Page images
PDF
EPUB

thereof; and the registry mail receipt shall be prima facie evidence of the receipt of such order by the carrier in due course of mail.

Suspension or modification of order.-The Commission shall be authorized to suspend or modify its orders upon such notice and in such manner as it shall deem proper.

Obedience of carrier to order.-It shall be the duty of every common carrier, its agents and employees, to observe and comply with such orders so long as the same shall remain in effect.

Schedules and reports to be public records.-The copies of schedules and tariffs of rates, fares, and charges, and of all contracts, agreements, or arrangements between common carriers filed with the Commission as herein provided, and the statistics, tables, and figures contained in the annual reports of carriers made to the Commission, as required by the provisions of this Act, shall be preserved as public records in the custody of the secretary of the Commission, and shall be received as prima facie evidence of what they purport to be for the purpose of investigations by the Commission and in all judicial proceedings; and copies of or extracts from any of said schedules, tariffs, contracts, agreements, arrangements, or reports made public records as aforesaid, certified by the secretary under its seal, shall be received in evidence with like effect as the originals. [Interstate Commerce Act, section 16, as amended by Act of June 29, 1906, section 5.]

[ocr errors]

Rehearing. That a new section be added to said Act immediately after section sixteen, to be numbered as section sixteen a, as follows:

Sec. 16a. That after a decision, order, or requirement has been made by the Commission in any proceeding any party thereto may at any time make application for rehearing of the same, or any matter determined therein, and it shall be lawful for the Commission in its discretion to grant such a rehearing if sufficient reason therfor be made to appear. Applications for rehearing shall be governed by such general rules as the Com

mission may establish. No such application shall excuse any carrier from complying with or obeying any decision, order, or requirement of the Commission, or operate in any manner to stay or postpone the enforcement thereof, without the special order of the Commission. In case a rehearing is granted the proceedings thereupon shall conform as nearly as may be to the proceedings in an original hearing, except as the Commission may otherwise direct; and if, in its judgment, after such rehearing and the consideration of all facts, including those arising since the former hearing, it shall appear that the original decision, order, or requirement is in any respect unjust or unwarranted, the Commission may reverse, change, or modify the same accordingly. Any decision, order, or requirement made after such rehearing, reversing, changing, or modifying the original determination shall be subject to the same provisions as an original order. [Act of June 29, 1906, section 6.]

terest.

Procedure of Commission.-That the Commission may conduct its proceedings in such manner as will best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and to the ends of justice. A majority of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but no Commission shall participate in any hearing or proceeding in which he has any pecuniary inSaid Commission may, from time to time, make or amend such general rules or orders as may be requisite for the order and regulation of proceedings before it, including forms of notices and the service thereof, which shall conform, as nearly as may be, to those in use in the courts of the United States. Any party may appear before said Commission and be heard, in person or by attorney.

Every vote and official act of the Commission shall be entered of record, and its proceedings shall be public upon the request of either party interested. Said Commission shall have an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.

Either of the members of the Commission may administer oaths and affirmations and sign subpoenas. [Interstate Com

merce Act, section 17, as amended by Act of March 2, 1889, section 6.]

§ 1042. Amendments of 1906.

By the act of 1906 the action of the Commission has been fundamentally modified. Section 12, as to the attendance and examination of witnesses, as perfected by the act of February 11, 1893, is unchanged, as are sections 13 and 17. The important changes and new provisions are as follows:

1. By a new provision of the act any shipper who is aggrieved by the failure of a carrier to install and operate a switch connection with a lateral branch or private side track may complain to the Commission, which may investigate and make an order.

2. Section 14 of the act is amended by omitting the requirement that the Commission shall include in its reports its findings of fact, except such findings on which damages are awarded. The avowed object of this change was to save the Commission unnecessary labor. It tends to make the decisions of the Commission more like those of a court in form; and it may have an important effect on the action of the courts when applied to for an injunction against an order of the Commission. If the findings of fact are not stated, the facts will all go before the court, which may refuse an injunction upon its own view of the facts, without regard to the findings of the Commission. In fact, the position of the Commission, which has been similar to that of a Master in Chancery, will now be that of an independent quasi-judicial body.

[ocr errors]

3. By the amendment of section 15 the power of fixing a maximum rate is conferred on the Commission. This is not a power to initiate rates, but only to make an order after complaint and investgiation; nor is the rate named one which the carrier must adopt, but only a maximum above which it cannot go. The power is much less extensive than that conferred by the English act on the Board of Trade and Parliament.

4. By the same section the power is given to the Commission to establish through routes and joint rates, and to apportion the division of joint This power is entirely new, though it has been given to the English Commission from the beginning (ante, § 890).

rates.

5. The Commission is to settle the allowance to be made by a carrier to a shipper for his services or for the use of his cars and other instrumentalities furnished to the carrier. Extravagant allowances of this sort have in the past given rise to much dissatisfaction (ante, § 884). The power is entirely new.

6. By amendments to section 16, several new provisions are introduced in relation to the procedure of the Commission; the section in its original form having covered only proceedings in the courts. A statute of limitations is provided for complaints to the Commission for the recovery of

damages; and provision is made for service of its orders, and for sus pension and modification of them.

7. By a new provision, it is made the duty of a carrier to comply with the orders of the Commission so long as they are in effect. Under the original act the carrier could legally refuse to obey an order of the Commission taking the risk of a decision of the courts supporting the Commission.

8. The schedules and reports of carriers are made public records, prima facie evidence in judicial proceedings.

9. A new section is added, giving power to grant rehearings. The Commission has in fact from the first granted rehearings and this amendment codifies the practice.

TOPIC A-PROCEEDINGS ON ITS OWN MOTION.

1043. Investigation by the Commission on its own motion. The Commission, without complaint or petition of an individual may investigate on its own motion the charges or other practices of any car rier subject to its jurisdiction. In such a case, before entering upon the investigation, it will give notice of the time and place of taking testimony, and afford opportunity for calling and cross-examination of witnesses. Such proceeding is a substantial compliance with the statute. Re Rates and Charges on Food Products, 3 Int. Com. Rep. 151, 4 I. C. C. 116 (1890). Upon investigation if it thereupon appears that the conduct of the carrier is illegal, the Commission should use whatever power it has to correct the injustice. In the Matter of Proposed Advances in Freight Rates, 9 I. C. C. Rep. 382 (1903).

§ 1044. Investigation by order of Congress.

Such an investigation was instituted in 1890 as a result of a resolution of the Senate and a complaint of the Department of Agriculture. The Commission held that its authority in this case was derived from the permission given in the statute to proceed on its own motion. "Neither the Senate nor the Department of Agriculture is authorized to make any complaint, which under the statute the Commission is required to investigate. The complaint so made and repeated through the Senate and Agricultural Department was not a form of legal process, but an expression of discontent and dissatisfaction with existing rates. It imposed no duty, conferred no power. It was an admonition suggesting too much forbearance if not an omission of duty in respect to rates. As such it showed that the Commission did not of its own motion without probable good cause institute this inquiry and begin the investigation under the statute." Re Rates and Charges on Food Products, 3 Int. Com. Rep. 151, 4 I. C. C. 116 (1890).

§ 1045. Investigation as result of filing new tariff.

A similar investigation was ordered by the Commission upon the filing of tariffs by the trunk lines showing a general increase of freight rates. The circumstances are thus stated by Mr. Commissioner Prouty: "During the last of November, 1902, tariffs were filed with the Commission giving notice of advances in rates of general application. About the same time, owing largely to published interviews of railway traffic officials, the impression grew up that other general advances were to be made. This was widely commented upon by the press, and was the subject of considerable informal complaint to us. Any general advance in transportation charges is a matter of great public concern, and it seemed especially appropriate that the Commission, in the discharge of its duty to keep informed touching the methods and practices of railway carriers subject to the act to regulate commerce should ascertain the reason for these advances. An order was accordingly entered on December 1st respecting rates upon grain and grain products, dressed meats and provisions from the Mississippi river to the Atlantic seaboard, by which the leading lines of railway engaging in this traffic were required to appear at Washington on December 16th for the purpose of giving information touching the advances which had been made or were contemplated in these rates." After a full investigation the Commission stated its conclusion; but since such general investigation of proposed advances in freight charges was in a manner ex parte, although the respondent carriers were fully heard through their traffic representatives, and in some instances through their attorneys, and since facts not brought out in the inquiry, with further discussion of the subject, might lead to a different conclusion, no order was made. It was, however, determined that, unless the rates be readjusted in accordance with the views expressed by the Commission, proceedings would be begun against the several lines, which would put directly in issue the rates involved. In the Matter of Proposed Advances in Freight Rates, 9 Int. Com. Rep. 382 (1903).

§ 1046. Procedure upon such investigation.

Such investigation cannot be instituted by petition, since there is no petitioner; but it must be begun by some notice to the carrier investigated of the subject of inquiry. An investigation of this sort having been undertaken, counsel for the carriers attacked the jurisdiction of the Commission on the ground that "the proceeding was not commenced and conducted in accordance with the Rules of Practice established by the Commission, and was therefore without authority of law." The Commission, however, held the procedure regular, saying: "The act provides 'that the Commission may conduct its proceedings in such manner as will best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and to the ends of justice,' and

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »