Year: 1869

The Western Union Telegraph Company has


been fairly convicted in court of Justice OF


applying the powers it holds by the consent oi


the Legislature to the suppression for its own


benefit of private business carried on by the


use of the telegraph wires as public


instrument for the transmission of intelligence.


The suit Of II. l.. Davis against the


Western Union Telegraph Company, on


trial in Cincinnati, as reported in the


HERALD to-day, is a test case in an endeavor


to establish judicial denial of the right Of the
corporate association to exclude an indi-


vidual, or certain persons, from the use
Of the wires at pleasure, even when they are
willing to pay the established rate of charge for
messages and comply with the rules Of the
direction. Counsel for the plaintiff alleges
that the company has established within its
organization branch known as the ssCom-
mercial News Department." charged with the
collection and transmission from New York to
Cincinnati of the quotations of the value Of
stocks, the price of gold and rates of the
market for breadstuffs, and vice versa, from
Cincinnati to New York, and that this source
of profit to them was likely to be diminished
by the operations of Mr.. Davis, as
an individual, in similar line Of
trade or speculation, and that hence his
correspondence was delayed, his object
thwarted purposely, his messages sent by orr
cuitous routes and his business generally
damaged This course was maintained In an
endeavor to compel him either to merge his
transactions with those Of the Western Union
Company and bee ONE one of their salaried
servants or be ruined. In such position he
sues for damages. In the progress of the
suit the use, and it may be abuse is
proved, Of series Of "wheels within wheels"
in telegraphing which it would be the interest
both Of the public press and the people to see
broken up. The result has been verdict
against the telegraph company for three
thousand dollars and costs.


The points Of the case simply are that the
Cincinnati Stock Exchange established series
Of market reports by telegraph from New
York for the information of their members.
The business of gathering the information and
delivering it in Cincinnati was afterwards con-
ceded to Mr.. Davis, the merchants subscribing
to his reports. This business the Western
Union Telegraph Company wished to mono
police, and it offered to Mr.. Davis to take his
list of subscribers and allow him twelve
hundred dollars year for it, telling him that
if he did not accept they would break him up.
He did not accept, and then began a series Of
delays and annoyances which a powerful
organization can so easily apply. The reports
did not arrive with the promptitude and
that had before characterized them
they therefore lost their value to the sub
scribing merchants, and the business waI
broken up, as the Western Union had threati
ened it would be. 1t was proved that the com,
pany had even gone so far as to change III
manner of receiving kilograms from the general
public and to create new and circuitoul
route for their transmission In order TO effect
its purpose.


An important point in the consideration Of
this matter is the fact that the charter granted
to the Western Union Telegraph Company stipua
lates that they are to transmit the messages i'd
the order they are received and deliver them with
expedition. 1t was supposed that this stipui
lation would protect the interests of the public
against the dangers of plunder by the corpo.
ration; but it appears in evidence that as soou
as they found that money could be made By
holding the exclusive transmission of market
advices they determined to create this exclu.
sive power for their own benefit, and they did
create and exercise 1t. The system by which
this is done is so secret and so imperceptibi(
in its links that great difficulty arises in prov
ing the facts. Mr.. Davis, therefore, and the
court and jury in Cincinnati, who have per-
formed this task and given the righteous
decision, merit the appreciation of the public.


There is another fact in the connection wor-
thy of mention. Knowing that the case waa
on trial we have carefully watched the Clncin-
natl papers for report Of the facts as they
were developed, and to our surprise not one oi
them has had the boldness or the public
spirit to give them place in its columns.
We were, therefore, compelled to resort
to other measures to obtain intelligence oi
an event Of such widespread interest that Il
affects the calculations of every merchant 10
the land. This silence is explained by the
concluding paragraph of our report. The
newspapers of Cincinnati all feel themselves
to be completely in the power Of the Western
Union Telegraph Company, and did not, there
fore, dare to publish the facts in this case.
If the press feels itself powerless to resist the
tyranny of this powerful monopoly. what
chance can individual citizens have to protect
their interests?


There is but one remedy for this great evil,
which is spreading its rami6cations daily wider
and wider over the country. The postal tele.
graph system, which shall open its facilities
for the electric transmission Of intelligence to
all alike, and at rates bearing reasonable pro-
norton tn the cost of the service rather than