A Federal Judge Takes Away Washington's Power to Set Railroad Rates
Judge Hanford rules in Seattle that the state railroad commission cannot fix freight and fares — and Governor Mead weighs a constitutional amendment and a special session to give it back.
Judge Hanford, in the United States court at Seattle, has decided that the state railroad commission has no power to fix freight rates and fares on the railroads of this state. The decision was rendered in the case brought against the O. R. N. company to require the defendant to make joint rates for the carrying of grain from Eastern Washington to the coast.
Governor Mead is said to be considering the proposition to call a special session of the legislature to consider the submission to the voters at the next election of an amendment to the state constitution which will allow the bestowal of adequate power on the railroad commission.
“"The state railroad commission has no power to fix freight rates and fares on the railroads of this state."”
The question of who sets the price of a trainload of Eastern Washington wheat — a federal judge, a state commission, or the railroad itself — is the direct ancestor of today's fights over state utility regulators and federal preemption. Governor Mead's constitutional amendment was the 1908 version of promising to let the voters decide. The railroad, meanwhile, needed no amendment at all.
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