“The telegraph in this country is very generally connected with the
railroad system, and a large proportion of the offices are at
railroad stations.[19] These are seldom in the centre of the towns,
and are not resorted to as generally as the post-office. In the
large cities, the principal offices are near the business centres,
with a number of secondary offices, generally at hotels and railroad
stations. The rent of the main offices is very large, and the
expenses for operators, clerks, and managers are also necessarily
much more than when the telegraph is connected with the post.”
Footnote 19:
By a singular coincidence, Mr. Scudamore makes the same complaint
against the English companies, and in nearly the same words. See
Scudamore’s Letter to the Postmaster-General, London, 1868.
It is true that many telegraph offices are connected with the railroad
system in this country, as well as abroad. Indeed, no railroad would be
considered complete without such a connection, but it is not true that a
large proportion of the offices are at the railroad stations.
We have shown on page 8 that the telegraph system of Europe is not
specially connected with the Post-Office Department. In some countries
the telegraph, post-office, and railway systems are under one
department, but there is no particular connection between them. The
post-offices are merely offices of deposit for telegrams, and not for
transmission. But supposing they were united, why should the expenses of
operators, clerks, and managers be necessarily much less than when the
telegraph is worked separately? We presume he does not propose to
dispense with the operators, and put the telegrams in the mail-bag; or
does he propose that when the government gets control of the telegraph
that the salaries will be reduced? If this is his idea, we think he is
reckoning on a false hope, for if there was an attempt of this nature,
the operators would seek some other employment.