south of Macon, Ga., a distance of 65 miles. It is located on the lines of railway of the Seaboard Air Line Railway; the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad Company; the Albany & Northern Railway Company, and the Georgia Southern & Florida Railway Company. Complaint is made that the rates charged and collected by the defendant carriers for the transportation of pig iron and coal in carloads from Birmingham, Ala., to Cordele, Ga., are excessive, unreasonable, and discriminatory, the rates complained of being as follows: Pig iron to Cordele... -per ton of 2,240 pounds.. $2.75 Coal to Cordele - per ton of 2,000 pounds.. 1.70 It is further claimed that under said rates complainant, the city of Cordele, and manufacturers of iron therein, are subjected to unjust discrimination and to undue and unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage in favor of, and to the undue preference and advantage of Macon, Ga., and the manufacturers of iron therein, which latter enjoy the following rates upon the same articles from Birmingham, Ala.: The most direct routes and the distances from Birmingham to Cordele are as follows: Via Central of Georgia and Seaboard Air Line Railway.. Miles. 252.8 256.3 267.8 Via Louisville & Nashville Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railway.. Thus it appears that the distance from Birmingham to Macon over the shortest rail route is 254 miles and the distance from Birmingham to Cordele by the shortest rail route is 252 miles. The joint tariff of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Seaboard Air Line, and Georgia Southern & Florida meets the rate on the other and shorter lines upon coal and pig iron to Macon, and upon such haul carries these commodities through Cordele, charging therefor the same rates to Macon as are charged by carriers reaching that city by more direct routes and charging the higher rates as above given to Cordele. The Commission in a previous opinion has passed upon the general questions involved in this complaint in the case of Cordele Machine Shop v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company et al., which was decided on October 19, 1895. 6 I. C. C. Rep., 361. It was then the conclusion of the Commission that "any higher rate to Cordele than to Albany or Macon on pig iron or coal from Birmingham is unreasonable and unlawful and should be reduced to $1.60 on coal and $1.80 on pig iron." This conclusion was based upon consideration of the fourth section of the interstate commerce law, which at the time of that decision (1895) had not been given the construction by the Supreme Court which it now bears. The only principle by which it is possible to enforce the whole statute is the construction adopted by the previous opinions of this court; that is, that competition which is real and substantial and exercises a potential influence on rates to a particular point brings into play the dissimilarity of circumstance and condition provided by the statute and justifies the lesser charge to the more distant and competitive point than to the nearer and noncompetitive place, and that this right is not destroyed by the mere fact that incidentally the lesser charge to the competitive point may seemingly give a preference to that point and the greater rate to the noncompetitive point may apparently engender a discrimination against it. (Opinion of Mr. Justice White in East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railway v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 181 U. S., 1.) Macon has an advantage over Cordele in lying some distance nearer to the coal fields and the iron furnaces of northern Georgia and Tennessee. These fields and furnaces, it appears, compete with those of Birmingham for the trade of central and southern Georgia. From all the facts and the evidence adduced the rate on coal to Cordele can not be held to be either unjust, unreasonable, or discriminatory, or in violation of any of the provisions of the act to regulate commerce, and the petition of the complainant as to the rate on this commodity is ordered dismissed. From the facts before the Commission and all the evidence presented at the hearing it further appears that the rate upon pig iron from Birmingham to Cordele is unjust and excessive, and that $2.15 per ton of 2,240 pounds would be a just and reasonable rate for the transportation of such commodity, and an order will issue to this effect. 12 1. C. C. Rep. No. 1007. HALE-HALSELL GROCERY COMPANY v. MISSOURI, KANSAS & TEXAS RAILWAY COMPANY; MISSOURI, KANSAS & TEXAS RAILWAY COMPANY OF TEXAS, AND TEXAS & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY. Submitted April 16, 1907. Decided May 1, 1907. Complainant alleged that defendants' rate on sugar in carloads from New Orleans, La., to McAlester, Ind. T., of 38 cents per 100 pounds, was unreasonable and unduly discriminatory because their rate on sugar from New Orleans to Muskogee, Ind. T., a more distant point over the same line, was only 35 cents. Defendants having reduced their rate to McAlester to 35 cents, the Muskogee rate, the complaint is dismissed. J. T. Griffin for complainant. James Hagerman and Joseph Bryson for Missouri, Kansas & Texas Ry. Co. and Missouri, Kansas & Texas Ry. Co. of Texas. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. LANE, Commissioner: Complainant is a corporation engaged in buying and selling groceries in the Indian Territory, with places of business at McAlester, Durant, and Coalgate, in said Territory. In the course of its business complainant ships sugar in carloads from New Orleans to McAlester and Durant, the traffic going from New Orleans to Mineola, Tex., over the Texas & Pacific Railway, from Mineola to McAlester and Durant over the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway of Texas and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. The rate charged complainant for the transportation of sugar in carloads, minimum weight 30,000 pounds, from New Orleans to McAlester by said route is 38 cents per 100 pounds and from New Orleans to Durant 42 cents per 100 pounds. These rates are complained of as excessive, unreasonable, and unjust. It is further alleged that the rate made by defendants on sugar from New Orleans to Muskogee is but 35 cents per 100 pounds and that the route over which such sugar is hauled to Muskogee is the same in each instance as when the destination is McAlester or Durant, except that when the destination is Muskogee shipments are hauled through McAlester and Durant and are hauled by defendants 138 miles farther than to Durant and 61 miles farther than to McAlester. This case having been set for trial, defendants offered to reduce the rates on sugar from New Orleans to McAlester from 38 cents to 35 cents per 100 pounds, thus making the same rate as applies to Muskogee, which offer was carried out by the filing of Supplement No. 38 to Indian and Oklahoma Conference Committee Tariff I. C. C. 51, effective May 24, 1907. The complaint will be dismissed. No. 969. E. M. WILHOIT v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY AND ST. LOUIS & SAN FRANCISCO RAILROAD COMPANY. Submitted April 12, 1907. Decided May 6, 1907. Complaint alleged that rate on shipments of oil originating at Pittsburg, Pa., from East St. Louis, Ill., and St. Louis, Mo., to Joplin, Mo., is excessive and discriminatory as compared with rate from St. Louis to Joplin on shipments of oil originating at St. Louis. Upon request of complainant, one defendant suggesting probability of rate adjustment, complaint dismissed. E. M. Wilhoit for complainant in person. James C. Jeffrey for Missouri Pacific Railway Company. E. B. Peirce for St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. CLARK, Commissioner: Complaint alleged that rates on shipments of oil originating at Pittsburg, Pa., from East St. Louis, Ill., and St. Louis, Mo., to Joplin, Mo., were excessive and discriminatory as compared with rate from St. Louis, Mo., to Joplin on shipments originating at St. Louis. It was shown that the rate from Pittsburg to East St. Louis is 20 cents per 100 pounds and from Pittsburg to St. Louis 20 cents; that from either East St. Louis or St. Louis the rate on such interstate shipments to Joplin is 22 cents per 100 pounds; that on shipments originating at St. Louis the rate to Joplin is 19 cents per 100 pounds; that a shipper who has at St. Louis facilities to receve and reconsign shipments can avail himself of a combination of the interstate rate, Pittsburg to St. Louis, 20 cents, and the intrastate rate, St. Louis to Joplin, 19 cents, or a through charge of 39 cents per 100 pounds; while a shipper who can not so reconsign at St. Louis is obliged to pay a through rate of 42 cents per 100 pounds, made up of 20 cents, Pittsburg to East St. Louis, and 22 cents, East St. Louis to Joplin. Defendants showed that the 19-cent rate, St. Louis to Joplin, was published by the carrier under protest against the order of the railroad commission of Missouri, by which said rate was established as an intrastate rate; that notices of such protest were printed upon their tariffs; that said rate is considered unreasonably low, and that it and other rates fixed by the State of Missouri or its commission are involved in litigation now in the courts. It was claimed that therefore it was not proper or reasonable to measure the reasonableness of the interstate rate by the protested intrastate rate. Complainant expressed desire under the circumstances to withdraw the complaint, saying if later it appeared to him advisable so to do he would file new complaint attacking the reasonableness of the rate from East St. Louis in and of itself. Attorney for defendant, the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, stated that he had just received information which indicated probability of the question being adjusted and he joined in request for dismissal. Accordingly an order of dismissal will be entered. No. 970. E. M. WILHOIT v. MISSOURI, KANSAS & TEXAS RAILWAY COMPANY. Submitted February 14, 1907. Decided May 6, 1907. 1. To make distance the sole factor in determining a reasonable rate would introduce undue discrimination and create chaotic commercial conditions. 2. Defendant's rates on refined oil at the date of filing complaint from Erie, Kans., to Joplin, Mo., 69 miles, and to St. Louis, Mo., 400 miles, were 17 cents per 100 pounds; but later the rate from Erie to Joplin was reduced to 15 cents, which is the rate prevailing from other oil-shipping points in Kansas to Joplin. The rates to Joplin, St. Louis, and Kansas City from these producing points |