Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/206/1.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 15:19:38+00:00

Document:
[206 U.S. 1, 2] Messrs. John G. Johnson, Warren G. elliott, and Frank P. Prichard for plaintiff in error.
[206 U.S. 1, 4] Messrs. Robert D. Gilmer and F. A. Woodard for defendant in error.
For years prior to October, 1903, the Coast Line operated daily an interstate train from Richmond, Virginia, through North Carolina to Florida. This train, known as No. 39, moved over the main track from Richmond to Wilson, North Carolina, thence by the track designated as the cutoff via Selma and Fayetteville to Florida. The train (No. 39) was scheduled to reach Selma at 2:50 in the afternoon and to leave at 2:55. The Southern Railway owned or controlled a road in North Carolina which crossed the Coast Line main track at Goldsboro and the cut-off track at Selma. On this road there was operated daily a train from Goldsboro via Raleigh to Greensboro, North Carolina, at which point connection was made with the main track of the Southern road. This Southern [206 U.S. 1, 7] of the connection made with the Norfolk train at Rocky Mount, and would disarrange the running time of the train south of Selma, and disturb connections which that train made with other roads south of that point. However, it was pointed out that as train No. 39 did not originate at Richmond, but was a through train, made up at New York, carried from thence to Washington by the Pennsylvania, and from Washington to Richmond by the Richmond, Fredericksburg, & Potomac, that negotiations would be put on foot with those roads with an endeavor to secure an acceleration of the time of the departure of the train from New York and Washington, so as thereby to enable an earlier departure from Richmond. On the 11th of October the change of time became operative and the connection at Selma was broken.
'It is ordered that the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad arrange its schedule so that the train will arive at Selma at 2:25 P. M. each day instead of 2:50 P. M., as the schedule now stands.
'It is further ordered that if the Atlantic Coast Line trains have passengersen route for the Southern Railway, and are delayed, notice shall be given to the Southern Railway, and that the Southern Railway shall wait fifteen minutes for such delayed trains upon receipt of such notice.
Proceeding to point out the failure of the negotiations with the Pennsylvania, and recapitulating the previous statements concerning the rapidity of the schedule of No. 39 between Richmond and Selma, the exacting nature of its work and connections, the absolute impossibility of making it faster was insisted upon. Indeed, there was annexed to the letter a report of the time of No. 39 at Selma for a period of nearly five months, showing that the train had rarely made its connection at Selma.
'Assuming that the statements made by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company are true,-that it was, for the past five months, impossible for them to bring No. 39 to Selma by schedule time, to wit, 2: 50 P. M., more than twice, and that this train was more than ten minutes late every day except twenty-four,-we must conclude that it is impracticable to require them to make a faster schedule and place this train at Selma at 2:25 P. M. instead of 2:50 P. M.; and therefore this much of the former order is revoked and annulled; but the commission is of the opinion that it is practicable, and that the convenience of the traveling public requires, that the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company furnish transportation for passengers from Rocky Mount to Selma after 12: 50 P. M. and by or before 2:25 P. M. each day; that this can be done by extending the run of the Plymouth train to Selma instead of having it lie over at Rocky Mount as now, or by extending the run of the Spring Hope train to Selma instead of having it lie over at Rocky Mount as now. The distance from Plymouth to Rocky Mount is 69 miles, and from Spring Hope to Rocky Mount is 19 miles, and from Rocky Mount to Selma 42 miles; or by providing a separate train for the service.
'And it is therefore ordered that the Atlantic Coast Line [206 U.S. 1, 13] Railroad Company furnish transportation for passengers from Rocky Mount to Selma after 12:50 P. M. and by or before 2:25 P. M. each day.
'It is further ordered that the Southern Railway hold its train No. 135 at Selma fifteen minutes if, for any reason, the Atlantic Coast Line train connecting at that point is delayed.
After a new hearing at which further testimony was taken, the corporation commission in substance adhered to its former view and reiterated its previous ruling. In its findings of fact it pointed out the importance of the connection at Selma, the admissions to that effect made by the railroad and the fact that [206 U.S. 1, 15] that connection afforded the principal means of travel between the eastern and western parts of the state. The grounds relied upon in the exception to show that an extension of the run of either of the local trains from Rocky Mount to Selma, as previously ordered, was impracticable, were reviewed and found to be without foundation. The trains which it was alleged afforded adequate means for connection between the western and eastern part of the state, irrespective of the connection formerly existing at Selma by train No. 39, were analyzed, and as a matter of fact the service afforded by these trains was held to be wholly inadequate. Thus, for example, whilst it was found that the first train relied upon- the one from Rocky Mount to Goldsboro, arriving there at 6:50 in the morning-made a connection with a Southern Railway train moving from Selma via Raleigh to Greensboro, it was pointed out that it was inadequate because the train had no connection at its point of departure, Rocky Mount, with any incoming train over the large area covered by the branch roads, which area, it was stated, embraced a population of four hundred thousand people. Hence it was found that, to use that train, any person in the territory covered by the branch roads would be obliged to leave home the day before and pass the night at Rocky Mount. The fourth train relied upon, that is, a connection made by Coast Line No. 39 at Selma under the new schedule with a later train over the Southern road for Raleigh, was found to be but a connection with a Southern freight train, having no passenger car, but only a caboose. The trains under the second, third, and sixth headings, connecting at Goldsboro or Selma in the afternoon and night, were found to make a connection only with a slow train over the Southern road, doing a mixed passenger and freight business, and which made no adequate connection beyond Raleigh to the west. The objection to suggested route No. 8, that is, via Weldon, and thence by the Seaboard Air Line to Raleigh and points further west, was decided to be that it was a longer route, more costly, and uncertain as to connections. The remaining suggested [206 U.S. 1, 16] routes were in effect disposed of upon similar considerations to those above adverted to.
'1. Is it practicable for train No. 39 of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, due to arrive at Selma at 2:50 P. M. to make connection at Selma with train No. 135, westbound, of the Southern Railway, due to leave Selma at 2:25 P. M.?
'2. Is it practicable to make said connection by extending the run of the Plymouth train daily from Plymouth to Selma and return, and, if so, what would be the additional expense?
'3. Is it practicable to make said connection by the use of the Spring Hope train, and, if so, what would be the additional expense?
'4. In order to make such connection would defendant company have to run an additional train on its main line from Rocky Mount to Selma?
'5. Is it practicable for said train to safely run the schedule prescribed in plaintiff's order, having due regard to the number of trains and number of stops, on defendant's main line from Rocky Mount to Selma?
'6. What would be the daily cost of operating such train from Rocky Mount to Selma and return?
'7. What would be the probable daily receipts from such train?
The court granted the prayer of the Atlantic Coast Line to that effect, and rendered judgment on the verdict in its favor. The corporation commission was held to be without power 'to interfere with the right of railway companies to regulate for themselves the time and manner in which passengers and property should be transported,' provided only such companies complied with the existing statutory direction 'to run one passenger train at least each way over its line every week day.' On appeal the supreme court of North Carolina reversed the judgment. The facts found by the corporation commission were reiterated and it was held that error had been committed by the court below in instructing the jury to give a negative response to the first three propositions. Indeed, it was declared that the only essential proposition submitted to the jury was the eighth, which required it to be determined whether the connection at Selma was necessary for the public convenience. Treating the facts found by the commission as sustaining the conclusion reached by that body, it was decided that the commission had power to make the order, and that the exercise of the authority was not repugnant either to the Constitution of the United States or of the state. Notwithstanding the finding of facts made concerning the means by which the connection at Selma was to be performed, the court construed the order of the commission as not having been solely based upon the means of performance referred to in the findings, and as embracing not only a choice of the methods referred to therein, but any other which the Coast Line might choose to adopt, provided only it accomplished the purpose of the order. But whilst thus, from one point of view, treating the order of the commission so as to render it unnecessary to pass upon the particular methods for mak- [206 U.S. 1, 19] ing the connection at Selma referred to in the findings, the court yet reviewed the means of performance therein stated. In doing so it was decided that although to execute the order of the commission it might be imperative for the Coast Line to operate at a pecuniary loss a new train from Rocky Mount to Selma, or the extension, with like result, of the movement of one or the other of the branch trains from Rocky Mount to Selma, no violation of any right of the Coast Line protected by the Constitution of the United States or of the state would arise. This was based upon the finding by the court that the average net earning of the railroad from its business in North Carolina was of such a character that an adequate remuneration would remain after allowing for any possible loss which might arise from operating either of the trains in question. 137 N. C. 14, 49 S. E. 191.
All the assignments of error challenge the correctness of the decision below on the ground of its repugnancy to the due process or equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. The elementary proposition that railroads, from the public nature of the business by them carried on and the interest which the public have in their operation, are subject, as to their state business, to state regulation, which may be exerted either directly by the legislative authority or by administrative bodies endowed with power to that end, is not and could not be successfully questioned, in view of the long line of authorities sustaining that docrine. 2 Accepting this [206 U.S. 1, 20] general rule, the assignments of error rest upon the hypothesis that the order which the court below enforced was so arbitrary and unreasonable in its character as to transcend the limits of regulation, and to be in effect a denial of due process of law, or a deprivation of the equal protection of the laws.
As the public power to regulate railways and the private right of ownership of such property coexist and do not the one destroy the other, it has been settled that the right of ownership of railway property, like other property rights, finds protection in constitutional guaranties, and, therefore, wherever the power of regulation is exerted in such an arbitrary and unreasonable was as to cause it to be in effect not a regulation, but an infringement upon the right of ownership, such an exertion of power is void because repugnant to the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. 3 The result, therefore, is that the proposition relied upon is well founded if it be that the order which the court below enforced was of the arbitrary and unreasonable character asserted.
In coming to consider the question just stated it must be borne in mind that a court may not, under the guise of protecting private property, extend its authority to a subject of regulation not within its competency, but is confined to ascertaining whether the particular assertion of the legislative power to regulate has been exercised to so unwarranted a degree as, in substance and effect, to exceed regulation, and to be equivalent to a taking of property without due process of law, or a denial of the equal protection of the laws. We shall not, in analyzing the case, undertake to review in their order the [206 U.S. 1, 21] ten propositions of error found in the record and reproduced in the briefs of counsel, as each proposition, although numbered separately, but reiterates grounds of error to be found in the others. In other words, the various grounds of error are so interblended in the several propositions as to render it impossible to treat one as distinct from the other. All the grounds, however, which the propositions assert as establishing the arbitrary and unreasonable character of the order complained of may be embraced under four general headings, which we proceed to dispose of.
1. That the order was arbitrary and unreasonable, because beyond the scope of the authority delegated to the corporation commission by the state law.
2. The order was arbitrary and unreasonable, because, when properly considered, it imposed upon the Coast Line a duty foreign to its obligation to furnish adequate facilities for those traveling upon its road.
This rests upon the assumption that, as the order was based not upon the neglect of the Coast Line to afford facilities for travel over its own road, but because of the failure to furnish facilities to those traveling on the Coast Line who desired also to connect with and travel on the Southern road, therefore the order was in no just sense a regulation of the business [206 U.S. 1, 22] of the Coast Line. This reduces itself to the contention that, although the governmental power to regulate exists in the interest of the public, yet it does not extend to securing to the public reasonable facilities for making connection between different carriers. But the proposition destroys itself, since at one and the same time it admits the plenary power to regulate, and yet virtually denies the efficiency of that authority. That power, as we have seen, takes its origin from the quasi public nature of the business in which the carrier is engaged, and embraces that business in its entirety; which, of course, includes the duty to require carriers to make reasonable connections with other roads, so as to promote the convenience of the traveling public. In considering the facts found below as to the connection in question, that is, the population contained in the large territory whose convenience was subserved by the connection, and the admission of the railroad as to the importance of the connection, we conclude that the order in question, considered from the point of view of the requirements of the public interest, was one coming clearly within the scope of the power to enforce just and reasonable regulations.
This rests upon the assumption that as there were several existing daily connections between trains of the Coast Line and those of the Southern at Selma, which might be availed of by those desiring to travel from eastern to western North Carolina and beyond, and as, besides, the proof established that another connection operating the same result was afforded by way of Weldon and the Seaboard Air Line to Raleigh and thence further west, therefore it was both arbitrary and unreasonable to superadd an unnecessary connection. Conceding, as must be done, that the nature and extent of the existing facilities furnished by a carrier for the public convenience are [206 U.S. 1, 23] essential to be considered in determining whether an order directing an increase of such facilities is just and reasonable, and that the deficiency of facilities must clearly appear to justify an order directing the furnishing of new and additional facilities, we think the proposition here relied on to be without merit. Its error arises from assuming that adequate facilities were afforded at Selma or via Weldon and the Seaboard without reference to the order complained of. In view of the facts as to the connections at Selma and the Weldon route, found by the commission and reiterated by the court, which we have previously stated, and which we accept, we cannot escape drawing for ourselves the conclusion deduced both by the commission and the court below that the connections relied on were wholly inadequate for the public convenience, and, therefore, a state of things existed justifying the order.
But this case does not involve the enforcement by a state of a general scheme of maximum rates, but only whether an exercise of state authority to compel a carrier to perform a particular and specified duty is so inherently unjust and unreasonable as to amount to the deprivation of property without due process of law or a denial of the equal protection of the laws. In a case involving the validity of an order enforcing a scheme of maximum rates, of course the finding that the enforcement of such scheme will not produce an adequate return for the operation of the railroad, in and of itself dem- [206 U.S. 1, 25] onstrates the unreasonableness of the order. Such, however, is not the case when the question is as to the validity of an order to do a particular act, the doing of which does not involve the question of the profitableness of the operation of the railroad as an entirety. The difference between the two cases is illustrated in St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. Gill, 156 U.S. 649 , 39 L. ed. 567, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 484, and Minneapolis & St. L. R. Co. v. Minnesota, 186 U.S. 257 , 46 L. ed. 1151, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 900. But even if the rule applicable to an entire rate scheme were to be here applied, as the findings made below as to the net earnings constrain us to conclude that adequate remuneration would result from the general operation of the rates in force, even allowing for any loss occasioned by the running of the extra train in question, it follows that the order would not be unreasonable, even if tested by the doctrine announced in Smyth v. Ames and kindred cases.
[ Footnote 1 ] The train from Rocky Mount, southbound, in the early morning makes a close connection at Goldsboro at 6:50 o'clock with the Southern for Raleigh and all points west.
[ Footnote 2 ] The trains from Norfolk and Richmond make close connection at Goldsboro and Selma with the night train on the Southern for Raleigh and all points west.
[ Footnote 3 ] The train from Weldon to Kinston makes close connection at Kinston with the Atlantic & North Carolina train for Goldsboro, which train in turn makes close connection with the Southern at Goldsboro at 9:40 P. M. for Raleigh and all points west.
[ Footnote 4 ] The train No. 39, from Washington to Jacksonville, is due at Selma at 2:50 P. M. and the accommodation train No. 183, on the Southern, from Selma to Raleigh and all points west, is scheduled to leave Selma at 3:25 P. M.
[ Footnote 5 ] Train No. ___, from Jacksonville to Washington, is due to arrive at Selma at 2:10 o'clock, and makes close connection there with the Southern, which leaves Selma at 2:25 P. M. for Raleigh and all points west.
[ Footnote 6 ] Two trains leave Wilmington for the north, the first at 9:30 A. M., No. 48, and the other, No. 42, at 6:50 P. M. Both of these trains make close connections at Goldsboro with the Southern trains for Raleigh and all points west.
[ Footnote 7 ] No. 34, leaving Smithfield at 7:00 A. M., makes close connection at Selma with the Southern going west for Raleigh and all points beyond, and the same train makes close connection at Weldon with the Seaboard train for Raleigh, and for Seaboard points south and west.
[ Footnote 8 ] No. 102 leaves Goldsboro for Norfolk at 7:30 A. M., and makes close connection at Hobgood with No. 58, the train from Kinston to Weldon, and there with the Seaboard for Raleigh and points west.
[ Footnote 2 ] Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Iowa (Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Cutts) 94 U.S. 155 , 24 L. ed. 94; Peik v. Chicago & N. W. R. Co. 94 U.S. 164 , 24 L. ed. 97; Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co. v. Ackley, 94 U.S. 179 , 24 L. ed. 99; Winona & St. P. R. Co. v. Blake, 94 U.S. 180 , 24 L. ed. 99; Stone v. Wisconsin, 94 U.S. 181 , 24 L. ed. 102; Ruggles v. Illinois, 108 U.S. 536 , 27 L. ed. 816, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 832; Illinois C. R. Co. v. Illinois, 108 U.S. 541 , 27 L. ed. 818, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 839; Stone v. Farmers' Loan & T. Co. 116 U.S. 307 , 29 L. ed. 636, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 334, 388, 1191; Stone v. Illinois C. R. Co. 116 U.S. 347 , 29 L. ed. 650, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 348; Stone v. New Orleans & N. E. R. Co. 116 U.S. 352 , 29 L. ed. 651, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 349, 391; Dow v. Beidelman, 125 U.S. 680 , 31 L. ed. 841, 1 Inters. Com. Rep. 56, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1028; Charlotte, C. & A. R. Co. v. Gibbes, 142 U.S. 386 , 35 L. ed. 1051, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 255; Chicago & G. T. R. Co. v. Wellman, 143 U.S. 339 , 36 L. ed. 176, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 400; Pearsall v. Great Northern. R. Co. 161 U.S. 646, 665 , 40 S. L. ed. 838, 844, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 705; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Kentucky, 161 U.S. 677, 695 , 40 S. L. ed. 849, 857, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 714; Wiscousin, M. & P. R. Co. v. Jacobson, 179 U.S. 287 , 45 L. ed. 194, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 115; Minneapolis & St. L. R. Co. v. Minnesota, 186 U.S. 257 , 46 L. ed. 1151, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 900; Minneapolis & St. L. R. Co. v. Minnesota, 193 U.S. 53 , 48 L. ed. 614, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 396; Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Illinois, 200 U.S. 561, 584 , 50 S. L. ed. 596, 605, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 341; Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Florida, 203 U.S. 256 , 51 L. ed. 174, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 108; Seaboard Air Line R. Co. v. Florida, 203 U.S. 261 , 51 L. ed. 175, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 109.
[ Footnote 3 ] Stone v. Farmers' Loan & T. Co. 116 U.S. 307, 331 , 29 S. L. ed. 636, 644, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 334, 388, 1191; Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co. v. Minnesota, 134 U.S. 418, 455 , 33 S. L. ed. 970, 979, 3 Inters. Com. Rep. 209, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 462, 702; Chicago & G. T. R. Co. v. Wellman, 143 U.S. 339, 344 , 36 S. L. ed. 176, 179, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 400; Reagan v. Farmers' Loan & T. Co. 154 U.S. 362, 399 , 38 S. L. ed. 1014, 1024, 4 Inters. Com. Rep. 560, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1047; St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. Gill, 156 U.S. 649, 657 , 39 S. L. ed. 567, 570, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 484; Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U.S. 226, 241 , 41 S. L. ed. 979, 986, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 581; Smyth v. Ames, 169 U.S. 466, 512 , 42 S. L. ed. 819, 838, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 418; Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co. v. Tompkins, 176 U.S. 167, 172 , 44 S. L. ed. 417, 420, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 336; Minneapolis & St. L. R. Co. v. Minnesota, 186 U.S. 257 , 46 L. ed. 1151, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 900; Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Illinois, 200 U.S. 561, 592 , 50 S. L. ed. 596, 609, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 341.

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