Arizona republican., 1895-10-08
A GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPH.

A GOVERNMENT TELEGRAPH.
 Gen. Wm. o. O'Neill has been giving
 the question of the government owner
 ship of telegraph lines considerable at
 tention. In Great Britain the system
 IS especially successful and concerning
 it Gen. O'Neill says:
 "The government acquired all the
 lines by purchase in 1870, in the face oi
 the great opposition of the companies
 owning them. Since then the system
 has been operated as part of the post.
 office department.
 Immediately on acquiring the lines
 the telegraph WAS extended into every section-a telephone and a teleera ph line being at every postofice.
 "The established rate for telegraph. ing is one cent per word for ordinary messages, while the rate on press mes- sages is so low that every weekly coun. try newspaper can affort to print the fullest and latest telegraphic news as it goes to press.
 "The rate of one cent per word in- cludes the delivery of the message within the limits of any city, or within one mile of any country post office. For each additional mile actu- ally travelled to deliver the message twelve cents is charged.
 Tn 1870, under private ownership and high charges, but 7,OOO,O ,OOO private messages and but 21 100000 words of press dispatches were sent. The wealthiest papers, as at present in the United States, being only able to pub. fish telegraphic reports. Now, under government ownership, 70,OOO,OOO of individual messages and over six hun dred million words of press dispatches are annually sent.
 'The service is performed with the most perfect promptness-the average time in transmitting telegram be- tween any two cities in England being from seven to nine minutes, as against two or three hours prior to 1870, while the lines were under private owner ship.
 The average rate per message is about ten cents, at which rate the government realizes profit, although the system is not treated as a source of income, the government regarding it rather as most important factor in the spread of information and intelli- gence among the masses.
 "As compared with England, the average rate per message in the United States, according to reports to congress, 1 is 3l cents-three times the average rate in all other countries under post office telegraph services, while the average cost of sending & message to the companies controlling the lines is but three cents. The excessive charge n America being due chiefly to the fact that companies owning and controlling he telegraph lines are forced to make heir charges high in order to earn dividends on over $50, ,0O0, 900 Of water d stock, for which they are capitalized, although the entire telegraphic system 'f the United States as it now exists, according to expert testimony before could be duplicated at 8 cost lot to exceed $15, 100000.
 'It will interest many to know that 'rior to the advent of the Southern Pa- fife and Atlantic and Pacific into Ari ona, it's only telegraph lines were hose lines and operated by the gov rnment. During that time message anywhere between Santa Fe, on the ast and San Diego on the west, could 'e sent for 25 cents per ten words, 'hile the same service today costs from our to five times as much"