Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-30
THE STORY OF THE WIRES,
Telegraph-over 5OO,OOO,OOO Words Sent in
one Year.

Telegraph-0yer 5OO,OOO,OOO Words Sent in
one Year.
New York Mail and Express.
Superintendent W. B. Somerville of
the Western Union Telegraph company 1,
has for the last quarter of century
been brought in pretty close contact
with the more prominent of our news
papers, for all the press matter handled
by the Western Union, which means in
effect that of the country, passes under
his supervision. He has been in the
same employment for score of years,
and what he doesn't know about the
telegraph business, so far as its relations
to the newspaper business is concerned I,
is not worth knowing.
FBut few people really know any
thing about the wonderful growth of the
newspaper telegraph service, - said Mr..
Someryille to a Mail and Express re-
porter. "'When 1 came to the Western
Union Company, in 1875, the whole
amount of special Geographic matter
taken by the American newspaper press
amounted to about 80 900 900 words E.
Sending long dispatches across the CONT
nent was uncommon, and few newspa-
pers cared to use the cable as they do
now.
"There has been change, contin-
ued the veteran superintendent. Last
year the American newspaper press took
about lS4 900 200 words of special mat
ter. Aside from this 327 1927 ,407 words
were sent over the wires by the Associa
ted Press. This was large increase over
the year before. -
,1l
Mr.. Somerville. cit used to cost 10
cents per word to send dispatches to San
Francisco. Now it costs but IA cents
although there is now no competition
since the Western Union owns all the
lines. The general average rate per word
over the country is from 3 to = cent per
word. That doesn't sound much like
monopoly does it?''
''Dou you know concluded the
gray haired expert, with laugh, f'the
so-caled monopolists sometimes get very
much the worst of their business, and are
blamed for that as well as for other
things. Now, when Mr. Blaine made
Bar Harbor more fashionable than it had
been before and people began to rush
there, there was a rush of Geographic
dispatches. Our wire connected with
Bangor, but little local company
owned the wires from Bangor to
Bar HaTbOr. We charged 25 cents
per message to Bangor; the local COM
pany charged 80 cents more to send the
dispatch to Bar HarbOr. What was the
result? Well, the Western Union was
called a grinding monopoly and several
other things until it bought out the local
telegraph company and sent messages
right through to Bar Harbor upon the
same charge it had sent them to Bangor
for, and thus made two-thirds saving
upon each message to the sender, and yet
some persons are always crying monop-
oily
Superintendent Somerville could give
many interesting details as to the enter
prise of American newspapers in the mat
ter OF using the telegraph wire, but as it
would be breach of etiquette he doesn t
do it. He does say, however, that the
American newspaper OF to-day is using
the wires just about in the same manner
that ordinary business men use the tele-
phone. New York newspapers, strange
to say, do not pay the highest tele-
graphic bills, except at times when some
great event, such as the hanging of the
Chicago anarchists, the Southwestern
strike, or national convention
occurs. Then their correspond
ents are allowed to use the wires as
though they were private property. But
as the western papers get much of their
news, including that by cable, by way of
New York, and as it has to be sent over
land, the cost is increased. One western
paper paid over 500 200 for one year IS
dispatches not a great while ago. On the
other hand an eastern newspaper is
known to have received 80, 900 words of
Geographic matter in a single night
This may have ruffied the news and tele-
graph editors a trifle, but it is not on
record that the newspaper was par
ticularly affected.