Mr. Hubbard proposes, by his new plan, to send telegrams at an average
reduction of 53 per cent from the present charges, which we have shown
to be 25 per cent less than the European rates. Now, the total receipts
of the Western Union Telegraph Company for the year ending June 30,
1867, were $6,568,925, and a reduction of 53 per cent would leave
$3,087,405.
The working expenses for the year were $3,944,005
Receipts with Mr. Hubbard’s proposed tariff, 3,087,405
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Loss for the year $856,600
Mr. Hubbard acknowledges that neither the government nor any company can
transmit messages at the above rates without loss, but claims that “a
company with well-constructed lines, _built for cash_, can transmit
messages at these rates, in connection with the post-office, and realize
a large profit.” Precisely how this is to be done, or what the lines
“built for cash” have got to do about it, does not appear. Mr. Hubbard
says in his pamphlet that “the largest part of the lines of the Western
Union Company were constructed before the rise in prices, and on a gold
basis.” Now, if he means that lines built on a paper basis can be worked
cheaper than those constructed on a gold one, we would be glad to hear
his reasons for so singular a notion.