The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-01-21
DIR. NORYIN GREEN
OPPOSES GOVERNMENT CONTROL
OF Telegraph Lines, Before the Senate Com.
mittso-Ho says the Western Union is Not
Monopoly, and the Directors Own
Less haaEhrso.oightS of livestock

WAsH1SaroN, D. O., Jan. 2O.-The Sen
ate Committee on Postoffices and Posi-
Reads met this morning and listened tC
Dr.. Norvin Green, President Of the West
ern Union Telegraph Company, in oppo'
sition to the bills for the establishment ol
q postal telegraph system by the Govern
: ment.
The Doctor began by questioning the
consitutionality Of the proposed bills
No country, he said, was 80 favored in itl
telegraph system as this. 1t was asserted
that the Western Union was monopoly.
It had no exclusive franchises; the field
was open to everybody; 1t was no more oi
a monopoly thauy great commercial busi-
ness.
He showed how the success of the
Western Union had permitted It to reduce
the cost Of messages to the public from an
average rate oi 81 05 in 1867, to 3O3 cents
in 1887. He said that the rates would be
further reduced the present year. Touch.
ing the question Of war Of rates, he said
that the Baltimore & Ohio began It. That
company, he asserted, had been built to
be sold to the Western Union; this was
expected TO be accomplished on the basis
Of the damage 1t could do.
GREAT RESPONSIBILITY.
DR.. Green said that the history Of Gov
eminent telegraph service showed tardy
service, bad delivery and "bulled" meg
sages. Would the Government be re-
sponsible for errors and delays? he asked; (;
no Government syatem eyer wss. The
Western Union had to pay from one to
two hundred thousand dollars a year for
itB mistakes.
He believed that deficit Of q Govern
ment system, as suggested in the Cullom
bill, would be from FIVE to ten million dol
lars q year. II the Government did run o
telegraph system 1t must tako existing
lines. No private enterprise could run
against the national treasury, setting out
to do business for nothing. He wished to
say, concerning the Western Union, that
it's value as stated by the press would not
buy the wires at the factory, and the COM
pany'a otherequipment amounted to three
or four times the value Of the wire. The
property OF the Western Union could not
possibly be duplicated to-day for its capi-
talization.
There was popular belief that the COM
pany was owned by one man., The com.
psny's directorate OF thirty men, repre-.
senting the millionaires Of the country,
held less than three-sighths OF the stock.
It's stock was held by 5000 people through.
out tho country. Over 10000 people in
Ill ,,o.a szko,nakoj ;y kb;n ,,nno,kYy uT
am told," the Doctor continued, "that q
petition bearing 500. 600 signatures Is to be
sent to this committee in favor Of the gov.
eminent system. They will come by
command originating from spite against
one man with whom Mr.. Powderly had
quarrel on another subject and not one
out OF one hundred OF the men who will
sign have ever sent telegraph message"
A COMPARISON.
he showed that the English rate Of Il
cents for 70 words, including date, 3D.
dress and signature, would in large
number OF cases, IL applied to messages
aont In the United States amount TO more
than the current 25,Cent rate, charged by
bis company. The address and signature
IN English messages were very much
shorter ss rule. The British system had
30 800 miles Of line carrying l73 900 miles
Of wire and cable, covering an entire area
in the United Kingdom OF l2l 900 square
miles and the most distant otfices we're
separated from each other by lees than
600 miles. It had 6,5l4 public Telegraph
oficea. The salaries Of operators and
other employees averaged about one half
those paid in this country. This system
does a business OF 80, ,243 $50 messages per
annum. Now, to handle q business
Of about 100000 more messages
In a year, the telegraph lines
| in the United States have 10000 miles
of line, carrying $50, 900 miles OF wire and
cables, maintaining 1900 offices and GOV.
ering IN area twenty-five times 40 great as
that Of the British system, AS 10 long
distance rates, there was no part OF the
world in which messages were handled so
Cheaply aa here. It was inaisted, he said,
that the Western Union Telegraph Com
pany is monopoly. What. he asked, is
monopoly The Western Union had no
exclusive franchises, or legislative grants.
The elementary patents OF the telegraph
had expired, and the field was open to
anybody who might choose to enter 1t,
The Western Union was no more OF
monopoly than any great commercial
bnsiness. II had come to be a msxim in
commerce that the aggregation Of capital
in largo enterprises, Cheapena production,
and therefore tends to
THE PUBLIC WELFARE,
It was this segregation which had en-.
abled the Western Union to reduce ia
rates, as he would show by tables which
he would submit, to less than one-hafi
the average cost to the company Of doing
the business nineteen yeRrs ago. The old
rates looked very absurd at this day, but
II one were to go 10 Europe and under
take to send q message across the conti-
nent he would find very much similar
rates prevailing there at this time. In
1867 the cost Of handling messages aver.
aged 63 4 cents, and the rate to the public
was lO47. Tho public rates had been 70.
duced until in 1882, the rates to the public
were 3S2 cents, while the Co1t TO the
company was So s, and last year the rates
to the public were 3O.4 cents, while the
cost to the company was % cents. Now,
it might be asked, would that rate not be
increased during the present year2 To
this he answered unhesitstingly, no; the
rate would be defutsd to the public dur.
ing the present year. A great deal had
been said Of increase Of rA!es. The West
ern Union had increased its rates In only
TIVE or three instances. The rate Of the
Mutual Union had been increased, and
the Baltimore & Ohio rates had bson
abolished when that company was taken
over.
The matter Of rates, he maintained, was
Of far less consequence to the public than
the question Of time. The Baltimore 4
Ohio, with ita low rates, had done husS.
mesa during last year Of Sl,326, 900,
against over $15,0O00O0 done by the
Western Union, notwithstanding the
higher rates Of the latter, the Baltimore &
Ohio covering nearly oil the pSyiug terri.