122 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



if they ought to have this matter to consider, 

 if it is proposed to take very many millions 

 of dollars out of the Treasury to purchase these 

 telegraph-lines." 



Mr. Niblack, of Indiana, said : " I desire to 

 call the attention of the gentleman from Mas- 

 sachusetts (Mr. Dawes) to a particular point 

 of his remarks, in order to suggest to him an- 

 other very important view which we ought to 

 take of this question. I refer to the immense 

 patronage which it is proposed to confer on the 

 appointing power. According to the estimates 

 which have been submitted to me, the number 

 of persons to be appointed would necessarily 

 be at least eight thousand to take charge of 

 this telegraphic business on behalf of the Gov- 

 ernment, and to discharge the duties that 

 would be imposed upon the Government in 

 case we should purchase all the telegraph-lines 

 and assume their control on behalf of the Gov- 

 ernment. To me the proposition is appalling, 

 and that consideration would control my vote 

 in any event, were there no other reason to 

 operate upon me. I think that consideration 

 is just as important to be considered as the 

 statement of the gentleman from Pennsylvania 

 (Mr. -Randall), that it would probably cost 

 $35,000,000 to purchase the telegraph-lines in 

 this country. 



"But I have sought the floor at this time for 

 the purpose of entering my protest against this 

 proposition in all its length and breadth. And, 

 if it had not come from the Executive of the 

 United States in the form it does, I would de- 

 nounce it as the most extraordinary proposi- 

 tion brought before Congress." 



Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, said : " It is pro- 

 posed, I understand, by the President and by the 

 Postmaster-General, to establish in every post- 

 office in the United States, where there is a 

 sufficient number of inhabitants, a telegraph- 

 office, and to make every postmaster a tele- 

 graph-operator, or else to put an expert in his 

 office to operate the telegraph. It is proposed 

 that we shall not only legislate here for post- 

 routes, but that we shall legislate from year 

 to year for telegraph -routes; that every mem- 

 ber of Congress, and every Delegate from a 

 Territory, shall come in here from session to 

 session with his little bill to establish a tele- 

 graph-route from one insignificant town to 

 another. 



"It is proposed that the Government shall 

 dp all the telegraphic business; for private 

 citizens cannot compete with the Government 

 in any kind of business which it undertakes. 

 The Government is a monopolist, and must 

 be such necessarily; because no citizen can 

 compete with the Government in the prosecu- 

 tion of any business. Whatever the Govern- 

 ment undertakes to do must be under its con- 

 trol exclusively. If it und ertakes telegraphing, 

 it must do all the telegraphing of the country, 

 private, confidential, financial, and commercial. 

 Every member of Congress will of course be 

 importuned by his constituents to secure the 



establishment of a telegraphic station at every 

 post-office, involving the employment, at a 

 high salary, of an operator, an expert in ma- 

 nipulating the wires. We shall be called on 

 to establish wires all over the country and 

 throughout the Territories, to every little re- 

 mote place. All these telegraphic operators 

 are to be appointed by the Postmaster-Gen- 

 eral, which is another reason why this subject 

 should go to the Committee on the Post-Office 

 and Post-Eoads. This business is all to be 

 done under the Post-Office Department ; and 

 all the confidential and business communica- 

 tions throughout this country are to come 

 under the view of the various postmasters, 

 who are to be appointed, as they are now ap- 

 pointed, on account of their partisanship. All 

 these things are to come under the control 

 and direction of the Post-Office Department. 

 That is the proposition of the President's mes- 

 sage, and of the Postmaster-General's report. 

 Therefore I do not see the necessity or pro- 

 priety of sending this matter to a select com- 

 mittee." 



Mr. Beck, of Kentucky, said: "I only desire 

 to say a word. I was a member of the select 

 committee of eight, which investigated this 

 question most carefully during last Congress. 

 On the committee I differed from both sides, 

 and opposed either the Government under- 

 taking the service itself or going into partner- 

 ship with any corporation, on the ground that 

 it would produce just what the minority said 

 it would, a political monopoly, and give to 

 the Postmaster-General, to begin with, the 

 control of what they here enumerate : 



The United States have about five thousand tele- 

 graph-stations, seventy-five thousand miles of line, 

 and over seventy thousand employes, and transmit 

 over eleven million five hundred thousand messages 

 annually. Under the Government plan there will 

 "be at least twenty thousand telegraph-offices, one 

 hundred and fifty thousand miles of line, and from 

 twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand employes. 



" That is from the report made by the gen- 

 tleman from Iowa (Mr. Palmer), and indorsed 

 by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 

 Dawes) himself. They went on to show that 

 the lowest estimate of it was $40,000,000, 

 while the owners of the lines were claiming 

 an amount very largely in excess of that. My 

 friend from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall) must 

 see, therefore, that he has understated what 

 the system would cost the Government by one- 

 half." 



The amendment of Mr. Farnsworth that the 

 reference should be to the Committee of Ap- 

 propriations was adopted in Committee of the 

 Whole and reported to the House. 



The question was taken; and it was decided 

 in the affirmative, as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Acker, Adams, Amhler, Archer, 

 Arthur, Barnum, Beck, Bell, Beveridge, Biggs, 

 Austin Blair, Braxton, Bright, Caldwell, Camphell, 

 Carroll, Clarke, Comingo, Conner, Coghlan, Cox, 

 Crebs, Critcher, Crossland, Davis, Dox, Du Bose, 

 Duke, DunnelL Eldridge, Ely, Farnsworth, Farwell, 

 Finkelnburg, Forker, Garrett, Getz, Griffith, Halde- 



