Evening star., 1909-05-03
has been organized in good
Eceptions to Operation.

Eceptions to Operation.
-. Rejecting the construction placed
oy - .oveGment upon the commodities
clause, it IS decided that that clause.
when all its provisions are harmoniously
construed. mas solely for its object to Ire-
vent carriers engaged in interstate COM
merce from being associated in interest
at the time OF transportation with the
commodities transported. and therefore
the commodities clause only prohibits
railroad companies engaged in interstate
commerce from transporting in such COM
merce commodities under the following
conditions: (a) When the commodity has
been manufactured. mined or pro-
duced by railway company or under
It's authority, and at the time OF
transportation the railway company had
not I'm good faith before the act
of transportation parted with its intel
est in such commodity: b-when the
railway company owns the COMMODITY
TO be transported In whole or in part.
c-when the railway company at the
time Of transportation has an interest
direct or indirect in a legal sense in the
commodity which last prohibition does
rot amply to commodities manufactured,
mined. produced. owned. etc. by Il cor
poratic3 because railway company Is
a Stocknoider in such corporation. such
ownership of stock i'll a producing COM
pany by a railway company does not
cause ii as the owner of the stock to
have legal interest in the commodity
manufactured. etc. by the producing
corporation.
Congress Power to Enact.
-. As thus construed the ,commodi-
ties clause rs regulation of commerce
within the power of Congress to enact.
The contentious elaborately argued for
the railroad companies that the clause.
II applied to pre-eSisting rights, will
operate to take property of railroad
companies and therefore violate the due
process clause of the fifth amendment
we're all based upon the assumption
that the clause prohibited and restrict
ed in accordance with the construction
which the government gave that clause.
ana for the purpose Of enforcing which
prohibitions these suits We're brought.
As The construction which the gov
ernment placed upon the act and seeks
To enforce is now held to be unsound and
as none of the contentious relied upon
are applicable to the act as now con.
Strucd. because under such construction
the act merely enforces 4 regulation Of
commerce by which carriers are COM
PEELED 10 dissociate themselves from the
products which they carry and does not
prohibit where the carrier is not asso-
ciated with the commodity carried. it
follows that the contentious on the SUBJ
jec: of the fifth amendment are without
merit
Timber Clause Upheld.
-. The exemption as to timber. etc.
contained in the clause is not repuSnant
to the Cons tuition.
o. The provision as to penalties is
separable from the other provisions of
the act. AS no recovery of penalties was
prayed. no issue concerning them is here
presented. 1t will be time enough to con-
slider whether the right to recover penal
Ties exists when an attempt to collect
penalties Is made.
u. AS the construction now given the
act differs so widely from the construc-
tion which the government gave to the
act and which 1t was the purpose Of these
suits to enforce. 1t is held that it is not
necessary I'm reversing and remanding. to
direct the character of DEGREES which
shall be entered. but simply to reverse
and remand the case with directions to
enforce and apply the statute as it is now
construed
-. AS the Delaware and Hudson Com
pany Is engaged as a common carrier by
channels OF interstate commerce. ii is &
railroad company within the purview of
the commodities clause. and is subject to
the provisions of that clause, as they are
now construed.
Slump An Railroad Stocks.
NEW YORK. May 3.-Philade1phia and
Reading stock slumped three points in the
New York stock market on the announce
men. of the commodities decision, and the
rest of the market weakened moderately.
Before I o'clock Reading recovered its
loss and the whole market became in
tensely dull. Delaware and Hudson lost
Ii and Pennsylvania I on the break, but
both recovered their losses.