"You see, wire telegraph
is a kind of a very, very long cat.
You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in
Los Angeles."1
In my four decades of practicing corporate law, I have never encountered someone giving notice by telegraph. Yet several provisions of the Corporations Code (Sections 118, 5015 and 2511) refer to telegrams. Now, one California legislator is proposing to excise references to telegrams in the Corporations Code as well as numerous other codes. This bill, AB 2066, would also repeal the authority of the California Public Utilities Commission to regulate telegraph companies. The bill will not, however, eliminate all references to telegraph companies in California law. The California Constitution contains two references to telegraph companies (Art. XII, Sec. 3 and Art. XIII, Sec. 19).
The word "telegraph" is a combination of two Greek words, τῆλε, meaning far off, and γράφειν, meaning to write. The word "telegram" combines τῆλε with γραμμά, which refers to something that is written or drawn.
The telegraph office for the Northern Nevada Railroad in East Ely, Nevada (the telegraph is on the desk at the right)
Footnote
1. Author unknown.
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