The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-04-22
RAILROAD SUPERVISION.
The Commission Sustained By g
Unanimous Cont

he Commission Sustained By g
Unanimous Court
NH Text Of the Opinions Delivered
by the Supreme Court Of Missls-
sippl in the Pending Cases. An
Ineorruptible Court Speaking /
Through the Mouth Of a Learned
Judge.
THE RAILROAD COMMISSION Y. THE +
YAzoo AND MISSISSIPPI VALLEY RAIL /
ROAD COMPANY.
CAMPBELL, c. J., delivered the
opinion of the court:
1t Is claimed that the act creating the
Railroad Commission is a violation of
article /, section of the Constitution
of the United States, which vests in
Congress power 10 regulate commerce
among the several States" be-
cause the railroad of the appellee con
meets at Jackson. Mississippi, with the
railroad system OF the country, and at
Yazoo City with the waterways, and its
interstate and local commerce and inter
ests are inseparable without ruin. he
question thus presented is, How far Is
the State disabled, by the constitutional
provision quoted, from governing rail
roads within its limits. as TO fares and
freights?
There is no denial of the power Of
Congress ''to regulate commerce
among the several States, for that
Is plainly conferred. but what is it to
regulate commerce. Prescribing rates
of compensation for service rendered by
a railway company does not appear to
US to be regulating commerce. The
right to compensation Is an essential
attribute of such a corporation. 1t
is the power 10 exist. Prescribing rates
Is providing for the existence OF the ar
tificial being 1t Is breathing into 1t the
breath of life, that it may become a
living being, The power TO do this
belongs to the sovereignty that may
create corporations, and shape their
being, and define their functions. 1t
must be the State. Its powert to create cor
porations for the various purposes of bu-
siness and commerce has been uniformly
exercised and never questioned. If II
may create such corporations, 1T may
determine their attributes and prescribe
( what they may charge for services rem
dered as we'll as the other conditions OF
their existence. This belongs to soverei
gntv of the State and il essential to the
/ regulation of its internal police, and has
not been surrendered to Congress. PEG
| pie q. Babcock II Wend. 5S7; FreeHOider
/ q. The State, + Zabriskee us. 1t is the
sovereign power to govern the institu
tions of the State and IS not regulating
commerce. 1t would seem to belong t
the State alone, whose creature thu
corporation is, and whose right to shape
its being in this essential attribute
pertains to it, because it is its creator
and such we understand to be the doc
trine of the Supreme Court of the US. a
announced in Railroad Co., q. Maryland
u Wall. 456, and other decisions.
The principle supporting the decision
in Railroad Co., q. Maryland, Is the RICH
of State, as a sovereign, to regulate an
control the rate of transportation owe
its creature-the railroad built under
charter by the State. 1t is recognize
by the opinion of the court, that, in tn
= very nature of things the State mus
have control Of the rates over highway
of its own creation, even though
exercise this power involves, consequer
TALLY an imposition on persons an
property carried from State to Stat
= The railroad extended from BaltimOI
/ to Washington, snd the State require
payment to it of a fixed portion of a
money derived by the company frol
carrying passengers from Baltimore
> Washington City, and the question W.
;. whether this exaction by the State in tt
4 charter of the company was "a restri
ton of free intercourse and trait
> between the different States; )" and it ";
declared not to be such. The plai
: assumption was that, unless IL
d provision in the charter was restrictiC
of free intercourse and traffic it W;
clearly within the legitimate power
the State 1t was said by the court tn:
/ the power to charge for transportatiC
o and the amount of the char!
V are absolutely within the contr
: of the State" and this unlimitC
7 right of the State to charge or authori
others to charge toll, freights or fare fl
1t transportation on its roads, canals al
u railroads, arises from the simple ia
II that they are its own works or co
structed under its authority. 1t Civ
them being. 1t has right to exact cor
pensation for their use. 1t has discr
ton as to the amount of that compens
ton" Attention was called by Il
opinion to the fact that when the Co
l. stitution was adopted transportation {
a land was performed entirely on comma
l. reads, and in vehicles drawn by amin
e power, and that mo one at that d;
X imagined that the roads and bridg
a Except when the latter crossed uavig
]. BILE streams) were not entirely subjeC
D both as to their construction, repair al
b management, to State regulation al
d control They were all made either
E. the States or under their autborit
4 The power of the State to impose
1t authorize such tolls as it saw fit was u
n questioned. No one then supposed tn
r, the wagons of the country, which we
e the vehicles of this commerce or Il
e horses by which they were drawn, we
$ subject to National regulation. L
d movement of persons and merchandis
Is so long as it was as free to one person
1t to another, to the citizens of 9th
lie States as to the citizens of the State
which it was performed was not ]
n garded as unconstitutionally restricte
ID aud trammeled, by tolls exacted
lie bridges or turnpikes, whether belongil
lie to the State or to private persons"
st There is far more reason for denyil
:, authority to the State, and claiming
)t for Congress, as to the common roa
lie which cross State lines. than as to ra
lie roads They are puch more numero
Is than railroads Their freedom from l
ct striction is more important as affectil
commerce on the borders of States til:
ic the freedom of railroads
Of So in Hall q. De CHR, 90 L. s. IS
at the statute of Louisiana requiring COZ
~ mon carriers of passengers to give
persons travelling in that State upon Il
ce public conveyances employed in su,
lie business equal rights and privileges
ID all parts of the conveyance without d
e, tinction or discrimination on account
al race or color, was held to be regulate
II of commerce, and void, even within {
b. State, so far as it affected vessels plviI
y the waters of the Mississippi river /
he tween different States. The reason VIZ
| the steamboat was enrolled. and licens
n under the laws of the United Stat,
u. and engaged as a regular packet betwe
lie different States upon the navigat
ID waters of the United States. The V,
N sci was, in a sense, an institution of Il
lie United States, and navigating t
N National highway common to all, al
$, not the property of private persons,
he deriving its existence from State :
N Congress had regulated the business
lie providing for licensing vessels, and lea
ing the licensee free and untrammel
Of as to the accommodations of passenger
h and as by the common law it pertai
h to the business of a common carrier
N make reasonable and suitable regul
lc tons as regards passengers, it was he