Oregon R. & Nav. Co. v. Campbell

• Decision Date: 28 September 1909
• Docket Number: 3,308.
• Citation: 173 F. 957
• Parties: OREGON R. & NAVIGATION CO. v. CAMPBELL et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Oregon

173 F. 957

OREGON R. & NAVIGATION CO. v. CAMPBELL et al.

No. 3,308.

United States Circuit Court, D. Oregon.

September 28, 1909

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

This is a suit to restrain the Oregon State Board of Railroad Commissioners from putting into operation and effect a schedule of rates for carrying freight upon and along the complainant's lines of railroad in Oregon. The Attorney General of the state is joined as a party defendant. The complainant is the owner of, and has now in operation, a system of railroad lines in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho extending from Portland, Or., to Huntington, and from Umatilla and Pendleton, Or., to Spokane, Wash., and Wallace Idaho, together with numerous branch lines, extending from the main line of the system. This system of railroads has connection with other systems extending elsewhere, in other states than those named, wherewith joint traffic is maintained. The bill of complaint attacks the validity of the act of the Legislative Assembly of the state of Oregon adopted February 18, 1907 (Laws 1907, p. 67), in pursuance of which the State Railroad Commission was created and its powers were conferred, upon the ground that it is unconstitutional and void, within the limitations of the state Constitution, and that its operation is to deprive the complainant of its property and services without due process of law, contrary to the federal Constitution. The act is, by exhibit, set out in full. Under the act it is made the duty of the Attorney General to enforce the provisions thereof and to prosecute any violation of its mandates.

More specifically, it is alleged that the complainant has physical connection with the Oregon Short Line and the Union Pacific Railways, and these have a like connection with various lines of railroad owned and operated by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, and that, by reason of these connections, and through tariffs published and established by the various companies concerned, merchandise and commodities of all kinds have moved from Chicago, Milwaukee, Duluth, St. Paul Minneapolis, St. Louis, and points and places located upon the east of the Missouri river, to Portland, and to places east of The Dalles reached by the lines of the complainant; that the Union Pacific, the Oregon Short Line, and the complainant issued a tariff, designated 'U.P.R.R.I.C.C. No. 1,578,' covering the transportation of freight between the points named and Missouri river common points to various stations on complainant's line east of The Dalles, other than the station at Pendleton, Or., which was duly filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission, and became operative January 2, 1904, and is in effect and operation, with some amendments, at the present time; that the complainant and various other companies promulgated a tariff, naming class and commodity rates, effective January 18, 1904, from New York and common points, and from Pittsburg, Chicago, and Mississippi and Missouri river common points, to certain North Pacific Coast terminals, including Portland, Or., and designated 'Transcontinental Freight Bureau No. 4-- C,' better known as the 'Transcontinental Terminal Tariff'; that the complainant has now in effect and operation upon its lines a freight tariff, naming class and commodity rates, based upon the existing Western Classification, between Portland, East Portland, Albina, and St. Johns, Or., and all stations on its lines in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, which tariff became effective January 1, 1907, and is designated 'No. L-- 525, I.C.C. No. 1,146'; that complainant and the San Francisco & Portland Steamship Company, which latter company is now engaged in operating a line of steamers between Portland and San Francisco, have heretofore issued, and have now in operation, a joint freight tariff between San Francisco, Cal., and Portland and points on complainant's lines in Oregon east of The Dalles, which is designated 'O.R. & N.I.C.C. No. 967'; that the rates so fixed and established are made up by adding certain arbitraries or local rates to the rates fixed and established by tariff No. L-- 525 from Portland to various points and places in Oregon east of The Dalles; that the Southern Pacific Company, the railway lines of which have physical connection with the lines of complainant, and complainant, have adopted, and have now in operation and effect, a joint tariff covering transportation from San Francisco and other points in California, to Portland, Or., and to all points in Oregon east of The Dalles, which tariff is designated 'Southern Pacific I.C.C. No. 2,130'; that the through rates from California to points east of The Dalles in Oregon consist mainly of a combination of the rates fixed by tariff No. L-- 525 from Portland to such prints east of The Dalles and certain arbitraries or local rates; that, under date of April 22, 1908, the Railroad Commission of Oregon made and entered an order, in a proceeding instituted before said commission by the Portland Chamber of Commerce against the complainant, which was served upon complainant on April 23, 1908, and was to become effective 20 days thereafter; that in and by said order it was found and declared, among other things, that the class rates now in effect under tariff No. L-- 525, with supplements amendatory thereto, over and upon complainant's main, branch, leased, and otherwise controlled lines in Oregon, between the city of Portland and all points in Oregon east of The Dalles, were and are unjust and unreasonably high, and complainant was directed to desist from charging any higher rates for transportation between points designated than the class rates prescribed by said order, and that, in lieu of said class rates established by said tariff No. L-- 525, the complainant should substitute and adopt the class rates specified in said order, which were and are, as it relates to all points east of The Dalles, greatly less than the rates established by tariff No. L--525 covering the same points; that at least 70 per cent. of the traffic carried, and hereafter to be carried, from Portland to points on complainant's lines east of The Dalles in Oregon, under the rates fixed by tariff No. L-525, originates, and will originate, at points along or east of the Missouri river, or in California, and is and will be first transported to Portland, and from thence under the class rates of L-- 525, or under the class rates fixed by the order of the Railroad Commission of Oregon, and that large quantities of like kind of goods are transported directly from the East to points in Oregon east of The Dalles, by complainant and allied lines, at and under the rates fixed by Union Pacific tariff No. 1,578, and from points in California to points in Oregon east of The Dalles at rates fixed and established by tariffs in force from California to points in Oregon east of The Dalles, as alleged; that by Union Pacific tariff No. 1,578 it is provided that, where the rate from the point of shipment added to the local rate under L-- 525 from Portland to points east of The Dalles is lower than the through rate under said tariff No. 1,578, the combination rate shall govern; that the tariff rates fixed by tariff No. 1,578 applying to points on complainant's lines in Oregon east of The Dalles, and particularly the class rates, are generally higher than the combination rates, and that the commodity rates fixed by such tariff No. 1,578 are generally somewhat less than than the combination of the transcontinental terminal to Portland added to the tariff under L-- 525, but that such commodity rates so fixed by tariff No. 1,578 are greater than the combination transcontinental and the rates fixed by the Railroad Commission to said points east of The Dalles; that, should the Railroad Commission's order become operative, it would affect, not only the interstate rates specifically mentioned, but each and every other interstate rate now in force and effect from the Missouri river common points and points east thereof to points in Oregon east of The Dalles, and from points in California to like points in Oregon; that the said order of said Railroad Commission necessarily amounts to an attempted regulation of commerce between the several states; that, should complainant attempt to comply with the order, it would be compelled to violate the act of Congress and the regulations promulgated by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and in this particular said order is an attempt to regulate interstate commerce, and is void; that the rates established by tariff L-- 525 are lower than the rates established for the transportation of similar traffic from any point on complainant's lines other than Portland to any other point on complainant's lines in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho, and the rates established by said tariff No. L-- 525, from Portland to points east of The Dalles, are lower than the rates charged by any other railroad company in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho, for the transportation of similar traffic No. L-- 525, and are unreasonably low, and are unjust to complainant; that, while the immediate effect of such order, if it could be confined strictly to the state of Oregon, might leave complainant a fair income upon its entire business nevertheless, if the rates attempted to be established by the said order be applied to the interstate business directly affected thereby, and if the percentage of reduction effected by such order be applied to the local business of complainant in the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, which local business is now being transacted upon rates higher than those fixed by tariff L-- 525, it will operate to confiscate the...