St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-27
COMPETITIVE TELEGRAPHY.
The "EIectrIc Il. & 90 Coming 10 the
Twin Cities.

Twin Cities.
Eyes, we're coming to the Northwest"
said j. Z. Zeublin, general superintendent
Of the Baltimore d Ohio Telegraph COM
pany 10 a GLOBE reporter last evening at
the West hotel. I'VE have made three pre-
vious efforts, but each time negotiations
fell through. First we tried it by the Rapid
Transit, a company gotten up by a syndi-
cate of st. Paul capitalists, headed by Mr..
Cross Next we tried 10 purchase the line
built for the Bankers IL Merchants COM
pany, and then we negotiated with Col.
King Of Minneapolis for a connection with
the projected lines Of the North American
Telegraph company. How did this come to
fall through Well, the United Lines. E.
S. Stokes company, offered the North
American greater pro rata share of tolls
than we did, and personal friendship and
acquaintance between the members Of the
companies had something TO do with
it. / think the North American
has made a mistake, but that's its own af-
fair. The United lines 20 from Chicago
east by highway, while We go along rail
road every irch of the way. This is great
advantage, as enabling US to repair breaks
in the wires whenever they occur much
faster and thus avoid veXatiOus delays.
4
mOdestly refrain from mentioning. The
Northwest is the richest field of the West
ern union outside of the great commercial
centers of the country, and of course we
have lOnged TO enter it. When / showed
our directors the amount of telegraph busi-
ness of Minneapolis and St Paul they We're
simply aStonished, and thought L must be
mistaken. / verified my figures. and as a
result we decided TO extend our line at once
from Chicago TO st. Paul and Minneapolis
and Duluth. l don't care TO tell you just
at present by what route we will come, but
you can say it will be by railroad most Of
the way. have already made application
TO the city councils of Minneapolis and st.
Paul for purchases and tomorrow shall do
so at Duluth. Our material is all ready eX-
cept the poles, and L expect to buy most of
them here. WeeXpect to have the line up and
in operation by June l. We intend to push
on out through Dakota and Montana to the
Pacific coast, but that's in the future.
However. we intend to reach Fargo by
November at least. We can promise your
people the certainty of a large reduction of
teegraphic tolls, increased facilities. more
accOmmt datiOnS and better Treatment than
they have ever received from the Western
Union. see some Western Union man
says, in an evening paper: The fact is the
Baltimore d Ohio is losing money right
along Well, just as Mr. Garrett said i'm
Chicago the other day: Wen be only too
glad To lose money the way we are now
It's fact that we have the promise of suf-
ticient leased wire patronage TO afford
revenue that will make the new line pay
ing institution from the start"
THE CUT IN THE TARIFF
assured by Mr.. Zenblin is according to pre-
cedent. What the Baltimore d. Ohio Tel
egraph company has done in the way of
forcing rates down is shown by the rate
from New York to st. Louis, which is now
less than One-tenth the old tariff. and also
the rate to Chicago, the reducing having
been over COS per cent since competition
began with the Western Union. To-day
the company has 5000 miles of poles, 81
600 miles of wires and 1897 offices. Ii
owns and operates lines from Boston TO
Gloucester in the East to Galveston and
New Orleans, taking on the routes all the
principal trade centers of the Missouri
river, New lines, stronger connections
and greater facilities are constantly being
constructed, acquired and perfected The
entire country is its field of operation and
within the ScUpe of its comprehension of
the true meaning OF competitive telegraphy.
THE NORTH AMERICAN COMPANY
when it was organized was composed of
gentlemen from both Minneapolis and st.
Paul, but 1t is now understood the st. Paul
gentlemen have Withdrawn, leaving the
company entirely in the hands of Mime
apolis. Col. King, Thomas Lowry, {. A.
Pillsbury, George A. Bracket and c. NJ.
Loring are the principal stockholders.
Messrs. Loring ana King were in Chicago
perfecting their arrangements with the
United lines and are expected home to-day.