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consent of the Senate, and who shall receive a salary of twelve thousand dollars per annum, and whose term and tenure of office shall be like that of the heads of the other executive departments; and section one hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to include such Department of Transportation, and the provisions of title four of the Revised Statutes, including all amendments thereto, are hereby made applicable to said department.

SEC. 2. That there shall be in said department a First Assistant Secretary of Transportation, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of six thousand dollars per annum. He shall have charge of all matters in the Department of Transportation relating to steam and electric railways, and shall perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by the Secretary or required by law.

There shall be in said department a Second Assistant Secretary of Transportation, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum; and he shall have charge of all matters in the Department of Transportation relating to telegraph lines.

There shall be in the said Department of Transportation a Third Assistant Secretary of Transportation, to be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum; and he shall have charge of all matters in the Department of Transportation relating to telephone lines.

There shall be in the said Department of Transportation a Fourth Assistant Secretary of Transportation, to be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum; and he shall have charge of all matters in the Department of Transportation relating to waterways and similar lines of transportation thereon.

There shall be in the said Department of Transportation a Fifth Assistant Secretary of Transportation. to be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum; and he shall have charge of all matters in the Department of Transportation relating to pipe lines.

There shall be in the said Department of Transportation a Sixth Assistant Secretary of Transportation, who shall be appointed by the President of the I'nited States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars a year; and he shall have charge of all matters in the Department of Transportation relating to the express business. There shall be one chief clerk and a disbursing clerk and such other clerical assistance as may from time to time be authorized by Congress in each of the said assistant secretaries' departments; and the Auditor for the State and Other Departments shall receive all accounts accruing in, or relative to, the Department of Transportation and examine the same and thereafter certify the balance and transmit the accounts, with the vouchers and certificate, to the Comptroller of the Treasury for his decision thereon.

SEC. 3. That it shall be the province and duty of said Department of Transportation to inspect, examine, and regulate, as may be prescribed by law, all corporations engaged in interstate or foreign commerce as common carriers, or owners or operators of transportation highways; and to this end it shall be vested with jurisdiction and control of the departments, bureaus, offices, and branches of the public service hereinafter specified, and with such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 4. That the following-named offices, bureaus, divisions, and branches of the public service now and heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and all that appertains to the same, known as the LifeSaving Service, the Lighthouse Board, and the Lighthouse Service, the MarineHospital Service, the Steamboat-Inspection Service, the Bureau of Navigation, and the United States Shipping Commissioner, and the same are Hereby transferred from the Department of Commerce and Labor to the Department of Transportation, and the same shall hereafter remain under the jurisdiction and supervision of the last-named department; and that the Secretary of Transportation shall have complete control of the work of gathering and distributing statistical information naturally relating to the subjects confined to his department; and to this end said Secretary shall have power to employ any or either of said bureaus and to rearrange such statistical work and to distribute or consolidate the same, as may be deemed desirable in the public interest; and the said Secretary shall also have authority to call upon other departments of the

Government for statistical data and results obtained by them; and the Secretary of Transportation shall collate, arrange, and publish such statistical information so obtained in such manner as may to him seem wise.

SEC. 5. That there shall be in the Department of Transportation six bureaus. to be called the Bureaus of Transportation Corporations, and a chief of each of said bureaus, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advise and consent of the Senate, to serve under each of the six assistant secretaries of the Department of Transportation, and who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum. There shall also be in each of said bureaus one chief clerk and one auditor and such number of examiners as may be needed to carry out the purposes of this act; said auditors and examiners shall be expert accountants and shall be paid a salary to be fixed by law and necessary expenses. There shall also be such other clerical assistants as may from time to time be authorized by Congress. It shall be the province and duty of said Bureaus of Transportation Corporations, under the direction of the Secretary of Transportation, to inspect, examine, and regulate all corporations engaged in interstate and foreign commerce as common carriers, or owners or operators of transportation highways, by gathering, compiling, publishing, and supplying all available and useful information concerning such corporations, including the manner in which their business is conducted, and by such other methods and means as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Transportation or provided by law.

Every corporation governed by this act shall make annual reports in writing to the auditor, and such reports shall in all cases include:

(a) Capital authorized and issued, the amount paid up in cash or otherwise, with a statement of the method of payment where it is not in cash.

(b) Debts, including details as to the amounts thereof, and security given therefor, if any.

(c) Obligations due from officers, which shall be separately stated.

(d) A statement of assets and the method of valuing the same, whether at cost price, by appraisal, or otherwise, and of the allowance made for depreciation. Small items of personal property included in the plant may be described by the term "sundries" or like general term.

(e) Gross earnings for the period covered by the report, all deductions necessary for interest, taxes, and expenses of all sorts, the surplus available for dividends, and dividends actually declared.

(f) Increase of assets since the last statement, with a showing in what way such increase has been secured.

(g) The names and addresses of all stockholders, with the number of shares held by each at the date of the report.

(b) The amount of stock disposed of and the amount of property taken for stock sold since the last report, with all facts necessary to show the result of the transaction.

(1) A statement showing that the corporation in question has or has not, during the period covered by the said report, received or given any rebates, drawbacks, special rates, or other discriminating advantages or preferences, by money payments or otherwise, from or to any railroad, pipe line, water carrier, or other transportation company, or paid to any shipper any such payments, or if any such have been received or given stating to whom, from whom, on what account, and in what manner they were so received or given, with all other details necessary for the full understanding of the transaction or transactions. (j) The names and addresses of all officers, location of transfer or registry offices, wherever located.

(k) A statement that the corporation has not fixed prices or done any other act with a view to restricting trade or driving any competitor out of business. (1) A statement that the corporation is or is not a party to any contract, combination, or conspiracy in the form of a trust or otherwise, in restrain of trade or commerce among the several States or Territories or with foreign nations.

(m) It shall be the duty of the auditor of each Bureau of Transportation Corporations to prescribe the form of the reports before mentioned. He may in his discretion, require additional reports at any time, upon reasonable notice. whenever he may see fit. But his determination shall be prima facie proof that the notice given is reasonable.

He may also require supplemental reports whenever, in his judgment, the report rendered is in any particular or particulars insufficient, evasive, or ambiguous.

He may prescribe rules so as to avoid undue detail in making the reports, but no detail of the business of the corporation shall be considered private so as to be exempt from the examination of the auditor whenever he may demand report thereon.

He shall make public in his reports, which shall be issued annually, all the information contained in the reports so made to him. When a report has been made by a corporation and, with all supplemental and additional reports required by the auditor, shall have been approved by him, the corporation mak ing such report or reports shall publish the same or such summary of same as directed by this department in some newspaper nearest to its principal place of business, after the usual custom in such cases, with the auditor's minutes of approval, and shall file with the auditor proof of such publication by the publishers' certificate.

SEC. 6. That if any corporation shall fail to make a report when required. either by the terms of this act or when required by the auditor. as herein provided, said corporation shall be fined not less than five thousand dollars nor more than twenty thousand dollars for each offense. Every week of failure after such reasonable written demand has been made by the auditor shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. In case also of failure, each of the directors of the said corporation shall be ineligible for the year succeeding the next annual meeting to hold either directorship or any other office in the said corporation; but any director shall be exempt from said penalty upon making a statement under oath that he has individually made such a report to the best of his ability from the facts at his disposal.

If such report is false in any material respect, the officer making same and the corporation shall be fined not less than five thousand nor more than twenty thousand dollars, and each false statement in any material matter shall constitute a separate offense. All fines and penalties imposed by this act shall be recovered or enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 7. That it shall be the duty of the examiners, under the direction of the auditor, to make examinations of any corporation governed by this act.

Any of said examiners presenting his official credentials shall be furnished by the officers of the corporation with every facility for complete and full examination, not only of the books, but of all the property, records, or papers of the corporation which may be necessary, in the judgment of the examiner, for a complete knowledge of the affairs of the concern as affecting the public interest.

Such examinations shall not be at fixed periods, but shall be at such times as the auditor shall fix and without notice.

Examiners shall have the power to examine under oath all officers or employees of the corporation, or any other persons having any knowledge of its affairs, and to send for, demand, and inspect books, papers, and any other matter of evidence whatever which is in the possession or control of the said corporation.

For the purpose of this act examiners shall have power to require, by subpoena, the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all books, papers, contracts, agreements, and documents relating to any matter under investigation.

Such attendance of witnesses and the production of such documentary evidence may be required from any place in the United States at any designated place of hearing, and in case of disobedience to a subpoena the examiner may invoke the aid of any court of the United States in requiring the attendance.

And any of the district or circuit courts of the United States within the jurisdiction of which such inquiry is carried on may, in case of contumacy or refusal of any witness to obey a subpoena issued to any corporation subject to the provisions of this act, or other person, issue an order requiring such corporation or other person to appear before said examiner (and produce books and papers if so ordered) and give evidence touching the matter in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as and for a contempt thereof. The claim that any such testimony or evidence may tend to incriminate the person giving such evidence or testimony shall not excuse such person from testifying, but such testimony shall not be used against such person on the trial of any criminal proceeding.

The auditor shall also have all the authority of an examiner in any case wherein he chooses himself to act.

No examiner shall be assigned to examine any corporation who is himself interested in the business thereof, or of any competing concern, or who has relatives who are so interested.

It shall be unlawful for an examiner to divulge private business, except by his report to the auditor. But such report or the substance thereof, shall be open to public inspection.

Each examiner shall follow the rules, regulations, and directions which the auditor may from time to time lay down or communicate to him as to the method of examination, the form of report, the matters to be covered by the said examination, and all matters pertaining to his duties.

Said reports of the examiners shall be prima facia evidence as to their truth, and may be introduced in evidence in all courts to prove the facts therein set forth. Copies certified by the auditor shall be admissible with like effect and under the same circumstances as the original.

The word "corporation," wherever used in this act, shall be deemed to include companies and associations existing or authorized by the laws of the United States, the laws of any State or Territory, or the laws of any foreign country. SEC. 8. That the Secretary of Transportation shall annually, at the close of each fiscal year, make a report in writing to the Congress, giving an account of all money received and disbursed by him and his department, and describing the work done by the department in inspecting, examining, and regulating, as prescribed by law, all corporations engaged in interstate and foreign commerce; in the ownership, or operation, of any of the foregoing described transportation highways or lines of transportation or engaged as common carriers in interstate or foreign commerce, and making such recommendations as he shall deem necessary for the effective performance of the duties and purposes of the department. He shall also, from time to time, make such special investigations and reports as he may be required to do by the President, or by either House of Congress, or which he himself may deem necessary and urgent.

SEC. 9. That the Secretary of Transportation shall have charge of the building or premises occupied by or appropriated to and for the Department of Transportation, of the library, furniture, fixtures, records, and other property appertaining to it, or hereafter required for use in its business; and he shall be allowed to expend for periodicals and the purposes of the library and for the rental of appropriate quarters for the accommodation of the Department of Transportation within the District of Columbia and for all other incidental expenses such sums as Congress may provide from time to time: Provided, however, That where any office, bureau, or branch of the public service transferred to the Department of Transportation by this act is occupying rented buildings or premises it may still continue to do so until other suitable quarters are provided for its use: And provided further, That all officers, clerks, and employees now employed in any of the bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the publc service referred to in this act transferred to the Department of Transportation are each and all hereby transferred to said department at their present grades and salaries except where otherwise provided: And provided further, That all laws prescribing the work and defining the duties of the several bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service by this act transferred to and made a part of the Department of Transportation shall, so far as the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this act remain in force and effect until provided by law.

SEC. 10. That all power and authority heretofore possessed or exercised by the head of any executive department over any bureau, office, branch, or division of the public service by this act transferred to the Department of Transportation, or any business arising therefrom or appertaining thereto, whether of an appellate or advisory character, or otherwise, shall hereafter be vested in and exercised by the head of the said Department of Transportation. And all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

All branches of the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission, except such as relates to the work of said Commission in examining into and regulating rates and classification of rates for transportation, are hereby transferred to the Department of Transportation. But nothing in this act shall be construed as in any way abandoning by the Government any of the powers over interstate commerce and interstate carriers conferred by the interstate commerce act. SEC. 11. That it shall be the duty of the Department of Transportation to especially see to it that all the laws regulating common carriers and interstate transportation highways are strictly enforced and that all violations of the same are promptly punished according to law. And said Department of Trans

portation shall execute promptly the enforcement of all orders and decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission affecting rates, classifications, and so forth. SEC. 12. That this act shall take effect immediately.

Mr. MARTIN. To conclude the suggestions that we have to make in regard to the unwisdom and impracticability of creating a commission to regulate the price of commodities in the same way that the Interstate Commerce Commission regulates the price of transportation-to sum that up in a word, we believe that that violates the great rule of what is a proper governmental sphere of activity, and that if these suggestions in regard to separation of the connection between the railroads and industrial corporations is completed that the danger from that source will be greatly reduced.

There is, however, a step that might be taken in the direction of delegation of authority of Congress in a matter that would affect its industrial interstate corporations to a considerable extent, although it is to some extent in an indirect form. That idea is embodied in a bill which was prepared by myself and Congressman Thomas W. Phillips, of Pennsylvania, who was the former vice chairman of the Industrial Commission that Senator Newlands referred to yesterday, which made a very exhaustive inquiry covering three years into these questions. That bill was known as the bill to create a nonpartisan revenue and industrial commission. It was introduced by a member of this committee, Senator Oliver, of Pennsylvania, by request, and I have a copy of that here which I would like to have to commend to the attention of the committee, because it, like the Interstate Commerce Commission, would be justified in that it would be a delegation of some of the authority of Congress to perform a duty which has become so large and so complex and so instant in its need of prompt consideration of rapid changes in the affair that the rule of delegating congressional authority would be warranted. It provides for the creation of a commission to consider and report to Congress upon legislation relating to the raising of revenue for the Government, which would invoke that great power of taxation referred to by the gentleman from Minneapolis in his testimony yesterday, which would be effective, perhaps, in some directions, and also clothes them with authority to investigate and report to Congress as to the industrial conditions in the country, because in levying taxes or in imposing plans on tariff taxation to raise that large part of revenue which is raised through tariff taxation one of the first things that has to be considered is the relation and effect of this taxation upon industry and upon labor. We are convinced that a study of the history of the United States shows that for a hundred years this struggle between the diferent schools of thinkers on the tariff question has landed us practically in the same place where we started. We are not much nearer a settlement now than we were then, and the vast increase of the size and population of our country makes the problem still more complex: and we believe it would, in accordance with the sound rule governing the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission, if such a commission were created, and it would not be open to the objection that lies against all these commissions which propose to fix the prices of commodities that under free and fair competition would be fixed by the law of supply and demand.

I desire to submit that also.

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