The Northern Pacific Railroad Company has neither obeyed the order or appealed therefrom. Following the provisions of the statute the commission has caused a notice to be posted at all the regular stations on all the lines operated by this company within the State of Minnesota, of which the following is a copy: PASSENGER RATES. STATE OF MINNESOTA, BOARD OF RAILROAD AND WAREHOUSE COMMISSIONERS, To the Northern Pacific Railroad Company: WHEREAS, At a regular meeting of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Minnesota, held at the office of said Commission in the city of St. Paul, in said State, on the tenth day of November, 1887, and pursuant to section eight of chapter ten of the General Laws of said State, as the same were enacted at the last session of the legislature thereof, a notice or order was made and issued by said commission and duly served on you on the eleventh day of said month of November, in which notice or order it is, among other things, provided as follows, namely: "The commission therefore declares that, in its judgment, it is reasonable and expedient that the railroad company herein named, to-wit, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, do change its rate of fare for the transportation of passengers; that said company shall not charge a rate exceeding three cents per mile for all tickets purchased before entering the cars: provided, that said company shall not be required to carry any passenger for less than five cents. "Therefore this Commission recommends and directs that you, the said Northern Pacific Railroad Company, shall alter and change your schedule by the adoption and substitution of a rate not exceeding three cents per mile for all passenger tickets purchased before entering the cars, provided that you, the said company shall not be required to carry any passenger for less than five cents " And Whereas, you have neglected and refused for more than ten days after and since the service of said notice or order upon you to substitute such tariff of rates and fares or to adopt the same as recommended and directed by said commission, as in and by said notice or order you were advised and directed to do, and do still so neglect. and refuse to substitute such tariff of rates and fares in lieu and place of the schedule of rates and fares then in force on your road. Now, therefore, we, the said commission, do hereby publish and declare the said schedule of rates and fares which were recommended and prescribed in and by said notice or order, for the transportation of passengers namely: three cents per mile for all tickets purchased before entering the cars, (provided that no one fare shall be less than five cents) is, and shall hereafter be considered as the legal, equal and reasonable maximum rate and fare to be charged or collected on your roads, lines and divisions within the State of Minnesota, in all cases where the journey for which the ticket is bought is commenced and ended within the limits of the State; and that the same is now in force and effect and that your schedules of rates and fares for the transportation of passengers are amended and changed accordingly. You, the said railway company, your agents and employes will act accordingly or answer for a violation of the statute in such case made and provided. By order of the Commission, [Seal.] E S. WARNER, Secretary. In addition thereto, the company having notified its agents to disregard the order of the commission as above given, a circular has been published to the traveling public, of which the following is a copy: STATE OF MINNESOTA, OFFICE OF BOARD OF RAILROAD AND WAREHOUSE COMMISSIONERS. To the Traveling Public: ST. PAUL, Dec. 13, 1887. The Minnesota Railroad Commission have issued an order reducing passenger fares on the Northern Pacific Railroad, over all portions of its lines within the State, to a maximum charge of three cents per mile (save that no ticket need be sold, or ride furnished, for less than five cents, however short the distance), and notices to that effect have been posted at the passenger stations on said lines. At the time of making the order a similar order was made as to the "Manitoba " road, and would have been posted along its various lines within the State, had not the District Court of Ramsey County taken the responsibility to stay proceedings as to that company till the 19th inst. Our information leads us to believe that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company intend to ignore the order and have instructed their ticket agents to disregard it. The order is now in force, and should more than the rate prescribed by it be exacted, the commissioners suggest that any passenger desir ing to avail himself of the reduced rates should tender the exact amount of fare to the agent (not asking him to make change) and demand a ticket before entering the cars If the ticket should not be furnished, then that the passenger enter upon his journey without a ticket, tendering to conductor same amount offered the agent, and informing him at the same time why he has no ticket. Should the conductor insist upon a higher fare, the passenger can then make his election of paying (under protest) the sum demanded, reserving the right to prosecute the company for a violation of the railroad law enacted last winter, or of standing upon his legal rights, at the risk of being ejected from the car. If ejected, the passenger might, the commission believe, pursue his common law remedy in the courts of damages for the trespass upon his person, or institute proceedings for a violation of the railroad act, or both The commission hopes to be informed of every case of violation of the order. The facts of each case should be fully stated in writing and verified by oath of the passenger or some witness to the transaction. By the Commission, E S. WARNER, Secretary. The same legal questions are involved in the enforcement of this order as are raised in the case of passenger rates on the St. P., M & M. Railway. This latter case is now before the courts, and the decision there will govern, as far as it goes, the controversy between the commission and the Northern Racific R. R. Co. on the subject of passenger rates. In addition to the legal points made by the St. P., M. & M. Ry. Co. in their appeal from this order, the Northern Pacific R. R. Co. raises another issue, as follows: That, being a corporation created by act of Congress, it is not subject to State regulation or control. It will be time enough to consider this latter point when the courts have passed definitely upon the issues raised by the St. P., M. & M. Ry. Co. COMPLAINT AGAINST THE CHICAGO, ST. PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS & OMAHA, THE CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL, AND THE CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY COMPANIES FOR A VIOLATION OF SECTIONS 2, 7, AND 8, OF THE ACT OF MARCH 7, 1887. The following pages of this report sets out in full the text of the complaint, and the action taken by the commission. It only remains to add that the C., St. P., M. & O. Ry. Company has appealed from the order of the commission, dated July 22, 1887, to the district court for Ramsey county, and has appealed to the same court from the order of the commission dated Aug. 4, 1887. These appeals to Federal and State courts, injunctions, restrain. ing orders and stays of proceedings, as herein set forth show the temper and disposition of the railway managers of the State with reference to State control of common carriers. Nearly every effort made by the commission to assert the supremacy of the State has been met by an appeal to the courts; and every move with reference to rates, classifications, methods of doing business with the public is re⚫sented as an impertinence. The amounts involved in the cases now in the courts are not large, and if decided against the companies would make no perceptible decrease in their revenues Notably is this true of the order effecting milk rates on the I. & M. division of the Milwaukee road, and of the order effecting passenger rates on the St. P, M. & M. and N. P. railways. In the latter cases the question is simply whether the companies shall sell single trip tickets at the same rate which they now sell round trip tickets. In the former case it is with reference to a rate on a single article of traffic, on a very small portion of the extensive lines of road belong to that company in Minnesota. It is the principle of State control and State regulation which is now at issue in the courts. The individuals composing the commission are not asserting themselves; they are exercising a public trust, and discharging a public duty. Upon all subjects within their jurisdiction they speak, when acting officially, in the name, by the authority, and with the sanction. of the State of Minnesota. With no personal end in view and no object to serve but that of the highest public good, they confidently appeal to the people of the State for such co operation and support as may render their labors decisive of the best possible results The legislature of 1887 passed an act (chap. 18, General Laws 1887,) to prevent accidents from fire in railway cars, and defining the duties of the railway commissioners in connection there with. The first and second sections of the act read as follows: SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the railroad commissioners of the State to make careful and diligent inquiry into the construction of and the best means of heating and lighting passenger and sleeping cars. run on any of the railroads within this State, with special reference to the safety of the passengers traveling therein, and more particularly to their safety from accident by fire; and the said commissioners shall make a special report on the subject to the legislature, at the next regular session thereof. PROVIDED, That said commissioners may, if in their opinion the safety of the passengers should require it, give notice in writing to any railroad company or corporation, incorporated under the laws of this State, or doing business herein, that said companies or corporations, or either of them, shall, at a day to be designated in said notice, and not less than sixty (60) days after the service of the same, cease and abandon the use of kerosene and all other oils, also illuminating or combustible fluids, in said cars for the purpose of lighting the same; and provided further, that said companies shall, within sixty (60) days from the passage of this act, adopt and put in use upon all sleeping cars operated by them within the limits of this State, some invention or appliance, subject to the approval of said commissioners, better calculated to prevent the shutting or closing of upper berths of said cars, in case of the overturning of such cars, or of other accidents, than the means now in common use for the purpose. SEC. 2. Each of said railroad companies shall, within sixty (60) days after the passage of this act, equip each passenger or sleeping car run or operated by it within the State, with fire extinguishers for the extinguishment of fire, one to be kept in each end of each of such cars, to be maintained in good condition for use, and in a safe and convenient position; and each of said companies shall also equip and provide each of such cars with two (2) axes and two (2) saws, one (1) of each of such tools to be kept upon the inside and one (1) of each upon the outside of each car, and to be kept in convenient places for use in case of accident. In the discharge of the duties thus imposed upon the commission, considerable time and attention has been given to the various devices for heating and lighting passenger and sleeping cars. Many of the railway managers have shown a hearty interest in these subjects; the horrors attending railway accidents in this northern climate, which spring from the car stove, are generally appreciated. The commission find with reference to this subject that it is not so much a question of expense with the corporations concerned as it is to ascertain what is really the best and most effective method of car heating and car lighting, which is free from the dangers which are now so apparent. |