Year: 1873




and unscrupulous character Of wealthy mo-
nopolies and the readiness with which they
sacrifice the public interests to their own
greed of power and gain. Many of our con-
temporaries have opposed the government
system, under the apprehension that the tele-
graph would become a partisan instrument in
the hands of political administration. But
the impudence and avarice of the
corporations will, before long, convince all
disinterested minds of the absolute necessity
of placing this important interest under the
same control as the Post Office In the impo-
sition now exposed by General Schenck, as
we'll as in the recent disposition evinced by the
Anglo-American Company to take advantage
of the demands of the Vienna Exposition to
extort double rates for messages, we can see
how insecure are the public interests in the
hands of the monopolists. At the very mo-
ment when the people most need to use the tele-
graphic wires freely the companies are the most
likely to practise extortions and impositions.
The Vienna affair was certain to increase the
business of the cable, and the corporation was
Immediately seized with the desire to meet the
increased demand by advanced charges. The
completion of the cable to Europe gave large
additional business to the Western Union land
lines, not contemplated when the latter
were constructed, and Immediately the
Gable and Western Union companies combine
to make this additional business pay an un-
Just and excessive tariff Ordinarily, the
larger the trade the lower the prices; but with
telegraph monopolies the rule is reversed.
The greater the public demand for the tele-
graph, and the more urgent the public neces-
sity for its use, tho higher are the rates
exacted by the greedy corporations that hold
the wires under their control.


The outrageous character of these over
charges on cable messages can be readily un-
derstood by very slight examination of the
subject. II q merchant in New York desires
to send q message Of ten words, exclusive Of
address and signature, he takes it to the
Western Union Office and pays thirty cents
for its transmission. If the same message
should be sent from London to Philadelphia,
and should contain seven words in the address
and signature, it would be charged nearly
one dollar and twenty cents for its
transmission from New York to Phila-
delphia in addition to the full cable
tariff from London to New York. In what
ever proportions this plunder may be divided
there is a clear extortion of ninety cents more
than the legal and regular charge, to be shared
between the two corporations, and this neither
Mr.. Orton nor the manager of the Anglo
American Company pretends to deny 1t is
evident that against such gross imposition and
greed there is but one certain protection.
The cables between the two continents should
be taken by the two governments and worked
by them on fair and equitable treaty stipula-
tons, and our own government should assume
control of all the lines in the United States
under the authority given by Congress-. We
should then have complete and harmonious
government system in existence, working as
efficiently and rs benefcially as the Post Office
and doing the peoples business at the lowest
possible rates It is to be hoped that General
Schencks persevering exposure of this newly
developed outrage of the private monopolists
will arouse public attention in Europe as well
as in the United States to the importance of
the subject, and will induce the British and
American governments to take some speedy
and effective steps towards the establishment
of On international cable system in union with
government postal telegraphs in both coun-
tries.