The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-23

the decisions of the courts. meager and generally unsatisfactory as they are. we are inevitably drawn to the con- cluslon that this Commission has no Jurisdiction over the transatlantic steamship lines herein Involved even though they may be parties to thor ough arrangement for continuous Transportation in connection with e railroad within the United States. On foreign commerce to a non-adjacent country. the Jurisdiction of this Com mission over the carriers therein en- gagged ends at the seaboard.
 For the reasons given the demurrer will be sustained and the petition dis missed. The position here taken. how ever, does not conclude the Commission against an continuation into the rela- ton which exists between the rail car riers of the United States and the de- fendant water carriers and condemna- tion of such arrangement if the rail carriers to the seaboard are by any means whatsoever. or because of any reason advantageous to them and dis- advantageous to the general public. disobeying any provision of the act to regulate commerce, or refusing. or emitting. to complyswi its every re- auirement. The Cosmopolitan ship ping Company may bring before the Commission the rail carriers engaged In tha transportation of such foreign commerce to and from ports of trans shipment and subject them to investi- gation as to their methods of handling such business and the reasons there for
 Cerrection of Wrongs.
 "If 1t Is found that there is dfscrim- tnation as between shipping points. or points of Transshipment in the United States on the part of these rail car riers. it Is within the function of the Commission to correct such wrong.
 "The Commission. not having been given control over the ocean carriers. can not compel observance of the law hy such carriers. and If they so choose they may alter their rates at such times as they please or for such pat rons as they please. Therefore the line must be drawn decisively between those carriers whose rates and practices this Commission can control and those which 1t cannot control: and upon this line of reasoning 1t has ben the con- sIstent ruling of the Commission that joint rates cannot be made between carriers subject to the act and those not subject to the act.
 "On foreign commerce the rate to be published with this Commission should be the rate to the port and from the port-an open rate. which any who de- sire to do so may use with equal ad- vantage. The publication of such rate does not in any manner limit the very valua ble privilege of through billing. Such through billing should clearly separate the liability of the rail and the ocean carrier and show the pub lished rate of the inland carrier. The routing of the freight, however, should remain with the shipper, and upon him may be imposed no greater charge to the port when his freight goes by one ocean line than bv another. and this rate to the port the tariffs must dis close.
 Policy of the Law.
 This ruling is the only one which is consistent with what seems to be the policy of the law, viz., that while restriction and control are essential as to the inland carriers of foreign com merce the ocean carriers of such com- merce should remain unrestrained and free. There is not today, and never has been, such a thing as stability of rates upon the water. Perhaps 1t is not desirable that there should be. The ocean is a highway free to all. No franchise Is needed to sail the seas, nor is the establishment of line of ships founded. either in law or in eco nomics upon the theory of public serving monopoly which underlies the relation of the railroad to the state. It may be well, therefore, that without regulation, and by reason of natural competitive conditions. the public will be best served, and in the end treated more equitably by leaving the water carriers to foreign lands entirely un- hampered by legal restrictions such as the people of this and other lands have found it necessary to impose upon the