86 Miss. 667 | Miss. | 1905
delivered the opinion of the court.
Many important questions are pressed on our consideration which, in view of our conclusion, we have found it unnecessary to discuss or decide.
' The facts which are decisive of this controversy are very few, and a statement of them eliminates from consideration many of the more difficult questions urged' by counsel. On December 13, 1902, the hoard of trade of Meridian presented to the railroad commission of Mississippi a petition praying that the projiortionate rate of three and one-half cents then in effect from Vicksburg to Meridian he made an open rate, subject to use of all shippers from Vicksburg. The rate referred to in the petition was a rate on grain and grain products handled in car-load lots. This class of freight, under the guise of a “re-billing rate,” was transported from Vicksburg to1 Meridian at the rate of three and one-half cents per hundredweight.
After full investigation, the railroad commission, on November 16, 1903, passed an order directing the Alabama & Vicksburg Railway Company “to put in effect over its line of road from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Meridian, Mississippi, inclusive of both of said cities, from and after December 8, 1903, a flat rate of three and one-half cents per hundred pounds on! grain and grain products, and no.more;”, the general terms of this order being limited, however, to grain and grain products handled in car-load lots, this being the extent of the prayer of the petition filed with the commission. Against the enforcerment of this order the appellant procured an injunction. On
In reviewing the action of the railroad commission in promulgating the order in question, it is necessary, to determine the justice and correctness of their action and their power and authority in the premises, to note the exact condition of affairs as they existed at and before the filing of the petition by the Meridian board of trade. Vicksburg and Meridian, one hundred and forty miles distant one from the other, are the termini of the Alabama & Vicksburg Railway. Vicksburg, situated on the Mississippi river, has the advantage of both railroad and river competition; Meridian is a railroad center of considerable importance. In both cities there are many jobbers and wholesale dealers handling grain and grain products in large quantities, and doing an extensive business, both locally, by wagon trade, and over the railroads, with adjacent towns. The authorized all-rail interstate rate on grain and grain products in car-load lots from the chief market in the west to Vicksburg is twelve cents, to Meridian is fourteen cents. On account of the material advantage due to river competition, Vicksburg handles a portion of its business in grain and grain products by barge, and gets the cheaper rate incident to water transportation during some seasons of the year, the minimum river or barge rate being admittedly lower than the all-rail rate. In July, 1902, the Alabama & Vicksburg Railway Company put into effect a so-called “rebilling” rate of three and one-half cents per one hundred pounds on grain and grain products, effective from Vicksburg to Meridian. A true rebilling rate is one in which goods received in unbroken car-load lots over one line of railway can be rebilled over the same or another line, completing one continuous trip of the same commodity, simply changing the consignee and altering the destination of the identical shipment, without unloading or handling of freight. What is denominated a “rebill-
In the next place, it is urged by the appellant that the re-billing arrangement operates uniformly as to all shippers occupying similar positions; that, if discrimination results, it is not on account of the rate itself, but because of differences in the natural advantages incident to location which one shipper has over another. It is insisted that the appellant denies to no one, who will comply with its conditions, the right to avail, himself to the fullest extent of the advantage of the same rate which is granted to other dealers; that if the Meridian dealer will receive freight over the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway consigned to him at Vicksburg, he can thereafter, within ninety days, also rebill freight to an equal amount over, appellant’s line at the same rate given the Vicksburg dealer.And this, it is urged, is a granting of the same privileges to all, and that therefore appellant is not guilty of unjustly discriminating against one, or unfairly favoring another, class of shippers. But the condition prerequisite to the enjoyment of the rebilling rate is, in and of itself, a discrimination. Ho- one is granted the rate who has not first received an equal amount of freight over the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway and who can produce “expense bills” paid within ninety days of the proposed shipment; the necessary result being that the Meridian dealer, having no means of disposing of- the freight arriving over the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway, cannot accumulate the “expense- bills” demanded. Hence such shipper can only rebill the identical commodity and car originally consigned to him, which goes forward and completes one continuous journey. This is a “rebilling” in its true meaning, and no one could justly complain if this plan was strictly enforced and uniformly adhered to. But, as hereinbefore pointed out, the plan now in vogue between the appellant and the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway Company does not
A “rebilling” rate, to receive the sanction of law, must operate uniformly and fairly, and must be open to all alike. It cannot lawfully be restricted to shippers who live in a certain locality and who previously receive freight over a certain other favored associated carrier. This consideration alone furnishes conclusive proof that the plan, in this record, courteously termed a “rebilling arrangement,” is, in truth, but a flimsy disguise for a plan which operates to the benefit primarily of the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway Company; secondarily, and perhaps incidentally, to the advantage of the Vicksburg dealer; and ultimately, but inevitably,^to the marked damage of the Meridian dealer. In a vague and shadowy way this arrangement is sought to be justified by the officials of the appellant by showing that, in consideration thereof, appellant is granted an extra proportion of freight and certain special privileges as to the use of cars by the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway Company. It is not shown that the same
The practical operation of the plan being thus demonstrated as .causing a gross discrimination, the next question presented is whether the state railroad commission was vested with authority to pass the order, the enforcement of- which is now assailed, the effect of the order being simply to convert the then existing so-called “rebilling” rate into an open or flat rate, with the result that all dealers handling grain or grain products in car-load lots could enjoy the rate then in force from Vicksburg to Meridian. It will be noted that the rates then in existence were left undisturbed, the only change wrought by the order being to abolish the condition precedent, insisted on by appellant, restricting the rate to the exclusive benefit of such as had received previous and equal shipments over its associated line. The question propounded is easy of solution, in view of the provisions of Code 1892, § 4297. That section authorizes the commission to- docket, hear, and determine all complaints made of any tariff of rates, joint or several, made by any railroad or fixed or approved by the commission, on the ground' that the charges are for more than just compensation, or that such charges, or any of them, amount to, or operate so- as to
Again, it is stated by the appellant that the hauling of grain and grain products at a flat or open, rate of three and one-half cents per hundred pounds would produce less than the actual cost of transporting the freight, so that the more business of this character the appellant handles, the greater its loss; that this, in effect, is the taking of the property of appellant without due process of law; wherefore the order is void, as being in contravention of the constitution of the United States. To this it is replied that the figures shown in the record do not prove that freight handled in the usual and customary course of 'business, as freight trains are ordinarily constructed, at the rate established, would result in a loss. Again, it is said, in further answer to this contention, that appellant is only entitled to fix such tariff of charges as will yield a fair compensation for the transportation and handling of freight, and assure that the net profits arising from appellant’s entire business, after payment of all operating expenses, will pay a reasonable interest on the value of its property; and, as the real value of the property is not disclosed by the record, the appellant has no ground of complaint on this score, and the court is furnished no definite proof to justify a finding of fact that the owners do not receive reasonable returns from their investment. We decline to enter upon a discussion of either question. Neither is necessarily involved in the decision of this case. It might be conceded that the intrastate business of the railroad results in a net loss, and might further be conceded that the trans-> porting and handling of grain and grain products at the rate established may not in actual operation bring a fair remuneration when limited to that one commodity; nevertheless, the rate
The decree is affvt'med.