Since the Post Office has adopted the policy of charging low uniform rates of postage there has been no concerted attempt to infringe upon its monopoly. The dissatisfied do not now attempt to establish competing posts nor to evade the payment of the legal rates. Any pressure which may be brought to remedy real or supposed grievances takes the form of an attempt to influence the department itself. It is true that a private messenger service was established for the delivery of letters, but the promoters of that service seem to have been unaware of the fact that they were acting in violation of the law, and a satisfactory agreement with the department was soon concluded. As a matter of fact, it is a question whether succeeding governments have not been too subservient in granting the demands of certain sections of the people, notably in connection with the telegraph and telephone systems and the question of guarantees. The position of a government which has abandoned the principle that any extension of services or change in postal policy shall be based upon present or anticipated financial success must necessarily be a difficult one. CHAPTER X THE TELEGRAPH SYSTEM AS A BRANCH OF THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT Previous to the acquisition of the telegraphs by the state, the different telegraphic companies carried on their business in comparative harmony, a harmony which was occasionally disturbed by the entrance into the field of competition of new claimants for the confidence of the public. By far the most important of these companies in 1855 were the Electric and International, and the British and Irish Magnetic, controlling between them about 8500 miles of line and having 600 stations open to the public. During the succeeding ten years, by the growth of the old companies and an increase in the number of the new, the number of miles of line increased to 16,000, of telegraph stations to 2040. The number of public messages sent in 1855 was a little more than one million, in 1860 nearly two millions, and in 1865 over four millions and a half. The rates for a message of twenty words varied from 1_s._ for a distance under fifty miles, plus 1_s._ for each additional fifty miles, to 4_s._ for a distance over 150 miles and 5_s._ to Dublin, including free delivery within half a mile from the telegraph office.[797]