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are subject to the act to regulate commerce, the carrier, in making its tariffs occasionally groups stations, and in other instances grades stations, so as to keep up to something like a systematic and fair uniformity the aggregate rate to the different stations along its line. In the case of Evans and Reed against the Oregon R. & Navigation Co., I Interstate Commerce Commission Reports, page 336, we had occasion to consider the subject of comparing the rates established on railroads in one portion of the country with those in another, operated under substantially different circumstances and conditions, and we there held that such comparisons are not fair tests. That is equally true of the present case of comparisons between rates made in that portion of the country so near as to be dominated by the water rates on Lake Superior, and on the other hand, rates in the far interior made under substantially different circumstances and conditions. And again, in the case of the Manufacturers' and Jobbers' Union of La Crosse v. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. Co., we said: "Many circumstances fairly entitle, and sometimes compel the carrier to make rates on one line proportionately less than are made on another." Some of these circumstances are there enumerated I Interstate Commerce Commission Report, page 632.

less for great

The rule that the rate per ton per mile must be less for the greater distance is one of the tests by which the Rule that rate rates can be carefully scanned in themselves. It per ton per is, however, like looking at them with a micro-mile must be scope. It ignores all other tests except that which er distance it alone furnishes. It ignores all surrounding cir- considered. cumstances and conditions and every factor of every kind and description that enters into the making of the rate, no matter how compulsory or imperious that factor may be. It serves in itself a valuable purpose, not only as a close test of what a rate really is, but also as a basis in the cases to which it can be made to justly apply as a rule; but to determine the reasonableness and justness of a rate, all surrounding circumstances and conditions, and the factors which enter into the making of the rate, if there are any that are compulsory or imperious, must be considered as well as the rights of the shipper. That is apparent in the present case. This rule, as invoked in this proceeding, ignores the circumstances and conditions which surround the making of the rate by the defendant from Washburn to St. Paul. It also ignores the circumstances and conditions which surround the defendant railway for a long distance south and west of St. Paul, where the stations along the defendant's line are so near the stations upon the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. and those upon the line of the Minneapolis & St. Louis R. as to be competing 34 A. & E. R. Cas.-47

lines and stations with each other. To establish it as a rule for these stations would have very much the effect of the establishment of mileage rates for the same stations. It would destroy all competition between them, because none of them are exactly the same distance from the point of origin of freight, or else, on the other hand, it would load the business both to the carrier and to the shipper with a multitude of infinitesimal fractions nowhere known in the business of railroads.

of rates.

We had occasion in the case of Evans and Reed, supra, to consider and state some of the considerations which enter into the reasonableness of freight rates, and in Considerations entering into connection with the enumeration we there said: reasonableness "A variety of considerations of a very practical nature must always enter into the making of freight rates by a railroad company, and these also go very far in every instance to determine the question of whether such rates are reasonable or unreasonable. It would be very dangerous to the successful existence of such companies if they had to make or were required to make freight rates upon mere theories or conjectures. They have to deal with business as they find it." The same idea is expressed in different language in the first annual report of the Interstate Commerce Commission to the Secretary of the Interior, where it is said: "It is quite impossible to deal with this subject on mathematical principles."

The conclusions we have already expressed are decisive of this proceeding; but there is another feature of it which we

Competition

Change in rates which

think deserves to be noticed in connection with them, arising upon the evidence and our findings upon the facts. There is a fixed relation of freight would destroy. rates existing from and to points south and west of Mankato on the line of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha R. Co. on business going to, or coming from the east, by the competition which exists between this railway and the lines reaching Chicago and other Lake Michigan ports from this section of the country. This is clearly indicated in the evidence. It appears to be the dif ference of rates between Buffalo and the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior ports, respectively, and this difference, it seems, is usually two and one-half cents per hundred pounds lower on freights from Lake Superior ports, this being the longer route, than from Lake Michigan ports, though the difference has been as great as five cents per hundred pounds. There is between these lines a strong competition for the business of this portion of the country. The rates established have been the result of this competition. This competition.

has served a valuable purpose in the cheapening of rates in the section of the country south and west of Mankato, and thus has done the public a great benefit. It is beneficial and important to the public as well as to the railroads that this competition should not be broken down. A change, large, far-reaching, and sweeping, in this system of rates, such as is sought to be accomplished by the complaint in this proceeding, would involve great and corresponding changes in the system of rates upon rival competitive lines reaching Lake Michigan ports from this section of the country, and would not only completely unsettle carrying trade, but would greatly disturb and unsettle business, in many instances causing financial wrecks of business men, as well as entailing great losses upon this carrier which might have the effect of forcing it into bankruptcy. Consequences like these could be justified only upon the ground that in the administration of the statute they were the necessary and unavoidable results of correcting serious abuses, and such abuses we do not find to exist from the evidence in this proceeding.

The order of the Commission is that the petition be, and the same is, hereby dismissed.

INDEX.

NOTE -The mode of citing the American and English Railroad Cases is as
follows:

34 Am. & Eng. R. R. Cas.

The index contains references to the decisions and to the notes. References
to the decisions are to the pages upon which the cases begin. References to the
notes are to the pages upon which the propositions stated in the index are found.
References to Constitutional or Statutory Provisions are to the pages upon which
they are cited.

ACTION.

Continuing nuisance. Where the erection of a bridge causing overflows
is a continuing nuisance in consequence of which a recovery is
limited to damages accrued, a judgment in one action is not a bar
to a second action. Omaha, etc., R. Co. v. Standen (Neb.). 179.
Res adjudicata. In an action for the overflow of a stream caused by
the improper construction of a bridge, a judgment in the former
suit is no bar to a recovery for injuries subsequently sustained.
Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Schaffer (Ill.). 174.

Special policeman. Where a company agrees to pay two thirds of the
salary of a special policeman, and for some time after his appoint-
ment by the municipality pays its proportion of his salary directly
to him, such officer may maintain an action against the company
for arrears of salary. Porter v. Richmond & Ď. R. Co. (N. Ĉar.).
137.

ADMINISTRATORS AND EXECUTORS. See DEATH.

Letters of administration. In an action by the personal representatives
of a deceased minor, where the jury pass upo the facts in issue,
the evidence of the father tending to show that his child died with-
out leaving any estate is not conclusive as against the original find-
ings of the jury, and it cannot be said that the letters were granted
without jurisdiction. Union Pac. R. Co. v. Dunden (Kan.). 88.

AGENT. See FOREIGN CORPORATION; MASTER AND SERVANT; Officers.
Authority. Where a person acts as a company's agent under such
circumstances as to imply knowledge on the company's part, his
authority to act is established prima facie, and his declarations are
admissible in evidence. Indiana, etc., R. Co. v. Adamson (Ind.).
127.

Limited ticket. Stamping. Waiver. Where passenger holding limited
ticket had it stamped at point other than that named in ticket, evi-
dence held admissible to show that agent at that point was author-
ized to waive condition that ticket should be stamped at point
named therein. Taylor v. Seaboard & R. R. Co. (N. Car.). 344.

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