FEDERAL RAILWAY REGULATION. 817 



" The power to compete is the power to discriminate, and it is 

 simply out of the question to have at once the absence of dis- 

 crimination and the presence of competition." 



And he adds : 



" I regard the existing law as presenting this singular anom- 

 aly, that it seeks to enforce competition by the mandate of the 

 statute, and at the same time to punish as criminal misdemeanors 

 the acts and inducements by which competition is originally 

 effected." 



The unreasonable rate not made either to secure competitive 

 traffic or to recoup losses from carrying such traffic at too low 

 rates is so extremely rare that its very existence may well be 

 doubted. Unjust discriminations between individuals are re- 

 sorted to in order to secure by means of secret rates, rebates, or 

 other devices a greater proportion of the traffic from or to com- 

 petitive points than would be carried at open and equal rates. 

 Discriminations between commodities result most frequently 

 from favoring articles produced by heavy shippers or in towns 

 at which competition is sharp, or from the fact that the railways 

 agreeing to a particular classification have not a sufficient iden- 

 tity of interest to make naturally for harmony and justice. Lo- 

 calities either are favored unduly because they are served by 

 competing lines, or are discriminated against in order that low 

 rates may be maintained at other points more fortunate in this 

 respect. The charges to local points on main and branch lines 

 are too high relatively to those at terminals where there is com- 

 petition. Yet it can not be denied that so long as the carriers are 

 independent of each other in the matter of revenue there will be 

 many plausible arguments available for the defense of these re- 

 lations. The difficulty of dealing with such discriminations is 

 greatly enhanced by the insufficient information upon which it is 

 necessary to decide regarding the reasonableness of rates under 

 present conditions. Thus, in determining whether a given rate 

 on wheat from Chicago to New York is reasonable and just, it 

 may be necessary to consider the rates on the same articles to 

 Buffalo, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Montreal, 

 Newport News, and other Eastern points not only from Chicago, 

 but also from Minneapolis, Duluth, East St. Louis, Peoria, Cin- 

 cinnati, Buffalo, and other places. Rates on flour, corn, and corn 

 meal between any of those points may also be involved ; and pos- 

 sibly the charges on any of the commodities named from St. Paul 

 or St. Louis to New Orleans via the Mississippi River boats, and 

 from New Orleans to New York or Liverpool by steamer, may in 

 some way be connected with the controversy so as materially to 

 affect its decision. In fact, it is impossible to set any limit to the 

 data that may have important bearing upon the question at 



VOL. LI. 60 



