Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-23
INTERSTATE
COMMISSION
POWERLESS
HAS NO JURISDICTION OVER
STEAMSHIP LINES
Commissioner Lane Writes Decision,
Holding Board Cannot Take Up
Complaint Against Four
Corporations

WASHINGTON, March PA decls-
ion was promulgated today by the m
terstate commerce commission in one OF
th. most important cases it has been
called upon to determine for some tlihe'
1t is that of the Cosmopolitan import
ing company Philadelphia organlza-
tion. chartered under the laws OF New
Jersey, against the Hamburg Amer
car, Packet company, the North Ger
man Lloyd Steamship company, tlie IN
Wilson (HulD lines, and the Scahul-
navian- American lines. 81
The complainant's petition was nled
with the commission nearly a year
ago. Some time subsequently the de-
PENDANTS filed demurrer, attacking l lile
jurisdiction of the interstate commerce
commission.
The opinion in the case, which is
xery Voluminous, was prepared p5
Commissioner Franklin K. Lane.
In brief, and in effect, the commls-
sion decides against itself 1t holds
that it has no authority over oceanic
TRANSPORTATION, and thus determines the
case adversely to the contention OF the
complainant
Accused by Shipper
Ir, this case the complainant alleged
the defendant steamship companies
lad1ng between inland points of the
United states and foreign ports, and
are. thereby subject to the jurisdiction
of the commissions; that the defendants
have made arrangements for the pool
in6 of eastbound export traftlc main :
taired by rail to Atlantic ports ana
thence by steamship lines in Denmark.
Sweden. Norway, Finland and German
points in the Baltic; that this so-called
'Bsltic pool" arbitrarily determines the
ultimate rates from such inland points
or the United States to such foreign
ports, via the North Atlantic ports; ana
that the Hamburg American Packet
company maintains monopoly OF the
westbound and eastbound traffic FOR
Narded on local and on through bills or
lading between Germany and other
tranScontinental 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 under
the interstate commerce commission
act. that the monopoly of the Ham
burg American Packet company is de-
cIared unlawful and that relief be
granted to the complainant which also
is a transatlantic steamship company
doing a freight business between
American and continental ports.
In his discussion of the reasons for
the commissions decision Commits
sioner Lane says: THE commission
has no jurisdiction over shipments
moving from ports of the United states
t. foreign country not adjacent when
such shipments are not carried by rall
or by rail and water from an inland
point of origin to point of trans ship
ment. An inland movement of export
or import traffic is u condition prece-
dent to the attaching of jurisdiction.
NJ RaiI qhtnnnsnfe
"The commission may regulate inter
state traffic, whether by rail or by d
combined rail and water route, from
point of receipt to point of delivery, but
the commission in its control over for
eign commerce is limited to the regu-
lation of such traffic. whether by rail-
road or by combination of rail and
water carriers from and to the point Of
trans-shipment.
1.-THE pooling of traffic by water car
riers is plainly a matter over which
this commission has no jurisdiction.
"A rail carrier may control and con-
meet with a line of steamships engaged
in foreign commerce, with which it may
interchange business as freely as with
another rail carrier, and 1t may quote
a combined rate for the through move
ment, the agents of the railroad com
pany acting as the agent of the steam
ship company in so doing.
Commissioner Lanes opinion con-
tinues: TT has been the uniform inter-
pretation of the law that an all-water
carrier engaged in carrying freight,
originating in New York or New Or
leans, may engage in such traffic be-
tween ports without publishing it's rates
with this commission, and so may the
steamships plying between Seattle and
San Francisco, but if such water car
liers are controlled or managed by the
same corporation as controls or man
ages a rail line, or if between a rail
and water line there is an agreement
for continuous carriage, then such
water line becomes subject to all the
provisions mandatory and prohibitory
of the act to regulate commerce.
Ends at Seaboard
ION foreign commerce to non-ad-
iacent country the jurisdiction of this
commission over the carriers therein
ends at the seaboard."
In conclusion, the opinion says: This
ruling is the only one Which is con-
sistent with what seems to be the policy
of the law. viz, that while restrictions
and control are essential as to the In
land carriers of foreign commerce the
ocean carriers of such commerce should
remain unrestrained and free. There
is not today and never has been such a
thing as stability of rates upon the
water. Perhaps it is not desirable that
there should be. The ocean is a high
way free to all. No franchise is needed
10 sail the seas, nor is the establish
ment of a line of ships founded, either
in law or economies, upon the theory
of public serving monopoly which
underles the relation of the railroad to
the state"