The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-10-05
OMISSION OF DUTY
WAS NOT CRIMINAL
President Eckert Replies to Pres
dent Parker's Letter.
NO INTENTIONAL NEGLECT
Cause of Confusion in Fridays Reports
Should be Free from Any Imputa-
ton of Willful Misrepresen-
tation in Any Degree
NO INTENTIONAL NEGLECT

New York, October 4.-President Eckert,
of the Western Union Telegraph company,
today telegraphed the following statement
to President Parker of the New Orleans
cotton exchange in reply to the communi-
cation of the latter, officially published this
morning:
New York, October 4, 1899.
John NJ. Parker, President Cotton Ex-
change, New Orleans
Dear Sir:-I am in receipt of your mes
sage of yesterday evening, in which you
charge that the quotation service of last
Friday was no less criminal than if it had
been the result of wilful and corrupt de-
ception, and in which you demand that the
official or officials whose neglect of duty
permitted such conditions, and the operator
or operators who sent the dispatches with
out notice of change, should be known to
the world and promptly dismissed.
I'm answer thereto and with all respect
to the members and officials of your ex-
change, and with every desire to give to
them assurance of precaution against the
possibility of a repetition of the circum-
stances of last Friday, l beg to say:
First, that We cannot admit that any
criminality can be attributed to the action
the company. The explanation already sent
to you frankly and exactly states the cause
OF the confusion in the reports and that
cause must be free from any mputation OF
the charge of intentional neglect or wilful
misrepresentation in any form or degree.
Second, it is the purpose of the Western
Union Telegraph company and its officials
to insure to the New Orleans Cotton EX-
change and all other exchanges the most
efficient and reliable telegraphlc service
possible. Your long experience makes you
cogniZant of the intricacies of that service,
and will also confirm the fact that for
more than twenty years it has been per-
formed with exactness, reliability and
promptness.
Third, the instant dismissal of the men
or any of them who were on duty last Fri
day would not accomplish any good pur
pose, but might on the contrary, by the
necessary substitution of inexperienced
men, put the correctness of the service in
peril, to the equal disadvantage of the ex
change and the company In The absence,
therefore, of any possible suspicion of dis
honesty of motive or action, and because
of our wish and purpose to preserve the
high quality of the service that has always
been rendered, with the one accidental ex-
ception of last Friday, we must request
you and the members of your exchange to
believe that we have already applied such
discipline to the officials and operators in
the commercial news department will
best guarantee the improbability of any
interruption in any way to the eXcellence
of the service.
|. Fourth, this decision has been reached
after the most careful examination of all
concerned in the service of Friday and with
due consideration of the Importance of the
service of your exchange.
While approaching the conditions which
dictated your message, we cannot but be-
leve that your own reconsideration of the
question will lead you to coincide with u.s.
THOMAS T. ECKERT, President