St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-09
A FIERCE TELEGRAPHIO WAR.
Arrangements Perfecting for Con-
aict of the Great Companies.
Expectation that it VIII Be The
Greatest Fight Ever Known.
Special to the Globe.

Special to the Globe.
NEW YORK, Nov. SIN Geographic
circles it is the general opinion of the we'll
Informed that the present comparative quiet
is but the calm before the impending storm.
The recent attempt to amalgamate the Bal
timore d Ohio with the Western Union,
which at one time promised to prove sue
ceSsful, failed because of a quarrel
or rather serious misunderstanding among
magnates OF the two companies, who had
formed syndicate to buy the lesser COM
pany's lines and sell them to the other at a
price which would leave a good margin
for profit. Since that scheme was
abandoned Mr.. Garrett of the Balti-
more & Ohio has been very success
full in manipulating the market price of
Western Union and it is said that fluctua-
tons have not always been favorable to Jay
Goulds interests. Then, too, It's lively
Baltimore & Ohio company is in the hands
of experienced telegraphers. who ave sue
ceeded in building up traffic of considerable
magnitude by extending its facilities and
adopting an exceedingly low but very I'M
profitable schedule of rates. The Western
Union company has up to the present time
failed to respond to these rates
except through its annex, the
Mutual Union. but increasing bust
ness of the Baltimore & Ohio
company, and the apparent willingness of
that company to sacrifice large sums of
money in the fight, have been viewed with
displeasure by the Western Union, and the
rivals are now at daggers' points. The
Western Union people are awake to the
fact that something must be done, if
they would preserve their supremacy
in the telegraphic world and continue to
earn dividends. With this purpose in view
they have for some time past had under
consideration several plans by which they
hope to crush their sturdy young antag-
onists. and at the same time
wipe out the lesser opposition
concern. They have finally decided upon
vigorous warfare, which they think will
speedily bring matters to point of settle
ment. A prominent officer OF the Western
Union is authority for the statement that
the plan adopted will first be developed by
the announcement at an early date of a
five and ten-cent schedule between all points
reached by the Baltimore & Ohio COM
pany's wires. The five-cent territory will
be that lying between Boston, Philadel-
phia, Baltimore and Washington, includ
ing all of New England, and the
ten-cent rate will extend from
the Atlantic coast to Chicago, st. Louis,
Cincinnati and other principal Western
cities. This action, the gentleman referred
to say, has been decided upon, and he pre-
diets that it will precipitate the fercest
telegraph war which has ever been
witnessed on this continent. With Jay
Gould's millions on one side and the wealth
of great railroad corporation on the other,
the struggle will be one beside which former
Geographic contests will appear as merest
skirmshes. In the meantime, new
enterprise is being quietly put under way,
backed by ample capital and possessing fea-
lures which may revolutionize certain
branches of telegraphy.