Pooling 265 Wrestling with the Long-Haul Abuse 270 A Drastic Cure for Rebating 271 XXXIII. FIXING RATES BY PUBLIC AUTHORITY 274 Alleged Errors of the Commission 279 XXXIV. CAN REGULATION SECURE THE NEEDFUL DOMINANCE OF PUBLIC INTEREST? 306 XXXV. HINTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES 313 APPENDIX A. LATEST DECISIONS OF U. S. SUPREME COURT 335 B. PRESIDENT HADLEY AND THE HEPBURN BILL. ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN THE REGULATION OF RATES 337 INDEX 345 THE HEART OF THE RAILROAD PROBLEM CHAPTER I. THE LAW AND THE FACT. It is a principle of the common law that common carriers must be impartial. “They cannot legally give undue or unjust preferences, or make unequal or extravagant charges.... They are bound to provide reasonable and sufficient facilities. They must not refuse to carry any goods or passengers properly applying for transportation.... They have no right to grant monopolies or special privileges or unequal preferences, but are bound to treat all fairly and impartially.”[1] That is the rule of the common law which represents the crystallized common-sense and practical conscience of the Anglo-Saxon and every other civilized race. The legal principle that a common carrier must be impartial was established long before the Interstate Commerce Act was passed, or the Granger laws enacted,—yes, before railways or steamboats were born. They inherited the family character and the family law. It has been applied to them in innumerable cases. There is a solid line of decisions from the infancy of the English law to the present time. Constitutional provisions and State and Federal statutes have been passed to affirm and enforce the rule. The railroads themselves declare the rule to be right. And yet, in spite of the railway conscience and the common law, the universal sense of justice of mankind, and the whole legislative, executive, and judicial power of the government, the rule is not obeyed. On the contrary, disregard of it is chronic and contagious, and constitutes one of the leading characteristics of our railway system. In spite of law and justice our railway practice is a tissue of unfair discrimination, denying the small man equal opportunity with the rich and influential, and breaking the connection between merit and success.