Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission

Seventeenth Annual Report

OF THE

INTERSTATE COMMERCE

COMMISSION.

DECEMBER 15, 1903.

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

2

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.

Valuation of railways....

Employment of special attorneys in cases before Commission..

Operating division of the Commission

26

32

34

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

board

46

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

65

Court decisions....

65

Injunctions restraining carriers from departing from their published tariff

rates

65

Cases involving enforcement of orders of the Commission

69

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 ...

79

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..

cars.

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

Page.

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..

115

116

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

120

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

appropriations and expenditures......

123

B. Points decided by the Commission since its organization..

135

C. Formal and informal complaints filed during the year..

299

D. Safety appliances and railway accidents..

323

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

30, 1902...

347

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

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

349

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

Index

351

353

Buku