which was submitted in March, 1888, to a meeting of railway accounting officers and distributed to the carriers in June, was revised in the following year by a committee representing state commissions, the Association of American Railway Accounting Officers, and the commission. It was in general designed to include details relating to organization, physical property, finances, and intercorporate relationships of railways. A uniform fiscal year, ending June 30, was established as the period for which the data was to be returned.

Under the system of accounts thus adopted, the elaboration was begun of the system of national statistics and accounts of transportation companies which was contemplated in the law. The difficulties which the commission's statistical division experienced in securing the annual reports from the carriers in the time prescribed led it to recommend to Congress that a cumulative penalty be applied to delinquent carriers. The necessity for obtaining information as to the operation of the companies more or less associated with the common carriers in the business of interstate transportation led the commission to recommend that reports be secured from express companies and carriers by water engaged in interstate traffic and likewise from corporations and companies owning depot property, stock yards, elevators, and the like. In order to secure prompter information than was made available by the annual reports the commission undertook the preparation of monthly statements of gross earnings and operating expenses. The roads objected, however, and since under the law reliance was necessary upon the courtesy of the carriers for furnishing the information, the experiment was abandoned. The commission, therefore, recommended such amendment to the law as would strengthen its authority with respect to requiring such reports.

The experience of the commission in the first period of its existence demonstrated forcibly that the ultimate success of the act to regulate commerce was more largely dependent on easy access to all the facts incident to transportation" than was realized at the time the act was passed. It was, therefore, recommended that the law be amended to give the commission authority to enforce a uniform system of accounting for the carriers, the prescription of which was already provided for by the act of 1887.

Rehabilitation and Extension of the Commission's Powers. Between 1897 and 1906 the commission repeatedly called attention to the urgent need for new legislation to remedy the defects in the act of 1887. The Industrial Commission made similar recommendations in 1901. Although many bills were introduced in Congress embodying the important recommendations made during this period, none of them was enacted into law, owing in part to absorption of public interest in currency legislation, the Spanish War, the Philippines, pure food, and trust problems; and in part to the powerful opposition of the great transportation systems dominated by new financial combinations which had meanwhile sprung into being. Public opinion, however, was being prepared to support the demand for new legislation because of the development of new causes of irritation, superimposed on the old abuses. These were: the increased tendency toward consolidation of railroads, the practically continuous rise in freight rates after 1900, the concentration of financial power, and the dangers of utilization of the monopoly power of the large industrial combinations to obtain special privileges.

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The first significant change to be made in the law-the so-called Elkins amendment, of February 19, 1903 (32 Stat. L., 847) "— was not, however, in response to public opinion but rather to the demands of the carriers themselves, who had for some time realized the extent of their losses of revenues attributable to the practice of granting rebates to favored shippers. The act dealt almost solely with the question of personal discrimination, attempting to provide penalties and legal procedure to enforce adherence

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Only a few days prior to the passage of the Elkins Act, the so-called Expediting Act was passed (Act of February 11, 1903; 32 Stat. L., 823), which provided that in any suit in equity brought in any circuit court of the United States under the Interstate Commerce Act, the Attorney General might file with a clerk of court a certificate stating that in his opinion the case was of general public importance, whereupon the case was to be given precedence and expedited and assigned for hearing before not less than three federal court judges. Appeal from the decision of the circuit court was to be made only to the Supreme Court and within sixty days after entry of the circuit court's decree. The object of this act was to prevent the long delays which had so seriously hindered the administration of the act of 1887.

to published tariffs. The main features of the law have been summarized as follows:

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I. The railroad corporation itself, not as heretofore its officers and agents merely, was made subject to prosecution and penalty. 2. The penalty of imprisonment for non-adherence to the published tariff (as in amendment of 1889) was removed. It was expected that in this way witnesses would not be so reluctant to testify to the activities of associates, since the only penalty was a fine which could fall upon the corporation rather than the individual.

3. Any departure from the published tariff was made a misdemeanor so that proof of preferential treatment of shippers was no longer required.

4. Shippers or any other interested parties were made liable to prosecution for receiving rebates as well as carriers for granting them.

5. Injunctions could be issued by any federal judge whenever the commission had reasonable ground for belief that any common carrier was not conforming to the published tariff or committing any discrimination forbidden by law.

The commission conceded the value of the law in enforcing observance of published tariff charges, but it suggested in its annual report for the year that nothing had been thereby added to its power to correct a rate which was unreasonably high or of a discriminating nature while yet at the same time the application of the published tariff charges which the new amendment effectively secured brought into bolder relief any rates claimed to be unjust.

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Under pressure of President Roosevelt, who made railroad regulation a paramount issue" in his annual message to Congress in 1904, the Hepburn bill was enacted into law in 1906 (Act of June 29, 1906; 34 Stat. L., 584). Under the provisions of this law most of the defects of the act of 1887 were remedied. The membership of the commission was increased from five to seven and the term of office increased from six to seven years. Its jurisdiction was extended and the provisions of the act made applicable to express companies, sleeping-car companies, and pipe lines used for transportation of oil or other commodities except gas and water. The term "railroad was broadened to include

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switches, spurs, tracks, and terminal facilities, and the term “ transportation" was broadened to cover cars and other vehicles and all instrumentalities and facilities of shipment or carriage irrespective of ownership or of any contract, expressed or implied, for the use thereof, and all services in connection with the receipt, delivery, elevation and transfer in transit, ventilation, refrigeration or icing, storage and handling of property transported." Part rail and part water transportation was included, but coastwise and inland traffic solely by water was omitted.

A revolutionary change was made in the control over rates. The commission was authorized to determine and prescribe just and reasonable maximum rates or charges, regulations, or practices to be subsequently observed by carriers, but only after hearing and upon complaint." All orders of the commission except for money payments were to take effect within such reasonable time, not less than thirty days, as it might prescribe, and were to remain effective for two years, unless suspended, modified, or set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction or the commission itself. In addition, the commission could order an apportionment of joint rates when the carriers were unable to agree upon a division; through rates could be established; and reasonable charges could be fixed for services or instrumentalities rendered or provided by shippers. Power was conferred upon the circuit courts by suit to enjoin, set aside, annul, or suspend orders or requirements of the commission, but it was directed that five days' notice be given the commission to enable it to prepare a protest, and it was required that the hearing be held before three United States judges instead of one. A penalty of $5000 a day for each day's violation of the commission's order was fixed after the expiration of thirty days. Thus the burden of proof or initiative in all cases appealed to the court was shifted from the commission to the carrier. Instead of its rulings becoming really effective only after affirmation by the highest courts, they were now to be effective from the date of promulgation until reversed by court decision.

To prevent judicial delay, the act provided for appeal directly to the Supreme Court with the privilege of precedence upon its

The Senate eliminated from the bill the power to pass upon the reasonableness of a proposed schedule of rates prior to its taking effect.

docket, and the duty of formal prosecution of cases on appeal was assigned to the Attorney General. The so-called "commodity clause," designed to divorce the business of transportation from all other lines of business, provided that:

from and after May first, nineteen hundred and eight, it shall be unlawful for any railroad company to transport from any state, territory, or the District of Columbia, to any other state, territory, or the District of Columbia, or to any foreign country, any atricle or commodity, other than timber and the manufactured products thereof, manufactured, mined, or produced by it, or under its authority, or which it may own in whole, or in part, or in which it may have any interest direct or indirect except such articles or commodities as may be necessary and intended for its use in the conduct of its business as a common carrier.

The difficulties encountered under the law of 1887 in obtaining accurate and prompt statistical and accounting reports from the carriers were met by definite provisions of the law establishing suitable penalties for non-compliance or false entries. In addition the commission was authorized to have access at all times to the books of the companies, and it was rendered unlawful for carriers to keep any other accounts, records, or memoranda than those prescribed or approved by the commission.

Under these provisions of the law the commission revised its classifications and developed an adequate system of accounting in coöperation with a committee appointed by the Association of American Railway Accounting Officers. Information on a number of accounting problems was obtained through issue of circulars by the commission calling for certain facts, and a series of conferences were held extending over ten months. A Division of Accounts was established in the Bureau of Statistics and Accounts, which was placed in charge of the perfecting of a uniform system of accounting and the supervision of the force of examiners authorized by the law."

On June 3, 1907, accounting rules were issued covering operating expenses, and revenues, expenditures for road, and equipment. A general system of accounting prescribed for carriers was com

"In 1911 the Bureau of Statistics and Accounts was divided into two parts: The Division of Statistics and the Division of Carriers' Accounts.