The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-09

SAOuS A1tQS Dy inc ACb OF lSoO--NO o
Valuable Public Property Acquired
From theGovernment-H Heavy Reduc-
tions in Rates.
New York, Aug. S.-The following ex-
plaiSs itself;
EXECUTIVE OFFICE W. u. TEL. Co.,
NEW YORK, Aug. 6 1850
Hon. John Wdndndker, Postmaster General.
DEAR SIR-Acknowledging the receipt Of
your letter Of Aug ,, beg to say much re-
gret that the publication Of NV letters to you
70 which you refer was rendered necessary by
the extraordinary statements ION information
furnished this tyour department" contained
IN your letter of July IS and extensively printed
LII the newspapers on the following day.
I ou again refer to the privileges and benefits
derived by this company through the acts of
congress, and especially the act of 1868. You
ssy Under these grants the company has
claimed the right TO use without compensation
OF any klnd as to Fight Of way, all the highways
or The country on the ground of their bsiag
post roads II has broadeued tAs claim TO the ex-
tent that the streets OF cities and towns are also
postrOads, and therefore open and free to its
occupancy ana use The courts have sustained
II IN this claim Either YOU or we are yerV
badly Informed by our respective legal advisers
as % what has been claimed by the Tele-
graph company and held by the courts
IN respect to the scope and authority OF that
grant. have had occasion from time to time
to go through the records in great many cases
but | do not recall any instance in which such Il
claim has been made and sustained by the courts
Nhat we understand the government did give
u.s. In the act Of 1865. was o franchise and right
TO do telegraph business in all the states and
this franchise was given alike to all telegraph
companies or other parties who might accept
IT, ana subsequently, by what was known as the
Butler amendment it, was specially extended
TO all railroad companies hut the
act never assumed to give us aud
could not give us the right to plant our poles
on any but lands actually belonging to the gov
ernment, and that right we have very rarely
exercised except when the government wanted
us to extend lines for the convenience OF the
government into its navy yards and military
posts and stations, or to its department quarters
IN the city of Washington.
THE PENSACOLA DECISION
Had you carefully read the decision In the
Pensacola telegraph case to which
you REFER you would not have
fallen into such a grievous error upon
this point Chief Justice Waite, in the body Of
the opinion, thus defines the scope of the
act OF 1855 under consideration: mo ques-
ton arises as to the authority of congress to
provide for the appropriation Of private prop
erty To the uses OF the telegraph, for no such
attempt has been made. The use of public
IS required, it must, 50 far as the
present legislation is concerned, be OBJ
tanned dw,a2 by pr private arrangement With
are authorized. State sovereignty under the
constitution is not interfered with - only
national privileges are granted" The decision
IN TINS case, therefore, was that the state OF
FLORIDA could not prohibit the Western Union
Telegraph Company from erecting and operat-
ing its line of telegraph in that state where it
had acquired right of way for its
plant from railroad company of that state, but
did not hold that it was exempt from the obli-
cation to buy or condemn under state statutes
the property necessary to enable it to build its
lines. The railroads are post roads as well as
some of the highways, and il the govern
ment gives us the right of way on
post roads why should we have to pay
the railroad companies for it? We have no
contract for, and obtain our right of way from
the parties who own them, whether railroad
companies, turnpike, plank road company. or
individual land owners; and in the case OF
streets and highways, we have to obtain license
from the city, county or state authori
ties, or condemn under authority OF
the state laws. | sincerely wish that your
ideas Of the law that we ARE In fact occupying
thousands of miles of post roads Nand are priv
LEGGED TO occupy all the highways in the
United States under the merits OF that act
may prove sound in law, but we have not re
ceved that grant and ere satisfied the courts
would not sustain your views.
OCCUPANCY OF STREETS.
Our occupancy Of the streets is always by
license of the local authorities or of the state,
aud in the case of the Elevated Railroad Com
pany in the city of New York, to which YOU
structure for the right of way to string our
wires thereon. The act to which you refer
gives the telegraph companies the right to
take stone and timber from the public lands
and to pre-empt and enter not exceeding forty
acres for each station. We have never needed
to use any stone, and since the pass.
age of that act the railroads across the
continent have afforded ample facilities for
transporting cedar for poles, which is more
durable, and econemonical than native timber
that might possibly be found accessible on un-
occupied government lands. AS to pre-
empting forty acres Of land for station We
have found that wherever a telegraph station
was needed there were no un0ccupied
government lands, and if we were to establish
station on any forty acres of unoccupied gov
ernment lands it would be in a locality that
would yield no revenue. 1t is true, therefore,
that we have never taken a stone or stick Of tim
Der, or appropriated foot of public land under
thai law. The franchise granted this company
in common with other parties was not supposed
to be solely for our benefit, but to secure CON
yenlent facilities to the public Tho effect of
establishing our rights to do business in Pensa-
cola was to wipe out charge OF 81 for ten
word message for distance Of forty-fve miles
over lineM that .claimed the exclusive
franchise under the state law and the establish
ment of branch Office in the navy yard at that
port. which to this day we are operating for the
benefit OF the government at a loss, the business
Of that Office not being sufficient to pay the sal
ary of the operator.
POWER OF THE MAsTER-G EHERA1.
g We seem to be getting nearer together as
TO the power and duty Of the Postmaster Gen
eneral to name the rate OF tolls to be paid on
government messages | only claim that this
power and duty are limited by the constitution
10 O lust compensation for the rvice required.
and that just compensation must cover the
actual cost Of the service with something added
for the us9 Of the facilities necessary to perform
it, and as you say the government Is willing to
pay Just rates, we have come quite to an agree
ment on the principle that must govern the
fixing Of rates to be paid.
THE MOST FAVORED CUSTOMER.
g. still insist that the government is our
most favored customer, and that the rate for
government service during the past five years,
considering the character Of the service, s
lower than that given TO any other patron. The
government rate has been | cent per word for
600 miles or less. You may make up a sup
posed message with address and signature Of
unusual length and twenty words ia
the body sent snort distance,
certain transportation companies and show
that il is a trine less than the government
rate bur the half-rate is generally higher, and
YOU forget that this half-rate in money is not
all we get. There must be added the value Of
what those transportation companies do for us.
But when you apply even the strongest sup
posed case to q message between New York
and Chicago, or Washington and st. Louis you
will find the government rate is the
lower. There is no comparison between
the service for the newspapers even the special
rates to one newgpaper) and messages trans
mitted for the government. A special Of 800
words would make fifty government messages
of thirty words each; each message requiring
separate checking, booking, numbering,
routing, envelopng and a special de-
livery Wet We often hsCe acC ,ao-ds special
mora a01af IN over f6e rnessapas of thirty words