Utah, Washington, and West Virginia. The legislature expressly reserves full power of control in addition to reservations expressed in other sections of the constitutions of Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Discrimination against persons and places or industrial sections are occasionally directly prohibited in the constitution. The form in which the prohibitions are expressed varies, but they all have in view the equal treatment of all the interests affected by the railway service.1

Pooling. The formation of trusts or combinations, and the making of contracts restricting competition or having in view the control of prices, is prohibited in ten constitutions.2

Miscellaneous. Only a few states provide in their constitutions for the organization of administrative bodies, such as railway commissions, and the powers and duties of the same. The California constitution not only prescribes the organization of the commission, but enumerates the more important powers of this commission, specifies the manner in which the commission shall be elected by the districts into which the state is constitutionally divided, and fixes fines for violations of the law on the part of railway agents or employees.

1 The following constitutions contain more or less complete provisions on the subject of discrimination: Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

2 California, Kentucky, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Analogous provisions are found in the constitutions of Kentucky and Louisiana. The constitutions of Arkansas, Missouri, and Pennsylvania make it unlawful for railway officials to be interested in the purchase of materials and supplies for the construction of a railway. The constitutions of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Indiana prohibit the charging of a greater sum for a shorter distance over the same line in the same direction under similar conditions. Four constitutions-Colorado, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Montana - make it unlawful for a corporation to require its servants or employees, as a condition of their employment, to sign a contract limiting the liability of the company in case of suits for damage, or precluding the possibility of bringing such suits altogether, by contract. About ten constitutions specifically limit the activities of a chartered corporation to the business which is expressly provided for in the charter. In a few cases the constitutions specify that no railway company can become a foreign corporation by consolidation; and, in a small number, a provision common in many of the earlier laws is enacted, compelling railway companies to establish stations or depots whenever they pass within a certain distance of towns and villages, frequently the county seat. The constitution of Washington stands alone in that it expressly prohibits discriminations against express companies. Idaho and Wyoming demand the appointment of legal representatives of railway companies in those

States. The Missouri constitution provides for the payment into the state treasury of specified sums of money proportionate to the amount of capital stock before a charter can be issued.

This analysis presents the leading features of the constitutional provisions of the several states. None of importance have been omitted and only a few of the less important ones have not received mention.

1 This provision is common in general laws but not in constitutions.

CHAPTER IV

PRESENT GENERAL RAILWAY LEGISLATION 1

Terms applicable to Later Charters. In a technical sense the term "charter" can scarcely be applied to the instruments issued to railway corporations under contemporary general laws. The word "charter," through long usage, has come to signify a special grant of authority and power. In the constitutions of twenty-one states, as was noticed in the preceding chapter, the incorporation of railway companies under special or local acts is prohibited; in other states this prohibition is found in general laws, and in some states in both the constitution and general laws. The statutes of South Carolina mention the organization of railway companies "under charters," and in the Kansas statutes the term "charter" is also used. But these are exceptions. Terms like "articles of association," "certificate of incorporation," "articles of incorporation," "articles of agreement,' and "letters patent " have come into use, and

1 This chapter is based on the latest Revised Statutes of the several states, and General Laws enacted since the publication of such statutes when the Revised Statutes were not up to date. To specify references to statutes in detail would unduly burden this book with foot-notes.

carry with them the significance of earlier special charters. Articles, certificates, etc., are charters only in a loose and general sense, because the contents of the franchise itself are expressed in the general law relating to railways and the constitutional limitations under which these have been exacted. The grant of a charter involves a distinct legislative act authorizing the company receiving the same to exercise, in a measure, the rights of sovereignty, and to do the things for which the organization was accomplished. A certificate of incorporation, on the other hand, is issued in pursuance of law by administrative and not by direct legislative authority. Formerly a separate act of the legislature was necessary. Under general laws an administrative act for each such grant of power is all that is requisite for the organization of a railway company. To be sure, there is a very direct connection between the earlier charters and the later general laws, for many of the latter embody not only the essential features of the former, but frequently they are expressed in similar and even identical language. The change of name to article or certificate did. not carry with it any radical change in the nature of the franchise. In this respect there exists continuity of development. The greatest change brought about by the transition from special charters to incorporation under general laws consisted in uniformity. Almost infinite variety in charter provisions was common during the earlier