WANT OF UNIFORMITY IN RATES.
We quote from Mr. Hubbard:—
“There is no uniformity in the rates. They are often less to a distant station than to an intermediate one on the same line. An estimate of the average rates, and of the annual number of messages transmitted has been made by ascertaining the rates to seventy-one stations at different distances from Boston, and arranging them in four different classes.”
Mr. Hubbard groups his American distances into classes of 500, 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 miles; while his English classes embrace those of 100 and under, 200 and under; over 200, and to Ireland.
The average rates he gives for America for
| Class A, | 500 miles and under, | $0.41 |
| Class B, over | 500, and under 1,000, | 1.43 |
| Class C, over | 1,000, and under 1,500, | 2.46 |
| Class D, over | 1,500, and under 2,000, | 3.36 |
The English rate for
| Class A, less than 100 miles, one shilling, equal to | $0.33 | U. S. currency. |
| Class B, between 100 and 200 miles, one shilling and sixpence, equal to | 0.50 | U. S. currency. |
| Class C, over 200 miles, two shillings, equal to | 0.66 | U. S. currency. |
| Class D, to Ireland, three to four shillings, equal to | 1.00 | to 1.33 U. S. currency. |
Mr. Hubbard says:—
“As rates are higher in America, a greater proportion of messages are sent to stations in class A than in England, and a smaller proportion to class D. The average receipt per message, at these rates, is $1.00. The gross receipts of the Western Union Company, for the year ending the 30th of June, 1868, were $6,952,273.[[16]] This sum, divided by the average receipts, gives the whole number of messages transmitted, viz. 6,952,000.
[16]. This amount embraces the total revenue of the Western Union Telegraph Company for that year, and includes the receipts for telegrams, press reports, and from all other sources.
“It may be objected that those estimates are incorrect, and therefore the deductions are unreliable. If the Western Union Telegraph Company furnish a statement of messages annually transmitted, the required corrections will be made. If it is not given, it will be because the estimates of the average rates are too low, and the deductions too favorable to that company.”[[17]]
[17]. The statement on page [7], of the number of messages annually transmitted by this company, shows that Mr. Hubbard’s estimate gives less than 70 per cent of the number actually sent over the wires. The average rate per message in the United States is fifty-seven cents.
As the average of these English rates is a little over 75 cents, while the greatest distance for the highest English class is less than for the shortest American class, which he averages at 41 cents, we do not see how he can assert that the American rates are higher than the English!
In answer to the charge of want of uniformity in the tariffs, we would call attention to the fact, that the lines under our control were constructed by a great number of separate organizations, having tariffs upon all bases, which had to be added together at all the termini of two or more lines, so that a message going a few hundred miles would require the payment sometimes of two or three rates. For instance, a few years since there were five telegraph companies owning the lines connecting Portland, Maine, with Cleveland, Ohio, and the tariff between these two places was ascertained by the addition of the local rates from Portland to Boston, Boston to Springfield, Springfield to Albany, Albany to Buffalo, and from Buffalo to Cleveland. The same system prevailed throughout the United States, until after the consolidation of the lines made it possible to transmit messages between places thousands of miles apart without the necessity of booking or rechecking at intermediate points. This result necessitated a remodelling of the tariffs, and the work has been going on uninterruptedly ever since; but when it is considered that a complete revision of the system required a separate tariff-sheet to be made out for over three thousand offices, changing and equalizing the rates to more than three thousand other offices, the immense labor and responsibility incurred in the undertaking may be imagined. It was impossible to effect this revision at once with any number of clerks, and for obvious reasons only a limited number could be employed upon it, as they can only act under the instruction of the executive officers, who are charged with all the other duties of an extensive organization.
Various plans have been suggested for simplifying and equalizing the tariffs, but difficulties of a practical nature present themselves in all of them. The existence of rival lines, built by speculators whose profit is in the construction of them, and which essay to do business at rates less than the cost of the service, necessitates the reduction of our rates along certain routes disproportionately, and prevents the adoption of a general rate strictly proportioned to distance. In the course of the coming year, however, it is expected that the work of revising our whole tariff system will be accomplished, to the satisfaction of all.