Petition for Cheap Telegraphy.
By C. W. S.
An effort is being made to establish telegraphy upon the same basis as the United States mail. A petition desiring Congress to take the necessary measures is being widely circulated. It seems to us to be just, and a right of the people of the United States, that this great means of speedy communication should be controlled by the people and not by stock companies, that private correspondence may be more fully protected, and above all, that the enormous fees now exacted may be reduced to a reasonable and uniform rate throughout the United States, as is the case with postal communication. An act of Congress, July 24, 1866, provides that Congress may purchase telegraph lines for postal, military, or other purposes. Under this act the petition is made. We give the following extracts from the petition:— “To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:— “We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, do humbly petition your honorable body to pass such a law as shall enforce the provisions of the Act passed by Congress on July 24th, 1866.” Here follows the act above referred to. “To these provisions the Western Union Telegraph Company has filed its assent. “We believe that the telegraph belongs properly to the post-office department, that it should be incorporated therewith, and worked for the benefit alike of the government and the people. “The government alone can secure to us the freedom of the press and the sanctity of private correspondence. “It is evident that the government could not be obliged to pay more for these lines than it would cost to duplicate them. “We believe that a UNIFORM RATE, AS LOW AS 25 CENTS, can be made for messages throughout the United States—the same being the rate in Canada and England—and that with an increase of business, such as has followed cheaper postage and the postal cards, a still lower rate can be made.” C. W. S.