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0,tr GOVERA'A~EJVT COLV~~ROL OF TELEGRAPHS, ETC. 287
contract, st a total cost, in 1863, of $1,516,142. The property
concerned in the service of the Post Office is, in fact, gigamtio,
but it is happily removed from the care and ownership of
Government. NOW, this condition, fortunately, can be observed
in the Government t,elegraphs.
The construction and maintenance of telegraph wim and
instrnments is most peculiarly suitable for performance by
contract. The staff who oonstruct and repair tho wires and
instrument,s, are quite distinct from those who use them, and
there need be no direct communication or unity of organisation
bet.wecn the two. Just RS a railway company engages to
furnish tho Post O5ce with a mail train at tho required hour
each day, so it mill bo easy for E contractor to furnish and
maintain a mire betwccn any two given points. And it is
obvious t.hat the cost of a wiro or instrument', and even the
charge for the supply of clectricit,y, can be EO easily determined
and arc so little liable to VllriHtiOll that scarcely any opportunity
mill nrise for fraud or mismanagement.
There is R company already existing, called tho Telegraph
Conetruction and Maintcnauco Company, which is chiefly
engaged in laying submarine telegraphs, a work of far mop8
hazardous character, but which it has carried on successfully
and profitably. And it is certain that if it were thought
desirable, some body of capitalists would bo found ready to
construct, hold, and maintain in repair tho whole apparatun
required in the Government telegraph service, at fixed moderate
charges. Thus would be preserved in completeness thome
conditions under which the Post Office has worked with suoh
pre-eminent success.
It can hardly be doubted then that if the electric telegraphs
of this!kingdom mere purchased by the Government, and placed
in the hands of a branch of tho Post Office department, to be
managed in partial union with the letter post, and under the
eame conditions of efficiency and economy, very gratifying
results would be attained, and no loss incurred. But, inasmuch
as the analogy of the telegraphs and Post Office fails in a very
important point, that of the expense of transmission, we should
guard against exaggerated expectations, and should not press