The times., 1897-12-26

Assistant Attorney General or the Unite
States, after tie holiday recess, TO pas
Special appropriation OF S25S ,s6c. 81
for the benefit of the Western rnioa Telc
graph Company. THIS Christmas presen
OF more tnan quarter of a million dolla r
has history. the termina ton o T whiC n p,
Mr.. Pradt, has, to say the least, a pecul;a
and remark8 hle aspect, ina smuch it fore
stalls possible, if not proLa bic, action
of the Court Of Claims.
Early in August last First Assistan mt POST
master General Heath made a report to ID,
Court OF Claims as referee in the case O
the Western Unon Telegraph Compan,
against the United States. This case IN
volved a claim o the telegraph compa a cur
compensation Tor the transmission of tel
grams during the administration Of l'c st
master General Wan3maker. Mr.. Wana
maker fixed a rate for payment Of such
telegrams, which the company was unwiI
ling To accept, the details OF which were
published in The Times when Mr.. Heath
filed his report.
Accordingly all telegrams OF the Gov
ernment during that period we're received
under protest and sent. After MIR. Wana
maker went out of office, four years later.
a new rate was fixed, nd the compaly
went L, the Court OF Claims nj asked an
allOwa nee covering the difference nc-
tween what il had received and what Il
would have received Lad the old rate not
been changed by Mr.. wanamaler.
The matter was referred 10 Charles @.
Shepherd and William H. Erow ne as
referees. representing the Government and
the company, but they failed 70 agree.
Mr.. Heath was subsequently, appointed s,Le
referee and bega Il work June rs. in his
report TO tie Court OF Claims lac "a " in
part:
l find tfat the amount which would lie
due Tor the telegraph service rendered by
the claimant to the defendant for the
period embraced in the claimant 3 etition
July /, 1Ss 2. to JIne 90. 1S93-at the
rates OF toll for telegraph service liked
IN the orders OH y ierlIfls uriOH. Secretary
of agriculture, Wilson s. BisseIl. Postnas-
ter GENERAL respectively. aggregates SOB
$685.. The gross amornt of lie service
rendered by the Western Union Telegra ph
Company during this period was s61U.-
41O.lS. The payments made by the
Government through its various executive
departments to the Western Union Tele-
ETapn Company during this period amounts
TO S35l .600.5i. lea wing, as stated aDoy.c
balance OF S25S -S5S.Si due for services
rendered. The total number of kilograms
Involved in the audit is 1859 500. IL
VIII tnuS occur to the court tnat the total
amount OF materials placed in my hands
TO be sea aTched and used in this audit was
very large. There were more than three
wassonloads OF telegramS alone. The re-
siduum of the infoma tlon contained in the
vast amount OF raw material would almost
nake an additional wagonload
This report was daly filed with he
Court of Claims, ahd in due time would
have heeI adjudicated had not Iht
peculiar haste of Assistant Attorney Gen.
eral Pradt have prevented sucha result.
In this litigation was involved a very
nice point Uf law as TO the power claiIaeI
by the Postma stcr General to arbitrarily
fix Iates that should be paid teleer1 rh
Companies for tie transmission of Govern
merit messages. The statate under W hicn
Mr. Wahamaker acted and Ipon which,
almost entirely. tie result of the case lie
pended, was the aCj OF J uly II, 1866 sec
tions , and =. whic h read as follows:
And be il further enacted, That teIe-
graphic communication between the de-
partmentS OF the Government of the
United states and their officers a mi
agents shan, in their transmission over the
lines OF any Saf0 companies, have
priority over all other business. and shall
be sent at rates 10 be annually fixed by
the Postmaster General.
And be il further enacted, That before
any telegraph company shall exercise any
OF the powers or privileges conferred 10y
this act, such company shall file their
written acceptance with The Postmaster
General of the reStTiC tons and obligations
required 10y this act.
The contention cf the telegraph COM
pany in the suit was tha: tie rates fixed
by Ppstma ter General wana ma kei was in
adequate. a nj that 10 a2lhoii'riS vested ia
the Postmaster General under the act 4 fore
said to fix any rate either than cne subject
to review hy the judiciary. II was not
mul Mr.. NanamaKer made cut in the
rates that tile Government had been pa wins
that the telegraph Company ever questioned |
the pcwer ct the Postmaster General % |
fix the rates, aHJ this poFvert p Postmaster |
General always Claimed and quoted when |
regulating the tolls. For an example the |
order of Don NJ. Dickinson, Postmaster Gen |
eral, III making telegraph tolls, is quoted as |
follows:
Postoffica Department, Wa ashinetnn DC. |
June 90 sSS.-Pursuant 10 the authority |
vested in the Postmaster General by the /
act of Congress, entitled An act To aid in |
the construction of telegraph lines, and l
10 secure II the Government the use ofthe |
samefor postal,militaryand other purposes,
approved uly "a, 1866, and by the Re-
yised Statutes of the United States, title |
LXV, / hereby fix the rates a c W hich such |
az the said statutes pre-
scribe tnoi including those passing over /
circuits established by the chief signal
officer OF the Army. shall be sent during |
the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1SSS, and
June 80, 1889, 10y the several
within the effect OF said statutes,
Rs follows:
AndtneB follows the rates.
Postmaster General wanarnaker followed
the example of Mr. Dickinson and his prede-
cessors ir fixing rates, but he did not
except tile Signal Service business, ani
when the rates were found TO he too low
10 suit tie Telegraph company it first
denied the right of the Postmaster General
TO fix arbitrarily the rates, and seconI,
% fix the rates for the signal Service buSi
ness. If tie rates had been the same as
IN preceding years, the telegraph company
rould not have questioned the power of
he Postmaster General. The question rs
% this right was the important one fJr
he court o. decide, and subsequent dcvel-