Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/225/326/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 08:51:47+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 225 › ICC v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co.
An interstate carrier may not charge a different rate for the transportation of railroad fuel coal to a given point than for the transportation of commercial coal to the same point. It would be an illegal preference or discrimination under §3 of Act to Regulate Commerce.
Tariffs are but forms of words, and the Interstate Commerce Commission, in the exercise of its powers to administer the Act to Regulate Commerce, can look beyond the forms to what caused them and what they are intended to, and do, cause.
A railroad company cannot be made a favored shipper and given a lower rate on the same commodity to the same point than other persons.
A railroad company is not to be put on the same basis as a locality and entitled to preferential rates to accommodate competitive conditions. The Import Rate Case, 162 U. S. 197, distinguished.
The question in the case is whether railroad companies may charge a different rate for the transportation of coal to a given point to railroads than to other shippers, the coal being intended for the use of the railroads as fuel.
The Interstate Commerce Commission held that a charge of a different rate was an unlawful discrimination against other shippers, and made an order requiring a cessation of such charge. The execution of the order was enjoined by the Commerce Court.
A number of railroads are petitioners, and we shall refer to them as the companies.
The companies attack in their petition the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission on several grounds, which may be summarized as follows: the movement of coal traffic from the point of origin to the point or points of junction to receiving carriers is different from the movement of coal to be delivered locally at such junction points.
The traffic is not governed by the rates published under the Act to Regulate Commerce, which apply to the traffic in coal not intended for use by consuming railroads, because the charges go to the carrier itself. If the coal be shipped under a through rate applicable to other coal, the actual rate upon which it moves to the rails of the consuming road is the division of the through rate going to the roads over which the traffic moves to the junction point with the rails of the consuming road. The division of the rate beyond that point goes to the consuming road itself.
All but an inconsiderable part of such coal is necessary and intended for use as fuel in locomotives. The fueling stations are often many, and are located at convenient points along the line at varying distances from the junction points, and it is not possible at the time of shipment to tell at what point a carload of coal will be needed. If made on a through rate, they must be billed and transported to a point to which the through rate is published. Even if a centrally located distributing yard for fuel be established, and all shipments billed on a through rate to that yard, there must be a reverse movement of the coal between that point and the point of junction.
The fact that fuel coal on the line of a consuming carrier is not governed by the published rates makes the commercial competitive conditions different between such coal and other coal. The value to the shipper is not the same or measured by the same conditions. There is no competition between the fuel coal and other coal.
Because of the circumstances and conditions differentiating the traffic in fuel coal, the companies have for a number of years past published and filed, as required by law, separate tariffs of the rates to be charged and received by them for the transportation of such coal from points of origin to the junction point of delivery to the consuming carrier. The tariffs vary in their definitions or descriptions of the traffic to which the rates apply, but in each case the traffic is such that it would move in reality, not under the published through rates, but would move under the special conditions which have been stated. Some of the tariffs apply only to coal intended for use and used for locomotive fuel. The rates named in the tariffs are open and available to all producers and shippers, if the shipments be made under the special conditions stated.
order of that date entitled, "In the Matter of Restrictive Rates," Docket No. 3053, making the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania Railroad Companies parties to the proceeding. The other companies from time to time were admitted as interveners. Testimony was taken, argument heard, and the Commission entered the order complained of in which the Commission required the companies to cease and desist, on or before May 15, 1911, and for a period of two years to abstain from using the tariffs on fuel coal stated.
The Commission erred in its construction of the Act to Regulate Commerce in that it held the facts and circumstances found by it did not distinguish fuel coal from other coal, and that the different conditions of their transportation were not in law circumstances and conditions necessary or proper to be considered in applying the provisions of § 2 of the act.
The Commission erred in holding that the rates on fuel coal under § 2 should be no more nor less than rates for the shipment of other coal from the same point of origin for local delivery at the junction point, the circumstances and conditions showing conclusively that the services done in the transportation of them, respectively, are not alike nor substantially similar, within the meaning of the Act to Regulate Commerce.
The Commission erred in holding that fuel coal should be transported under through rates, as other coal, and that it was unlawful for carriers to publish or charge any rates other than the through rates agreed upon going to the line of the terminal carrier, to be used by it in its business as a common carrier. And that, as the charges on such terminal carrier's line must be borne by it, the Commission erred in holding that such circumstance did not differentiate the traffic in such coal from the traffic in other coal, and did not constitute a substantial difference under § 2 in the conditions of transportation.
The commission erred in holding, further, that any difference in the tariff for fuel coal, and not applicable to all other coal, was unjustly discriminatory, in violation of § 3.
It appears on the face of the report of the Commission, it is alleged, that it proceeded in making the order upon its view of §§ 2 and 3; that it did not find it necessary to consider any specific tariff or tariffs or the rates named thereby; that the difference in conditions affecting the respective tariffs could not be considered as distinguishing them. And it is alleged that the findings of the Commission are findings of law, as well in regard to the violation of the third section of the act as in regard to violation of the second section. Irreparable damages is alleged, and the alternatives presented of desisting from the carriage of fuel coal at the expense of the loss of large and valuable revenues, or accepting divisions of through rates, on both fuel coal and other coal, which will give the companies, as originating or intermediate carriers, a much lower compensation for both classes of traffic than they are now receiving and would continue to receive but for the order of the Commission.
In either case, the loss will amount to many thousand dollars. There will be loss, it is alleged, to the producers of fuel coal who have sold coal under contracts for future delivery at junction points, and loss also to producers and shippers who depend on the railroad fuel business to enable them to operate their mines at all.
A final decree is prayed for the annulment of the order and a temporary injunction enjoining and suspending it pending final hearing and determination.
The petition was supported by affidavits made by a number of coal producers and shippers.
comparisons between coal, on the one hand, consigned to a railroad company, and coal, on the other hand, consigned to some other party. The former is called railroad fuel coal, the latter is known as commercial coal. In each instance, however, regardless of the consignee, the point of origin and the point of destination of the shipments are the same, but the rate charged for transporting fuel coal is much less than the rate exacted for the transportation of commercial coal over the same line, in the same direction, and between the same points. Schedules or tariffs providing for such differences in rates have been heretofore established and put in force and are now maintained and enforced by the companies.
Where the destination is a junction which is a point of connection between the lines of two or more of the companies, the movement of coal, fuel and commercial, is the same, except that at such destination the cars containing fuel coal are ordinarily placed upon what is called an exchange track, which is used in common by the connecting carriers, while the cars containing commercial coal are usually placed upon the side track of the delivering carrier. The cost of delivering both kinds of coal is practically the same, depending upon the nature of the delivery facilities furnished by the companies. Therefore, the cost of delivering fuel coal may be and is less than the cost of delivering the commercial coal, but the reverse is sometimes the case. It is alleged, however, that such differences are similar to differences pertaining to some shipments of commercial coal compared with other shipments.
compensation paid by one carrier to another carrier for the use of a car owned by the latter is twenty-five cents a day. Where the coal transported is fuel coal, no "free time" is allowed, nor is such demurrage charge exacted or collected. These differences, however, are offset, and much more than offset, by the differences in the rates of transportation between the different coals.
Where the destination of the shipment of coal is not a point of connection between the lines of two or more of the companies, the circumstances and conditions pertaining to the transportation and delivery of coal are the same as above described, except that at such destination there are no exchange tracks used in common by two or more of the companies. Where the shipment passes over more than one line of railway to such destination, delivery by one of the companies to another is made in the same way and under similar circumstances and conditions regardless of whether the coal be fuel or commercial.
The lower rates established by the companies and applied by them to the transportation of fuel coal are not open alike to all shippers, but are, by reason of the schedules and tariffs above mentioned and by reason of the practices of the companies, confined to shippers of fuel coal, and denied to shippers of all other coal, including commercial coal.
"We have never held that the local rate to the junction point must be paid on shipments that are going beyond that point. What we have said is that the local rate to the junction point shall be the same for all shippers to that point, and that the through charges on shipments going beyond the junction point shall be alike for all shippers to the same destination."
and conditions pertinent to the subject matter of the order, including degrees of difference and distinction, and each and all of the tariffs and rates of the companies which are affected by the order, and did not entertain the opinion attributed to it, that the facts, circumstances, and conditions affecting the particular traffic could not be lawfully considered by it as distinguishing the traffic in railroad fuel coal from the traffic in other coal.
It is alleged that the traffic is interstate, and that fuel coal, as compared with other coal, including commercial coal, is a like kind of traffic; that the services performed by the companies in connection with the transportation of fuel coal, as compared to the services performed by them in connection with the transportation of other coal, including commercial coal, are alike and contemporaneous, and are performed under substantially similar circumstances and conditions. It is hence alleged that the companies are violating §§ 2 and 3 of the Interstate Commerce Act.
The final allegation of the Commission is that the matters are within its jurisdiction, and that therefore the correctness of its findings is not open to review in the Commerce Court or any other court.
"for doing for him or them a like and contemporaneous service in the transportation of a like kind of traffic, under substantially similar circumstances and conditions, such common carrier shall be deemed guilty of unjust discrimination. . . ."
Section 3 is directed against giving preferences or advantages to persons, localities, or descriptions of traffic in any respect whatsoever, and subjecting any person, locality, or traffic "to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever."
The companies contend that the Commission applied these sections to the facts found by the Commission, none of them being disputed, and that therefore the findings of the Commission are conclusions of law. On the other hand, the Commission charges that its findings are those of fact, and exclusively within its jurisdiction and not open to review by the Commerce Court or any court. Many of its assignments of error are expressions of this view. The other assignments assert in various ways and with many shades of particularity that the Commerce Court erred in disagreeing with the Commission in regard to the traffics in the different coals, not only in its decision, as indicated in its injunction, in the matters affecting such traffic, but in substituting its judgment for that of the Commission.
called inferences of fact, yet we think "power to make the order, and not the mere expediency of having made it, is the question" presented. Int. Com. Comm. v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 215 U. S. 452, 215 U. S. 470. In other words, that the question presented by the petition is that the order of the Commission was not merely administrative, but proceeded from a construction of §§ 2 and 3 as applicable to the conditions which affected the traffic in the different kinds of coal, and that the different charges for transportation constituted violations of those sections. The Commerce Court therefore had jurisdiction of the petition and jurisdiction to enjoin the order of the Commission if the court considered that the order would cause irreparable injury. Section 3 of the act creating the Commerce Court gives that court the power to "enjoin, set aside, annul, or suspend any order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, in a suit brought in the court against the United States." Whether the court erred in its judgment is now to be inquired into.
In its most abstract form the simple statement of the controversy is whether the companies may charge a different rate for the transportation of fuel coal to a given point than for the transportation of commercial coal to the same point. But when we depart from the abstract, complexities appear and attention is carried beyond the consideration of points equally distant, shippers equally circumstanced, and traffic affected by similar circumstances and conditions. It is asserted that there are disparities between the traffics and qualifying circumstances which the Commission disregarded, and, in error, held that traffic in fuel coal could not be distinguished from the traffic in commercial coal.
"Division on company coal. -- Upon inquiry, Held that it is unlawful for carriers to make special and discriminatory divisions of joint rates upon locomotive fuel as between an originating or participating carrier and a purchasing carrier. In the division of joint rates, a railroad must be treated precisely as any other shipper is treated, and the Commission will regard any special division as a device to defeat the published rate. All divisions upon fuel coal must be made in good faith without respect to the fact that one of the carriers is the purchaser of such coal."
The issue of principle between the Commission and the companies is very accurately presented, and we come to consider whether there are differences in the traffic of fuel coal which distinguish it from traffic in commercial coal, and which, as contended by the companies, make the traffic dissimilar in circumstances and conditions, or whether the opposite is true, as decided by the Commission.
the same circumstances of carriage, are compelled to pay different prices therefor."
"that the phrase, 'under substantially similar circumstances and conditions,' as found in § 2, refers to matters of carriage, and does not include competition."
And this was repeated in Interstate Commerce Commission v. Alabama Midland Ry. Co., 168 U. S. 161, 168 U. S. 166. The facts in both cases give significance to the rulings. In the first case, the charges to the shippers were the same, but one was given extra facilities; in the second case, the extraneous effect of competition was excluded as an element in the application of the section. There is also example in Interstate Commerce Commission v. Delaware, L. & W. R. Co., 220 U. S. 235. It was there held that a carrier could not look beyond goods tendered to it for transportation in carload lots "to the ownership of the shipment" as the basis for determining the application of its established rates. Do the circumstances and conditions in this case give a greater power of discrimination and justify the lower charge to railroad fuel coal? It is admitted that the fact that a railroad is the shipper or consumer is not a circumstance or condition that affects the carriage, nor can the different uses to which the coal may be put, and it would seem necessarily that any other extraneous condition or circumstance could have no greater potency. Once depart from the clear directness of what relates to the carriage only, and we may let in considerations which may become a cover for preferences. May a carrier look beyond the service it is called upon to render to the attitude and interest of the shippers before, or their attitude and interest after, transportation? It must be kept in mind that it is not the relation of one railroad to another with which we have any concern, but the relation of a railroad to its patrons, who are entitled to equality of charges. See Pennsylvania R. Co. v. International Coal Mining Co., 173 F. 1.
"When the railroad fuel coal is consigned to the junction point, as provided in the present system of tariffs, the circumstances and conditions that differentiate this traffic from the traffic in commercial coal consigned to the same point are:"
"1. The fuel coal so shipped is not in competition with the commercial coal consigned to the same point."
"2. It is in competition with other coals coming upon the line of the consuming road at other points with which the commercial coal is not in competition."
"3. The transportation service is different in that commercial coal at the junction point has reached the point of use, while railroad fuel coal reaching the consuming railroad at the junction point is still subject to a transportation service before reaching the point of use -- a transportation under the 'commodities clause,' and not under tariff."
consumption beyond the junction point. The circumstances do not alter the fact that it and commercial coal go to the same point, and are delivered at the same point. There is, it is true, a difference in the manner of delivery, depending upon the difference in the facilities possessed by the railroads and other consignees.
The Commission, as we have seen, especially disclaimed holding that the rate to the junction point must be paid on shipments going beyond that point, and insisted that it only held that the charges to that point should be the same to all shippers, and rates through that point should also be the same to all shippers. And the Commission said that the testimony established that the service as to the coals was alike when they go beyond the junction point. The Commission therefore considered alone the service, disregarding circumstances and conditions which were mere accidents of it, and had relation only to the respective shippers.
artfully produced, be used as a device for giving preferences, the Commission might be able to find some means to defeat it. At present, we must regard its possibility as relevant as exhibiting a misconception of the Commission's purpose. The Commission has not said what the rate should be, nor has it said, as we have seen, that the local rate to the junction point should be the same as the rate beyond that point. The Commission has ordered equality, and struck down what it deemed to be preferential charges, even though they were made under formal tariffs. If there may be legal or illegal evasion of the order, we may wonder at the controversy. If the difference between the effect of the order and what the companies can do or want to do be, as is contended, a "question of words" -- a "question of the nomenclature to be used in tariffs" -- the order of the Commission may still be valid. Tariffs are but forms of words, and certainly the Commission, in the exercise of its powers to administer the Interstate Commerce Act, can look beyond the forms to what caused them and what they are intended to cause and do cause.
There are other contentions, or rather phases of those that we have considered, and which seek to further emphasize the strength of competition as a circumstance or condition differentiating the traffic. For instance, it is urged that the shipment of the fuel coal to a particular railroad "for the use of that railroad" makes special the traffic. And, further, that "a railroad is not a person," but is "rather in the nature of a geographical division and extends through long distances." Pushing the argument or illustrations farther, it is urged that a railroad company may be distinguished from the physical thing, the railroad itself, and may be a locality where a commodity is used, like "a river, a county, or a city," and be entitled to preferential rates to accommodate competitive conditions. The Import Rate Case, 162 U. S. 197, is invoked as analogous.
We cannot accept the likeness nor the distinctions which are said to establish it. The railroad company cannot be put out of view as a favored shipper, and we see many differences between such a shipper, receiving coal for use in its locomotives, and a nation, as the destination of goods from other nations, for distribution throughout its expanse, on through rates from points of origin.
The point is made that "the Commission's method of filing fuel coal rates is illegal under § 6 of the Interstate Commerce Act and under the Elkins Act," and the later act and § 6 are quoted in illustration. The rather vague argument which is urged to support the point lands in the proposition that the right to violate the law as to preference in rates is justified by the law in its requirement of the filing of schedules of rates. However, counsel say that "it all goes back to the same principle" "dealt with under point 1." We have sufficiently discussed point 1.
The decree of the Commerce Court is reversed and the case remanded, with directions to dismiss the petition.

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