The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-29
WESTERN UNIONS WIRES
THE COMPANY NOT HOSTILE TO
THE SPOONER BILL.

WASHINGTON, March 2S.-Dr Norvin
Green, President of the Western Union
Telegraph Company addressed the Senate
Committee on Interstate Commerce this
morning on Mr.. Spooner'S interstate tele-
graph bill He said he did not
appear to oppose fair and
reasonable enactment for the regulation of
the telegraph. If the telegraph was com
merce in the constitutional sense, and the
Supreme Court had decided that its bust
ness is commerce, then there could be no
question of the power of Congress to enact
such law as that proposed.
NOT OPPOSED TO REGULATION.
Ordinarily his company would desire to
be let alone, but under the circumstances it
was not averse to such an enactment as
proposed, with cert lin Objectionable fea-
lures stricken out. He was led to this con-
clusion from the fact that his
company owns and operates four-ifths,
perhaps seven eighths, of all the teegraphs
in the United States and is therefore an ap-
parent monopoly, while in point of fact it
has no exclusive franchise, and no legal
privileges that anybody else cannot get.
The elementary patents have expired, and
except as to some improved methods any
body might build and operate the Telegraph.
WHY IT HAD UNIFIED.
But the telegraph had drifted into a COM
bination, not from the grasping efforts of
any one man or set of men, but from the
necessitous laws of trade. The committee
would appreciate the economy of the con
solidation of the telegraph interests. The
business was done better and cheaper
but because business bad gone almost
entirely into the hands of one company
there appeared to be proper reason why the
government should intervene and see that
the public was protected from imposition.
The Western Union Company was not here
to oppose that. The company hoped to be
able by a thorough investigatio to disabuse
the public mind of many great err1rs that
had been so actively propagated as to
number of things connected with the tele
graph.
COST OF THE PROPERTY.
One was as to the cost of the property The
people had an idea that telegraphs could be
built for little or nothing. He believed that
the Western Union property could not be
duplicated for its cost.
Senator Cullom-Do you mean to say that
your property cost $50, 100000!
DIR. Green-Yes; mean TO say that it
could not be reproduced for that sum.
Senator Hiscock quired as to the extent
TO Wnlcn the government WOuId necessarily
have to co operate with private corpora
tions in order to reduce expenses down to
the point where the service was rendered
by the Western Union.
AN ARMY OF TELEGRAPHIsTs.
DR.. Green replied that the Western Union
company had over 900 Offices At least
L., 900 of these were operated by railroad
companies, and of these II, 900 there was a
very small percentage which would not be
deficit offices if the Western Union com
pany had to hire the operators. Coming to
what he described as the Objectionable fea-
lures of the bill reported by the Post Office
Co nmittee, he first took the arbitrary sec
tion relative to the handling of messages ac-
cording to the time of their receipt. He
said that in smaller offices that rule could he
easily observed, but it was not 80 in the
larger offices like New York with 1000
wires.
SPEED PLAYS A PART.
One operator might work faster than
another, and it would be almost impossible
to exactly distribute the messages and keep
them in their precise order Therefore, he
belived that the section should be qualified
by the addition Of the words: GAS near as
possible
The general scope of the section
forbidding discrimination in forwarding
messages also sufficiently covered the case,
without specific requirement
As to the long aud short line clause, he
said, in answer to question, that no higher
tariff was charged between points on lines
from New York to Omaha than between
terminals.
EQUAL TO coNFIscATIoN.
If the second section of the bill gave the
Interstate Commerce Commission the right
to say what charges were unreasonable, it
would amount to confiscation of the com
pany's lines. He would substitute the word
'exorbitant" for unreasonable" The long
and short line clause should also be modi-
fed by the insertion of the qualifying
words under like circumstances" He did
not make any protest against the section as
it was so framed as not to interfere with
the system, because it provided that mes
sages must be sent in the same direction
and over the same lines.
THE FIGHT WITH GARRETT.
1t was not true that the Western Union
Company had made any drive at tho Balti-
more and Ohio Company for the purpose of
breaking il down. The Baltimore and
Ohio had cut rates, hut the reductions made
by the Western Union had been few 1t
had fought the Baltimore and Ohio Com
pany with the Mutual Union Company.
The Western Union had lost money at the
1Oc. and l5c rates.
In section 5 the bill provided that all
parties, excepting news service, should be
charged like rates. In that respect it diff
ferred from the interstate railroad bill
which made number of exceptions relat-
ing to charities, employees, officers, etc.
The Western Union had contracts with 800
railroads, for which free and half price
service was rendered in return for transuor-
tation services. The Western Union want
ed provision like that in the railroad bill
to cover railroad contracts.
PRIVACY or MESSAGES.
DIR. Green said that his company would
like to have an amendment adopted settlIng
tine question of the liability of his company
as TO the production Of kilograms under
subpoena from courts and committees
There had been all sorts of rulings on that
point The most outrageous was
the ruling Of the United States
Senate some years ago when
the Western Union Telegraph Company had
been com elled TO produce 1900 telegrans
bearing on the preceding Presidential cleo
tion. The fairest ruling was that made in
the Babcock case in st. Louis, when it was
held that the company was bound 10 pro-
duce only such messages as were accurately
described.
LIMITATION OF THE DAMAGE LIABILITY.
He would like TO see n provision in thea
bill limiting the damages to be paid for de
lay in the transmission OF m sss ges, say TO
500 times the amount paid for Transmission
That ba tbpftcrnf tynu raaaptalta "a