Omaha daily bee., 1874-05-02
TRANSPORTATION.
Report Of the Senate Select
Committee.
The Conclusions Arrived at.

w IA
vious notice, submitted the report
of the Select Committee on Trans
portation. The document is a vol
luminous one, though the COM
mittee do not pretend to have
treated the subject eXhaustively.
Careful attention was given by the
Senate during the reading of the
report. After a brief resume of the
principal subjects which have espe-
cially commanded the attention of
the committee, and which, with
others, are embraced in their report.
THE COMMITTEE RECOMMEND
for present action the following:
l. That all railway companies,
freight lines. and other common
carriers engaged in transporting
passengers or freights from one State
into or through another be required
under proper penalties, to make
publication at every point of ship
ment from one State to another of
their rates and fares, embracing all
the particulars regarding distance,
classifications, rates, special specifi-
cations, rates, special tariffs, draw
backs, ETC., and that they be pro-
hibited from increasing such rates
above the limit named i'm the publ
cation without reasonable notice to
the public, to be prescribed by law.
2. That the combinations and
consultations with parallel or COM
peting lines are evils of such magni-
tude as to demand prompt and Wig
orous measures for their prevention.
3. That all railway companies,
freight lines, and other common
carriers employed in transporting
grain from one State into or thrOugh
another should he required, under
proper regulations and penalties, to
be provided by law, to receipt for
quantity, and to account for the
same at its destination.
4. That all railway companies and
freight organizations receiving
freights i'm one State to be delivered
in another, and whose lines touch
at any river or lake port, be prohibi-
ted from charging more to or from
such port, than for any greater dis
lance Oh the same line.*
5. Stock mutations, generally
known as ''stOck-waterings," are
wholly i~ndefensible; but the remedy
for this evil seems to fall peculiarly
within the province of the States
who have created the corporations
from which such practices proceed.
The evil is believed to be Of such
magnitude as to require prompt and
efficient State action for its preven-
ton, and to justify any measures
that may be proper, and within
the range of national authority.
6. 1t is believed by the committee
that great good would result from
the passage of State laws prohibit
ing officers of railway companies
from owning or holding directly or
indirectly, any interest in any "non-
cooperative freight line'' or a COM
pany operated upon the railroad
with which they are connected in
such official capacity.
Z. For the purpose of procuring
and laying before Congress and the
country such complete and reliable
information concerning the bust
ness of transportation, and the
wants of commerce as will enable
Congress to legislate intelligently
upon the subject, it is recommended
that a bureau of commerce in one
Of the Executive Departments of the
Government be charged with the
duty of collecting and reporting to
Congress information concerning
our internal trade and commerce,
and be clothed with authority of
law, under regulations to he pre-
scribed by the head of such Depart
ment, to require each and every
railway and other transportation
company engaged in Interstate
transportation to make a report,
under oath of the proper officer of
such company, at least once each
year, which report should embrace,
among other facts, the following,
namely: 1. The rates and fares
charged from all points of shipment
on its line in one State to all points
of destination in another State, in
GLIDING classifications and distances,
and all drawbacks, deductions, and
determinations; 2. A full and de.
tailed statement Of receipts and ex-
penditures, including the compen-
satiOn of officers, agents, and en-
plOyees OF the company; 8. The
amount of stock and bonds issued,
the price at which they were sold,
and the disposition made of the
funds received from such sale 4.
The amount and value of commo-
dities transported during the year,
as nearly as the same can be ascer-
tanned, together with such other
facts as may be required by the head
of such bureau, under the authority
of law.
THE PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS
are so located as to distribute their
benefits with great equality among
all of the States East of the Rocky
Mountains. Twenty-one of those
States are situated directly on one or
more of said routes; two States,
Kansas and Nebraska, are so situa-
ted as to enjoy the full benefits of
reduced cost of transportation from
the Mississippi river by all of the
proposed lines. Eleven States, viz;
New Hampshire, Massachu-
sets, Connecticut, Rhode IslanI,
Maryland, New Jersey,
North Carolina, Florida, and Texas,
all Of which consume largely
the food Of the West, and most of
which are TO a great extent depend
emit upon the West for a market for
their manufactures and other pro-
are directly connected by the
of the ocean with their sew
eral termini. The proposed i'm
provements will, therefore, CON-
meet by the cheapest known
means of transport every one of
the thirty-four States east of the
mountains with all the 9TH
ers, and but one State i'm the Union
will be without water connection
the whole world. The accom-
plishment of so great a result, by an
expenditure of money comparative
ly 80 small, illustrates the wonder
full provisions of nature for cheap
facilities on this CONT
nent.
#This provision, it Is believed, will
prevent the determinations now
practiced against such ports, and
will enable States which r separa-