Evening star., 1934-12-18
LEE CITES BENEFIT
OF RATE CONTROL
]. c. c. Chairman Declares
UnreguIated Carriers Still
Discriminate.


last night in an address in the Ma
tional Radio Forum.
Chairman Lees talk was the first on
railroads that has been given in the
Forum, which is arranged by The Star
snd broadcast over Nationwide net
work of the National Broadcasting Co.
"As further justification for regu-
1ation," he continued, there should be
such coordination between all forms
of transportation that each may be
utilized in the sphere where it can best
and most economically serve the pub
lie. This is impossible under present
conditions. The result is much waste
full transportation and the public does
not get the maximum of service at a
minimum cost"
Commissioner Lee said he did not
believe that other transportation
agencies should be regulated in pre-
cisely the same way or to the same
degree as the railroads, but each should
have a form of regulation appropriate
to its particular type of transporta-
ton"
He emphasized that in regulating
highway carriers, the safety factor
should receive particular attention.
Full Text of Address.
The text of Mr.. Lees address fol-
lows:
In all ages transportation has great
ly influenced the lives Of peoples and
their modes of living. The develop
ment of transportation in our Nation
has been colorful and at times dra-
matte. In Colonial days, and later,
there was the thrill of stage coaches
dashing up to wayside inns; the con-
struction and operation of canals was
important between the 20s and 70s OF
the last century; the romance OF
steamboats, on our rivers has been pre-
served in song and story, and there
we're the pony express and the covered
wagon of the Western frontier. But it
was only with the construction OF rail-
roads that our transportation became
national in scope. Railroads were re-
sponsible for the peopling of our vast
public domain and they laid the foun-
dation for our great industrial prog
ress. I know of no single thing more
adventurous and daring in the indus
trial and commercial history of the
Nation than the throwing of iron rails
across the continent, linking the At
lantic Seaboard with the Pacific, over
coming the difficulties of unsettled
prairie, mountain ranges and desert,
and always in the midst of hostile
Indians.
The men who were responsible for
its accomplishment were in very truth
0,,lr
railway from Baltimore to Ellicott
City, distance of IS miles, the first
chartered railroad in the country, cell
ebrated its centennial; the system
which developed from this small be-
ginning now operates 6,400 miles. To-
day, in the United States there are
about 100000 miles of main tracks
and about 400 900 miles of all tracks.
What this has meant to the social,
agricultural and industrial develop
ment of our country may be realized
when tell you that in 1882, the last
year for which I have been able to
obtain comparative figures, the ma
ton most nearly approximating our
mileage, Russia, operated about $4,000
miles. Further emphasis is given
these figures by the fact that the area
of that country is over 5000, 900 square
miles, contrasted with the area of con-
tinental United States Of about 3,000,-
900 square miles We may CLEAN a
further idea of the immensity Of our
land transportation when it is known
that about 70 per cent Of all motor
vehicles in the world are registered in
the United States. In addition, We
have our inland waterways, coastal
and intercoastal shipping, electric
lines, airways and pipelines.
I.C.C. Jurisdiction.
The Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion has Jurisdiction over railroads,
sleeping car and express companies.
and of water lines when both rail and
water lines are under a common con-
troll, management or arrangement for
a continuous shipment; it also has
jurisdiction over pipelines, except
such as transport water and natural or
artificial gas. Ours is a Nation of 48
sovereign States extending over vast
continent. With varying sectional am
bitions, diversity of political thought
and economic interests, know of no
single instrumentality which has done
SO much to preserve the Nations unity
as its transportation system. Where
q Journey from California to Wash
ington was once matter of months,
1t is now one of few days by rail
and, if made by airplane, of hours.
During the first 60 years of steam
railroad transportation, construction
and operation was conducted with
practically no Federal regulatory con-
troll. Railway companies made their
own rules and regulations and con-
Quoted their business as their man
ayers saw fit. Lines were constructed
for which there was little, If any,
justification, and the public lost money
through these ill-conceived schemes.
With the expansion of the rail systems
came intense competition and in
the eagerness to secure traffic dis
elimination in favor of certain
shippers and localities became COM
mon. Rebates and special rates
were indulged in. Rates were changed
overnight without notice to the public.
There were notorious stock manipula-
tions. AS consequence, there gradu-
ally developed an increasing public de-
: mand for Federal regulation, resulting
in the act to regulate commerce in
1887. This was the beginning of the
Interstate Commerce Commission. At
first the number of commissioners was
five. AS its duties were enlarged in
succeeding years. the number of COM
missioners has from time to time been
increased, and today consists of IL
members, only six of whom may be Of
the same political party.
The commission now administers
more than 80 acts of Congress. Some
of its activities are purely administra-
tive or executive, its rate-making pow
ers are Of a legislative nature and other
functions are of distinctly judicial
character. 1t is an independent
agency of the Federal Government