Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1913-06-13
MINNESOTA WINS
STATE RATE SUIT
Supreme Court Gives Right to
Limit Rail Charges.
FAvORS THE TWC.CENT FARE
Part Of Law Is Held to BE Constitu'
tional in Unanimous Decision
Turpentine Trust Is
Victorious.

y .Shington, June 1.-THE power
OF the states to fix reasonable mira
state rates on interstate railroads, uu-
til such time as congress shall choose
TO regulate these rates, was upheld
by the Supreme court Of the United
States in the Minnesota freight and
passenger rate cases Monday.
At the same time the court laid
down far-reaching principles govern
ing the valuation of railroad property
for rate making purposes and, accord
ing to these, held that the state OF
Minnesota would confiscate the prop
erty of the Minneapolis & st. Louis
Railroad company by it's maximum
freight and two-cent passenger fare
law. 1t enjoined the state from en-
forcing these laws as t. this road for
the present.
The so-caIled state rate cases have
the momentous problems of the dec
AIDE.
In general terms, this group OF cases
called upon the court to decide two
questions. One was whether the states
10 passing maximum freight and two
cent passenger laws had unduly inter
fered with interstate commerce. The
other was whether those laws conf1s-
Gated the property of the railroads by
requiring them to transact business at
a loss.
The group consisted of As cases. All
arose out OF legislation enacted by
state Legislature about 1907, or just
after the federal government had
passed the Hepburn rate law. The 45
cases concerned directly the laws in
six states-Missouri, Minnesota, Ken
lucky, Oregon, Arkansas and West Vlr-
ginia. Similar litigation arose in Ala
bama, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Okla
homa aud South Dakota. In all, it was
said that 76 suits in federal courts de-
pended upon the decision in the 40
cases before the Supreme court.
The Minnesota cases arose out Of
suits by stockholders of the Northern
Pacific. the Great Northern and the
Minneapolis C ST. Louis railroads
against the companies to enjOin them
from obeying the maximum freight and
two-cent passenger laws as unconsti-
tutional, and against the state officials
to enjoin them from enforcing the
laws Judge SanbOrn of the United
States circuit court for Minnesota held
tho laws unconstitutional, of a contls-
catory nature and that they burdened
Interstate commerce. The three suits
RI Sn nrf
Convictions Of five officials Of the
American Naval Stores company at
Savannah-the so-called turpentine
trust-for criminal violation of the
Sherman law were set aside by the SUI
preme court because of an erroneous
instruction OF the trial Judge. Justice
Pitney was the only dissenter from the
opinion.
Officials of the department OF JUS
tice did not regard the decision as one
generally unfavorable to the criminal
section Of the Sherman law. They
never considered that they had
strong case.
Holding that one shipper cannot sue
for rebates as damages because com
petitors received rebates, the Supreme
court reversed the decision of the
PENNSYLVANIA courts awarding to the
International Coal Mining company of
the Clearfield region of Pennsylvania
Judgment of $4,000 against the Penn
syivania railroad. Justice Pitney, dis
seuting, declared the decision practi-
tally annulled the right of the shippers
to sue for damages conferred by recent
legislation. leaving a right to sue only
in the almost negligible instances
where the goods of shipper came into
competition with competitors who re-
ceived rebates.