Omaha daily bee., 1889-09-29
GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPHs.
A Writer Who Thinks MIR. Wanama.
ker's Plan Not Feasible.


1t is admitted by officials at the post
working on some of the legal and prac-
teal questions connected with the gov
eminent control of the telegraph, yet
many sides of the question seem to
have escaped their attention, says a
Washington special to the New York
Herald. The postmaster general will
probably hesitate to recommend a
strictly government telegraph system
because of the large deficit which would
appear if the service were extended as
generally as the postal service.
1t is well known that the telegraph
service in England under government
management has shown a constantly in
creasing deficit, and has resulted in lit
tie difference in rates. If the service
cannot be economically conducted in
SO compact and thickly' settled a coun-
try as England with a permanent and
trained force it would seem that the eX-
pertinent in this country would be even
more disastrous. There would be a con
stan struggle between the political in
terests which demanded an extension
of the service to Improbable localities
and the glaring deficit which such a
policy would create.
There would be a great many practi-
cal difficulties with the plan credited to
the postmaster-general of having the
government %enterinto~ partnership with
the telegraph companies for the deliv-
cry of messages through the %postof1ice.
Of course there will be no responsible
ity on the part of the government for its
share in handling the messages, any
more than there is handling registered
letters and paying money orders. If Il
dispatch miscarries through the negli-
gence of a letter carrier or messenger
there will be no redress for the sender
or receiver, except that he may have
the satisfaction of seeing the carrier
discharged.
So long as the telegraph company has
charge Of the transmission of messages
it can be held responsible for errors,
but delays even occurring in its Of
flee will oe hard to locate when the re-
sponsibility is shared with the govern
ment. The opinion is expressed by
those. familiar with the free delivery
service that the carriers would be of lit
tie use, except in delivering night mes
ages, which are subject to delay, ana
which could be taken on The first morn
ing delivery. Messages which de-
handed immediate attention would
have to be handled by the special de-
livery messengers who now deliver
letters with the 10 cent stamp affixed.
1t might be possible to divide dispatches
into two classes at different rates, one
to be delivered by carries and the other
by special messengers.
1t is generally believed, however,
that Mr.. Wanamaker's new scheme of
%paternalism would prove clumsy in it's
operation and lead to endless confusion
and litigation. The civil service re-
formers, whether advocates of central
ization or not, will be certain to oppose
any proposition to increase the num-
Der of Offices under the control of the
postmaster general S o long as they are
distributed according to the present
plan.
Some Of the advocates of a postal tel
egraph argue that the operating serv-
| ice would be so technical in it's charac-
ter that the places would not become
the spoil of party politics. This might
| prove to be the case when the service
had been for a number of years under
the government control and there was
but one employer to apply to. But for
| some time to come there would proba-
bly, be operators enough of both parties
clamoring for place to furnish the mo-
tive for frequent change. The public
nature of Geographic messages, unless
written in cipher, would also place a
| dangerous power in the hands of the
dominant party if the service vas pros
tituted to partisan ends.