Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/219/453.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 13:32:10+00:00

Document:
[219 U.S. 453, 454] Messrs. Thomas S. Buzbee, Lawrence Maxwell, Edward B. Peirce, and Erasmus C. Lindley for plaintiff in error.
[219 U.S. 453, 455] Messrs. Hal L. Norwood and W. L. Terry for defendant in error.
Two actions were instituted by the state of Arkansas in one of its courts against the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railway Company, a corporation of Illinois engaged in railroad business in several states. The company it was agreed, entered Arkansas for purposes of railroad business, complying with all conditions of the laws of that state authorizing foreign railroad corporations to do such business within its limits.
The complaint alleged that the defendant company on a named day, and in violation of the law of Arkansas, operated and ran in that state a freight train of more than twenty-five cars without having equipped such train with as many as three brakemen; and that the railroad over which the train was operated was more than 50 miles in length. The state asked a judgment in each case against the railway company for $500. The company filed in each case both an answer and a general demurrer.
The suits were based on an Arkansas statute (Ark. Laws 1907, No. 116) prescribing the minimum number of employees to be used in the operation of freight trains, and providing a penalty for violating its provisions.
The statute is in these words: ' 1. No railroad company or officer of court, owning or operating any line or lines of railroad in this state, and engaged in the transportation of freight over its line or lines, shall equip any of its said freight trains with a crew consisting of less than an engineer, a fireman, a conductor, and three brakemen, regardless of any modern equipment of automatic couplers and air brakes, except as hereinafter provided. 2. This [219 U.S. 453, 458] act shall not apply to any railroad company or officer of court whose line or lines are less than 50 miles in length, nor to any railroad in this state, regardless of the length of the said lines, where said freight trains so operated shall consist of less than twenty-five cars, it being the purpose of this act to require all railroads in this state whose line or lines are over 50 miles in length, engaged in hauling a freight train consisting of twenty-five cars or more, to equip the same with a crew consisting of not less than an engineer, a fireman, a conductor, and three brakemen; but nothing in this act shall be construed so as to prevent any railroad company or officer of court from adding to or increasing its crew beyond the number set out in this act. 3. Any railroad company or officer of court violating any of the provisions of this act shall be fined for each offense not less than $100 nor more than $500, and each freight train so illegally run shall constitute a separate offense. Provided, the penalties of this act shall not apply during strikes of men in train service of lines involved.' Ark. Laws 1907, No. 116.
The consolidated causes were, by agreement of the parties, tried by the court. The result in each case was a judgment against the railway company for $100. Upon appeal by the company to the supreme court of Arkansas, the action of the trial court was affirmed. 86 Ark. 412, 111 S. W. 456.
In the state court the railway company assailed the act in question as being in conflict with the 14th Amendment, as well as of the commerce clause, of the Constitution of the United States. But the supreme court of Arkansas overruled these objections, holding that the act was not to be taken as inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States. The case is here for review on the question whether the statute is in violation of the Constitution.
In our judgment, these questions are concluded by former decisions, and no extended discussion of them is now required. Yet, an examination of some of the decisions will be proper in order to show the precise grounds on which this court has determined whether state enactments of a particular kind were regulations of interstate commerce or in violation of the 14th Amendment.
But the case more nearly analogous to the present one is that of New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. v. New York, 165 U.S. 628 , 631-633, 41 L. ed. 853- 855, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 418, where the court was required to determine the validity, under the Constitution of the United States, of a statute of New York regulating the heating of steam passenger cars, and directing guards and guard posts to be placed on railroad bridges and trestles and the approaches thereto. The statute provided that no steam railroad doing business in New York after a named day should heat its passenger cars on other than mixed trains by any stove or furnace kept inside of the car or suspended therefrom, except that, in case of accident or other emergency, such stove or furnace, with necessary fuel, could be temporarily used; that where any cars had been equipped with apparatus to heat by steam, hot water, or hot air from the locomotive or from a special car, the stove then in use could be retained and used when the car was standing still; and that the statute should not apply to railroads less than 50 miles in length, nor to the use of stoves of a pattern and kind to be approved by the state railroad commissioners for cooking purposes in dining cars. The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, a Connecticut corporation, during a cer- [219 U.S. 453, 463] tain period named, ran trains of passenger cars over its route from the city of New York to Hartford, and from Hartford to New York, and on through trains as well as on its road in New York other than on mixed trains, the company heated its cars by stoves and furnaces kept within the cars. An action was brought against the railway company for violation of the above statute, and there was a verdict in favor of the state for the penalties imposed. That judgment was affirmed by the court of appeals of New York. 142 N. Y. 646, 37 N. E. 568.
The principles announced in the above cases require an affirmance of the judgment of the supreme court of Arkansas. It is not too much to say that the state was under an obligation to establish such regulations as were necessary or reasonable for the safety of all engaged in business or domiciled within its limits. Beyond doubt, passengers on interstate carriers while within Arkansas are as fully entitled to the benefits of valid local laws enacted for the public safety as are citizens of the state. Local statutes directed to such an end have their source in the power of the state, never surrendered, of caring for the public safety of all within its jurisdiction; and the validity under the Constitution of the United States of such statutes is not to be questioned in a Federal court unless they are clearly inconsistent with some power granted to the general government, or with some right secured by that instrument, or unless they are purely arbitrary in their [219 U.S. 453, 466] nature. The statute here involved is not in any proper sense a regulation of interstate commerce, nor does it deny the equal protection of the laws. Upon its face, it must be taken as not directed against interstate commerce, but as having been enacted in aid, not in obstruction, of such commerce, and for the protection of those egaged in such commerce. Under the evidence, there is admittedly some room for controversy as to whether the statute is or was necessary; but it cannot be said that it is so unreasonable as to justify the court in adjudging that it is merely an arbitrary exercise of power, and not germane to the objects which evidently the state legislature had in view. It is a means employed by the state to accomplish an object which it is entitled to accomplish, and such means, even if deemed unwise, are not to be condemned or disregarded by the courts, if they have a real relation to that object. And the statute being applicable alike to all belonging to the same class, there is no basis for the contention that there has been a denial of the equal protection of the laws. Undoubtedly, Congress, in its discretion, may take entire charge of the whole subject of the equipment of interstate cars, and establish such regulations as are necessary and proper for the protection of those engaged in interstate commerce. But it has not done so in respect to the number of employees to whom may be committed the actual management of interstate trains of any kind. It has not established any regulations on that subject, and until it does, the statutes of the state, not in their nature arbitrary, and which really relate to the rights and duties of all within the jurisdiction, must control. This principle has been firmly established, and is a most wholesome one under our systems of government, Federal and state. In addition to the cases above cited, Mobile County v. Kimball, 102 U.S. 691 , 26 L. ed. 238; Gulf, C. & S. F. R. Co. v. Hefley, 158 U.S. 98 , 39 L. ed. 910, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 802; Western U. Teleg. Co. v. James, 162 U.S. 656 , 40 L. ed. 1107, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 934; Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co. v. Solan, 169 U.S. 133 , 42 L. ed. 688, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 289; Western U. Teleg. Co. v. [219 U.S. 453, 467] Kansas, 216 U.S. 27 , 54 L. ed. 366, 30 Sup. Ct. Rep. 190; Reid v. Colorado, 187 U.S. 137 , 47 L. ed. 108, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 92, 12 Am. Crim. Rep. 506; and Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. Haber, 169 U.S. 613 , 42 L. ed. 878, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 488, may be consulted. Judgment affirmed.

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