Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-01-08

| the value Of the lines, probably more.
| The French government put UP 6S,-
900 miles of wire, with equipment, for
$65 to $66 mile. When the acts Of
1S6S-69 were passed, in spite of all the
companies could do, they determined
at least to make the transfer as diff
cult and costly as possible. It was
easy to raise the value Of stock in con-
temptation Of government purchase.
Such a rise would be apt to take place
to some extent even without manipu-
lation. In some cases shares that were
selling for $125 in 1861 realized the
holders $500 when the lines were sold
to the government. The shares of an
other company rose from 1882 in Mo-
vember, 1867, to $255 at the time of the
government purchase. In another
company the shares rose from $50 to
$133. And yet the companies did not
always get what they asked by any
means. The Northeastern railway COM
pany claimed f54O,292 in compensation
for its telegraph department, besides a
large sum for interest. 1t was awarded
in all f16S,696. The Metropolitan Rail-
way company claimed in all f433,000,
and were awarded fol, 907. These two
instances out of more than twenty suf-
flee to show the extent to which the
fraudulent greed of the companies
would have bled the country II it had
had its way unchecked.
The governments first move was
the rapid extension Of the lines into
districts hitherto unprovided with tele-
graph facilities, and the reduction of
the tariff to the uniform rate Of one
shilling for twenty words, social or
commercial, and seventy-five words
press by day, 100 words by night, all
irrespective of distance, a reduction
estimated at one-third to one-half.
The result was vast and immediate
increase in the popular use of the tele-
graph. Social messages and newspaper
traffic developed enormously. The tele-
graph became something more than an
aid to speculation and began to be of
use to the people.
In respect to adequacy the superb
GRITTY of the English system Is equally
clear. 1t would not be fair to compare
the number of offices or messages per
square mile, for England Is more thick
ly populated than the United States,
but it is fair to compare the relation
between telegraph facilities and postal
facilities in the two countries. Great
Britain has 10000 postoffices and 10000
telegraph Offices, less than one-fourth
of which are railroad Offices. The West
ern Union (the Mackay offices are
mostly needless duplications) has 81
which are railroad offices or situated
at places inconvenient or inaccessible
to the general public, such as stock ex-
changes, policy shops, etc., as against
10000 postoffices. The relation be-
tween telegraph and postoffice is there
fore 1 to in Great Britain and 1 to
31h here, including the railroad offices,
and one to 2.6 in Great Britain as com:
pared with to 10 in the United States,
taking the commercial offices alone
that is, to every fourteen postoffices in
Great Britain there are seven efficient
telegraph offices, while in this country
to every fourteen postoffices there are
not more than four efficient telegraph
offices, and, considering the CONNER
cial offices alone, there are over five to
about one to fourteen postoffices here.