Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-01-08
THE TELEGRAPH.
WHAT EXPERIENCE Elbows AND
SHOULD TEACH.
In the Face of tho Facts Presented ny
Professor Parsons After Searching
Inquiry 1t Is Nonsense to Permit Pri-
vate Ownership States.

bly," which appears in the Arena Tor
December, deals with the experience OF
England under both private and public
ownership. The following lengthy ex-
tract will be found unusually interest
ing, and it is certainly convincing OF
the correctness of the peoples party
demand for government ownership OF
the telegraphs:
The experience of England consti-
tutes a most powerful argument for
public ownership Of the telegraph. Up
10 1870 the telegraph business in Great
Britain was in the hands Of private
companies, and for many years COM
plants had been made of excessive
charges, poor service and inadequate
facilities. The companies pretended
TO compete, but in reality had an I'M
derstanding among themselves which
prevented the reduction of rates to q
Just figure. They were satisfied to
keep the tariff up and allow each COM
pany to obtain such share of the busi-
ness as its territory and facilities COM
manded.
In 1869 the tariff charged by the
United Kingdom company, as well as
by the older Electric, international,
British and Irish Magnetic companies
was:
Is. GA cents for 20 words up to 100
miles.
Is. Cd. (36 cents) for 20 words up to
200 miles.
Is. as cents for 20 words beyond
200 miles.
IS. to 6s. for messages to Ireland.
In many instances these rates, high
as they were, did not cover the whole
transmission of telegram. They only
applied to the wires Of a single COM
pany, and when message had to be
transmitted over the systems of two
Or more companies an additional
charge, frequently of considerable
amount, was levied.
These rates were scandalously high,
and yet our own people at the time in
question QS6O were frequently COM
PEELED to pay from five to six times as
much for the same distance and the
same number Of words.
In 1865 the Edinburgh chamber of
commerce called the attention OF Lord
Stanley, the postmaster general, to the
telegraph question, showing that the
rates were unreasonably high, the
unsatisfactory because of
delays and inaccuracies, the treatment
of the press unfair and many towns
and districts wholly unprovided for.
The Edinburgh committee gave care
full consideration to three different
remedial measures: Q) regulated
of existing companies;
(2) the establishment of entire free
trade in public telegraphy; go the
transfer of the service to the postofiice
Its conclusion was in favor of the last,
but it agreed to recommend the APP
pointment of royal commission OF
inquiry prior to legislation.
Lord Stanley appointed Frank Ives
to inquire whether the
telegraph might be beneficially worked
by the postoffice." Mr.. Scudamore was
a man of the highest character, thor
oughly impartial and Of very fine abil-
ity. He made scientific study of the
abuses of the existing service in Eng
land the condition of the service in
other countries, the benefits likely to
result from postal system and the
difficulties and disadvantages that
might attach to it. The result was
that he came to believe in the postal
telegraph, and in 1866 he made his re-
port, very able paper, conclusively
the advantages of the present
plan. Ia 1858 he made a supplement
tary report to Lord Stanley's successor,
the Earl of Montrose, who transmitted
it to the house of lords with a commun-
ication, of which the following is
part:
In the inclosed report and that which
preceded it frequent reference is made
to the manner in which the telegraph
systems of Belgium and Switzerland
have been framed and maintained by
the postoffices of those countries. The
example of the colony of Victoria might
however have been cited with equal
propriety, for in that colony the tele-
graph has long been worked by the
postoffice and with such success that
although the charges for transmission
arc high, the proportion of kilograms
to letters is as high as in Belgium.
There is indeed nothing new in the
proposed scheme. OF its various parts
each has been tried, and tried with
success. either in Belgium, in Switzer-
land, in France, or in British colony,
and taking into account the greater
wealth and commercial activity of the
United Kingdom, l see no reason to
doubt that the scheme, as whole, will
be equally successful here.
Your lordships will readily perceive
hat such system, besides facilitating
social intercourse, Strengthening and
the relations between the
of different districts and
the growth of trade and
will also strengthen the
from hostility from without
and aid in the maintaining of law and
order within the kingdom.