THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT NOT COMPETENT TO MANAGE THE TELEGRAPHS.
If it should ever appear to be for the public good that this agency, so capable of use as a political power, should pass into the hands of government, it seems proper to await such a demonstration of the self-sustaining capacity of the department under whose control it is proposed to be placed, and such efficiency in that service, as will furnish reasonable assurance of ability for the united control without burden to the state, or lessened convenience to the people. A department which is still confessedly imperfect, which cannot even tell the number of letters which it transmits per annum, whose receipts are unequal to the cost of service by over $6,000,000,[[28]] which could not secure skilled labor in this new field except by foraging from existing enterprises, and which could not avoid heavy losses at the rates proposed, is not at present a fit recipient of so important a trust.
[28]. The postal revenue for the year ending June 30th, 1868, was $16,292,600.80, and the expenditures during the same period $22,730,592.65, showing an excess of expenditures of $6,337,991.85. From the report of the Postmaster-General.
The Post-Office Department, which already has more duties than it is able to perform, instead of seeking to absorb the telegraphs, had better apply itself to its proper task of developing the correspondence of the country, and endeavor to make itself financially profitable to the nation, instead of a serious burden.
That the post-office undertakes more than it can perform is shown by the delays and irregularities of the service, and the enormous and constantly increasing number of its dead letters, which amounted, in 1867, to over 4,500,000! Were the telegraph companies to deal with the messages committed to them for transmission as the post-office deals with the letters committed to its care, there would be good grounds for governmental interference; but there are very few complaints of non-delivery of telegrams.
It should be borne in mind that electric telegraphy is a science, and its successful operation requires a thorough knowledge of electricity, skill in manipulating the apparatus, and many years of constant training in the practical duties of the business. Many of the employees of this company have been constantly in the service for more than a score of years, and still consider themselves students in this new field of practical science: without wishing to be invidious in our comparisons, we may fairly say that the intelligence and skill which are ample for the duties of filling a bag with letters and despatching them by horse or steam power, would not be competent to the duties of successfully transmitting an important despatch through the invisible agency of the electric current.
GOVERNMENT ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY.
Another serious drawback to the value of the telegraph under government management is its failure to make reparation to private individuals for losses caused by the errors or imperfection of its service. In no country where the telegraph exists under government control is there any assumption of accountability for errors or delays in the transmission of messages. In some countries they will not even inquire into the cause of delay or errors, and in others, as in Spain, they will only do so for the purpose of punishing the delinquent employee, but in no case to reimburse the patron of the telegraph for his loss. This failure to assume any responsibility in the matter is of great importance to the public. The amount paid by the Western Union Telegraph Company per annum, on account of these unavoidable errors and delays, is very considerable. The public would be reluctant to leave the correct transmission and delivery of their important messages to the chances of a government system which is notoriously defective, and which would in no case reimburse them for losses occasioned by errors in the transmission of their telegrams, or failure to send them at all. The scheme proposed by Mr. Hubbard, owing to the divided responsibility of the service, would be even worse than the absorption of the lines by the government. Public opinion could not reach the contractor, because he is the servant of the government, and not of the public, and it would fail to influence the Post-Office Department, as it does not itself perform the service, and, because being a department, it is practically irresponsible. How much influence, for example, has public opinion on the collectors of internal revenue or customs, or even the postmasters of this country?
If despatches were left at the post-offices, or dropped in the street boxes, as provided for in Mr. Hubbard’s bill, they would have to take their chances of transmission and delivery, with no recourse, in case of failure, for redress from any source. If a despatch should fail to reach its destination, and complaint was made to the postmaster, he would reply that he was not responsible for its transmission, and would refer the aggrieved person to the telegraph contractor; while the latter would answer that he was a servant of the government, and not responsible to the public for the imperfections of his service. And the result would be, that while the sender of the despatch obtained no redress, he would not have even the satisfaction of knowing which service was at fault, the post-office or the telegraph.