Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/668

 656 FEDERAL REPORTER. �action seems to fall strictly within the tenns of the authority on which it is based. If, however, the power conferred on the commissioners can only be exercised under the constitu- tion by the legislature, the act conferring such powers must be declared void. A somewhat careful consideration of this point satisfies me elearly that the duties imposed by the act upon the commissioners are not legislative, and are not nec- essarily to be performed by the legislature. If the act had declared that no railroad company should charge other thau ]ust and reasonable rates, and that the board of directors of every railroad company in the state should prescribe maxi- mum charges, which should be posted at each station, and beyond which the ticket and freight agents of the companies should not go, it could not reasonably be claimed that the directors were clothed with legislative power. Is the case altered when the general assembly, instead of making the board of directors the body to fix maximum rates, appoints an independent, and, it is fair to presume, a more impartial body for that purpose ? The nature of the duty discharged is not changed by a change in the person or persons on whom the duty is imposed. �It is a familiar rule of constitutional construction that a grant of legislative power to do a certain thing, carries with it the power to use ail proper and necessary means to accom- plish the end. McCullough v. Maryland, 4 Wheat, 316. �The general assembly of Georgia is expressly required by paragraph 1, § 2, art. 4, to pass laws from time to time to regulate freight and passenger tariffs, and to prohibit unjust discrimination, and the charging of unjust and unreasonable rates by the railroad companies of the state. The fixing of just and reasonable maximum rates for ail the railroads in the state, is elearly a duty which cannot be performed by the legislature unless it remains in perpetuai session, and devotes a large portion of its time to its performance. The question, what are just and reasonable rates ? is one which presents different phases from month to month, upon every road in the state, and in reference to ail the innumerable articles and products that are the subjects of transportation. This ques- ����