Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/280/98.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 18:57:32+00:00

Document:
[280 U.S. 98, 99] The Attorney General and Messrs. Edward M. Reidy and Daniel W. Knowlton, both of Washington, D. C., for appellants.
Mr. Marion B. Pierce, of New York City, for appellees.
Upon complaint of Hamersley Manufacturing Company, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued an order that the Erie Railroad Company and a connecting carrier establish an all-rail rate of 10 cents per 100 pounds [280 U.S. 98, 100] on wood pulp imported through the port of Hoboken, N. J., and shipped from there to Garfield, N. J., in carloads. Hamersley Mfg. Co. v. Erie R. R. Co ., 126 I. C. C. 491; Id., 148 I. C. C. 47. The carriers brought this suit in the federal court for that state to enjoin enforcement of the order and to set it aside. The District Court granted the relief. Erie R. Co. v. United States, 32 F.(2d) 613. The case is here on direct appeal under Act of October 22, 1913, c. 32, 38 Stat. 208, 220 (28 USCA 47, 47a), and Act of February 13, 1925, c. 229, 43 Stat. 936, 938, amending section 238 of the Judicial Code (28 USCA 345). The sole ground for the carriers' attack on the order, and also the sole ground for the decree below, is that the shipments are wholly intrastate, and therefore the commission lacked jurisdiction over the rates.
The carriers contend that title to the pulp does not pass to the company until the broker arranges, at the Hoboken dock, for shipment of the specific lot to Garfield; that the shipment by the mill to its agent, as consignee, of pulp in quantity exceeding that ultimately destined to Garfield, terminates when the pulp is delivered on dock at Hoboken; that this foreign shipment is distinct from the subsequent shipment by the broker to Garfield of the smaller quantity, under a new and local bill of lading; and that therefore the rail movement from Hoboken to Garfield is an independent intrastate transaction. But the nature of the shipment is not dependent upon the question when or to whom the title passes. Pennsylvania R. R. Co. v. Clark Bros. Coal Min. Co., 238 U.S. 456, 465 , 466 S., 35 S. Ct. 896. It is deter [280 U.S. 98, 102] mined by the essential character of the commerce. Baltimore & Ohio S. W. R. R. Co. v. Settle, 260 U.S. 166, 170 , 43 S. Ct. 28. It is not affected by the fact that the transaction is initiated or completed under a local bill of lading which is wholly intrastate, Railroad Commission of Ohio v. Worthington, 225 U.S. 101 , 108-110, 32 S. Ct. 653; Texas & New Orleans R. R. Co. v. Sabine Tram Co., 227 U.S. 111 , 33 S. Ct. 229; Hughes Bros. Co. v. Minnesota, 272 U.S. 469 , 47 S. Ct. 170; or by the fact that there may be a detention before or after the shipment on the local bill of lading, Carson Petroleum Co. v. Vial, 279 U.S. 95 , 49 S. Ct. 292. The findings of the commission, that the broker acts only as agent and that from the time that the pulp is put aboard the steamer there is a continuing intent that it should be transported to Garfield, ought to have been accepted by the District Court as conclusive, since there was ample evidence to sustain it. Western Paper Makers' Chemical Co. v. United States, 271 U.S. 268 , 46 S. Ct. 500; Virginian Ry. Co. v. United States, 272 U.S. 658 , 47 S. Ct. 222. The rail transportation is in fact a part of foreign commerce.

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