Peoria Gas Electric Company v. Peoria

This was a bill filed in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois by the Peoria Gas & Electric Company to restrain the enforcement of an ordinance passed by the defendant, fixing the price of gas. A decree was entered in the circuit court dismissing the bill, and the case was brought directly here, as involving a constitutional question.

The facts are these: Prior to 1899 for a period of many years the Peoria Gaslight & Coke Company had manufactured and furnished gas to the city of Peoria and its citizens. The business had been profitable and the stock was valuable. In 1899 the plaintiff company was organized to construct gas works in Peoria, and that city, by ondinance, granted to it a franchise permitting it to construct and operate a gas plant and lay mains along certain streets, etc. It is charged that in order to obtain this franchise the promoters of the plaintiff company represented that it was to be a Peoria company and enterprise, and that it would furnish gas at a cheaper rate than the old company; that in fact it was a scheme of certain Chicago capitalists, who, as soon as the ordinance was passed and the plant constructed, appeared as owners of substantially the entire stock. After the new company was organized and its plant constructed, the two companies became competitors, the competition being so sharp that in the early summer of 1900 the new company lowered its price to 30 cents per thousand cubic feet for both light and fuel gas. On July 31, 1900, after a conference between the managers of the two companies, both raised the rate to $1.15 net for light and 75 cents net for fuel gas, to take effect August 1, 1900. The announcements of this raise in the rates were published in the Peoria papers on the same day, each announcement being in precisely the same language. On September 4, 1900, the city passed an ordinance providing that the maximum price for gas should be 75 cents per thousand cubic feet, and that the gas to be furnished should not be less than eighteen candle power.

On September 18, 1900, the plaintiff filed this bill of complaint, setting forth its organization, the ordinance under which it was given authority to occupy certain streets and that of September 4, 1900; alleged that the latter ordinance was invalid, as establishing a rate which was not remunerative, and in effect confiscatory, and was thus taking private property for public use without just compensation, and depriving the plaintiff of its property without due process of law. The city answered, narrating the circumstances attending the organization of the plaintiff and the passage of the ordinance authorizing it to occupy the streets and supply the city with gas, with the representation made at the time, and claimed an estoppel by reason thereof; showing also the rates which had been the result of competition, the raise in price by the two companies, charged that this was by agreement between the companies, alleged that the ordinance of September 4 was passed in good faith and to prevent extortion by the companies, and also that the rate fixed was reasonable. While the answer alleged that the fixing of the rates from the 1st of August was by agreement between the two corporations, it did not, in terms, plead that the agreement was in violation of any particular statute.

By consent a special commissioner was appointed to take the proofs and report the same, with his findings and conclusions thereon. He took an enormous amount of testimony, the printed record in this court amounting to 1,780 pages. From it he found and reported that the rate prescribed by the ordinance of September 4 did not furnish compensation, was confiscatory in its effect, and therefore unreasonable. Exceptions were taken by both sides to different portions of his findings and conclusions of law. On a hearing before the circuit court the question of the reasonableness of the rates prescribed was ignored, the court found that the increase in rates on August 1, 1900, was the result of an illegal combination between the two gas companies, and in violation of the Illinois antitrust law of 1891, that, therefore, the plaintiff was not entitled to any relief against the ordinance of September 4, and entered a decree dismissing the bill.

The antitrust act of Illinois, approved June 11, 1891 (Laws 1891, p. 206), forbids the entering into any 'pool, trust, agreement, combination, confederation, or understanding. . . to regulate or fix the price of any article of merchandise or commodity,' and punishes the same by fine. Sections 5 and 6 are as follows:

'5. Any contract or agreement in violation of any provision of the preceding sections of this act shall be absolutely void.

'6. Any purchaser of any article or commodity from any individual, company, or corporation transacting business contrary to any porvision of the preceding sections of this act shall not be liable for the price or payment of such article or commodity, and may plead this act as a defense to any suit for such price or payment.'

Subsequently and in 1893 another act was passed, which was held by this court in Connolly v. Union Sewer Pipe Co. 184 U.S. 540, 46 L. ed. 679, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 431, to constitute class legislation, and to be void. An amendment in 1897 to the act of 1891 was subject to the same objection. The supreme court of Illinois has since held that the act of 1891 was not repealed by the act of 1893 or the amendment of 1897, and is still in force. ''People ex rel. Akin v. Butler Street Foundry & Iron Co.'' 201 Ill. 236, 257, 66 N. E. 349; Chicago, W. & V. Coal Co. v. People, 214 Ill. 421, 454, 73 N. E. 770.

Messrs. E. C. Ritsher, William T. Abbott, and W. T. Irwin for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 51-54 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Winslow Evans for appellee.

Messrs, James Hamilton Lewis, Henry M. Ashton, and David K. Tone filed a brief on behalf of the city of Chicago, party to another pending case involving the question of the power of cities in Illinois to fix the price of gas.

Mr. William D. Guthrie filed a brief on behalf of Darius O. Mills, party to another pending case involving the question of power of cities in Illinois to fix the price of gas.

Statement by Mr. Justice Brewer:

Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court: