The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-21

wished to sell to the government II did
not wish to sell; it wished to keep its pro
perty. He was prepared to demonstrate
that the Western Union lines could not he
duplicated at their present capitalization,
talk rs people might about water in stock.
Another popular error which he wished to
speak of was that the Western
Union was owned by one man. This
had never been the case. The entire board
of thirty directors owned not more than
three -eighths of the stock, and the remain
der was scattered the world over. Speak
ing about the petition now circulating
among the Knights of Labor asking Con-
gress for the establishment of lines in oppo-
sition to existing companies, the doctor said
it had emanated from the personal spite Of
Mr.. Powderly against one man with whom
he had Quarreled about another matter
Not one OF 100 of the signers ever used the
telegraph, yet they were asking to be taxed
for the benefit Of rich brokers, bankers,
merchants, commercial operators and spec
ulatorS.
ADVOCATED BY Mr.. HUBBARD.
Gardiner Hubbard addressed the commit
tee in favor of the postal telegraph system
proposed in the bill introduced by Senator
Dawes. AS to the wages paid to telegraph
operators in England, he admitted that they
were much less than those paid here But,
he said, that as an offset the American tele-
graph operator would do twice as much
work as the English or continental opera
tor. Referring to the question of the au-
thority of the government TO establish a
postal telegraph Mr.. Hubbard gave brief
history of the post Office system IN this
country. Under the act of l715, of the Con-
tinental Congress, the post office system was
established for the conveyance of lntelll-
gence and letters. 1t was established not
with view to dollars a d cents but
for the conveyance of intelligence and let
te.'s 1t had adopted every means of trans
portation that it could use to advantage,
and it had controlled the first telegraph hne
ever constructed, referring to the govern
ment subsidy of $50, 900 to enable Prof.
Morse to build a line from Washington to
Baltimore That line had been placed under
the supervision of the Postmaster General
and was used as a means Of conveying in
telligence.
COST OF CONSTRUCTION.
Mr.. Hubbard agreed with DR.. Green that
it would not be possible to duplicate the
Western Union lines for less money than is
represented by the capital stock, but he held
that of this stock only Sl6,0O0,00O or $50,
100000 had been paid for in cash, and the re-
mainder represented earnings III addition
to the amounts paid as dividends. Mr..
Hubbard went on to say that in every other
country the telegraph was controlled by
the government as part of the postal sys-
tenn, while in this country it was controlled
by a single corporation. Here there was,
practically speaking, no competition in the
telegraph business, and there could be none,
for it was a business which could be man
aged much more easily and cheaply by one
company than by a number of companies.
But the question arose whether the govern
ment could not manage it much more
cheaply than the Western Union Company
and whether the Western Union Company
itself could not manage it much more
cheaply than it does.
TWO WAYS TO RUN IT.
There were two ways in which it was
proposed that the government should dc
business One was that set forth in the
bills of Messrs. Cullom and E1munds, VIZ ,
that the government should own and oper-
ate the lines: and the other was the plan
which he had advocated for many years
and which was substantially embraced in
the bill introduced by Mr.. Dawes, the same
bill which was reported by the committee
four years ago. That bill established a
postal telegraph system and was in analogy
with the system now adopted by the post
Office for the transmission of letters and
correspondence The carrying is to be done
by contract with private parties.
Considerable time was spent in debate be
tween Messrs. Green and Hubbard upon va,
rious details of the subject as they were
mentioned, to which the committee listened
until late in the afternoon. The hearing
was then suspended for the present.