The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-09-02
THE TELEGRAPH
STRIKE AND NEWS
The Big Newspapers With Their
Leased Wires Are Not
Affected.
(Man Special to the Advertiser

1
y The strike of telegraphers, inaugural
u ed a week ago, has not materially at
fected Washington; although it is tn
greatest telegraphic news center in tn
country. The government now does al
enormous Geographic business, whici
costs hundreds of thousands of dollars
annually. But government business il
almost always given the right of way
over telegraph lines and there has beer
no disposition on the part of the
strikers to prevent the sending of gov
eminent messages, except in so far as
their refusal to work has that effect.
. In all its departments the govern
ment maintains telegraph offices. II
pays its own operators who are on the
rolls at stated salary, considerably
more than either the Western Union or
the Postal pays its employees. In the
Postoffice Department, fo1 instance,
there is so much telegraphic business
that both of the companies keep a
wire "set up'' all the time from there
TO New York, with arrangements for
quick wire service to other points.
These departmental offices are very
like those. that are maintained in the
White House offices, although not on
the departments have much more bust
ness to put on the wires than does
| the White House.
The War Department now has one
of the largest annual telegraphic bills
of any of the departments, because of
its extensive cable business to the
Philippines and TO the Isthmus of Pa
mama. Since the Intervention in Cuba,
it is doing quite a cable business with
Havana. The Government has special
rate on all domestic and cable business
but the total aggregate cost is very
large. The State Department does a
big cable business in communicating
with ambassadors, ministers and con-
suls the world over and has compare
lively small bill for telegraphing with
in the boundaries OF the United States.
The navy has a large telegraphic and
cable bill. Numerous messages have
to be transported to different quarters
of the world for the ships on various
stations and likewise to officers at navy
yards on both coasts.
Thousands of government messages |
pass almost daily on almost as many
kinds of business. There is now an |
army of special agents in the field for
the various departments. Frequently |
instructions 60 to them by telegraph.
There are inspectors for the Postotfice
Department, special agents for the Gen
eral Land Office, the Indian Office and
the Pension Bureau, al under the In
terror Department, Treasury inspectors
of several designations, special agents
of the Department of Justice and of
the Department of Commerce and La
Dor and so on through a long list.
If the strike had come at the height
Of the busy Washington news season
it would have seriously crippled about
200 newspaper workers stationed here
for fully 100 leading newspapers of
the country. Some of this business,
to hundreds of thousands of
words daily, is on toll basis, ranging !
from small fraction of cent to as !
much as two cents word, according !,
20 the distance from Washington, Some
Of it goes over wires that. the news ,
papers lease at compensation of about
30 per mile per year for night service.
The dispatch of news ON the toll ,
BASIS has been tied up considerably by
he strike. AS the typos, who operate .
he typesetting machines, have strong
lnlon, the newspapers have been I'M
Wiling to "rat" their offices by re-
Giving messages from non-union tele-
'raph offices sent by non-union oper- {
tors. The danger of that was re- !
lized at the very start and efforts
made to avoid it.
But newspapers that had leased wires :
Washington were quick to agree to {
ay the operators the wage scale de-
handed and therefore thus far the {
eased wires have been open every
light and the special news service has E
OF been particularly crippled. But at c
ms time of year Washington is not c
lueh of a news center and the mil I
ons OF newspaper readers are paying +
title attention to the Washington date
ne. As center for commercial tele- I
raphic business Washington is of COM I
aratlveiy small Importance, although =
$ corps of press operators is the G
'rgest and the most expert in the G