Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-03-29
WASHINGTON.
DR.. NOrvin Green on Tele-
graph Legislation.
BOB SCORES THE MONOPOLY,
Work Before the Committees
Civil Service RefOrm-Elec-
tion Investigation,
Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD

tiOn Investigation,
Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD
WASHINGTON, March2S.-Mr. Nor
win Green, President of the Western
Union Telegraph Company, ad
dressed the Senate Committee on In
terstate Commerce and the Spoonel
interstate telegraph bill. He said he
did not appear to oppose fair and
reasonable enactment for the regula
tion of telegraphy. photography was
commerce in a constitutional sense
and the Supreme Court had decided
that its bus mess is commerce, ther
there could b. no question of the
power of Congress to enact law such
as that proposed.
Ordinarily his company would de.
sire to be let alone, but under the
circumstances it was not averse to
such an enactment as the one pro-
posed, with certain Objectionable fea.
lures stricken out. He was led to
this conversion from the fact that his
company owns and operates perhaps
seven-eighths of all tine telegraphs in
the United States, and is therefore an
apparent monopoly. While, in point
of fact, it has the exclusive fran
chises, it has no legal privileges that
anybody else cannot get, bu, the te e.
graphs had drifted into a combina-
tion not from the grasping efforts of
any one man or set OF men, but from
the necessities of the laws of trade.
Rates had been cheapened and
business greatly improved in its facil-
ties and n promptness OF the service.
He said there were gross popular err
rors regarding the maintenance of
telegraph property. He said the
Government could not send messages
TO- 10 cents and make the lines self
supporting. He believed the Western
Union properly could not be dupli-
Gated for it's cost.
Senator Cullom-"Do you mean to
sa' that your property cost $50, ,000,-
0OO?"
DR.. Green-"Yes, / mean to say
that it could not be reproduced for
that sum-"
There was another popular error as
to the sanctty Of messages. The idea
that any one man had access to the
messages passing over the Western
Union wires was too absurd to dis
cusS.
toming to what he described as the
Objectionable features OF the bill re-
ported by the Postofiice Committee,
he first took up the arbitrary section
relative to the handling of messages
according to the time OF their re-
ceipt. He believed that the section
should be qualified by an addition OF
the words "as soon as possible"
The general scope of the section for
bidding discrimination in forwarding
messages also sufficiently covers the
case without specific requirement. As
to the long and short clause, he said,
in answer to the question, that no
higher tariff was charged between
points on the lines from New York to
Omaha than between the terminals.
If the second section OF the bill gave
the Interstate Commerce Commission
the right to say what charges were
unreasonable. it would amount to the
confscation OF the company's lines.
He would substitute the word Eek
orbitant" Tor unreasonable. The
long and short line clauses should
also be modified by the insertion OF
the qualifying words, "under like Cir
cumstances."
In section the bill provides that
all parties. excepting the news SER
vice, should be charged like rates. In
that respect it differed from The Inter-
state Railroad bill, which made
number of exceptions relating to
charities, employees, officers, etc. The
Western Union had contracts with 600
railroads for which free and half price
services was rendered in return for
transportation services. The West
sion like that in the railroad
bill to cover railroad contracts
DR.. Green said his company would
like to have an amendment adopted,
settling the question of the liability
Of his company as to the production of
kilograms under subpoenas from
courts and committees. There had.
been all sorts Of rulings on that point.
The faiiest ruling was that made in
the Aabcock case in st. Louis, when
it was held that the company was
bound to produce only such messages
as were accurately described. He
would like to see provision in the
bill limiting the damages to be paid
for delay IN the transmission Of mes
sages say to 500 times the amount
paid for their transmission. . 1t was
perfectly absurd that the telegraph
company should be subjected to
$25, 900 or $50.t0 damages for delay
ola message for which rs cents was
paid. s@
In conclusion DR.. Green addressed
himself to the Anderson bill, requir-
ing the Pacific railroads to maintain
and operate their own telegraph lines,
and criticised some of it's features.
the effect of the measure, he said,
would be to decrease the revenues of
the loads; by such legislation the rail.
road companies would be the losers
or the Government would be the loser
and nobody would be benefited.
General Swain one Of the counsel
for the Western Union Telegraph
Company followed in an argument
against the Anderson bill.
Col. Robert G. lngersoll, represent
ing the Postal and United lines, said
to the committee, that those lines are
now substantially under one manage
ment. They met the Northern Pacific
road at St. Paul, the Union Pacific at
Omaha and the Santa Fe at Kansas
City. At these points the lines he rep
resented had to stop. The lines over
the Pacific railroads were all operated
by the Western Union, consequently
the only question was whether the
lines Of the company which he repre-
scented should have equal facilities
over lshe roads built by the people uI-