Show WAR OF THE GIANTS The Western Union and the Bell Telephone People to MEASURE SWORDS IN THE ARENA At Least so Buns the Story Jay Gould Sits upon the Anxious Seat Will he Reach the Mourners Bench Special to Tim HERALD Examiner Dispatch NEW YORK Dec 10Jay Gould is said to be on the anxious seat Ho fears that his great monopoly the telegraph the source of his greatest wealth and power has encountered a rival It is thetelophone which is supposed to be causing him this anxiety At least this is what the knowing ones on Wall street allege and appear for once in all conscience to believe Certainly this telephone of the country has made a great advance over its first primitive employment em-ployment and it seems consisten t with the march of science that the speaking telegraph tele-graph should take the place of its predecessor prede-cessor The mere fact that the telephone trust has an understanding with Gould not to send telegraphic messages and notwithstanding notwith-standing this fact it is now beginning to send them and it is significant in this connection con-nection It is true the general public has ceased to look upon the telephone as a competitor com-petitor of the telegraph but the public in this respect not so well posted as Jay Gould In the telephone Mr Gould realizes real-izes that ho has to deal with an enemy Indeed so much does he realize it that itis said he is ready to turn over his plant to Uncle Sam for a consideration of course And thus is Bellamys Look Backward being realized Not only has Mr Gould to face an opponent op-ponent so strong as the Bell Telephone company but his cable interests are not in such a condition as to givo him perfect satisfaction The AngloAmerican company com-pany confessedly dissatisfied with the way their business has been handled and the share of profits they have received from the Western Union The French Cable company another member of the old pool is now in the courts of France seeking to be released from its agreement with Mr Gould and his cable pool To add to Mr Goulds embarrassment and the general muddle of his telegraph affairs comes news of the incorporation of a com jany in England to lay a cable from Ireland oj the straits of Belle lisle in the gulf of St Lawrence and equally cheering intelligence intelli-gence that the English and Spanish governments govern-ments have granted a large subsidy to a company at thes head of which stands Sir William Armstrong to lay a cable from Spain via the Azores and Bermuda thence touching various West India islands to Charleston S C The former cable is in actual progress of construction today and ie postal union is pushing their lines towards to-wards Charleston with the utmost speed in order to connect with the latter at Charleston It is the long distance service of the Bell Telephone company which is now cutting into Mr Goulds profits and which is the principal thing that threatens his exclusive control over both commercial and news messages A correspondent of one of the leading electric journals in the country states that the wires of the Bell company between Buffalo and Chicago were stretched and ready for operations or would be in very fqw days He also stated thatsthe telephone company was pushing vest and northwest of Chicago with all possible speed and that there was and is an agreement in existence between the Bell company and the Western Union whereby the former company agrees to do no telegraphic business He further said hat the Bell company which includes all telephone companies in the United States no matter under what name is already engaged en-gaged in the telegraph business and it is only a matter of policy and fear of the public that prevents Gould today from suing the telephone company for breach of contract It is well known he continued to telegraph men that the coming opponent op-ponent of toe telegraph monopoly is the equally great monopoly of the telephone The telephone people have a trump card which they are holding bacK until the proper moment This is nothing less than an improved telephone which will far ex eed the present instrument in range and in fact will astound the public when it is placed upon the market Do you think that the telephone company com-pany could from the start compete com-pete with the telegraph companies Perhaps the best answer to your ques ionis to be had in the fact that the Wee tern Union telegraph company has today 10000 offices throughout the United States This number includes numerous offices to be found in cities like New York Boston and Chicago As soon as the telephone jecplebegin receive and send telegraphic messages as they will do undoubtedly in the near future they can with less expense easily have as many as 40000 offices in this country There is no doubt that the telephone people are keeping this matter very quiet I do not doubt that hey will deny it but it is nevertheless a fact that Jay Gould will receive a serious blow when the telephone people begin to send messages However whether Mr Gould interests suffer or do not the general gen-eral public is soon to view the telephone as something more than office nuisances as so many are now prone to vote Conversations Conversa-tions between New York and Chicago and perhaps between Chicago and San Francisco Fran-cisco are possibilities very glittering and attractive even in this age of marvels |