n (See Part VII,
ARENA, July, 1896).

16. _A Postal telegraph will be a step toward a fairer distribution of
wealth_ and away from the congestion of power and wealth in the hands of
a few unscrupulous men, which is one of the chief dangers threatening
the future of the country (See Part VIII, ARENA, August, 1896). On this
ground alone the establishment of a national telegraph would be
justified, were there no other reason in the case.

17. _The public safety demands a national telegraph_, not merely as a
precaution against corruption, speculation, and panic, congestion of
wealth and power, strikes, and duress of the press, but also as a
military measure and a valuable addition to the police power of the
government,--a means of strength in time of war, and a conservator of
law and order by aiding in the capture of criminals and in the general
enforcement of the law. We have already quoted the opinion of Mr.
Scudamore that the postal telegraph "will strengthen the country from
hostility from without, and the maintaining of law and order within the
kingdom." Let us call attention here to the weighty words of the New
York _Public_, cited in Wanamaker's Argument, pp. 206-7:

The Government itself absolutely needs a telegraphic system for its
own protection. This will not seem the language of exaggeration
when it is considered that the ordinary enforcement of laws, the
capture of offenders, the success of fiscal operations, the
protection of the country against domestic insurrection and foreign
invasion, have come to depend in these days upon the instant
transmission of intelligence with certain and absolute secrecy. It
may at any time come to pass that the private interests of those
controlling a telegraph system shall require the non-enforcement of
the law, the prevention or delay of a financial operation, or the
partial success of a domestic outbreak or foreign inroad. It is
nonsense to say that this cannot happen. If Mr. Gould could
suppress for a few hours or days, news of an outbreak on the
Pacific coast or of the capture of a hostile ironclad from Europe,
he could make millions by it. The Government has no certainty that
he would throw away millions. It has no certainty that its orders
bearing on great financial operations may not be betrayed and its
aims thwarted. When the Government was hunting for the Star Route
offende