Mr. HOWE. I was not able to agree with the majority of the committee which reported this bill, and the ground of my dissent was one of 2 reasons, I do not exactly know which, [laughter] and I was a.good deal divided on that point in the committee; but I know to a dead certainty that I objected to the bill. One of its provisions undertakes to grant to this company the sole right to maintain tele graphie communications with these islands for a given number of years, and another clause of the bill says that there is no sole right at all given for these years, nor any right given for these years, but the power is reserved to the Congress of the U.S. to repeal the exclusive privilege and repeal the whole privilege whenever Congress shall see fit to do so. It IS either a bad thing or a good thing misnamed; I am not satisfied with it, let which will be the case. If it is an attempt to grant the exclusive privilege to this company or any company to maintain telegraphic communications with these islands for a given number of years I think we ought to discountenunce it. am not unmindful of the fact that the whole nation now is groaning under the restrictions of a monopoly granted many years ago, the arguments for which were just as strong and stronger by far than can be adduced in favor of this grant, by the State of NewJersey, and we have been exhausting ourselves in the cffort to find relief to the nation against the effects of that monopoly; and while we are setting our faces against that, I do not think we ought to sanction the same principle. It does seem to me very certain that no necessity exists for granting an exclusive privilege here that does not exist or at least may not be urged on behalf of any telegraph line that ever was built or ever may be, or any railroad, or any canal project that ever was started. There is nothing experimental about it. Just these 2 considerations seem to me to be man ifest: either this will not be a paying enterprise, and therefore the company never will be endangered by any competition, or it will be a liberal paying enterprise and the communit will demand and will need other facilities of the same kind. If they do need other facilities, I am unwilling to give my assent to a measure which shall exclude them from having those additional facilities. There is nothing experimental about this. The fact that tele graphic communication may be had by this means is well established. There is nothing doubtful about the practicability of laying a line to these islands, or, as the Senfrom Missouri[Mr. Baowx] suggests, about the rolit of it. As for myselfI cannot speak conlideutly as to the profit of it. I suppose these gentlemen understand that. If they are willing to put their money in it. if they arethe only ones who understand it, no other company will ever compete with them. It will not be any more certain if one wire is laid betWeen the Floridas and the islands that another wire can be laid than it is now that a dozen wires can be laid and successfully laid. It may be doubt ful how far it will pay. It is doubtful to me it may not be to them. It bears no sort of analogy, in my judgment, to those monopolies we ive to great discoveries. There they in tro nce to human society something new, in ventions of their own, something that did not before exist. They are creators, so to speak; or if they create no new principle, they bring to bear upon human affairs and human business the new application of principles; and to such it is perfectly just; it stimulates discovery. We granted a monopoly to the man who discovered this nIode ot telegraphing; but the ap: plication of a well known mode of communi cating with these islands by this particular route I cannot conceive demands the recognition of an such principle. Igor these reasons I was not able to agree with the committee in reporting the bill, and I shall not. be able to vote for it. I do not think it is particularly dangerous, because of the 3rd section which reserves to Congress the right to repeal it. Still, if it is not an exclusive privilege, you ought not to call it so;