purchase b.
government for postal purposes o
any telegraph lines. Some will re
greet this action, but the majority O.
citizens will approve it. Govern
ment already assumes and exercise
too many functions inherent in thu
people. Instead of its powers being
enlarged they should be curtailed
and the rights Of States and indi
viduals restored correspondingly
For the nation to have gone
into the telegrapbing business
would necessarily have made
it competitor in a fed
in which it had no business.
and furthermore, the political
power of the administration must
have been increased, ss it would have
involved many thousands Of ap-
pointments, each possessing more
or less political influence to be used
for the party that appointed him.
This official patronage is already so
extensive as to threaten the perpetu~
alton of the nation as perfect re-
public, and anything which tends
to Increase 1t is dangerous TO the
nation itself. The only thing
which ever suggested the possi~
bility of government control of the
telegraph was the outrageous abuse
of the people by the monopoly. If
the telegraph company had been
fair AMI honest with the public, even
the most pronounced advo-
Gates of centralized govern
mant would never have
thought of suggesting any such
thing as Is here proposed.
The other proposition that the
committee has to deal with is that Of
rne Postal Telegraph Company, end
which IL not open to the oJectlon-
able features of the measures that
have been disr osed of. The COM
pany offers to undertake the busi-
ness of a postal telegraph, under the
dire ctlon of the Postmaster &c neral,
at its owa risk, with; ut charge or
expense to the Government. with
the exception that it will require
the use of an operating room In post.
offices. The bill provides for uni.
form rates, as follows:
For each message oftwenty words or
less, exclusive ofthe date, address AID
signature, under said contract, transmit
ted in the ordinary course Of business i
between any Of The places in the I'm ted
States ! ing east of the Mississippi aud
Missouri rivers and south of Omaha and |
Minneapolis, twenty-five cents, and ten |
cents for each additional ten words in |
excess Of twenty words; and for esch
message directed to be transmitted at
nigh and delivered the following morn
ine fifteen cents, if of twenty words OF
less, and ten ceHts for each additional
Ten words or less in excess of twenty
words, except that between the cities Of
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Washington and such other points sepa-
rated by short distances as may be from
time to time agreed upon, the ordinary
services shall be paid for at the rate of
15c for each message of twenty words or
less, as aforesaid, and 10c. for each ten
words or less in excess of twenty words,
the payments TO be made monthly.
Messages transmitted between any points
in the Pacific division will be charged
Tor The same as in the Atlantic, but for
sill messages transmitted from any point
in the Atlantic division to any point in
the Pacific division, the compensation
shall be fixed at 50c. for each message of
twenty words or less, snd Zoe. for each
additional ten words or less in excess OF
twenty words for ordinary services, and
for night service at Csc. for each message
of twenty words or less, and 19c. for each
additional ten words or less in excess of
twenty words. Upon all the tariff rates
specified there shall be deduction of &c.
on the local rate Of postage, if less than
&c. on each message, as compensation to
the government for delivery.
The tariff on press dispatches is |
to be- rs cents per 100 words for day
and so cents for night kilograms.
The bill does not give the postoffice
or the company monopoly of tele-
graphing, nor does it propose any
interference with the operation of |
other telegraph companies, simply |
entering the lists as a competitor.
It is doub full if the measure can be
adopted, IS the sentiment of the
majority of Congress is opposed to
this class of legislation; however, it
would be less of an evil than the
continuance of the present monop.
oily.