St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company v. State

Decision Date19 October 1914
Docket Number172
Citation170 S.W. 580,114 Ark. 486
PartiesST. LOUIS, IRON MOUNTAIN & SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY v. STATE
CourtArkansas Supreme Court

Appeal form Garland Circuit Court; Calvin T. Cotham, Judge affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

E. B Kinsworthy, R. E. Wiley and T. D. Crawford, for appellants.

1. The act in providing that it shall not apply to railroads less than one hundred miles in length, discriminates against railroads of greater length, and denies to them the equal protection of the law. 183 U.S. 79, 111; 184 U.S. 540, 562; 165 U.S. 150, 159; 124 Tenn. 1; 129 Mo. 163; 225 Mo. 561; 212 Ill. 418; 105 Minn. 256.

The reasoning of the courts in sustaining the constitutionality of the Three Brakeman Act, Act 116, Acts 1907, 86 Ark. 412 219 U.S. 443, does not sustain the ruling of the trial court in this case. The operation of switching loaded cars is the same in the case of a short road as in the case of a long road. The discrimination between the two classes is arbitrary and without reasonable foundation, since, if the public safety demands this protection in the one case, it equally demands it in the other.

2. The act is unreasonable and arbitrary. It is shown by the evidence that in the States of Oklahoma and Louisiana, where the lines of this appellant run through as populous towns as in this State, switching is done across public crossings with two helpers with as much safety as it is done in this State with three helpers.

Wm. L. Moose, Attorney General, and Jno. P. Streepey, Assistant, W. D. Jackson and Gus W. Jones, for appellee.

1. The act is not discriminatory because it exempts from its operation railroads less than one hundred miles in length. 86 Ark. 412, 219 U.S. 291; 49 Ark. 325, 125 U.S. 680; 49 Ark. 291; 81 Ark. 310; 69 Ark. 521; 32 L. R. A. 857; 113 U.S. 27; 129 U.S. 29; 174 U.S. 96, 102, 103, 104; 165 U.S. 628; 170 U.S. 294.

The question is not whether the Legislature might have adopted some other classification, or whether the classification adopted is wise, but whether it is purely arbitrary and bears no legitimate relation to the purpose sought to be accomplished. 207 U.S. 354. And every presumption will be indulged in favor of the validity of the Legislature's classification. 194 U.S. 267; 1912 D. Am. Ann. Cases, 22.

2. There is no merit in the contention that the act is unreasonable and arbitrary and, therefore, is violative of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

If it is a fair subject of controversy as to whether the act is reasonable and promotive of the safety of the public, that is a question for legislative determination and not for the courts. 159 Cal. 508; 89 Neb. 34; 130 S.W. 792; 175 Ind. 478; 94 N.E. 761; 86 Ark. 434.

OPINION

MCCULLOCH, C. J.

Appellant railway company was convicted of violating the statute (Act No. 67, Acts 1913, approved February 20, 1913), which requires all railway companies operating roads one hundred miles and over in length to use crews of six men composed of an engineer, a fireman, a foreman and three helpers, while doing switching in terminals or yards in cities of the first and second class. The act contains four sections and reads as follows:

"An Act for the better protection and safety of the public.

"Section 1. That no railroad company or corporation owning or operating any yards or terminals in the cities within this State, where switching, pushing or transferring of cars are made across public crossings within the city limits of the cities, shall operate their switch crew or crews with less than one engineer, a fireman, a foreman and three helpers.

"Sec 2. It being the purpose of this act to require all railroad companies or corporations who operate any yards or terminals within this State who do switching, pushing or transferring of cars across public crossings within the city limits of the cities to operate said switch crew or crews with not less than one engineer, a fireman, a foreman and three helpers, but nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent any railroad company or corporation from adding to or increasing their switch crew or crews beyond the number set out in this act.

"Sec. 3. The provisions of this act shall only apply to cities of the first and second class, and shall not apply to railroad companies or corporations operating railroads less than one hundred miles in length.

"Sec. 4. Any railroad company or corporation violating the provisions of this act shall be fined for each separate offense not less than fifty dollars, and each crew so illegally operated shall constitute a separate offense."

Appellant violated the terms of the statute for a day in switching ears in the city of Hot Springs, and on the trial of the case the court imposed the minimum fine. It is--conceded that the terms of the act were violated, but appellant challenges its constitutionality on four grounds, namely, that the provisions with reference to the length of miles of road within the reach of the statute constitutes an unjust classification and in effect denies the equal protection of the laws to railroads one hundred miles in length; that the statute is arbitrary and unreasonable as a police regulation in requiring the specified number of employees without necessity therefor; that the act operates as an interference with interstate commerce; and lastly, that the penalty imposed is so excessive that it in effect deprives the company of the opportunity to contest its validity without subjecting itself to unreasonable penalties.

The court heard the testimony of a large number of witnesses introduced by the respective parties to the litigation, and there is a wide conflict in the testimony as to whether there is any real necessity for requiring more than two helpers. The witnesses introduced by appellant are its officers and employees, and those of other roads, all of them being men of wide experience in switching cars in terminals they all testified that there was absolutely no reason for requiring more than five men in the switch crew, and that switching could be more speedily and safely done with five men than with six. On the other hand, the State introduced a number of men now engaged as switchmen in yards and they all testified that it is necessary, in order to give proper protection at crossings, to have the additional man. It is unnecessary for a statement of the conclusions as to the validity of the law to state where the preponderance of the testimony...

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