Liquidation of Government Operation Certification of standard return Adjustment of claims

Reimbursements of deficients of car

ment control

Elimination of discriminations Calculation of six months' guaranty Certification of loans

The Commission as a Board of Di System

Consolidation of railroads into syste Correlation of rail and water routes Pooling of facilities and equipment Division of joint rates

Pooling of freights and division of ea Control of extensions or abandonmen Maintenance of general railroad con Maintenance of Just and Reasonable ] fications, Practices, etc.

Securing compliance with standards Enforcement of prohibitions on the Positive duties of the commission Ancillary Activities

Valuation of railroads

Authorization of issuance of securit

Accounting

Statistics

Investigation and research

Promotion of Safety of Employees, P Investigation of accidents and safety Regulation of transportation of expl ous articles

is the administration and enforcement of to regulate commerce, more generally k Commerce Act," of February 4, 1887 (24 S and supplemented by subsequent legislati

The commission is in general directed to aid the President in the liquidation of war-time control of the carriers; to esta and reasonable transportation facilities, ra lations, and practices; to supervise the i the assumption of financial obligations by for the safety of employees, passengers function as a correlating agency between in the transportation industry.

The history of the Interstate Commer connected with the railroad history of th eral question of governmental control of monograph, discussion of these phases o to that minimum without which an acc

'Among the most significant acts amending o law are the following: Act of March 2, 1889 February 19, 1903 (32 Stat. L., 847), act of 584), act of June 18, 1910 (36 Stat. L., 539), ac L., 566), acts of May 29 and Aug. 9, 1917 (40 S1 act of February 28, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 456).

would be unintelligible, since much material is already available in specialized studies made by competent students in these related fields of inquiry."

The Period of Restrictive National Regulation. In the early days of railroad development in the United States public attention was directed toward construction rather than operation. Once the excellence and advantages of the transportation facilities afforded by the railroads became obvious, the general desire was to provide the maximum mileage in the briefest interval of time. It was, therefore, deemed essential to encourage the railroad promoter, who was viewed as a public benefactor.

Under an imperative popular demand general laws were enacted in many states enabling projectors of roads to organize at pleasure and to select their own lines. After the construction was completed the directors were also permitted to operate practically as they saw fit, and with almost the same freedom as in ordinary private business. The builders of a new road assumed great risks, and when their venture proved successful, having conferred a very great benefit on the public, they were properly entitled to charge, if they saw fit to do so, such rates as would net them a handsome return.

This liberal attitude was no doubt responsible for most of the evils which subsequently compelled governmental regulation. A considerable portion of the public money invested in railroads was lost; there was discrimination, open and concealed, in behalf of favored shippers and localities through special rates, rebates, drawbacks, underbilling, and reduced classification; rates were changed at pleasure and without public notification; corporate shares were frequently manipulated for the advantage of managers and to the detriment of the owners; free transportation was granted to persons outside the railroad service in a manner that led to charges of favoritism. These and other evils led, shortly before 1870, to

2

It has been necessary to limit also the treatment of such matters as the “safety” work of the commission, its accounting and statistical work, its handling of the railroad valuation problem, etc., each of which has become a broad field of study.

'Drinker, Treatise on the interstate commerce act, vol. I, p. 54. See also Taussig, Principles of economics, vol. ii, pp. 393-394.

The general supervision and examina commonwealth with reference to the se of the public and the compliance of the visions of their charters and the laws o Investigation of complaints against city authorities and, under certain cond by voters as to the condition and oper part of whose location was within the li

To serve notice upon railroad corpo comply with the terms of their charters wealth; to serve notice of repairs upon additions to rolling stock, etc., deemed sioners to promote the public "security modation.'

Investigation of accidents resulting of life.