AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 301, 14 September 1908, Page 7

AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

. v.;. V , HEPBURN LAW,; • '■ DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL. / [bX TBLECUAI'K —I'ItESS ASSOCIATION —CO ['YI: IGIIT.) • ' p Npw York, September 11., President . Roosevelt's anti-corporation campaign, met with a reverse by the action of the I cderal Circuit Court of Pennsylvania ' in:{declariiig that the " commodity " clauso of the'Hepburn Act is unconstitutional. fhe clause forbids the '.railways to carry from one Stato to another, or to ship iabfoad, commodities whereof they are pro--Mtlaers or manufacturers, unless such commodities are essential to their legitimate functions as common carrier^. n T[ie c]a,us'e is-especially, aimed at railway Ownership of 'collieries.-.; The railways '■'"affected' own or control 90 per cent, of the , /unmjni;d anthracite coal in Pennsylvania. • The Attorney-General (Mr, Charles J. ■>' ■ Bonapartf-) will appeal to the United States Supreme Court. ■ CO'/AIMING PJiOO'UOTION, AND CAMRIAGE. ■ . f," T . r ' r f i ". 'J hps .keen trouble be-[■.•.w-i! !. - Rpifi.,, -Stites Govnrmpent and the . p'f'- 1 r ' L - sf-.ih<\ Hepburn :or...m,in; ralircails to : carry the products c " , r " V11 OV, V' liifir lilies. The u-.y Hi ..r: mi of producer and enri'KT ' ; jiiam .woiyn. Rai 1 roads control and (risi'i: c-ai iamJs, and the object. of tho la*. l , i- to v.lriko at' discriminatory-rates against ;ii'i:pi'mlciit lines., Tlin law has been supposed to in tt'TM since May 1, and as the Elk'ins Bii! ft, postpono ils operation lias 'not been -carried by tho- Senate, and the railroads continue to carry, their own products, they nro apparently over-riding its provisions. The pensJnen for non-observance run into millions of dollars. " The constitutionality of the law is, therefore, of supreme importance. •