Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-01-15
CONGRESS- AND THE RAILROADS,

The Interstate commerce bill introduced
in the House of Representatives by MIR.
Reagan of Texas, and passed on the 9Th in
stant, provides that:
It shall be unlawful for any person or per-
sons engaged alone or associated with 9TH
ers in the transportation Of property by
railroad or pipe line or lines from one State
or Territory to or through one or more other
States or Territories of the United States,
or to or from any foreign country, directly
or indirectly, to charge to or receive from
any person or persons, any greater or less
rate or amount Of freight compensation or
reward than is by him or them charged to
or received from any other person or per-
sons for like and contemporaneous service
in carrying, receiving, delivering, storing
or handling of the same. All charges for
such services shall be reasonable.
And any person or persons having pur-
chased a ticket for passage from one State
to another, or paid the required fare, shall
receive the same treatment and be afforded
equal facilities and accomodationsas are fur
nished all other persons holding tickets of
the same class without discrimination.
But nothing in this Act shall be construed
to deny railroads the right to provide sepa-
rate accommodations for passengers as they
deem best for public comfort and safety, or
to relate to transportation relating to points
wholly within the limits of one State, pro-
vided that nodscrimination is made on ac-
count Of race or color, and that furnishing
accommodations with equal comforts at the
same charges will not be considered discrm-
inatiOn.
Nor shall any railroad company or its
officers charge to or receive from any per-
SON who is to be conveyed from one State
or Territory into another exceeding three
cents per mile, for the distance to be travel
eled by such person. -,
And all persons engaged as aforesaid shall
furnish, without discrimination, the same
facilities for the carriage, receiving, dellv-
cry, Storage and handling of all property OF
like character carried by him or them, and
shall perform with equal expedition the
same kind of services connected with the
contemporaneous transportation thereof, as
aforesaid.
No break, stoppage or Interruption, nor
any contract, agreement, or understanding,
shall he made to prevent the carriage OF any
property from being, and being treated as,
one continuous carriage in the meaning of
this Act, from the place of shipment to the
place of destination, unless such stoppage,
interruption, contract, arrangement, or un-
derstanding was made in good faith for
some practical and necessary purpose, with
continuous carriage or to evade any of the
provisions of this Act.
Section prohibits drawbacks or rebates to
shippers.
Section 3 forbids pooling combinations.
Section prohibits greater charges for Il
short haul than for a long haul, which in
cludes the shorter one one.
Section 5requires freight schedules to be
publicly posted.
Section applies this Act to all trans
portation whether it be confined to one or
several roads.
Section provides civil penalties for in
fractions of this law, and prescribes that no
cases brought under it shall be removed
from State to United States Courts.
Section 8 prescribes criminal penalties
which may be imposed upon individuals
who carry on the transportation business
and who violate this law.
Section 8 declares that this Act does not
apply to transportation wholly within one
State, and Section 10 defines who are en-
braced in the words person or persons
used herein.
In the Senate, on Friday, the above bill
as it passed the House was called up and
read by its title, when Garland addressed
the House on the subject matter. He direct
ed his argument principally against the
commission proposition. Admitting that
Congress itself might regulate Interstate
commerce, where did we find the power in
Congress to delegate its power to COM
mission? Delegated power could not be
sub delegated. Congress would not divest
itself of its legislative power to hand it over
to any commission. 1t was unheard of.
That legislative power should be Il delegat-
ed power lodged in a commission was. ex-
traordinary, and Garland asked Senators to
pause and seriously consider the bill. 1t
not only gave the commission Legislative,
but judicial power. 1t seemed to him that
the courts were competent to deal with
this question, and if they were not their
jurisdiction could be enlarged. He thought
the bill just passed by the House of Repre-
sentatives better measure than any of the
measures proposed in the Senate. The
House bill defined what was wanted and
did not leave it to any subordinate officer or
commission. 1t did not delegate the pow
er of Congress to any other body, and SO it
left the matter within the Constitution.
The question of what was State commerce
and what Interstate commerce was very
difficult one sometimes to decide. The
great danger in the clash between the States
severally and the United States arose on
this very question. He believed that great