NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

V. JURISDICTION 81
and outgoing interstate calls. The Court, basing its decision on the
authority of the Daniel Ball case,3 said :
The respondent, insofar as'it uses its lines to effect transmission of interstate
communication, thereby becomes an instrument of such commerce. In this
respect it occupies no different position than any local transmission agency
that may use its facilities as a link for the transportation of goods in interstate
commerce.
Public utilities of moderate dimensions.—Another important development
has been the extension of the Consolidated Edison 4 doctrine to
public utilities of moderate dimensions serving relatively small communities
and fewer and smaller interstate industries. In N. L. R. B.
v. Gulf Public Service Company, 116 F. (2d) 852 (C. C. A. 5), the
respondent contended that its business was largely intrastate and that
disturbances of its business would have but little direct effect upon
interstate commerce. The Company purchased relatively small
amounts of materials from out of the state, about $65,000 worth annually,
and the services which it supplied to agencies doing interstate
business were relatively unimportant, compared with the services supplied
by the Consolidated Edison Co. The Court, however, pointed
out that the magnitude of the enterprise is not controlling
.'
and if
labor troubles might reasonably be said to have the effect of directly
interfering with the free flow of commerce, the Board's jurisdiction
attaches.5
The doctrine of de minimis.—The doctrine enunciated by the Supreme
Court in the Fain,blatt decision,6 that the Act applies where
interstate operations exceed the doctrine of de minimis, received illumination
in the Suburban Lumber decision, supra, where the Court
declared :
De minimis in the law has always been taken to mean trifles—amounts of a
few dollars or less. Here, the Suburban's interstate purchases in a year when
the retail lumber business was at its nadir amounted to $150,000. Such a sum
surely cannot be considered in the category of de minimis. Even if the maxim
were to be applied to the very small lumber dealer, Suburban would be outside
the application, for Suburban is the average size of the lumber dealer in its
vicinity.
A local unit of an interstate business not separable where all operations
are integrated.—Elaboration of the principle, 7 that where the
business as a whole is subject to the Act the employees may not be
departmentalized in a manner to remove some of them from the
protection of the Act, took place in Virginia Electric and Power
Company v. N. L. R. B., 115 F. (2d) 414 (C. C. A. 4) , and Schmidt
Baking Company, supra. In the Virginia Electric case the company
contended that its artificial gas manufacturing and street railway
departments were local in character and therefore outside the Board's
jurisdiction, although the company admitted being subject to the
Act with respect to its electric operations. The Court rejected the
contention and declared :
A sufficient answer to this position is the unitary character of the company's
business, which has resulted, notwithstanding the division into these depart-
The Daniel Ball, 77 U. S. 557.
'Consolidated Edson CO. V. N. L. R. B., 305 II. S. 197.
To the same effect is Pueblo Gas d Fuel Company V. N. L. R. B., 118 F. (2d) 304
(C. C. A. 10).
N. L. R. B. v. Fainbiatt. 306 71. S. 601. 607.
7 Established in System Federation No. 40 V. Virginian Ru. (.Yo., 300 U. S. 515.