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SECOND ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION.

DECEMBER 1 1888.

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION.

HON. THOMAS M. COOLEY, of Michigan, Chairman.
HON. WILLIAM R. MORRISON, of Illinois.

HON. AUGUSTUS SCHOONMAKER, of New York.

HON. ALDACE F. WALKER, of Vermont.

HON. WALTER L. BRAGG, of Alabama.

EDWARD A. MOSELEY, Secretary.

REPORT

OF THE

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

Hon. WILLIAM F. VILAS,

Secretary of the Interior:

SIR: The undersigned, Commissioners appointed under the act to regulate commerce, approved February 4, 1887, in submitting this their second annual report as required by the twenty-first section of said act, have the honor to say:

From the best information now available, the railroad mileage of the country on the 30th day of June, 1888, is estimated at 152,781, of which 2,312 miles had been completed and brought into operation within the six months preceding that day. The railway construction in 1886 was 8,471 miles; in 1887 it was 12,688 miles. The number of corporations represented in the mileage is 1,251, but by reason of leases or other contract arrangements many corporations hold control of and operate one or more roads owned by other corporations, and the whole number making reports of operation at the date named was 665.

WHAT CARRIERS ARE SUBJECT TO THE ACT.

The carriers who are subject to the act are those who are "engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used, under a common control, management, or arrangement, for a continuous carriage. or shipment, from one State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia to any other State of the United States or the District of Columbia," etc.

There are many railroads whose lines are entirely within the limits of a single State or Territory which are controlled or managed with com•plete independence, but it is doubtful if, with the exception of the municipal street and elevated roads and such roads as are purely adjuncts of mines or other local interests, there is one which does not to some extent engage in interstate traffic. All of them have traffic arrangements of some sort, under which they issue passenger tickets over other roads, or honor those which other carriers issue, or issue or accept through bills of lading, or in some other way participate in interstate business. To render the roads most useful to the stockholders and most convenient to the public this becomes a necessity. But when this is done by any road, the Commission understands that the act to regulate commerce applies to the party operating it; that such party should respond to the call for an annual report, and in the management of its interstate business should conform to the principles which the act prescribes.

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