Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-03-13
WILSON NOT READY
TO GIVE DECISION
Government Ownership of
Telephone and Telegraph
Not Ills Policy

washington, March 12.0GOverl.
ment ownership Of telegraphs.s and
telephones is not yet to he regarded
as an administration measure. Pres.
ident Wilson has expressed no .opin.
ion for or against it. and Postmaster
General Burleson himself, through
whom the matter has been given
prominence, has simply suggested
that the tentative draft Of the bill
proposed in the case s.Ibe Submitted to
economists and authorities on public
utilities with view. to securing val
liable assistance in tdtGily Asafegudard-
ing the interests of the government
and Of the owners of the properties
affected" .'1'
This much appears from the report
Of the p~Ost0fice department. commit.
tee on the subject, which. has just
been turned out of the government
printing Office as senate document
399. Appendix GAY of the report is
"a historical resume of the agitation
Of the subject from the time of Prof.
Morse's invention of the telegraph
until the present" The closing part
Of this. section contains the state
ment that government ownership of
the electrical means Of transmitting
intelligence has had the Endorsement
of every postmaster general since the
Civil war;" with u score Of favorable
reports by committees in congress,
and more than 70 bills have been in
trOduCed In congress to accomplish
1t. :
Legislation by the States,
Appendix (B) is devoted to the leg.
islation of the several states relative
to, telegraph and telephone cc1hhan.
les: appendix (C) contains ID charts
illustrating important deductions
from comparative statistics for the
United States and leading foreign
countries, and Shows that the Unit
ed States has 4bte letters received
and more telephhata calls than any
other country, while in kilograms it
ranks ninth;" also that the Ameri.
can postage charged is nearly the
lowest and the telegraph charges
nearly the highest, while in telephone
eficiency-considering the Bell tele.
phones Only-it stands TENTH" An
elaborate comparison Of subscribers
annual telephone rates for 60. large
American cities is also shown. APP
pendix (D) contains postal, telephone
aud telegraph statistics for the lead
ing nations; appendix (E), miscel
laneous data relating to the three
services-postal, telephones and tele.
graph-especially as to the matter of
rates. The last three appendices Of,
G and H), covering IS pages, con-
stitute what Is claimed to be ""the
most complete statistical survey of
the telegraph, telephone and postal
services of the world ever published
in the English language" =:
Report a Complete Presentation.
First Assistant Postmaster Gener-
al Daniel C. Roper is chairman of
the departmental committee that con-
Quoted the inquiry and compiled the
report. He states that the senate
document contains all the material
necessary to impartial and original
investigation and SShslaeration of
TIE subject of government owner
ship of the electrical means Of com.
m%unication. Other members of the
committee are Chief Clerk Merritt O.
Chance and John C. K66ns., ssuperin,
tendent of the division Of salaries
and allowances of the postoffice de.
partment. ,~y,5t
The senate document also contains
a tentative draft of a bill for bring
ing about government ownership soi
the telephone and telegraph systems
and a collection Of supplementary
statistics furnished by the bureau Di
the census. ;as55ss
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