D.—2b

6

receipts from each branch of business and from all sources; the operating and other expenses; the balances of profit and loss ; and a complete exhibit of the financial operations of the carrier each year, including an annual balance-sheet. Such reports shall also contain such information in relation to rates or regulations concerning fares or freights, or agreements, arrangements, or contracts with other common carriers, as the Commission may require; and the said Commission may, within its discretion, for the purpose of enabling it the better to carry out the purposes of this Act, prescribe (if in the opinion of the Commission it is practicable to prescribe such uniformity and methods of keeping accounts) a period of time within which all common carriers subject to the provisions of this Act shall have, as near as may be, a uniform system of accounts, and the manner in which such accounts shall be kept. Sec. 21. That the Commission shall, on or before the first day of December in each year, make a report to the Secretary of the Interior, which shall be by him transmitted to Congress, and copies of which shall be distributed, as are the other reports issued from the Interior Department. This report shall contain such information and data collected by the Commission as may be considered of value in the determination of questions connected with the regulation of commerce, together with such recommendations as to additional legislation relating thereto as the Commission may deem necessary. Sec. 22. That nothing in this Act shall apply to the carriage, storage, or handling of property free or at reduced rates for the United States, State, or municipal governments, or for charitable purposes, or to or from fairs and expositions for exhibition thereat, or the issuance of mileage, excursion, or commutation passenger tickets ; nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit any common carrier from giving reduced rates to ministers of religion ; nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent railroads from giving free carriage to their own officers and employes, or to prevent the principal officers of any railroad company or companies from exchanging passes or tickets with other railroad companies for their officers and employes ; and nothing in this Act contained shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at Common law or by statute, but the provisions of this Act are in addition to such remedies : Provided that no pending litigation shall in any way be affected by this Act. Sec. 23. That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the use and purposes of this Act for the fiscal year ending thirtieth June, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, and the intervening time anterior thereto. Sec. 24. That the provisions of sections eleven and eighteen of this Act, relating to the appointment and organization of the Commission herein provided for, shall take effect immediately, and the remaining provisions of this Act shall take effect sixty days after its passage. Approved, 4th February, 1887.

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-STATE COMMERCE COMMISSION. [Inter-State Commerce Commission: Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, of Michigan, Chairman ; Hon. William E. Morrison, of Illinois; Hon. Augustus Sehoonmaker, of New York; Hon. Aldace P. Walker, of Vermont; and Hon. Walter L. Bragg, of Alabama. Edward A. Moseley, Secretary.] The Inter-State Commbecb Commissionees to the Hon. Lucius Q. C. Lamab, Secretary of the Interior. Sie, — Ist December, 1887. The undersigned Commissioners appointed under "An Act to regulate Commerce," approved the 4th February, 1887, in discharge of the duty imposed by the 21st section of the said Act, which directs the Commission on or before the first day of December in each year to make a report to the Secretary of the Interior, to be by him transmitted to Congress, the report to "contain such information and data collected by the Commission as may be considered of value in the determination of questions connected with the regulation of commerce, together with such recommendations as to additional legislation relating thereto as the Commission may deem necessary," beg leave to respectfully report, — It is provided in the Act referred to that its provisions shall apply to " Any common carrier or carriers 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 or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, and also to the transportation, in like manner, of property shipped from any place in the United States to a foreign country and carried from such place to a port of transhipment, or shipped from a foreign country to any place in the United States and carried to such place from a port of entry either in the United States or an adjacent foreign country: Provided, however, that the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the transportation of passengers or property, or to the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of property wholly within one State, and not shipped to or from a foreign country from or to any State or Territory as aforesaid." It is further provided that " The term ' railroad,' as used in this Act, shall include all bridges and ferries used or operated in connection with any railroad, and also all the road in use by any corporation operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement, or lease; and the term ' transportation' shall include all instrumentalities of shipment or carriage." The railroad mileage of the United States, computed to the close of the fiscal year 1886, of the companies respectively, was 133,606. The number of corporations represented in this mileage was 1,425, but by the consolidation or leasing of roads the number of corporations controlling and operating roads as carriers was reduced to 700. It is estimated that 4,380 miles of road have been