Seventeenth Annual Report

OF THE

INTERSTATE COMMERCE

COMMISSION.

DECEMBER 15, 1903.

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION.

Hon. MARTIN A. KNAPP, of New York, Chairman.
Hon. JUDSON C. CLEMENTS, of Georgia.
Hon. JAMES D. YEOMANS, of Iowa.
Hon. CHARLES A. PROUTY, of Vermont.
Hon. JOSEPH W. FIFER, of Illinois.

EDWARD A. MOSELEY, Secretary. 2

CONTENTS.

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The Elkins law

Recent advances in freight rates..

Failure to make statistical reports

Concessions to favored shippers in published tariffs.

Evils resulting from the use of private cars.

Valuation of railways...

Employment of special attorneys in cases before Commission.

Operating division of the Commission

Statistical division.....

Division of rates and transportation.

Complaints before the Commission

Hearings and investigations.

Cases settled and discontinued.

Decisions of the Commission

Advances in freight rates from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic sea-

board

Greater charges for shorter than for longer distances..

Freight classification

Application of carload rates to combined shipments..

Stop-over privilege on shipments of grain

Passenger fares..

Reparation

Extensions of time to comply with the safety-appliance act.

Court decisions....

Injunctions restraining carriers from departing from their published tariff

rates

Cases involving enforcement of orders of the Commission.

Suit to compel testimony and production of documents before the Com-

mission...

Injunction restraining the taking effect of advances in lumber rates..

Apportionment of railroad cars to competing mines....

Transportation beginning and ending in one State but passing through

another State

Power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce

Government-aided railroad and telegraph lines.

Civil cases pending in the courts.

Criminal proceedings.

Safety appliances..

The law now applies to all equipment.

To couple automatically by impact.

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Safety appliances—Continued.

Information lodged against various railways..

Extensions of time for compliance with the law

Grab irons and uncoupling rods...

Water brakes on Colorado roads

The case of the Boston and Maine.

The 50 per cent requirement

The inspection service.

Inadequacy of the inspection force

Work of the inspectors

Difficulties of the coupler problem

The air-brake situation

Value of the instruction car

Imperfect knowledge of safety appliances

The testing of brakes imperative

Standardizing of materials and practice

Separate groupings of heavy and light cars.

Greater care in return of “foreign

Uufavorable conditions ..

The uncoupling apparatus..

Lack of system in the gauging of couplers....

Neglect resulting from abnormal pressure of work

Carelessness in keeping repair records.

Importance of the retaining valve

Statement of actual conditions..

Railway accidents ...

Increase of percentage of accidents—some causes

Fatalities to passengers not increased

Inexperience as factor

Telegraphers and signalmen..

The record of collisions-a remarkable instance

Tardy and inaccurate reports to the Commission.

Delinquencies in reporting deaths and injuries

Duplication of reports of accidents......

Railway accidents as shown in annual reports .

Collisions—the block system ...

Desirability of the block system..

Deficiency of interlocking..

Value of block system conceded by railway managers.

Particular devices not required...

Defects of ordinary methods incurable.

Statistics of railways.....

Preliminary report on the income and expenditures of railways for the

year ending June 30, 1903...

Final report for the year ending June 30, 1902.

Mileage and classification of railways

Equipment ...

Employees..

Capitalization of railway property

Public service of railways.

Earnings and expenses

Railway receiverships

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cars.

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Railways in the United States in 1902...

Part II.-A forty-year review of changes in freight rates

Development of freight classifications

Changes in competitive rates...

Changes in local rates

Part IV.-State regulation of railways ..

Railway control through commissions

Classes of State railroad commissions

Extension of regulative power of railroad commissions.

Methods of appointing railroad commissioners

Ways of control by railroad commissions

Tendency as to incorporation of railway companies

State railway statutes..

Part V.-State taxation of railways and other transportation agencies..

State railway taxation.

Changes in laws of taxation

The library of the Commission ..

National Association of Railway Commissioners

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APPENDICES.

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135

299

323

A. Names and compensation of all employees, together with a statement of

appropriations and expenditures...

B. Points decided by the Commission since its organization.

C. Formal and informal complaints filed during the year.

D. Safety appliances and railway accidents...

E. Statistics of railways in the United States. Report for year ending June

30, 1902...

F. Preliminary report on the income account of railways in the United States

for the year ending June 30, )903.....

G. Review of railway operations and regulation in the United States..

Index

347