Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/443

 TEXAS EXPRESS 00. «?.: TEXAS & PACIFIC RY. CO. 431 �pany doing business on any portion of their respective lines, of the Jixed daily sum of at least $150 for each day a passen- ger train is run, and one-half first-class passenger fare for the whole length of their respective lines, each vray, (or one full first-class passenger fare fo* the whole length of their respective lines,) each day a passenger train is run for said company's messenger, without regard to the amount of the express matter said express company may wish hauled, or the length of the Une over vehich said express company may desire to carry on its business. The lines of each of defend- ants' roads, now open to business, measure, in the aggregate, respectively, about 600 miles. First-class passenger fare is limited in this state, and is now charged at the rate of five cents per mile. These contracts, therefore, when analyzed, mean the same thing, in the oontroUing point: that the Pa-- cific Express Company shall pay each of the defendant rail- road companies at least $180 each day that a passenger train is run; and the equality of facilities and terms offered to ail other persons or companies doing an express business iS' that you can use ail or any portions of our lines for the trans- ■ portation of your express matter, provided that you, and each of you, pay us $180 a day, without regard to the weight, bulk, or quality of the matter we haul for you, or the length of the haul. �It is not at ail diffioult to comprehend that this is a speoies of equality that cannot fail to prove satisfactory to the minds of the management of these railroads,_and that the degree of such satisfaction will be materially heightened by every addi-. tion to the number of persons or express companies doing a.n express business that accept and share these equal terms. . �This contract with the Pacific Express Company by the" Texas & Pacific Eailroad Company appears to be the first fruits of "an avowed policy of his co-defendant (I quote the language of the vice-president of the company) for some months past, as soon as it could be done, to encourage com^ ' petition in the carryiug of express matter, so that the wants of the people could be met at cheaper rates than those which have heretofore prevailed." > ,' ; : ��� �