Western Union Telegraph Co v. Foster Same v. Macleod Noble v. Western Union Telegraph Co Same v. United Telegram Co
| Decision Date | 20 May 1918 |
| Docket Number | 419,275,Nos. 274,420,s. 274 |
| Citation | 247 U.S. 105,62 L.Ed. 1006,38 S.Ct. 438,1 A.L.R. 1278 |
| Parties | WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO. et al. v. FOSTER et al. SAME v. MACLEOD et al., Public Service Commission of Commonwealth of Massachusetts. NOBLE v. WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO. et al. SAME v. UNITED TELEGRAM CO. et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
[Syllabus intentionally omitted] Messrs. Rush Taggart and John G. Milburn, both of New York City, and Arthur Lord, of Boston, Mass., for plaintiffs in error (in cases Nos. 274 and 275).
Mr. Henry S. Robbins, of Chicago, Ill, for appellant (in cases Nos. 419 and 420).
Messrs. Patrick Henry Kelley and William Harold Hitchcock, both of Boston, Mass., for Calvin H. Foster.
Messrs. Henry C. Attwill, Atty. Gen., and H. Ware Barnum, Asst. Atty. Gen., for Public Service Commission of Massachusetts.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 106-110 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice HOLMES delivered the opinion of the Court.
Four cases were argued together in this Court. The first two were suits in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, one a statutory petition by the telegraph companies to have an order of the Public Service Commission annulled, the other a bill by the Commission to have the same order enforced. The cases were consolidated and reserved on the pleadings for determination by the full Court, which decreed that the petition of the plaintiffs in error should be dismissed and the order of the Commission obeyed. 224 Mass. 365, 113 N. E. 192. The order recited that the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company by the Western Union Telegraph Company lessee and the United Telegram Company had without just cause refused to supply to Calvin H. Foster the continuous quotations of the New York Stock Exchange by means of ticker service then supplied to others, declared the refusal an unlawful discrimination a d required the two companies to remove the discrimination forthwith.
The material facts may be abridged as follows: The New York Stock Exchange, having a monopoly of the information collected by it on the floor of the Exchange concerning the prices quoted in transactions there, made contracts with the plaintiffs in error of the same general character as those before the Court in Board of Trade v. Christie Grain & Stock Co., 198 U. S. 236, 246, 25 Sup. Ct. 637, 46 L. Ed. 1031, and Hunt v. New York Cotton Exchange, 205 U. S. 322, 27 Sup. Ct. 529, 51 L. Ed. 821. By these contracts for specified lump sums the Exchange agreed to furnish to the Telegraph Companies simultaneously full and continuous quotations of prices made in transactions upon the Exchange. The Telegraph Companies 'may' in their turn furnish quotations to their 'patrons' at intervals of more than fifteen minutes subject to discontinuance upon objection of the Exchange, and may furnish continuous service by ticker to subscribers, provided the latter sign applications in duplicate, one of which is to go to the Exchange, the application not to be effectual until the subscriber is approved by the Exchange, agreeing that the Telegraph Company may discontinue the service, 'whenever directed so to do by said new York Stock Exchange.' The application recognizes that the quotations are furnished under contract with the Exchange and agrees not to furnish the quotations to branch offices or correspondents unless first approved by the Exchange and also signing agreements, one of which is to be delivered to the Exchange. The contract states that the intent of the Exchange in reserving the right to disapprove, etc., is only to prevent improper and unlawful use of the facts.
The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company's business is carried on by the Western Union Telegraph Company in the name of the former. The quotations are furnished to the latter in New York, telegraphed by it to the office of the Gold and Stock Company in Boston, translated from the Morse code into English, and thence transmitted by an operator to the tickers in the offices of the brokers who have subscribed and have been approved. The United Telegram Company, a New Jersey corporation, receives quotations for Boston alone, where is its principal office outside of New Jersey. They are furnished by the Exchange in New York, telegraphed to the Boston office over a wire of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company, and thence transmitted as in the other case. On these facts the plaintiffs in error say that the order is an unwarranted interference with commerce among the States and takes property without due process of law, setting up the Constitution of the United States.
We shall not discuss the bearing of the Fourteenth Amendment nor yet how far an order simply to remove a discrimination could be effectual when if Mr. Foster were let in on the same terms as those now accepted as subscribers, he would agree that the Telegraph Company might discontinue its service without notice whenever directed so to do by the New York Stock Exchange. It is enough that in our opinion the transmission of the quotations did not lose its character of interstate commerce until it was completed in the brokers' offices and that the interference with it was of a kind not permitted to the States. The supposed analogy that has prevailed is that of a receiver of a package breaking bulk and selling at will in retail trade. But it appears to us misleading. We also think it unimportant that the contracts between the Ex- change and the Telegraph Companies emphasize the element of quasi-sale for lump sum and leave it to the interest of the Telegraph Companies to find subscribers. Neither that nor the intervention of an operator, or of another company, are in the least degree conclusive. Unlike the case of breaking bulk for subsequently determined retail sales, in these the ultimate recipients are determined before the message starts and have been accepted as the contemplate...
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