ced and passenger travel has largely increased
during the past twenty years, but reductions corresponding in the
passenger rates of the United States have not been made.

It is, nevertheless, no easy matter always to determine what are
reasonable rates. It is easier to tell what rates are unreasonable.
Rates are unreasonable that bring an income in excess of sufficient to
keep the road in proper condition, to pay operating expenses, including
taxes and a fair rate of interest on the amount, not including
donations, actually invested in the road. The patrons of a road should
not be taxed to pay interest on their own donations, or on public
donations, to the road, as the donations were made for the benefit of
the public, and not for the benefit of private individuals. A rate which
may appear reasonable to the carrier is apt to be regarded as too high
by the shipper; and, again, one that seems reasonable to the shipper is
denounced as too low by the railroad man. Each is tempted to consult
only his own interests and to disregard the just claims of the other
side. Thus, while the shipper will claim that his rates ought to be low
enough to enable him to compete with other shippers more advantageously
located than he is, the railroad manager will demand a rate which would
enable him to declare high dividends on largely fictitious values. The
owners of roads which were built merely for purposes of speculation or
blackmailing insist on being permitted to charge exorbitant rates to
bring up their earnings to the level of those roads for whose
construction there was a legitimate demand.

It is a settled principle of common law that all rates must be
reasonable, but no uniform rule has as yet been adopted by which the
question of reasonableness is to be determined. The doctrine laid down
by Judge Brewer, that "where the rates prescribed will not pay some
compensation to the owners, then it is the duty of the courts to
interfere and protect the companies from such rates," and that
"compensation implies three things: cost of service, interest on bonds,
and then some dividends," is absurd. A question is never settled until
it is settled right, and this rule is certainly open to very serious
objections. A road may be bonded for several times its cost or its real
value, it may be managed with such recklessness or extravagance that its
operating expenses may be twice what they would be under a careful and
economical management, yet und