Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 166, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1918 — SYSTEMS OF COMMUNICATION UNDER GOVERNMENT CONTROL [ARTICLE]

SYSTEMS OF COMMUNICATION UNDER GOVERNMENT CONTROL

Lafayette Journal. President Wilson has issued a proclamation taking over control of telegraph and telephone systems, effective on July 31. Presumably the advocates of government ownership are made very happy as a result of this action and those politicans who assume that the votes of the employes go with the control of the property are rubbing their hands in oily glee. There is an ever increasing inclination to look askance upon the seizure of private property under the plea that such action is necessary to the successful prosecution of the war. Where such necessity really exists i>o word of protest will be forthcoming; the sacrifice of every personal and corporate right will be made willingly in order that organziation may be most effective and the war be sooner won. But if there was any real justifidation for the seizure of the lines of communication the facts have not been made public at an early hour this morning. The authority was given by a congress acting contrary to its better judgment and deferring in the matter solely because the president had requested that the matter be placed in his hands. President Konenkamp of the Commercial Telegraphers’ Union succeeded in alarming Washington to some extent by a threat to call a strike of all employes of the Western Union Telegraph company. - It is now known that Konenkamp was bluffing; very few of the Western Union employes belong to his little union, and there was at no time an announced intention to strike. As a matter of fact there was no ground's upon which to base a strike as the matters at issue were conceded by officials of the company. But with the railroad situation as it existed two years ago still, fresh in mind President Wilson was prevailed upon to assume no risks and the control of the telegraph and telephone lines was entrusted to him. There are incidents connected with the situation that clearly indicate that politicians and champions of government ownership acted, not from motives of patriotism but for purposes of personal satisfaction. The manner in which a majority of a minority of the senate committee recommended government control verged closely upon the scandalous and when the report was returned for action by ia majority of the whole committee only the merest pretense of investigating the merits of the matter was made. There has been no charge that the service has not been adequate, that it has not been efficient. Neither has there been any charge that official secretjs have been divulged in transmission. There was nothing the: matter with the service until Konenkamp conceived the idea of feathering his own nest and achieving an importance that was not his due, and announced that he was going to call a strike. It will .be interesting to seen whether he succeeds in landing an appointment as a reward for services rendered.

There isn’t the remotest possibility of a betterment of the service or a cheapening of the existing rates. On the contrary increased rates will in all probability follow as a result of government control, if we are to judge by the conditions that prevail in the transportation world, and even the postal department under whose supervision the telegraph and telephone lines have been placed. Government ownership is a matter that will be discussed at length during ,the next Couple of years. At present we merely have government control as a war emergency policy, but the advocates of government ownership are very busy and extremely hopeful. But government control and the purchase of the properties in question are matters quite widely separated and whether the American people are ready to assume a burden of a great many billions of dollars on top of their war debts, whatever they may be when the war is ended, remains to be seen.

It is scarcely probable that the will, in view of the fact that while necessity demanded that the government take over the railroads we are paying dearly for the privilege in the way of increased passenger and freight rates. The fifteen per cent increases which were denied the railroads as private institutions have been tripled because the restrictions which hedged our transportation systems about could be evaded only by governmental control during a period of emergency. But the conditions that justified' control of the railroads did not and do not exist as applying to telegraph and telephone lines. There are forces at work that place upon the people the obligation of thinking seriously and arriving at proper conclusions if disaster is to be averted when the war ends, as it will do quite suddenly some morning.