Under such conditions one might think that electrification would serve both public need and private greed. Street railroads were controlled by monopolies but since the street railroads operated on public property with government consent, their technical choices were mediated by politics as well as by the market.

In most large cities the companies required the approval of the municipal government before they could install the trolley system. The proposal to install the trolley system sparked vigorous debate, including angry editorials in reform-minded newspapers, public hearings and petition drives.

Opposition to overhead wires arose principally from residents of the urban core, who were motivated by aesthetics, concerns over safety and noise, and general distrust of the monopolistic streetcar companies.

Aesthetics: Everyone agreed that the wires were unsightly if not ugly. Not only the residents even the engineers who highly praised the trolley agreed that the wires were unsightly. During this period the City Beautiful Movement which originated in Paris was spreading in the United States. In its aesthetic vision of the city overhead wires had no place in the grand cities of America. Trolley manufacturers took measures to aestheticize the poles but these did not minimize visual clutter.