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Author 
 
 New York (City) Board of 
 trade and transportation 
 
 Title: 
 
 Relations of railroads to 
 the public 
 
 Place: 
 
 9 
 
 ■ 
 
 Date: 
 
 [1880] 
 
^q-^a)6.M-3 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DIVISION 
 
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 ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD 
 
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 New York (City) Board of trade and transDorta- 
 tion. Coinmittee on raUway transDortation. 
 Relations of railroads to the oublic; report 
 of the Committee ... upon bills now oending in 
 Congress to regulate commerce by railroad amone; 
 the several states. Adopted unanimously at the 
 annual meeting, January 14, 1880. cl88ba 
 8 p. 
 
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 DATE FILMED: 6-8^9^ 
 
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SELKTIOIIS OF iUILROUDS TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 Report of the Committee on Railroad Transportation 
 of the New York Board of Trade and Transpor- 
 tation, upon Bills now pending in Congress to 
 Regulate Commerce hy Railroad among ihe 
 several States. 
 
 ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY AT THB ANNUAL MEETING, JANUARY 14, 1880. 
 
 To the Direeton of the Board of Trade and Transportation : 
 
 Your Committee respectfully submit the following, relative to the Bill 
 (H. R. 2,432), introduced in the House of Representatives, by Mr. Sapp, of 
 Iowa, December 2d, 1879 : 
 
 The principal features of this Bill seem to be the appointment of a Board of 
 Commissioners, with power to fix rates and supervise the operation of Inter- 
 State Railways. It provides that there shall be nine Commissioners, appointed 
 by the President, with the consent of the Senate, and that one shall be a resi- 
 dent of each of the judicial districts of the United States ; that they shall 
 hold <ffice for four years, and receive salaries of thirty-five hundred dollars 
 each, besides their traveling expenses ; that they shall investigate the present 
 rates charged by inter-State railroads, and fix maximum rates, which shall be 
 kept publicly posted in every railway office and depot. 
 
 Various sections provide for the enforcement of these rates, and the Com- 
 missioners are also charjfed wi+'u tbe duty of keeping in the Department of 
 the Interior, a Bureau of Railway Statistics, to collect information regarding 
 the operation of railroads in this and other countries. 
 
 This Bill is doubtless a well meant attempt to remove the evils attending 
 inter-State commerce by railroad, but your Committee do not think that, in its 
 present shape, it is well calculated to do so. We do not think it practicable or 
 advisable, with the knowledge at the disposal of the public at this time, to 
 attempt to fix rates on inter-State tr^iffiCj although there can be no doubt 
 of the power of jC(Jngr*»fir8 to oo: pci, • it -i& alttempting too much with our 
 present knowledg©,,aLd»wbuld probably result iYi failure. In this respect, the 
 Reagan Bill, now ^«?nding ir^ Ocing^ress, i>* ftilieh more wise, as it leaves the 
 railroads free to •fix any t&Yea tiiey^ please,* only stipulating that they shall be 
 public, and alike to ail, and that no more shall be charged for a short than for 
 ft longer distance. .. » ' 1 • • • • .' 
 
 Another defect in ^r, igapp's bkl, iB*tKftt' it does not prohibit charging less 
 
 ^^..-...JEld 
 
v-c. 
 
 
 2 
 
 than the maximum rates to some shippers, and this is a very important point, 
 because one of the chief evils of the present system is the discrimination be- 
 tween individuals, putting it within the discretion of a railroad company to 
 build up the business «>f one citizen, and break down that of another. Your 
 committee are also of the opinion that the number of commissioners named is 
 too lar^e, and that their salaries are too small. It would be better to concen- 
 trate the' responsibility in the hands of three, or at moHt, not more than five 
 commissioners, and these should be men of the highest character and capacity. 
 Such men cannot be secured for thirty five hundred dollars per year ; railroad 
 companies pay from ten to twenty thousand dollars per year for this class of 
 Ulent, and the magnitude of the interests upon which such a board would 
 have to administer is such that too high a compensation cannot be paid for the 
 
 right kind of men. '• 
 
 The central idea upon which this bill is founded, namely : a national board . 
 of commissioners to supervise the workings of our vast internal commerce, in- 
 vestigate complaints of shippers, collect information, study the general work- 
 ings of inter-State railways, and recommend legislation to Congress which will 
 protect both the rights of the public and the railroads ; also to co-operate with 
 similar State commissions, we believe to be a necessity, and such a body, in 
 our opinion, will have to be created, in the event of ihe passage of the Reagan 
 bill, in order to superintend its operation and give effect to its provisions ; but 
 it has been thought wise by many persons who are interested in securing an 
 equitable adjustment of the relations existing between railroads and the pub- 
 lic not to attempt too much at first, but simply to affirm and embody just 
 principles in the law, and if the railways then refuse to voluntarily remedy 
 the great evils which exist, to then apply for such supplemental legislation 
 as may seem necessary to make these principles effective. 
 
 Unfortunately, the railroads have not thus far approached the question in 
 such a spirit as could be wished. When regulation by separate States has 
 been proposed, they have alleged that it is a question that can only be dealt 
 with through national legislation ; while one of their chief arguments when 
 national legislation has been proposed, as in the Reagan bill, is a claim 
 that a remedy can only be obtained through State legislation. 
 
 Your committee are of the opinion that bcth State and national legislation 
 are necessary to meet all the conditions of tlie problem, and that an attempt 
 should be made to secure both with the least possible delay. There can be no 
 doubt that the Reagan Bill is the most conservative and best considered measure 
 that has yet been proposed for the regulation of inter-State commerce, and yet 
 it has been denounced by railroad officials and attorneys who have appeared in 
 opposition to it as a summary of all that is absurd and unreasonable. They 
 have prophesied that dire misfortunes would attend its workings in case of its 
 becoming a law, while on the other Ijand, many. persons who entertain radical 
 views with regard to railroad uJfipageiiient; and the delations of railroads to the 
 public, are of the opinion that 'it dofes Mbt go far eaougli; ilmd that its provisions 
 should be more stringent an*4 /ar-'reaohVng.' . .' : .; ; : 
 
 In regard to these diverse .'opiiians your committee M df the opinion, first, 
 that some regulation of interstate railrofid traffic, by Congress, is absolutely 
 necessary, and that the Reagan Bill may. do veiy wtel;! fof a beginning ; that if 
 its provisions ihould not be found to vrork well in praoUce, and should do in- 
 
 ICQ 
 
 8 
 
 justice to the railroads, or that they are not sufficient to secure full protection 
 to the public, they may be modified by subsequent legislation. 
 
 The principal features of this bill are as follows : Sections 1 and 2 provide 
 that freight shall not be carried cheaper for one shipper than another under 
 like circumstances. Section 3 prohibits combination or pooling of freights. 
 Section 4, that more shall not be charged for transporting for a shorter than 
 for a longer distance, and Section 5, that schedules of rates shall be publicly 
 posted at each station. The other sections simply provide for carrying these 
 provisions into e£Eect, 
 
 As regards Sections 1 and 2, the fairness and desirability of their intent will 
 commend them to both Railroads and all shippers who do not seek advantages 
 over their fellows ; but in the opinion of your Committee they do not go far 
 enough, for a shipper sending 9 car-loads of freights might be compelled to pay 
 double the raie charged a shipper of 10 car loads, because the services were 
 not "like "although contemporaneous, and also the rights of small shippers 
 are not adequately protected. Regarding the question of uniformity in rates, 
 the testimony of Col. Fink, the fairest and one of the ablest, of railroad man- 
 agers, is as follows : 
 
 " I do not think that a common carrier has the legal right to enter into 
 special contracts with manufacturing establishments to carry freight at a less 
 rate than for the public generally, for the purpose of encouraging the erection 
 of such establishments on the line <«f its road. * 
 
 It is not the province of railroad companies to make themselves partners in 
 private enterprises. Even if they had the legal right, it is questionable 
 whether it would be good policy for them to do so. 
 
 Nor do I think it right that common carriers should make special contracts 
 on account of the quantity shipped, except when quantity forms an element 
 in the cost of the transportation service, and this is only the case when the 
 quantities are less than car-loads. 
 
 It does not cost less to carry ten car-loads of freight between two stations, 
 A. and B , tor one shipper, than it costs to carry one car-load for each of ten 
 shippers. The railroad company derives as much benefit from ten small 
 manufacturing establishments as from one large one of the capacitv of ten 
 small ones. 
 
 If the railroad company grant to the larger establishments lower rates of 
 transportation, it would unjustly discriminate against parties with limited 
 means, and be of no benefit to the railroad company A common carrier 
 should strictly adhere to the rule to charge the same rate for transportation of 
 the same article between the same points, only discriminating on account of 
 quantity as far as it influences the cost of transportation. He should not 
 
 make any arbitrary distinctions merely depending upon his will," (Ph'om 
 
 Report by Mr. Nimmo on Internal Cotnmerce, 1877.) 
 
 Why, however, the provisions of a regulating act should be limited in their 
 application to quantities of one car load your Committee cannot see. By far 
 the larger number of shippers do not ship as muoh as one car-load at a time, 
 and while a smaller quantity than a car-load may not be quite as cheaply 
 transported as that unit, yet we do not understand that this bill proposes to 
 interfere with the rates which may be charged, and in that case the principle 
 of equality might as well be applied to shippers of a hundred potinds as a 
 car load, and in any event no more should be charged for fansporting in 
 small quantities than the actual additional cost. 
 
 It is now everywhere admitted that railroads are • ighways, and the car- 
 dinal principle of the highway is that all citixens are entitled to equal rights 
 
f 
 
 tliereon. Those persons who wgne that it costs more to transport small qnan 
 titles than it does large ones, and that the principle of wholesale and reUil 
 every whe e obtains, start wi h false premises; they forget that a railway 
 pjrforms a public function; that it bejfins by asking and obtaining cerUin 
 privileges btcause the enterprise is "for public use ;" that the vote of the small 
 shipper had . s much to do with conferring the franchises under which rail- 
 roads are operated, as did ihatof the large shipper, and that therefore the right 
 of the citizen on the highway comes in to limit the application of the principle 
 of wholesale and retail which obtains in private tiansactions. It is the 
 same principle, carried a little further, which Col. Fink enunciates in his 
 testimony above quoted, and the pooled lines which are under his charge re- 
 cognise this for their rates are the same to shippers of a hundred pounds as 
 they are to those who ship in car-load lots. In point of fact, the difference in 
 the cost of doing the business of the many small shippers who may be termed 
 the general public, and that of the few large shippers is too small to be ap- 
 preciable ; a full car load can, generally, be made up from the goods destined 
 for two or more individuals, nnd when made up, costs no more to haul than 
 if belonging to one person ; it may be a little more trouble to bill and collect 
 the freight, bat the force maintained by the railroad is suflacient for this ser- 
 vice, and this really costs no more. 
 
 In westbound traffic, a large portion of the Rolling Stock goes empty, and 
 with east-bound the quantities are usually in car-load lots and upward, so in 
 any event no material hardship to the railroads can accrue, and it may well 
 be esteemed one of the accessories to a public service of this kind, that all 
 shippers large and small should be treated alike. Limiting the application of 
 just principles in transportation to car-load lots, is in our opinion unjust to the 
 large class of small shippers, tending to prevent their becoming large ones, and 
 discriminating against a worthy class of citizens, who possess the same constitu- 
 tional rights as their more fortunate competitors. 
 
 In short, it may be termed class legislation, and opposed to the fundamental 
 principles upon which our government is based. 
 
 We, therefore, recommend striking out of this bill the parts limiting its ap- 
 plication to quantities of one car-load and upwards. 
 
 Section 3 prohibits pooling or combinations, and it may safely be said that this 
 ia one of the most important sections of the bill. It touches the moHt vital prin- 
 ciple underlying the relations of railroads to the public, viz. : whether these 
 modern highways shall be allowed to charge the public rates for transporta- 
 tion which will afford more than a fair return, say 10 per cent, upon the actual 
 capital originally paid, in providing these facilities. The railroad law of the 
 State of New York, and many other States, was evidently formed on the theory 
 of a certain partnership or community of interest in these modern highways, 
 the State contributing the franchise while associations of individuals in a cor- 
 porate capacity constructed and operated the roads, for which they were allowed 
 to charge certain tolls or rates for transporUtion. It was expressly stipulated , 
 however, that when these charges amounted to a sum exceeding 10 per cent, 
 upon the actual cost of the roads, deducting operating expenses, that the Legis 
 lature might then reduce the tolls or charges, so that they would not yield 
 more than this rate ; thus virtually saying that the public mast share in the 
 benefits of this great invention, aa they do in other inventions after the person 
 
 who invents or develops the idea has received (through a patent for a given 
 space of time) a proper reward for his outlay of time or money. The spirit 
 of this law has been grossly evaded by establishing a fictitious basis of cost, 
 in many cases by " Credit Mobilier" construction companies, in others by ex 
 tension of roads and betterments paid out of " surplus earnings," or in other 
 words, amounts contributed by the public through excessive rates for trans- 
 portation, in others by barefaced " stock watering," through which a nominal 
 cost several times as much as the actual, was established ; all of which have 
 been used to evade the manifest intention of the law and to benefit a special 
 interest at the expense of all other interests. A prominent illustration of this 
 almost universal practice may be found in the Union Pacific Railroad, the Con- 
 gressional investigation of the Credit Mobilier Construction Company showing 
 that the directors of the Union Pacific Road presented themselves, as directors 
 of the Credit Mobilier Construction Company, with $94,650,287.24 in cash, 
 stock and bonds, of which they acknowledged $43,929,328.24 were profits. 
 It is believed by many that the $27,236,000 received as the proceeds of bonds 
 issued to them by the Government would, il honestly expended, have been 
 sufficient to construct the entire work ; and yet the commerce of this country 
 is being taxed to pay dividends upon the entire mass of obligations thus issued. 
 
 Another example is that of the New York Central and Hudson River Rail- 
 road, which in 1867 and 1868 watered its stock to the extent of about 47 mil- 
 lions of dollars, the dividends upon which, with interest, have since amounted 
 to over 50 millions of dollars. 
 
 The Comptroller of the State of New York, in his last annual report (page 
 40), alludes to this practice as follows : in discussing the relative advantages 
 of the rail and the water lines he says, " The railroad destroyed its natural 
 advantage when it watered Us capital." In the report of the legislative com- 
 mittee investigating the coal combination of 1878, we find the following : 
 
 ** During the receipt of these enormous profits many of the coal corporations 
 as was the case with railroads not engaged in the coal carrying trade, unable 
 under their charters, or for other reasons, to declare dividends upon their stock 
 that would absorb their unexpended surplus, issued additional stock to the 
 stockholders, for which they paid nothing, inaugurated what is commonly 
 known as stock-watering, or a capitalization of surplus earnings, which is in 
 substance exacting money from the people, creating an indebtedness represent- 
 ing the same, and making this the basis for forever asking the public to pay 
 interest upon their own money so exacted." 
 
 Combinations and pools are the only methods by which returns can be paid 
 upon the enormously inflated railway system of this country, and if it be de- 
 cided that it is wrong for the production and commerce of the nation to sup- 
 port this burden which has been placed upon it, then combinations and pools 
 should be prohibited, in which case natural competition would probably result 
 in the public sharing in some degree in the wonderful improvements which 
 have taken place in the transportation business. It is urged in favor of pools 
 that the uniformity and steadiness of rates resulting therefrom are of more 
 importance to the public than cheap rates ; and these are no doubt redeeming 
 features. But with a law compelling uniformity and prohibiting sudden 
 changes, these advantages might bo secured, with reasonable rates in addition. 
 This would certainly be more to the public interest than the plan of Mr. Charles 
 Francis Adams, Jr., which ia, in brief, that railroad companiea ahould be an- 
 

 « 
 
 bborized to legally enforce their working agreements with each other ; which 
 is another way of legalizing pools and combinations— entirely abrogatin^r the 
 principle of competition, and forcing the public to pay rates which will sut'taiu 
 our railway system upon its present inflated basis, or indeed an^i/ higher basis 
 . which railroad managers may see jit to establish. In the opinion of your com- 
 mittee, not only should pools and combinati*ms be prohibited, but legislative 
 action, both National and in all the States, cannot too soon be taken to pre- 
 vent the further extension of stock watering in Railroad, Telegraph and otiier 
 enterprises, which are public in their natnre, an'l which the public are 
 obliged to use. 
 
 Regarding Section 4, the wisdom of prohibiting the <;harging of more for a 
 shorter than for a longer distance is disputed by rnilroHd men, who allege 
 that, in some cases, it would prevent the marketing of surplus products which 
 must necessarily be carried at a very low rate. The railroad view of the ques- 
 tion is illustrated by the case of the Marietta & Cincinnati Road which, in 
 order to compete with the river route frequently carries from Parkersburg and 
 Marietta to Cincinnati for half the sum it charges to intermediate stations. It 
 seems probable, however, that such instances are rare compared with those 
 where great discrimination exists without such reasons, and if a law was 
 enacted embodying this feature, and it failed to work equitably, it could sub- 
 sequently be modified. 
 
 The publication of posting of rates and fares, as provided in Section 5, is 
 very desirable, and can be only objected to by those who seek to evade the 
 provisions of the law concerning equality, and in order that the spirit of this 
 Act may not be evaded, a provision should be inserted that upon all through 
 busine£>s between interior points in this country and foreign countrien, the 
 railroads should not receive as their share of the through rate a less sum than 
 their schedule rate, from or to the seaboard city through which the merchan 
 dise is exported or imported. In the past, railroad lariiTs have been frequently 
 evaded, under the cover of a through rate on export or impoit business ; and 
 this loophole for the evasion of the provisions of the bill should be closed. 
 
 The following are two, among the many illustrations which might be fur- 
 nished to show the necessity of such a law; the first is 8 memorial to Congress, 
 which has been extensively signed by houses in the Pacific trade, and recites 
 as follows : 
 
 •• MEMORIAL." 
 
 ** To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States of America, in Congress assembled." 
 
 "The memorial of the undersigned. Merchants and Shipowners, residing 
 and doing business in the United States, respectfully repres^^nts : 
 
 That the bill to regulate inter-State commerce and to prohibit unjust dis- 
 crimination by common carriers, which has passed the House of Heprfhenta- 
 tives and is now before your Honorable body, would, if it should become a 
 law, have results beneficial in the highest degree to lh« shipping, comm -rcial 
 and other interests ot the country. 
 
 That it has heretofore been the custom of Merchants ship|.ing goods from 
 the East to California and Oregon, to send the finest goods by rail at high 
 rates of freight, and tho medium goods by clipper ships via Cape Horn, at lower 
 rates of freight. 
 
 That the Pacific Railroad Companies have now entered into a combination 
 with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and with the railroad connecting 
 
 •, 
 L 
 
 with the Pacific Railroad, to divert the carrying of freight entirely from the 
 clipper ships, and have also entered into contracts with many merchants, where- 
 by all such merchants are bound and compelled to ship all their good's to the 
 States of Talifornia and Oregon by those roads ; and unless they do so, or in 
 case they send a [wrtion only of their goods by the said railroads, a higher 
 rate of treight from them than from those shippers who send all their goods 
 by the said railroads is exacted, thus rendering it impossible for those shippers 
 from whom the higher rates of freight have been exacted, to compete in the 
 market in the said States with those merchants and shippers who have paid a 
 much lower rate of freight : that is to say, the merchant who pays 12 cents 
 per pound freight, would have no chance successfully to dispose of his goods 
 as against the merchants who only pay half that rate. 
 
 That hirtherniore, to compel the aforet^aid Merchants and Shippers to keep 
 good fhirh and to send all their goods by the lines of the said Railroads 
 the aforesaid Shippers are compelled to agree, when shipping their goods 
 with the said Railroad Companies or their agents, that a sum equal to the 
 freight, calculated at the highest rate exacted, shall be retained by the said 
 Railroad until the end of each month, and at the end of the month to be in 
 part returned as rebate in the case of those Shippers who have sent all their 
 goods by rail, and the same to be forfeited to the said Railroads in the case 
 of those Shippers who have not sent all their goods by rail. 
 
 And your memorialists most respectfully represent that the results of the 
 said Act, in thus destroying a most iniquitous and unjust monopoly exer- 
 cised by the Railroads will be of great advantage and benefit to Merchants 
 Shipowners, Shippers and others. ' 
 
 Wherefore, your memorialists most respectfully pray that the aforesaid 
 bill may be speedily pat^si-d by your Honorable body." 
 
 "And your luemorialists will ever pray." 
 
 The second is a newspaper article, from the " mw York Tribune ' of 
 December 13th. 1878 
 
 " INSTANCES OF REDUCED RATES." 
 
 " MERCHANTS WHO AKE FAVORED BY RAILROADS, AND MERCHANTS 
 
 WHO ARE NOT." 
 
 "The reports about the cutting of freight rates by the railroads were 
 further confarmedWeinesday by the statements of a number of merchants 
 on the Produce Exchange. The railroad pool, it was said, was one of the 
 grea e.t .vils of the country ; there ought to be some national law wh ch 
 would make the managers of the roads abide by their charters S«iH r.r.^ 
 merchant: ' The railroads are common carriers,^hrmeantng of which ^s 
 that ihey. hall offer equal facilities to all. There is no re^on w^v thev 
 shoiild not take a thousand car-loads for one man at the same^te Thit thev 
 would carry the same amount for another, from the same point t if it were 
 made a test case m the c<.urts. a violation of the rule, I believe wouM rP 
 suit in a revocation of their charter ' "«iieve, would re 
 
 wh^o^^ret/lot^ottt^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 ofTximol ''n '^"i- " '-'''' ^' r- '^-" ^^rci^nZf^T^:^^^^^^^^ 
 of example, had made a contract for freight from Chicago to New York^a^ 
 25c., the schedule rate being 35c.; when the bills were m^Z^nu.^ «« i 
 
 was allowed a rebate of S^c. a hundred A snecifiTinJ.^^! T^ merchant 
 alleged, in the case of A^mouJ Aankint<m Kf an^Her^^^^^ 
 provision dealer.. Mr. Brock ordered 250 tierces'aVd Vrom Chtca^^^^^ 
 same day in which this amount was shipped to him an Pni,«l lrr.l^,z!' 
 he alleges, to Armour, Plankinton & Co^n Tuesday thefr bXwlr'/'"'' 
 up by the Erie I^ailway. but, by an error of the mSLc^r thp hir '^'*^'^" 
 changed. Mr. Brock found that he had been g^vTn a cm rate mill Z^'V' 
 tion of $24. Yesterday Mr. Armour sent lo mJ Brock and wan?^tT^ "^t""' 
 corrected, when the latter replied that if thrroThL mX lli ♦\°'^i^^' 
 was aot his fault. Mr. Broc£ stated that tL^^ttm^^l^TT^^ 
 
 :u^ 
 
8 
 
 .<.>: 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 firms CO the exclusion of others were ruininflr the trade. No f nns could com- 
 pete with others having the benefit of such privileges. He insisted that uni- 
 form rates should be established and maintained, and then merchants coull 
 carry on their businesH on equal chances. He had just received an order from 
 Europe for 700 tierces of lard, 200 boxes of bacon, and 200 tierces of tallow, but 
 he was not able to give prices as favorable as other firms, without losing money. 
 A grain merchant (one of the favored ones) on the Produce Exchange btated to 
 another member yesterday that he feared the recent publications about cuttmg 
 rates would be damaging to mercantile interests ; that if he had not had such 
 privileges he could not have had his present business. The cutting of rates 
 below the schedule he said, was nothing new ; it had been done always more 
 or less ; the agreement made by the railroads had never been carried out. 
 
 An illustration of the effect of such discrimination is found in the fact that 
 hiuce the publication of the above Mr. Brock has failed, and his is by no means 
 an isolated case, as is illustrated by the following extract from the New York 
 Daily Bulletin, of July 30, 1879 : 
 
 " A letter from a respectable city commission merchant has come under 
 our notice which shows how the system of special rates is transferring 
 the merchanting business into the hands of a favored few at the expense 
 of the many. We are permitted to quote from the letter as follows: 
 "Owing to the close competition in the foreign shipping and commission 
 " business together with the tendency of our railroads and ocean transit to 
 -discriminate rates in favor of large monopolists, I find it now impossible 
 "to do the legitimate trade that in former years I did; and have concluded 
 " that rather than continue business on my own account, competing against 
 "such combinations, to try and find a position in some large firm whose 
 " business would be accessible to the advantages given by railroads and 
 " through freight discriminations. I would, therefore, take the liberty of 
 " asking you if you have room for me in your business? From my long 
 "experience in the export trade I feel assured that I might be of some 
 "service to you ; and with my connections throughout the prmcipal ports 
 " and cities of Europe, feel that the same might be utilised by your house. 
 
 In conclusion your committee submit the following resolutions : 
 Rf solved. That in the opinion of this Board, the provisions of the Reagan bill 
 for the regulation of inter State commerce, as a whole are just and reasonable ; 
 and with the amendmei ts relating to small shippers before alluded to. and the 
 prohibition of " cutting " on export and import business, should becomes law; 
 that some measure of the kind is absolutely necessary to protect the pu»)lic in- 
 terest, and further, that the magnitude of the interests inv.)lved are so great 
 that a competent Board of Commissioners should be provided by a supple- 
 mental act to superintend the operations of interstate railroad laws and from 
 time to time recommend to Congress such additional or qualifying measures as 
 may be required to do substan ial justice to the public and railroad interests. 
 Resolved, That thn compensation for such commissioners should be large 
 enough to command the services of men of the highest character and ability. 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 F. B. THURBER. 
 
 MOSES G. HANAUER.i 
 
 FRANCIS BAKER, > Committee. 
 
 SAMUEL RAYNOR, 
 
 CHARLES WATROUS, 
 
 The BMoltUions were unanimously adopUdt 
 
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 New York board of transportation 
 
 Relations of railroads to the 
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END OF 
 TITLE