Argument for Appellant. This was the very trust law as it is of the common law. purpose as well as the effect of the contract. The resolutions adopted at the meetings and by the various committees all absolutely demonstrate this purpose. It is said by the defendants that everything must be right because manufacturers in the west have increased. This does not follow at all. Manufacturers in the west have increased in spite of the injustice of these transactions between the carriers, and these manufacturers have been compelled to find their chief market in the great and growing northwest, and have been kept out of the south in a very large degree in consequence of this monopolistic tyranny. We refer on these subjects in general to the testimony of the complainants' witnesses, taken before the commission, and to the testimony of the defendants' witnesses: Eger, pages 197-199; Peck, page 405; Davant, page 208; Culp, page 267; Smith, page 784; and see especially complainants' witnesses before the commission: Mann, pages 16, 17; Reed, pages 16-18. XI. The alleged water competition set up to explain the obvious inequality of eastern and western rates is completely disposed of by the value and effect of the water competition having been by the railway and water carriers themselves ascertained and defined by treating three miles of water as equal to one mile of rail transportation, and the contention. that outside of that there are tramp and sailing vessels is also disposed of, though these can have no real influence upon the subject, by the testimony of one or more of the defendants' witnesses stating that they do not allow these vessels to compete for the kind of traffic that can have any play in the consideration of the present questions; and it is obvious enough that the difficulties attending shipments and unlading by tramp steamers to connect with the lines of these railways would make it impossible to accomplish anything; and as to sailing vessels, nothing but the coars est and least valuable commodities, in respect of which time and safety play a very small part, can be carried at all. Opinion of the Court. MR. JUSTICE BREWER, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court. A similar question was before us at the last term in Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 162 U. S. 184, and in the opinion, on pages 196 and 197, we said: "Whether Congress intended to confer upon the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to itself fix rates, was mooted in the courts below, and is discussed in the briefs of counsel. "We do not find any provision of the act that expressly, or by necessary implication, confers such a power. "It is argued on behalf of the commission that the power to pass upon the reasonableness of existing rates implies a right to prescribe rates. This is not necessarily so. The reasonableness of the rate, in a given case, depends on the facts, and the function of the commission is to consider these facts and give them their proper weight. If the commission, instead of withholding judgment in such a matter until an issue shall be made and the facts found, itself fixes a rate, that rate is prejudged by the commission to be reasonable. "We prefer to adopt the view expressed by the late Justice Jackson, when Circuit Judge, in the case of the Interstate Commerce Commission v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 43 Fed. Rep. 37, and whose judgment was affirmed by this court, 145 U. S. 263: 666 'Subject to the two leading prohibitions that their charges shall not be unjust or unreasonable, and that they shall not unjustly discriminate, so as to give undue preference or disadvantage to persons or traffic similarly circumstanced, the act to regulate commerce leaves common carriers as they were at the common law, free to make special contracts looking to the increase of their business, to classify their traffic, to adjust and apportion their rates so as to meet the necessities of commerce, and generally to manage their important interests upon the same principles which are regarded as sound, and adopted in other trades and pursuits."" Opinion of the Court. The views thus expressed have been vigorously and earnestly challenged in this and in other cases argued at the present term. In view of its importance, and the full arguments that have been presented, we have deemed it our duty to reëxamine the question in its entirety, and to determine what powers Congress has given to this commission in respect to the matter of rates. The importance of the question cannot be overestimated. Billions of dollars are invested in railroad properties. Millions of passengers, as well as millions of tons of freight, are moved each year by the railroad companies, and this transportation is carried on by a multitude of corporations working in different parts of the country and subjected to varying and diverse conditions. Before the passage of the act it was generally believed that there were great abuses in railroad management and railroad transportation, and the grave question which Congress had to consider was how those abuses should be corrected and what control should be taken of the business of such corporations. The present inquiry is limited to the question as to what it determined should be done with reference to the matter of rates. There were three obvious and dissimilar courses open for consideration. Congress might itself prescribe the rates; or it might commit to some subordinate tribunal this duty; or it might leave with the companies the right to fix rates, subject to regulations and restrictions, as well as to that rule which is as old as the existence of common carriers, to wit, that rates must be reasonable. There is nothing in the act fixing rates. Congress did not attempt to exercise that power, and if we examine the legislative and public history of the day it is apparent that there was no serious thought of doing so. The question debated is whether it vested in the commission the power and the duty to fix rates; and the fact that this is a debatable question, and has been most strenuously and earnestly debated, is very persuasive that it did not. The grant of such a power is never to be implied. The power itself is so vast and comprehensive, so largely affecting the rights of carrier and shipper, as well as indirectly all commercial trans Opinion of the Court. actions, the language by which the power is given had been so often used and was so familiar to the legislative mind and is capable of such definite and exact statement, that no just rule of construction would tolerate a grant of such power by mere implication. Administrative control over railroads through boards or commissions was no new thing. It had been resorted to in England and in many of the States of this Union. In England, while control had been given in respect to discrimination and undue preferences, no power had been given to prescribe a tariff of rates. In this country the practice had been varying. It will be interesting to notice the provisions in the legislation of different States. We quote the exact language, following some of the quotations with citations of cases in which the statute has been construed: ALABAMA, Code 1886, Title 12, c. 2, § 1130: "Exercise a watchful and careful supervision over all tariffs and their operations, and revise the same, from time to time, as justice to the public and the railroads may require, and increase or reduce any of the rates, as experience and business operations may show to be just." CALIFORNIA. In the constitution, going into effect January 1, 1880, article 12, sec. 22: "Said commissioners shall have the power, and it shall be their duty, to establish rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight by railroad or other transportation companies, and publish the same from time to time, with such changes as they may make." FLORIDA, Session Laws 1887, c. 3746, § 5: "Make and fix reasonable and just rates of freights and passenger tariffs, to be observed by all railroad companies doing business in this State, on the railroads thereof." Railroad Commissioners v. Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad, 24 Florida, 417. GEORGIA, Code 1882, c. 7, § 719: "Make reasonable and just rates of freight and passenger tariffs, to be observed by all railroad companies doing business in this State on the railroads thereof." Georgia Railroad v. Smith, 70 Georgia, 694. ILLINOIS, Statutes 1878 (Underwood's Edition), c. 114, § 93: "To make, for each of the railroad corporations doing business in this State, as soon as practicable, a schedule of reasonable Opinion of the Court. maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freights on cars on each of said railroads." IOWA, Laws 1888, p. 42: "Make for each of the railroad corporations, doing business in this State, as soon as practicable, a schedule of reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of freight and cars on each of said railroads." Burlington &c. Railway v. Dey, 82 Iowa, 312. MINNESOTA, Laws 1887, c. 10, § 8: "In case the commission shall at any time find that any part of the tariffs of rates, fares, charges or classifications so filed and published as hereinbefore provided, are in any respect unequal or unreasonable, it shall have the power, and is hereby authorized and directed to compel any common carrier to change the same and adopt such rate, fare, charge or classification as said commission shall declare to be equal and reasonable." State v. Chicago, Milwaukee &c. Railway, 40 Minnesota, 267. MISSISSIPPI, Laws 1884, c. 23, § 6: "Shall so revise such tariffs as to allow a fair and just return on the value of such railroad, its appurtenances and equipments, and to increase or reduce any of said rates according as experience and business operations may show to be just." NEW HAMPSHIRE, Laws 1883, c. 101, § 4: "Fix tables of maximum charges for the transportation of passengers and freight upon the several railroads operating within this State, and shall change the same from time to time, as in the judgment of said board the public good may require; and said rates shall be binding upon the respective railroads." Merrill v. Boston & Lowell Railroad, 63 N. H. 259. NORTH DAKOTA, Laws 1890, p. 354: "In case the commissioners shall at any time find that any part of the tariffs of rates, fares, charges or classifications, so filed and published, as herein provided, are in any respect unequal or unreasonable, they shall have the power and are hereby authorized and directed to compel any common carrier to change the same and adopt such rate, charge or classification as said commissioners shall declare to be equitable and reasonable." SOUTH CAROLINA, Laws 1888, p. 65: "Authorized and required to make for each of the railroad corporations doing |