The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-30
WESTERN UNION MEN MAD
WANAMAKER ACCUSED OF WANT
ING a RUINOUS RATE.

A%N1 n N - AANOOo ma L.
Figures Given 90 Show What 1t Costs
the Company to Handle kilograms
Tho Ono Mil q Word Rate Declared
Equal to Confscation of Private
Property.
New York, July 29-The following is
the substance of the protest Of the Western
Union Telegraph Company against the
Postmaster Generals great cut of rates TO
be paid for telegraph service in the trans
mission and delivery of government
messages, giving the history and objects of
the act of 1856 and the actions heretofore
taken uuder it: The rate in force for the
past five years has not been uniform rate
OF l cent per word, as many papers have
asserted, but increasing on a scale
OF distances above 1000 miles,
with a minimum of 20 cents per
message, and a maximum of 215 cents
per word. The telegraph companies hold
and are legally advised, that the language
of the act does not give the postmaster gem
eral absolute power to fix any rate he may
deem fit That power is qualified by con
stitutional restrictions. In article is the
the language: "Nor shall private property
be taken for puhlit use without just com
pensation," The power depends, therefore,
on the question: Is one mill per word a
just compensation
THE PROTEST.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, WEST UNION TEL. Co.,
NEW YORK. July 90, 1889. (
| To Hon. John Wdndmdkei, Postmaster General;
Iay
| oraclng the acts Of July "a, 1866, and of June
10, 1879, was the outgrowth of the first efforts
| 10 induce congress to establish a government
| telegraph. The scheme was pressed be
fore the COMMITTEES of congress to in
| corporate new telegraph company by
| the general government, with which the
| government should contract to transmit tele
graRlS at price to be agreed upon, the govern
| ment receiving and delivering the messages and
| being the only party known to patrons of the
| telegraph. This scheme was justified the
| ground mat the government had no right to
| take existing telegraph properties, except at
| prices and on terms acceptable to the compa-
| Dles that owned them, and the scheme was
| objected to by the telegraph compa-
MES then existing, the ground
| that the government entering upon the telegraph
| business, at rates that would not pay expenses
| would simply destroy existing telegraph prop
critics, and 1t resulted in a compromise between
| the telegraph companies and the committee of
congress, of which believe, the lamented Presi-
| dent Garfield was chairman, giving to the tee-
Eraph companies certain franchises and privi-
leges; and to the government certain adVant-
ages and privileges, including priority of service
| at rates to be annually fixed by the Postmaster
General; and what deemed at the time of
| most Importance to the government, the right
70 take existing telegraph properties Of com
panies who accepted the provisions Of the act
at an appraised value to be ascertained by arbi-
| TRAITORS as described in section 5267.
! ENACTED INTO LAW.
| This compromise agreement was enacted into
| subject a formal nv ba al
| graph companies, and their acceptance, filed
with the government, rendered it to all intents
| and purposes compact between the govern
| ment ana the telegraph companies, the opera
| tiOn of which was intended to be that the gov
| ernment should have the right to take all tele
graph properties, and that II 1t should elect to
| establish government telegraph 10 should take
| existing telegraph properties on terms to be
ascertalned as the law directs.
| This section, 1857, revised statutes Of 1878
annotated as being enacted June 10, 1872. giving
| the government the right 10 take telegraphic
properties, is in substance the same language
| as the provso at the close of section of the
| original act of July "a 1886 and therefore part
| OF the compact accepted by the Western Union
| Telegraph Company in June of 1861
THE FIXING OF RATES BY THE POSTMASTER GEN
| ERAL.
This does not appear to have been considered
| an imperative duty on the Postmaster General,
| for no action seems TO have been taken by that
| official in the direction of fixing rates until
| July /, 1871, WDen LDe necessity IOF IL was al
| legged to have arisen by reason Of the compli-
| Gated character of the service in transmitting
| signal weather reports.
A conference with the telegraph companies
| was invited by Postmaster General CreSsweli
| through Capt. Howgate, the acting head of the
| signal service. and discussion of the subject
| was had in Washington, President William Or
| ton representing the Western Uuion Telegraph
| Company, and the Postmaster General having
| the assistance Of Assistant Attorney General
| Whiting and the head of the signal bureau; and
| rates We're fixed satisfactorily to the telegraph
| companies. They were not annually revised
| until some years later, and in almost every
instance the telegraph companies were con
! suited as to what they could afford to do the
| service for. In two instances Postmaster Gen
eral Jewell and Postmaster General James, at
| the instance of the telegraph companies,
! called and modified their orders after they had
| been officially proclaimed,
| The language of the act that messages be-
| tween the several departments Of the govern
| ment shall have priority over all other bust
ness at such rates as the Postmaster General
| shall annually fix may be construed
| tempiatng the fixing Of a higher rate than is
paid by other patrons, because of such priority
| In transmission over all other business. Ger
| tainly IL never contemplated comforting the
power to fix rates below the actual cost of the
| service Such action is nothing short Of con
| 6scation and appropriation of the property aud
| the service Of its employees tO the use Of the
| government without just compensation there
| for
Twenty cents for twenty words or less for dis
tances of 900 miles or less aud cent for each
additional word. and Oue-tenth Of / cent per
word for each additional 100 miles fraction
thereof is for distances IF about 1000 miles as
between Washington and New York, ana st
Louis or Chicago scarcely one-half of tle rate
paid by the public on current messages
For distances Of 800 miles and under it is
about three-fourths of the commercial
rate Our gross receipts for the last fiscal year
as shown by the annual report, were rl9,T / 164,
and the current working expenses were SI4,
$40 592 leaving psofits Of S5,07057f, out Of
which o533, ,358 was paid for interest and the
sinking fund on the bonded debt, which is part
of our capitalization.
It will be readily seen that the working ex-
penses without y return for any part of the
capital employed costs within fraction Of rs
the government rate averages less that So per
cent of the rate to the public (as il undoubtedly
does) then the government business IS now done
at loss A table on page OF the annual
report shows the average cost TO the company
of han ling messages TO be 20 2-l0 cents per
message If the government business does not
pay something more than this average then it
must be done ut a loss. for messages, in order
to Weld such an average, must be considerably
above the average length of business messages
about seventeen words and it rs yery exact
ing service, having precedence over all other
business, and requiring prompt, and often long
some cases, to be delivered by special wires.
GREAT INJUSTICE CLAIMED.
These exhibits demonstrate that the rate as
fixed for the past year is great injustice to the
Telegraph companies and not on the fair busi-