SECTION 24 See Appendix, Page 145, for text of both Section 24 has been changed to the extent of increasing the personnel of the Commission from nine to eleven members, whose salaries are now fixed at $12,000 per annum, instead of $10,000, and providing that the secretary be paid $7,500 per annum. SECTION 25 See Appendix, Page 146, for text of both the former and present Acts. Section 25 is new. This section, composed of five numbered paragraphs, imposes certain duties upon carriers by water in foreign commerce. Under paragraph 1 all such carriers must, within thirty days from the effective date of the act and regularly thereafter, file with the Commission a schedule showing for each of its steam vessels intended to load general cargo at ports in the United States for foreign destinations, (a) the ports of trading, (b) the dates upon which such vessels will commence to receive freight and dates of sailing, (c) the route and itinerary such vessels will follow and the ports of call for which cargo will be carried. Paragraph 2 provides that upon application of any shipper a carrier by railroad shall make request for, and the carrier by water shall name a specific rate applying for such sailing upon such commodity as shall be embraced in the inquiry and shall name in connection with the rate, port charges, if any, which accrue in addition to the vessel's rates and are not included in the rail rate or published as in addition thereto or included therein. Vessel rates, if conditioned upon quantity of shipment, must be so stated and separate rates may be provided for carload and less-than-carload shipments.. The carrier by water upon advices from a carrier by railroad, stating that the quoted rate is firmly accepted as applying upon a specifically named quantity of any commodity, shall, subject to such conditions as the Commission by regulation may prescribe, make firm reservation from unsold space in such steam vessel as shall be required for its transportation and shall so advise the carrier by railroad, in which advices shall be included the latest available information as to prospective sailing date of such vessel. Under paragraph 3, as matters so required to be stated in such schedules are changed or modified, the carrier shall file with the Commission such changes, as early as practicable after such modification is ascertained in accordance with regulations prescribed by it. The information contained in such schedules shall be published by the Commission in compact form for the information of shippers of commodities throughout the country. The publication shall be distributed to all railroads of the country in such numbers that the agent located in towns to be specified by the Commission shall have copies, so that every community of sufficient importance from the standpoint of export trade shall have opportunity to know the sailings and routes and to ascertain the transportation charges of such vessels engaged in foreign trade. Each railroad receiving such copies shall distribute same through its agents and shall maintain such publication as it is issued from time to time. in the hands of its agents. Under paragraph 4, a through bill of lading shall be issued by the railroad to which property is delivered pursuant to the terms of this section. Such bill shall name separately the charge to be paid for the rail transportation, the water transportation and port charges, if any, not included in the rail or water transportation charges. The liability of the rail carrier does not extend beyond delivery to the vessel, and the Commission shall prescribe the form of such bill of lading subject to such limited liability on the part of the water carrier as it is entitled under the law. In all such cases it is made the duty of the carrier by railroad to deliver such shipments to the vessel as a part of its undertaking as a common carrier. Paragraph 5 provides that the issuance of the through bill of lading covering shipments provided for in this section shall not be held to constitute "an arrangement for continuous carriage or shipment" within the meaning of the act. This is of importance as indicating that “an arrangement for continuous carriage or shipment," as that phrase is used in the amended Section 1, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (a), Appendix page 75, contemplates an operating arrangement as distinguished from a tariff arrangement, as was pointed out in the discussion of Section 1, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (c). See page 8, supra. SECTION 26 See Appendix, Page 148, for text of both Section 26 provides that the Commission may require any carrier by railroad subject to the act to install train control and automatic train stop devices which comply with specifications to be prescribed by it. The railroads are to have two years from date of any installation order within which to comply. The railroad is not to be held negligent because of its failure to install such devices upon a portion of its railroad not included in any order. A certain penalty is provided for refusal or neglect to comply with any orders issued under this section. SECTION 27 See Appendix, Page 148, for text of both the former and present Acts. This section is new and provides that the amended act may be cited as the "Interstate Commerce Act." RECOMMENDATIONS Any consideration of changes in the substantive law of carriers necessarily invites a conjecture as to further changes that should be made. Several changes that should be made in the Interstate Commerce Act have been suggested in these discussions. These suggestions do not, of course, include all changes that might be made, but only certain changes that should be made. That these suggestions may receive the serious consideration of the shipping public and the officials of the carriers interested in. revision of laws, a recapitulation is here offered of the respects in which this act should be further changed: 1. The word "partly" should be inserted in sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph 1, of Section 1, just before the last words "by water." See discussion at pages 5 to 6. 2. Paragraph 11 of Section 1 should be amended by inserting after the word "service" in the third line, "to enable them to perform the transportation for which they publish rates, fares or charges." See discussion at pages 13 to 17. 3. Amend paragraph 7, Section 6, by adding at the end thereof: “All carriers of freight or passengers subject hereto shall receive and transport all freight or passengers which by their tariffs they hold themselves out to carry in accordance with their duty so to do as governed by the common law. Provided, That no limitation recognizable at common law upon the duty to receive and transport freight which a carrier subject hereto holds itself to carry, will be available to any such carrier except an embargo based thereon be filed with the Commission and notice thereof be given to the shipping public in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 3 hereof." See discussion at pages 9 to 17, and pages 25 to 29. 4. Amend paragraph 7, section 6, by inserting after the word "time" in line 12 thereof: "Provided, That transportation charges assessed upon rates not otherwise in violation of this act which through error in tariff publication, oversight, improper interpretation of tariffs or otherwise, are higher than other rates likewise not in violation of this act, shall be unlawful to the extent they exceed the charges based upon such lower rates, if it be found in any proceeding by the Commission that such lower rate or rates might also have applied; Provided further, That where freight is tendered for shipment unrouted and more than one route is available under the published tariffs duly on file, at rates one of which is lower than the others, it shall be the duty of the carrier receiving such shipment to forward same over such lowest rated route and, failing this, to make refund of any charges assessed in excess of those that would have accrued had the shipment been so forwarded." See discussion at pages 29 to 30, and pages 30 to 32. 5. Section 17 should be amended by providing in appropriate language that one division of the Commission consisting of three members shall be designated as the Administration Division and that all functions. of the Commission which do not require a formal hearing as a condition precedent to action by the Commission under the act as now existing or thereafter amended shall be performed by such Administration Division. That the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall designate from the personnel of the Commission the three members who shall serve permanently upon such Administration Division and that such members shall be thenceforth relieved from any other than Administrative duties imposed upon the Commission. That all functions of the Commission which require a formal hearing as a condition precedent to action by the Commission shall be performed by the members of the Commission not designated as members of the Administration Division and that such Commissioners shall be relieved from responsibility for the performance of any duties required of the Commission which are by this amendment assigned to the Administration Division to execute. That duties so allotted to the Commissioners not designated on the Administration Division shall be designated as the judicial functions of the Commission and that the divisions which the Commission is now authorized to create for the expedition of its judicial functions shall be designated as Judicial Divisons. See discussion at pages 57 to 61. 6. Section 18 should be amended striking out old salary provisions. See page 61. 7. Section 24 should be amended, increasing the number of Commissioners to twelve by substituting the word "twelve" for the word "eleven” in the second line thereof. See discussion at page 61. 8. Section 16, sub-paragraph 12 should be amended, striking out Commerce Court and substituting any U.S. District Court of competent jurisdiction. 9. Section 20-a, sub-paragraph 7, insert word "not" before word "issue," in Commission's reprint of Act. In the fifth article it was recommended that section 15-a be repealed entirely. Such action involves a legislative policy which it not the purpose of this discussion to influence one way or the other. The recommendations here recapitulated do not involve matters of legislative policy, but are simply amplifications of the act, suggested to remove ambiguities and authorize changes of routine designed to increase efficiency. |