Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/483

 470 FEDKBAIi BEPOBTEB. �fihould by special contract stipulate for tho facilities to be furnished by the one to the other, and fix the terms and con- ditions upon which the business should be done. But no right arising to the complainant from public considerations or the charter obligations of the defendant was thereby waived, Their contracta were in afifirmance of the pre-existing legal rights of the complainant, and an admission by defendant that the business proposed was within the scope of ita duties and reasonably remunerative. It was in reliance upon these rights conferred by law and public consideration, and thus recognized by defendant, that the complainant made the in- vestments mentioned, and built up and established its bus- iness ; and it would be no less than a fraud upon it for the defendant to exclude it from ail further use of its road, rob it of its established, extensive and profitable business, and transfer it to another or appropriate the business to itself. It will not be permitted to perpetrate such injustice. �We do not wish to be misunderstood. The fact that the complainant had preoccupied defendant's road confera no priority of right. The defendant, to the extent of its cor- porate authority, the Union Express Company, and ail other persons or companies wishing to engage in the carrying of express matter over defendant's road, can enter upon that business on equal terms with the complainant. Neither the raUroad companies nor the courts can discriminate in favor of one or more parties as against others. Ail are entitled to the same measure of accommodation who may offer to do the like business, and it is the duty of the court to enforce, when- ever applied to, this legal rule of impartial justice, We have no disposition to discourage or liinder any one from entering into competition with the complainant. The more of them the better it will be for the railroads, as well as for the public ; the railroada will thereby have more business, and the public be better protected against exorbitant priees and the exactions of aggregated wealth and business combina- tions. Eq[ual protection to ail will do this. It can never, however, be obtained by taking the fruit of one man's labor and giving it to another. ����