The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-11-17
SOCIALISM.
Banker MnlVane FavOrs One of
Its Chief Tenets,
That the Government Should
Own the Telephones.
His Morning Paper Prints a
Strong Editorial
SHOWING ADVANTAGES
Of Government Ownership of
the Telegraphs.
POpuIist and SocialistDOctrines
Strongly Endorsed.
He SAYS 1T ISN'T HIS.
Didn't Write the Editorial Him.
self, But Permits 1t
To Appear With His Apparent
Endorsement.


Topeka Capital, is an advanced think
er on social questions.
His paper today in an editorial adj
vocates the government ownership of
telegraph lines. This idea is in line
with Populist platforms. Any person
who advocates the acquisition of public
utilities by the government used to be
called Socialist, but the time has
come when the word Socialist" does
not frighten people as it used to. 1t
evidently does not frighten Banker
Mulvane, who is a man of convictions.
Mr. MulVane was at his desk in the
Bank of Topeka when reporter called
upon him with the editorial that ap-
peared this morning
I would like to have something more
about your views on this question:
said the reporter Indicating the editor
iaI.
Mr.. NIulvane glanced at the paper a
moment, and then said, without refer
ring to the editorial:
The government should own the tel
ephones. The telephone is essentially
the instrument Of communication
which can best be used by the masses.
Farmers don't use the telegraph. 1t
requires that the person using it should
cOndenSe his meaning into the feWeSt
possible words, and the mass of people
cannot do that. That is the reason
that I believe that it would be better
for the government to have control OF
the telephones than the telegraph sys-
of something that will benefit the
masses. The telegraph is used almost
exclusively by business men,
Then you believe in the government
ownership of telephones ?"
IF the government is going to do
anything of the kind. 1 would be in
favor of that. 1t seems to be the fad
now to insist that the government
should take hold of something of the
kind. But wherever the government
ownership of the telegraph idea has
been tried, it has been q. failure. In
France and England they have not
been successfully operated
But this editorial states that in
England the government has made a
net profit on the telegraph system in
ten years of $1,000 0OO."
Mr.. MulVane said: rs that so? I
had not read it carefully"
When Mr.. Mulvane was asked if he
had written the editorial. he said:
I do not write editorials. I have
nothing to do with them
The editorial referred to is as fol-
WHY THE OvERNM MENT
SH o u LID OWN THE
T E L E C r A P H.
TT is a rule of experience emphasiz-
ed particularly IN the history of gov
ernment railroads that business can be
better transacted and with greater
economy by private than by public
management; but this rule has found
a marked exception, to which public
attention should be called, in the tele-
graph business Further, the rule that
leading commercial organizations Op-
pose the extension of public interfer-
ence in industry also finds an excep-
tiOn here. Leading business organ1za-
tiOns in this country, almost the only
country in which telegraph business is
owned and operated by private cOrpOr-
atiOns, are favorable to government
ownership of this business.
The reason is apparent. All gov
ernments control and operate the
ct or "a tai nh
is so intimately associated with
the mail that the control of both should
belong to the same management Since
1870 the English government has own
ed and operated the telegraph lines of
the two islands, the ruling rate for
messages being 25 cents for 20 words,
including address and signature, with
the result that the number of messages
increased from less than 10 million in
1870 to more than IS million in 1896, or
an increase of nearly 700 per cent in
26 years. While rates were reduced,
the British telegraph has made a net
profit in the last ten years of a mil
lion dollars.
IF the government of the United
States should purchase the telegTa phi
lines of this country at an appraised
valuation, as it has the recognized
right to do by existing law, the results
would be a reduction of from % to 90
per cent in charges to users, a large in
crease of telegraph offices with small
cost to the government, being connect
ed with DOSLOIIlceS aIeAQN Established.
an enormous increase in the use and
service of the telegraph and finally the
wiping out of the annual deficits in the
postal department of the government,
the only branch of the public service
that never has paid expenses and new
er will long as it is divorced from
its natural ally. the telegraph
Under the present system of private
ownership the telegraph offices are not
increased or lines extended until the
owners are satisfied that the extension
would pay dividends If the same rule
were adopted by the postal depart
ment. two-thirds of the postoffices in
the United States would be closed up
and abandoned. for but one-third pay
expenses 1t is rather singular that
the postmaster general, who devotes
considerable attention to the foolish
fad of 1 cent letter postage which no
body cares a picayune about, has
nothing whatever to say about gov
ernment ownership of telegraphs. which
commercial organizations have repeat