Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-01-04

company to construct a spur suffi-
cient TO accommodate three Gears.
Thereupon plaintiff brought this suit
to set aside such order.
Upon trial in the circuit court the
order of the commission was sus-
tanned and plaintiff appeals.
The following sections of the rail-
way commission act relate to the
matters here in controversy and are
quoted so far as applicable.
Sec, 68S7. Every such railroad is
hereby required to. furnish reasona-
bly, adequate service, equipment and
facilities, and the charges made for
any service rendered or to be rem
dered in the transportation of pas
sengers or property or for any SER
vice in connection Herewith, or for
the receiving, switching, delivering,
transit, ventilation, refrigeration, or
icing or handling of such property,
or for union depot or terminal facili-
ties, shall be reasonable and Just, and
every unreasonable charge for such
service is prohibited and declared to
be unlawful"
Sec. 6897. 1T shall be the duty of
every railroad to provide and main
tain adequate depots and depot build
ings, and clean and suitable toilet
rooms, or buildings, at it's regular
stations where an agent is main
tanned, for the accommodation of pas
sengers, and said depot buildings
shall be kept clean, well lighted and
ttrsnv na.,1 Co. Nln O.,
mediation of the travelling public. All
railroads shall keep and maintain
adequate and suitable freight depots,
buildings, switches, spurs and side
tracks for the receiving, handling,
and delivering of freight transported
or to be transported by such rail-
roads. T."
Sec. 69OS. Whenever, upon an in
vestgation made under the provisions
of this act, the commission shall find
any existing rate or rates, fares,
charges, or classifications, or any
joint rate or rates, or any regulation
or practice whatsoever affecting the
transportation Of persons or property,
or any service in connection there
with, are unreasonable or unjustly
discriminatory, or any service is in
adequate, it shall determine and by
order fix a reasonable rate, fare,
charge, classification, or joint rate to
be imposed, observed, and followed
in the future in lieu of that found 10
be unreasonable or unjustly discrim-
inatory, or inadequate, as the case
may be, and it shall cause a certified
copy of each such order to be deliv-
cred to an officer or station agent Of
the railroad affected thereby, which
order shall of its own force take eff
feet and become operative 20 days af-
ter the service thereof All railroads
to which the order applies, shall
make such changes in their schedule
on file as may be necessary to make
the same conform to said order, and
no change shall thereafter be made
by any railroad in any such rates,
fares, or charges, or in any joint, or
rates, without the approval of the
commission. Certified copies Of all
other orders of the commission shall
be delivered to the railroads affected
thereby in like manner and the same
shall take effect within such time
thereafter as the commission shall
prescribe"
By Sec. 6910 a railway company is
authorized to commence a suit in
equity to vacate an order of the rail-
road commission, If the same is un-
lawful or unreasonable, and in such
suit the burden of proof is upon the
plaintiff to show the unlawfulness or
unreasonableness of the order "by
clear and satisfactory evidence"
Mcbride, j. The validity of the or
der of the railroad commission is as
sailed upon three grounds, namely:
Q) that the legislature is without
power to authorize the commission to
direct the building of new spurs or
side-tracks; (2) that, conceding that
the legislature had such power, It
has not delegated it to the commits
sion; and (3) that the exercise of the
power in the present instance is so
unreasonable that it is void, or, at
least, that the order should be re-
versed upon the facts shown to eX-
ist.
Takin~ these propositions in the
order stated, we are Of the opinion
that the legislature has power to
enact legislation authorizing the rail-
road commission to require railroad
corporations to furnish reasonable
and adequate facilities for the trans
portation of freight and passengers;
and that such legislation is not con-
trary to the fourteenth amendment to
the constitution of the United States
One of the primary duties, recog-
nized by all civilized governments, is
that of providing their citizens with
facilities for pubic travel by means
of roads, canals and other similar
structures. In the progress of civil
ization and the increase of public
travel, it became apparent that the
public could be better served, and
public highways more readily built
and operated, by allowing private en-
terprise to supplement the facilities
provided, by general taxation, and
toll roads were authorized and cor
porations, endowed with government
tai authority to exercise the right oi
eminent domain, were authorized tC
construct such highways, receiving
in the way of toll from the travelling
public sums, which in some respects
were deemed substitute for those pre-
viously paid by them in the form oi
taxes. Later, with the application o.
steam to the purposes of travel by
land, the. railroad succeeded the tol
road. 1t is true that, the railroad diff
fered from the toll-road in that It's
proprietors furnished not only the
road but the vehicle which carried
the traveller, but, nevertheless, re