Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03

OF the telegraph business, ana speaks Dy
the card. Continuing, he said:
"Of course, L do not mean that the treas
urers of the different Political parties will
hand the major part of their funds over to
the telegraph companies direct, but in
directly 1 am speaking of. For instance,
take The Evering Stars telegraph bill since
the campaign has opened. Your paper re-
ceives on in average Of 1000 words a day
at the very least of special Geographic Ger
respondence. This is purely political mat
ter, and does rot lake in events of a start
ling nature That is one paper. Now take
the papers of the country and you can
imagine the proportions to which we are
benefited by the political agitation. Mes
sages of this sort are filed from almost
every state in the Union; the longer dis
lance they come the greater the cost
1.-The different state committees have
special wires, and they have work enough
to give employment to several first-class
operators. The congressional committees
also have special wires and generally make
them hum from early morning until late in
the night. They do not, as a rule, care for
expense. and in sending out instructions
will make them eS clear good English
can. irrespective of the number of words.
But we keep tab on the dots and dashes
that go to make up the words, and at
the end of the month, or when requested.
party treasurers pay up smilingly.
A Harvest at Convention Time.
'The telegraph companies commence to
make money out of politics before the state
conventions are held. through the party
politicians laying plans looking to the nomi-
nation of their candidates. Then come the
conventions which generally last two or
three days. and the harvest We reap is
something tremendous. 1t is poor con-
vention indeed that does not permit US to
handle on an average of 100000 words day.
After the convention adjOurns work Is i'm
mediately begun by the party leaders in the
shape of instructions, advice and congratu-
lations, and this is kept up until the cam
paign is closed
THE profitable returns of the telegraph
companies very much resemble the sowing
of a wheat crop in the western states. For
instance, take the first year after a presi-
Dental election. The previous years crop
has been tremendous, and they take great
drop. as the next falls election is generally
the running of lieutenant governors or JUS
tices of the supreme courts of the different
states. or course the interest is not nearly
so great, and a result little telegraping
is done, the special wires on election day
being few and far between. The following
year, like this fall. takes in the governors
and Congressman elections, and, although it
frequently occurs that the interest is not
great as ii has been this fall, the excite
ment runs high, and our crop Of profits adj
before. The year following our crop again
takes the backward track. The year that
follows furnishes us a crop that will return
in good cold cash sum that can be reck-
oned in seven figures. presidential can
vass starts in almost with the beginning of
the new year, and IL is one continual grind
until the polls close on election day in No
vember. Brass bands and printing cost
thousands of dollars, but / am sure get
the bulk of the money.
An Exc;tinu Yenr
1.-THE campaign that is now drawing to a
close has been one of the most exciting of
its kind that can recall. The situation in
New York is. in the main, responsible for
this state of affairs, although the ener-
getic and stubborn fight of the republi-
cans to regain power ell over the country
has worked up the interest to fever heat.
This city has been out of the great money
making business since Congress adjourned.
so to speak, but previous to that the vol
ume of messages handled by US was some
thing phenomenal. The members of the
lower house, of course, did the bulk of the
telegraphing, but the Senators also came
in for their share In taking care of their
state interests. A feature of campaigns as
relating to telegraph companies which I
have noticed for the past ten years Is that
the republicans are the most liberal in
power it was simply case of not paying
any attention to the expense and this fall,
while they are battling to regain the lost
ground, the same state of things exists.
Election day is our great day of work.
Applications POUR in upon us for private
Instruments and wires and our linemen
are kept busy night and day. These ap-
plications come from hotels, clubs news
papers, theaters and many private citizens
who have the ready funds to pay for the
luxury of receiving the news at their own
homes. We generally have a uniform price
of twenty-five dollars for this service, al
though there is some talk of reducing these
figures this fall. You easily imagine
the demand these private wires make Iipon
for the operators to receive the news
We must have a large force on hand at the
main office. as private messages are as
thick as snowiakes in a snow storm on
that night. We pay the operators s. for
the nights work and often draw on the
departments and railroad offices to help out
The best men are sent to the more i'm
portant points, and this class are some
times paid by the hour which runs their
pay up to nearly $40.
Gathering the News.
"Our methods of gathering the election
news, while simple, are effective, and under
the circumstances exceedingly prompt
Taking into consideration the territory COW
cred, and TIE fact that we can generally
tell by 3 o'clock in the morning the actual
results In almost every state in the Union,
1t Is certainly wonderful achievement.
"You know that we have offices in almost
every little village in the country. The
managers of these offices have instructions
TO forward returns promptly to the super
inter dents office in each state. and from
there they go to New York or Chicago for
general distribution. We depend a great
deal On local newspapers and correspond
ents Tor this news, but our men are in
strCcted to be conservative. and to make
the returns as reliable as possible.
New York and Pennsylvania are our
greatest customers. You would be sur
prised to know the number of private in
strun'eLts that are in use in these two
states on the night of the election I am
not eXaggerating a bit when / say that
there is hardly an operator that Is not hard
at work. Men who have not worked at the
telegraph business for years creep back
into the ranks on that night not so much
on account Of the financial return as TO
the desire to be tight alongside the foun-
tain head OF news. or course some of the
operators Will be found lacking in the abil-
ity to take the news off the wires on ac-
count of its speed. but. as a general thing
everybody Is satisfied with the service we
render. The humorous incidents in con-
nectlon with the receiving OF returns are
many and varied For instance here is a
man who IL assigned to a private club. In
nearby room table Is spread with
dainty luncheon. and on a sideboard LIQUORS
OF all kinds can be had for the wanting
III the news that comes in pleases a certain