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provisions referred to above, the work of the commission resolves itself into the quasi-judicial work of conducting hearings and rendering decisions on the many questions under its jurisdiction; the quasi-legislative work of drawing up and revising rules and regulations authorized by various provisions of the act; and the administrative work, including both the investigation and determination of fact, whether formal or informal, whether at the complaint of any person, firm, corporation, state, commission, etc., or upon its own motion, and the enforcement or execution of the interstate commerce act and the other laws which impose duties upon the commission. In each case, there are some points of division between the preliminary routine necessarily involved in the work and the intermediate and the final stages, so that allocation of function is possible, for purposes of administration as between the commission, itself as a whole, its bureaus, and its staff. The interesting administrative machinery by which this process of subdivision of labor has been accomplished is described in the following chapter.

CHAPTER III

ORGANIZATION

The important changes in duties of the Interstate Commerce Commission following the enactment of the Transportation Act of 1920 resulted in a general reorganization, both of administrative machinery and internal organization. To some extent the various laws defining the work of the commission prescribe also its general organization.

Statutory Provisions.

The law provides for eleven Commissioners, not more than six from the same political party, appointed by the President with the concurrence of the Senate for sevenyear terms1at salaries of $12,000 per annum. No person in the employ of or holding any official relation to any common carrier subject to the interstate commerce law or who is in any manner pecuniarily interested through ownership of stocks, bonds, or in any other way, is eligible for such office. No member may engage in any other business, vocation, or employment. With regard to its staff the commission has authority to employ and fix the compensation of such employees as it may find necessary for the proper performance of its work. The salary of the Secretary of the commission, however, is fixed by law at $7500. The commission is specifically authorized to employ expert examiners' and other assistants for the work of valuation, inspection of carriers' accounts, and investigation of block-signal systems and automatic control appliances; to employ such attorneys as it finds necessary for proper legal aid and services of the commission or its members in the conduct of its work or for proper presentation of the public interest in investigations made by it or in cases or proceedings pending before it; and to appoint the fifty district

'The original act provided for five commissioners to serve for 6-year terms.

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Who have power to administer oaths, examine witnesses, and receive evidence.

inspectors of locomotives, after competitive examination according to the Civil Service Commission's rules.'

The law provides that all expenses of the commission, “including all necessary expenses for transportation incurred by the Commissioners, or by their employees under their orders, in making any investigation, or upon official business in any other places than in the city of Washington, shall be allowed and paid on the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor approved by the chairman of the commission." Special sessions may be held in any part of the United States whenever the convenience of the public or the parties in the case may be promoted thereby, or delay or expense prevented. Through one or more of the Commissioners, the commission may "prosecute any inquiry necessary to its duties, in any part of the United States, into any matter or question of fact pertaining to the business of any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act.”

The commission is authorized to utilize the services of the district attorneys of the United States for enforcement of the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Law by making it the duty of any district attorney of the United States to whom the commission may apply "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 violations." The costs and expenses of such prosecutions are to be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of the courts of the United States.

In conducting its proceedings, the commission is authorized to act as it may consider will best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and the ends of justice. A majority of the commission constitutes a quorum for the transaction of the business except that by the act of August 9, 1917 (40 Stat. L., 270), the commission is authorized to divide its membership into as many divisions as may be deemed necessary and to assign or refer any of its work, business, or functions, to such a division for action."

Expert stenographic reporters may be employed by contract or otherwise for official reporting work. The commission may sell, at a rate per page equivalent to the cost of making them, copies of transcripts of its proceedings, and may use the proceeds of such sales to defray the expenses thereby incurred.

* Prior to this law, all matters requiring commission action had to be passed upon by a quorum of the entire body.

Divisions so established were given authority, by majority action, to prosecute and conclude matters, subject to a rehearing by the commission itself, with the same effect as if the action had been taken by the entire body. The Commissioner senior in service in each division is designated its Chairman.

The Commission. In order to function expeditiously and effectively, any body charged with such diverse responsibilities as has been entrusted to the Interstate Commerce Commission under the various laws defining its power and activities, must be organized in a manner to permit of considerable subdivision of labor and yet to assure harmony and coördination in the work of its various units into a consistent general policy. To attain the first objective the members of the commission have been grouped into five divisions termed, respectively, Divisions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Each division consists of three members, except Divisions 1 and 4, each of which is composed of four members. The duties of the respective divisions are as follows:

Division 1. The conduct of the work of the Bureau of Valuation, and generally with the conduct and determination of matters arising under Section 19a of the Interstate Commerce Act, relating to the valuation of railroads; matters arising under the safetyappliance acts, the Accident-report Act, the Hours-of-Service Act, the Ash-pan Act, the Boiler-inspection Act, the Block-signal Resolution; and Section 26 of the Interstate Commerce Act, which has to do with the requirement for the installation of automatic train stops and train-control, or other safety devices.

Division 2. The disposition of applications and requests for suspension of rates, fares, and charges under Paragraph 7 of Section 15 of the Interstate Commerce Act; under Section 4, the the long-and-short-haul provision; and under Section 6, relating to the printing and filing of schedules of rates, fares, and charges. This division also is charged with the disposition of cases on the special docket, involving awards of reparation when rates have been exacted which are conceded to have been unreasonable; the formulation of regulations for the safe transportation of explosives and other dangerous articles; requests and applications for authority to establish and maintain tariffs carrying released rates under Section 20 of the Interstate Commerce Act; and matters arising under Section 208 (a) of the Transportation Act, which prohibits reductions in the rates, fares, and charges which on February 29, 1920, were in effect on lines of carriers subject to

the Interstate Commerce Act, prior to September 1, 1920, without approval by the commission, the disposition of matters coming from the board of reference, composed of chiefs of various sections, which passes upon minor matters of an administrative character, as to which the policy is deemed to have been settled by previous rulings.

Division 3. The disposition of formal cases not orally argued which are not allotted to a commissioner or reserved by the commission; and the disposition of recommendations of the Bureau of Inquiry as to prosecutions and proceedings for the collection of penalties for violations of the Interstate Commerce Act, the Elkins Act, and other related acts.

Division 4. Matters arising under Sections 204, 209, and 210 of the Transportation Act, which relate, respectively, to the reimbursement of carriers for deficits during government control; the guaranty to carriers during the six months beginning March I, 1920; and new loans to railroads. To Division 4 have also been assigned matters arising under paragraphs 18 to 20, inclusive, of Section I of the Interstate Commerce Act, with respect to the issuance of certificates of convenience and necessity for new construction or abandonment of railroads; matters arising under paragraphs 6a, b, and c of Section 5 of the Interstate Commerce Act, the approval of the consolidation of railroad carriers, and under Section 20a of the same act concerning the regulation of the issuance of securities of carriers by railroad.

Division 5. Matters arising under paragraphs 10 to 17, inclusive, and 21 and 24 of Section I of the Interstate Commerce Act, as to car service, extensions of lines, and priority of transportation during war upon the direction of the President; also matters arising under paragraph 4 of section 3, respecting the common use of terminals by carriers; under Paragraph 13a of Section 6, concerning physical connection between rail lines and docks; and under Paragraph 10 of Section 15, with regard to the routing as between carriers of traffic which is unrouted by the shipper.

All the divisions except the last, in addition to the above duties, act in monthly rotation to hear argument in and determine such cases as are not reserved for consideration by the full commission. While one division is hearing arguments, the other two divisions are occupied in finally disposing of submitted cases and in performing the other duties which daily come before the commission. From the assignment of the work by divisions as outlined, the full commission reserves for its consideration and disposition as a unit, all general investigations, applications for rehearing, re

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