Louis Brandeis

“ The Piedmont & Northern and the Georgia & Florida opposed authorization of an unconditional lease, on the ground that, if joint rates on traffic moving over the Clinchfield should be closed to them, they would be deprived of much traffic which might otherwise move over their lines or future extensions thereof. In order to preserve, among other things, the existing and possible though routes via the Clinchfield on railroads other than the Atlantic Coast Line and the Louisville & Nashville, the Commission, in authorizing the lease, made it subject to five conditions which the lessees accepted. ”

“ The plaintiffs contend that the restrictive schedules are consistent with the conditions, because these assure equality of treatment only to connections existing at the time the order was entered authorizing the lease, and the Greenwood extension by means of which the Georgia & Florida connects with the Piedmont & Northern, was not built until several years thereafter. But the open route guaranteed by the conditions is not so limited. ”

“ Condition 1 requires the maintenance of a separate organization for the Clinchfield so that the road 'shall constitute a separate operating unit.' Condition 3 requires the continuance of existing routes and channels of trade, existing gateways for the interchange of traffic, and 'the present neutrality of handling the traffic inbound and outbound' so as to permit equal service, routing, and movement of competitive traffic to and from all connecting lines reached by the Clinchfield. ”