Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-10-11
The candidates for Congress were;
DISCRIMINATION IN RATES.

In the United States Court of north
ern Ohio, Judge BAXTER recently gave
a decision in a case of Discrimination
in Rates" by a railroad company in that
State, in which he used the following
language:
IA railroad, though owned by cor
poration, is, nevertheless, constructed
for public uses, and, in qualified sense,
is q public highway. Hence, every
body constituting part of the public,
for whose benefit it was organized, is
entitled to an equal share and impartial
participation in the use of the facilities
it is capable ofaffording. Its first and
primary obligation is to the public, and
it has no right to make unreasonable
and unjust Determinations"
And now the Supreme Court Of Hill
nois, in case involving the question as
to the power of the State Legislature to
regulate rates charged by railroad COM
panies for freight carried outside of Illi-
nois, and whether the act prohibiting
unjust determinations in such rates is
not in eontravention with the constitu-
ton of the United States, upholds the
authority of the railroad and warehouse
commissioners of the State to regulate
freight charges from points in Illinois to
points outside the State, and, in the case
cited and tried, it was held that the
charge was unjust, extortionate and
unlawful"
If the railroads in State began and
ended in that State, then it might be a
comparatively easy matter to provide
for State regulation Of the same. But,
as affecting most of the important rail-
ways of the country, this is not the case,
and from nearly every commonwealth
railroads leap over into neighboring ter
ritory, or within them are received ex-
tensions of roads begun far away from
their Jurisdiction, while in many cases
a single line or system extends through
several States, although it is controlled
and its interests managed in only one.
In other words, the establishment is ma
tional, while its interests are sectional.
No wonder, then, that-with the pro-
visions Of the national constitution and
their interpretations in regard to inter.
State commerce, the varied and often
conflicting laws of the different States
concerning common carriers, highways
and the control of business enterprises,
and the jealousies of railroad owners
and managers, in view Of any govern
mental control oftheir operations-eyen
the highest judicial authority of the
land finds 1t difficult to provide settle
ment for the questions of procedure and
equity that arise, and that what is done
in one section Is nullified in another,
while the central government at Wash
ington seems to have no practical con-
troll whatever in any direction.
In the case just decided IN the Indian
apolis Supreme Court, there is little
doubt bnt that the United States SUI
preme Court will be called upon TO rem
der a final decision in the matter, and it
would be strange II that tribunal did not
conclude that Illinois officials have no
right to make rates for a railroad in In
diana, or any other section outside their
own. The Importance of q National
Railway Commission or tribunal Is Illus
trated by all this difficulty and practical
impoesibility of control or influence In
the sections, and its creation ought to
be FASTENED by just such transactions
ss that Just cited.