Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, the resolution offered by myself, some days since, upon this subject, was as follows: Resolved,That the Committeopn PostOfficesand Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of authorizing the Post thee Dept to construct and operate telegraph lines alpng the principal mail routes or such of them as it may deem necessary or to contract with such lines as may he already established, if that shall be deemed more advisable for the useand controlof such lines; and, in connection wrfh the postal business,to establishof ficesat such points as maybedeterminedupon. open at all hours to the public and the press.for safeand speedytransmissionofdispatchcs,under proper egulations and at fixed minimum rates; the committee to report by bill or otherwise. The committee having acted upon this matter, have concluded to report bac a resolution calling upon the PostMGenl for such data and statistical information and such views concerning the expediency of an extensionof postal busmess in the direction of furnishing telegraphic facilities as he may desire to sub mit in connection therewith. I think, sir, that in this the committee have acted Wisely. What is needed before such an enterprise shall be entered upon is information, and that, I am sure, the postoffice Dept, with reasonable effort, can supply to the Senate. Indeed, I may add, that from a conversation had with the PostMGenl on this subject, I believe he will take great interest in developing the whole subject. Mr. President, while I shall not enter fully into an examination of this whole subject on a preliminary motion, yet I desire to present in brief some of the principal reasons that occur to me in advocating this proposition of establishing telegraph lines along the main routes in connection with the postoffice system and open to the public at the cheapest rates. They are— 1. They could be predicated on the ost of fice principle, and have auniform rate t rough out the country and a single price for all is tances; the short thus equalizin the long, and the surplus of highly profitable ines enablin an extension of lines on oorer routes, until al parts of the country could be brought into the telegraphie circuit. 2. C eapening the price would vastly enlarge the business of telegraphing, and such increase would insure method and facilities and court esies commensurate with the public demand. Besides, one established route, controlled by Government and thrown open to the public at minimum rates, would go far to insure reduction in telegraph extortion everywhere. It would both establish a fair scale of charges and hold up a threat that would give public opinion some control over consolidated lines that now have it all their own way. 8. The monopolies that nqw control the dis semination of news to the public press by controlling the lines would be broken up and newspaper enterprise would be thrown open to the whole country instead of being concen trated in the hands of a few journals in the city of NewYork. Moreover, it would then be possible, which now it is not, to supply the country at its great commercial centers with a correct abstract of the proceedings of Congress at a trifling cost and with infinite advantage to the nation. 4. Government would not only save all the present annual cost of telegraphing connected with all its Depts, which amounts to a vast sum in the aggregate, but the great modern method of transmitting intelligence would be brought into harmony with the public interest, for now the policy of the companies, confederated as they are, lies in high rates for a limited business, whereas then it would be the reverse, or cheap rates with the greatest possibleextension of intercourse. 5. The certainty, fullness, and varicty of special dispatches would rival the written corre spondence of the press, for that correspondence could go as cheaply by telegraph as by post, and the country would, no longer be daily de moralized by the simultaneous issue all over the land of an associated dispatch that is a travesty of the truth, and that is liable to he need for interested and sinister purposes to righthe markets or corrode the conscience of the nation. Mr. President, against all the obvious policy why this extension of telegraph facility to the public by cheappostal lines should be adopted, there are urged only these 2 reasons: that the amounts invested by individuals in such enterprise would be thereby much impaired if not destroyed; and that it is always best to leave such matters to spontaneous or individual competition, atiirming that the postoffice itself would be more cheaply managed in private hands. To the 1st, I will only say that whenever the Government shall begin the construction oftele gra ih lines it will be time enough to ascertain trut ifully the losses that individuals may there by sustain, orit may avoid allcontingent damage by buying out present lines from time to time at reasonable rates. To the 2nd I respond that there is no com— petition now in the telegraph system, and cannot be any unless the Government interposes. It is perhaps known to many that almost the whole of the telegraph lines are consolidated into ostensibly 2 giant concerns, the “ Western Union” covering the western lines, the “American Telegraph Company” coverin the eastern. It is said. however, that the fiirge stockholders own into each to such an extent as to make them virtually one, and one that rules despotically, precludes all lateral connections, fixes its own tariff, and, according to the authority of Mr. Prescott, will let no one but the Associated Press, anothergiantmonopoly, send any special dis atch or news to any paper except irom Washington and Albany. As these 2 companies do not traverse each others ground, as the Associated Press monopolizes 0th there is no benefit of competition here, which is the only ground on which the claim for leaving the telegraph to private enterprise is reposed. It is sealed against it as much as Brig am Youngs heaven against a rebellious wife. Now, mark the result. It was estimated in 1801 that there were 50,000 miles of telegraph in the U.S., of which per haps 30,000 miles were in the loyal States. These 30,000 miles, at $62 80 er mile, would have cost $1,884,000. There as perhaps, been no very extensive addition do since then, except the line to the Pacific, say 2,000 miles, which even at an enhanced price of say $150 per mile would have cost $300,000. This gives a total oflittle more than $2,000,000, ct, if report be true, this is expanded into what is re presented as a 50 million ca ital stock, on which the most enor mous divi ends are paid, or may be paid, as I shall presently show. Mr. President, I do not profess to he an expert in telegraphic matters, and therefore for illustration I inust refer to an authority that will not be questioned. I hold in m and the latest and fullest publication on the subject, being a work by eorge B. Prescott, Super intendent of the Electric Telegraph lines, pub,lished in Boston in 1800. Its statements are very exact and may be relied on. I wish to show therefore what the cost of construction of these lines is. On page 270 he gives the following as the price of materials used and expense of erection per mile: No.9 iron wire. 72 cents per. p. ound, 32) pou.n. d.$s2pe8ro 3opostsat 80cents. 24(I) 30insulators at mcents 6 00 Setting postsper lllllln. 5 00 Putting up the Wire. 2 00 Total cost per mile. 61 80 l This is about the cost of constructionof amcjority of our lines. If additionalpires are addedeachWire put up would be per mile 8,2 80. Thocost ot instruments.batteries.did. 1!ssfoleggs: Morse register. 00 arserelay magnet. 15O0 cy 4 O0 Local battery. 3 00 5200 Now, let us see what the cost of a line of telegraph with so 6 wires, from Washington city to blow Yor,that is, 24.0 miles, would amount to at those prices: 240 miles of line at $6180 per mile. $14,83200 5 gddiiional wires at 632 per mile each or 240 miles. 100cells Grovebattery at 81 50. 50 stations at 8:22eachfor apparatus. 356.942(D Telegraphs properly constructed, the timber well prepared an wire protected, will last for 20 years. It may be fairlyset down, then, that a not profit of ten%. would more than cover repairs and reimburse outlay to the Government. Ten per ccrit.profit on cost of construction8, 5.69420 Salaries of operators at Washington cit 9, 00 NewYork. Incidental expense.stationery, to Total expense per annum. Government already having offices, furniture, help, &c and it being believed that way stations will support themselves by their local business, this estimate is confined to the Operation of a through line. Of the capacity of such a line to transmit messages it may be saidthat much depends on the instrument used—more, however, on the skill of the operator. Thus the work of Mr. Prescott states that the “Brain” instrument will transmit over 5,000 words an hour, the “ House" 3,000 words, the “ Combination” system 2,000 words, and the “Morse” about the same. The“ Combination” is the system now in general use, and, to use his own language— “An ordinarily expert operatorcan easily transmit 2,000 Words an hour by it, and those wcll skilled much more. Mr. Barret, one of the Boston operators. hassentnews for the press at the rate of 2800 words an hour partly abbre viate and at the rate of 2500 when printed in full.” The capacity of a line such as that from Washin on city to NewYork, with 6 wires and woring on y halfthe time, or 12 hours, at an average speed of 2,000 words, may be thus set forth: 6X 12 X 2,000 X 365:52,560,000 words per annum. It becomes evident, therefore, that this numbe; of words, 52,560,000, divided into the minimum cost of operating the line. $235,69420, will give the charge per word at which the Government could do the public tclegraphing Without loss. This division results in about 1/20th of a cent a word,or 20 words for a cent, or 60 words for 3 cents, the cost of a postage stamp. The average of business letters, however, will not exceed 60 words, so that from this aimple calculation it will appear that the telegraphic charges on ordinary commercial correspondence may be made as inexpensive as the present postal rates. In other words, the postoffice on wire will be cheaper than the postoffice on rail. Take another view of this subject in connection with the same data. Compare what might be the low price and vast difiusion of telegraph facilities With the high rates and close monopoly that now obtains. ecall the figures illustrating the cost of construction and operating a line from NewYork to Washington: Cost of construction, $50,842; operating expense perannum $25,604 20; capacity of transmission yearly, 52,560000 wor s. Those 50odd million words, at the adver tised rates put up in the Offices, that is, from Washington city to NewYork city, 75 cents for the 1st ten words and 6 cents a word for every subse ueut one. would give 52,660,000X6:$3,1,600 00, or more than 3 million dollars net income on an investment of less than 80,000 dollars cash. Isuhmit whether the public Lye not a right to be protected by the Government against so enormous a taxation on its rightful postal facilities, for telegraphs are nothing else. It is believed that the enormous increase of basin that would result from reducing the priceli; ost Office telegraph lines to a.minimum would Keep all such lines worked to their full capacity. On the other hand, it is admitted that the present lines are not worked to their full capacity, and do not ct returns so disproportionate as those nst shown because theirs is a policy of limits business and high charges. In conclusion I have only to remark that as the expiration of the patents which cover the principal instruments used will soon occur, 1808 believe, and as the modes of transmission now meet the requirements of the postal service— printed dispatches by the “House” system, fac simile of handwritin executed by the Bake well copying telegrap, and combination cipher writing, so that even the operator cannot read it—by those recesses so much develoed during the war there is no execuse for reliictance in the postoffice Dept to avail itself of the present opportunities and keep up with the spirit of the age. Mr. President, I do not anticipate that there will be any objection to this resolution. It is simply a resolution ofinquiry askin for information from the Dept, and? therefore trust that it will be put on its passage. The resolution was agreed to. postoffice APPROPRIATIONS.