UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

For a variety of strange reasons, I've set up an arrangement by which a server responds with "Hi there" if I connect on a specified port. This is a typical transaction:

Code:

# telnet example.com 3334
Trying 123.456.789.101...
Connected to example.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
Hi there
Connection closed by foreign host.

Now, I'm trying to use a quick and dirty way to do this concurrently, using xarg's -P (or max-procs, in some cases) option. Once this works, I'll increase the seq value, add -P concurrency, and be happy. The problem, though, is that I can't get the server's response to show up. Here's a trivial case:

Code:

# seq 1 | xargs -I DISCARD telnet example.com 3334
Trying 123.456.789.101...
Connected to example.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed by foreign host.

So, the "1" should be discarded, as there is no DISCARD string in the command called by xargs, and the telnet command should be run. But, this trivial case should be the same thing as just running the telnet command alone since it's wrapped up in a negligible xargs. But, for some reason, the server's "Hi there" doesn't appear. Any idea why that is? I've tried redirecting stderr to stdout on the chance that it's some oddity in the way xargs handles errors, but no luck. I've also placed the telnet command into a little one-liner script and called that instead, without changing the output. Any suggestions? I've scratched my head many times. It didn't help... Many thanks in advance.