The National tribune., 1907-08-22
TELEdRAPHERS' STRIKE.
A Matter Of Deep Consequence 10 the
country-The Governments Heavy Tel.
egraph Bills - Sympathy With the
Strikers.

The strike of telegraphers. inaugural
| ed a week ago. has not materially al
fected Washington, altho it is the great
est telegraphic news center in the coun-
! try. The Government now does an
enormous telegraphic business, which
| costs hundreds of thousands of dollars
annually. But Government business is
almost always given the right of way
over telegraph lines, and there has been
no disposition on the part of the strik-
ers to prevent the sending of Govern
ment messages, except in so far as their
refusal to work has that effect.
Big Government Business.
In all its Departments the Govern
ment maintains telegraph offices. 1t pays
its own operators, who are on the rolls
at a stated salary, considerably more
than either the Western Union or the
Postal pays its employees. In the Post
Office Department, for 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. altho not on such
an elaborate scale Yet some of the
Departments have much more business
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 Philip
pines and to the Isthmus of Panama.
Since the Intervention i'll Cuba it is do
ing quite a cable business with Havana.
The Government has special rate on
all domestic and cable business. but the
total cost in the aggregate is enormous.
ho I1ay Vt tron mt
large cable business In communicating
with ambassadors, Ministers and Con-
suls the world over and has a com
parativcly small bill for telegraphing
within the boundaries of the United
States.
The Navy has large telegraphic and
cable bill. Numerous messages have to
be transported 10 different quarters of
the world for the ships on various sta
tions and likewise to officers al 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 go to them by telegraph.
There are Inspectors for the Post Office
Department, Special Agents for the
General Land Office, the Indian Office
and the Pension Bureau. all under the
Interior Department. Treasury Inspec-
tors of several designations, Special
Agents of the Department of Justice
and of the Department Of Commerce
and Labor. and so on thru a long list.
If the strike had come at the hight
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, amount
ing to hundreds of thousands of words
daily. is on n toll basis. ranging from 4
small fraction of a cent to as much as
two cents word, according to the dis
tance from Washington. Some of it
goes over wires that the newspapers
lease at compensation of about $40
per mile per year for night service.
The dispatch of news on the toll basis
has been tied up considerably by the
strike. AS the typos who operate the
typcsetting machines have a strong
union. the newspapers have been un-
willing to rat" their offices by receiving
messages from non-union telegraph Of
fees sent by non-uniOn operators. The
danger of that was realized at the very
start and efforts made TO avoid it.
The Newspapers Come to Terms.
But newspapers that had leased wires
to Washington were quick TO agree to
pay the operators the wage scale de-
manded. and therefore thus far the
leased wires have been open every night
and the special news service has not
been particularly crippled But at this
time of year Washington is not much
of a news center. and the millions of
newspaper readers are paying little at
tention to the Washington date line
AS center for commercial telegraphic
business Washington is of comparative
ly small Importance, altho its corps of
press operators is the largest and the
most expert in the world
AS far as Washington Is concerned
there Is much sympathy with the Strik-
ers They are an exceptionally faithful
class of men. Very important conf
Dental business in great volume passes
under their eyes. Some of the Govern
ment business is exceptionally impor-
tant, and yet hundreds of these Wash
ington operators keep the information
without a leak" To be sure, impor-
tant business of state is sent in cipher
but that is true of only a small portion
of it-chiefy business of international
import. The great business Departments
rarely resort to the use of a code. II
requires time to translate messages into
code and time to interpret the code
when the message is received.
Sympathy with the Strikers.
The proportion of highly trained op-
orators at the Capital City is especially
large. because of the necessity for han
ding business rapidly and accurately.
Years of training are Indispensable to
make a good press operator. There is
knack in reading the newspaper copy,
altho much of it nowadays is put on the
wire in typewriter foim. Much also
depends upon the intelligent sending
News dispatches are frequently written
in rush. without careful editing. The
operator is supposed to follow copy"
but as a matter of fact many of the
press operators eliminate the inaccu-
racies that are glaring.
green operator can make a lot of
trouble. Newspaper offices all over the
country are now grumbling because of
the bad shape in which messages are
received and delivered. Sporting tables
are jumbled. Sentences are twisted
Extra work is entailed for the editors.
who read the kilograms and put them
In shape for the typesetting machines
Most of the experienced operators are
out on a strike. and there are none too
many of them to supply the demand in
normal times.
Wires for newspaper messages are
worked long distances-from Washing
ton to Chicago, to Boston. or to Atlanta
without relays. The greatest care is in
diSpensable to keep these wires in the
pest OF condition, SO that the signals
VIII read clearly and so that the Oper-
ator at the receiving end of the line will
Lot fnY. md L..