6 SEPTEMBER 1884, Page 11

MR. FAWCETT AND THE TELEPHONES.

IF no other Department had justified the existence of a Liberal Ministry, the Post Office at least would have amply redeemed its credit. The same official who has given us the Parcels Post, and would, no doubt, have given us six- penny telegrams by this time, had not the timidity of the Treasury prevailed, has now again shaken off the trammels of officialism and restored to comparative freedom the youngest and most wonderful development of the means of communi- cation. Owing to the monopoly of all electric means of com- munication conferred upon the Post Office at the time of the purchase of the telegraphs, Great Britain has fallen behind, not only the United States, but other Continental countries, in the development of this wonderful invention of one of her own sons. The New-Yorker of means is understood to be no more able to do without his telephone than the Englishman is without the Penny Post. As we are the most letter-writing country in the world, notwithstanding the loudly pronounced hatred of putting pen to paper professed by most English people—or, at least, English males—it is most probable that had it not been for the hateful effects of State monopoly, we should before now have been the most wire-speaking country in the world. Happily, the concessions now made by the State are of a kind which, it is to be hoped, may enable us quickly to make up for lost time.

Three weeks ago we commented on the concessions which Mr. Fawcett announced in the House of Commons that he was prepared to make to the Telephone Companies. Those which he has now announced go further. He proposed originally to do away with all restrictions on the mode in which the Com- panies conducted their business, but to exact the State royalty of 10 per cent, on business done on private telephone wires, as well as on Trunk and Exchange lines. This proposal, in deference presumably to the criticisms of Mr. Gray during the debate on the subject at the beginning of last month, he now abandons. Further, he has accepted the suggestion made in the same debate that subscribers to private Telephone Com- panies should be able to dictate telegrams through the telephone in the same way as those who use the Post-Office telephones may ; and he has adopted it without making any extra charge for the increased facility. The Postmaster-General has thus shown that his openness of mind and capacity for conviction have not been destroyed even by the close atmosphere of a Department, and that liberality of spirit is as valuable in a statesman, employed in administrative office, as it is in one whose main business is to criticise the shortcomings of others.

The position of the Telephone in England is now almost ideal. It is perfectly clear that if the State had insisted upon its full monopoly, the development of telephones would have been strangled. However potent the arguments which may be brought forward for the annexation by the State of perfected and established means of communi- cation, none of these arguments apply to the case of a newly-invented process like the telephone. The only way in which a scientific invention has a chance of being adapted to the requirements of practical life, is by unrestricted com- petition. It cannot be expected of a State department that it should spend money in experiments which may or may not prove wasteful or useful, even if it were to be expected of officials in receipt of a fixed salary that they should vex them- selves with the brain-torture of the inventor. Even in the business of man-slaying, which has now become the exclusive and jealously-guarded function of the State, the Departments can- not compete with outside inventors, and have to resort to Armstrong& and Pallisers, to Thornycrofts and Whiteheads, for their most essential weapons. It is not the function of the State to invent, but simply to regulate and to administer. But there is a danger almost as great to the commercial development of scientific inventions as even State monopoly, and that is the monopoly of a pri- vate Company. If it required all Mr. Fawcett's liberality of mind to avoid the former danger, it required all his acuteness to detect and avert the latter. Had he accepted the proposal which the Companies made, and which he told the House that he was at first inclined to accept, of a guarantee by the Com- panies of reimbursement for any loss in the development of Telegraph business owing to Telephones (the prospective in- crease to be measured by the average increase of the last three years), a monopoly would have been established, since such a guarantee could not have been accepted without guaranteeing a monopoly. If there were to be a monopoly, it would be better in the hands of the Department than that of a private Company. Municipal experience of Water and Gas Companies may be appealed to in proof of this doctrine. As it is, the State takes in its 10 per cent. royalty, a fair share of profit on telephones, in exchange for the rights sold to the Companies, and the ser- vices performed for them; while the royalty, instead of deaden- ing, will tend to quicken the Companies' enterprise, with a view of increasing the net profits to be divided amongst their shareholders. By way of a further spur to invention and good management, the Post Office itself is free to enter into the competition for business. The public thus has secured to it the most favourable conditions that could be desired, not only for the progress of invention, but for its free and early participation in the full fruits of invention.

There remains now only one restriction on the Com- panies. Though they may, with the aid of the Post Office, set the telegraph to work, and so indirectly and incidentally convey written messages, they may not do so directly. This restriction seems, indeed, essential, if the distinction between telephonic and telegraphic messages is to be preserved, as, in the interests of the Post Office, at first sight it must be. But there is considerable danger lest it should prevent development. After the invention of the telephone it is quite conceivable, to the unscientific mind at least, that the same vibration of a plate which produces a sound should also be enabled to transpose the sound into marks and register it on paper. The result would be that people could talk their letters instead of writing them. The advantages of this would be manifold. It would be, to begin with, a saving of time at each end, for while it is quicker and easier to talk than to write, it is quicker and easier to read than to listen. If a man is busy, it is a great nuisance to have to break off what he is doing for the purpose of rushing and putting his ear to the telephone. But if the telephone recorded itself, he could postpone giving his attention till he had time. Then again, the main commercial difficulty of telephones is that there is no recorded evidence of the contract. But if the telephone recorded itself, the best of all possible evidence could be given. Indeed, by some further development, it is possible that the very tones of the voice could be reproduced for the satisfaction of the Court and Jury. A development like this might, and in all probability would, diminish the use, not only of the Telegraph, but even of the Post Office itself. But if written messages are to be prohibited, such development would be impossible in this country, and either it would never take place at all, or we should have to import it, not without pay- ment, from other countries. It is impossible, however, to see how, with the present arrangement made by Mr. Fawcett, the State could possibly suffer, even by such a development as that suggested. The Post Office would be free to use it as well as the Companies, with the immense advantage of unlimited capital, an organised staff, and offices ready to hand. Besides which, even if it fell behind the age and failed to supply facilities itself, it would still receive its royalty of 10 per cent. on the Com- panies' receipts ; and, if the worst came to an inconceivable worst, though it might have lost all the capital sunk in the Tele- graph business, it would still be receiving a handsome per-centage, which could hardly fall short of the present profits on Tele- graphs. For they amounted in 1883 to barely 8 per cent, on the annual charge, without reference to interest on the enormous capital sunk in their purchase. In fact, having conceded so much, Mr. Fawcett may as well concede a little more, and leave the Telephonic trade entirely free as regards its management and development. There is nothing which is more important to the prosperity and progress of a country than its means of communication ; and in nothing would a Liberal policy meet with a more substantial reward or, as events have shown, with more grateful recognition.