Source: http://openjurist.org/282/us/194
Timestamp: 2016-04-30 19:17:33
Document Index: 366459039

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 13', '§ 416', '§ 13', '§ 416', '§ 13', '§ 13']

282 US 194 State of Florida v. United States Brooks-Scanlon Corporation | OpenJurist
282 U.S. 194 - State of Florida v. United States Brooks-Scanlon Corporation Homethe United States Reports282 U.S.
We agree with the conclusion of the District Court that, on the facts that have been found by the Commission, the order with respect to intrastate rates in its state-wide application cannot be sustained by reason of a proper determination of undue prejudice 'as between persons or localities in intrastate commerce on the one hand and interstate * * * commerce on the other hand.' Interstate Commerce Act, § 13(4), as added by Transportation Act § 416 (49 USCA § 13(4). The limitation of the Commission's finding as to interstate rates, and of the order prescribing them, to transportation from points in the northern part of Florida to points in Georgia, defined the interstate commerce which was deemed to be concerned. All of this commerce was potential, no actual movement from Florida to Georgia having been shown. It would be an extreme and unwarranted assumption that, to protect this interstate commerce from unjust discrimination as between persons or localities, it was necessary to alter the existing rates for the transportation of logs between all points whatever within Florida. Such a conclusion would not only require evidence to support it but findings of appropriate definiteness to express it. Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. State Public Utilities Commission, 245 U. S. 493, 507, 508, 38 S. Ct. 170, 62 L. Ed. 425; Railroad Commission of Wisconsin v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co., 257 U. S. 563, 579, 580, 42 S. Ct. 232, 66 L. Ed. 371, 22 A. L. R. 1086; New York v. United States, 257 U. S. 591, 600, 2 § . Ct. 239, 66 L. Ed. 385. The District Court, again examining the record upon the rehearing, reaffirmed its opinion that there was no such evidence, and it is sufficient on this appeal to observe that there are no findings of proper explicitness to that effect. Recognizing that the state-wide order of the Commission as to intrastate rates was upheld only because the intrastate rates were deemed to be so low as to cause 'undue discrimination against the carrier's general interstate commerce,' the government and the Commission have addressed their argument before this court to the defense of the order upon that ground.
Nor do we find that the order exceeds the authority of the Commission in the view that the intrastate rates under consideration were not 'made or imposed' by authority of the state within the meaning of section 13(3) of the act, as added by Transportation Act, § 416 (49 USCA § 13(3). While the 'Cummer scale' of rates was not prescribed by the Florida Railroad Commission and was not the result of any affirmative action on its part, these rates were maintained in intrastate commerce subject to the authority of the state and were published as required by its laws. These rates may thus be regarded as made by the authority of the state and within the purview of the act unless its provisions disclose an intention to exclude intrastate rates of this sort. But it is clear that the fundamental purpose of the Congress in enacting section 13, subdivisions (3) and (4), was to reach intrastate rates that were found to result in unjust discrimination against interstate commerce. It was not the fact that the rate was affirmatively prescribed by the state, but that it was maintained as an intrastate rate, and as such was inimical to the proper interests of interstate commerce, that led the Congress to give to the Interstate Commerce Commission express authority to take cognizance of that rate and to prescribe the intrastate rate that should be charged thereafter in order to remove the undue discrimination. See Board of Railroad Commissioners v. Great Northern Railway Co., 281 U. S. 412, 424-428, 50 S. Ct. 391, 74 L. Ed. 936. The provision of section 13(3) for notice to, and conference with, the authorities of the state, is important, not only where the rates have been prescribed by the state, but also where they are in force with the permission of the state and, as intrastate rates, would otherwise be subject to the jurisdiction of the state. To hold, as some of the appellants urge, that there can be no adjustment of intrastate rates by the Interstate Commerce Commission so far as may be needed to protect interstate commerce until the state itself has first 'sat in judgment on the issue of the lawfulness of those intrastate rates' would be to impose a limitation not required by the terms of the statute and repugnant to the grant of authority.
The power of the Congress to authorize the Interstate Commerce Commission to establih i ntrastate rates in order to remove an unjust discrimination against interstate commerce is not open to dispute. Houston, East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States, 234 U. S. 342, 34 S. Ct. 833, 58 L. Ed. 1341; Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. State Public Utilities Commission, supra; Railroad Commission of Wisconsin v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co., supra; Arkansas Railroad Commission v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Co., 274 U. S. 597, 47 S. Ct. 724, 71 L. Ed. 1224; Alabama v. United States, 279 U. S. 229, 49 S. Ct. 266, 73 L. Ed. 675. In the exercise of this power, the Congress has given to the Commission authority, not only to remove an undue prejudice as between persons or localities, but to establish a state-wide level of intrastate rates when this is found to be necessary to accomplish the purpose of the statute. In construing the statute this court has held that the general provision of section 13(4), prohibiting 'unjust discrimination against interstate or foreign commerce' and authorizing the Commission to establish intrastate rates to prevent such discrimination, is to be read in connection with section 15a, both of which were added by Transportation Act, 1920 (sections 416, 422, 42 Stat. 484, 488 (49 USCA § 13(4), 15a)). There is what this court has called a 'dovetail relation' between the two provisions. The authority granted by section 13(4) is thus to be considered in the light of the affirmative duty of the Commission to fix rates and to take other important steps to maintain an adequate national railway system.
The question is not merely one of the absence of elaboration or of a suitably complete statement of the grounds of the Commission's determination, to the importance of which this court has recently adverted (Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western Railway Co. v. United States, decided November 24, 1930, 282 U. S. 74, 51 S. Ct. 1, 75 L. Ed. 221), but of the lack of the basic or essential findings required to support the Commission's order. In the absence of such findings, we are not called upon to examine the evidence in order to resolve opposing contentions as to what it shows or to spell out and state such conclusions of fact as it may permit. The Commission is the fact-finding body, and the Court examines the evidence not to make findings for the Commission but to ascertain whether its findings are properly supported. If the facts as to intrastate transportation of logs in Florida are such as to justify an order as to intrastate rates in order to end an unjust discrimination as against interstate commerce either as between persons and localities, or because of an undue burden upon the revenues of the carrier, the Interstate Commerce Commission is still at liberty, acting in accordance with the authority conferred by the statute, to make such determinations as the situation may require.