a public carrier.-American Smelting & Refining Co., 263 I. C. C. 719(743).

The duty rests on an industry that desires to have cars delivered and received by a carrier at a place within its plant to provide the tracks necessary to enable the carrier to perform safely that service in a continuous movement at its ordinary operating convenience.Red River Lbr. Co. Terminal Service, 263 I. C. C. 483 (495).*

36. Tracks used under trackage agreements.—Authorized, §5(2), n. 55, 56. While respondents own stock of the transfer company, have had operating rights over its rails, the switching performed by the transfer company is under its published tariff and charges, not as agent of another carrier. Its charges are governed by such tariff and not by virtue of any operating contract with line-haul carriers; it is a common carrier and independent entity.-Terminal Allowance at Minnesota Transfer, 263 I. C. C. 325(329).

41. Agents of carrier.-While one carrier may be regarded in a sense as acting as agent for another, as, a switching or terminal carrier, not a party to the joint rate, which makes delivery following line-haul transportation by another, there can be no unrestricted relationship of agency under which the line-haul carrier is left free to contract with the switching carrier as to charge which the latter shall receive for its service.-Terminal Allowance at Minnesota Transfer, 263 I. C. C. 325 (328).

55. Transportation construed; switch ing services.—Services performed at the plant which do not exceed those usually performed in ordinary switching of private sidings adjacent to and adjoining rail carriers' rights-of-way, plant switching being done at the carriers' ordinary operating convenience, are within the carriers' obligation. Decatur Soya Bean Products Co., 259 I. C. C. 471(474).

--

Switching loaded cars within the plant beyond one placement after weighing for thawing, sampling, or unload

ing, and of loaded cars that have been weighed en route and weighing of empty cars, are industrial services which respondents are not obliged to perform and for which they are not compensated under their line-haul rates.—Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Terminal Service, 264 I. C. C. 103 (114).

56. Delivery. Weighing inbound shipments, for benefit of industry, §15(13), n. 57.

When cars are held in the assembly yard awaiting instructions from the plant with respect to further movement, respondents are prevented from performing an uninterrupted service, and their duty under the line-haul rate in connection with delivery of such cars does not extend beyond the point of interruption.-United Sates Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co., 263 I. C. C. 749(757).

71. Weighing.-Weighing operations, and switching, spotting, performed for an industry for its own convenience and benefit are not a part of the transportation services which carriers could or should be required to render.-Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Terminal Service, 264 I. C. C. 103(114).

See also n. 55, supra.

The duty is upon the shipper to determine and certify the value to the carrier, in which ascertainment of weight is but one step. Stenciled weight may be used, but if the industry prefers to have the cars weighed empty and the service is performed by the carrier, it is entitled to compensation, not only for actual weighing, but for switching the cars to and from the scales. Id., p. 115; American Smelting & Refining Co., 263 I. C. C. 719(728); United States Smelting, Refining, and Mining Co., 263 I. C. C. 749 (757).

It is the duty of carriers to weigh shipments to determine the freight charges, which is ordinarily done at or near the point of origin, but where cars are not so weighed and it is impracticable to do so or is more convenient and economical for the carrier to weigh

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4. Jurisdiction of commission and of courts.-Enforcement of duties imposed by 81(4), except as entrusted to the commission by other provisions of the statute, rests with the courts and not with the commission.—Jacksonville Port Terminal Assn. v. Alabama, T. & N. R. Corp., 263 I. C. C. 111(116).

55. Embargoes-notices.-Notices of embargoes are not authorized or required to be filed and published as tariffs, and are subject to change without notice.-Florida Planters, Inc. v. Florida East Coast Ry. Co., 262 I. C. C. 303 (305).

61. Through routes-in general.-It is the province of the carriers to conduct commerce in the channels demanded by the shippers.-Beacon Milling Co., Inc. v. Akron, C. & Y. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 143(147).

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101. Through rates, fares, and charges. The term "joint rates" as used in the act and decisions, orders, and rules of the commission has no reference or application to land grant rates.Thompson v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 59 Fed. Supp. 21(35).*

Land grant provisions, §65, (§321a), infra.

104. Agreements.-There is no warrant in the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Act for saying that the authority to fix joint through rates clothes with legality a conspiracy to discriminate against a State or a region, to use coercion in the fixing of rates, or to put into the hands of a combination of carriers a veto power over rates proposed by a single carrier. -Georgia v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 324 U. S. 439(458).

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In General-Definitions.

2. Carrier's right to initiate rates.Part II, §216(b), n. 5.

Prescription of basis for compressed and for flat cotton traffic will not be an undue deprivation of defendants' managerial discretion, for they will still have the right to initiate rates on the traffic to meet changed competitive conditions, provided only that they do not restore the unreasonableness and undue prejudice and preference.-Blytheville Chamber of Commerce v. Aberdeen & R. R. Co., 259 I. C. C. 201 (219).*

3. Shipper's right to reasonable rates. -Complainants are entitled to reasonable rates and charges over the route selected.-L. H. Lacy & Co. v. Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 335(339).

Shippers may determine for themselves where they will trade. The law implies that the rails of an interstate carrier must be open from end to end with no restriction except such as naturally flows from the right of the carrier to reasonable compensation for each particular service of transportation. Blytheville Chamber of Commerce v. Aberdeen & R. R. Co., 259 I. C. C. 201(216).*

Complainants are entitled to reasonable freight rates, whether or not saving obtained by the proposed Production Control Plan will result in increased sales.-Alden Coal Co. v. Central R. Co. of N. J., 263 I. C. C. 639 (642).*

5. Prohibitive and restrictive rates.A rate adjustment which tends to restrict movements to individual carriers is generally disapproved. Lakeville Creamery Co. v. Railway Exp. Agency, Inc., 262 I. C. C. 165(171).

That the shift in slaughtering operations among the midwestern States has

no relation to freight rates is evidenced by the fact that all of the mid-western States operate under the same general rate level.-Geo. A. Hormel & Co. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 9(19).

Increased production in the South caused the loss of Texas coarse-grain business therein. Pacific coast flour was not shut out of the South by a one-half cent change in the all-rail rate, but by the heavy increase in ocean-rail shipments through the Panama Canal, Gulf and south Atlantic ports.-Grain to, from, and within Southern Territory, 259 I. C. C. 629 (762, 784).*

As haydite competes with commodities obtained at or near destinations it must have low rates or the movement will be retarded.-Clay or Shale Cinders in the Southwest, 262 I. C. C. 413 (415).

6. Confiscatory rates.-As to contention that there can be no increase in class rates in official territory unless there is first a primary finding, supported by substantial evidence, that present rates are not compensatory, that fact, if proved, would have been of much significance, but failure to prove it and consequent lack of a finding that present rates are confiscatory does not leave the commission's finding that the rates are unlawful unsupported by substantial evidence. State of New York et al v. United States, 65, Fed. Supp. 856.*

7. "Rates," "fares," and "charges" defined. The history and meaning of the term "key rate" to a considerable extent must be sought in railroad tradition, and are therefore obscure.Bituminous Coal to Youngstown District, 263 I. C. C. 683(702).*

"Column" rates are specific percentages of 100, as, column 20 means 20 percent of the first-class rate, which is 100 percent.-Class Rate Investigation, 1939, 262 I. C. C. 447* (footnote, p. 477).

13. Maximum rates.—As rates on the level sought by complainants represent all that the traffic will bear, they must be regarded as maximum reasonable rates.-Lakeville Creamery Co. v. Railway Exp. Agency, Inc., 262 I. C. C. 165(171).

The commission has prescribed the 70-percent basis on scrap iron only as a maximum, hence reasonable grouping in connection therewith is not prohibited.-National Radiator Co. v. Long Island R. Co., 259 I. C. C. 143(145).

See also n. 306, infra, maximum international rates.

14. Minimum rates.-Rates meeting out-of-pocket costs, n. 85, infra.

Part II, §216(b), n. 275**.

Damage must be presumed to flow from a conspiracy to manipulate rates within the zone of reasonableness between maxima and minima, within which a carrier is ordinarily free to adjust its charges for itself.—Georgia v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 324 U. S. 439 (460-1).

What constitutes a minimum reasonable rate is to be determined in the light of the facts of record in each case, avoiding arbitrary action, keeping within statutory and constitutional limitation, just as in the case of maximum reasonable rates.-New Automobiles in Interstate Commerce, 259 I. C. C. 475 (534)*.

Whether a rate is below a reasonable minimum depends on whether it yields a proper return, whether the carrier would be better off from a revenue standpoint with it than without it, whether it represents competition that is unduly destructive to a reasonable rate structure and the carriers, whether it otherwise conforms to the national transportation policy and rules of rate making declared in the 1940 act.--Id., p. 534.

The act prescribed no different tests or standards for determination of just

and reasonable minimum rates than for just and reasonable maximum rates.— Id., p. 535.

The minimum rate-power has always been exercised sparingly.-Id., p. 535.

Rate reductions cannot be halted by the prescription of minimum rates unless the existing rates have fallen below a reasonable minimum level.-Id., p. 538.

The commission's minimum-rate power, where destructive competitive practices tend to affect motor-carrier transportation adversely, should be invoked if the national transportation policy is to be observed.-Morton Salt Co. v. Alton R. Co., 264 I. C. C. 71(89) *.

21. Facts changing from time to time. -Decision made years ago would not be helpful in view of the subsequent widespread changes in the rate structure.-Geo. A. Hormel & Co. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 9(45, 47).

It is not apparent that rates that were regarded in 1915 as so highly excessive as were anthracite coal rates, could have been fully corrected by the meager reductions that were required. Utilization of improved equipment, operating efficiencies, greater transportation per man hour, considered.-Alden Coal Co. v. Central R. Co. of N. J., 263 I. C. C. 639(649, 653-4)*.

Tests of Reasonableness

25. Method or basis of construction.The method used to determine rates is of no importance if it is practicable and resulting rates are lawful.-Iron and Steel to Iowa, Minn., Mich., and Wis., 263 I. C. C. 361(401)*.

Adjustments of rates made by industry and carrier have been approved by the commission where commercial and competitive conditions have warranted such action. American Steel Abrasives Co. v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 264 I. C. C. 281(287).

The present method of making rates from other territories into the South, by combinations of proportional rates beyond the river gateways with proportional or local rates to those gate

ways, is not unreasonable. But contemporaneous use of both transit balances and proportional rates beyond Chicago is unlawful.-Grain to, from, and within Southern Territory, 259 I. C. C. 629 (659, 660)*.

28. Reasonableness relatively.-Rate relations are more important to the manufacturer and shipper than the levels of the rates.-Class Rate Investigation, 1939, 262 I. C. C. 447(619-20)*.

There is necessity for reasonably related rates on livestock and the dressed products thereof.-Geo. A. Hormel & Co. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 9(38).

Dressed poultry is keenly competitive with fresh meats, moves between the same points under substantially similar transportation conditions. Rates long voluntarily maintained on dressed poultry are therefore entitled to weight in determining reasonable rates on fresh meats.-Id., p. 51.

While there is some competition between anthracite and bituminous coal, for various reasons the rates on the former have not been fixed with any relation to the latter.-Wisconsin Coal Bureau, Inc. v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co., 263 I. C. C. 99(107).

Whatever the reasons for FultonPeoria group's failure to ship more coal to Beloit, the present relation between the rate from that group and the rate from southern Illinois is not responsible.-Middle States Fuels, Inc. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 341(348).

A reasonable and nonprejudicial adjustment of rates on iron and steel articles from points in official to destinations in w.t.l. territory requires a just and reasonable relation to rates prescribed for application to intermediate points in official territory, with due consideration to the fact that rates in w.t.l. territory are upon a higher level.-Iron and Steel to Iowa, Minn., Mich., and Wis., 263 I. C. C. 361 (400)*.

30. Advantages of geographical location. As freight rates on the nearby supply of animals are naturally lower to

the Pacific coast than are rates from the Midwest, and live animal prices on the Pacific coast are also lower than in the Midwest, Pacific coast packers have a natural advantage; no freight rate reduction from the Midwest could deprive them of that advantage.—Geo. A. Hormel & Co. v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 9(22).

31. Reasonableness tested by length of haul.-It is within the discretion of the commission to make use of shortline distances as opposed to average distances for a basis of comparison.— Baltimore & O. R. Co. v. United States, 65 Fed. Supp. 962*.

It is common practice in adjusting differentially related coal rates to accord diminishing weight to distance and increased weight to competition as the length of the haul increases.-Coal to Beloit, Wis., and Northern Illinois, 263 I. C. C. 179(186).

Rate breaks and gateway equalizations which characterize the grain-rate structure inevitably result in frequent inconsistencies from a distance standpoint.-Grain to, from, and within Southern Territory, 259 I. C. C. 629 (639)*.

See also Costs, NTP, n. 5.

34. Sporadic or steady movement.That movement of a particular commodity between certain points may be isolated or sporadic does not justify the charging of an unreasonable rate.Mesta Machine Co. v. Alabama G. S. R. Co., 263 I. C. C. 320(322).

Carriers must keep within the bounds of reason in rate making even when the movement of a commodity is light, seasonal, or temporary.-Forrestal v. Abilene & S. Ry. Co., 263 I. C. C. 457(465)*.

Every shipper is entitled to a reasonable rate, whether class or commodity, even though the shipments constitute a sporadic movement and classification of the commodity has not been specifically attacked.-Radinsky v. Denver & R. G. W. R. Co., 264 I. C. C. 216 (219).

36. Public character of service.-That some shippers use railroads because