State ex rel. Caster v. Kansas Postal-Telegraph-Cable Co.

Citations

• 96 Kan. 298
• 150 P. 544
• 1915 Kan. LEXIS 372

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Utilities Commission — Power to Regulate and Control Location of Telegraph Stations. The public utilities act (Laws 1911, ch¡ 238) and related statutes have conferred upon the public utilities commission the power to determine whether a-telegraph station long established and maintained should be abandoned.</p> <p>2. Same. The power thus granted is a valid exercise of governmental supervision and does not contravene any provision of either the national or state constitution.</p> <p>3. Telegraph Station — Can Not be Discontinued without Permission of Utilities Commission. Where a telegraph company maintained a telegraph station for a number of years at an average deficit of $134.33 per annum it should have applied to the public utilities commission to discontinue it, and it was unlawful to close the station and quit business thereat until such permission was granted.</p> <p>4. Same — Construction of Statutes. Section 1796 of the General Statutes of 1909 (Laws 1893, ch. 152) is largely superseded by the public utilities act and other related statutes enacted since 1893.</p> <p>5. Telegraph Station at County Seat — Not Self-supporting — Utilities Commission May Permit Its Discontinuance. Section 1796 of the General Statutes of 1909 (Laws 1893, ch. 152), requiring each telegraph company to maintain an office in the county seat of each county when its lines run through such county seat, does not limit the power of the public utilities commission to determine whether such office is self-supporting and compensatory, nor prevent the commission from relieving the telegraph company of that duty if its enforced maintenance would violate any provision of the national or state constitution, or be otherwise unduly burdensome, unreasonable or oppressive.</p>