Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-03-16
Company virtually transacted all of
the telegraph business .of the United
States. It was complete monopoly.

SothQouy SHSUAIy GauSdCIcO eu u
the telegraph business -.of the United
States. It was complete monopoly.
And yet within the past three
months, this immense country covering
stock company was swallowed bodily,
its identity destroyed exactly as it
had served many smaller telegraph
line, by the American Telephone Com
pany. Within the past few weeks this
same American Telephone Company
has obtained control of a majority of
the stock Of the Postal Telegraph Com
pany. the only real rival the Western
Union ever had. Think what this
means. Two immense telegraph mon
opolies put out of business, only as adj
juncts to a telephone company that
was not in existence on the day some
man was born that will cast his first
vote in 1910. What chance to quote
scripture. How are the mighty fall
len' Let him that thinketh he stand
eth take heed lest he fall
And while it is probably true that
eventually some telephone company
would have absorbed the telegraph
lines of this country, the immediate
cause of the failure of the Western
WdS tilc StiihS lIiVS nav d
few years ago. The inability of the
Western Union to transact the public's
business during that strike forced said
public to use the telephone. The West
ern Union with the strike ended was
never able to get back the business.
AS an illustration, ~ one commercial
office in a small town in Iowa, the re-
ceipts of the office for the month pre-
ceding the strike were s13S.60 After
the strike was over this comm ercial
office in this little town failed to re-
ceive $40 per month which of course
closed the office after a few months
effort. Newspapers that were paying
the Western Union hundreds of dollars
for specials, were compelled to use the
telephone during the strike. and have
since continued to use the telephone
because it's cheaper, quicker and more
accurate.
And all this short history, is only
the showing UP. of an object lesson
that all should study. The farmer
that does not realize changed condl-
tons will find others owning his lands
even if today he is monarch If all he
surveys. He has got to change his
methods of farming, or some one else
will cultivate 500 an acre land 10 make
it pay interest on such an investment.
The business man Of Iowa, the mer-
chant in our smaller towns, must face
the fact that the mail order houses,
rural free delivery, and soon a parcel
post system, have come to stay. The
Independent bly, railroad corporations
must realize very soon that the cleo
trio trolley line must be made feeder
to their business, or Will become seri-
Gus competitor. The country weekly
must see plainly what the rural free
delivery is doing for the small city
daily. And the small daily must also
understand what the same agency is
doing for the big dailies of the big
cities. The labor unions have prob
le INTO solve, and many think their
presest methods are suicidal The
preacher, the Lord help him, must
study changed conditions or he soon
will have still smaller congregations.
And last but not least, our legislatures
and congress, have at this very hour
great need Of great wisdom. Never
moro so. Theories rampant fifty years
ago, far from meet conditions of today.