than one-fourth of the states, most of these making it a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine, forfeiture of of office, or otherwise, for persons holding public offices to accept passes or tickets at rates other than those charged to the public at large. Excursion and commutation tickets and reduced rates for exhibitions, fairs, political and other gatherings may still be granted, as well as special favors extended to charitable, religious, reformatory, and other institutions. States having legislated on this topic are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin. In most of these the law takes the form of positive prohibition of the acceptance of passes on the part of public officials. In 1899 Minnesota passed a law making it obligatory for railway companies to grant free transportation to shippers of car-load lots of live stock. Free baggage is expressly provided for by the laws of a number of states, 150 pounds being the usual exemption on first-class tickets. In recent years laws declaring bicycles baggage have been enacted in a number of states.

Long and Short Hauls. With the exception of discriminations and reasonable rates, there is no subject which the decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission touch more frequently than that of long and short hauls. During the period covered by its first annual report fifty-eight petitions, representing ninety-five different railways, were

presented to this body for relief under the fourth section of the interstate-commerce law, commonly known as the long and short haul clause. The question of long and short hauls is chiefly an interstate matter, yet nearly one-half of the state laws contain the long and short haul provision in one form or another, that used in the interstate-commerce law being the most common. Among the states prohibiting a greater charge for a shorter distance included within the longer for transportation in the same direction over the same line, under substantially similar conditions, ten introduced the much needed element of elasticity in that the respective railway commissions, or other authority, may permit the suspension of the long and short haul provision in certain cases and under certain conditions.

"That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier, subject to the provisions of this act, 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; but this shall not be construed as authorizing any common carrier within the terms of this act to charge and receive as great a compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance: Provided, however, That upon application to the board appointed

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