618. Such union depot companies shall be authorized and empowered to locate, establish, construct, furnish, maintain, operate, and enjoy union freight and passenger railway depots at such points as may be determined upon, with such tracks, side tracks, turn-outs, switches, offices, and structures as may be deemed necessary; and shall have power to acquire, take, and hold all real, personal, and mixed property necessary or convenient for the execution of the powers herein granted, and the accomplishment of the objects and purposes of this act.

619. Every union depot company shall have power and is hereby authorized to mortgage or execute deeds of trust of the whole or any part of its property and franchises, including all lands owned or to be acquired by said company, to secure money borrowed by it for the construction and equipment of such union depots and appurtenances; and may issue its corporate bonds in sums of not less than one thousand ($1,000) dollars each, secured by said mortgages or deeds of trust, payable to bearer or otherwise; and, if payable to bearer, negotiable by delivery, and bearing interest at a rate not to exceed seven per centum per annum, and convertible into stock, or not, as shall be expressed on the face of each and every bond so issued by said company; and may sell such bonds at such rates or prices as they may deem. proper; and if said bonds shall be sold below the nominal or par value, they shall be binding upon said company, and no plea of usury shall be put in or allowed by said company upon any suit or proceedings upon the same. The principal and interest on said bonds, or either of them, may be made payable within or without the state; and such bonds may be issued to the amount deemed necessary by the board of directors of said company, for the construction and completion of said union depot and appurtenances.

620. Any mortgage or deed of trust made upon the real or personal property of such union depot company shall bind and be a valid lien upon all the property mentioned in such deed or mortgage, and the purchase [r] under foreclosure of said mortgage or deed of trust shall have and enjoy all the rights of a purchaser on execution sale.

621. Said mortgages or deeds of trust may by their terms include and cover not only the property of the companies making them at the time of their date, but property both real and personal which may thereafter be acquired by them, together with all the material and property necessary for the use and operation of said union depots, and shall be as valid and effectual as if the property were in possession at the time of the execution thereof.

VIII. STREET RAILWAYS.

Secs. 622 to 626. "An act to provide for the incorporation of street railroad companies within the cities of this state." 1877, p. 135. In force June 1.

622. Any number of persons may be associated and incorporated under the general laws of this state providing for the creation of corporations for the purpose of constructing and operating a street railroad within any of the cities of this state, upon procuring the consent of a majority of the electors of any such city as hereinafter provided.

623. Every such corporation, previous to the commencement of any business, except its own organization, must adopt articles of incorporation and have them recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the city within which it is proposed to construct and operate such street railroad is situated, and must procure the consent of a majority of the electors of such city as herein. provided.

624. The articles of incorporation must fix the termini of such street rail

road, and state the street or streets through which it is proposed to construct and operate the same.

625. The question of the consent of a majority of the electors of any such city to the constructing and operating of any such street railroad shall be determined by submitting the question to the electors of such city at an election to be held for that purpose, and of which election it shall be the duty of the mayor of any such city, upon the request of the common council of said city, to give at least ten days' notice by publishing a notice in some newspaper published in such city, which notice shall state the termini of such proposed street railroad and the street or streets through which it is proposed to construct and operate the same, the form in which the question shall be taken, and the time when such election will be held.

626. Every such election shall be held at the time designated in the notice, and shall be held in the same manner and at the same places as the general city elections, and the returns shall be canvassed by the council of such city at its next meeting after any such election and the result declared, and if a majority of the votes cast at such election shall be in favor of the constructing and operating such proposed street railroad, the council shall cause the city clerk to make out a certificate of the result, stating that the consent of a majority of the electors of such city has been given to the constructing and operating of such street railroad, and deliver the same to the chief officer of such street railroad company, who shall cause the same to be recorded in the office of the county clerk where the articles of association of such street railroad company are recorded, and in the same book, and such certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated; and, thereupon, such street railroad company shall be authorized to proceed and construct and operate such street railroad, as described in its articles of association, or any portion thereof, subject to such rules and regulations as may be established by ordinances of such city.

Secs. 627 to 633. "An act to enable street railways to unite their roads by consolidation, purchase, sale, by subscription to or purchase of capital stock, and to mortgage their railroads and property for the construction, equipment, and extension of their roads." 1889, p. 398. In force February 12.

627. Any street railway company existing in pursuance of law in this state or which may be hereafter created and organized therein, any portion of whose road has been located and constructed so as to form with the road of any other street railway company existing, created, and organized as aforesaid, connected or continuous lines and routes of travel or transportation, is hereby authorized to consolidate its railway property and appurtenances with such other street railway and its property and appurtenances into a single corporation; Provided, That any such consolidation or transfer of the property, rights, powers, and franchises of any such company shall not in any manner impair or affect any existing right of reversion under which any of said companies now chartered or organized may exist, in the manner following: The board of directors of said two or more corporations may enter into an agreement, under the corporate seals of each, for the consolidation of said two or more corporations, prescribing the terms and conditions thereof, the mode of carrying the same into effect, the name of the new corporation, the number of the directors thereof, which shall not be less than seven (7) nor more than eleven (11), the time and place of holding the first election of directors, the number of shares of stock in the new corporation, the amount of each share, the manner of converting the shares of corporate stock in each of said two or more corporations into shares in such new corporation, the manner of compensating stockholders in each of said two or more corporations, who refuse to convert their stock into the stock of such new corporation, with such other details as they shall deem necessary to perfect such consolidation of said corporations, and such resulting consolidated

corporation shall by operation of law succeed to and hold in perpetuity all the property, rights, powers, and franchises converted upon said constituent companies, and shall assume and perform all the public obligations, duties, agreements, and requirements as common carriers imposed upon said constituent companies.

628. Upon making the agreement mentioned in the preceding section in the manner required therein, and filing a duplicate thereof in the office of the secretary of state and county clerk of the county in which the corporation exists, accompanied by the consent in writing of the owners of two-third (3) of the capital stock of each of said constituent companies, and consent being duly acknowledged by a notary public under his seal of office in like manner as is prescribed for the acknowledgment of deeds, the said two or more corporations shall be merged in the new corporation provided for in such agreement, to be known by the corporate name therein mentioned, and the details of such agreement shall be carried into effect as provided therein.

629. Upon the election of the first board of directors of the corporation created by the agreement in the preceding sections mentioned, all and singular the rights and franchises of each and all of said two or more corporations, parties to such agreement, and all and singular the rights and interest in and to every species of property, real, personal, and mixed, and things in connection, shall be deemed to be transferred to and vested in such new corporation without any other deed or transfer, and such new corporation shall hold and enjoy the same and all other rights of property vested in the said two or more corporations; Provided, That all the rights of creditors and all liens upon the property of either of said corporations shall be and hereby are preserved unimpaired; and the respective corporations shall continue to exist so far as may be necessary to enforce the same.

630. Any street railway company existing in pursuance of law in this state may, at any time, by means of subscription to the capital stock of any other company, or otherwise, aid such company in the construction of its road for the purpose of forming a connection with the line of road owned by such other company.

631. Any street railway company existing in pursuance of law in this state may lease or purchase any part or all of any other street railway constructed by any other company, or may purchase the capital stock of the same, or may sell and convey by deed or otherwise, or may lease to another street railway company, any part or all of its own railway and franchises upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the said companies respectively, and any two or more street railway companies, whose lines are so connected as to form continuous routes of travel, may perfect any arrangement for their common benefit to assist and promote the object for which they were created.

632. Any street railway existing in pursuance of law in this state shall have power and is hereby authorized to mortgage and execute deeds of trust upon its railway and property, in whole or in part, including its real and personal property and franchises, to secure money borrowed for the construction and equipment of their roads, and may also issue their corporate bonds in sums not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000), to make all of said mortgages or deeds of trust payable to bearer or otherwise, negotiable by delivery, bearing interest at rates not to exceed seven (7) per centum per annum, convertible into capital stock or not at the option of the holder, and may sell the same at such rates and prices as they may deem proper, and if said bonds shall be sold below their nominal par value they shall be valid and binding upon the company, the principal and interest of said bonds, or either of them, may be made payable within or without this state at such place as may be determined upon by said company.

633. The word "street railway," as used in the foregoing section, shall be construed to embrace all street railroads built and operated for the convenience of passengers along the streets and alleys and public thoroughfares of cities in this state. The motive power by which the same may be operated shall be restricted to horse, mule, electric, or cable powers.

Telegraphs and Telephones.

Secs. 634 to 646. "An act to prohibit extortion and discrimination in the transmission of telegraph dispatches." 1883, p. 321. In force July 1.

634. 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.

635. Every telegraph company and every press association or corporation engaged in the transmission, collection, distribution, or delivery of telegraphic 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, embodying 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.

636. 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.

637. 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, transmission, 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 (1,000) 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.

638. 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 be directed.

639. Every officer or employee of any telegraph company or association engaged in the transmission of dispatches who shall willfully delay the transmission 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) nor more than one hundred ($100) 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.

640. 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.

641. [Favoritism.]-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 costs 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.

642. 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.

643. 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 ($1,000) dollars, and in addition thereto such association and the members therof shall be jointly and severally liable for all damages sustained by the owner of any newspaper in consequence of such discrimination.

644. 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 or 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.

645. 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 damages resulting from a failure to perform any other duty required by law, and any such telegraph company shall not be exempted from any such liability by reason of any clause, condition, or agreement contained in its printed blanks.

This requirement is reasonable and is binding on all companies doing business in the state, even if the message is to be sent out of the state. 28, 667 (44 N. W., 1064).

646. 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