ing analysis of the commission's activities, the requirements of organic unity and functional actuality have been sacrificed at times in the interests of logical presentation and convenience of exposition. The manner in which the commission actually conducts its activities is set forth in the chapter on "Organization."

Jurisdiction. The Interstate Commerce Act as amended applies to common carriers engaged in

The transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used under a common control, management, or arrangement for a continuous carriage or shipment; or

The transportation of oil or other commodity, except water and except natural or artificial gas, by pipe line, or partly by pipe line and partly by railroad or by water; or

The transmission of intelligence by wire or wireless: from one state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, to any other state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or from one place in a territory to another place in the same territory, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, or from or to any place in the United States to or from a foreign country, but only in so far as such transportation or transmission takes place within the United States.

The terms common carrier," " railroad," "transportation" and transmission" are thus defined in Paragraph (3) of Section 1 of the act:

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The term common carrier as used in this act shall include all pipe-line companies; telegraph, telephone, and cable companies operating by wire or wireless; express companies; sleeping-car companies; and all persons, natural or artificial, engaged in such transportation or transmission as aforesaid as common carriers for hire. Wherever the word carrier" is used in this act it shall be held to mean common carrier." The term "railroad" as used in this act shall include all bridges, car floats, lighters, and ferries used by or operated in connection with any railroad, and also all the road in use by any common carrier operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement, or lease, and also all switches, spurs, tracks, terminals, and terminal facilities of every kind used or necessary in the transportation of the persons or property designated herein, including all freight

themselves, but also to transportation property and transmission of intelligen portation or transmission takes place Three exceptions are enumerated in P to this general statement. The act doe

To the transportation of passengers o ing, delivering, storage, or handling one state and not shipped to or from to any place in the United States as

To the transmission of intelligence within one state and not transmitted to from or to any place in the United Sta

To the transportation of passenger: by water where such transportation w provisions of this act except for the fac out of its port-to-port water rates or out rates, any switching, terminal, lighte handling, or other charges by a rail car switching, drayage, lighterage, or corpo nal or district.

A geographical exception to the prov lished by the act of March 2, 1917 (39 vided a civil government for Porto Ri state Commerce Act and its amendm

Acts, etc., were all rendered inapplicable to this insular possession of the United States.

The above general provisions are modified further by the application of particular sections of the act and by various other laws affecting the commission's powers and duties. These exceptions are given in their proper connections below.

Section 12 of the act renders the commission the administrative agency for execution of its provisions. Authority is there granted to it to inquire into the management of the business of all common carriers subject to the provisions of the law and to keep itself informed as to the manner and method in which such business is conducted. It is "authorized and required" to "execute and enforce" the provisions of the act, and it is granted the right to secure from the carriers full and complete information necessary to enable it to perform the duties and carry out the objects for which it was created. Upon its request, it is the duty of any district attorney to whom it applies to institute in the proper court and to prosecute under the direction of the Attorney General of the United States, all necessary proceedings for the enforcement of the provisions of the act and for the punishment of all violations thereof, the costs and expenses of such prosecution to be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of the courts of the United States. In case the commission determines that any complainant is entitled to an award of damages for violation of the law, it is required to make an order directing the carrier to pay the sum to which the complainant is entitled on or before a stated date. If the carrier does not comply within the time limit, the complainant may have recourse to a United States circuit court, and the findings of the commission are to be treated by the courts as prima facie evidence of the facts involved in the case. Furthermore, the circuit and district courts of the United States upon the application of the Attorney General of the United States at the request of the commission, may issue writs of mandamus commanding common carriers to comply with the provisions of the law.

The commission may act to anticipate infraction of certain clauses of the law. It may cause any court of competent jurisdiction to issue an injunction against unauthorized construction, abandonment, or operation of line for which a certificate of con

venience and necessity from the commission is prerequisite. The reason for the exceptional remedy in this case is apparent. The commission has power "to require, by subpoena, the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all books, papers, tariffs, contracts, agreements, and documents relating to any matter under investigation . . . in case of disobedience to a subpœna the commission, or any party to a proceeding before the commission, may invoke the aid of any court of the United States in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents under the provisions of this section."

Liquidation of Government Operation Matters. Section 202 of the Transportation Act provides that "the President shall, as soon as practicable after the termination of federal control, adjust, settle, liquidate, and wind up all matters, including compensation, and all questions and disputes of whatsoever nature, arising out of or incident to federal control." In the attainment of this objective, the commission has the pivotal position.

Certification of Standard Return. Under the Control Act, every carrier under government operation was guaranteed during the period of such operation an annual sum "not exceeding a sum equivalent as nearly as may be to its average annual railway operating income for the three years ended June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen." It was provided that the commission should ascertain this average annual operating income, and its certification was to be taken as conclusive. By October 31, 1921, the commission had certified in tentative form the average annual railroad operating income of 588 carriers, amounting in the aggregate to $945,428,123.54. Since these tentative certifications have been made from the reports of the carriers as rendered to the commission, it is necessary to review the carriers' accounts to determine whether the certifications have been computed in accordance with the commission's accounting regulations. Various other corrections are being made from time to time and corrected certifications are issued when warranted. During the year from November 1, 1920 to October 31, 1921, three tentative certifications and 137 corrected certifications were made and nineteen tentative certificates were determined to have been computed in accordance with commission's accounting regulations.

Adjustment of Claims. Under Sections 3 and 6 of the Control Act the commission has appointed boards of referees to adjust the claims of the carriers for compensation not adjusted by the method of standard contract and to ascertain the losses sustained by carriers in making additions, betterments, or extensions ordered by the President during the war. These boards, composed of members of the commission and its official staff, are authorized to summon witnesses, require the production of records, books, correspondence, documents, memoranda, and other papers, view properties, administer oaths, and hold hearings in Washington and elsewhere. Four reports have been made by these boards to the President, six cases were dismissed at the request of claimants, and two cases were dismissed because of lack of jurisdiction. On October 31, 1921, fifty-three cases brought under these provisions of the act were pending.

Reimbursements of Deficits of Carriers not under Government Control. Under Section 204 of the Transportation Act, the commission is required to determine the amounts for reimbursements of deficits in operating income due carriers which were not under government control but which connected with or competed with carriers which were under control. After final audit of the carriers' accounts, certifications are made to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment of amounts due from the United States. Partial payments on these accounts was provided for by amendment of February 26, 1921.

The commission has encountered differences of interpretation of the term " deficit" as used in the law. Its construction has been to limit the application of Section 204 to carriers which, in the portion of the period of control during which they operated their own lines, sustained actual deficits in railroad operating income without reference to the results for any other period and to limit the extent to which such deficits may be reimbursed to the amounts remaining after the adjustments specified in Paragraphs (1) to (5) of Subdivision (f) of Section 209. Many of the carriers have contended that the word "deficit " as employed in this section of the act means a decrease in railroad operating income for the control period as compared with that of the test period. Ninety-three claims out of 279 filed with the commission for reimbursement of these deficits fall without the commission's