Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Interstate Commerce

INTERSTATE COMMERCE, a term which technically means the higher authority of the Federal Government over that of the individual States in matters of trade and commerce passing over State boundaries. This higher authority is based on article I, Section 8, clause 3, of the Constitution of the United States, which declares that the Federal Government, through Congress, shall have the right “to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.” This clause gives Congress jurisdiction over all “highways”; railroads, rivers, canals, etc., passing from one State to another. As an instance, when the New York Legislature, many years ago, before court decisions had determined exactly the limits of Federal jurisdiction, attempted to grant the exclusive right to navigate State waterways to certain private parties, a Supreme Court decision, based on the clause in the Federal Constitution, rendered this particular piece of legislation void. By this, and similar decisions. Congress has jurisdiction over harbors, even though they may be inclosed entirely by the territory of one state, and has the authority to grant concessions for harbor works. It may authorize and compel the removal of rocks or the dredging of rivers, to facilitate transportation and passenger traffic. It is within the jurisdiction of Congress to guard against dangers to the lives of travelers, to the extent that it can compel steamship or railroad companies to adopt safety appliances, should it deem such devices effective. Even telephone and telegraph services are included, as being inter-state in character.

Based on this fundamental law, the authority of Congress extends to a larger proportion of private business than had probably ever been foreseen by the fathers of the country. For not only may it regulate inter-state transportation and passenger service on railroads, but it may also impose conditions on how business may be done between firms in one State and its patrons, or other firms, in other parts of the country. A particular instance is given in the inspection of meat packed by the Chicago packers. Unsanitary conditions being suspected in this industry, endangering the health of the people, Congress had the constitutional right to intervene and compel the packers to abide by certain sanitary rules that were imposed. A great deal of Federal legislation has been passed, based on this Constitutional clause, the most important of which is the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, passed in 1890, which forbids combinations of manufacturers or traders tending toward monopoly, and so “restraining” the natural laws of supply and demand. Another illustration of this kind of legislation is the White Slave Act, which enables the Federal Government to protect young girls by its power to prosecute those who bring young women from one State to another for immoral purposes. As another illustration of the subservience of the States to the Federal Constitution, Iowa, which had passed a prohibition law, was unable to prevent liquor being brought into the State until Congress came to her relief by a special act forbidding the importation of liquors into prohibition States.