George Shiras, Jr.

“ Practically, there may be no real or considerable conflict between the public interest that is local and that which is general. But, as the state legislatures are controlled by those who represent local demands, their action frequently results in measures detrimental to the interests of the greater public; and hence it is that the people of the United States have, by their constitution and the acts of congress, removed the control and regulation of interstate commerce from the state legislatures. ”

“ Commerce with foreign countries and among the states, strictly considered, consists in intercourse and traffic, including in these terms navigation, and the transportation and transit of persons and property, as well as the purchase, sale, and exchange of commodities. For the regulation of commerce, as thus defined, there can be only one system of rules, applicable alike to the whole country ”

“ He there demonstrates that commerce among the states, like commerce with foreign nations, is necessarily a commerce which crosses state lines, and extends into the states, and the power of congress to regulate it exists wherever that commerce is found. ”

“ Language affirming the exclusiveness of the grant of power over commerce, as thus defined, may not be inaccurate, when it would be so if applied to legislation upon subjects which are merely auxilliary to commerce.' * * * We must therefore hold that it is not, and never has been, the deliberate opinion of a majority of this court that the statute of a state which attempts to regulate the fares and charges by railroad companies within its limits for a transportation which constitutes a part of commerce among the states is a valid law. ”

“ A traveler purchasing tickets on such trains has a right to expect that he will be carried to his journey's end in the shortest possible time consistent with safety. The railroad companies compete for business by holding out that they run the fastest trains, and those most certain to arrive on time. A company which, by its own regulations or under coercion of a state legislature, stopped its through trains at every village, would soon lose its through business, to the loss of the company and the detriment of the traveling public. ”

“ A citizen of New York has goods which he desires to have transported by the railroad companies from that city to the interior of the state of Illinois. A continuous line of rail, over which a car loaded with these goods can be carried, and is carried habitually, connects the place of shipment with the place of delivery. He undertakes to make a contract with a person engaged in the carrying business at the end of this route from whence the goods are to start, and he is told by the carrier, 'I am free to make a fair and reasonable contract for this carriage to the line of the state of Illinois ”

“ The government has not thought fit to build and operate railroads over which to transport its mails, but relies upon the use of roads owned by state corporations operating connecting roads. And it appears from the find ngs in this case that the defendant's through trains are engaged by the government in the transportation of its mails. The business, public and private, that depends on hourly and daily communication by mail, is enormous, and it would be intolerable if such necessary rapidity of intercourse could be controlled and trammeled by legislation like that in question. ”

“ By an act approved February 23, 1869, the state of Louisiana forbade common carriers of passengers to make discrimination on account of race or color. A person of color took passage upon a steamboat plying between New Orleans and Vicksburg, in the state of Mississippi, and was carried from New Orleans to her place of destination within Louisiana, and being refused accommodations, on account of her color, in the cabin specially set apart for white persons, brought an action in the district court for the parish of New Orleans, under the provisions of the act above referred to. ”

“ If, as has often been said, Christianity is part of the common law of the several states, and if the United States, in their legislative and executive departments throughout the country, since the foundation of the government, have recognized Sunday as a day of rest and freedom from compulsory labor, then such a law as that of Georgia, being based upon a public policy common to all the states, might be sustained. ”

“ In pursuance of this power, congress, on June 15, 1866, enacted that 'every railroad company in the United States, whose road is operated by steam, its successors and assigns, is hereby authorized to carry upon and over its road, boats, bridges and ferries, all passengers, troops, government supplies, mails, freight and property on their way from any state to another state, and to receive compensation therefor, and to connect with roads of other states so as to form continuous lines for the transportation of the same to the place of destination.' Rev. ”

“ It is also plain that the defendant railroad company, and such of its trains as were engaged in interstate commerce are within the scope and subject to the regulations contained in the 'act to regulate commerce,' approved February 4, 1887, creating the interstate commerce commission.
The theory on which passenger trains to traverse several states or the entire continent are prepared is necessarily and widely different from that followed in making up ordinary trains to do a wayside business. There must be provision for sleeping at night and for furnishing meals. ”

“ The constitution of the United States, in its eighth section, confers upon congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes, and to establish post offices and post roads. ”

“ Uniformity in the regulations by which he is to be governed from one end to the other of his route is a necessity in his business, and, to secure, it, congress, which is untrammeled by state lines, has been invested with the exclusive legislative power of determining what such regulations shall be. ”

“ The destructive effect of such inconsistent and diverse legislation upon interstate commerce, carried on in trains running throughout the entire country, is too obvious to require statement or illustration. ”

“ All useful regulations do not consist in restraint, and that which congress sees fit to leave free is a part of the regulation as much as the rest.'
Attention is called to the fact that in the cases of De Cuir v. Hall, Wabash Ry. Co. v. Illinois, and Illinois R. R. Co. v. Illinois, there were no specific regulations by congress as to providing separate accommodations for white and black passengers, as to rates of freight to be charged on interstate commerce, or as to stopping through trains at prescribed places ”

“ In such an action it was contended on behalf of the defendant that the Kansas statutes were an interference with the freedom of interstate commerce, and also covered a field of action actually occupied by congressional legislation, known as the 'Animal Industry Act.' But it appeared that the Kansas act under which the action was brought was passed in 1885, and amended in 1891, and that congress had previously invited the authorities of the states and territories concerned to co-operate for the extinction of contagious or communicable cattle diseases. ”

“ No carrier of passengers can conduct his business with satisfaction to himself, or comfort to those employing him, if on one side of a state line his passengers, both white and colored, must be permitted to occupy the same cabin, and on the other be kept separate. ”

“ A passenger in the cabin set apart for the use of whites without the state must, when the boat comes within, share the accommodations of that cabin with such colored persons as may come on board afterwards, if the law is enforced. ”

“ In the absence of legislation by congress, it would be going very far to hold that such an enactment as the one before us was in itself a regulation of interstate commerce,' when applied to trains carrying passengers from one state to another. ”

“ It is therefore a conceded fact in the case that the through trains which the legislature of Ohio seeks to compel to stop at prescribed villages and towns in that state are engaged in carrying on interstate commerce by the transportation of freight and passengers. ”

“ In order that each and every passenger may receive the accommodation for which he pays, the seats are sold in advance, and with reference to the number of through passengers. To enable such trains to maintain the speed demanded, the number of the cars for each train must be limited, and they are advertised and known as 'limited trains. ”

“ It does not act upon the business through the local instruments to be employed after coming within the state, but directly upon the business as it come into the state from without or goes out from within. ”

“ If, for instance, and as is often the case, the through trains were full of through passengers, there would be no advantage to local travel for them to stop at the way stations, for there would be no room or accommodation for the occasional passengers. ”