St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. Newell

• Decision Date: 11 January 1910
• Citation: 106 P. 818,25 Okla. 502,1910 OK 32
• Parties: ST. LOUIS & S. F. R. CO. v. NEWELL et al.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

106 P. 818

25 Okla. 502, 1910 OK 32

ST. LOUIS & S. F. R. CO. v. NEWELL et al.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

January 11, 1910

Syllabus by the Court.

The prima facie presumption of the reasonableness, justness, and correctness of an order of the Corporation Commission obtaining by reason of section 22, art. 9, of the Constitution, applies only to the facts found by the Commission, or established by evidence upon which the Commission failed to make a finding; and, where a fact material to the reasonableness, justness, and correctness of an order is lacking in the finding of facts made by the Commission, and is not supplied by the evidence, the presumption obtaining by reason of said section does not apply, and on review in this court such order cannot be sustained.

An order of the Corporation Commission, requiring a railroad company to install telegraph service at one of its stations for the sole purpose of bulletining its passenger trains made without any findings of fact or evidence as to the extent of the passenger traffic at said station, or the amount or approximate amount of the receipts therefrom held, error, where it was shown that such additional service would require an increase in the expenses of the company for maintenance of the station of from 75 to 100 per cent.

Appeal from Corporation Commission.

Action by the State and J. Q. Newell against the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiffs, and defendant brings error. Reversed and remanded.

W. F Evans, E. T. Miller, and R. A. Kleinschmidt, for plaintiff in error.

Chas. West, Atty. Gen., and Geo. A. Henshaw, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendants in error.

HAYES J.

This appeal is from an order of the Corporation Commission, ordering appellant to establish and maintain telegraph service at the town of Jennings on its line of railway, and that all passenger trains be bulletined as heretofore ordered by the Commission. The order further directs appellant to repair and put in a serviceable condition a switch track at said station. No objection to this last provision of the order has been urged by appellant, and our consideration, therefore, will be directed to that portion of the order which requires appellant to establish telegraph service and to bulletin its passenger trains at Jennings. The conditions upon which a railway company may be reasonably and justly required to install and maintain a telegraph operator at one of its stations were held by this court, in C., R.I. & P. Ry. Co. v. State et al., 103 P. 617, to be, first, that the safety and expedition of the train service, both freight and passenger, or either, require it; or, second, that the convenience to be afforded to the public by the railway company in the conduct of its freight and passenger service, or either, demands it. No contention is made in this case that a telegraph operator and station at Jennings are necessary for operation, safety, and expedition of appellant's train service, or that it is in any way necessary to a discharge of the business of appellant by its employés. The application for the order is based upon two alleged facts: First, that the railway company is under contract with the citizens of the town of Jennings to establish and maintain a depot at said station; and, second, that the convenience of the traveling public demands it. The facts found by the Commission upon which the order is made are that the citizens of the town of Jennings contributed approximately the sum of $4,000 for the purpose of building and equipping a depot and depot facilities on defendant's right of way in said town; that defendant maintained telegraph service at said depot for a period of some two or three years after the building thereof, but that said service had been discontinued for a period of about five months, and a station agent put in charge on a salary of approximately $35 per month; that it would require an extra expense of some $20 to maintain telegraph service, and that such service is reasonably necessary for the convenience of the traveling public and citizens of that place; that trains are not bulletined because of no telegraph service, and, the depot being situated about three-quarters of a mile from town, passengers are compelled to go that distance, and at times wait various lengths of time, from 1 to 12 hours, upon appellant's trains, which is a source of inconvenience to the traveling public.

The Commission failed to find, either definitely or approximately, the amount of appellant's freight and passenger receipts at Jennings, or to make any other finding that would indicate the extent of the passenger traffic at said place which demands the...