The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-17
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF
 TELEGRAPfiS AND TELEPHONES
NE YEAR AFTER MORSE had opened

iNN NE YEAH AFTER MORSE had opened l0 communication between Washington and Baltimore, over his electro magnetic teIe- graph, which was May 24, 1874, Gave Johnson, syvho was postmaster general saw the great inl- portance of the invention and advocated gov ernnent telegraph lines as adjunct to the ipost office. He said:
 .sIn the hands of individuals or associa- lions the telegraph may become the most po- tent instrument the world ever knew to affect sudden and large speculations to rob the many Of their just advantages and concentrate them upon the few. The use Of an instrllIn ent so powerful for good or evil cannot with safety be left in the hands of private individuals. .
 From this time on, succeeding postmaster generals advocated government ownership of telegraphs, until the present, when Postmaster General Burleson pleads for national owner ship of both telegraphs and telephones
 In dS46 Postmaster General Johnson re- newed his recommendation. There the matter rested until 1867, when Postmaster General Randall recomme nded investigation into the feasibility of government ownership, remark ing that the British government had but recent ly made the telegraph an adjunct of the post office.
 In 1869 and again in 1870 Postmaster Gen eral GressveH commenting upon the British plan said
 These facts, all tending with overwh elm ing force in one direction, demonstrate con- Iclusively the utility of the postal telegraph for both government and the people ~ In Is Il E General Grant, who had direct knowledge of the evils of private ownership of lteIegraphs while the country was at war, wrote in his annual message to Congress:
 Especially do recommend favorable con- sideration of the plan for uniting the telegraph ie system of the United States with the postal system. It is believed that by such course the cost Of teIegraphing could be much reduced. and the service as well, if not better. rendered..
 "It would secure the further advantage of extending the telegraph through portions of the struct it.
 Commerce, trade, and, above all, the effort 10 bring a people widely separated into com munity of interest, are always benefited by Irapid ter-conmunication.''
 Further recomm endations for government ownership were made by MT. GresweH in 1872 and 1873; by Postmaster General Maynard in 1880, by Postmaster General Howe in 1881 by Posfmaster General Gresham in 1888; by Post master General Wananalxe four times, from 1890 to I892s by Postmaster General Bissell in 1898; by Postmaster General Hitchcock in 1912. and, finally, by Postmaster General Burleson in i9i3 who, in his letter to the senate, has transmitted the most comprehensive study of the postal and telephone systems of the world, lever compiled, which contains overwhelming proof of the advantages of national ownership of all means of electric communication
 By perusal of these facts any man of or dinary common sense may ascertain for him self that Americans have scanty telegraph com munication, that they are heavily ovefcharged for every message they send, and that the cost of long distance telephone communications re- stricts the use Of the telephone within very narrow limits.