"The railroad is justly regarded as a public facility which every person may enjoy at pleasure, a common right to which all are admitted and from which none are excluded. The essence of this right is equality, and its enjoyment can be complete only when it is secured on like conditions by all who desire its benefits. The railroad exists by virtue of authority proceeding from the State, and thus differs in its essential nature from every form of private enterprise. The carrier is invested with extraordinary powers, which are delegated by the sovereign, and thereby performs a governmental function. The favoritism, partiality and exactions which the law was designed to prevent resulted, in large measure, from a general misapprehension of the nature of transportation and its vital relation to commercial and industrial progress. So far from being a private possession, it differs from every species of property, and is in no sense a commodity. Its office is peculiar, for it is essentially public. The railroad, therefore, can rightfully do nothing which the State itself might not do if it performed this public service through its own agents instead of delegating it to corporations which it has created. The large shipper is entitled to no advantage over his smaller rival in respect of rates or accommodations, for the compensation exacted in every case should be measured by the same standard. To allow any exceptions to this fundamental rule is to subvert the principle upon which free institutions depend and substitute arbitrary caprice for equality of right. "The spirit of the law is opposed to usages so long continued and so familiar that their unjust and demoralizing character has not been clearly perceived, but it is a long step towards such regulation of the agencies of transportation as will make them equally available to all without discrimination between individuals or communities. It can hardly be the fault of those who are charged with its administration if the beneficial aims of this statute have not been fully attained and compliance with its provisions not completely secured. A better understanding of its purpose and an educated public sentiment, aided by the needful amendments which experience suggests, will fully vindicate the policy of Congress in undertaking to bring the great transportation interests of the country into general harmony with its requirements. "It affords us gratification to add that many railroad managers of the highest standing now concede the necessity for Government regulation, and avow themselves in favor of such further enactments as will make that regulation effective." CHAPTER XIII. THE RATE QUESTION.