Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1909-02-13

SlOO,OOO,UUU Oh net prOnt III 20 years
by its high charges"
II will be pointed out by Senator La
Toilette In his argument on this sub.
ject that the enormous profit of the
telegraph business might well have
been used to wipe out the deficit in
the post office department and to i'm.
prove the postal and the telegraph ser.
vice. 1t is the belief of good authori.
ties that lower telegraph rates would
have resulted In greater use OF the
telegraph and would in the end have
brought greater profits.
This has been the experience of all
the principal nations Of the world.
For in almost all other countries the
telegraph systems are under govern
ment supervision or ownership. 1t is
often stated by interested parties that
these systems are run at a loss. The
contrary, however is the truth.
The result Of reducing rates I'm Prus.
STA, Belgium, Switzerland and Great
Britain was surprise even to the Off.
Gals of those countries. In France.
where the rate was reduced 80 per
cent, the result was an increase of GO
per cent In messages. In Prussia,
reduction OF one third In the rate was
followed by an Increase during the
first month OF 20 per cent in messages.
In Switzerland. where the rate was
cut so per cent. in the first three
months there was an increase of 80
per cent In messages In England
reduction of 80 per cent brought an
Increase Of 100 per cent in the mes.
sages in two years. In Belgium, n re.
duction of &c per cent increased the
inland messages 500 per cent in FIVE
years and reduced the expenses on
each message nearly SO. per cent.
Comparisons between the United
States and such countries as Belgium,
Prussia and Great Britain are usually
met with the statement that the great.
er distances in the United States
make telegraphic conditions SO differ.
ent that such comparisons ought not
to be made. When comparison Is
suggested, however. between Austria.
liza and the United States this oh.
| lection does not lie.
Australia has practically the same
| area as the United States. Its total
population, however. is about 1000.
900 as compared with $4,000, 900 here.
| The difficulty In cost OF building and
maintaining telegraphs in Australia Is
necessarily much greater than in the
| United States. Nevertheless, the
Australian telegraph systems is run
by the government without loss and
the rates are less than half and very
nearly one third of the rates in the
United States. This result is accom-.
plished by the economy wrought by
combination between the postal and
the telegraph organizations. Prac.
tically every post.oiiice is telegraph
Office.
| In Australia there are 6000 post of.
fees to meet the requirement of 4.00O,-
600 OF people-one for every G66 peo-
pie; and more than 5000 of these ARE
also telegraph stations-being about
one to about 1900 persons. In the
United States there are $1,000 tele.
graph stations for 8G,OO0,OOO people.
or n telegraph station for every 5000
rersonsN
In the United States there are ~.
900 post-offices, which is. roughly, a
postofice for every 1000 persons.
The Australian rates for telegraph.
Ing are these For town and subur.
ban messages - suburban meaning
practically u radius of 10 miles beyond
the city limits-the rate fixed Is ~
cents for message not exceeding 10
words, which includes the address and
signature. For messages to any point
within the same state from which they
are sent the charge Is fixed at Is
cents for the same number OF words.
For messages to any other state with
In the commonwealth the charge for
message of similar length is "a
cents. In all cases the charge for
extra words beyond the 16 Is n uni.
form rate of two cents a word. De.
livery Is made within radius of one
mile from the receiving Office and for
this there is no charge.