Turkey contains twenty-eight telegraph stations, of which twelve are
open for night service, nine during the whole of the day, and seven for
a part only. Constantinople has two stations open for international
correspondence,—one at Stamboul, the other at Pera; the first is
principally confined to the transmission of messages for the Ottoman
government, and the second for that of ambassadors and private persons.
In the case of an interruption of the cable which crosses the
Hellespont, the Dardanelles station is removed to Kaled-Bahas, and the
despatches are subjected to an additional rate of 90 cents for their
conveyance, by boat, from Kaled-Bahas to the Dardanelles. The tariff,
upon messages between Paris to any Turkish station, varies from $2.80 to
$6.00, according to the distance.
The construction of lines in Turkey is of the most defective
description, and the materials used very inferior. The lines pass over
the steepest and most inaccessible hills; and this state of things is
made worse by a very inadequate inspection, by men who are both too few
in number, wretchedly paid, and generally incompetent. Repairers are
compelled to provide and keep a horse out of their pay of 300 piastres
($13.04) per month. The chiefs of stations, and all other employees, are
Turks, whose lazy habits and incompetency cannot be wondered at, when
the smallness of their pay is considered. Added to these difficulties,
the service has to endure very frequent and arbitrary occupation of the
wires by the government, interrupting, on many occasions, business of
the most pressing nature, for the transmission of some trivial
communication, which would lose nothing by a short delay. It may be
imagined that as the service is in the hands of government, much depends
upon the director-general of the department. Unfortunately, this
official is in the unenviable position of holding office on such a poor
tenure that it may be said he has a daily apprehension of being turned
out, and replaced by one of those numerous intriguers who swarm about
the cabinets of the ministers, or work through the more effectual
influence of the harem,—the great bane of the country. It has been
proposed to the Turkish government to employ a large staff of English
inspectors and operators, but the natural jealousy of employing
foreigners stands in the way. The Turks insist upon having all messages
sent through in Turkish, so that frequently, when retranslated, they
bear very slight resemblance to the original.
All the important telegraphic intercourse between Europe and India
passes through the Turkish dominions. The effect of the control of the
Turkish government over the telegraph is most disastrous, and renders
this important connection with India almost worthless.
Repeated efforts have been made by the English telegraph companies, who
have so great an interest in the successful operation of these lines, to
induce the Turkish government to relinquish its management of them, but
thus far without success.
REASONS
WHY
GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT ENTER INTO COMPETITION WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE
OPERATION OF THE TELEGRAPH.
The foregoing presentation of facts has shown that there are no
sufficient grounds for destroying the value of the investments of the
people in existing telegraph companies by governmental competition, the
telegraph system of this country being unrivalled in its extent,
unequalled in its administration, and unparalleled for the low rates
which it has always maintained.
In this country the people have not been accustomed to rely upon the
government to provide those things for them which they are able to
secure by their own exertions. If this principle is right in regard to
one enterprise, it is also in relation to all others; and if infringed
upon in the case of the telegraph companies, what pursuit will be safe
from governmental interference?
It is undoubtedly true that, were tariffs designed simply to provide a
revenue to support the lines, they are capable of reduction, provided
present arrangements with railroad companies and others could be
maintained, by which the labor of the one is utilized in the service of
the other. But for this the country makes no demand. It recognizes the
telegraph as a legitimate enterprise for the investment of the capital
and labor of its citizens. If false counsels guide its development,
public reprobation is ready with its remedy. Its absorption by
government would not only be a public calamity, but a breach of the
theory and spirit of our institutions, and would soon result in its
necessary return to individual control.