The Struggle Against the Telegraph Monopoly
Public frustration with the Western Union monopoly mounts as strikes cause service delays, sparking a national debate over the necessity of a government-run postal telegraph system.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
That the prolonged suspension of business occasioned by the telegraphers' strike is having the effect of increasing the demand for the establishment of a government postal telegraph service is growing apparent daily. It is alleged that in the present state of affairs there can be no competition, and the public as well as the government must continue to be subject to the will, mercy, and convenience of the great monopoly, which as fast as rival lines are projected, are grasped by Western Union stockholders and absorbed into its system. The Postal Telegraph Bill will be before the Congress of the United States next winter, and it is apparent that its friends will be reinforced by trade and business circles on account of the complications and losses growing out of the present unjustifiable action of the monopoly.
“It is alleged truly that in the present state of affairs there can be no competition and the public as well as the government must continue to be subject to the will, mercy and convenience of the great monopoly.”
The late 19th-century battle against the Western Union monopoly over essential communication infrastructure mirrors today's modern concerns regarding corporate control over internet service providers and the push for public broadband as a utility.
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