Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-05-04
COMMODITIES
CLAUSE HELD
TO BE LEGAL
GOVERNMENT LOSES BATTLE
WITH RAILROADS
SUPREME COURT RENDERS DE-
clsIoN IN NOTED CASE
Railway Companies Must Disassoeiate
Themselves from Products They
Carry, but Otherwise
Win Case

If applied to pre-existing rights VIII
operate to take property OF railroad
companies and therefore violate the que
process clause of the fifth amendment
were all based on the assumption that
the clause prohibited and restricted IN
accordance with the construction which
the government gave the clause ana
Afor the purpose of enforcing which pro-
hibitions these suits were brought.
"As the construction which the gov
eminent placed upon the act ana
seeks to enforce is now held to be
unsound none of the contentious re-
lied upon are applicable to the act
as now construed, because under such
construction the act merely entorces
a regulation of commerce by which
carriers are compelled to disassociate
themselves from the products whlcn
thew carry and does not prohibit where
the carrier is not associated with the
commodity carried, it follows that the
contentious on the subject of the NTH
amendment are without merit.
Exemption Not Repugnant
a. The exemption as to the timber
provision contained in the clause is not
repugnant to the constitution.
IS. The provision adopted as to pen
alties is separable from the other pro-
visions of the act
AS no I6CONCIy VI PCl&ebAhAC'
prayed, no issue concerning them Is
hereby presented. 1t will be time
enough to consider whether the right
to recover. penalties exists when an at
tempt to collect penalties is made.
"6. AS the construction now given the
act differs so widely from the construc-
tion which the government gave to the
act and which it was the purpose of
these suits to enforce, it is held that it
is NOT necessary, in reversing and re-
manding, to direct the character OF
DEGREES which shall be entered, but
simply to reverse and remand the case
with the directions to enforce and APP
ply the statute as it is now con-
strued.
company is engaged as a common car
rier by rail in the transportation OF
coal in the channels of interstate com
merce, 1t is a railroad company within
the purview of the commodities clause
and is subject to the provisions of that
clause as they are now construed"
The announcement as to the commo-
dities clause was made in deciding the
twelve injunction and mandamus cases
brought by the government against the
Delaware & Hudson, the Erie, the New
Jersey Central, the Delaware q Lacka-
wanna, the Pennsylvania and the Lee
high Valley railroads.
The cases came to the court from the
United States circuit court for the
eastern district of Pennsylvania, whose
decision as announced by Judge George
Gray in 1908 attracted much attention.
They originated in the circuit court,
and in its petition the government
charged that the railroad companies in
question were engaged in transporting
in interstate commerce anthracite coal
mined by themselves in their own
|, mines, which are located in Pennsyl-
vania.
The Hepburn act makes it unlawful
for any railroad company to transport
from any state to any other state or to
any foreign country any article or com
modify other than timber manufac-
tured mined or produced bv it or I'M
der its authority, or which 1t may own
in whole or in part, or in which it may
have any interest, direct or indirect,
except such articles or commodities as
may be necessary and intended for it's
use in the conduct of its business as
a common carrier.
The circuit court decided against the
constitutionality of the provision be-
cause, as it was alleged, it deprived
the corporations of their property with
out due process of law, which is pro-
hibited by the fifth amendment to the
constitution. 1t was also held by the
court with clause mot directly but
indirectly work a special confiscation
of the property of the railroad; hence
the law was held o.be invalid and "in
its nature discriminative prohibition"
That verdict was reversed by today's
decision.