points situated at a greater distance over the same line in the same direction. While this method was satisfactory to the centers which it created and maintained, the smaller towns and rural communities protested against a system which worked so obviously to their disadvantage. Since the passage of the Act the number of these favored localities has decreased in the Southern States, and upon many of the lines the disparity in rates as between them and intermediate or local stations has been diminished. So far as passenger traffic is concerned the rates are generally, if not universally upon a mileage basis; except upon a few of the weakest roads they are three cents per mile. The application to freight traffic in this territory of the fourth section of the Act, which makes it unlawful for the carriers to "charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers or of like kind of property, under substantially similar circumstances and conditions, for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance," was carefully considered by the Commission soon after its organization, and the conclusions then reached were set forth in its opinion "In the Matter of the Petition of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company.” (1 I. C. C. R., 31). That opinion stated that competition not subject to the regulation of the Act might constitute the circumstances and conditions recognized by the section as exceptional; the Commission has seen no occasion as yet to vary from the construction of the law then reached, or from the principles then indicated as governing its application. The manner in which interstate rates should be constructed in order to conform to the requirements of the Act, was necessarily left, in the first instance where the law left it, to the judgment of the various carriers. The present inquiry involves the question of how far their conduct hitherto has conformed to the law as then interpreted, and to the recommendations then made. The following transportation lines are now members of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association, to wit: Central Railroad & Banking Company of Georgia, Port Royal & Augusta Railway Company, East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad Company, Georgia Pacific Railway Company, South Carolina Railway Company, Western & Atlantic Railroad Company, Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad Company, Atlanta & West Point Railroad Company, Western Railway Company of Alabama. This Association publishes a Classification of freight "for the use of the lines between Eastern and Western points and Southern points," the last issue of which took effect September 1, 1888. Supplements were issued December 5, 1888, and February 27, 1889, containing changes and additions. The Association also publishes a pamphlet, the last issue of which is entitled as follows: "Class and special rates of freight between Eastern, Western, and Coast cities and Southern points, in effect September 30, 1888." This pamphlet bears upon its cover a notation, "For the use of officers and employees of transportation companies only;" and is furnished to transportation companies at cost, on application to the office of the Commissioner at Atlanta, Georgia. It is intended for their use in preparing the tariffs which it is customary for each line to publish for itself. For example, the Associated Railways of Virginia and the Carolinas issue monthly a pamphlet entitled "How to Ship," giving rates from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Providence, and Baltimore, to all points in the Southern States reached over the lines named, including points on roads as far distant as the Texas Pacific. The stations upon each line are named in their natural order, including competitive points and locals, and a general index is also given. A similar publication of the Savannah Freight Line, operating over the roads of the Central Railroad & Banking Company of Georgia, is entitled "The Best Way to Ship." These publications are quite generally distributed among shippers, and are readily obtainable; they comprise nearly one hundred closely printed pages each, and are constructed from the rates issued by the Southern Railway and Steamship Association, by the use of methods which will be more particularly hereinafter described. An examination of the Association pamphlet shows that it purports to contain "all authorized class and special rates between the points named, except rates on cotton and pig iron, which will be found in special Circulars." The class rates given are between various Eastern, Western and Coast cities, and what are called " Association points." It becomes important at the outset to know what are these "Association points," and why they are selected in naming rates. From Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore the following points are given: Anniston, Birmingham, Eufaula, Montgomery, Opelika, and Selma, Alabama; Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Cedartown, Columbus, Dalton, Elberton, Macon, Milledgeville, Rome and Washington, Georgia; Chattanooga, Ten nessee. In naming rates from St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago, Louisville, and other Ohio River points, the following are given: Anniston, Birmingham, Eufaula, Montgomery, Opelika, and Selma, Alabama; Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Brunswick, Cedartown, Columbus, Dalton, Elberton, Fort Gaines, Macon, Milledgeville, Rome, Savannah, and Washington, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Charleston and Port Royal, South Carolina; Fernandina and Jacksonville, Florida. An examination of the map shows that the points named are some of them situated upon the ocean, some of them upon navigable rivers, and others are railroad junction points. Athens and Elberton are at the end of the spurs running south from the Richmond & Danville main line; Athens is also reached by a branch of the Georgia Railroad; Cedartown is a comparatively unimportant junction point northwest of Atlanta; Albany is the junction point of lines from the north and west with the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad; Dalton, forty miles south of Chattanooga, is the crossing point of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia with the Western & Atlantic; Columbus, Eufaula, and Fort Gaines are on the Chattahoochee River, and Opelika is a railroad crossing point twenty-nine miles northwest from Columbus; Montgomery and Selma are on the Alabama River, with a regular steamboat line to and from Mobile; Augusta, Georgia, is on the Savannah River, about 130 miles from Savannah by rail; Washington is the termination of a branch of the Georgia Railroad; Milledgeville and Rome are junction points. The location of the other points named is sufficiently well understood. The list does not by any means include all the junction points in the territory referred to. Most of the places named, however, are reached by more than one line of road, although some of them, like Elberton, Washington, and Fort Gaines, are simply terminals. Rates between Boston and the various "Association points" are the same as between New York and the same points. The Philadelphia rates are likewise the same, except to Chattanooga, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, where they are less than New York by the amount of the Trunk Line differentials customarily applied between Philadelphia and Western cities. Baltimore rates are a little lower than Philadelphia rates. Taking the New York rate as a representative of rates from the eastern cities to Association points, it appears that the framers of the Association pamphlet have recognized the existence of a combination of forces which they deem it essential to regard in the establishment of the tariffs under consideration. Of these the most important one consists in the existence of several steam ocean lines, long established and well known, which ply with regularity from the various eastern cities to various southern ports, including Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston, Port Royal, Savannah, and Bruns wick. These steamship lines are operated in connection with railroad lines running from said ports into the interior, and form combined rail and water routes, competing with the allrail lines over the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia and the Richmond & Danville from the eastern cities into the same territory. The rates made by these rail and water lines are quite steadily maintained; several of the steamship lines, as above shown, are members of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association and operate under the Association tariffs in transportation to interior points. Rates to coast points, however, are not published by the water lines. There are also other water lines which are not members of the Association, and there is considerable interchange of traffic by schooners and other sailing vessels. Taking the rate to Atlanta as an illustration, it will be seen that the tariff from New York to Atlanta, first-class, is $1.14. The statement is made that the rate from New York is as high as the ocean rate to southeastern ports plus the inland rates from those ports to Atlanta will permit. The rate of 69 cents, first class, is named in the pamphlet as in force between Atlanta and Charleston, Port Royal, Savannah and Brunswick. This rate has been agreed upon by the various lines between Atlanta and the southeastern ports. The rail lines from Savannah to Atlanta and from Brunswick to Atlanta are wholly within the State of Georgia. That State has a Railway Commission, which for several years has exercised quite extensive powers in the regulation of transportation charges. The rate above stated as established from the sea-coast to Atlanta has received the approval of the Georgia State Commission, although by all the lines charges are higher from the coast to intermediate points than to Atlanta; and the same is true of rates in the reverse direction. The State Commission has established a classification which is in force upon all railroads in the State of Georgia, containing twenty-two classes, six designated by numbers and the remainder by letters, from A to R. The lower classes, however, are substantially commodity lists, |