The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947 Page: 483
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Establishment of the Texas Railroad Commission 483
they had read the decisions of that great court, they would have
found that the Georgia railroad commission law, passed in 1879,
which was substantially like the proposed Texas statute, had
been held constitutional and valid in the case of Georgia R. R. &
Banking Co. vs. Smith et al. (128 U. S. 174). They would have
found that even without a commission or any other law the
Supreme Court of the United States in Munn vs. Illinois (94 U.
S. 134) held that even in the absence of all law, the rates of the
carrier should be reasonable. The same doctrine was announced
in Arnold vs. Georgia R. R. Co. (50 Ga. 304).
Justice Stephen J. Fields, speaking for the Supreme Court
in the case of the Georgia R. R. Co. vs. Smith et al., construed
the Georgia law as follows:
It has been adjudged by this court in numerous instances that the Legis-
lature of a State has the power to prescribe the charges of a railroad
company for the carriage of persons and merchandise within its limits,
in the absence of any provision in the charter of the company constituting
a contract vesting in it authority over those matters, subject to the limita-
tion that the carriage is not required without reward, or upon conditions
amounting to the taking of property for public use without just compen-
sation; and that what is done does not amount to a regulation of foreign
or interstate commerce.
The court added in another paragraph of its opinion the
following:
There have been differences of opinion among the judges of this court
in some cases as to the circumstances or conditions under which some kinds
of property or business may be properly held to be thus affected, as in
Vunn v. Illinois, 94 U. S. 113, 24 L. ed. 77; but none as to the doctrine
that when such use exists the business becomes subject to legislative control
in all respects Iecessary to protect the public against danger, injustice
and oppression.
It must also be remembered that the Georgia statute had been
passed in 1879, twelve years before the passage of the commis-
sion law of Texas and the opinion from the above quoted para-
graphs was rendered in October, 1888, more than three years
before the Texas Railroad Commission Bill was passed.
How any one could undertake to make the public believe that
those insisting on railroad regulation were practically outlaws
in that they were denying the railroads and their owners the
right to earn whatever they could, like a natural person, now
seems strange.
In 154 U. S. 362, the validity of the particular statute the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947, periodical, 1947; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101117/m1/591/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.