Bates of Western Union joins B & O Telegraph

MR. BATES GOES OVER TO THE B. & O.

Telegraphers were much surprised this week to hear that at the meeting of the Executive Commfttee of the Western Union Company on Wednesday last the resignation of Mr. D. H. Bates, Assistant General Manager, was tendered and accepted. Mr. Bates immediately left the employ of the Western Union Co. and assumed the position of General Manager of the Baltimore & Ohio Telegraph Co., an office made vacant by the retirement of Mr. George P. Frick.

This action has elicited comment in various quarters, and is viewed under very different lights. Considering that Mr. Bates was for a time nominally President of the American Union Telegraph Co., some have said that the step is an evidence of successful effort on the part of the Western Union Co. to control a company that has been so long a thorn in the flesh to it. Others, again, say that a quarrel must have arisen between Mr. Bates and those with whom he has hitherto been so intimately associated in the American Union Co. and later in the Western Union Co. Still others say that, although there has been no dissension, Mr. Bates is ambitious and had become tired of holding subordinate office.

Whatever may have been the motive, and whatever may lie back of the change, the fact remains that Mr. Bates has retired from the Western Union Co. It is not believed that any regular appointment will be made to fill his place, but that the work formerly done by him will be divided up among the Vice-Presidents. This is an important event in American telegraphic history. The Baltimore & Ohio Co. has not been conspicuously progressive, but it should now, provided no consolidation is intended, occupy a more leading position, as Mr. Bates is known to he one of the most energetic and pushing telegraphers in this country.