The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-30

tion and pay a moderate return for the capital
employed. The government is as able u pay,
duu every business consideration demands that
u shalt pay fair and reasonable consideration
lot Whatever service 1t may require.
RATES NAMED FOR THE ENSUING vEAR.
As to the rate named for the ensuing fiscal
year IN your Official circular To the telegraph
companies OF June 29 which you say will
ps one mill word Irrespective Of distance for
| an messages day or night" j have only TO say
thal IL would not reimburse what this company
mas To- pay for clerical service ia receiving,
counting checking, routing. numbering. and
booking a message before its nsmission; that
| II would not reimburse what this company has
TO pay for the time Of any one Of from seven to
e'eVeu operators that would be engaged
| IN the transmission Of mes
sage from Washington to Portland, ore;
| tIat message of Ordinary length would not
reimburse what we have TO paw for its delivery
| ny messenger after it has reached the destina-
| Ton, To say nothing of any part of ts cost Of
tne maintaining lines, battery, supplies, sta
! Lluhtr}, experimenting offices and other Incl
deatal expenses. And finally it would not reim-
purse the cost Of this company gathering up
th1 business, making up accounts, and making
collections.
HANDLING OF A MESSAGE.
A message handed in at Washington is re-
| cetved, counted, and checked by a clerk at
window tits then sent to the operating room,
Nhtre the circuit manager routes and numbers
| II, ana sends 1t 20 the proper instrument After
/
entered. What we have to pay for the time Of
| these several employees is certainly more than
| one cent, the value Of n ten word message, and
| probably more than two cents, which would be
| the ptlce OF twenty message at the rate
named.
Ia further examination Of the practical ope-
| ration OF transmitting messages from New
| ork or Washington to points on the Pacific
coast find they are not sent through repeaters
an the way in one compound circuit. All west
pound business is Ieloyed at Chicago or st.
LOUIS; LOUIS; so THAT message Is first sent from
| washington TO Chicago through one
| repeating station, requiring three
| operators From Chicago to San Francisco,
| u Is transmitted in one compound circuit
| through fdur intermediate repeating stations
employins six operators, which, added to the
| three nrst named, makes nine. Then, If IL has
| To 20 To Oregon, passing through repeaters at
one intermediate station, it would require three
more operators
COST OF MESSENGER SERVICE.
This company transmitted during the last
fiscal year 81 ,4j3, 955 messages The cost of the
| N ssenger service was, in round numbers,
| Sl,l2J0)O, making the cost of delivery per
message about 2 10 cents. although a large
| number of messages to tte floor of exchanges,
| to newspapers anu by special wire deliveries,
| did not require the of a messenger. In
fact, in most large cities, as in
| Washington City, we pay by contract with
| the messenger companies 216 cents per message
| for making deliveries. You may answer that
| the government sends letters thousands Of
| miles ana QelNerS them Tor cents nut neither
| the government nor any other patron of the
| telegraph would submit 10 the class OF dellv-
! cries made by the letter carriers. In fact the
government ITSELF in this city, charges 10 cents
| per letter for special delivery and every tee-
| graph message requires special delivery, Over
more than half the area of this city we pay
cents per message for delivery.
COST OF GATHERING UP BUSINESS.
In respect to the cost of gathering up bust
| ness and making up accounts for collection, at
| an
government message during month. The war
| department re luires that the MESSAGES them
| selves be rendered as vouchers. II an agent or
/ empluYe OF any OF the departments Is detained
! at a small station by railroad interruption and
sends a message of ten words, the manager of
| that station finds il his duty to en-
| cl SO that message by mail to the aud
itor Of the company here for collection.
| That would cost this company 2-cent post
| age stamp, then we shall have sent a message,
| paid J. y cents TO each ope ator engaged on it,
| ~ cents for delivering il and cents to the
| government to forward the original message as
| a voucher, and when the account is made Up
| We get cent back.
THE coMPASY's PAST RECORD
| We have been always ready to serve the gov
ernment in the promptest and best manner IN
our line OF business, and have done a great deal
| t r the government without CHARGE giving it
| the use Of our wires on special occasions and
| opening new stations at considerable expense
| for signal and astronomical observations We
| have had our accounts tied up for a cOnsiderG-
| Bile portion of our service upon technical
rulings upon which we have been unable to pro
cure trial and decision Of the courts until the
| ar-eers had reached the neighborhood of
| 100000
As instructed by the executive committee of
the board OF directors, l most respectfully
make this protest of the Western Union Tee-
graph Company, and Of the subordinate tele-
graph companies which ii controls, a.ainst any
further reduction below the rates in operation
during the last few years of tolls to be paid by
the government for the transmission Of its
messages as n wrong and injustice TO this com
pany, TO its 5000 stockholders and to its 100000
of other customers
have the honor to remain. most respectfully
yours, NoRyIN GREEN, President.