The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-03-02

Of this speech-we will take our medi-
cine. - d..
TWELVE REASONS ~... ...
Why the Post Office Should One rate
the TELEGRAPH ana Telephones.
Among the many reasons why the
telegraph and telephones. should he
owned and operated exclusively by the
postoffice there are no less than twelve
Of such weight that any one of then,
should he sufficient to cause the adop-
ton Of that measure by congress.
j. The constitution requires it. That
instrument Cart. l.. sec. 81 places the
establishment Of postal facilities. ex-
clusively in the government. Under
that provision, originally, the mail was
carried on horseback, then by stage
| coach, then with the advent of steam
it was carried by railroad and steam
boat. When messages began to be sent
by electricity the government QS44-47)
therefore logically adopted and operat-
ed the telegraph. When in a fit Of
economy it was turned over to private
corporations, Henry Clay, the. great
Wing leader, and, Cave Johnson, tie
Democratic postmaster general, earn
estly opposed the unconstitutional az
t1on.* Leading men in all parties since.
including five postmaster generals, have
endeavored to restore the electric mail
| to the pOstOffice, but the telegraph lob
| by has been too powerful in congress
| to permit a vote upon the question, al
| though sixteen out of eighteen COM
| mlttees to whom bills for that purpose
have ben referred have reported. in
| favor Of government ownership. One
| report was non-commital, and only one
| was adverse.
2. II the government owned the cleo
trio mail, the telegraph or a telephone
would be established at each of the
$4,000. post offices, and, indeed: their
number. would be greatly increased.
whereas now the telegraph only goes
to q 900 selected points, for the private
companies, being operated purely fer
profit, naturally seek only such points
as pay well, while the object of the
government would be-. to- serve the
greater number of people,, the whole
people, II possible, and at bare COST
no profit being desired The high rates
and restricted number OF offices now
ma ke 4 this great discovery Of no bene1:
fit to the great mass of the people.
8. The government desiring only TO.
! earn expenses, can give a uniform low
rate of. cents for ten words between
any two points in the union. This is
| the opinion Of experts.
4. The government could run it more
cheaply. There would be no enormous
salaries to the higher officials, nor
would great sums be paid out, as now,
| to maintain lobby at Washington and
at each state capital, and to retain edi-
| tors and lawyers to influence public
opinion: Then; the government could
save the rent now paid by the COM
! panies, as 1t could use for the telegraph
and telephones the same building it
now owns or rents for postoffice pur-
poses at each point: y:
S. The government, while not paying,
as the private companies do, enormous
sums (fronn 100000 DOWN as salaries
to the higher officials would on the
| other hand not follow their example in;
! giving starvation wages to the vast
body Of employees who do the real work.
The object OF the government now be-
| Ing, to earn big salaries and dividends
on an eight-fold watered stock, it could
and Would pay a living wage to the
operators. Besides the increased bust
ness would largely increase the pay of
| postmasters at country postoffices. u,
| 6. The operators would have. some
hxity Of tenure, being postmasters,
and hence not liable to be turned out
for voting their choice. In the last
campaign we know that heavy press
ure was brought to bear upon the en-
ployes Of corporations, but public sen
timent would not have permitted the
postofffce officials to apply the same
pressure to postmasters. ..:
| Z. Messages would be, like the mails,
more secret. Now the business of every
man is at the mercy Of the heads Of
wise subject to the control OF public
opinion I 5.55 &s.S T. ,a[ t.ss
8. 1t would emancipate the press,
which is now in the power of the pri-
vate companies and must take such
news as they send, and dare not be
free in discussing certain questions.
! 9. The cheap rates would enable every
weekly paper to take Geographic dis
patches. This would benefit printers
and the public by starting new papers
and extending the B circulation OF old
ones. In England, when the govern
ment took over the telegraph and ex-s
tended cheap rates. the number OF press
dispatches instantly increased thirty;