The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-01
THE WIRES OWNERSHIP.
DR.. NoRvIN GREEN OPPOSED TO
GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPHY.

oSNeCAAOhS 90 W bAO obOCh OF
the Western Union, Its Offices and
the Business It Does.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2S.-A number Of
persons interested in postal telegraphy as
sembled in the room of the House
postoffice committee this morning
to listen to DIR. Norvin Green, presi-
dent Of the Western Union Telegraph
Company. Postmaster General Wanna
maker, with his assistant, Gen. Tyner.
Gardner Hubbard, and representatives of
different telegraph companies, were present.
DIR. Green began his remarks by discussing
the merits and demerits of the
European governmental Telegraph sys-
tems. He said that while in instances
their charges were lower than
those in the United States, they were con-
| Quoted at a loss. He presented table
showing that the domestic companies had
$4,000 stations, and handled over 90. .000, 900
messages annually. as against So, 900 sta
tlons and 173, 100000 messages in the rest of
the world. They had more than half Of the
entire mileage of the world. The Western
Union controlled ten-elevenths of this busi-
| ness. Its stock was held by I, $50 persons in
the United States, and !, 141 of them were
females.
| DON'T BELIEVE IN GOVERNMENT OWNER
SHIP.
DIR. Green believed that the United States
| government had no business with the man
| agement of the telegraph; 1t could not
manage it as cheaply, it could not do ID
better, and none of the senders of kilograms
had asked it, 1t was proposed to make a
| rate of one-half of the cost of sending
messages; and the deficiency would have to
be made up by 57,000,000 people who did
not use the telegraph. The receipts Of the
| New York Western Union office Included
100000 annually from pool rooms and
| sporting places A large class of telegraph
users were stock brokers and spectators; :;
were those the people who were to be
| protectedl Were those the people in whose
interest the people were to be taxed9 IL the
| government wanted to go into the telegraph
| business, it should buy the lines outright.
| 1t should not seek to fix losing rates upon
existing companies-that would not be fair
TO the $500 stockholders of the Western
Union. The government would need twice
as many lines as were now in existence to
do the business.
THE POSTAL SCHEME.
Here was a scheme presented to go to 447
| postoillces where there was free delivery aud
where there we're abundant telegraph facili-
| ties. This was the way the Postmaster Gen
eral proposed to supply the needs of 50, 900, 900
| people. This was the entering wedge of
| NOV ement to break down the present COM
panes and establish complete government
telegraph; and against that he protested.
| DIR. Green then made com
| parison between the American and
| English telegraph systems, aud maintained
that our rates were in reality taking into
| account the free addresses and signatures
and the enormous area of territory COW
| ered) much lower than the English low
rates. And yet it was proposed to reduce
| these rates arbitrarily still lower. It would
| require q, 1915 miles of wire to supply a
| single connection to the All places COM
| prised within the Postmaster Generals
| plan. and to do the business practically
would require at least 100, 900 miles of wire.
| AT the press contract rates the rental of
this wire would be SO, 5000 Whoever
undertook to do telegraph business over
this system would do it at a loss.
| MORE TELEGRAPH THAN PosToFTICEs.
In this country there were more telegraph
| offices than postoffices; in the older part of
this country it was 80 per cent. greater and
| yet Great Britain owned both the telegraph
| and postofices Did that look as il the
| Western Union was not keeping abreast of
the times2 In North Carolina tho Western
Union had telegraph offices that did not
| pay % cents day in gross receipts.
| At the AT places named in the
Postmaster Generals plan as tele-
| graph offices, the government
owned but 104 postoffice buildings. 1t was
becoming grave question as to whether it
now profited the w estern Union to continue
| its contracts with the railroad companies
| Originally they were sources Of great reve-
| nue., but now the railroad business was in
| creasing to such an extent that it was
| doubtful if the telegraph company which
| handled their business free did not lose by
the agreement.
| THE BUSINESS IN FREE DELIVERY CITIES.
The chairman asked how much of their
| business the Western Union did in free
| delivery cities.
DIR. Green replied that about 80 per cent
would cover it. That business was more
| largely speculative than the remainder Of
their business, as it would include the great
money centers of the country.
The chairman said that it was proposed
| to pay the operators out of the 2-cent charge
| for a postage stamp He would like to know
| what the operating cost was.
DR.. Green replied that close estimate
| placed it at cents per message; In cases Of
| long distance messages 1t ran up to cents.
| The average compensation Of frst-class op-
orators WAS S75 per month.
The chairman wished to know how the
| rates suggested by the Postmaster General
compared with the present rates.
DR.. Green replied that generally they
were tWo-nfths lower. In case or long dis
tance messages they were one-half 10 wer.
| The average me sage was twenty-one
words, including addresses and signatures
| II was preferable to continue the system of
free addresses to insure accurate delivery.
| Under the English system, where the
| address was charged for, the addresses
were cramped, and messages frequently
| failed in delivery.
GREEN'S BASIS A LOSING ONE.
To the broad question as to how the post
naster-generars plan appeared to him, as
business proposition, DR.. Green said that Of
course it could be carried out, but the bus
iness could not be done by the government
| or by corporation at a profit; and some
| body would have to make up the deficiency.
Representative Grain wished to know
why, If the bill was impracticable, DR..
Green and the president of the Postal Tele-
graph Company both appeared here to con-
tend against it.
Or. Green replied that it was a serious
matter for them. They did not wish to be
placed in competition with the United
States treasury; the government could
| afford to bear the loss.
Mr.. Crain-sISut the bill don't provide for
| that.
DR.. Green--It will have TO provide for
that. You will be asked for an appropria-
tion within year.
Mr.. Grain remarked that IL no company
would contract with the government the
hill gould do fhafu M harm