The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-02


minister osths An ne requirement., obligations
! liabilities snd immvnH'es imposed or conferred b.
said Act to regulate commerce and by an Ac
In relation to testimony before tho Interstate Com
merco Commission. and 10 forth. approved Feb
H. 1898. supplemental to said Act to regulate com
! merce SHALL also apply 10 all persons who may b
subpnnaed 10 testify as witnesses or 70 produc'
documentary evidence 10 pursuance ofthe authority
conferred by this section"
Here ends the act, so far as its interest
to corporations, joint stock companies
and corporate combinations is concerned
The inwards Of the new legislation are
in the paragraph last quoted. The one
provision which signifies, which alone
gives significance to the preceding pas
sagss already examined on their own
merits, is the provision vesting in the
Commissioner of Corporations the same
inquisitorial powers with regard 10
miscellaneous corporations doing inter-
state business as we're conferred by the
Interstate Commerce act and its supple
ments upon the Interstate Commerce
Commission with regard to transporta-
ton companies: but with this qualifica-
ton, - so far as the same may be appli-
cable"
1t therefore becomes important TO
ascertain, first, just what inquisitorial
powers are possessed by the Interstate
Commerce Commission in the case OF
common carriers; and. secondly, how far
the same may be applicable in the case
of the Commissioner Of Commerce and
miscellaneous corporations, other than
transportation companies, doing inter.
state business.
Then we shall know what new power,
il any, the act confers upon the Federal
Executive in the line Of interference with
the freedom and privacy OF business
within the States.
That the qualification ." so far as the
same may be applicable is a necessary
part of the new law. becomes evident
at the first glance. For example. the
Interstate Commerce act Of 1887 declares
at the very outset with regard to COM
mon carriers that all charges made by
them for any service in the transporta-
ton of passengers or property must be
" reasonable and just; and every unjust
and unreasonable charge for such SER
vice is prohibited and declared to be I'M
lawful If the Department OF Com
merce law Just enacted were construed
as comforting upon the Commissioner Of
Commerce in the case of miscellaneous
corporations a power and authority in
this particular equivalent to that excr-
cised by the Interstate Commerce Com
mission over common carriers. it would
follow that the new Bureau of Commerce
can enter the States and within the
States decide what prices charged by
miscellaneous corporations for their ser
vices or their commodities are reasona-
BILE and just, and what are unreasonable
and unjust and therefore unlawful"
an extension of Federal functions which
only the craziest of trust-busters believe
to be possible without the previous oere-
mony of amendment OF the United States
This is only one Of numerous instances
Of the inapplicAbility Of the provisions
of the old Act Of 1887 and its supplements
to the case of the new Bureau OF Com
merce in it's proposed activities in the
way of investigating miscellaneous cor
porations. The phrase so far as the
same may be applicable looms larger
and larger the more closAly you examine
the former statutes. In one view OF its
legal meaning it promises to overshadow
the whole business Of the new Bureau.
Let us look at it again with It's context
in Section 8. The Commissioner of Com
merce is to exercise:
The same power and authority in respect TO
corporations, joint stock com panies and combina-
tions subject 70 the provisions hereof THAT Is. all
corporations engaged in Interstate or foreign com
mcrce excepting transpo ration ompanesl as
Is conferred on the Interstate Commerce commls-
sion in said Ac, W regulate commerce and the
amendments thereto In r.spcc, 70 common carriers
50 far as he same may Y applicable. &C
The arrangement OF the words in this
awkwardly written sentence
and the punctuation. or rather lack Of
punctuation. in the official copy Of the
act make IL perfectly clear that the quail
fcation as TO applicability refers not
merely to the amendments thereto
but to the original Act Of 1887 as well as
TO the amendments thereto. Otherwise
the clause would have been written thus:
= The same power and authority
as is conferred on the Interstate Commits
sion in respect to common carriers in
said Act TO regulate commerce., and in
the amendments thereto so far as the
same may be applicable. The so
far qualification, therefore. is plainly
meant to extend to the whole power and
Of the Interstate Commission
derived from the Act Of 1897 and its
only such part Of an equiv
alent power and authority 10 conferred
on the new Commissioner Of Commerce
AZ may be applicable 20 the case Of cor
porations which are not common car
riers.
IL Is well To keep this distinction In
mind.
Now, the inquisitorial power and Au-
a. A A -