Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., New York Philadelphia Norfolk Telegraph Company v…
“ Telegraph companies occupy the streets with their poles and may be required to pay for it. Therefore we have no need to decide how far the State might go in discouraging some particular activity, if so minded, by taxes as well as by penalties. ”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., New York Philadelphia Norfolk Telegraph Company v…
“ It is enough to refer to its further argument that the valuation expressed in the act is not a valuation of the Company's property, which the Company says is worth only about $500 a mile, but a valuation of the privilege granted. The statute does not tax by the poles, the Company's property, but by the mile, the measure of occupation of the streets. Underground wires are worth more and are taxes less. ”
