Telegraph Co. v. Texas
Supreme Court of the United States
Error to the Supreme Court of the State of Texas. The Western Union Telegraph Company is a New York corporation engaged in the business of .transmitting telegrams at fixed rates of compensation.
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Error to the Supreme Court of the State of Texas. The Western Union Telegraph Company is a New York corporation engaged in the business of .transmitting telegrams at fixed rates of compensation. Its lines extend into and through most of the States and Territories of the United States, and to Washington, in the District of Columbia. ■ It has availed itself of the privileges and subjected itself to the obligations of title 65.of the Revised Statutes relating to telegraph companies, and its lines connect with those owned and established by the government of the United States for public purposes.…
1Opinion of the Court
Mr. Chief Justice Waite,
after stating the. case, delivered the opinion of the court,
In Pensacola Telegraph Co. v. Western Union Telegraph Co. (96 U. S. 1), this court held that the telegraph was an instrument of commerce, and that telegraph companies were subject to the regulating power of Congress in respect to their' foreign and inter state business. A telegraph company occupies the same relation to commerce as a carrier of messages, that a railroad company does as a carrier of goods. Both companies are instruments of commerce, and th,eir bnsiness is commerce itself. They do their…
2Cases cited9 opinions
- M'culloch v. State of MarylandSupreme Court of the United States · 1819
- Brown v. MarylandSupreme Court of the United States · 1827
- Welton v. MissouriSupreme Court of the United States · 1876
- Smith v. TurnerSupreme Court of the United States · 1849
- Henderson v. Mayor of the City of New York Commissioners of Immigration v. North German LloydSupreme Court of the United States · 1876
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3Cited by202 opinions
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- Pullman's Palace Car Co. v. PennsylvaniaSupreme Court of the United States · 1891
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