under the provisions of this act, such common carrier may, in special cases, after investigation by the board, be authorized to charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of passengers or property; and the board may, from time to time, prescribe the extent to which such designated common carrier may be relieved from the operation of this section of this act.

"No railroad corporation shall charge or receive for the transportation of freight to any station on its road a greater sum than is at the time charged or received for the transportation of the like class and quantity of freight from the same original point of departure to a station at a greater distance on its road in the same direction. Two or more railroad corporations whose roads connect shall not charge or receive for the transportation of freight to any station on the road of either of them a greater sum than is at the time charged or received for the transportation of the like class and quantity of freight from the same original point of departure to a station at a greater distance on the road of either of them in the same direction. In the construction of this section the sum charged or received for the transportation of freight shall include all terminal charges, and the road of a corporation shall include all the road in use by it, whether owned or operated under a contract or lease."

This brings before us a typical provision gov

erning long and short hauls. Among others, the law of Florida contains the following clause bearing upon the same point:

The railroad commission "shall have full power by rules and regulations to fix the rates of freight and passenger transportation to be allowed for longer and shorter distances on the same or different railroads, and to fix what shall be the limits of longer and shorter distances."

Alabama expresses the same conditions in almost identical language. Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas likewise authorized their commissions to suspend the long and short haul provision. In Mississippi the law specifies that "the commission shall regulate and fix the rates to be charged on short hauls in excess of what may be charged on long hauls."

Other states having long and short haul provisions are Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

Discriminations. Discriminations have from the first presented the most serious aspects of railway regulation, and we are therefore not surprised to find statutory provisions prohibiting discriminations in sixteen state constitutions and in the laws of three-fourths of all the states. A common form of expressing this prohibition is the following:

"If any railroad corporation shall wilfully

charge, collect, or receive from any person or persons, for the transportation of any freight upon its railroad, a higher or greater rate, toll, or compensation than it shall at the same time charge, collect, or receive from any other person or persons for the transportation of a like quantity of freight of the same class, being transported from the same point, in the same direction, over equal distance of the same road, or if it shall charge, collect, or receive from any person or persons, for the use and transportation of any railroad car or cars upon its railroad, a higher or greater sum than it shall at the same time charge, collect, or receive from any other person or persons for the use or transportation of a car or cars of the same class, for a like purpose from the same point in the same direction, and an equal distance, all such discriminating rates, charges, or collections, whether made directly or by means of any rebate, or other shift or evasion, shall be considered and taken as prima facie evidence of discrimination, which is hereby prohibited and declared unlawful, and shall be punished. . .

The great importance of the legal attempts to wipe out evil practices, known under the names of discrimination, rebates, extortion, abuses, etc., warrants a brief indication of the essence of the statutory provisions found in a number of other

states.

Alabama. What constitutes extortion decided by jury. Penalty, double the damage inflicted.

upon a shipper plus attorney fees. Commission hears complaint.1

California. - Railway commission given power to correct abuses. Railways obliged to transport for each other without delay, to grant right of intersection, etc.2

Florida. A law of 1899 prohibits railway companies from charging more than reasonable rates and from practising unjust discriminations.

Illinois. Extortion and discriminations punished by heavy fines, amply provided for in the law.

Michigan. -Discriminations of all kinds forbidden, and rates at non-competing points not to be greater than those at competitive points.

Nebraska. Board of transportation shall investigate and prevent discriminations.

Ohio. - Railways shall not discriminate between each other, between way and through freights, between trunk and other railways. Roads shall furnish equal facilities and forward freight by lines specified by the shipper. The latter may enforce by injunction.

South Dakota.-Unjust discriminations and preferences declared unlawful in two separate sections. of the law. Discriminations as to goods, cars, railways, persons, etc., expressly prohibited.

Texas.-Discriminations prohibited under former laws; but a law of 1899 punishes discriminations

1 Consult constitution, Article XIV, section 21.

2 Consult constitution, Article XI, section 17.

on part of railways against steamship lines in the interchange of traffic. The unusual punishment of not less than two and not more than five years in the penitentiary is inflicted by the law, but this shall not prevent railways from granting reduced rates to charitable and state institutions, to excursionists, fairs, railway officers, etc.

Additional states which have legislated on discriminations are Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin. In a few of these states the legal provisions simply assert the power of the commission to correct abuses, and in the hands of an energetic commission or other state officer this is probably sufficient successfully to combat the evils of discriminations.

Rates Publicity and Revision. This subject is closely connected with the powers and duties of railway commissions. Since, however, not all the states have commissions, and laws relating to the fixing, revising, and publishing of rates exist in some of these states, it is necessary to give separate treatment to this question. The intrinsic importance of the subject of rates warrants its being set off by itself for special treatment. Railway rates have long constituted the pivotal point upon which have turned the most complex as well as important railway problems, and it is no exag