11

D.—2b

sometimes in the bankruptcy and practical destruction of roads which, if properly managed, would have been not only profitable, but widely useful. This in its direct results might be a wrong to individuals only, but in its indirect influence it was a great public wrong also. The most striking and obvious fact in such a case commonly is, that persons having control of railroads have in a very short time by means of the control amassed great fortunes. The natural conclusion which one draws who must judge from surface appearances is, that these fortunes are unfairly acquired at the expense of the public; that they represent excessive charges on railroad business or unfair employment of inside privileges, and furnish in themselves conclusive evidence that current rates are wrong and probably extortionate. An impression of this sort, when it happens to be wide of the fact, is for many rensons unfortunate. It creates or strengthens a prejudice against all railroad management—the honest as well as the dishonest—which affects the public view of all railroad questions; it renders it more difficult to deal with such questions calmly and dispassionately; it makes the public restive under the charges they are subjected to, even though they be moderate and necessary ; it tends to strengthen a feeling among the unthinking that capital represents extortion. However careful, considerate, fair, and just the management of any particular road may be, and however closely it may confine itself to its legitimate business, it is impossible that it should wholly escape the ill effects of this prejudice, which are visited upon all roads because some conspicuous railroad managers have by their misconduct given in the public mind a character to all. Evils of the class last mentioned were difficult of legislative correction, because they sprang from the over-confidence of stockholders in the officers chosen to manage their interest, and whose acts at the time they perhaps assented to. But, if capable of correction by any legislative authority, it was in general that of the States, not that of the nation. The States in the main conferred the corporate power, and it was for the States by their legislation to provide for the protection of the individual interests which were brought into existence by their permission. The National Government had to do with the commerce which these artificial entities of State creation might be concerned in. Nevertheless, the manifest misuse of corporate powers strengthened the demand for national legislation, and this very naturally, because the private gains resulting from corporate abuse were supposed to spring, to some extent at least, from excessive burdens imposed upon the commerce which the nation ought to regulate and protect. For the purpose of correcting the evils above alluded to, so far as it was constitutionally competent for national legislation to do so, the Act to regulate commerce lays down certain rules to be observed by the carriers to which its provisions apply, which are intended to be and emphatically are rules of equity and equality, and which, if properly observed, ought to, and in time no doubt will, restore the management of the transportation business of the country to public confidence. The Act to begulate Commeece. The leading features of the Act are the following : All charges made for services by carriers subject to the Act must be reasonable and just. Every unjust and unreasonable charge is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. The direct or indirect charging, demanding, collecting, or receiving, for any service rendered, a greater or less compensation from any one or more persons than from any other for a like and contemporaneous service, is declared to be unjust discrimination, and is prohibited. The giving of any undue or unreasonable preference, as between persons or localities, or kinds of traffic, or the subjecting any one of them to undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage, is declared to be unlawful. Eeasonable, proper, and equal facilities for the interchange of traffic between lines, and for the receiving, forwarding, and delivering of passengers and property between connecting lines, is required, and discrimination in rates and charges as between connecting lines is forbidden. It is made unlawful to charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers or the like kind of property under substantially similar circumstances and conditions for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance. Contracts, agreements, or combinations for the pooling of freights of different and competing railroads, or for dividing between them the aggregate or net earnings of such railroads or any portion thereof, are declared to be unlawful. All carriers subject to the law are required to print their tariffs for the transportation of persons and property, and to keep them for public inspection at every depot or station on their roads.' An advance in rates is not to be made until after ten days' public notice, but a reduction in rates may be made to take effect at once, the notice of the same being immediately and publicly given. The rates publicly notified are to be the maximum as well as the minimum charges which can be collected or received for the services respectively for which they purport to be established. Copies of all tariffs are required to be filed with this Commission, which is also to be promptly notified of all changes that shall be made in the same. The joint tariffs of connecting roads are also required to be filed, and also copies of all contracts, agreements, or arrangements between carriers in relation to traffic affected by the Act. It is made unlawful for any carrier to enter into any combination, contract, or agreement, expressed or implied, to prevent, by change of time schedules, carriage in different cars, or by other means or devices, the carriage of freights from being continuous from the place of shipment to the place of destination. These, shortly stated, are the important provisions of the Act which undertakes to prescribe the duties and obligations of the carriers which, by its passage, are brought under Federal control. Some important exceptions are made by the 22nd section, which provides : " That nothing in this Act shall apply to the carriage, storage, or handling of property free or at reduced rates for the United States, State, or municipal governments, or for charitable purposes, or to or from fairs and expositions for exhibition thereat, or the issuance of mileage, excursion, or commutation passenger tickets ; nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit any common carrier from giving reduced rates to mini ,oers of religion ; nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent railroads from giving free carriage to their own officers and employes, or to prevent the principal officers of any railroad