No. 1001. GEORGIA EDWARDS v. NASHVILLE, CHATTANOOGA & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY COMPANY, OPERATING THE WESTERN & ATLANTIC RAILROAD. Submitted June 11, 1907. Decided June 24, 1907. 1. Carriers may not discriminate between white and colored passengers paying the same fare in the accommodations which they furnish to each. 2. Segregation of white and colored passengers on interstate journeys is a reasonable regulation of interstate traffic and permissible under the act to regulate commerce. 3. Where a carrier provides facilities for personal cleanliness in first-class coaches devoted to the use of white passengers, and a separate smoking compartment for the use of such passengers also, similar accommodations should be provided for colored passengers paying first-class fare. C. W. Robinson and W. A. Schoolfield for complainant. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. LANE, Commissioner: Complainant is a woman of the negro race and resides at Chattanooga, Tenn. Defendant operates a line of railway extending from Nashville, Tenn., through Chattanooga to Atlanta, Ga. The portion of the line between Chattanooga and Atlanta is known as the Western & Atlantic Railroad. The matter for determination in this case is whether the defendant in the facilities furnished by it in connection with the transportation of passengers unduly discriminates between negroes and those belonging to other races. On August 31, 1906, the complainant purchased a ticket entitling her to first-class passage from Chattanooga to Dalton, Ga., over defendant's said line of railway. She then entered and occupied a seat in a car assigned to the use of passengers other than negroes, whereupon she was informed by defendant's flagman that she was in the wrong car and was requested to go forward to that portion of another car set apart by defendant for the use of people of her race. This she refused to do, however, whereupon the flagman notified defendant's assistant station agent of the circumstance and the latter removed the defendant to the compartment in the car last referred to, using only such force as was necessary for that purpose. Complainant claims the car into which she was removed was very dirty and not as clean as the car first occupied by her, but this claim is not supported by the record. The train in question was defendant's No. 93, which leaves Chattanooga at 6.36 a. m. and arrives in Dalton at 7.38 a. m. The distance from Chattanooga to Dalton is 38 miles. This train started from Nashville, 151 miles northwesterly of Chattanooga, and before it left Nashville all the cars in the train were thoroughly cleaned inside. They were again cleaned to some extent at Chattanooga. These two cars are of the same quality, having seats of the same size, upholstered in a like manner, and with exactly the same quality of goods. One of them is used by white passengers, and is provided with towels and washbowls, while the other is without such conveniences. The latter is constructed as follows: A partition placed in the middle of the car divides it into two compartments and entrance from one to the other is through a swinging door which, after being opened, closes automatically. Negro passengers are required to occupy one of these compartments, while the other is occupied by other passengers who wish to smoke. In one end of the other passenger coach there is a compartment for smokers which will seat seven persons, but defendant does not provide any separate smoking compartment for negroes. It is also true that while only one toilet is provided in the negro compartment, the car which is entirely used by other passengers has two, marked in such a way as to indicate that one is to be used by men and the other by women; but such restriction is only partially enforced. The principal reason for providing two toilets in one case and only one in the other is that the number of passengers carried in the negro compartment is very much less than the number contemporaneously transported in the other car. Defendant assigns to the use of negro passengers about one-sixth of the space in its passenger trains occupied by all passengers, while the number of negroes transported by defendant is only about one-fifteenth of the total. When there are no women in the colored compartment, smoking there is allowed, but not otherwise. It sometimes happens that a car provided by defendant for the use of white passengers has no wash basin and only one toilet and no smoking compartment, and smoking is allowed in such cars if there are no women present. On the whole defendant's Nashville-Atlanta passenger trains are among the best in the country so far as equipment is concerned. The cars are manufactured by the Pullman Company and provided with vestibules. The cost of the car allotted to negroes was in the neighborhood of $8,100, while that of the other passenger coach in defendant's No. 93 train was about $8,800. The expense of the small smoking compartment in the latter accounts for nearly all the difference in cost between the two cars. The broad question of the right under the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution to segregate white and colored passengers has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. Hall v. De Cuir, 95 U. S., 485; L. N. O. & T. Ry. v. Mississippi, 133 U. S., 587; Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S., 537; C. & O. Ry. v. Kentucky, 179 U. S., 388. Accepting these decisions as conclusive upon the constitutionality of such laws, we turn to the consideration of the reasonableness of such a rule when imposed by the carrier; and this we find to have been passed upon by this Commission within a few months of its organization in the case of Councill v. Western & Atlantic Railroad Company, 1 I. C. C. Rep., 346, which was decided December 3, 1887. Mr. Commissioner Morrison, speaking for the unanimous Commission, therein said: " Public sentiment, wherever the colored population is large, sanctions and requires this separation of races, and this was recognized by counsel representing both complainant and defendant at the hearing. We can not, therefore, say that there is any undue prejudice or unjust preference in recognizing and acting upon this general sentiment, provided it is done on fair and equal terms. This separation may be carried out on railroad trains without disadvantage to either race and with increased comfort to both." Again in Heard v. Georgia Railroad Company, 1 I. C. C. Rep., 428, decided February 15, 1888, Mr. Commissioner Schoonmaker held for the Commission that the separation of white and colored passengers paying the same fare is not unlawful if cars and accommodations. equal in all respects are furnished to both and the same care and protection of passengers is observed. While, therefore, the reasonableness of such regulation as to interstate passenger traffic is established, it by no means follows that carriers may discriminate between white and colored passengers in the accommodations which they furnish to each. If a railroad provides certain facilities and accommodations for first-class passengers of the white race, it is commanded by the law that like accommodations shall be provided for colored passengers of the same class. The principle that must govern is that carriers must serve equally well all passengers, whether white or colored, paying the same fare. Failure to do this is discrimination and subjects the passenger to "undue and unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage." In this case it is manifest from the facts as stated that defendant has unduly and unjustly discriminated in some particulars against colored passengers; and it will be ordered, therefore, that where the defendant carrier provides a washbowl and towels in coaches devoted to the use of white passengers and a separate smoking compartment for such passengers also, that similar accommodations shall be provided for colored passengers paying first-class fare. No. 1025. OMAHA COOPERAGE COMPANY v. NASHVILLE, CHATTANOOGA & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY COMPANY; ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY; ST. LOUIS, IRON MOUNTAIN & SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY; AND CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY RAILWAY COMPANY. Submitted June 10, 1907. Decided June 24, 1907. Complaint alleges that the rates of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis and Illinois Central roads on oak staves and headings from Hollow Rock and other Tennessee points of origin to East St. Louis when destined to South Omaha, Nebr., are unreasonable when compared with the rates on such commodities over said roads from the same points of origin to East St. Louis when destined for Alexandria, Mo., or Keokuk, Iowa. The South Omaha rate is a combination of the 14-cent rate of the N., C. & St. L. and Ill. Central plus the "local" rate of 10 cents of the C., B. & Q., whereas the Keokuk or Alexandria rate is a joint rate of 19 cents, 14 cents to the two first carriers and 5 cents to the C., B. & Q. Complainant made no complaint against the C., B. & Q. rate. It appears that some years ago the division gave the C., B. & Q. its full "local" from East St. Louis to Keokuk or Alexandria, and the two eastern carriers 2 cents less than their joint rate to East St. Louis; but the division as now made gives these two roads the same earnings on cooperage products carried from Tennessee points to East St. Louis, whether destined to South Omaha, Alexandria, or Keokuk. Complaint dismissed. Smyth & Smith for complainant. Perkins Baxter for Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway Company and Illinois Central Railroad Company. James E. Kelby for Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Company. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. LANE, Commissioner: The complainant is engaged in the manufacture of cooperage at South Omaha, Nebr. It purchases its raw material (white-oak staves and headings) in the State of Tennessee. It complains of the freight rates charged on this raw material in carload lots from Tennessee points of origin to East St. Louis. As shown at the hearing, the complaint is entirely directed against the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, which extends from the Tennessee points of origin to Paducah, Ky., and the Illinois Central Railroad, which extends from Paducah, Ky., to East St. Louis, Ill. The ground of the complaint is that these two carriers, united as a through route with a joint rate, charge more for the haul to East St. Louis on cooperage destined to South Omaha than they charge for the same haul on goods of the same sort when destined to competitors of complainant at Alexandria, Mo., and Keokuk, Iowa, No attempt was made to show that the rate charged on shipments to South Omaha is excessive other than as above stated. The following facts are disclosed by the evidence: A through route with a joint rate is made by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, the Illinois Central Railroad, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway from Hollow Rock, Tenn., and other Tennessee points of origin of cooperage to Alexandria, Mo., and Keokuk, Iowa. The division of this joint rate as it is now made gives the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway and the Illinois Central Railroad 14 cents per 100 pounds for the haul to East St. Louis. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway receives as its share for the haul from East St. Louis to Alexandria and Keokuk 5 cents per 100 pounds, or 2 cents per 100 pounds less than its local rate for the same haul. No joint rate is made from Tennessee to South Omaha. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway publishes a "local" from Tennessee to Paducah, Ky. A joint rate is made from Paducah to South Omaha by the Illinois Central Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Also the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway and the Illinois Central Railroad publish a joint rate from Tennessee to East St. Louis, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy publishes a "local" from East St. Louis to South Omaha. It appears that the combination rate made up of the joint rates to East St. Louis plus the "local" from East St. Louis to South Omaha has given rise to the present controversy. Complainant contends that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy charges its published local on this through cooperage business from East St. Louis to Alexandria and Keokuk as well as to South Omaha. If this were so the two railroads east of East St. Louis would be receiving 2 cents per 100 pounds less on Alexandria and Keokuk business than on South Omaha business. It appears from the testimony, however, that the joint rate to Alexandria and Keokuk is divided as above stated-14 cents per 100 pounds to the two lines east of East |