Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Borough of New Hope

Citations

• 187 U.S. 419
• 23 S. Ct. 204
• 47 L. Ed. 240
• 1903 U.S. LEXIS 1659

Syllabus

<p>An ordinance of the borough of New Hope, Pennsylvania, imposing an annual license fee of one dollar per pole and two dollars and a half per mile . of wire on the telegraph, telephone and electric light poles within the limits of the borough is not a tax on the property of the telegraph company owning the poles and wires, or on its transmission of messages or on its receipts for such transmission, but is a charge in the enforcement of local governmental supervision, and as such is not in itself obnoxious, to the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution.</p> <p>As the elements entering into such a charge are various, and as in this case the courts of Pennsylvania have decided that the charge imposed by tlie ordinance is reasonable in the circumstances and the ordinance valid, this court does not feel justified in holding that conclusion to he so manifestly erroneous as to require revision.</p>