Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1897-12-30
POSTAL TELEGRAPH.
SUCCESSFULLY OPERATED BY
FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.
The United statsa and Canada arc the
only important nations in which the
telegraph stlll In the hands OF pri.
VRts parties.


Senator Marion Butler, populist from
North Carolina, has a bill pending in
the United States Senate, providing
for the establishment and operation
by this government of a system of pos
tai telegraphs. 1t should receive IA
vorable consideration. In all the coun.
tries of Europe, and in most Of the ma
tions of Asia, Africa and South Ameri-
ca, the telegraph is operated by the
government us branch of the postof-
fee, or as separate department. The
United States and Canada are the only
important nations in which the tele-
graph is still in the hands of private
parties, In those countries where the
postal telegraph exists, there has usu'
ally never been any question of the
wisdom of the assumption by the gov
eminent of this important function.
In this country when the telegraph
was invented, it was proposed that the
government should assume control and
the first line between Baltimore and
Washington was constructed at the
expense of the government A propo-
sition was made by Morse at that time
to sell his invention to the government
for 100000, but it was defeated in the
House of representatives. The Post
master General at that time, strongly
favored the government ownership.
Under instruction from Congress leas-
ed to private parties and the govern
ment relinquished control of the tele-
graphs
Those who oppose government tele-
graph in this country, often cite the
case of public ownership in England as
showing that there will be no profit
therefrom for there has been deficit
ever since the English government
took charge in 1869. But those who
argue thus should not overlook the
fact that during that time the tele-
graph rates have been reduced from
two and half shillings per message
to sixpence-a reduction of 80 per cent
and now one can send message
from any part of Great Britain to an
other for twelve cents. Lower rates
have been preferred to profits. And
the deficit has been small, not as great
by any means as that of the postoffice
department in the United States.
The rates are astonishingly low in
Europe, when compared with those in
America. The regular rate in France
one cent word to any part of the re-
public, and the rates are about the
same all over the continent. Here is
table of the average receipts per tele'
gram in those countries for which l
have been able to obtain such data:
Norway. ...................'2 cents
Sweden. cents
Germany. .... ....' ......2o. scents
Holland...... ..............l2'Sc scents
France. ........ ....'.''.'l5 Genus
Switzerland. .............. ..l3. Scents
Austria Hungary. ............1O cents
Great Britain. ........,. .....12 cents
TTnitad States LAO cents
When the arguments made that the
charges would naturally be greater in
the United States because of the great
err distances, the advocate of govern
ment ownership points to the fact that
while the telegraph charges under pri-
vate ownership in the United States
are higher than anywhere else the pos
tai charges here are the lowest in the
world. Our rate is cents for letters,
and this is the usual rate, although in
Germany it is "a cents aud in France
cents. But the unit of weight in the
United States is twice that in Europe;
here we charge by the ounce, there by
the half ounce, which makes our act
ual charges for postage one'half or less
than those in Europe.
1t will surprise many people to learn
that the telegraph, although an Amer
can invention, is less used in the Unit
ed States than in some foreign coun-
tries; in Great Britain twice as many
kilograms are sent per capita as in the
United States and in Switzerland there
is an excess of 80 per cent per capita
over the United States. In Holland,
Belgium and France the average is the
same as here. To fully appreciate these
figures one must realize that the Unit
ed States is the greatest Jetter-writing
nation. The average number OF pieces
of mail matter, per capita, carried in
Great Britain in 1896 was 46. In the
United States 1l,116, 393, 94O pieces OF
mail matter were handled, an average
IF 142 pieces per capita.
The Gresnback.
The time was when all roads led tc
Rome. The greenbaclS paper currency
is the Rome o. today, and all plans
proposed for financial legislation is tc
assassinate the paper money that saved
our Countrywide Abraham Lincoln
legal tender