Bisbee daily review., 1912-04-02

! " N+N''-Ai-Np D-Ns -AluA l.-- Af EoE lernors of the states as a body today filed their solemn protest with the supreme court of Chc United States lasainst the proposition to strike down 1 state railroad rates as interfering | with interstate commerce. They r.. spectfnlly called upon the Lench, hay ing in especial charge the Covenant | Of the Union" 10 see that the bound.
 aries Of the states remain. l. was the [ first time in the history Of the nation
 that such d protest had been made. ] The protest took the nature Of a brief. flied as friends Of the court
 by committee of governors. Judsoa
 Harmon. Of Ohio: Herbert S Hadley,
 of Missouri: and Charles H. Aldrich.
 of Nebraska. This committee Was
 selected al a conference Of governors
 last September The brief was sub lmltted in connection with the state Irate eases" set for oral argument to- | day.
 | The brief was of peculiar interest | coming so soon after the most recent decision Of the Interstate Commerce
 commission that railroads submitting
 10 low state rates must give similar rates On interstate business.
 Because the federal circuit cour. in
 the Minnesota freight and passenger rate cases held the rates invalid not Cnly as conflscatory but by reason of their effect on interstate commerce, that case was taken as the text for the governors protest. II was declared that what was said went directly to the right ot every state to regulate state commerce. and was designed particularly to be applicable 10 the Minnesota. Missouri. oregon, Ken lucky, Ohio. Arkansas and West Nir- einia rate eases before the court. The governors had nothing to say about the confisCatcry nature of the rates. but confined themselves to the inter state phase of the question The committee or governors set forth the claim that because Mime sota had required the railroads to re- duce their rates from such cities as St. Paul Minn., to Duluth, Minn. on the state boundary The intestate bus mess of the railroads from St Paul 10
 Superior, Wis, just across the line
 from Duluth, had been affected. Simi-
 lar conditions. it was stated. were 70
 be found in Kansas City. Kan, and
 Kansas City, Mo-; Omaha Neb.. anl Council BluTs. Iowa; Cincinnati,
 Ohio: and Covington and Newport.
 Ky. The vice Of the Minnesota de- cision. it was urged, was not in an incorrect statement of Minnesota geography. but in the plain disregard Of the provisions of the federal consti- tuition. which established the relation of the nation and the states by giving one control over interstate matters and the other control over state af- fairs. 1t was admitted that there might be some effect on interstate commerce when states regulate state
 rates. but it was asserted time anl again in the brief that if railroad en- joys a reasonable return under state rates. it enjoys every right 10 which it is entitled.
 "Tbe test cannot be-" declare the governors. whether the local rates are fair and reasonable, for if they are so and the sum of them is so much lower than the interstate rates as tC lead shippers to take the trouble ami risk of rebilling or reshippiug at state lines. this is a perfectly lawful condition the advantage of which the public is entitled to enjoy. And as the cost and convenience of carriage in that way can be no less. out, as is well known. would rather be greater, the advantage would remain with the through rate even ii it were reduced so as to equal the sum of the local
 rates The railroads cannot invoke the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution to shield themselves is. Ia l by state for it's own internal busi- ness. The effect of these on interstate rates is not only incidental and ind. rect, but also legitimate under the dual form of government through which we enjoy happiness and pros perity beyond comraTe.
 ,"lf the local rates as reduced by Minnesota are still fair and the re- duction leads the railroads to lower through rates correspondingly, then interstate commerce will nave been relieved of a burden instead of having one imposed on It: and this would be accomplished not directly by the states regulation of it's own com merce, but indirectly by the action of the railroads themselves which would be only just and right"
 Testing the Minnesota decision by it's consequences, tke governors de clared that it. was plain that the 'n- evitable effect of the idea that bUsi- ness necessities. peculiar location Cf lines of transportation and of commes- cial centers can make an act of state regulating it's local rates res llation of interstatSrates and there fore invalid, would be the destruction of the state control over its own af-