File No. 841.731/18
The Western Union Telegraph Company to the Secretary of State 1
Sir: Believing that the United States Government fully appreciates the desirability of removing every unnecessary bar to the development of this country’s foreign business during the present serious European situation, it occurs to us that it may be consistently possible for our Government to make such representations to the British Government as will be calculated to admit of a more reasonable attitude with respect to censorship of cable messages by the War Office at London.
By reason of unnecessary exactions in the way of full addresses and signatures to every message, no matter how innocent and innocuous its character, the capacity of the working Atlantic cables has been cut down just 50 per cent at this time when the demands upon the cables exceed their capacity, and there is the greatest public distress to learn of the whereabouts and safety of American tourists caught in Europe when the war broke out. The unusual requirement that in addition to being written in plain language, messages must bear a full address, including street and number, and be signed in the full name of the sender, has served to exactly double the number of words in the average message, which not only reduces the capacity of the cables in actual messages, as stated, but doubles the cost to the public without any possible apparent advantage to the military operations in England.
It would seem to be apparent that a street and number in the case of well-known firms, such as the Cunard Steamship Company in Liverpool, or Messrs. Morgan, Grenfell and Company in London, and hundreds of other equally prominent firms, is wholly unnecessary, and that the character of a message which on its face is of a social nature, is not affected by the circumstance that it is signed “William” instead of “William Thompson Smith.”
Similarly, messages exchanged between the United States and Porto Rico, are not only subject to censorship, but come under the same stringent restrictions as other traffic, simply because this company’s connection with Porto Rico is by means of English cables with Havana, which touch at Jamaica, and in disregard of the fact that the French Cable Company, whose cables land directly from the United States to Santiago and Porto Rico, offers an untrammeled channel for any messages hostile to British interests to be transmitted.2 Advices just received from the other side show also that the censors have forbidden this company to make any inquiries respecting the delivery of messages, insisting that such inquiries should be made in the form of private messages to be paid for by the senders and addressed to their correspondents, upon the theory presumably that inquiries made by the company might develop the fact that in certain cases the messages have been suppressed by the censors, but this fact [Page 505] would, of course, be equally developed by the paid inquiries referred to.
It may seem illogical for the cable companies which would benefit from this regulation appealing therefrom, but so far as this company is concerned, we do not wish to be put in the position of appearing to take advantage of the situation in order to mulct the public.
We have, of course, made our own appeal to the British authorities, through our representatives abroad, but without success. It is hoped, however, that if our Government will interest itself in the matter, some reasonable modification of the present regulations may be effected.
I would be glad to be advised of the Department’s action.
Very respectfully,
Manager