The "Tap Line Case" was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that answered the question of whether a saw mill that operates its own private railroad should be allowed a division of rates on their outgoing lumber. The court concluded that rate divisions should be given to common carriers only, and that a chartered railroad must demonstrate the movement of passengers and freight beyond the mere shuttling of employees and wood products of the parent company. The published decisions are significant especially to railroad and forest historians for the more than 100 descriptive summaries of individual logging railroads that operated in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi during the period of 1908 - 1910.

Source: Abstracted from "Tap Line Case", published in Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 23 I.C.C. 277, 23 I.C.C. 549, and in Decisions of the United States Supreme Court, 234 U.S. 1.

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> See Table of Contents for this case.

Part 1, Decided April 23, 1912
1. Introduction and summary of opinions.
2. Discriminations resulting from allowances.
3. What is a tap line? Tap lines generally described.
4. General principle controlling the controversy.
5. Each case must stand on its own facts.
6. The log movement to the mill.
7. Use of passes by tap-line officers.
8. The individual cases described.
9. Cases.
10. Supplemental report.

Part 2, Decided May 14, 1912
1. Supplemental Report of the Commission.
2. Cases.
3. Irregular practices of tap lines.
4. General comments.