Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-30
TAXABLE AS REAL ESTATE

Attorney General Ward, of New York, has given an opinion which will not suit the own CTS of telegraph stock, but it will suit the large majority of the taxpayers of the State ! and country. He holds that telegraph poles and wires are taxable as real estate in the towns in which they are situated, and are to be assessed in the name of and to the compa- ny owning the line, and not in any case as nonresident. In support of his opinion Mir. Ward cites the opinion of the Court of Appeals in which it is declared that ''the term land as used in the statute in relation to assessments and taxation, includes such an interest in real estate as will protect the erection, or afixing, and possession of build ings and fixtures thereon, though unaccom- panied by the fee and such interest with the buildings and fixtures may be assessed to the owner thereof" He also cites the opinion of the General Term, First Department, to the effect that foundations for piers or col umns placed in public street by an elevated railroad by legislative authority, whether standing alone or with columns, and the su- perstrueture thereon are property taxable as real estate. :" The Attorney General says he gives this opinion because it is required by large number of assessors in the State and by the Comptroller, and because the time in which the assessors are required to make as- sessments is about to expire, and especially because no reason seems to exist why these extended lines through the State of compa- nies which are so able to contribute toward bearing the burden of taxation should in so large Q measure be relieved therefrom.
 It is strange that such a decision has not been rendered before. The Journal of Com merce thinks it would have been had not the State officials been almost invariably friends, if not retainers, of the great untaxed corporations, and it complains as follows
 s'While toward the banks and the insurance companies the policy of the State has been rigid and exacting, it has been culpably lax toward the railroad and telegraph compa- nies. The latter have waxed arrogant upon the impunity enjoyed by them They dis figure public streets with forests of poles of the clumsiest and ugliest patterns. In streets traversed by the elevated roads the poles add materially to the Instructions with which vehicles and foot passengers must con tend. The great number of wires stretching
  ceptibly cut off the light from heaven, per haps, but they unsightly, and everybody looking upon them from the windows of his house wishes them buried deep in the earth, where they ought to be. Such is the impu- dence of the telegraph companies that they claim the right to attach their wires to the roofs and sides of private houses without the owners consent. It is high time that the law should step in and tell the companies that they hold no such license to intrude upon the pos sessions of others, and that their poles and wires longer sacred from the touch of the tax collector"
 This question would never have been raised had the telegraph companies put their wires under ground, they will probably eventually be compelled to do. As at pres ent arranged the poles and wires are great and growing nuisance, especially in cities, and if the tax-gatherer is the means of aba ting it there will be much rejoicing. Until it is abated it should be taxed.