2. Whether a shipment is foreign or local is determined by the
essential character of the commerce; it is not dependent upon the
question when or to whom title passes, and the shipment may be
Page 280 U. S. 99
foreign in its entirety even though completed under a local bill
of lading with a temporary detention before or after the local
movement. P.
280 U. S.
101.
3. The Commission found that the consignee of shipments from
abroad acted only as agent of the consignors under a duty to
reconsign the goods on a local bill of lading to their ultimate
destination, in accordance with what it found to be the continuing
intent from the time the goods were placed on board the steamer.
There being ample evidence to support these findings, they should
have been accepted by the district court as conclusive, and the
holding that the local movement was in fact a part of foreign
commerce should not have been disturbed. P.
280 U. S. 102.
32 F.2d 613 reversed.
Appeal from a decree of the district court setting aside and
annulling an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission which
required the establishment of a specific rate on shipments of
imported wood pulp, from Hoboken, the place of importation, to
another place in New Jersey.
MR. JUSTICE BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.
Upon complaint of Hamersley Manufacturing Company, the
Interstate Commerce Commission issued an order that the Erie
Railroad Company and a connecting carrier establish an all-rail
rate of 10 cents per 100 pounds
Page 280 U. S. 100
on wood pulp imported through the port of Hoboken, New Jersey,
and shipped from there to Garfield, New Jersey in carloads.
Hamersley Mfg. Co. v. Erie R. Co., 126 I.C.C. 491; 148 I.C.C. 47.
The carriers brought this suit in the federal court for that state
to enjoin enforcement of the order and to set it aside. The
district court granted the relief.
Erie R. Co. v. United
States, 32 F.2d 613. The case is here on direct appeal under
Act of October 22, 1913, c. 32, 38 Stat. 208, 220, and Act of
February 13, 1925, c. 229, 43 Stat. 936, 938, amending ยง 238 of the
Judicial Code. The sole ground for the carriers' attack on the
order, and also the sole ground for the decree below, is that the
shipments are wholly intrastate, and therefore the Commission
lacked jurisdiction over the rates.
The Commission found the following facts concerning the course
of the business involved: the Hamersley Company makes to a New York
broker, who is a commission agent for specified foreign mills, its
offer to buy a certain quantity and grade of pulp manufactured
abroad. The broker cables the offer to one of the foreign mills
which he represents, naming the prospective purchaser. If the offer
is accepted, the broker so informs the company and then makes a
contract with it in his own name, sending a copy to the mill. The
contract provides for shipment from abroad during a specified
period and delivery at the agreed price, on dock New York Harbor.
The mill is not named in the contract. It ships to the broker the
ordered quantities marked with a brand, but not so as to show the
individual customer, and cables the broker when the shipment is
made, naming the steamer, the quantity, the customers, and the date
of expected arrival. This information is communicated by the broker
to the company. It appears from the record that the broker pays the
mill as soon as he is thus advised of the shipment, and that the
ship's bill of lading is sent to him.
Page 280 U. S. 101
The pulp destined for the company may be part of a larger
shipment. But the number of bales allotted to it are always
delivered at Garfield; none may be diverted to any other customer,
and no pulp is shipped to the broker for sale to purchasers, to be
obtained while the pulp is in transit or after its arrival. Upon
arrival of the pulp in Hoboken, the broker gives to a terminal
company the dock orders, specifying delivery of the required number
of bales, and makes out the bills of lading for shipment from there
to Garfield. These papers name the ship by which the pulp arrived
at the Hoboken dock. There may be some delay in forwarding the wood
pulp by rail after delivery on the dock, because, under an
arrangement between the broker and the company, the pulp is shipped
from the dock in lots of two or three cars in order to prevent
congestion at Garfield. The freight from the dock to Garfield is
paid by the company to the tail carrier. The Commission found
"that, from the time the pulp is placed on board steamers at
foreign ports, there is a continuing intent on the part of the
shipper that it shall be transported to Garfield."
The carriers contend that title to the pulp does not pass to the
company until the broker arranges at the Hoboken dock for shipment
of the specific lot to Garfield; that the shipment by the mill to
its agent, as consignee, of pulp in quantity exceeding that
ultimately destined to Garfield, terminates when the pulp is
delivered on dock at Hoboken; that this foreign shipment is
distinct from the subsequent shipment by the broker to Garfield of
the smaller quantity, under a new and local bill of lading, and
that therefore the rail movement from Hoboken to Garfield is an
independent intrastate transaction. But the nature of the shipment
is not dependent upon the question when or to whom the title
passes.
Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Clark Bros. Coal Min. Co.,
238 U. S. 456,
238 U. S.
465-466. It is determined
Page 280 U. S. 102
by the essential character of the commerce.
Baltimore &
Ohio S.W. R. Co. v. Settle, 260 U. S. 166,
260 U. S. 170.
It is not affected by the fact that the transaction is initiated or
completed under a local bill of lading which is wholly intrastate,
Railroad Commission v. Worthington, 225 U.
S. 101,
225 U. S.
108-110;
Texas & New Orleans R. Co. v. Sabine
Tram Co., 227 U. S. 111;
Hughes Bros. Co. v. Minnesota, 272 U.
S. 469; or by the fact that there may be a detention
before or after the shipment on the local bill of lading,
Carson Petroleum Co. v. Vial, 279 U. S.
95. The findings of the Commission, that the broker acts
only as agent and that, from the time that the pulp is put aboard
the steamer, there is a continuing intent that it should be
transported to Garfield, ought to have been accepted by the
district court as conclusive, since there was ample evidence to
sustain it.
Western Paper Makers' Chemical Co. v. United
States, 271 U. S. 268;
Virginian Ry. Co. v. United States, 272 U.
S. 658. The rail transportation is in fact a part of
foreign commerce.
Reversed.