THE POLE AND WIRE EVIL. 183 



incorporation of companies for the purpose of constructing a line of 

 wires of telegraph through the State, from and to any point within it. 

 This was the franchise, and it was given upon certain terms, conditions, 

 and liabilities. Lines of telegraph might be constructed along and 

 upon any of the public roads and highways, or across any of the waters 

 within the limits of the State, by the erection of the necessary fixtures, 

 including posts, piers, or abutments for sustaining the cords or wires of 

 such Wnes,, i^rovided the same were not constructed so as to incommode 

 the public use of the roads or highways or injuriously interrupt the 

 navigation of the waters. By a subsequent act, in 1853, it was pro- 

 vided that any number of persons might associate for the purpose of 

 owning or constructing, using and maintaining a line or lines of elec- 

 tric telegraph, whether wholly within or partly beyond the limits of 

 the State, or for the purpose of owning any interest in such line or lines 

 of electric telegraph or any grants therefor, upon such terms and con- 

 ditions and subject to such liabilities as were prescribed in the act of 

 1848. Such association wd,s authorized to erect and construct from 

 time to time the necessary fixtures for such lines of telegraph, ujjon, 

 over, or under any of the public roads, streets, and highways, and 

 through, across, or under any of the waters within the limits of the 

 State, subject to the restrictions contained in the act of 1848. 



It is under these acts that the evil we complain of has principally 

 arisen. With regard to the exceptions, as, for instance, the electric- 

 light companies, although the language of the statutes authorizing their 

 creation is in some respects different, the principles laid down in this 

 article are, in the main, so far applicable that the same general conclu- 

 sions are deducible. For the same reason, therefore, that led us to 

 avoid a general review of all the State laws, no separate discussion on 

 this point will be instituted. 



It will be observed that, in the legislative acts cited, unqualified 

 power as to the methods of exercising the franchise is not given. The 

 companies are, in effect, prohibited from erecting any fixtures except 

 those which are necessary, and, whether necessary or not, the land-fix- 

 tures must not incommode the public use of the streets. Any unneces- 

 sary or incommoding fixtures still remain an unlegalized public nui- 

 sance. Are, then, the wires and posts necessary, as at present erected ? 

 Do they incommode the public use of the streets ? 



Take the latter question first. When a street is laid out and opened, 

 all persons acquire the right to use it, to pass and repass at their pleas- 

 ure on any part and in such direction as may suit individual conven- 

 ience and taste.* This is what is meant by the public use of a street. 

 Now, the right of the public to use the public streets freely and in 

 every part can not well be exercised when poles occupy a portion of the 

 land. If what is called "the fourth dimension of matter" were a real- 

 ity, a person might be able to pass through the pole without disadvan- 



* Allen's "Telegraph Cases," p. 139. 



