Show I TELEGRAPHIC COMPETITION I f I The dispatches on Wednesday said the cable companies had reduced rateS 1 to meet th6se established by the BenS Ben-S netMackay lines and now comes the I j S announcement of the formation of a I syndicate in opposition to the WesternS S Western-S Union company The association represents I 4 j rep-resents 200000 miles of completed line i and has fSOOOOQOO capital invested The news seems rather good to be true and yet in the light of what the new cable has done and promises to do I I J there is some reason to believe the 1 S story is not a hoax The country would I hail with delight a war on the telegraph I j rates which though they have been I l 1 reduced much during i late years are I I still double vhat they should be I t The manner in which the affairs I of the Western Union com If pany have been conducted makes li I it absolutely necessary that tariffs be I kept above all reason otherwise satis factory dividends could not be paid on stock the par value of which is three or I four times the actual cost of the 1 companys lines patents and tangible 5 property generally If the rumored opposition I op-position should prove to be real the t war upon the gigantic monopoly this f I time would mean more than a little pro I 11 I 1 i j L j Ii e S 2 < teat a brief struggle to endedby the wallowing of the enemy by the great gormandizer which has hitherto qaf ei everything that has arisen in its road Bennett Mackay the Baltimore Ohio people andthe others said to be interested in the syndicate are not reckless weaklings struggling T for an existence they have as muofranoney back of them as the W ester Union can command and do not play in matters of this kind if they combine for a fight it will be with the determination of wjnrung whatever the cost At theoutset as soon as it is understood that they mean business they will have the sympathy and pport of the thousandswho are waiting an opportunity for showing how well they can retaliate upon a concern con-cern that has wilfully robbed them I when they were powerless to defend themselves A successful rival to the infamous Associated Press ana a formidable for-midable opposition to the Western Union would be hailed by tKe people with almost as much delight as was the election of a Democratic Presiderif |