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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1891)
10 THE OMAHA DAILY B.EE : SUNDAY , DECEMBER 20. 1801-SIXTJflEN PAGES. SHOULD THE S FATE CON HIOL ? An Interesting DiBCtmion Upon tin O.vern- m n'al Ownership of tha Telegraph , IDEAS OF EMINENT ELECTRICIANS , M hit HIP Kxpwionts nml Antuuonlnfj or tlie Question Snlil nt tli llcocnt MeetliiK nl' tlio New Vorlc IMcotriunl < . 'lul > . The mldrc-u delivered by Mr. R. Ko - wntor on "I'ostnl Telegraphs of Kuropo , " before - fore tlio Now York Eluctrio club , was fol lowed by n dtscjmlon of povernraont lolo- Kraphs , iinrtlclpntod In by several men of prent , proininouco In the olcotrlcal Hold , The first publication of thU discussion np- pcarod In the Now Yorlt Kloctrlcnl Hevlow of December 12 ns written from the verbatim notes of the club stenographer. This discus- slon throws fullv na much light on the postal telegraph question as did the address , and will bo found vnry instructive by all parties who may bo Interested In the subject. Fol lowing Is the debate. Mr. Kosowntcr snld ! Uoforo concluding , I want to say that In advocating the transformation of our system of telegraph to the postal system I Imvo no porsonul interest whatever beyond that of a citizen of the United States. I have no grievance against any telegraph oillcl.il. I am on the very best of terms with all too Western Union oHlchih so far as I know , and with the Postal telegraph ollloials , so far as I know. I have always been on good terms with them. The paper , of which I own the router part Is a member of the Associated I'ross , Wo have leased wires and wo pay the WoHorn Union , probably , from $15,000 to $20,000 a year for special sorvlco ; so Unit , I huvo no grlovanco what ever , personal or political. I have nothing to redress. But for moro Ulan twonty-llvo years I have been convinced tlmt sooner or later the government , as a matter of mili tary necessity , and as a matter of commer cial necessity , and In the Interest of the social Intercourse of the common people of the United States , must own the telegraph and operate it ; and this conclusion all disinterested par ties must reach when they oxomlno impar tially the figures and the records that are presented by the reports of ttio Western Union Tolngr.ipli company and ether com panies of tills country , and the reports that have been mailo abroad by the different gov. ornmontal postal telegraph ofllclals. There Is no doubt whotnvor that our wiie system is enormously overloaded. Wo have moro wires than wo need and wo have thorn In the wrong p.aco , and wo do not servo one-half the people with tulographtc facilities that ought to have thorn and nt a lower price than they now are ; and wo cannot lower the prices so long as the present system prevails. Competition Is always followed by combin ations end one company springs up and declare - clare , llko all the newspapers tlmt spring up , that they are hero to stay , but in a short time they are swallowed by the great American anaconda. I do not blnmo tbo anaconda for swallowing thorn. Ihoy are not very desirable morsels , As n matter of fact , they have congested the anaconda very badly. ( Laughter. ) Uut it Is ono of those laws of necessity. Now , how much longer Is this to continue ? The pres ent telegraphic system of this country is stocked for about § 100OOtOJO , a llttlo moro than that. Upon that the pooplc1 of the United Statestho patrons of these telegraphs , are paying , Independent of the excessive cost of maintaining and operating , $13,000,000 or moro as dividends. Now , 50,000,000 on the British basis , or upon the basis that wo can establish , for our credit is Just as good as that of Great Britain , represents a capital ization of $ . ' 00,000,000 , and ivo could bettor afford today to pay $300,000,000 for the Amor- Icon telegraph systems , and wipe them out of existence and place them under the control of the government , than wo can to continue this system and keep on , llko a snow ball , rolling and rolling and enlarging , and making it utterly impossible In the future to deal with the problem that must sooner or later meet us again I speak of the problem of handling tologranh dispatches during time of war. It Is all well in time of peace. Hut these who have been where I was uurlng the rebellion realize , perhaps as fully ns anyone can , that a government that docs not control the arteries of communication nr.d the system which is equivalent to the nervous system of the body , cannot possibly sustain itself in time of war without serious disaster and without an enormous increase of expense nml a prolongation of the war costing millions of dollars and many'hundreds atul thou sands of lives. I have said It and I can repeat It tonight , that I am fully convinced , If the government of the United Statas had owned the wires at the outbrents of the rebellion In 1S01 , the war would not huvo lasted more than two years. But I cannot digress In this way now , and I will leave It to other gentlemen , for I would llko to have this matter thoroughly discussed. There are two sides to It , as has boon said before , and 1 would be pleased to hour from these who differ with mo on this question. I thank you very much for your kind atten tion. ( Applause ) . The chairman ( Mr. Erustus Wlnmn ) Inin sure the club Is very much Indebted to Mr. Kosowntcr for the very admirable address that ho has presented , and I am delighted to lee tonight so many practical telegraphers and electrical men In the room talk on this Hiujoet. It does not become mo , as the wo- Ullng olllcor , to criticize In any decree the very excellent address that has been pro- tented , especially ns being In the position of i director of the great American anaconda ho has spoken Of and as president of ono of the llttlo annexes away olT In the northwestern land. But I cannot take my sent wll houtox- presslng a sense of surprise and disappoint ment that the arguments In favor of a gov ernment telegraph are so few and so Imrna- turo In the mind of the gentleman who has road the address. It scorns tlmt the pnou- nutlo system of London is the strongest claim for government telegraphy , I cannot Imagine that wo cannot have the pnoumutlo lystom 1 Now Yortt , Bouon and I'hlladelphia , und oven Omaha , as complete as they huvo > t In London , If wo wont to , und why It Is uocos- lory that wo nhould have a government con trol for that Is beyond my comprehension. Vor the present moment the single argument In favor of the postal 'telegraph system of n toveriimeutal character is the pneumatic sys tem In London. There are many other points lu the address , however , that it Is not now necessary to go into. But there lj just ono t would llko to mention , and that is the revela tion again of the fact that tlio government were fools enough to refuse for 100,000 tuo itupondous means ot Instantaneous com munication that now throbs through UiU country. If they wore fools enough nt that day to refuse that great gitt for that small turn , what sense has the Koverumont since not that tt will not bu as foolish again under ilmllur circumstances ) [ Applause. ! 1 am rory much disappointed , I am almost lorry that my friend has given us so much Information und BO llttlo argument. I confess 1 da not sco one single thing on ivhlch a thread of an argument can rest In favor of government telegraphy , incept It bo that tuo business of the newspapers - papers Is all sent to the intelligence ofllco lu London. Now , at ttio tlmo ot an election , ivnon Boss 1'latt is on one side of the road Mid Boss Croker-on the other , and nil the In formation for the newspapers Is sent to the Intelligence oflluo , I should bo very sorry to bo * director in the \Vwtorn Union under lucu circumstances , because it would scorn to mo ifvo did not have the informa tion to suit Hess Platt ho would dismiss us all the next morning , or If It did not suit Mr. Croker ho would dUmlss us the next morning. The conditions that prevail on the other side art ) o entirely dif ferent. The principles of self-government are so developed hero that every umn Is a ovorelgn. himself and there is no relation at all at to the transmission of Information , and upeclully as to the press reports between what would occur In Kng'.nml ' or fJormatiy or Austria , and what would occur In Now Yoric. I do not BOO , in nil the information our friend has given us about the lowest r.Ucs and splondld service thor render , what protection they would have If the doc- trlnu which underlies our government , nnmclr , to the victor belongs the spoils , pre vails In telegraphy as It does In postofllcos and every other part of our government sys tem. tt has always been a matter of surprise tome mo that these who say that tba government should go Into any business should want to liuvo It go Into electricity. It seems to mo tt would bo bolter to go Into oil. If the gov ernment wants to do the people good and exercise - erciso paternalism over them , oil would bo very much more adapted to Its purpose. The objection against the present system of tele- gruptiy Is that It Is n monopoly. It is not nearly the monopoly that oil Is. There is a Brent , deal more monopoly today In the Standard Oil company than there 'is In the Western Union company. There is only one oil company and thcro nro forty telegraph companies. A man can go to Wall street and buy a slmro at about SO or & ) In tlio Western Union company. To snvo his soul ho can not buy a share in tbo Standard Oil company. Tt Is a fact that not il per cent of the population of the United States use the telegraph ; while I belluvo 97 par cent use oil. In Knglnnd , it is said , that nearly every post oillco has a telegraph , and If In America every post ofllco worn to have n tele graph , the deficiency , with our 00,000 post- olllcos , would bo so great that the entire surplus , with which we nro so much bur dened Just now , notwithstanding tlio great pension systemwould bocntirely obliterated. I marvel what would have become of this country If the govornmc.it had acquired tlio telegraph. Compare it with the navy , until the last throe years , until Mr. Whitney , u good democrat , ot hold of it , who was suc ceeded by Mr. Tracy , a good republican. What has boon the cxpcndltmo on the navy slnco Mr. Mono was refused his § 100,0001 Millions and millions ; and yet Wo did not have n C"uft on which wo could place the slightest reliance. Look at the War depict- mout , the most complete that wo have and the least Influenced by political considera tion. Go to Staten Island and to Governor's ' Island and look at the miserable system of dolonso that there Is. See a great War de partment and a great Navy department spending millions and millions of dollnra and yet remaining In a most Inolll- clont condition. I marvel what would have happened to this country If the means of instantaneous com munication over Its broad expanse were in the hands of Mr. Wanamakor , who is a good man for the bargain counter , I am sure , but who might not succeed bovond that. I mar vel at the fact that such a thorough going man as my good friend Hosewator should for a moment .stand up and argua In favor of n government telegraph. J fool sorry , in a cer tain sense , that JDV friend has not given a bettor argument. Still , at tbo sumo time , I feel sure that mv good friend Mr. Footo , whom I will call upon , will glvo us something on the ether side. Mr. Allen IT. Footo-I think that Mr. Hoso- watornnd Mr. Wlmau have both lost sight of the fact that whoever operates the telegraph , whether It Is done uiidur the ownership of a corporation or unuor governmental owner ship , must employ pcoplo to do the work. These people. In this country , are bound to bo politicians. Wo have politics on both sides oporatini ; the telegraph and there bus navar been nnv complaint from cither political party that they were badly treated under thu present sjstcm ; but how thov would got along under government own ership I do not know. Mr. Kosowater closed nis p.ipor with the statement that It was nec essary for the safety of this country that the government should own the telegraph. Wo have supposed that It was nccissary for the safety of this country that thn government should own Its anny. When the civil war broke out in 1801 , the men who were loyal handled the telegraph keys loyally. The men who wore disloyal did the other thing. Wo had in our government men who wo educated at West Point , and ono of them became pres ident of the southern confederacy. The gov ernment owned West Point , und owns Ityot. If government ownership were a security acainst disloyalty thcro should have linen no disloyal men In the southern army who were educated at West Point. Will Mr. Hosowater say to this audience or to his association of Old Tlmo Telegraphers or to the Military Telegrapher's association , that the sorvlco was not safe in tholr hands dur ing the warl Was not that service done well and loyally ! Mr. Hosowntor paid a com pliment to the operators la America by say ing that ono operator in America would do about twice the work that an operator in England would do two to ono. My obser vation of the way clerks work In the city of Washington Is , that the clerks in your of fices ! n your private business do twice the work that the c-lorks in Washington do two to one. I do not sea in that any reason why the government should own the telegraph ( Ap'plauso. ) I understood Mr. Uosowater to say that the countries in Europe where the government owns the telegraph nro ns quick to taltc up inventions and utilize them as they nro In this country. I understood him to say , also , that in three out of four coun tries that ho visited , messages were rocotvod by the recording Morse instrument ; that the only exception was England , whore they worked by sound. I may have misunder stood , but that Is the way I understood htm. I nm somewhat disappointed that Air. Uosc- water told us so much about the detail the mechanism of the telegraph and so llttlo of the argument of government own ership. I am not clear now , from what ho has stated , whether he mean" to advocate gov ernment ownership or government control. There is quito a broad difforeaco botwnui the two. Not knowing what Mr. Kosowator waste to say this nvonlng , 1 took a reported Inter view with him , which appears lu thu Elec trical Review. Wo are under the impression that a postal telegraph system means an olllco at each postnfllce. That is the impression given out. Wo find that is not the case in England , ac cording to the best statistics I can got. In England , in 18119 , there were 17,829 postonlces and 7,021 telegraph olllces , being ono tele graph olllco for every two and ana-half postofllcos. In the United States for 1891 , I bollove these statistics are from the World Almanac , tnore ara 00,000 postolllccs and ! ! 5r , > 91 telegraph olllcos , being ono telosrnpu olllco for every 'J 1-1L ! postotttcos , so that the percentage of telegraph olllcoj to poatofllcos In this country is a little greater than It , Is In England. In England thu increase in tlio number of tolo- gruph otllces for two years from 1837 to 1839 was SIT. There were li,5H , ofllco * In 1857 and 7oil ; in lob' ) . In the United States the lu- crea-,0 tor the sumo tlmo was . ' 1,110 , the otllces being In 18b7 , 15,87(1 ( , and in ISS'J , 18.00J. Tno Increase for lOngland on flr , > l I oflicos Is but 8 per cent , while ttio increase for the United States on I."ib7(5 ( ofllcus Is about -0 per cont. Thu increase for the United States , Ulit ! oftlces , on that number of olllcos In England , Is nearly IS per cent , against the English In crease of but 8 per cont. Mr. liosowatordld say that wo bad too many wires hero and th.it thu country was doing about one-half thu business it ought to dj. We may look to the explanation of that in this llttlo detailed stutomont of toloqrah ofllco * per population. In England , taking thu census of 1SS1 , and adding 10 per cent to bring It up to date , there Is one oftlco for every 5,500 population , In thu United States , there is ono otllca for every 13,400 population , I wonder why Mr. Hosewuter did not stay in England and gel the pcoplo to extend the > honotits of the tele graph , so that the paoplo in lulu bo served in equal proportion to the United States. The slzo of the country has something to do with the problem telegraph otllces to England , In England there is ono olllco to 17 47 square miles , In the United States there is one olllco to Kll square mllos. The population to the square miio has something to do with it. In England there are 1)20 ) to one square mile , In the United States thcro are 17,93 to ono square mile. The area aud population to telegraph ot- llcos compare. ! ns follows : England , area , 17.-7 anuuro mlles ; popula tion. 5f-U United States , area , 131 square mlles ; pop. latlon , LVIIO. A short tlmo ago it bou&mo my duty to make n schedule for cor root Ing statistics of telegraph companies for the eleventh census of thu United ( Statos. In a circular report which I culled for from the companies they wanted to enter commercial messages , press messages , nto. I uald no ; what I want Is a report that will ahow what the farm er und the wage workers of this country are paying for the service you are rendering m comparison with what the same class of people pay for the service rendered thorn by governments thutoxvn and operate the tolugraph system in foreign countries. For this reason I would admit to thu report full rnto.nlgUt rate and the money transfer messages only , aud at the rate now being paid over the country by anyone who may have occasion to use the tolograph. I have made up the figures on S.B53 full rate mes sages , OH ulKDt < rate messages and six money transfer messages. I find that those messages sages contained 195,91I words , counting al words In the address , body and signature o tbo message , making an average of "US' words per message. The reason for count ing the words In hls way Is that the govern tnrnts owning ntul operating n tolegrapl system count and uhargo for every won transmitted. The English rate would bo 2 cents pnr message. Thu tolls paid for thosi messages lu the United States average 41' : cants. So that on the face of the showlnj thus far timilo It would appear that the rati In this country Is double that of England , find , however , that the average mileage o those messages was 540 miles , and thi average distance from Now York to thi pUcos to which they were sent is 003 miles On nu account of distance the ofllco In trans mlttlng 3,073 message * repeated over 11,001 mcssago In the same period of tlmo. A : the biggest distance in England Is not ovoi 000 miles It Is reasonable to nssumo that tin average mileage of 8,973 mossasroi sonl on from London will not exceed one-half tin nvorago mileage of the messages son out from Now York. Therefore , message : from Now York averaging fi 10 miles nt 41'4 ' cents uro as cheap ns messages from London uvai'ugltiir ona-half the dlstanco nt 21 cent ; each. This , however , Is not the whole story Messages were sent at the rate given In ah ) direction desired from Mow York. Englaiu Is not large enough to make a comparhoi with the United States. Wo are compellcc to take Europe for such a purnoso. If tin citizen of London wlshns to send his mes sages 500 or 000 mlloj from London ho inusi go into other countries , ns tlio American citi zen L'OCS from state la state. Let this bo trioi andlhcn mnka a comparison of Europcui : rates with United States rates. The rates In Now York on 8,978 message : averaging 21.8'J words and 540 miles was 41'4 co.its. The rate from London for r message of 21.8J words to Sweden is $1.74 United States rate for the same dlstunco II1 ! cents. To Norway , * 1.5'J. United State ; rate for the .same distance 41 4 cents. Tc Germany , Sl.UO , neulnst 41'i cents. Tc Austria , St.rti , against II if. To Corlsea , 8J cents , against 41' . To Spain , $1.74 , against 11 li. 1 suppose this is plain why so many people como to this country. It must bo to enjoy tbo privilege of telegraphing a long distance at the low prlco charged by our grinding monopoly. ( Applause and laughter. ) I do not know whether Mr. Hosowntor can bo said to bn the representative of the post master general or not ; but I do know that we can judge of the kind of advlco thai the postmaster general has received on tola- giaph matters by his ofllcial utterances , Hero Is a government circular dated Juno 15 , 1891 , which says , fixing the rate for govern ment messages , ton words , exclusive of place from , date , address und sii'iiuturo , 10 cents tc all distances , 400 miles. As the message actually counts twenty words , that is 11 cents for twenty words for 400 miles. Hall a cent a word lor additional words. Half : i cent for each word in the hodv. I would like to have Mr. Kosowator stnte.lf ho would , If ho bol'ovos that a chiirce of one-half u conl a word will pay the expense of doing the business over n distance of 100 miles. On June 29 , IbS'J ' , the postmaster cenorul Issued an order fixing the rate ut 1 mill a worn , irrespectively , for all messages , div ; uncl night. If 1 mill a word for all dis tances day and night was a fair , honest compensation In 1839 , I would like to know what has increased the cost of tele graph service to bring it up to half n cent : i word now. There is ono point In this Ueviow article that I want to refer to , and Mr. Kosowator can easily sot himself right if ho is wrongly reported. Ho suvs hero : "I would buy out " all the telegraph lines in America and" then advertise ror proposals , and have them oper ated by private companies under the con trol of the government , llxiug the rates mid requiring them to report their oarnincs from tlmo to time to the government. When thu receipts exceeded 10 per cent upon the invested - vested capital , their Investment , being rather small , I should insist upon their reducing the rato. " I suppose ho meant dividends Instead of receipts , 'lo give un idea of what Mr. Kosowator considers a small capital , ho is reported hero as saying that , the govern ment ut the time , that is Februarv ' 27 , 1800 , when the government turned ovor'ils lines to the private compiuies the government at that time ovvvicd 41,211 miles of land line and 178 miles of submarine cable. I under < stand that to mean miles of wire instead ol miles of lino. He is reported , to have said that the property was worth $2,000,000 or $3.000,000. Was it ruilos of line or in lies of wirol Mr. Kosowntor I presume It Is miles of wiro. wiro.Mr. Mr. Footo Assuming that Mr. Kosewator moans miles of wlro and that ho will prob ably agree that the true valuation would bo the average between his extremes , the state ment may bo construed to mean that the gov ernment owned 14,339 miles of wire worth $ . ' ,500,000 , or about $ l7Jpormllo. At this rate the present valuation of the combined mileage of the Western Union and Postal Tologrnnh-Cublo companies Is fi3,3i : ! : > ,834. Now , if the military telegraph lines were worth $171 a mile , it is fair to presume that the lines that uro working now commercially are worth us much. On that computation , however , the capitalization of these com panies does not begin to reach the values given to it by Mr. Kosowntor. That mav bo where the watered slock is to como in. I am of opinion that if Mr. Kosowator can Induce the government so to HK rates that these companies oan earn 10 per cent on tills valua tion , that they will civo him an exclusive contract to attend lo their stock watering hereafter. Government ownership is advocated by Mr. Kosowator ns a principle. In my opinion the principle is radically wrong. It Is op posed , as I understand the matter , to the underlying fundamental laws that govern all human actions. When you separate a man from any direct interest In his work or any hope of having a direct interest in his work , you separate that man from the most active element that can Induce him to bo thrifty , saving , progressive , observing and careful In everything ho does. I do not suppose that any of you gentlemen will admit for ono mo ment that there has over boon a work under taken oy government that has been executed nt anything liKe the cost it could hu aono for by prlvato parties. A gentleman with whom 1 was conversing In Boston not long ago a very competontonsinoor observing the work of government buildings , of forts and arse nals , etc. , told me that ho did not bollove that , with two or three exceptions in these United States , there had been ono single in- slanco where a Government building had been put up at anything like the cost It could have boon put up for by private parties. Ho estimated that the excessive cost was nt least 100 per cent. In ether words , it cost the government twice ss much to do the work as It would prlvuto parties. Assum ing , for the sake of argument , that the capi talization of these telegraph companies could bo agreed upon they hdvo accepted a law passed bv congress In 18011 wnlch dotlnos the wuy In which the government can acquire possession of the telegraph companies. If that wore to bo carried Into operation , the capitalization aurood upon aud the interest an the capital figured at the same rate that the government pays on its bonds , the capi talization question would bo out of the way. Then comes the question of muin- tananca and operating expenses. I do not think any one will suppose for an Instance that those expenses , operating under crovoruimml control in this country , woultl como uaywhom within the limits that they do under prlvato management. I do not think that 20 per cent dilTurcnco would bo any too largo a margin to allow for that. Therefore , I nssumu that thu telegraphs of this country , operated unuor prlvuto man agement , doing u business of the same rate that It would cost the government to do the business , could pay at least n 10 per cent dividend , and at the same tune bo giving the service at what the ordinary politician calls cost , which Is what It would cost tbo govern ment. The absence of stallstloj in all these de tails is ono of the weak points in the argu ment. When wo do not huvo statistics which both sides can agree upon as being true and accurate , wo can tot follow our argument through Its losrltlmato course. I have under my hands the work of attaining these statistics from too telegraph companies In the United Statos. That work will bo accomplished In thn course of .time , provided that the government will furnish tbo funds to do the work. Wo are now practically at a standstill. Those .of you who want to have the statistics muilo up In that way will have to assist In getting the appropriation. ( Ap plause ) . Mr , Insull : On hearing our friend , Mr Wlmnn talk ot commercial union , 1 never have boon able to maku up mv mind whether he talked as a resident of the United States with largo Interests hero or as subject of the queen as I bollovo ho Is today. But when ha gets up hero to talk to us on the question , of government control of telegraphs , there Is not tbo slightest doubt from whence ho draws his experience. If ho Is afraid of Mr. Doss Platl at ono tlmo having control ot oar telegraph system and using tt for his owr particular Interim , and of Tammany poli ticians having control of it another tlmo , ho evidently H1 drawing upon the experience Of his friends and follow subjects In Canada , where wo llnd.lAts of trouble with the tone lu the Dominion and with the liberals hi Quebec. I < So far as Mtv Footo's remarks nro con cerned , when ho first addressed you , ho referred forred to the ftertinunt of inventors , I think , There Is ono ttilnV that these ut us who gc to the other .sfi\i | ( must have noticed , thai whilst our telegraph companies here unit out telephone cotnpaluos here were arguing as tc the unpo3.ilblluj-'of ' placing iholr wires under ground , that that same work had bocn done In London by'Um ' * postal telegraph depart ment for years' past , nud It .vonld seem from that that the Iclo raim companies bore con sider not so much public convenience ns tholr own pockets , Tno question of government control of anything , I presume , tiopemli upon the particular prlnclnlo of government that wo should have tlio greatest possible peed to the greatest number. Does il seem reasonable that the monoor who goes to the northwest , I will tnko Mr. Wiman'a side of thu line , and starts to develop a coun try , or If ho wishes to communicate with his base of supplies , should bo taxed to the ex tent , not of 12 cents for twenty words , butol 13 cents for a single word ) Can that load lo thcrapid development of any now country ) If It is reasonable that the mau living In the Kooky mountain * snail have to pay $1 for ton words and bo without the advantage of a night rate , why Is It not reasonable that the snmo man , If ho requires the protection of our military , shall pay much higher rates of taxes than tlio people living In a city like Now York ! The great advantage of Iho govern men t administration of telegraphs , moro especially In England , where I have had some experience , is that If you aru in the smallest vlll o whcro there Is trans mitted but ono message n da } ' , you pay ex actly the same rate as you would in a larger city , and thu business man has the sumo op portunity there to develop his business that the man has who lives In a larger center of population , I piesumo that thn expenses of the business are proportionately larger In u small place than they are in n largo one. These of us who run small businesses llnd that the expenses of business are greater under those circumstances. Docs it seem reasonable that the merchant should bo taxed to a much fur greater extent than the man living In that smaller town ) I think you will find the tendency of nil governments Is to take control of all matters where a business Is built up and vested interests acquired , by taking advan tage , not of any private rights , but of public rights. The congress of the United States seems to have recognized that state of affairs so far as the railways are concerned and they Imvo taken control to a greater or less extent , according to the shrewdness ot rail road olllclal" , of rates of transportation and of passenger rates. I cannot see why the same control cannot bo taken of the tola- graph companies with ndvuntasro to the nub ile at large ? . Whether that control is exor cised by direct ownership or by so'no such contiol as wo have in the cnso'of the Inter state commerce law whatever way It Is done , 1 think it would certainly be of advantage to these of us who have to use telegraph faoilitlos for the purpose ot running our business. Mr. Footo drew attention to some comparative liguros as to telegraph otllcos ; but ho did not mention thatin a small place of 5,000 or 10,000 Inhabitants , owing to the oxiponcies.of competition , you will Hncl not only a Western Union olllco , but also a Postal olllco , and , a short time ago , a Balti more & Ohio Qtliua , Now such a thing is not at nil a necessity ; ono ofllcu could do the business just as well as three , and , therefore , It is not lair to. taUo those comparative * fig ures. In a couutry like the United States , where private ownership is the rule in tele graph business to compare that .with a coun try llko Great Jjrltaln , where you have gov ernment ownomhip , and , consequently , the necessity for o6iriootltivo ofllces removed , the comparison is'1 riot fair. Ho also made n comparison between the postofllces and the lologrnply qfllccs. But If ho were acquainted w/tli / , the English postal sys tem , and werfl 'aware of the fact that al most at every stvjot corner you will Hud a postofrtco. I do not think that ho would have used the o figures. It would , bo ab solutely Impracticable and absolutely un necessary , I IhuiJijTtoJittVo.a telegraph olllco vbqrpver thero" ijja ppjitpflfuQ. f. have lived Hi Now York a"good many yearsTind 1'l.avo often had n great deal of trouble in finding poitofttcos. An absolute stranger never find * such trouble In London. I have no decided views on this su bjcct ono way or the other , but I tuink some of the comparisons Mr. Forte made show some Inconsistencies , when you look into the details of the business In the two countries. On the question of the work done by opera tors In this country and operators in Eng land , I think such of our members present as are posted on European telegraph service will'tell you that the atmospheric conditions have something to do with that. 1 think it is a question of rapidity of operating ; but I nm trespassing on a sublect that I am not at all posted upon. Mr. Kosowntor : The presiding ofllcor of this club has seen tit to pour oil upon the troubled waters hero and pour It on very promiscuously , for the amusement of the au dience ; but 1 do not think it necpssary for mo to discuss the oil question in connection with postal telegraphy. Ho said hero that I haa brought lorth no argument in favor of thu postal telegraph , and had not supported mv statement with liguros sutflcient to show whether or not the Brltbh and foioign tele graphs were equnl in number to postofllces , whether wo wanted a postofllco at every telegraph station , aud u bother we proposed to increase the civil sorvlco by an enormous list. Now , I happen to bavo with mo MI few liguros that I made up today from the official book that I have hero , mudo up really In tbo German language by iho Austrian gov ernment , giving a full account of all Euro pean postal facilities and telegraph fa- ollttos , and I find this lo be the fact that In Great Britain the number of ponolllces , by the Inst report of the postmaster general was 18.3VJ , tho- number of telegraph stations 7,0i7. That Is for > the year 18b9. I have a icport with estimates for I V.lJ. They have only 5,01'i postal telegraph ofllcas and 1,715 railroad telegraph olllcos in Great Britain. Franco is the only country in Europe probably , and perhaps In tueworld , that has more telegraph ofllces than postofllces. She has 7,00 postolllcos and UHI3 , telegraph olllcos , of which 0,030 aru postal and ! i , 112 are railroad. Austria has 13,017 postofllces and 10,800 telegraph olllcoi , of which iilll , ! are postal and 5 , l'C > are rmlro.vl , Germany has the lamest postal telegraph system In Europe. She has 21,212 post ofllcos and 10,408 telegraph ollicos , of which 12,431 are postal and : ) .il7r railroad. Now , computing the whole thing , what do wo soof In all these four great countries the total number of postolllcos Is IM.IHI , and the number of telegraph stations 4I1.I ! ! ! , You notice that there are nearly two-thirds as many telegraph stations as postofllcos. and notwithstanding my frlor.d's statistics I would venture to suv that ho is enlirolv mis taken , unless Dr.TUroen gave wrong figures to the povornnfcfnt last winter. AccordIng - Ing to Ur , Gi'ou'h thura are some 18,000 telegraph sUllons" in America , including all the railroads , illidvto the best of my knowl edge the number of postofllcos is about (50,000 ( or 111,000.- Now , wo have over (10,000 ( postofllcos und'only 13,000 and some odd tolt- tfrapli ofllces , and of ihosa you llnd tlmt tno telegraph cumpaitlns have got less than 5,000. All the telegraph companies have got loss than 5,000 telegraph olllcos und the balanuu ara all railroadotHco.s. , , Now , just compare those countries. and , sco what un absurdity. This Is a striKlflg' argument , It seems to mo , In favor of postal tolgruphy , because It enables the peomcf' m the smaller towns and villages to got ti6 ! facilities of the telegraph , and while my frlddd here says that there are only a few cloMi6j > pors out in the west that nro entirely cut off , It seems to mo that every citizen of the Unttod States Is ns gooi ns every other citizen , and it doesn't matter whether ho is on n farm or In a work shot ) . The object of the postal system Is to facili tate the Intor-communlcatlon of Intollt pence. It that had boon established lishod , no matter what disparaging state ment ? have boon made here today as regards the mismanagement of dlfforont branches o the government , I defy any man here to como forward and show where there Is n butter system under corporate control than the post ofllco system of the United States today [ Applause ] . 1 defy Mr. Sam Bryan ( of Washington ) I ac cept that challenge with very great pleas ure. ure.Tho Chairman Mr. Bryan , wo will glvo you an opportunity as soon as Mr. Kosowntor has finished , Mr. Kosowator : If you can &bow that the millions and millions of letters and thu vast quantities of newspapers that nro trans mitted all over thu United States for distances covering something like 100,000 miles of railway , and traversing these rail roads nt every hour of the day all over the Utilted States , handled In every railway mall car mid thrown off by fast mall trains , handled on the steamships as I have soon right hero there were 100,000 letters handled by the American postal clone , who WH.I on the steamship and who assorted them be tween Hamburg hud Now York and jJlnced them In packages going all ever the United States , including Omaha If you please , und every other town. I say that the postal system of the Utilted Stales Is admirably managed , whether Mr. Wanamakor meas ures his lotlors by iho yard or weighs them by the pound. I have uot bocn paid by the postoflico department and have not been authorized to speak for it , but I will say for Mr. Wauamaker , and I have been acquainted with every postmaster general from the days of Crcswoll down to today , that ho Is the most ofllclont man In the department and has moro business In In.n than any otnor mau that was ever In It. Mr. Footo has called mo to task here about a question , and It Is n very serious ono , in his opinion nt least , us to what the value was of the telegraph lines turned ovor.to the vari ous companies by the government after thu war. It Is true that 1 churgod \\asblng- - ton last winter , before the congressional com mittee , that tUtor the war , without any com pensation whatever , 15,000 miles of wire and something like 100 or 20J miles of cable mid nil the instruments and machinery and all the appliances that had boon used in the mil itary lelo < rnph service , were turned over lethe the companies without n dollar , und I have the audacity to say that they were worth about ? . ' ,000,000. Well , I meant 52,000,000 ut the tlmo they were turned over , when gold was worth about 180 cents and ovorvtliing was proportionately high. But , after all , it Is very remarkable that the gentlemen should venture to the defense of this peculiar transaction. It was certainly a trans action that requires explanation. It was a transaction that I never have boon able to explain to myself. When 1 went to Invostlgiitu it in Iho qunrtunnastor general's ofllco , 1 thought that the government - mont had sold out tho.se things , as I stated then , as old junk , at bo much a pound for the wire and so much per cord for the poles. Hut , as a matter of fact , the government actually turned it all over for nothing at the instance of the gentlomou who wore managing the telegraph companies. Now wo have been given hero a promiscuous line of figures. I do not. think It is necessary for mete to repeat the telegraph tariffs abroad. I expect to go before thn congressional comrnitleo. probably this winter some tiino. If 1 appear before that committee , some of these liiuiros might perhaps be more appro- , ciaied than they would bo right here tauight. But 1 just want to call attonlion 10 a few lit- Uo items. For instance. In 1SSO. the West ern Union had n capital and a debt of $4 ( > , - 000,000 , and now itjias just $ ( JS,2)0.000. The consolidations that have taken place in ton years have almost duplicated the en the capi tal and debt. Mr. S. Bryan of Washington , spoke at length of thodaloctsin our poslal system , claiming that It was the worst In the worlrt , with the exception of n few of the Latin countries. A letter posted at Twenty-third street. Now York , at 7 p. m. , would not roach Washington and bo delivered until 1 o'clock the next day. Mr. Bryan also favored - vorod Sunday delivery. Ho said the tele graph soi-vico of England and France was not near so prompt ns with us. Mr. E. A. Losllo spoke of his acquaintance with Mr. Uosowator , anil stated that under lying all of Mr. Kosowator's arguments for a postal telegraph was the welfare of the telegraph - ograph operator. After tendering a vote of thanks to Mr. Kosowator , Chairman Wiman declared the meeting adjourned. Mr. Footo has boon at great pains to point out the exorbitant rates charged for dis patches from London to places in Siberia , Sweden and Noaway , but if bo had taltnn dawn his telescope and looked a llttlo nearer homo ho might have discovered some exces sive charges that cannot bo palliated or ex plained away. For Instance , every steam ship coming into New York passes by Flro Island. A ton-word message announcing the arrival of the steamer .s charged ? l and 'or every duplicate of this message delivered in the city of Now York only thirty-live miles distant , $1 is charged. And the steamship companies nro forbidden to post announce ments of arrival of their steamers or to sun- plv their patrons with the news. Would such an autocratic thing bo submitted to ih nnv place in Europe or Asia ) The telegrams are the property of the pcoplo who pay for thorn. The tclopraph company is simply a public carrier , just as the express companies uro of letters and packages. The opponents of postal telegraph cannot conceive a moro glaring abu o of power than is constantly exercised bv the managers of telegraph companies and for mo , I should prefer to trust the control of the telegraph in the hands of tha men who are hold respon sible by the people for Iho trust reposed in thorn , than to the men who recognize no re sponsibility excepting to the capitalists who operate telegraphs for the prollt there is In them. ( Applauso. ] They had lots of wedding presents , but the most precious was n box of Hallor's ' Aus- trallau'salvo. She said thoughtfully , It's so nice for the llitlo chaps on my hands. Ho said , wo haven.t got any "llttlo chaps" yet. She said , Why I John , and John was squelched. Dr. Cullimnro , oculist , Hoc. building. A I'atlinlii ; Al > ! > 0ill. Somebody lias boon rofusiiif , ' to pny Brother Phnxton of tlio .liiuknon ( Gu. ) Argua for u pull" , for this ia tlio way ho Is putting it now : "A doctor will sit down and wrllo a proscription ; time live miiuitos ; pnnor and Ink , i of a cent ; and the patient pnya $1 , $ o , $10 , as tlio case may bo. A Itiwyor writes ton or twelve lines and gets from S10 to $50 from bis client. An editor writes a luilf column pulT for a man , pays a man SO cunts or $1 lor put ting it In typo , prints it on $7 worlli of paper , sends it to sovoml thousand people ple and am prises tbo ptilTud man if bo makes any charges. " Dr. Btrnoy cures catuiTh. Boo bdlg. Millions in Ir. Tbo population of China Is now esti mated at 850,000,000. which is almost equal to the ontlro population of Europe. The Chinese national debt is ono of tbo smallest , amounting to only $ : i8,600,000 , Queen Victoria's private secretary , Sir Honryl'ousonbv , has a modest llttlo salary of $10,000 and house rent froo. PLEAKJREAD THIS. Cents a pound for VAN HOUTEN'S COCOA ( "Best & Coos Farthest" ) seems to bo high. Let us compare it with the price of Coffee : 1 Ib. of good coffee costs at least GOc. , makes 31 haH.pInt cups. " . ' 03 " " 3 " therefore 90c. , 1 'V. IICocoalso OOc. , " 150 " " " | W'Which is the Cheaper Drink ? J 93 cups of Coffee , . . UF.TA1I. PKIGK on . . cnU | > r pound yuc. | , BO < "v.H.Cocoa ! Sold by every Grocer. What will YOU give Father , Son or Brother ? OTHERS are giving Nicoll's Mnclc-to-Orclci1 Trousers , Suits unit Overcoats , $5 to $50 Made in 24 hours if required. If his measures arc not on our books bring us an old suit , trousers , or overcoat and Santa Glaus will do the rest , and do it so well , your present will be a pleasure and ornament when all others have ceased to be useful. Trousers , $ 5 to $15. Overcoats , 18 to 60. Suits , 20 to 50. 207 South Fifteenth Street. CIPainless PainlessLess Pain. No Pain. The wonderful local nnnsthetic u = ? ed only by DR. BAILEY 19 relieving hundreds of people of the ngony usually existing In hnv- ing teeth extracted. By the use of this harmless ritug teeth nro ex tracted absolutely without pain or dnngor , the patient being per fectly conscious all the time , but the sensibility of the tissue nrour.d the place where applied being entirely gone. No extra charge for using this wonderful drug. A Full Set of Five Dollars a. TEETH Sit And a- ON RUBBER Good Fit For Five Dollars Every Time Tooth Without Plates. Itnmovnblo ItrldKO Work nt prluoj llttlo more than for a rubboi nlite. : Gold I Illina und nil work pertaining to dentistry at Ion pit niton. R. W. BAmEiY , D. DS. . OFFICES THIRD FLOOR PAXTON BLOCK. TELEPHONE , 1O86. 16TH and FARNAM STS. , Entrance on 12th. The UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS that the Behr Bros. & Go's. Have nttnhuMl , aiuHlio lii li prniso limy liavc elirite.1 from Hie nnrlil'OIOST IMS- SOM'NKI ) ARTISTS , from HIP pros * anil from a piililio loii projmliro 1 in favor elder dor mnkes , il Is sjxfo to assume thill Ilio iuslrumi'iil mint ho possess ) ) . ! of L'NCOM MON ATTKIIiUTKS. ATTKIIiUTKS.MAX MEYER & BRO. CO. , Sole Agents , Omaha , Nebraska. Established 1866 , 1316 Douglas Street , Omaha , Neb. 'J'lioomlnrnlHperlnlltt In norroiii , oirotlo prlvitti' . lilooJ akin und iirlrnry dlsouii A rn iilar nil rcj.'htroilKrulij.itul : ninoillclri" ui dlplomis mid certillottni V > ! T In HUH tnmtln , ! wlt'i thu rirnnluit 11113- ( ( " fl cnt irrh , t [ itr unlurrltooa. lost miuiliuoil. BOiiilnnl * v iknuu nUlit I < mti4 , Itnim'mirr. Hn'liMli stria * turo kOiiorrlii > o.i. itlcot , varlo icole. uluSo muro > ry n ail. .Vu v t out ns'it for lo i of vllil | > o fit I'aMon unublo toviiltmumny bo tiunU'il athninulijoiirriiipoiilonio Ma llalninr Initriuninti tout bf rciai . or cxpn 11 ftooiiroly imckod nu mirk * to Imtlrito content t or tonilor O i * lion mil uuurvluw i > ruferri > J. Con * nulmtlon frco < ornuponocnco ilrlcliy p l/ito HooU i Mjstorlai of I.lfu ) ont frao Olluuhuin , U a ui. o | > m Munilny , 10 n m , to I'-'m Sonil atrnp fur rojiljr WOOD'S ' ICE TOOLS RUN IRON , ROPE & BLOCK'S ' Send for catalogue. Jas. Morton Son & Go 1511 . , , iJ Str\wt A OK.VUINK MI'MU IK Kllir.KH It KIIWH IJIUIM KIIADU'ATOU - uriHullilukuinBi liuoumi It kllln thu mk'rntju or verm I'ut up nml rutnlluit In ii 11 und (5 Hi/an , thu Inttur miKulldiia. Hunt anywliuru pro- pald on rornljit if pnru orl' . t ) I ) . Wol niu > n miiir- luilou to curu. Thu I ubllo truilo nml Jiihlii'n mii- . .II..I l.w .1. . . li ln l..r linn * f < l ! . > l\ ft nl > n I' A iluk'liiiV'lowurrt ' MoyurnnJ K ' ! ' . 'rijykorii , Sniitli Uuiiiha , A I ) . Poster mill II. J. Kill * , t'ouricll Illuirs N , M , RUDDY , THE ONLY PRACTICAL OPTICIAN ' 'Id South IMIi St. . KiiriiHiii St , Tliuutur. EYES TESTED FREE Jlaa.tos 1'IUnil to rotnody nil iltifooli nt uyti- HlKlit. Sti'ul sptX'UicloH of ittmrantuocl < | iiillty ! I nml up. Sollil ( iiilJ Spccl'iicltM anil Kyo lamai , * ! and upward. OcciilUt's prosurlptloiH for KliuNUM III led correctly unino Uiiy us rucutvod , ARTIFICIAL HUMAN EYES INSERTED , WEAK Conditions of thohtinmri form niKcvmrnlly ttuntid to develop , ntrunvtlicii , onluruu all weak , Blunted , undovelopod.fvcblourKnnsanil imrls of tlio lioily which huvo lout or nuvur ntlalnoil n proper and natural lii ) . duo to III lioalili , abuiu. cxc'tmcs.or unknown cunsua. Thorn U ono rinllioil nml only our. by which lhl.1 may Im accomplUlifd. Incremioilliow ot blood to uny iiiirt , ( iruduccd by elinpluappuratna aclliiK automalUully.crtatuanow tl uutonoaud vlicor by thu imnio imlunil luwnus tliolnrrenxoor iliu and ptruniitlinf imitcU1. Don't buprouilco"lb ] | 0ii olllll0iuaik | mji < i i | iy llly moinn to do the nuinu. IN V I.H I'll.ATI' . Tliurc'H no triiii ! > nrli ofour ollrrn. Our pay will como wbMi tno inihlle known clearly clor > co from fraud.Vrltn u tot ln triictlon . full duecrltw. tlon , proof . rofurentoi , etc. Allicntyuu In plum eCBli'rt letter without coil of any kind. BBIB MEDIOAL CO. , BUFFALO , IT. Y. UNION DEPOT HOTEL. Corner lotti und Muson Htrouti. Naw bulldlnjr , now furnlluru. orory thinHri olmi ; llnoit locution In Iho olty. nil iiiodarn liu provuiuuiili : rituiim Me/fit ; Oam tall llolU. Until and Uurbur HUop In connections Klui trio and CnOlu C r to any part of thn city. Try u and bo cun- vlncud thnl wo IISYO the dust hoinu for the iiionuy woit of ChlciiKU. IUt from I..W t o f I 'J ) per d *