The Pensacola journal., 1907-07-23
Regulation of
PaSSenger Rates.

1NOS CAo(NOAA "a
= Passenger Rates.
The prosecution of the Southern
Railway and certain of its passenger
traffic officials by the state of North
Carolina in the state courts for V1o-
lation of the state limit of pa cents
a mile for passenger rates in North
Carolina, has resulted In some very
pretty complications, and has raised
very squarely the issue of how tar
the federal courts can go along lines
variousIv termed intervention" and
interference" in administering that
which is by the railroads regarded
as "antidote' for popular persecu-
tion," and by the people regarded as
an unconstitutional notification of
the sovereign power of the state.
The Hepburn act of Congress es-
tabIished the power of the Interstate
Commerce Commission, not to fix, bur
to say what is. reasonable rate, and
rate, so adjudged reasonable" be-
comes the maximum that is permit
ted the railroads 10 charge.
The acceptance by the railroads of
tie Hepburn act as law, establishes,
&C facto, the legal prerOgative of the
general government to say what i2
an unreasonable rate. or, in oLner
words, 10 fix \ rate that the railroads
shall not exceed This legal status of
regulation by the government was ar
rived at. (witness Sec. Moody's opin-
ion on the question: as matter of the
i,np-ied power of the constitution. 1t
Icing an implied power, and not An
explicit power. 1t logically follows
that this federal 2oNe, does not de-
stICy the original sovereign state
pr yer, and that t can lie exercised
fully, and practically Independent of
the interstate power vested in the
federal commission, as long as the
nullify any act OF the federal COM
mission.
To state it more specifically: while
the right of the federal commission
to say that cents a mile via the
shortest interstate line between any
two points Cet us say Pensacola and
New York, for instance) establishes
a rate that the railroad shall not ex-
ceed, any state still has the right.
after due consideration of all the
facts, to fix, under the federaIIy es-
tabIhshed maximum, a rate which
the railroad shall not exceed within
that state, on either an intra-state or
Interstate passenger haul.
To again restare our contention, In
another specific application: while
the federal commission has the ac.
cepted right in law to say that it is
unreasonable fard thus proh;bitcdl
for a railroad TO charge more than
a given rate per mile from Pensacola
to Montgomery, it seems to us that
the authority of the state Gf facts
justify is unimpaired as to saying
that the passenger traffic be-
tween Pensacola and the Alabama
state line to the north is such that
the railroads can operate at a given
rate, and therefor to prohibit the
charging more over said section,
whether on intra-state or Interstate
traffic, even though the rate thus es-
tablished be less than the federal
maximum permitted. Similarly, Ala
bama has the right, after due inves-
tigation of facts, to say what the
charge shall not exceed between say,
Mobile and Montgomery, and the Ala
bama maximum between Flomaton
and Montgomery, plus the Florida
maximum between Pensacola and
Flomaton, would thus become the inter
state maximum between Pensacola
and Montgomery. provided. only that
ii did not exceed a federal maximum
ordered over said route
To state it still different way, but
with the same application of princi- |
pie: Floridians, Alabamians or North |
Carolinians being in the eye of the law
and under the constitution of the
United States as intelligent and as
fair as the people of other states. they.
through their properly constituted Off
cials are as we'll qualified as the
Interstate Commerce Commission or
anyone else to say what is a fair
maximum mileage in one of the