St. Paul daily globe., 1888-01-30
POSTAL TELEGRAPHY.

Probably the strongest argument that
has yet been made in favor of the pos
tai telegraph scheme is contained in an
article contributed by Senator CULLoM
TO the February number of the Forum.
Senator CULLOM recalls a fact which
seems to have passed out of the public
mind-that the government was the
original promoter of the telegraph in
the United States, and from the begin
ming the telegraph was recognized as
being naturally and properly an adjunct
of the postal service. The first line of
telegraph was built with money apprO-
priated by congress. In 1S43 congress
appropriated $4,000 to test the eXpedi-
ency of the telegraph projected by Prof.
MORSE, and in 1874 the line between
Washington and Baltimore was con-
Structed with this appropriation. This
line, having been erected with the peO-
pies money, was placed under charge
of the postmaster general, and for three
years was operated by the government
in connection with the postal service. In
this connection Mr.. CULLOM recalls an
amusing incident to illustrate public in
NlCuulllN COllCClHlilS lllC ouCCcSS VI
MORsE'S invention. Shortly after the
line had been completed to Baltimore
the Democratic national convention met
in that city and nominated JAMES X.
Polk for president and SILAS WRIGHT
for vice president. Mr.. Polk was at
his home i'll Tennessee and beyond the
reach of the telegraph. Mr.. WRIGHT
was a senator in Washington, and when
informed of his nomination promptly
telegraphed his declination. This was
done so quietly the convention could
not believe that the message of decli-
nation had come from Mr.. WRIGHT and
adjourned until committee appointed
for that purpose could visit him at
Washington and verify the report.
Senator CULLOM holds that the fact
that the government was the original
promoter of the telegraph, and did for
three years operate the only line of tel
egraph in the country as an adjunct of
the postal service, completely dis
poses of the objection urged against
the now proposed postal telegraph
scheme that the government has
no right to interfere with or carry
on a private business. But he goes fur
ther and shows that the supreme court
of the United States has rendered de-
ciSion which declares that the transmits
sion of intelligence is i'll the strictest
sense public service. The language
of the court is: "a telegraph company
occupies the same relation to commerce,
as carrier of messages, that railroad
company does as a carrier of goods.
Both companies are instruments of
commerce, and their business is COM
merce itSelf.'
The success of the British postal
telegraph system is cited as an
argument in favor of adopting
the same system in this country.
A few years ago Great Britain
found itself in the same condition the
United States is in to-day. The teleg-
raph system was an oppressive mo-
nOpoly, owned and controlled by few
individuals. In protection of the pub
lie interests the British government
bought up all the telegraph lines, al
though the government was forced to
pay eXtravagant prices for the lines
and to assume heavy Indebtedness in
order to buy them. That was in 1870.
The results of the seventeen years that
have since elapsed fully indicate the
wisdom of the governments ac-
ton. There has been established a
cheaper, more widely extended
and more expeditions system of tele-
gral,ly. At the time of the trans
fer there were 1882 telegraph offices in
Great Britain, while now there are
6,5l4. The number of messages trans
mitted in 1869 was 6,Oe0,0OO, while in
1856 il had Increased to SO, ,235,S13, and
exceeding 52,0O0,000 in 1887. At the
close of the year 1870 the gross receipts