Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-04-03
SYMPHONY Conduct

| And aa the cost and convenience Of
carriage in that way can be no less
but, as is we'll known, would rather
be greater, tie advantage would re-
main with the through rate even il
it were reduced so as equal the sum
of the local rates. The railroads can
not invoke the commerce clause Of
the federal constitution to shield
themselves against fair and reason
able rates fixed by state for its own
internal business. The effect of these
on interstate rates is not only inciden.
tai but also legitimate under the dual
form of government through which
we enjoy happiness and prosperity
beyond compare.
IF the local rates as reduced by
Minnesota are still fair and the re-
udction leads the railroads to lower
through rates correspondingly then
interstate commerce will have 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, the governors de-
clared that it 'as plain that the
inevitable effect of the idea that bust
ness necessities, peculiar location of
lines of transportation and for COM
mercial centers can make an act of a
state regulating it's local rates reg,.-
lation of interstate rates and there.
fore invalid, would be the destruction
Of the state control over it's own af-
fairs
1.-THE right of state regulation ex-
tends to every business conduction
within it's borders, though such bust
ness may also extend into interstate
commerce. Any act regulating or
affecting an enterprise having an in
terstate character necessarily effects
the condition under which it completes
with Like enterprises carried on in
other states. This will apply to tele.
phones, telegraphs, natural gas and
OIL companies and many other enter.
prises. And the passage of a law
regulating the hours of labor within
one state might make it difficult or
impossible for it's corporations or
citizens to compete successfully with
those engaged in the same business
in other states where no such regula-
ton exists. The same condition
would arise from the passage of a
workman's compensation law, or
law changing the liability of employ
ers in one state, when other states
have no such laws or different ones.
III the doctrine is to be that the
laws OF trade may make the perfor-
nance of a lawful duty by state in
the regulation of corporations doing
business therein a regulation Of inter-
state commerce, who is to prescribe
the test or rule for applying it? Or
shall We 60 to the logical conclusion
that the laws of trade are higher
than the constitution and must pre-
vail without regard to the ddrectness
or extent of real or fancied interior
ence with their full operation and
effect?"
In concluding the governors declar-
ed that the rate cases involved no
conflict between state and federal
authority, but controversy between
the state and the railroads.
mo one contends that congress
could exercise any control over the
purely Internal commerce Of the
States" it was asserted. 1.-THE effect
of the decision is not to take power
from the states and leave it with con-
gress. roads free to charge whatever
rates they please in their traffic with.
in the states, for II the states cannot
regulate these rates nobody can.
"The Fourteenth Amendment pro-
tcets the rights Of CARRIERS from in
vasion under the guise Of regulation
by either state ornation. It is not
always easy to find the line which
separates the domain Of public
authority from that Of private right.
But this ia not so hard as it would
be to trace the indirect effects Of
regulation by the state and by con-
gress back and forth across the
boundary Of their respective jurisdic-
TONS The boundary itself is plainly
marked. We who have to do with
administering the judicial. power have
in especial charge the covenant Of
the union and our plain duty 10 to see
that this boundary is respected, leav.
ing further responsibility to the peo-
pie of the country and the agencies
they have created for the regulation
of commerce. state and interstate."