The Transportation Act of 1920 increased the membership of the commission to eleven. This addition to the number of Commissioners as well as the changes in duties under the new law necessitated a reorganization of the administrative machinery. The members of the commission were grouped into five divisions numbered consecutively one to five, each division to consist of three members except Division 4, which was composed of four members. The chairman of each division was required by law to be its senior in service. In addition to the monthly rotation of Divisions 1, 2, and 3 for the purpose of hearing argument in and determining such cases as were not reserved for consideration by the full commission (the arrangement previously in effect), each division was assigned various special duties. Reservation was made for consideration and disposition by the full commission of all general investigations heretofore entered upon or hereafter to be instituted; also applications for rehearing, reargument, and other consideration, and certain other specially enumerated cases. The administrative force of the commission was also reorganized in the interests of simplicity and centralized responsibility. It was necessary to establish several new bureaus to assist the commission in administering various paragraphs of the 1920 act. A Bureau of Finance was created for the purpose of administering sections of the law relating principally to issuance of certificates of public convenience and necessity, issuance of securities, recovery of excess net railroad operating income, and acquisition of control by one carrier of another carrier, and loans to carriers during the transition period. A Bureau of Traffic was established, into which were consolidated various boards, sections, and divisions which had dealt with publication and filing of tariffs, the suspension of rates pending investigation, applications for relief from Section 4 of the act, classification of freight, express charges, and, in general, all matters affecting charges for transportation aside from formal docket proceedings and informal complaints handled by the Bureau of Informal Cases. The Bureau of Service was organized to execute duties imposed on the commission by Paragraphs (10) to (17) of Section 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended by the Transportation Act, relating chiefly to car service and operating efficiency. In attempting the execution of the provisions of the Transportation Act, the commission found itself confronted with certain problems, for the solution of which it recommended amendments to the act. It reported that immediate payment by the Treasury to some of the carriers of amounts or parts of the amounts, due them under the guaranty provisions of the 1920 act, was essential to enable them to meet their operating expenses, fixed charges, and other obligations; but that the Comptroller of the Treasury had ruled that payments could not be made upon the commission's certifications for amounts definitely ascertained to be due the carriers under Subdivision (g) of Section 209 unless such certifications were final, and he ruled that only one final certificate could be issued to any carrier. For this reason, the commission recommended that provision be made by Congress "to authorize and require certification and payment of partial amounts under Sections 204 and 209 (g) of the Transportation Act, 1920, and to authorize the making of a reasonable estimate of the net effect of deferred debits and credits to railway operating income, and the use of the resulting amount, when agreed to by the carrier, in making final certification of the guaranty under 209 (g)." Congress complied with these recommendations by addition of Section 212 to the act (Act of February 26, 1921, 41 Stat. L., II45). The commission in 1920 also called attention to the need for strict regulation under statutory authority of the transportation of dangerous articles other than explosives. While such regulations had been promulgated under Section 15 of the act, as described above, they were ineffective because of the lack of penalty. It was recommended, therefore, that suitable legislation be enacted, that the act of March 4, 1909, be amended to include certain explosives not definitely named in the act, and that its provisions be extended to water lines engaged in interstate commerce. These recommendations were carried into effect by the act of March 4, 1921 (41 Stat. L., 1444). Several laws were enacted, in addition to those enacted at the recommendation of the commission, during 1920-1921. Section 8 of the Merchant Marine Act" directs the U. S. Shipping 70 Act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 988). Board to make certain investigations relating to development of transportation facilities by water, and authorizes it to submit its findings as to detrimental effects of rates, charges, rules or regulations of common carriers by rail, to the Interstate Commerce Commission for such action as the commission may deem proper under existing law. Section 28 of the same act authorizes the commission, upon certification of the Shipping Board to suspend and resume operation of the provision of the section, prohibiting a lower rate for transportation within the United States of persons or property in foreign commerce than is charged for like transportation in domestic commerce, unless the water transportation from or to the port of export or import shall have been or is to be in a vessel documented under the laws of the United States. The act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 946), besides amending Section 210 of the Transportation Act of 1920, relating to loans to railroads, authorized the commission to make loans for equipment to or through such organization, car trust, or other agency as it might determine upon, approve, or organize, as most appropriate in the public interest, under the provisions of the act. By act of June 10, 1921 (42 Stat. L., 27), Paragraph (9) was added to Section 407 of the Transportation Act, permitting telephone companies to make application to the commission for certification that the consolidation of their properties into a single system under the ownership of a consolidated company, to be subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, would be to the advantage of those persons to whom service was to be rendered and in the public interest. The development of the commission's powers from the passage of the first law in 1887 to the close of 1921 has been described. A wave of restrictive legislation, which may be said to have reached its crest in the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, rendered the commission an administrative agency equipped with great powers. Yet the period of positive legislation which followed, culminating in the Transportation Act and its amendments, has added so extensively to the commission's powers that some years must yet elapse before full realization is possible even of the significance of the steps which have been taken. It is thus too soon to treat properly the work of the commission under the new legislation or to assign it a definite position in the evolutionary development given in the foregoing pages. For a critical analysis of the commission's operations under the Transportation Act thus far and the basic elements of the present railroad problem, the reader is referred to recent publications by specialists in this field." " See Sharfman, American railroad problem (1921), and Dixon, Railroads and government (1922). CHAPTER II ACTIVITIES The history of the Interstate Commerce Commission, indicates that there were three main currents of legislation in consequence of which activities devolved upon the commission. Under the primary legislation (the Interstate Commerce Act and all subsequent amendments except many of those added by the Transportation Act of 1920), the commission's central function is the establishment and maintenance of reasonable and just transportation facilities, rates, classifications, regulations, and practices. Under the safety acts the function of the commission is obviously the provision for safety of employees, passengers, and property. Each of the above classes of legislation make it also a function of the commission to recommend to Congress legislation to effect the ends sought. Finally, the Transportation Act of 1920, besides modifying and enlarging the functions already assigned under the preceding laws, renders the commission to a large extent a board of directors of the carriers which are conceived for certain purposes of regulation as one great combined system under centralized ownership and control, and it is made the function of this board. to determine in which directions and for what purposes certain expenditures shall be made, the amount of such expenditures, how certain funds shall be raised, etc. This act also assigned to the commission various duties relating to the liquidation of war time federal operation. In attempting to perform each of these functions, the commission has become involved in activities of an administrative nature as well as legislative or quasi-legislative and judicial or quasijudicial activities, which are frequently so inextricably woven together that easy and precise segregation for purposes of classification is difficult. Thus, for example, an activity primarily of an administrative nature often involves quasi-legislative duties and processes of a quasi-judicial nature, and can only with some difficulty be placed in any one of these three categories. In the follow |