The sun., 1918-07-30

the expense of the Treasury Depart.
ment.
Last, OF course. and most impor,sr,
when the Western Union or tho Amer.
lean Telephone and Telegraph or N.
Postal Company renders report :,
its stockholders, the largest stockho,d.
ers Of the company, at least give thu
matter careful consideration. becauss
It means money out OF their pork.,
II the affairs Of the company are m,
we'll regulated. No one. ventura :,
say, except for political reasons eve,
gives any consideration TO whethe,
or not the Post Office Department. a,
1t is now run. Is carefully and eco.
nomically conducted.
With this fact staring us in tho fac.
how can We expect efficiency O,
economy in the administration o, ths
telephone and telegraph by the Pos,
ONCE Department, which, under IN.
plans Of David J. Lewis OF Maryland
who has been advocating this thing
for years, are to be so merged in,o
the post office affairs that It will ba
absolutely impossible ever to civ,
them back without a complete revolu.
ton in the management of the affair,
of not only the telephone and tele.
graph companies. but the mail SER
vice proper as well?
This may sound somewhat hittr
but / cannot but feel that the taking
over by the Government OF the tele.
phone and telegraph services the one
class of public utilities OF national
importance which has not wofuy
failed in maintaining pre-war time
service (this. be 1t noted, with no in.
crease in rates) must have been based
on a positively wicked misrepresenta.
ton TO the President.
Letters now take two and thre.
days to travel a distance which they
formerly did in one. Every one knows
about conditions existing on the steam
railroads.
We are all having the experiences
with the express companics reported
by Mr.. Hutchinson in his letter printed
on your editorial page. In fact, wa
were informed that a new rule had
been adopted that no express ship.
ments will! be traced until two weeks
after date OF shipment has elapsed
but 1t now appears that this IL not
absolutely definite. Waybills no longer
go separately from the shipment ana
therefore the receiving Office has no
knowledge Of what express Is 10 be on
the way TO 1t, and notwithstanding the
consolidation OF the help OF all three
companies there seems to be a greater
congestion than there ever was before
Growing II all. read in master
General Burleson' statement announc.
ing the taking over OF the telephore
and telegraph that it was necessary IN
order that the unused telephone f1,il..
ties might be used for telegraph tr.
poses, and vice versa. 1t apparently
must be assumed. and the assump or
is proba bly, correct, that the memory
of the public generally is so short tha'
they will have forgotten that only
within the last four years a conpre.
hensive plan for this same common
use OF the facilities OF the Western
Union Telegraph and the American
Telephone and Telegraph COMPANY
had acquired a controlling interest In
the capital stock OF the former After
tremendous economies. with much
greater efficiency, had begun to demon.
strate themselves the Attorney Gen.
eral of the United States, now Justice
McReynolds, instituted proceeding
under the Sherman antitrust law
which resulted in scrapping the whole
plan and restoring the absolutely sepa.
rate, distinct and independent opera
ton previously existing.
Now the plans of Mr.. Vail are resur-
rected and the necessity Of carrying
them out is given as the reason VIII
the Government must take over these
companies. In short, the Govcrnmer,
first made It impossible for Others II
do II. and then, having done that
points out the consequences Of its o~r
act as the cause of an emergency form
ing the basis for It's present action.
Under these circumstances the great
concern which l feel because the one
method of communication which re
mains to the average business man +
about to be submitted TO the terr!f.'
devitalizing influence of Government
control and operation seems to be en-.
t!rely justified. II. G. HoPS0N
NEW YORK, July %.