Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-11-26
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, W. L. 7. Co,

-N~'ANN. NAAN ~
the public;
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, W. L. T. Co, I
NEW YORK. November ., 1884.
| To The Public: Now, since the Presidential
! election is settled, and the excitement incident
to close political contest has abated il is proper
/ TO say that we are prepared to show most CON
| cusively the utter groundlessness of all charges
| against the Western Union Telegraph Company
| of partlality III reporting or withholding the
| election returns OF the State of New York |
| deny, in the most emphatic manner, that the
| company delayed. altered or withheld the elec-
| ton returns OF this State or any other State, or
| tampered with them in any way. 1t had moth
| ing whatever todo with the returns OF the State
| of New York. except to transmit them over its
lines as prepared by the agents of the Associated
Press. All the returns of the State were col
lected by the Associated Press all the compiling
| was done ia its office by its own agents and all
| bulletins were prepared by it, and copies were
| simply delivered to Mr.. Someryille, Superin-
| tendent of the newspaper service, for general
| distribution to the public. This company had
| nothing to do with making up the bul-
letins nor did any officer or agent,
| or other person connected with or
interested in this company, except the operators
who transmitted the returns, have access to, or
see any of them till the bulletins had been
| made up therefrom i'll the Associated Press Office
and handed to US for public distribution. and |
have no reason to believe that the agents OF the
Associated Press acted otherwise than in any
important matter. Ordinarily many of our
offices are not kept open for business after 5
o'clock p d. To assist in meeting the extraor
duary expense of the extra employment of
several thousand night operators, we have had,
for many years, arrangements with the Press
Associations, giving Us the privilege of selling
bulletins to political and social clubs. aud other
subscribing customers We simply took the
Associated Press bulletins as that Association
had made them up, and delivered them as here
tofore, TO customers who had subscribe for
them-nothing more. The charge that the re-
turns were purposely withheld, or that there
was unusual delay III reporting them, is entirely
! 90,
dinary promptnesS. Never before have reports
from so many election districts been received
within SO short Il time. Within foTty-eight
hours after the count Of ballots began returns
were received from ninety-eight per cent. of the
5000 election districts ia the State Although
the night of tie election was stormy, and there
was some trouble in working the wires, no delay
occurred in any reports handed to our offices
outside the city of New York and within the
city the telegraph service was as nearly perfect
as il was possible to make it. and the only
trouble was with some of the short wires, hastily
erected for temporary use. 1t Is here to be
noted that heretofore the majorities reported
from the most populous. aud therefore the
most accessible, counties have been so decisive
that the popular mind has been set at rest re-
spectng the result of the election on the first
night. and there being no hope or fear OF n
change in the general result, the subsequent re-
turns, more or less tGrdy, have struggled in un-
needed. In two instances III this state have
been informed that the County CanYasserS, who
met one week after the election this year, had
to adjourn over, because the County Clerks had.
UP to that time, been unable to get in the vote
of their counties. The only other returns com
planned Of were those of Indiana, where, at the
request of the political committees and the
press. in the absence of any agent of the hsSO-
ciated Press, the reports came through and
were sent out by our Superintendent, J. +. Wal
lack, who used every effort to obtain all
the returns as speedily as possible. | consider
the demand for any investigation of that service
made by the indianapolis Sentinel and also by
Mr.. Wallack himself reasonable and proper,
and have asked the Chairman of the Indiana
Democratic State Committee to take part in the
investigation, or to name representative to do
so. The management of this company, in its
business relations to the public, Is strictly
non-politfcal and non-partisan. The en-
ployes represent every shade of political
opinion and are in the c0mpanys service solely
by virtue OF their proficiency as telegraphers.
What their individual political opinions are has
never been i'll any case called into question, nor
have their votes ever been canVassed or ascer-
tancd; but of those with whom | personally
came in contact, | know that there are quite as
many Democrats aS Republicans. Ii is there
fore manifestly absurd to charge that the ser
vice Of the company could be converted into q
party machine, or could in any way distort or
stiie the facts, when such an attempted con-
spiracy could only have been made by the aid
Of a large number of members of the political
party which il was designed to injure.
SORVIN GREEN President.