Statement of the Case. 234 U.S. nage being supplied by the controlling interests. The passenger receipts for 1910 were $473.77. A logging train runs daily on each branch and there is one "mixed" train, loaded chiefly with logs and lumber, between Lake Charles and De Ridder. The allowances paid by the trunk lines range from 12 to 52c per 100 pounds out of their earnings under the group-lumber rate. The operating revenue for the year ending June 30, 1910, was $220,985.94, with operating expenses of $145,433.69, and there was an accumulated surplus of $73,581.07 on that date. The Commission found that no charge was made for hauling the logs to the mills by the tap line and that for the short switching service allowances were made as above stated, and concluded that it regarded the whole arrangement as indefensible and unlawful, and saw no ground upon which any allowance might lawfully be made. The Woodworth & Louisiana Central Railway Company and the Rapides Lumber Company, situated at Woodworth, are identical in interest. The mill is near the Iron Mountain which has a spur track to the mill, and the tap line has a standard gauge track from the mill to La Moria, about six miles, where it connects with the Southern Pacific Railway, Texas & Pacific Railway and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, and a narrow gauge track in the other direction for 18 miles whence spur tracks go into the timber. The equipment consists of 1 standard gauge locomotive, 5 narrow gauge locomotives and 2 standard and 9 narrow gauge cars. The steel in the logging spurs and 4 of the narrow gauge locomotives used by the lumber company on the spurs are owned by the tap line and leased to the lumber company; while the right of way for the narrow gauge track is leased from the lumber com pany. The tap line hauls the logs from its terminus to the mill without charge, where they are dumped by the trainmen into the mill pond. The carloads of lumber are switched 234 U. S. Statement of the Case. by the tap line from the planing mill to the place where they are taken by the Iron Mountain, about 25 feet. About 95% of the lumber goes through La Moria, being switched there by the tap line; the allowances from the Iron Mountain out of through rates being from 11⁄2 to 52c per 100 pounds, while from the trunk lines at La Moria from 2 to 512c. There are no joint rates except on lumber. For the year ending June 30, 1910, there was 40,707 tons of freight handled for the lumber company and 2,100 tons of outside traffic. It has no passenger business. Its operations for that year showed a deficit, but there was a surplus from previous years of nearly $10,000. It files annual reports with the Commission. The Mansfield Railway & Transportation Company and the Frost-Johnson Lumber Company are identical in interest. The tap line extends from Mansfield to a logging camp in the woods known as Hunter, a distance of about 16 miles and the line which was originally incorporated by the citizens of Mansfield in 1881 consisting of 2 miles of track from the town to a connection with the Texas & Pacific at Mansfield Junction. Later the Mansfield Company acquired the two-mile track and equipment, and the interests controlling it purchased a large amount of timber lands near Mansfield at a point called Oak Hill where a mill was built, and spur tracks were laid into the timber, which were later turned over to the Mansfield Company, with the free privilege reserved to the Lumber Company to operate logging trains between the timber and the mill, which operation is performed by a subsidiary company. The purchase price did not reflect the value of the reservation. There are about 25 miles of unincorporated logging tracks. The tap line also has a connection with the Kansas City Southern. It owns a locomotive, a passenger coach and a box car. The service performed by the tap line is switching cars between the mill and the Kansas City Southern about Statement of the Case. 234 U.S. three-fourths of a mile, although the mill is within 300 feet of the Kansas City Southern and was formerly connected by a spur track which was abandoned and taken up, and to the Texas & Pacific, a distance of two and one-half miles. The tap line bears the expense of maintaining its tracks extending into the woods. No other yellow-pine mills are served by the tap line, but there is a hardwood mill adjacent to the Frost-Johnson mill, obtaining a substantial portion of its logs from the latter company or subsidiaries, the price including delivery at the hardwood mill, the logs being hauled by the logging company under its trackage right. Some logs are also obtained from the Texas & Pacific, for the switching of which the hardwood mill pays the tap line $2.50 a car or less. The tap line maintains joint rates on hardwood as well as yellow-pine. Practically no traffic other than that in which the Lumber Company is interested moves over the track from Mansfield to Hunter, but a good deal of outside traffic moves over the original two miles from Mansfield to Mansfield Junction. 16,539 tons of miscellaneous freight was handled during the year ending June 30, 1910, most of which passed over the Mansfield Junction branch, and much of which was for the controlling interests or their employés; while during the same time 28,596 tons of lumber were handled, 91.4 per cent. of which was supplied by the Lumber Company. A daily train is operated by the tap line in each direction on regular schedule, handling passengers, mail and express; but in 1910 the passenger revenues were only $1,209.76, while its freight revenues were $25,617.19. The Commission noticed the abandonment of the 300 foot spur track and then the payment of an allowance of 1 to 4c per 100 pounds, and held that it was a mere manipulation of the situation in order to establish an unlawful relation; and also held that since the tap line crosses the 234 U. S. Statement of the Case. right of way of the Texas & Pacific within a short distance, the allowance of a like amount by the Texas & Pacific for switching from the mill to Mansfield and down to the junction was unlawful. The Victoria, Fisher & Western Railroad Company and the Louisiana Long Leaf Lumber Company have the same stockholders and officers. The tap line extends from Victoria, where it connects with the Texas & Pacific, to Fisher, where it crosses the Kansas City Southern Railway, and then extends to Cain, in all about 31 miles. A part of the track was built some time ago and was acquired by the Lumber Company in 1900. In 1902 the Railroad Company was incorporated and its stock exchanged as a stock dividend for the line. There are about 25 miles of logging spurs and sidetracks. The equipment consists of 5 locomotives, 4 cabooses, 3 box cars, 1 flat car and 105 logging cars. It does not operate any trains on regular schedule. There are two mills owned by the Lumber Company, one about a mile from the junction with the Texas & Pacific and the other about half a mile from the tracks of the Kansas City Southern. The tap line hauls the logs from the forest to the mill, charging $1.50 per 1,000 feet, which is supposed to cover only the service performed on the logging spurs and not the haul over the main track. The greater part of the lumber from Fisher is turned over to the Kansas City Southern, involving a one-half mile switch by the tap line, and from Victoria is moved by the tap line one mile to the Texas & Pacific; a small amount of the lumber from each mill is taken by the tap line to the more distant trunk line, but the same divisions are paid. The allowances range from 34 to 4c per 100 pounds, and the joint rates are the same as the rates published from adjacent mills on the trunk lines, except traffic moving to Texas, for which 114c per 100 pounds is added to the junctionpoint rate. No passengers are carried, and of 316,676 tons Statement of the Case. 234 U. S. of freight for the year 1910, over 99% was furnished by the proprietary company. And the accumulated surplus at the end of June, 1910, was $13,509.17. The Commission held that the tap line could not participate as a common carrier in joint rates on the products of the proprietary company, but said that the lumber rate of the trunk lines applied from the adjacent mills and that they might make a reasonable allowance for switching. The Commission made an order in such matter on May 14, 1912, which it amended on October 30, 1912. The amended order, so far as these appeals are concerned, provided: "The Commission upon the record finds in the case of the Woodworth & Louisiana Central Railway Company; Mansfield Railway & Transportation Company; Louisiana & Pacific Railway Company; Victoria, Fisher & Western Railroad Company; that the tracks and equipment with respect to the industry of the several proprietary companies are plant facilities, and that the service performed therewith for the respective proprietary lumber companies in moving logs to their respective mills and performed therewith in moving the products of the mills to the trunk lines is not a service of transportation by a common carrier railroad but is a plant service by a plant facility; and that any allowances or divisions out of the rate on account thereof are unlawful and result in undue and unreasonable preferences and unjust discriminations, as found in the said reports," and it ordered that the trunk lines should cease and for two years abstain from making any such allowances to the tap lines named. The Commission further ordered that if the trunk lines failed by a time stated, to reëstablish the through routes and joint rates in effect on April 30, 1912, on traffic other than the products of the mills of certain proprietary com |