Arizona republican., 1902-02-26
PHoENIx, ARIZONA, FEB. 26, 1902

One of President Roosevelts ambi- tiors, it is understood, is to signalize
 his administration by TTNCI.E SAM having the govern AND THE ment take over the TELEGRAPH. telegraph lines of the
 country. And. since the telegraph companies appear to be favorabIy disposed toward the proposi- ton. it is possible that federal owner ship of telegraphs will be an accom- plished fact within few years. In pointing out recently some of the ad- vantages which would accrue to the public from national ownership and control. Mir. Albert E. Chandler, presi- dent of the board Of directors of the Postal Telegraph company, said:
 Our own government, should 1t take the telegraph lines, would be at a con- sidera bla advantage over private cor porations. It would be no great matter for the government to establish q greater uniformity of rates, and to fix tolls on a basis so low as to be impos- sibIe of attainment by private cor pors tions. The idea of 2 fiat rate. re- gardless of distance and other condi- tions, such as now prevails on letter postage, 1t would probably never be able to carry out; but it is quite con ceivable that the government could re- duce the classifications to, say, four or five, on which it might perhaps fix minimum rate of 15 cents and a maxi mum rate Of % cents for ten words. though we have no data by which any definite figures can be laid down.
 The government could economize in many ways that are not open to pri- Vate corpora tion. It could wipe out the item of taxation which, in many places. is now most burdensome and unreason- able. T. could have the right-of-way everywhere at little or no cost, whereas the private corpora ton must pay dearly for such rights. The government could use the postofficss for telegraph sta tions, thus avoiding large expenditures for rental. Having no competition, il could naturally reduce the number Of offices without bringing any hardship on the people.
 As an example Of what could be done by the government in this direction I may mention the island of Manhattan for illustration. There the Postal Tele- graph company maintains a hundred offices; the Western Union probably maintains twice as many. That means that rent must be paid for 300 offices, that 300 office managers must be en- gagged and many other employed main tained. The same amount of business could be easily done in much smaller number of offices without cccasioning inconvenience to the public. The gov ernment would have to earn no divi- dend on the invested capital if the busi- ness should be carried on as the post office business is. and claims for dam ages would proba bly, be treated as they are by the telegraph administra ton in EurOpe-that is. they would not be recognized, and no responsibility in money would be assumed.
 Under government control telegraph business would probably be increased, and so would the demand for experts in the business. EConomizing as it could. the government would almost of neces- sity reduce the present tolls and thus stimulate an increased use of telegraph facilities. People would learn to use the telegraph wires almost as freely as they use the mails now.