CHAPTER 89a.-TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. 5314 SECTION 1. [Associations governed by this act.] That all associations, whether the same shall have been or may hereafter be organized or incorporated under the laws of this state, or by and under authority of any other state or territory, or by authority of the United States, whose object and purpose is the transmission, collection, and distribution of dispatches by telegraph, shall be subject to the regulations and restrictions hereinafter prescribed by this act. [1883, chap. LXXX.] 5315 SEC. 2. [Statement of affairs.] Every telegraph company and every press as-ociation or corporation engaged in the transmission, collection, distribution, or delivery of telegraphie dispatches, either for private use or for publication in newspapers, shall within thirty days after this act goes into effect, file in the office of the secretary of state a statement, certified to under oath by its president and secretary or by two of its officers, einbodying the following information, to-wit: The name of the association, amount of capital invested, character of its business, together with a true copy of its articles of incorporation or articles of copartnership, with regulations and by-laws then in force. 5316 SEC. 3. [Certificate of authority.] It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to issue a certificate to every association or corporation that has filed the statement required by the second section of this act upon payment of five ($5) dollars, which certificate shall convey authority to such association or corporation to conduct its business within this state, under the restrictions and penalties imposed herein. 5317 SEC. 4. [Forfeiture-Penalty.] Every telegraph company, press association, or corporation engaged in the transmission, collection, and delivery of telegraphic dispatches that shall refuse or fail to comply with the above provisions within the time herein prescribed, shall forfeit its right to carry on the collection, transmis sion, and delivery of dispatches for publication or for private use, and shall furthermore forfeit to the county where such business is carried on, for each and every day it so continues in violation of this act, the penal sum of one thousand ($1000) dollars, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction, and it shall be the duty of district attorneys to prosecute such violations of this act at the expense of the respective counties wherein said act is violated. 5318 SEC. 5. [Transmitting dispatches.] All telegraph companies and associations operating telegraph lines in this state shall transmit and forward all dispatches directed to newspapers, or private individuals, or public officers, with impartiality, in the order in which they are received, and use due diligence in their delivery without discrimination as to any person or party to whom they may directed. be 5319 SEC. 6. [Delay-Penalty.] Every officer or employe of any telegraph company or association engaged in the transmission of dispatches who shall wilfully delay the transmisson or delivery of any dispatch, or divulge the contents of any dispatch entrusted to his or her care, to any person except the party entitled to receive the same, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by fine of not less than fifty ($50.00) nor more than one hundred ($100) CHAP. 89a. "An act to prohibit extortion and discrimination in the transmission of telegraph dispatches." Laws, 1883, chap. LXXX. Took effect June 1, 1883. Telegraph companies are common carriers of intelligence. Unjust discriminations and undue preferences discussed. Rates may differ it conditions of service differ 44 Neb. 326. See also as to regulation by State Board of Transportation, chap. 72, art. 8, sec. 24. dollars for each offense, or imprisonment of not less than thirty days nor more than three months in the county jail at the discretion of the court. 5320 SEC. 7. [Charges.] It shall be unlawful for any telegraph company, its agents, or operators, to demand, charge, or receive from any individual, association, or corporation, a greater sum for the transmission and delivery of any telegram or message over a given distance than it demands, charges, or receives for the transmission and delivery of any telegram or message containing an equal number of words over a greater distance, providing that dispatches transmitted during the night and dispatches for publication in newspapers may be forwarded and delivered at reduced rates; such rates must, however, be uniform to all patrons for the same service. 5321 SEC. 8. [Same-Newspapers.] It shall be unlawful for any telegraph company, association, or organization engaged in the business of forwarding dispatches by telegraph, to demand, collect, or receive from any publisher or proprietor of a newspaper any greater sum for a given service than it demands, charges, or collects from the publisher or proprietor of any other newspaper for a like service, and the violation of the provisions of sections seven and eight of this act by any telegraph company or association shall constitute a misdemeanor, and upon conviction said telegraph company or association shall be fined for each and every offense in any sum not less than one hundred ($100) dollars nor more than one thousand ($1,000) dollars with cost of prosecution, and in addition thereto such telegraph company or association shall be liable for all damages sustained by the person or parties in consequence of such discrimination. 5322 SEC. 9. [Equal facilities.] Every telegraph company and every press association engaged in the transmission, collection, distribution, or publication of dispatches, shall afford the same and equal facilities to all publishers of newspapers, and furnish the dispatches collected by them for publication in any given locality to all newspapers there published on the same conditions as to payment and delivery. 5323 SEC. 10. [Same-Penalty.] Any press association, corporation, or organization violating the foregoing section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall, for each and every offense, be fined in any sum not less than one hundred ($100) nor more than one thousand ($1000) dollars, and in addition thereto such association and the members thereof shall be jointly and severally liable for all damages sustained by the owner of any newspaper in consequence of such discrimination. 5324 SEC. 11. [Refusal to receive and transmit.] If any telegraph company, association, or organization engaged in the transmission of telegraph dispatches from any place in this state, or the person having the control and management thereof, refuse to receive dispatches from any person, corporation, or any other telegraph company, or to transmit the same with fidelity and without unreasonable delay, it shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined for each and every offense in the sum of not less than fifty ($50) nor more than one hundred ($100) dollars, and in addition be liable for damages to the person or corporation sustaining a loss by reason of such refusal or failure to so transmit. 5325 SEC. 12. [Non-delivery-Mistakes.] Any telegraph company engaged in the transmission of telegraphic dispatches is hereby declared to be liable for the non-delivery of dispatches entrusted to its care, and for all mistakes in transmitting messages made by any person in its employ, and for all damages resulting from a failure to perform any other duty required by law, and any such telegraph SEC. 7. Id., 415. Discrimination in rates. 44 Id., 326. 58 Id.. 192. A reasonable requirement. 28 Neb., 667. Provisions obligatory, not inequitable. 44 Id., 194. See b6 company shall not be exempted from any such liability by reason of any clause, condition, or agreement contained in its printed blanks. 5326 SEC. 13. [Lines out of order-Duty of operator.] In all cases where application is made to any telegraph company, or the operator, agent, clerk, or servant thereof, to send a dispatch, it shall be the duty of such operator, agent, or clerk, who may receive dispatches at that station, plainly to inform the applicant, and if required by him to write upon the dispatch that the line is not in working order, or that the dispatches already on hand for transmission will occupy the line. so that the dispatch offered cannot be transmitted within the time required, if the facts be so; and for omitting so to do, or for intentionally giving false information to the applicant in relation to the time within which the dispatch offered may be sent, such operator, agent, or clerk, and the company by which he is employed, shall incur a like penalty as in section eleven of this act. 5327 SEC. 14. [Right of way-Poles and wires.] That any telegraph or telephone company incorporated or doing business in this state shall be and is hereby granted the right of way along any of the public roads of the state for the erection of poles and wires; Provided, That poles shall be set at least six feet within the boundary line of said roadway and not placed so as interfere with road crossings; And Provided, That said wires shall be placed at the height of not less than twenty feet above all road crossings. [1887, chap. 87.] 5328 SEC. 15. [Injuries to fixtures.] Any person or persons who shall break, injure, destroy, or otherwise interfere with the poles, wires, or fixtures of any telegraph or telephone company in this state shall be subject to action and penalty prescribed in section 98, chapter 13, criminal code. [Id.] SEC. 13. Last clause of section sustained. 28 Neb., 662. 32 Id., 732. 37 Id., 315. SECS. 14, 15. "An act granting the right of way to telegraph or telephone companies along public highway and providing for a penalty in case of malicious injury or interference with the same." Laws, 1887, chap. 87. Took effect July 1, 1887. CHAPTER 90.-TIME-DAY'S WORK. 5329 SECTION 1. Ten hours shall constitute one day's labor, so far as it concerns laborers and mechanics, throughout the state. [R. S., 379.] SECS. 2-5. [Unconstitutional. 41 Neb., 127.] 5329a SEC. 6. [Railroad employees.] That no company, corporation or person operating a railroad, in whole or in part, within the state of Nebraska, shall permit or require any conductor, engineer, fireman, brakeman, telegraph operator or any trainman who has worked in his respective capacity for eighteen consecutive hours, except in case of causuality, or unavoidable emergency, to again go on duty or perform any work until he has had at least eight hours for rest. [1899, chap. 77.1 5329b SEC. 7. [Violation of act-Penalty.] Any company, corporation or person who shall violate or permit to be violated, any of the provisions of the foregoing section, or any officer, agent or employer who violates or permits to be violated any of the provisions of the preceding section shall be fined not less than Fifty ($50.00) Dollars nor more than Two Hundred ($200.00) Dollars, for each and every violation of this act; provided, however, that the proceedings to enforce the penalty, as provided in this act, shall be commenced within six months from the date of the violation of the same. [Id., § 2.] SEC 1. Chap LII, R. S., 379. SECS. 2-5. An act to regulate the hours of labor of mechanics, servants and laborers." 1891, chap. 54. Took effect July 5, 1891. SECS. 6, 7. "An Act in relation to the hours of employment for certain railway employees and providing a penalty for the violation of the same." Laws, 1899, chap. 77. Took effect July 1, 1899. CHAPTER 91.-TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 5330 SECTION 1. [Unclaimed lots.] That all persons who shall be or may become the owners of any equities of title, in and to any town lot or lots or land within any incorporated town or city in this state, by virtue of which they shall be entitled to demand and receive from the corporate authorities a title in fee simple to the same, shall present their claims and make demand for their deed, within sixty days from the passage of this act, in all those cases where the lot, lots, or land have already been unclaimed for the period of two years; and in all cases of sites of corporate towns or cities which may be hereafter entered the property shall be claimed and the deed demanded within three years after such entry; Provided, That if any person shall neglect to comply with the terms of this act as aforesaid, the title in and to such realty shall vest in the corporation, as fully, and to all intents and purposes as though conveyed to said town or city by deed of general warranty. [1867, § 1, 94.] 5331 SEC. 2. [Not applicable to tax sales.] This act shall be construed to apply to rights acquired previous to the entry of the land; and in no case to the rights of parties acquired under or by virtue of any tax sale. [Id., § 2.] VACATING STREETS AND ALLEYS. 5332 SEC. 3. [Notice.] Any person seeking to have any street, alley, or public grounds, in any town or village, vacated, shall give thirty days notice of the intended application therefor to the county commissioners for the vacation of such street, alley, or public grounds, by posting five notices in as many of the most public places within the limits of the said town or village. Such notices shall contain a particular description of the street, alley, or public grounds, desired to be vacated, and the time at which the application will be made to the county board for the order of vacation. [1871, § 1, 125.] 5333 SEC. 4. [Board of examiners.] Upon the application of any person to the county board for the vacation of any street, alley, or public grounds, proving by the oath of two persons that the foregoing section has been complied with, and by giving bond with sufficient security for all costs payable to the county, the board shall appoint three disinterested householders of the town or village, to examine the street, alley, or public grounds, and at the next regular meeting of the board report whether in their opinion any injustice or inconvenience will be worked by the vacation of such street, alley, or public grounds. The board, upon such report and other testimony presented by the applicant, or others opposing the vacation, shall decide for or against such vacation. [Id., § 2.] 5334 SEC. 5. [Decision.] The county board, if convinced that no injustice will be worked by any person or persons by such vacation, shall order such vacation, and in all cases they shall cause all expenses arising from the application and the ensuing proceedings to be paid by the party or parties applying for such vacation. [Id., § 3.] 5335 SEC. 6. [Title, in whom vested.] The street, alley, or public grounds thus vacated, shall become the property of owners of real estate thereto adjacent, on each side, in proportion to the frontage of such real estate. The county clerk shall make a quit-claim deed, in the name of the county, to the different persons to whom such street, alley, or public grounds may inure, signing said deed, and attaching the county seal thereto, and such deed shall convey all the title vested in the county. [Id., § 4.] SECS. 1, 2. "An act to provide for the disposition of unclaimed lots entered in trust by corporate authorities." Laws, 1867, 1, 94. SECS. 3-6. An act to provide for vacating streets, alleys, and public grounds in towns and villages." Passed and took effect March 10, 1871. 1178 CHAPTER 91a.-TRUSTS. 5336 SECTION 1. [Trust defined.] That a trust is a combination of capital, skill or acts by any person or persous to fix the price of any article or commodity of trade, use or merchandise, with the intent to prevent others from conducting or carrying on the same business or selling or trafficking in the same article, use or merchandise, or a combination of capital, skill or acts by two or more persons, or by two or more of them for either, any or all of the following purposes: 1. To create or carry out restric tions in trade. 2. To limit or reduce the production or increase or reduce the price of merchandise or commodities. 3. To prevent competition in insurance, either life, fire, accident or any other kind, or in manufacture, making, constructing, transportation, sale or purchase of merchandise, produce or commodities. 4. To fix at any standard or figure, whereby its price to the public shall be in any manner controlled or established upon any article of merchandise, produce or manufacture of any kind intended for sale, use or consumption in this state; to establish any pretended agency whereby the sale of any such article, commodity, merchandise or product shall be covered up, concealed or made to appear to be for the original vendor, for a like purpose or purposes, and to enable such original vendor, producer or manufacturer to control the wholesale or retail price of any such article of merchandise, product or commodity after the title to the same shall have passed from such vendor or manufacturer. 5. To make or enter into, carry on or carry out any contract, obligation or agreement of any kind or description by which they shall bind, or have heretofore bound themselves not to sell, dispose of, traffic in or transport any article of merchandise or commodity, or article of trade, product, use, merchandise, consumption or commerce, below a common standard figure, card or list price, or by which they shall agree in any manner to keep the price of such article, product, commodity or transportation, at a fixed or graduated figure or price, or by which they shall in any manner establish or settle the price of any article of merchandise, commodity, or of insurance, fire, life or accident, or transportation between them or between themselves and others, or with the intent to preclude, or the tendency of which is to prevent or preclude a free and unrestricted competition among themselves or others or the peo ple generally in the production, sale, traffic or transportation of any such article of merchandise, product or commodity or conducting a like business or by which they shall agree to pool, combine or unite any interest they may have in connection with the sale, production or transportation of any such article of merchandise, product or commodity or the carrying on of any such business, that its price might in any manner be affected thereby. 5337 SEC. 2. [Trusts prohibited-Penalty.] That any and all acts by any person or persons carrying on, creating, or attempting to create, either directly or indirectly, a trust as defined in section one (1) of this act, are hereby declared to be a conspiracy against trade and business and unlawful, and any person who may be or may become engaged in any such conspiracy or take part therein, or aid or advise, in its commission, or who shall as principal, manager, director, agent, servant or employee, or in any other capacity knowingly aid or advise, or attempt to carry out, or carry out any of the stipulations, purposes, prices, rates, orders there under, or in pursuance thereof shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars. CHAP. 91a, SECS. 1-14. "An act to define trusts and conspiracies against trade and business, declaring the same unlawful and void, and providing means for the suppression of the same, and remedies for persons injured thereby, and to provide punishment for violations of this act, and to repeal chapter ninety-one a (la), entitled Trusts' of the Compiled Statutes of Nebraska for the year 1895." Took effect July 10, 1897. Laws, 1897, chap. 79. See 29 Neb., 700. 39 Id., 547. 36 Id., 386. |