The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-08-24
Owns
Her Telegraph System.

| A special from London containing
PIN part the comment of the London
fTimes on the strike of the American
photographers, tells of the surprise
Iwith which the English people regard
Fthe American telegraph system I'M
fder which such difficulties as tne
present can occur. The dispatch goes
ION to say:
| The strike of the American teleg-
fraphers dominates public interest in
England, especially in the midlands,
jwhere it delays market reports. En-
tglishmen find it difficult to understand
why private corporations In America
are permitted to own such vital pub
i1ic utilities as the telegraph and tel
ephone systems, and to charge extor-
itionate rates.
Here the government owns the tele-
graph system and charges a moderate
rate 1t pays its operators good
wages and pensions them when SUPER
animated
In Great Britain there Is a fiat rate
S,of cent d word. no matter what dis
hance- This applies even on messages
S1rom Penzance TO Dundee, distance
rof HOO miles The newspapers pay
va cents hundred on press messages.
no matter what distance.
In an editorial the Times voices
the surprise with which England learns
sthe extremes to which the American
Telegraph companies will go 10 main
tain their MISUNDERSTANDING propen-
lsities. 1t declares that the strike will
!feach the moral that the public in
derests involved in the telegraph are
far too large for private companies
ITO deal with. II points out that in
AL Europe ,-e telegraph service is
eunder the direct control or the gov
-ernment- The service is REGARDED as
"a matter of state concern.
In England, where the telegraph |
has belonged to the state since 1870. |
the state goes SO far as to run the
service at a loss on the ground of its
public interest
II private commercial companies |
had owned the wires, continues the
Times, 1t is pretty certain that we |
would have NIT with the same I'M
pleasant experience that is now |
Throwing America into confusion. If
Us difficult TO see how these demon
strarjons are to be kept from recur-
ring unless American people deter
mine TO take the Telegraph into their
own hands and exercise the same conf
eroi over operators they exercise over
BE other classes of public servants.
That is exactly the point that The
Journal has always made regarding
che private ownership o. the teIe-
graph system. The transmission of
is governmental func-
ton, and is SO recognized in the postal
service.
But the postal service was estab-
Iished long before private monopoly
had sets its grip on the throat of
the American public. When the tel
egraph was invented and put into use,
The promoters Of the service saw big
profits in it as Il private enterprise.
and the government has consequently
never been permitted to even move
N the direction either OF public own.
srship or control {
If 1t is proper, however, for the 1
to transmit 1nseIligence
" mail, it ought to be equally proper
or it TO do the same thing by tele-
'raph. And as both are vital public J
necessities, it is only a matter of time :
Until both will have to be operated
Inder the same head.
The present str..,e should teach tho c
uhhc lesson, and when a similar e
rouble occurs again, as it is certain d
o do sooner or later under the pri.
ate monopoly system, provision
hould be made in advance for TAX S
as the system over into the owner
hip and control of the general gov a
where it belongs and where
Will ultimately go.