It is no secret that the French telegraphic service treated the public with scant courtesy during the war, delivering despatches when and to whom it pleased, but the extent of its abuses as elicited by the committee appointed by the Chamber of Deputies to investigate into State contracts during the war will nevertheless astonish everybody.

This investigation — the results of which are published in the “Temps” — shows that the Telegraphic Control Section, of which M. Tannery was the head and Captain Ladoux and M. Pierre Lenoir were active members, was responsible for scandalous abuses.

For instance, in the course of the investigation M. Tannery recognized that on an average at the Paris Telegraph Bureau 40,000 despatches were held back daily. The majority of them were never delivered and the others were distributed after great delay. The despatches which were retained were in the main thrown into a basket and when the accumulation had become too great they were destroyed. The Control Section never made any inquiry and neither the senders or those to whom the despatches were addressed were ever informed.

It must be admitted that these telegraph authorities were no respecters of persons. Telegrams sent by or to foreign sovereigns, princes, and diplomatists were treated like the despatches of Tom, Dick or Harry. In fact, the close attention and all the patience of the Delegation of Foreign Affairs was needed to prevent the systematic holding up of these State telegrams.