Edward Douglass White

“ The court, after holding that the order was not so unjust and unreasonable as to be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, disposed of the contention that the order was void because compliance with it would necessitate the incurring of expense, by saying (179 U.S. 302, 45 L. ed. 201, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 120) :
'Although to carry out the judgment may require the exercise by the plaintiff in error of the power of eminent domain, and will also result in some, comparatively speaking, small expense, yet neither fact furnishes an answer to the application of defendant in error. ”

“ Ames, nevertheless the arbitrary and unreasonable character of the order results from the fact that to execute it would require the operation of a train at a loss, even if the result of the loss so occasioned would not have the effect of reducing the aggregate net earnings below a reasonable profit. The power to fix rates, it is urged, in the nature of things, is restricted to providing for a reasonable and just rate, and not to compelling the performance of a service for such a rate as would mean the sustaining of an actual loss in doing a particular service. ”

“ The elementary proposition that railroads, from the public nature of the business by them carried on and the interest which the public have in their operation, are subject, as to their state business, to state regulation, which may be exerted either directly by the legislative authority or by administrative bodies endowed with power to that end, is not and could not be successfully questioned, in view of the long line of authorities sustaining that docrine. ”

“ As the duty to furnish necessary facilities is coterminous with the powers of the corporation, the obligation to discharge that duty must be considered in connection with the nature and productiveness of the corporate business as a whole, the character of the services required, and the public need for its performance. ”

“ For years prior to October, 1903, the Coast Line operated daily an interstate train from Richmond, Virginia, through North Carolina to Florida. This train, known as No. 39, moved over the main track from Richmond to Wilson, North Carolina, thence by the track designated as the cutoff via Selma and Fayetteville to Florida. ”

“ People ex rel. Green v. Dutchess & C. R. Co. 58 N. Y. 152, 163; People ex rel. Kimball v. Boston & A. R. Co. 70 N. Y. 569; People v. New York, L. E. & W. R. Co. 104 N. Y. 58, 67, 58 Am. Rep. 484, 9 N.E. 856.'
Affirmed.
Notes
↑ The train from Rocky Mount, southbound, in the early morning makes a close connection at Goldsboro at 6:50 o'clock with the Southern for Raleigh and all points west.↑ Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Iowa (Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Cutts) 94 U.S. 155, 24 L. ed. 94; Peik v. Chicago & N. W. R. Co. 94 U.S. 164, 24 L. ed. 97; Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co. ”