New-York tribune., 1885-10-25
arxpENNY TELEGRAMS.
,.rrsT PRACTICAL JOKE OF THE
TIE BRITISH POST OFFICE.


r,. oo-called sixpenny telegram system came
Iho ton on Thursday, October l, and the
tnto op n,s nv this time to have found ont that
vocho srv doubtful @boonr indeed. We used to
u" .h;Ii,g t24 cents) for q message OF twenty
pay sddresses Free We now pay sixpence w
~ol"' Co. twslye words; addresses are counted as
een. the twelve words. and have to be paid ior.
,oessage exceeds twelve words. each extra
~" charged one cent. Addresses In England
N"u rroix and composed often OF so many WORDS.
,i.natcbrs in which even only the ADDRESS VI
SAs Ssosiver is gvea. are with difficulty compressed
N .ha departmental limit. The effort 10 90 IL
~a,ces ~ confusion, and dispatches are ei'her 90
r~.,tsctly addressed that they cannot DC
lmpe',os or ara so abbreviated in the text that
~. ,eceiyer is no wiser than oeiore' IT, .on '.o
u. hand, YOU throw parsimony to the .wihas
stne' - not strenuously apply your mind to the
,aq;pg Of half2ence' your ''i0s' "'D '''N'
,hon nm icr the old rate x,o,
man .ansrs "A have seen in this remote region
outn ,i;s,ing complaints which touch neary
BIC pus Ut Of the new system. My experience OF
s'o'! hoor gained here in Scotland, where the
n"e ;n,sliOence of clerks and operators is at
"o" =. hiob IA anywhere in the kingdom. But IL
Io"'' .oronce of nothing but blunders. Not a
-, that has not been inaccurate. asked
s .ees hr riro the other day how long he was TO
n'N rartcular house. The answer came
s = until Sunday The answer he really sent
0s0A iii Monday week." telegraphed another
Thursaay that should arrive on the following
M..aov The clerk thought he understood my
- hsttsr than | did, and for Monday sub
~ to.day.n message on which in the VAIN
- ;rsr,;np intelligibility by fulness OF speech
ITo5 sonanderea shilling reached It's destination
g. so,e DELAY with every essential WORD wrong.
~ ..Iecranhc staff is demoralized; whether by
a.. ..,nsI increase of business or by the nero
.xnsctaton of it an sure don't know.
The most office. meantime. with that complacency
,.h;rb MARKS the official, and especially the post
of6cial mind. publishes glowing accounts OF the
.u,cess of the new plan. There were oo,ooo
sssages October /, instad of 43, on the prevl-
on. Thursday. and this increase is the occasion OF
,,r,n soundng of trumpets. The nOn-otbcial mind
~opld not suppose that 5000 messages at six
uorcs proiuced as much revenue as $4,000 at a
.h;ll;ng. Nor s the public anxious about financial
,ssnlts. IL wants q cheap telegram at bxed sum,
,andly and accurately transmitted; and this Is
nrecisely what 1T does not get. Where is the de-
nartmental statistician who will take account OF
tbe cost of all the errors already due to the intro
duct,on of a scheme which lacks the essential
elements of simplicity and certainty 7
What was needed was a telegram OF ten WORDS
for sixpence. addresses free. That would have
been n real convenience and real boom" Inc
Post Office said they couldn't afford it, and pub
hshed realns of figures to prove that It cost ten
pence on an average to transmit each d'spatcu
under the old system. The best answer know to
that is to be found in speech OF MI Irimston' "
a.tinpnshed man Of business, who was chairman
Of one of the two great telegraph companies "hicn
The Post Office absorbed. His company used to
charge FIVE shlllings t$1 25) for dlspatch OF
twenty words from London to Manchester. The
public complained. Mr.. GrimstOn in reply told his
shareholders that the actual cost of transmission
for avery sucn message was three shllings
aud sixpence. No doubt he had figures which
proyed il. lust as the lightning calcuators OF St.
Martins lie Grand now have figures which prove
II costs tenpence 1t is this sort of nonsense which
the Post Oflic, clerks of Rowland Hills time pro-
duced with equal gravity when they wanted to
convince themselves that penny postage would be
the ruin of the department. 1t cost a shilling to
send letter to Liverpool; the Post oeice would
be elevenpence out of pocket on each letter II
Rowland Hill had his way. Well Rowland Hill
had his way in spite of all the clerks and permanent
magnates of the Post Office of the day. If there had
been a Rowland Hill to insist on real sixpenny
teeprames the public would have got them instead
of the sham reduction now palmed off on them, and
the Post Office would presently have been as proud
of the good work somebody else had forced it to do
ss it is now of its penny postage.
During all the discussion which preceded the new
tariff the Post officials had ever two pleas in their
mouths; the telegraphs are only beginning to pay
their way, and the Treasury, which is supreme over
Post Of,ce aud everything else in England. will
not tolerate more than. certain Fixed amount OF
probable loss. Oh, yes, my permanent friends
we all know all about that. We know you bought.
or as the phrase goes here took over the teegraphs
at an exorbtant price, enormously beyond their
real value. This has hampered you ever since. and
you are welcome to the admission, for who was it
who promoted this bargain, who!sanctioned it, who
agreed to the price, who was "done' by the
shrewder men of business who owned and managed
the old companiesi Who but these same permanent
officials who now plead their own incompetence and
folly in bar Of the permanent demand for kilograms
at fair price, The public officialdom of thai day
iLearnated in the person of the late Mr. Scuda-
more Just as it is to-day in the person of the
ent Mr.. Stevenson Blackwood, the eminsnt
revivalist who rules the Post Office and Postmasters
General With rod of iron.
Lord John Manners to his credit be 1t said. stood
out against MS uespotic suDorulnate Tc trico his
best TO induce the House of Commons to sanction
q scheme OF free addresses. But Lord John
Manners had just succeeded to place as a member
Of Lord Salisbury's Government, then existing on
suHerance of the House of Commons whose Liberal
majority was still for many purposes intact. Mr.
Shaw Lefevre. his predecessor, had yielded to the
peremptory persuasiveness of the permanent people
He had committed himself the principle OF taxed
addresses, aud when Lord John Manners tried to
reverse it MIR. shaw-Lefevre sounded once more
the Liberal war-cry and put on the party screw
and signalized his submission to his own clerks by
q House Of Commons triumph over common sens,
and the convenience of the public. And once NOR,
the public was made TO understand that lit exist
for the convenience Of the Post OF Co. The deude,
persons who hold that the Post Office exists for tb
convenience of the public we're left where the!
ought to he. in a minority. The idea that they al
the servants of the people and not their masters
one which no permanent Official ever heard OF i
England has grasped Anybody who propounde