334 TRANSPORTATION. 



They therefore recommend for present action the following: 



1. That all railway companies, freight lines, and other persons or 

 organizations of common carriers, engaged in transporting passen 

 gers 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 

 tariffs, drawbacks, etc., and that they be prohibited from increasing 

 such rates above the limit named in the publication without reason 

 able notice to the public to be prescribed by law. 



2. That combinations and consolidations with parallel or com 

 peting lines are evils of such magnitude as to demand prompt, vig 

 orous measures for their prevention. 



3 . That all railway companies, freight lines, and other organiza 

 tions of common carriers, employed in transporting grain from one 

 State into or through another, should be required, under proper 

 regulations and penalties to be provided by law, to receipt for quan 

 tity, and to deliver the same at its destination. 



4. That all railway companies and freight organizations, receiving 

 freights in one State to be delivered in another, and whose lines 

 touch at any river or lake port, be prohibited from charging more 

 to or from such port than for any greater distance on the same line. 



5. Stock-inflations, generally known as &quot; stock-waterings,&quot; are 

 wholly indefensible, but the remedy for this evil seems to fall pecu 

 liarly within the province of the States who have created the corpo 

 rations from which such practices proceed. The evil is believed to 

 be of such magnitnde as to require prompt and efficient State action 

 for its prevention, and to justify any measures that may be proper 

 and within the range of national authority. 



G. It is believed by the committee that great good would result 

 from the passage of State laws prohibiting officers of railway com 

 panies from owning or holding, directly or indirectly, any interest 

 in any &quot; non-co-operative freighWine&quot; or car company, operated 

 upon the railroad with which they are connected in such official ca 

 pacity. 



7. For the purpose of procuring and laying before Congress and the 

 country such complete and reliable information concerning the busi 

 ness of transportation and the wants of commerce as will enable 

 Congress to legislate intelligently on this 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 report 

 ing to Congress information concerning our internal trade and com 

 merce and be clothed with the authority of law, under regulations to 

 be prescribed by the head of such department, to require each and 

 every railway and other transportation company engaged in inter- 

 State transportation, to make a report, under oath of the proper 

 officer of such company, at least once a year, which report shall 

 embrace among other facts, the following, viz. : 1. The rates and 

 fares charged on all points of shipment on its line in one State, 

 to all points of destination in another State, including classifications 

 and distances, and all drawbacks, deductions and discriminations. 

 2. A full and detailed statement of receipts and expenditures, in- 



