The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-07-21

ne dlL ShSiaS sit0 crew ana -.
same coal are engaged in dom. l.,S
intra and inter state business at -
same time In the Minnesota cas-. 80,
carriers offered a great number -
peFts railroad men of large expeuer..
who testified that it cost not less
two and a half times and probatiy
high as six times as much TO q. ,.~
state freight business as il did /. -.
Interstate business and they gave .,-
ent aSo for such conclusions 49,.
after fully considering the reaSer-,r
n their experience and their cor
clusion, the Supreme court rejects
them all and says: We ar, -,
opinion that on an issue OF this
character involving the eonsft-
tutional validity of state act,,r
general estimates of the sort her.
submitted. with respect to "A subject
so intricate and important, should not
be accepted as adequate proof to s,x-
tain a finding of confiscation. WhIla
accounts have not been kept so a. -
show the relative cost of interstate ana
intrastate business. giving particulars
of the traffic handled on through and
local trains, and presenting data from
which such extra cost, as there may
be. Of interstate business may be sult-
ably determined. it would appear ia
nave beer not ~impracticable to have
had such accounts kept or statistics
az a. II NSSt btIltf%
properly selected.
1t may be said hat this would have
been a very difficult matter, bat the
! company having asSailed the conSti-
Iutionality Of the State acts and orders
was bound to establish it's case. and II
was not entitled to rest on expresslous
Of judgement when it had it in its
owe to present data which
| would permit the court to draw the
right conclusion.
Following out the line of
just quoted, the Supreme Court held
hat the Northern Pacific Railroad and
the Great Northern had each failed t.
show hat the rates, which they ohal-
lerged, were confiscatOry and upheld
the Minnesota Legislature, reversing.
| by the way, the special haste and
the circuit court both of whom had
ignored the theory and conclusions
of c.. w. Hillman, the States eApe,t
in that case as well as in ours.
Tests Made by the Railroads Witiont
Any Notice.
1t was to meet the fatal defect If
| proof in the Minnesota case that two
of the railroads in our case and ortv
two (the Southern and the SeaboarI
Air Line), undertook, by actual tx-
Fermentation, to test out the matter
and to find by train rulings and coun,-
ing and weighing the contents of a
certain numbel of freight trains to
allocate the expense of doing intra-
state freight and Interstate freight IN
North Carolina. And SO in the fall IF
1913 these two roads made the tests-
The railroad rode lI+
freight trains, through INC local; the
Seaboard Air Line rode IA. The
time consumed in such rulings by the
Southern was about ten days. The
SeabOard Air Line consumed about
six or eight days. At the end Of the
testing period it was found that the
total miles ridden by the Southefa
was about 19, 0OO-by the Seaboard
locating the expense OF doing inter-
state freight and interstate freight
as shown by this experimentation It
was found hat the ratio for the
Southern was very indefinite, probably
2 IL to I, and for the Seaboard Alp
Line something less than the South
ern, 2.1-3. or in other words, this test
was supposed to show that it cost the
Southern nearly three times as much
to do intra-state freight business ~
1t did to do interstate freight busl-
ness, and the S.. A. L. about twice
as much. We nave somewhat to say
on this matter.
Observe you, this was one Of the
vital matters at issue between the
railroads and the people. This is Il
contest where the books and records
and papers and other documents ar"
IN the keeping of the railroads and
not available to the people, except
when their expert goes to the home
once of the railroad to make Suc1
search as he may, lin so vast a sea"
Vital as is the test to be made, tho
railroads give no notice ia the state,
or time, place or circumstance The
state has no hand in the matter II
Is not present, when the trains are
selected, or when the rulings, are GO
ing on. The trains are selected ~
the railroads and ridden by the agents
OF the railroads. One would have
thought that they would at least have
gwen US the run of the mine" But
not SO. They are not even chosen con
secut1Vely-One train is taken one
DAY and then perhaps several freiehts
pass by and then another train Is
ridden. But. say they, w selected
~