The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-03-06
POSTAL WIRES.
DR.a NORvIN GREEN CONTINUES HIS
TESTIMONY CONCERNING A GOVERN
MENT SYSTEM OF TELEGRAPH.
CLOSELY QUESTIONED BY MIR. GRAIN
Thinks 1t Would Be a Losing Business for
the Government and Gives Wanna
maker Some Sharp Thrusts.

WASHINGTON, March DIR. Norvin
Green, president of the Western Union
Telegraph company, today continued his
statement respecting the pending postal
telegraph bill before the house committee
on postotfices and postroads. He said he
had seen it stated that the wire on the Pa
citic railroad lines belonged to the govern
ment. He did not so understand it and as
matter Of fact the government had no
power to fix rates over those lines.
Respecting rates generally, DR.. Green
said that they were about one-half of those
prevailing twenty-five years ago.
The ratio between our own and
the British was as 25 cents to
90 cents. The postmaster general proposed
to reduce these rates one-half, and this, in
the face of the fact that the British system
had been operated to a deficit of $11, $780,
300 in the past eleven years and probably
$4,000 900 since it's establishment, yet the
British system had been instituted under a
solemn pledge that it should be self-sup-
porting. The salaries of the British opera
tors averaged from $26 to 500 per month,
while in New York the average Gncluding
male and female operators) was $61.45-
more than double the British average. The
British system had about one-tifth the poles
and one quarter of the wire of those owned
by the Western Union. This was in an
open, closely settled country, so that its
maintenance cost about one-fCurth of the
cost of maintaining the line in this
country. If our government embarked in
the telegraph business it must have mana
gers or the business will go to the b, tom.
The government could not 40 the
business as cheaply as the Western
Union. All the small and new
companies were under a much larger
proportionaJe expense than the Western
Union which handles over 100000
messages day at New York alone. 1t was
cheaper to do large business than small
one. An operator could not be made in a
year. Operators had to have eight or ten
years experience before they could be
trusted to manage heavy wire. DIR. Green
presented figures to show that the actual cost
to the Western Union of handling business
was 22.4 cents message. Each of the
items-wires, poles, rents, salaries, ETC.,
would cost small company more in pro-
portion than large one. 4
" Taking up the details of the postmaster
generals plan, DR.. Green said that atmany
of the postoflices there would not be sutfi-
: Cient telegraph business to pay expenses.
1t had been suggested that the postmasters
at those offices might learn to
work the wires, but would not
40 So as tney were usually business
men fully employed IN caring for their
shops. Then a special corps of operators
would have to be organized in the large cit
les and they would have to be placed in
rooms separate from the postotfice to pre-
serve the secrecy of the messages Large
battery rooms would have to be procured
and altogether the present postoffice build
irgs could not be made to accommodate
the telegraph system.
Dr- Green made a oOmDariSOn bptween
our domestic telegraph rates and those in
Europe, showing that for all distances owe
500miles our rates were much lower, Yet"
said he, "the postmaster general would es-
tablisd a uniform rate for 1900 mile dis
tances, distance over which no single wire
had ever been successfully worked. AS
to the low rates, the Western Union
had never fought opposition conpa-
nies with low rates. The opposition
companies had usually butted against the
Western Union. The last formidable COM
petitor it had was the Baltimore and Ohio
Telegraph company. They had started out
to smash things and it had done so. That
company had ruined three competing COM
panies and ruined itself, and SO nearly
ruined the Baltimore and Ohio Railway
company that it had been obliged to sell its
sleeping cars and construction shops to tide
over the financial stress. That was
the last of the low rate fights. The Balti-.
more and Ohio Telegraph company had
paid on a large class OF business as high as
ii cents per message for commissions and
collecting messages, leaving out operators
salaries and wire maintenance. The aver
age cost of handling their messages was
y 22.5 cents and the average charge was 1874
cents The postmaster general in his order
fixing rates for government business had
made an order which the board or direct
ors of the Western Union had decided was
practically an order of contiscation of their
business"
The doctor became somewhat excited at
this point and looking hard at the post
master general, who steadfastly returned
the gaze, he exclaimed: "And yet he says
that he is on first-rate terms with the tel
egraph companies. He may congratulate
himself that he can smile and smile and