Chicago St Ry Co v. State of Minnesota Railroad and Warehouse Commission

Decision Date24 March 1890
Citation10 S.Ct. 462,134 U.S. 418,33 L.Ed. 970
PartiesCHICAGO, M. & ST. P. RY. CO. v. STATE OF MINNESOTA ex rel. RAILROAD AND WAREHOUSE COMMISSION. *
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

This is a writ of error to review a judgment of the supreme court of the state of Minnesota, awarding a writ of mandamus against the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. The case arose on proceedings taken by the railroad and warehouse commission of the state of Minnesota, under an act of the legislature of that state approved March 7, 1887, (Gen. Laws 1887, c. 10,) entitled 'An act to regulate common carriers, and creating the railroad and warehouse commission of the state of Minnesota, and defining the duties of such commission in relation to common carriers.' The act is set forth in full in the margin.1 ninth section of that act creates a commission, to be known as the 'Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Minnesota,' to consist of three persons, to be appointed by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate.

The first section of the act declares that its provisions shall apply to any common carrier 'engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and partly by water, when both are used under a common control, management, or arrangement, for a carriage or shipment from one place or station to another, both being within the state of Minnesota.'

The second section declares 'that all charges made by any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act, for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property as aforesaid, or in connection therewith, or for the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of such property, shall be equal and reasonable; and every unequal and unreasonable charge for such service is prohibited, and declared to be unlawful.'

The eighth section provides that every common carrier subject to the provisions of the act shall print and keep for public inspection schedules of the charges which it has established for the transportation of property; that it shall make no change therein except after 10 days' public notice, plainly stating the changes proposed to be made, and the time when they will go into effect; that it shall be unlawful for it to charge or receive any greater or less compensation than that so established and published for transporting property; that it shall file copies of its schedules with the commission, and shall notify such commission of all changes proposed to be made; that, in case the commission shall find at any time that any part of the tariffs of charges so filed and published is in any respect unequal or unreasonable, it shall have the power, and it is authorized and directed, to compel any common carrier to change the same, and adopt such charge as the commission 'shall declare to be equal and reasonable,' to which end the commission shall, in writing, inform such carrier in what respect such tariff of charges is unequal and unreasonable, and shall recommend what tariff shall be substituted therefor; that, in case the carrier shall neglect for 10 days after such notice to adopt such tariff of charges as the commission recommends, it shall be the duty of the latter to immediately publish such tariff as it has declared to be equal and reasonable, and cause it to be posted at all the regular stations on the line of such carrier in Minnesota, and it shall be unlawful thereafter for the carrier to charge a higher or lower rate than that so fixed and publishd by the commission; and that, if any carrier subject to the provisions of the act shall neglect to publish or file its schedules of charges, or to carry out such recommendation made and publishd by the commission, it shall be subject to a writ of mandamus 'to be issued by any judge of the supreme court or of any of the district courts' of the state, on application of the commission, to compel compliance with the requirements of section 8, and with the recommendation of the commission, and a failure to comply with the requirements of the mandamus shall be punishable as and for contempt, and the commission may apply also to any such judge for an injunction against the carrier from receiving or transporting property or passengers within the state, until it shall have complied with the reguirements of section 8, and with the recommendation of the commission, and for any willful violation or failure to comply with such requirements or such recommendation of the commission, the court may award such costs, including counsel fees, by way of penalty, on the return of said writs, and after due deliberation thereon, as may be just.

On the 22d of June, 1887, the Boards of Trade Union of Farmington, Northfield, Faribault, and Owatonna, in Minnesota, filed with the commission a petition in writing, complaining that the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, being a common carrier engaged in the transportation of property wholly by railroad, for carriage or shipment from Owatonna, Faribault, Dundas, Northfield, and Farmington to the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, all of those places being within the state of Minnesota, made charges for its services in the transportation of milk from said Owatonna, Faribault, Dundas, Northfield, and Farmington to St. Paul and Minneapolis which were unequal and unreasonable, in that it charged 4 cents per gallon for the transportation of milk from Owatonna to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and 3 cents per gallon from Faribault, Dundas, Northfiled, and Farmington to the said cities; and that such charges were unreasonably high, and subjected the traffic in milk between said points to unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage. The prayer of the petition was that such rates be declared unreasonable, and the carrier be compelled to change the same, and adopt such rates and charges as the commission should declare to be equal and reasonable. A statement of the complaint thus made was forwarded by the commission on the 29th of June, 1887, to the railway company; and it was called upon by the commission, on the 6th of July, 1887, to satisfy the complaint, or answer it in writing, at the office of the commission in St. Paul, on the 13th of July, 1887. On the 30th of June, 1887, Mr. J. F. Tucker, the assistant general manager of the railway company, addressed a letter from Milwaukee to the secretary of the commission, saying: 'I have your favor of the 29th, with complaint as to milk rates being unreasonable and unequal. They may be unequal, if unreasonable. They are unreasonably low for the service performed,—by passenger train,—and are 25 per cent. less than the same commodity is charged into New York, with longer distances and hundred times larger volume in favor of New York. I am frank to say it is hard to appreciate complaints from boards of trade that 1-10 of a cent per gallon on milk handled on passenger train one mile is unreasonable. With what is the comparison made that enables such a conclusion? It's not first-class rates by freight train and was made low to encourage the trade, under the hope and promise that, when the trade were fostered, it would be advanced. This, as usual, has been forgotten.' On the 13th of July, 1887, at the office of the commission in St. Paul, the company appeared by J. A. Chandler, its duly-authorized attorney, and the Boards of Trade Union by its attorney, and the commission proceeded to investigate the complaint. An investigation of the rates charged by the company for its services in transporting milk from Owatonna, Faribault, Dundas, Northfield, and Farmington, to St. Paul and Minneapolis, was made by the commission, and it found that the charges of the company for transporting milk from Owatonna and Faribault to St. Paul and Minneapolis were 3 cents per gallon n 10-gallon cans; that such charges were unequal and unreasonable; and that the company's tariff of rates for transporting milk from Owatonna and Faribault to those cities, filed and published by it as provided by chapter 10 of the Laws of 1887, was unequal and unreasonable; and the commission declared that a rate of 2 1/2 cents per gallon in 10-gallon cans was an equal and reasonable rate for such services. On the 4th of August, 1887, the commission made a report in writing which included the findings of fact upon which its conclusions were based, its recommendation as to the tariff which should be substituted for the tariff so found to be unequal and unreasonable, and also a specification of the rates and charges which it declared to be equal and reasonable. This paper was in the shape of a communication dated at St. Paul, August 4, 1887, signed by the secretary of the commission, and addressed to the company. It said: 'It appearing, from your schedule of rates and charges for the transportation of milk over and upon the Iowa and Minnesota division of your road, that you charge, collect, and receive for the transportation of milk over and upon said line from Owatonna and Faribault to the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis three cents per gallon, in ten-gallon cans, and from Dundas, Northfield, and Farmington to said cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis two and one-half cents per gallon, in cans of like capacity, and complaint having been made that such rates and charges are unequal and unreasonable, and that the services performed by you in such transportation are not reasonably worth the said sums charged therefor, and this commission having thereupon, pursuant to the provisions of section eight of an act entitled 'An act to regulate common carriers, and creating the railroad and warehouse commission of the state of Minnesota, and defining the duties of such commission in relation to common carriers,' approved March 7, 1887, examined the cause and reasonableness of said complaint, and finding, pursuant to subdivision e of said section, that your said tariff of rates, so far as appertains to the transportation of...

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