Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1888 — CONGRESS MAY DECIDE. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESS MAY DECIDE.

i Commissioners in Doubt About the Status of Independent Express Companies. Organizations Run as Adjuncts of Railways Subject to tho Commerce Law. iWashington special.] The formal decision of the Inters-Slate Commerce Commission upon tho question whether the express companies are subject to the provisions of the act to regulate commerce was announced Thursday. The Commission, after describing the different organizations doing express business, says there is nothing in the nature of the business which prevents its being carried on by an ordinary partnership or even by an individual, provided the necessary contracts can be made with the transportation lines. The most usual conti act is one which pays to the railroad company 40 per cent of the gross receipts of the express company, but various other methods of settlement are employed. The fact that express companies perform many other services besides transporting property, snch as the collection of debts, etc., is not regarded as a reason why the act should not be treated as applying to their business as common carriers, since roads also have other business besides that of transportation. The various sections of the act, considered with relation to the express business, are found to be in theory as applicable thereto as to the business of railroads. In fact, the express companies claim that they already abide by the rules established in the act. The requiring of annual reports from express companies is said to* be a matter concerning which the public have a right to be informed, and Congress may particularly desire knowledge. At present little is known abont the amount of their capital stock, their funded debt, or the money invested in their plant or business, the volume of their business, with the expense thereof, the rates charged, and the methods upon which the rates are constructed. The capitalization of some of the companies is known to be quite large, amounting to many millions of dollars. The difficulty of framing schedules for the information of the publio is not found to be greater than in the case of raHroad companies which have complied with the act. Three express companies have so complied, and their schedules have been placed on file. The agents of all express companies are necessarily instructed as to the charges to be made, and the public is eqrually intelligent. Tbe bringing of express companies within the provisions of the act is found to be practicable, and on some accounts desirable. The express companies, which are ' simply branches of a railroad, organized and operated through its ordinary staff, or by an independent bureau, or by.a combination with other railroad companies; are found to be covered by the provisions of the act. In the ense of the independently organized express companies, however, operating under contracts, the language of the act, as it now stands', is found to be so framed as not to bring them distinctly within its provisions. The*words “wholly by railroad" in the first 'section do not well define the business of express companies which use very largely the services of teams, messengers, stage coaches, and steamboats. The pooling section applies to the pooling of the business of railroads; other sections speak of railroads continually, and of depots and stations, the language not being applicable to the business of express companies, except under somewhat strained construction. The express business was w ell known at the time of the passage of the act, and has been frequently mentioned by naming congressional statutes. The omission to name it here is significant. The preliminary investigation by the interstate commerce committee of the senate did not include the business of express companies, and was confined almost wholly to that of railroad companies. Upon all these considerations the .commission has thought'best to refer the subject to congress, as in any case of donbtful jurisdiction it is far better that the legislative body should resolve the donbt.