The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-02
CITY HAS RIGHT
TO BURY WIRES
RULING OF SUPREME COURT
MADE THAT PLAIN.
Yet the Northwestern Telephone Com
pany and Other Electric Companies
Are Benefting by a Misapprehension
in Regard to the City's Authority
Ordinance Was Never Declared I'm
| reasonable. .--,-.--

For several years the aldermen and
others interested in electric wires have
been discussing the question of increas-
ing the area Of the, underground con
the supreme court has held the ordi-
nance of 1899, charging the district,
was unreasonable and hence invalid. AS
a matter of fact, the supreme court
has aever PASSED directly he on ct the Sas
held that the council could not pass an
unreasonable measure. but there has
been no showing made anywhere that
the provisions Of the ordinance in ques-
ton were unreasonable. Competent au-
thorities say that there IS nothing
whatever to prevent the city engineer;
building inspector or any other official
from enforcing the ordinance as it now
! stands.
The first conduit district, and the
only one which the electric companies
a square mile in area. On account Of
the great clamor for the removal of
the unsightly poles, with their maze of
wires, the council ordained that the area
should be extended SO as Is to incl9de
of Lake street. The new district is
somewhat less than nine square miles,
while the area Of the city is fifty-four
miles.
Hardly had this ordinance been passed
before the Northwestern Telephone COM
pany brought an action to restrain the
city from enforcing it's provisions. 1t
was alleged that the ordinance was Who'll
ly unreasonable in that large areas were
sparsely settled. 1t included 1856 miles
Of streets. some of which were not even
graded. The company at that time had
pole lines on seventy miles of street in
} that territory. 1t was alleged that the
: company would be forced to an enor-
: nous expense, which it could not bear,
, and that it would be forced to curtail
it's service within the district, thereby
to the public.
City Really Won.
The case went up to the supreme
court on demurrer to the complaint
y From a technical standpoint, the. city
lost, but, as before stated, the provisions
of the ordinance were not themselves
| considered. In it's decision the court
said:
To prevent any misunderstanding, we
add that the complaint tenders the issue
S that the city council arbitrarily and with
u out any reasonable necessity, enacted the
u ordinances complained Of The demurrer
:, admits the allegations Of the complaint
u in this respect ard our conclusion Is
= based upon this admission. If, however
Z the plaintiff on trial fails to establish sucl
) allegation by competent evidence, it mus
u to be doubted that the city council ha!
r the plenary power to extend the subsur
g face district wherever, in the exercise o
S a fair discretion, it decides that public
6 interests require it to be done; but i
l. cannot do so arbitrarily in the premises
e as alleged in the complaint.
/ Phone Company Drops It.
The action was remanded to the dis
- trict court to determine as to whethe
le or not the ordinance was "unreason
II able.' The city filed an answer ant
70 prepared for a fight.
y One term of court went by and moth
D. Ing was done.
/. At the next term the city "noticed'
U, the case for trial and the telephOn
~ company then abruptly dismissed tn
~; IL case.
o. support the statement, the ordinanc
is cited as unreasonable, and on tina
- account not effective. While the su
le preme court decision was favorable t
the telephone company in a certai
way, the court says that:
EThe city council has the plenar
s. power to extend the subsurface dis
trict wherever, in the exercise Of
fair discretion it decides that the pub
lie interests require it to be done.'
es Was it these words which prompte
w the dismissal2
Mt nowhere mas the Telephone cOmpt
~ ny, except by it's own statements, al
10 tempted to prove that the council e1
as ceeded it's authority in passing the o.
er dinance which is now virtually a dea
- letter. Most citizens will not believ
H. that the companies have any just caus
,. wires on Hennepin, Nicollet and tn
s other important avenues inside Of LAX
or street. That the poles and wires al
ey dangerous to life and property and e:
lc- tremely unsightly is admitted ever
ely the people who own them, and MINI
OIL apolis, it is believed, has been so e:
tremely considerate and lenient in tt
past that some decided action shou