U.S. Supreme Court RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD v. ALTON R. CO., 295 U.S. 330 (1935)

[Page 295 U.S. 330, 344]

Mr. Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court.

The respondents, comprising 134 class I railroads, two express companies, and the Pullman Company, brought this suit in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, asserting the unconstitutionality of the Railroad Retirement Act1 and praying an injunction against its enforcement. From a decree granting the relief sought, an appeal was perfected to the Court of Appeals. Before hearing in that tribunal, the petitioners applied for a writ of certiorari, representing that no serious or difficult questions of fact were involved, and urging the importance of an early and final decision of the controversy. In the exercise of power conferred by statute,2 we issued the writ. [Footnote 3]

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statutes must conform, and the powers conferred upon the federal government are to be reasonably and fairly construed, with a view to effectuating their purposes. But recognition of this principle cannot justify attempted exercise of a power clearly beyond the true purpose of the grant. All agree that the pertinent provision of the Constitution is article 1, 8, cl. 3, which confers power on the Congress 'to regulate Commerce ... among the several States; ...' and that this power must be exercised in subjection to the guarantee of due process of law found in the Fifth Amendment. [Footnote 4]

The petitioners assert that the questioned act, fairly considered, is a proper and necessary regulation of interstate commerce; its various provisions have reasonable relation to the main and controlling purposes of the enactment, the promotion of efficiency, economy, and safety; consequently it falls within the power conferred by the commerce clause and does not offend the principle of due process. The respondents insist that numerous features of the act contravene the due process guaranty, and further that the requirement of pensions for employees of railroads is not a regulation of interstate commerce within the meaning of the Constitution. These conflicting views open two fields of inquiry which to some extent overlap. [Footnote 5] If we assume that under the power to

[Page 295 U.S. 330, 357]

the employees. This appears to be an unnecessarily harsh and arbitrary imposition, if the plan is to be what on its face it imports, a joint adventure with mutuality of obligation and benefit.

This court has repeatedly had occasion to say that the railroads, though their property be dedicated to the public use, remain the private property of their owners, and that their assets may not be taken without just compensation. [Footnote 7] The carriers have not ceased to be privately operated and privately owned, however much subject to regulation in the interest of interstate commerce. There is no warrant for taking the property or money of one and transferring it to another without compensation, whether the object of the transfer be to build up the equipment of the transferee or to pension its employees.

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the law as a whole. [Footnote 8] Such a declaration provides a rule which may aid in determining the legislative intent, but is not an inexorable command. Dorchy v. Kansas, 264 U.S. 286, 44 S.Ct. 323. It has the effect of reversing the presumption which would otherwise be indulged, of an intent that, unless the act operates as an entirety, it shall be wholly ineffective. Williams v. Standard Oil Co., 278 U.S. 235, 242, 49 S.Ct. 115, 60 A.L.R. 596; Utah Power & Light Co. v. Pfost, 286 U.S. 165, 184, 52 S.Ct. 548. But, notwithstanding the presumption in favor of divisibility which arises from the legislative declaration, we cannot rewrite a statute and give it an effect altogether different from that sought by the measure viewed as a whole. Compare Hill v. Wallace, 259 U.S. 44, 70, 42 S.Ct. 453. In this view we are confirmed by the petitioners' argument that, as to some of the features we hold unenforceable, it is 'unthinkable' and 'impossible' that the Congress would have created the compulsory pension system without them. They so affect the dominant aim of the whole statute as to carry it down with them.

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attainment of 65 years, is as great or greater in the railroad industry than in comparable employments. It does not follow, as contended, that the man of that age is inefficient or incompetent. The facts indicate a contrary conclusion. Petitioners say the seniority rules and the laying off of younger men first in reducing forces, necessarily tend to keep an undue proportion of older men in the service. They say this tendency has long been marked in the railroad industry and has been most noticeable in recent years of depression when forces have been greatly reduced. But what are the uncontradicted facts as to efficiency and safety of operation? Incontrovertible statistics obtained from the records of the Interstate Commerce Commission show a steady increase in safety of operation, during this period of alleged increasing superannuation. 9

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Total Frt. Frequency Psgr. and Per Motor Train Million Miles Total Train Train Year (Thousands) Accidents Miles []

1923 1,207,714 27,497 22.77 1924 1,171,812 22,368 19.09 1925 1,187,731 20,785 17.50 1926 1,211,617 21,077 17.39 1927 1,184,455 18,976 16.02 1928 1,169,442 16,949 14.49 1929 1,178,585 17,185 14.58 1930 1,082,306 12,313 11.38 1931 951,220 8,052 8.46 1932 813,091 5,770 7.09

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Indeed, one of the petitioners, and one of their most important witnesses, has written, referring to railroads: 'Experience seems to have proved, moreover, that older workers cause fewer accidents than do younger; hence there is little necessity for removing them on that ground.' [Footnote 10]

There is overwhelming evidence in the record to the same effect. All that petitioners offer on the subject in their brief is: 'In an industry having as many hazardous

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Total employees killed and injured Total manhours Total worked casualty Year by all rate all employees employees (thousands) Killed Injured Total per million man-hours

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1923 4,856,964 1,866 148,146 150,012 30.89 1924 4,473,186 1,403 120,912 122,315 27.34 1925 4,448,377 1,460 114,639 116,099 26.10 1926 4,557,537 1,528 107,218 108,746 23.86 1927 4,406,627 1,427 83,883 85,310 19.36 1928 4,191,065 1,187 66,744 67,931 16.21 1929 4,225,292 1,302 57,164 58,466 13.84 1930 3,641,412 898 33,184 34,082 9.36 1931 2,930,657 621 21,417 22,038 7.52 1932 2,286,561 532 16,359 16,891 7.39

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Decrease in frequency, 76%

Total Man-hours Casualty worked by Number Number Total Rate Per Trainmen Trainmen Trainmen Trainmen's Million Year (Thousands) Killed Injured Casualties Man- hours

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implies a broad discretion and thus permits a wide range even of mistakes. Expert discussion of pension plans reveals different views of the manner in which they should be set up and a close study of advisable methods is in progress. It is not our province to enter that field, and I am not persuaded that Congress in entering it for the purpose of regulating interstate carriers, has transcended the limits of the authority which the Constitution confers.

I think the decree should be reversed.

I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice BRANDEIS, Mr. Justice STONE, and Mr. Justice CARDOZO join in this opinion. Footnotes

Footnote 1 Act June 27, 1934, c. 868, 48 Stat. 1283 (45 USCA 201-214).

Footnote 2 U.S.C. tit. 28, 347(a), 28 USCA 347(a).

Footnote 3 293 U.S. 552, 55 S.Ct. 240, 79 L.Ed. --.

Footnote 4 See Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 196, 197; Monongahela Navigation Co. v. United States, 148 U.S. 312, 336, 13 S.Ct. 622; Champion v. Ames (Lottery Case), 188 U.S. 321, 362, 363 S., 23 S.Ct. 321; United States v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P.R. Co., 282 U.S. 311, 327, 51 S.Ct. 159.

Footnote 5 When the question is whether the Congress has properly exercised a granted power the inquiry is whether the means adopted bear any reasonable relation to the ostensible exertion of the power. Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U.S. 623, 661, 8 S.Ct. 273; Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251, 276, 38 S.Ct. 529, 3 A.L.R. 649, Ann. Cas. 1918E, 724; Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U.S. 20, 37, 42 S.Ct. 449, 21 A.L.R. 1432. When the question is whether legislative action transcends the limits of due process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, decision is guided by the principle that the law shall not be unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious, and that the means selected shall have a real and substantial relation to the object sought to be attained. Nebbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502, 525, 54 S.Ct. 505, 89 A.L.R. 1469.

Footnote 6 Cong. Rec., vol. 78, p. 5699.

Footnote 7 Interstate Commerce Commission v. Oregon-Washington R. & Nav. Co., 288 U.S. 14, 40, 53 S.Ct. 266, and cases cited.

Footnote 8 Sec. 14. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act or application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. 45 USCA 214.

Footnote 9 Tables included in the record are as follows:

Year: 1905, 1 passenger killed for each 1,376,000 carried. 1910, 1 passenger killed for each 3,000,000 carried. 1915, 1 passenger killed for each 4,954,000 carried. 1920, 1 passenger killed for each 5,673,000 carried. 1925, 1 passenger killed for each 5,237,000 carried. 1930, 1 passenger killed for each 11,658,000 carried. 1932, 1 passenger killed for each 17,921,000 carried. Decrease in frequency, 77%.

Footnote 11 Thus it appears that the average speed of freight trains between terminals in 1928 was 10.9 miles per hour, in 1929 was 13.2 miles per hour, and in 1933 was 15.7 miles per hour. Excluding weight of locomotive and tender, each freight train hour in 1923 produced 16,764 gross ton-miles; in 1929 produced 24,539 gross ton-miles; and in 1933 produced 27,343 gross ton-miles; and net ton-miles per freight train hour increased 41.2 per cent. from 1923 to 1933, and 3.7 per cent. from 1929 to 1933. Cost of transportation is also shown to have decreased in the same periods.

[Footnote 1] Latimer, 'Industrial Pension Plans,' 1932, vol. I, p. 55.

[Footnote 2] 'Public Service Retirement Systems,' Bureau of Labor Statistics (U. S.) Bulletin No. 477, 1929.

[Footnote 3] The members of the commission were Senators George Sutherland and George E. Chamberlain, Representatives William G. Brantley and Reuben O. Moon, William C. Brown, president of the New York Central lines, and D. L. Cease, the editor of The Railroad Commission.