The Montana plaindealer., 1908-03-27
ITSCONTROLLIMITED
IMPORTANT DECISION FROM
INTERSTATE Commission.
Says They Have no Jurisdiction over
Oceans Traffic from This Country
to Any Foreign Ports-Different Com
panies Can Pool Traffic and Commits
sion Cannot Interfere

A decision has been promulgated
by the interstate commerce commits
sion in one of the most important
termine for some time. 1t is that of
the Cosmopolitan Importing company
a Philadelphia organization, chartered
under the laws of New Jersey, against
the Hamburg-American Packet com
pany, the North German Lloyd Steam
ship company, the Wilson lines, and
the Scandinavian-Amer lines.
The complainant's petition was filed
with the commission nearly a year ago.
Some time subsequently the defend
ants filed a demurrer, attacking the
jurisdiction of the interstate commerce
commission. The opinion in the case.
which is very voluminous, was pre-
pared by Commissioner Franklin X
Lane.
In brief. and in effect, the commits
sion decided against itself. 1t holds
that it has no authority over oceanic
transportation and this determines the
case adversely to the contention of
the complainant.
In this case the complainant alleged
that the defendant steamship COM
panies transport traffic under the bills
of lading between inland points of the
United States and foreign ports, and
are thereby subjected to the jurisdic-
tion of the commission; that defend
ants have made an arrangement for
the pooling of eastbound export traf-
| fic maintained by rail TO Atlantic
ports and thence by steamship lines
to points in Denmark Sweden, Nor
way, Finland and German ports in
the Baltic. and that this so-called
Baltic pool" arbitrarily determines
the ultimate rates from such inland
points of the United States to such
foreign ports, the North Atlantic
ports; and that the Hamburg American
/ Packet company maintains a monopoly
of westbound and eastbound traffic
forwarded on local and on through
bills of lading between Germany and
other continental countries and inland
cities of the United States.
The prayer of the petition is that the
commission declare the Baltic pool
TO be an illegal pooling of freights un
der the interstate commerce act; that
the monopoly of the Hamburg-Ameri
can Packet company be declared un
lawful and that relief be granted tC
the complainant. which is also a trans
Atlantic steamship company, doing {
freight business between American
and continental ports.
Lane Explains Decision.
In his discussion of a few of the
reasons for the commissions decision
Mr.. Lane says:
The commission may regulate in
lterstate traffic. whether by rail or b!
icombined rail and water route. from
point of receipt TO point of delivery
J but the commission in its control Owe
foreign commerce is limited 10 tn,
regulation Of such traffic, whether b!
rail or by a combination Of rail anC
water carriers. frcm and 10 the points
Of transshipment.
i The pooling {. traffic by wate
carriers is plainly a matter over whicl
the commission has no jurisdiction.
a rail carrier may control. and con
, meet with a line of steamships engaged
in foreign commerce. with which i
, may interChange business as freely a
with another rail carrier. and it ma,
= quote a combination rate for IN,
= through movement. the agents of tn
railroad company acting as the agen
Of the steamship company in SO doing.