The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-05-26
PARAGRAPH ; Of
SECTION 8 GIVES
CONSTITUTIONAL
court ENTRY To
RAILWAY owners
One Brief Clause Permits
Interstate Commerce Com
mission DictatiOn Over
Transportation
COMMERCE" READ TO
READ INTERCOURSE
INTERPRETATION OF MEANING
OF ONE WORD BY FEDERALL
JURIST OPENED GATE FOR
CONTINUED LITIGATION
COMMERCE" READ TO
READ INTERCOURSE

Washington, May 26.-The old axiom
that Commerce is the Life Blood OF
the Nation" could be amended to read
and Of its courts according to at
torneys of many years experience be-
fore the United States supreme court,
Inquiry Of number Of experts on
constitutional law as to the section
which has been productive of most
litigation, brought the unanimous re-
sponse: Section s, paragraph g." This
section. one of the shortest in the
immortal document, declares that con-
gress shall have the power to "regu.
late commerce with foreign nations and
between the several states.
From that brief clause, however, has
arisen all the rate cases, those in
volving public utilities, the Interstate
Commerce Commission, child labor,
federal employers liability act, the
lottery laws. the white slave act and,
more recently, the numerous prohibi.
tion statutes preceding the amend
ment itself.
Chief Justice Marshall asserted in o.
judicial opinion that commerce"
must be interpreted to read Inter.
course" and, lawyers say his wide in
depreciation was the progenitor of the
whole family of legal battles turning
upon the commerce section.
Washington showed his foresight
edness Immediately after the Revolu-
tionary War" said one constitutional
law expert recently, land placed his
finger on the most glaring weakness
OF the Articles Of Confederation, when
he called the Annapolis Convention"
TO discuss commerce between Maryland,
Virginia and Delaware" This con-
vention, forerunner of that held in
Philadelphia shortly afterward, agreed
that no restriction Of any sort should
bV placed on the commerce OF the
three states.
Realizing that the agreement was
worthless unless supported by the ad-
joining states, Washington and his con-
ferees determined, it is said. to make
the question of commerce a feature
Of the Philadelphia meeting.
II is the contention Of some au.
thorities that the section written into
the constitution was the outcome OF a
deliberate effort to take away all reg
ulatory powers over commerce from
the states. Others maintain that the
school OF thought headed by Hamilton
and Marshall was decisively beaten In
this endeavor as in several others fos.
tered TO establish q strong central gov
anf nd no rapII.
lation of commerce was intended u
cover only the movements OF goods
over the state lines without hlndrance
Of tolls and tariffs.
Be that as it may. under recent de-
cisions Of the supreme court. com
merce" has been interpreted to cover
not only the movement of goods, but
of men and women-as in the white
slave act. In the Peterson case, the
intended for use in a bridge over
which Washington-New York trains
passed must be considered to be zen
gagged In Interstate commerce"
Within the last few weeks, no less
than q dozen cases involving In some
way the commerce section, have been
docketed in the supreme court. The
Wisconsin and New York rates cases
will determine whether the Interstate
Commerce Commission has the right &c
fix purely intra-state railroad rates. A
case from Texas will decide whether
the commission can authorize the
abandonment of a railroads lines. 9th
er suits turn upon obscure points In
the Federal Employers Liability Act