The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-07-31
MONOPOLY'Sl PROTEST.


n Ntle W ~ 'Sf.FtNtAtt t~osyrt0,s y e Z
A Able Argument Against the lPrspessd
Reduction. Giving ,iatsr.stinE OATS Goa
cerning the Csst 81 Telegraph Service.
NEW YoRK, July 80.--The following 10 the
protest Of the Western Union. Telegraph
Company against the Postmaster Generals
great tcut Of the rates to be paid for tele-
graph >sryioain thetrapsmissisn ead dsliy-
ofy Il eoresnpent n,sssssss. I Thersse in
force for the past five years has not been Q
! uniform rate ofsne cent per WORD, ,las many
papers haye iisuhed Nit incteasins On "a
scale Of distances above i,OOO miles, with
minimum Of twenty cents per message
and maximum Of two and half cents per
word. -. u II. X. M -,
Iheltelegraph companies hold and are 10
legally advised that the Language Of the Naet
<lpcsfot give theP Postmaster General abso-
. lute power TO fix any rate he may deem lit.
: That power is qualified by CONSTITUTIONAL re-
otridjons In article Is the Language:
mot shall priyAtepfopsrty be taken foriPub
. lic use without Just compensation" The
kpower depends therefore upon the question:
Ills one mill perword just stcompensatloni"
n Twenty cents for twenty words or less for
4 distances Of 1000 miles or less, and one cent
Tor each additional word, and one tenth Of q
cent for each additional 100 miles or frac-
tiq<thereof, ,ris, for distances,of about 1000
mie4t srcely one. half theVrate paid by
the puJ " on current messages. For dis.
tapces 3o0miles and under 1t 10 about
J h};e- Il, ,fths the commerotsl rats & The
working expenses OF the company, without
any return for any part Of the capital EN-;
ployed, cost within fraction Of seventy (
i've per cent. Of the total earnings. II,
therefore, tho Governmsnt rate averages
less than seventy -fveper cent of the rate
70 the public as ~ Ipndoubtcdly .docs) then
HE 0overnment business Is done alta loss.
The average cost TO the company Of hand
ling messages 10 % 2-1o cents per message.
u the Government business does, not, pay
something more than this average then II
mnst be done at loss, for the messages In
brder TO yield such an average must be con-
siderably above The average length Of busi.
J. 9e,< hcssegss (sboat seyeateen words)s y
Havcry exacttng service, having prece-
dence over all other business, and requiring
prompt and often long distance messenger
deHsttes Or rswritihg hgansome cases tode.
uycr by special wires.
The exhibits demonstrate that the rate as
hxed for the past year Is great injustice
10 the telegraph companies, and not on
~.fair basis Of living profits, awarded TO rail
road companies and other corporations for
services rendered. The rate ought there
fore TO be increased rather diminished. BY
the present rate The G6yernHant is saving
large sum, prpbably 500, 900 ahnuHlly, by
the reducedc6st of i'd stelegraph service be-
low what other patrons have TO pay, and
that saving Is necessarily made up from
other customers.
KEto'fhe rafemmed forthaensnin4nscal
year In your oficial circular 10 the tele
graph companies Of June 20, which you say
ttsWil be one mill word, irrespective Of
dfflances, for all mess Zee day or night,,fft
uould not .reimlirse iwh1f lthfs icompany
has pay for tht clerical service iri recetv-
VIM. z. )nting, cilecldn6F routing, numbers
ins and booking the message before It's
transmission; that 1t would not reimburse
I what this company has 10 pay for the time
Of any one Of from seven 10 eleven oper-
ators that wonld be engaged In the trans
mission " message from Washington TO
Portland, Ore. that message Of the ordi-
nary length would not reimburse what we
nave M nav for ia delivery bv messenger
ter ~ ~ bas reached its dsst,nation 70 sav
no,h,ng N any mart of the cost of main.
fs,rins the lines' battery sunnlies station.
srv snnsrintensiar .ooiee and other Incl.
Z S1exnSn1eN aSa abalIv / n would not
rsi,,, h,',se the cat n this comnary ~ oath
sriao nm busipSss making mn the accounts
ana N 4, M {b1 collections,7 y 4 i Z 7,-'sN :
u,essage handed N Al Nashi n oton 4. e 70.
|. ceires copnted and checked bv tbs CLERK AZ
~ d,v m q then sent 10 re in 4 ~ =
,co,, ,.,,,ere te circuit insneeer ron,as and
rrnaSers III Il and % .snds n 10 ths nroner % ;rstru %
,,erte kfter n. tran ,oiss,ob n ooss 10 ire
& boo,. '.eepefs ID be entered what we have
~ - ~. - ,,naa ~ ,hosa .as .avo,.i W. na,o o,
~ ~, z Se,s ssi.iy n,cre ths, 80 c,,s q oan. IN ~ =
pa,a u : ~, 4rors' r,e..sr.a an saa sa,,.S,', !,
n's a., u ,so ~ WI. ,.S;o a,, nI 'HoA ~ ny
,S,S - ,,.S ~ ,ro,s ,as..sno ~ ,ho .a,e
49, - : t''i''nv IVY AA'~e'''"so AA'~e'''"so ~ '"' raV'
s Wss..,,.. from, Nsr vor,, o- w..h,,o,ou
=, ,ss,ts ~ % sbe psc,aS & Sosst nsss th roy vSh ~
1 ~ w ! ~ ,,, ~ M pass ~. sn