general rule laid down by the Congress with the Comms on applying it to specific cases. A substantial amount of the work is also administrative in nature, such as supervision of published tariffs and he procurement of the information necessary to regulation from accounting and statistical sources.

Some activities are quasi-judicial in character, such ..s reparation for damage caused by unlawful rates and charges are quasi-executive in nature, as in connection with the enlore statutory provision or the Commission's own orders.

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In the performance of his duties a Commissioner may occupy one or more of the following distinct roles:

1. That of Chairman of the Commission.

2. That of a member or chairman of a division or division leciding particular classes of cases delegated to the division or divisions for initial decisions.

3. That of an "individual Commissioner" with specific delegation pursuant to section 17(2) of the act, including that of a reporting Commissioner for the administration of the various bureaus.

4. That of a member of a committee.

5. That of a participant in entire Commission matters handled in conference or by individual notation of action.

Each of the foregoing will be discussed briefly.

The Commission elects its own Chairman and follows the practice of rotating this office on an annual basis. The Chairman is the executive head of the Commission. He presides at conferences and exercises general control over the Commission's oral argument calendar and conference agenda. Except in instances where the duty is otherwise delegated, he acts as correspondent and spokesman for the Commission in all matters where an official expression of the Commission is required. He also serves as chairman ex officio of the

Committees on Legislation and Rules.

The Commission has four divisions, each composed of three members. These divisions exercise delegated authority of large scope, including the initial decisions of nearly all formal matters presented to the Commission.

Division 1 is primarily responsible for the deciding of substantive matters involving the granting or denial of operating rights to motor carriers, water carriers, and freight forwarders.

Division 2 deals primarily with rate, tariff and valuation matters. Division 3 is the safety and service division and disposes of some rate cases in conjunction with division 2.

Division 4 is the finance division, and in addition disposes of matters relating to certificates for construction or abandonment of rail lines and discontinuances of passenger train service.

Normally cases do not reach the entire Commission until after a decision by the division is made and then only if a petition for reconsideration is filed by one or more of the parties and not granted by the division.

Individual Commissioners are also delegated authority to act on matters requiring Commission action. These are generally of a procedural nature and usually connected with a specific bureau. Each bureau and office of the Commission, of which there are 13, is assigned to one of the Commissioners and reports through him to the appro

priate division or to the Commission. The reporting Commissioners represent the liaison between the bureaus and the Commission and place before the Commission those proposals which are necessary for the proper conduct of the work of the bureaus.

A Commissioner may also be assigned to one of two standing committees or to special committees of the Commission. The standing committees, consisting of three members each, are the Legislative Committee and the Rules Committee. The duties and functions of the Legislative Committee encompass the initiating or processing of legislative recommendations which the Commission makes to the Congress and the reporting on proposed legislation which is referred to the Commission for comment. The Committee on Rules is concerned with changes in the Commission's rules of practice, in its organization procedure, and in other related matters.

To provide opportunity for thoroughgoing discussions of both administrative matters and matters requiring substantive decision, the Commission en banc meets in regular conferences twice each month. Special conferences are called as required. Matters not disposed of in conference are voted on by notation.

It should be pointed out that there are multitudinous operations which do not reach a Commissioner's office. As examples, I cite the receiving and docketing of pleadings; the receiving, checking and filing of tariffs; the receiving and analyzing of annual and other reports. These operations involve ministerial duties properly performed by the staff, but for which the Commissioners are of course responsible. The role of the Commissioners' immediate or personal staff: A typical Commissioner's office consists of a private secretary for the Commissioner, a senior and a junior stenographer, and in some cases a messenger. Also detailed to the office from one of the Commission's bureaus are from two to four examiners chosen by the Commissioner. The examiners chosen are attorneys and generally have substantial experience in transportation work. The transportation experience of those in my office ranges from 10 years to 30 years.

The relation between the examiners and the Commissioner depends largely upon the Commissioner. That relation in my own case is illustrated by an explanation of the decisional process.

All drafts of reports which are circulated to me for consideration are furnished in duplicate. One copy goes to one of my staff examiners; I retain the other. While the staff examiner studies the details of a case for which he has more time than I do, I go over the report. The time I spend on this review depends upon the complexity and importance of the case and the proficiency with which the report has been prepared.

Following the analysis described the examiner furnishes me the result of his study in the form of a statement of his own free and independent judgment. In that statement conflicts, if any, between his judgment and my known policies are developed. Thereafter I either vote, call for further information, or myself engage in further research or study of the pleadings. I alone decide how I shall vote or express myself. The examiner's role is that of an assistant to me in the process of putting my expression in proper form.

The role of the agency staffs: The drafts of formal reports are initiated in three bureaus: The Bureau of Finance, the Bureau of

Operating Rights, and the Bureau of Rates and Practices. The Bureau of Rates and Practices processes all cases arising out of the rate regulatory provisions of the act. The Bureau of Operating Rights processes all cases involving the issuance of certificates, permits and licenses of motor carriers, water carriers, and freight forwarders. Cases involving the control of mergers and acquisitions are processed in the Bureau of Finance, as are also cases involving security issues and railroad certificate and abandonment proceedings.

The role of the agency staff is well developed. The agency examiner's work must turn largely upon the precedents established in previous cases which bear upon the issues before him. Nevertheless, the agency staff examiners are given full opportunity to present their views, particularly where new and novel issues are presented.

Another very important use made of the agency staff members is through boards of employees. Certain of these boards of employees have the power to make initial decisions. In each case, however, the parties may appeal a board's decision to a division of the Commission, the action of which is administratively final. The boards which have the power to make initial decisions are the Fourth Section Board, Board of Suspension, the Temporary Authorities Board, and the Transfer Board.

In addition to the agency staff members used primarily to draft reports, the Commission also relies on the staffs in its other bureaus and offices. These staff members are in a position oftentimes to provide a sounder appraisal of specific situations than are members of the Commission or of the Commissioners' own immediate staff. For example, the principal members of the staff of the Bureau of Traffic have by long experience acquired knowledge of technical tariff matters beyond that of most Commissioners and their staffs. The principal members of the Bureau of Accounts, Cost Finding, and Valuation have by education, experience, and training specialized in cost-finding techniques as applied to transportation. The Commission uses and relies upon these staff members for advice, aid in drafting reports, and other matters within the "specialization" of the particular agency staff member.

Divisions of responsibilities: In setting forth the roles of Commissioners, their immediate staffs and the agency staffs, I have also given their divisions of responsibility.

The overall responsibility for the proper administration of the various statutes rests, of course, upon the Commissioners. In isolated instances specific duties and responsibilities are by statute conferred upon designated employees, and of course under the Commission's organization rules the employees are made responsible to it; but this does not relieve the Commissioners of their overall responsibility to the Congress. Mindful then of this overall responsibility of the Commissioners, I take it that topic III of this panel was designed both to determine actual divisions of responsibilities and to explore the i extent to which Commissioners act upon their own or rely upon either their immediate or upon agency staffs.

Present strength and weaknesses: It is believed that our system of specialization of opinion writers and other agency staff members, and the division of work so that such specialization may be brought to bear effectively, increases efficiency. It leads to more uniform decisions and more expeditious handling of cases. A review by an examiner

on the Commissioner's immediate staff acts as a check not only with respect to the views of the individual Commissioner but also a check against errors, misunderstanding, or possible arbitrariness of the agency staff level. The "strength" of our present procedure is indicated by the fact that we have been reasonably successful in handling our tremendous workload of cases, while at the same time providing all interested parties with a full and fair hearing. It is believed that the public shares our confidence that the public interest is being protected under our present procedure and that this is being done at a reasonable cost.

On the "weakness" side, there is the large volume of work confronting each Commissioner. This means we are not able to give as much time to each individual case as we would like to. The Commission has from time to time taken steps to reduce the workload of the individual Commissioners so that more attention could be devoted to matters of major transportation importance.

In 1952 it delegated certain functions involving protests against proposed rates and relief from the fourth section of the act to boards of employees, with full right of the aggrieved party to appeal to a division of the Commission which acts in an appellate capacity. It has since delegated certain motor carrier functions to other boards of employees for the purpose of making initial decisions.

It is probable that other steps will be taken in the future to reduce the workload of members of the Commission. However, Congress looks to members of the Commission and not to boards of employees to see that the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act and the national transportation policy are carried out. The redelegation of authority granted us by the Congress must be made only after careful study and with adequate safeguards to the public interest.

What legislative or other matters, if any, are needed?

The Commission has been active in looking ahead to necessary developments in its basic legislation and in calling attention of the Congress to the need for change. These recommendations are contained in our annual report to the Congress. Our recommendations last year were limited to those of a more urgent nature. This was largely because the Transportation Act of 1958 had just been enacted, and there had not been a sufficient lapse of time in which to gain experience under the new legislation. We are in the process now of conducting a study with a view toward suggesting legislation, if any is needed, to reduce our sphere of action to matters fundamentally affecting transportation. As soon as practicable under completion, the Commission's recommendation will be submitted to the Congress.

I have no legislative recommendations to offer at this time.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Freas, for a very fine statement as to the role of the Commissioners.

Your entire prepared statement will be included in the record at this point.

(The statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF HOWARD FREAS, COMMISSIONER, INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION, CONCERNING ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS PROBLEMS

Pursuant to the invitation of the chairman of the subcommittee and at the request of our Commission, I have prepared a statement dealing with "the role of Commissioners and their immediate staffs and agency staffs, and the division

of responsibilities; present strengths and weaknesses; what legislative or other measures, if any, are needed."

THE ROLE OF COMMISSIONERS

The Interstate Commerce Commission has been created for the purpose of applying to the many specific instances that arise broad principles of transportation regulation laid down by the Congress.

The role of Commissioners as well as of their staffs, both immediate and agency, is the administration of the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act and of numerous other acts or sections of other acts. The collective efforts of the Commissioners and their staffs are directed to carrying out the national transportation policy of the Congress of providing for fair and impartial regulation of all modes of transportation subject to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act.

The principal powers conferred on the Interstate Commerce Commission by the Congress for the protection of the public interest may be stated in a general and abbreviated way as follows: (1) control of the number of carriers and the scope of their service through issuance of certificates of public convenience and necessity and permits; (2) control of discontinuances of operations; (3) requiring that rates, fares, and practices of common carriers be just and reasonable, and prohibiting unjust discrimination and undue preferences and prejudices; (4) control of mergers and acquisitions of carriers, and of the issuances of securities; and (5) supervision of matters of safety.

The great bulk of the duties of an Interstate Commerce Commissioner are quasi-legislative; i.e., they consist of the application of a general rule laid down by the Congress with the Commission applying it to specific cases. A substantial amount of the work is also administrative in nature, such as supervision of published tariffs and the procurement of the information necessary to regulation from accounting and statistical sources. Some activities are quasi-judicial in character, such as the award of reparation for damage caused by unlawful rates and charges. Others are quasi-executive in nature, as in connection with the enforcement of statutory provision or the Commission's own orders.

In the performance of his duties a Commissioner may occupy one or more of the following distinct roles:

1. That of Chairman of the Commission.

2. That of a member or chairman of a division or divisions deciding particular classes of cases delegated to the division or divisions for initial decisions.

3. That of an individual Commissioner with specific delegations pursuant to section 17(2) of the act, including that of a reporting Commissioner for the administration of the various bureaus.

4. That of a member of a committee.

5. That of a participant in entire Commission matters handled in conference or by individual notation of action.

Each of the foregoing will be discussed briefly.

The Commission elects its own Chairman and follows the practice of rotating this office on an annual basis. The Chairman is the executive head of the Commission. He presides at conferences and exercises general control over the Commission's oral argument calendar and conference agenda. Except in instances where the duty is otherwise delegated, he acts as correspondent and spokesman for the Commission in all matters where an official expression of the Commission is required. He also serves as chairman ex officio of the Committees on Legislation and Rules.

The Commission has four divisions, each composed of three members. These divisions exercise delegated authority of large scope, including the initial decisions of nearly all formal matters presented to the Commission.

Division 1 is primarily responsible for the deciding of substantive matters involving the granting or denial of operating rights to motor carriers, water carriers, and freight forwarders. Division 2 deals primarily with rate, tariff, and valuation matters. Division 3 is the Safety and Service Division and disposes of some rate cases in conjunction with Division 2. Division 4 is the Finance Division, and in addition disposes of matters relating to certificates for construction or abandonment of rail lines and discontinuances of passenger train service.