it being a harmless and necessary commodity, but it undertakes to regulate its antecedent intrastate production, contrary to the Constitution and all such precedents.

MR. JUSTICE WHITE delivered the opinion of the court.

We dismiss for the present a contention made by one of the corporations that it is not a railroad company within the meaning of that term as used in the statute, which we shall have occasion to consider, because it is merely a coal company whose transporting operations are but incidental to its mining operations. With this contention put aside, it is true to say, speaking in a general sense, that the corporations, parties to this record, by means of railroads owned and operated by them, were engaged in transporting coal from the anthracite coal fields in Pennsylvania to points of market for ultimate delivery in other States. With much of the coal so transported the corporations had been or were connected by some relation distinct from the association which was necessarily engendered by the transportation of the commodity by the corporations as common carriers in interstate commerce. While the business of the corporations, generally speaking, had these characteristics, there were differences between them. Soine of the corporations owned and worked mines and transported over their own rails in interstate commerce the coal so mined, either for their own account or for the account of those who had acquired title to the coal prior to the beginning of the transportation. Others, while operating railroads not only owned but also leased and operated coal mines, and carried the coal produced from such mines in the same way. Again, others of the railroad companies, although not operating mines, were the owners of stock in corporations engaged in mining coal, the coal so produced by such corporations being carried in interstate commerce by the railroad companies holding the stock in the producing coal companies, either for account of the producing corporations or for persons to whom the coal had been

sold at the point of production prior to the beginning of interstate commerce. This, moreover, was, additionally, the case as to some of the railroad companies who, as we have previously stated, were engaged both in the production of coal from mines owned by them and in interstate transportation of such product. All the attributes thus enjoyed by the corporations had been possessed by them for a long time and were expressly conferred by the laws of Pennsylvania, and, in some instances, also by the laws of other States, in which the companies likewise, in part, carried on their business. We insert in the margin a summary which the court below made concerning the situation of the respective corporations, taken from the answer or return made by each corporation.1

1 It is admitted, generally, by the defendants, that the allegations in the bills and petitions, as to their corporate existence, are true, and that they own or operate railroads engaged in the interstate transportation of coal from the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. They also admit that this transportation has been carried on by the several defendants long prior to the 8th day of May, 1906, and in the case of some of them, for a period varying from a quarter to more than half a century prior thereto. In addition to these general admissions, detailed statements are made by the defendants, respectively, of the character and extent of the ownership or other interests possessed by them in the coal so transported, or in the lands or mines from which it is produced. It is only necessary to briefly summarize these statements:

(1) The Delaware & Hudson Company alleges that it directly owns its coal lands as it does its railroad; that it was incorporated by an act of the legislature of the State of New York, April 23, 1823, and was "authorized to construct a canal or water navigation from the anthracite coal district in Pennsylvania to the Hudson River in New York; to purchase lands in Pennsylvania containing stone or anthracite coal; and to employ its capital in the business of transporting to market coal mined from such lands." That this authority was also expressly conferred by acts of the legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, between the years 1823 and 1871, and that these acts of the State of Pennsylvania resulted from the desire and policy of said State to create and foster the industry of mining such coal and developing the transportation thereof; that under the authority of these statutes of Pennsylvania and of New York, the said defendant, beginning as early as the year 1825, invested its capital

After the first day of May, 1908, the Government of the United States commenced these proceedings by bill in equity against each of the corporations, to enjoin each from carrying

in the purchase of a large quantity of coal lands in the State of Pennsyl vania and in the construction of canal navigation in Pennsylvania from the Delaware River to the Hudson River; that later, under statutes of both States, it invested additional capital in the construction of railroads, in the State of Pennsylvania, and in the construction and acquisition of railroads and leasehold estates in the State of New York, for the same general purpose of transporting coal from the coal lands owned by it; that it has invested large sums of money, not only in the acquisition of coal property, but in the erection of structures for mining and terminal facilities; that some of its coal properties were acquired under leases upon royalties payable to the lessors for each ton of coal mined, the leases fixing large minimum amounts by way of rent; that large fixed rentals are required to be paid, not only for those mining lands but for railroads acquired for the purpose of transporting coal; that there are three coal companies whose shares are practically all owned by it, viz., The Northern Coal & Iron Company, The Jackson Coal Company, and The Hudson Coal Company; that its mining lands thus owned and acquired are located upon or contiguous to the railroads of defendant; that said railroads are the only reasonable, practical, and conveniently available avenues of transportation whereby the coal by it produced can be transported in interstate commerce, and the coal mined by the defendant and by said coal companies upon its lines of railroad amounts approximately to 70 per cent of the entire transportation by it, or to about 4,300,000 gross tons, its daily shipments averaging about 12 trains of 37 coal cars each; that the coal lands so acquired by the defendant and by said three coal companies would have little, if any, value, except for the mining of coal therefrom and its sale as a commercial commodity, and that if it is deprived, by virtue of the said act of Congress, of the right to transport said coal, it will be deprived of the only possible enjoyment of its property. It further avers that it is not a "railroad company" within the meaning of the act of Congress, but that it is a coal company, and that since the year 1870 it has become, incidentally to its business as a coal mining company, a common carrier by railroad of passengers and property.Corota

It is further averred, as a special ground of defense by the said Delaware and Hudson Company, that this said "commodities clause" does not apply to it because all the coal mined by it upon its own lands, and upon the lands of the said three coal companies (except as to steam sizes,

in interstate commerce any coal produced under the circumstances which we have stated. At the same time a petition in mandamus was filed against each corporation, seeking to ac

as thereafter stated) "is sold, before transportation thereof begins, by said company to third persons at the mines in Pennsylvania from which such coal has been produced, and that said company does not, at the time when the same is so transported by it in interstate commerce, own the same nor any interest therein, direct or indirect, apart from its obligation and rights as a common carrier in the transportation thereof, and that it carries said coal for the account of the purchaser thereof, who is the consignor and owner of said coal.

(2) "The answer of the Erie Railroad Company states that it was originally organized under the laws of the State of New York in 1832; that it has been reorganized from time to time under mortgage foreclosure; and finally, in November, 1895, under a foreclosure sale, it was reorganized under the statutes of New York, whereby it "became the lawful owner of the property, rights, privileges, immunities and franchises of all its predecessors aforesaid, including the shares of capital stock of coal companies and of railroad companies, as well as the railroads theretofore held and possessed by said predecessor companies, the railroads so owned by it and its said subsidiary companies having an aggregate mileage of over 2,100 miles in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois;" that the Pennsylvania Coal Company was created a corporation by the laws of Pennsylvania in 1838, its charter giving it the right of "transacting the usual business of companies engaged in mining, transporting to market, and selling coal and the other products of coal mined; " and for that purpose it was given the power to purchase or lease coal lands in Pennsylvania; also the power to construct railroads with one or more tracks. In 1853 the said Pennsylvania Coal Company was authorized to extend its railroad to connect with the New York & Erie Railroad. The right of said Pennsylvania Coal Company to buy coal lands and build railroad connections was continued by acts of the legislature of Pennsylvania in 1857, 1864, 1867 and 1868; that in pursuance of these various acts of the legislature, the Pennsylvania Coal Company obtained capital, issued stock therefor, acquired coal lands, developed coal mines, produced, transported to markets, and sold coal; built and operated railroads, made railway connections as authorized, and did other like acts to promote the business of supplying all persons needing the same with anthracite coal. The Hillside Coal & Iron Company was organized by an act of the legislature of the State of Pennsylvania in 1869 for the purposes and with powers similar to those

complish the same result. Both the equity causes and the mandamus proceedings were based upon the assumption that the first section of the act to regulate commerce, as amended

of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Under authority of acts of the legislature of Pennsylvania the said Erie Railroad Company, long prior to the passage of said amendment to the interstate commerce act, acquired substantially all the capital stock of said Pennsylvania Coal Company, the Hillside Coal & Iron Company, the Jefferson Railroad Company, and Erie & Wyoming Railroad Company, and a small minority of the stock of the Temple Iron Company; and has pledged the same under various mortgages, pursuant to which have been issued and are now outstanding bonds for large sums, aggregating many millions of dollars, which bonds are held by purchasers in good faith and for value throughout the world; that for many years prior to May 1, 1908, it has been engaged in transporting the coal of said corporations to markets outside the State of Pennsylvania, many of which can only be reached from the railroad lines of this defendant; that the coal so transported amounts annually to several millions of tons and constitutes 22 per cent of the entire freight tonnage of this defendant, the Erie Company. It also denies that it is, by reason of the ownership of said stock in said companies, the owner in whole or in part, of the coal transported by it in interstate commerce, or that it has or had any interest, direct or indirect therein, and therefore has not violated or failed to comply with the socalled "commodities clause" of the interstate commerce act.

(3) The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey avers that it was organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey, and by these laws was authorized to purchase and hold the stock or securities of any other corporation, of New Jersey or elsewhere, and that it was also so authorized by two acts of assembly of the State of Pennsylvania, one of which, approved April 15th, 1869, was entitled "An act to authorize railroad and canal companies to aid in the development of coal, iron, lumber and other material interests of this Commonwealth;" that pursuant to the authority of these several acts, it had, long prior to the said act of Congress, become the owner of a majority of the shares of the capital stock of the Honeybrook Coal Company and of the Wilkesbarre Coal & Iron Company, both companies now being merged into the Lehigh & Wilkesbarre Company, a large majority of whose shares are owned by it; that it also owns a minority of the shares of the Temple Iron Company; that in 1871 it became the lessee of the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad, a Pennsylvania corporation, which it has ever since operated under an obligation to pay a yearly rental of not less than $1,414,400, and not