NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS, NUMBER KILLED, AND NUMBER INJURED.

The following table shows the total number of persons killed or injured by failure of locomotives or tenders or any part or appurtenance thereof, classified according to their occupation:

Briefly summarizing, for the purpose of comparison, the record of accidents caused by failure of locomotives or tenders, or any part or appurtenance thereof investigated by this bureau, as required by the amended law, it shows a total of 616 accidents, with 62 killed and 721 injured thereby.

Three hundred and eighty-nine of these accidents, in which 52 persons were killed and 469 injured, were due to failure of locomotives boilers or some part or appurtenance thereof, and this may properly be compared with the record of accidents and casualties investigated by this bureau under the locomotive boiler inspection law and shown in annual reports prior to 1916.

Two hundred and twenty-seven of the accidents shown in this report, in which 10 persons were killed and 252 injured, were caused by failure of some part of the locomotive or tender other than the boiler and its appurtenances and were investigated under the amended law.

Much of the increase in the number of defective locomotives and the accidents and casualties resulting from failure thereof has, perhaps, been brought about by unprecedented operating conditions which, together with the shortage of labor and material, may have made difficult the proper maintenance of locomotives.

This, however, is not a justification for the operation by any carrier of locomotives that are in an improper condition for service, and the fact that some carriers by diligent efforts and careful supervision of repairs have not only maintained the condition of locomotives but have improved it during the past year, thereby increasing operating efficiency, is evidence that locomotives can be properly maintained even under the present exacting operating conditions.

Attention is directed to the increase in the percentage of defective locomotives found and in the number which, as required by the law, were ordered held for repairs.

In the majority of cases the time consumed in repairing the defects for which the locomotives were held was only a fraction of the regular lay-over period of the locomotive; in fact, in most cases after the order was served the repairs required thereby were made without material delay to traffic, which shows that the exercise of proper diligence by the carriers will materially reduce the number of locomotives operated in violation of the law.

This can be accomplished by more careful inspection of locomotives by the carriers and closer supervision by those in charge to see that defects reported are properly repaired before the locomotive is returned to service.

The rules and instructions for the inspection of locomotives and tenders and all parts thereof, which were approved by the Commission as provided by the law, have now been in effect long enough to fully demonstrate their value and practicability; and the judgment and discretion exercised by the inspectors in their enforcement is best shown by the fact that no formal appeal from the decision of any inspector has been filed during the year.

During the year 668 applications were filed for extension of time for removal of flues from locomotive boilers. Investigation showed 56 of these locomotives in such condition that no extension could be granted. Forty-eight could not be granted the full extension requested, but an extension for a shorter period was allowed. Fiftyfour were granted after repairs had been made. Thirty-three were withdrawn, and the remaining 477 were granted for the full period asked for.

The rules providing a practical service test for locomotive headlights, which were approved after careful investigation and extended hearings, are being complied with by a large majority of the carriers but are being contested in the courts by some. A bill in equity seeking to restrain the enforcement of the rules was filed by the New York Central Railroad Company in the United States District Court for the District of Indiana. The motion of the United States to dismiss the bill of complaint was argued on October 9, at which time the court held the bill of complaint to be faulty and the carriers were

given time to amend or withdraw it; therefore the matter is still pending.

No other cases under the locomotive inspection laws are before the courts, as the power vested by the law in federal inspectors to withhold defective locomotives from service has so far been sufficient to enforce its requirements.

The importance during the war of maintaining locomotives to the highest degree of efficiency and of avoiding unnecessary delay has been constantly kept in view, and every privilege consistent with the purpose of the law has been allowed.

On the recommendation of the chief inspector, temporary modifications of the rules for inspection, which had been agreed upon at a conference held by the chief inspector with the representatives of the carriers, were approved, relieving the carriers from complying with certain requirements during the period of the war.

In general, rules which promote safety in the operation of locomotives also promote efficiency; therefore, both in the preparation and in the enforcement of the locomotive inspection rules, efficiency in the operation of locomotives has been considered as second only to safety, and their enforcement has been so directed as to promote both.

BUREAU OF VALUATION.

The road and track parties of the engineering section inventoried between October 1, 1916, and September 30, 1917, 52,946.65 miles of main line and 81,444.39 miles of all tracks. This was in excess of the previous year and in excess of the estimate for the current year. By January 1 next more than 150,000 miles of main line will have been covered by our road and track parties and about 100,000 miles will remain. While war conditions have interfered with the progress of this work, it is still believed that our estimated date for the completion of the work as given in the last report should stand. Our engineering forces should substantially complete their field work during the year 1919 and should clean up the balance of their field work and finish their office work during the year 1920.

It is believed that the work of our land and accounting sections is in step with that of the engineers and that their work should be completed within the above time limit, provided the necessary information can be obtained from the carriers.

As a rule telegraph lines run along railroad rights of way and generally the railroad has some interest in the telegraph line. It has therefore been found most convenient not to prosecute our telegraph work much more rapidly than our railroad work. During the year ending September 30, 1917, 59,592.94 miles of pole line were inventoried.

Arrangements had been made to begin an inventory of the longdistance telephone lines of the American Telephone & Telegraph

Company last spring, but the breaking out of the war laid upon that company such unusual demands from the War Department that it was felt to be unreasonable to ask it to take up this valuation work, which was accordingly postponed upon its properties for the present. It would be highly desirable in the prosecution of this work to finish each property before proceeding to the next, but this has been found impracticable in actual experience. The carriers are required to furnish certain information, and the work of the Commission upon a particular property can not be completed until that information has been furnished. The inability of the carriers to promptly give this information has rendered it impossible to complete reports upon their properties. For example, each carrier is required to file a schedule of its equipment, stating, among other things, the original cost of each piece of equipment as shown by its books. It is required to file another schedule showing its lands and the cost of each parcel when disclosed by its records. While this looks simple in the statement it is a very extended process in fact. The number of men who can be employed upon the records of the carrier in searching out these facts is limited so that in case of systems of considerable size a great deal of time is required. And yet no final report can be prepared by either the engineering, land, or accounting sections until these returns have been received.

This has made it necessary to pass on to other carriers before completing work on those first undertaken and the actual situation to-day is that the Commission is engaged in the valuation of nearly every railroad system of any importance in the entire country, although scarcely any of those systems have been completed. For illustration, our field work upon the Boston & Maine system was substantially completed a year ago, but certain returns of that company have not yet been received. While our work upon that property is mainly done, no report can be made thereon until the receipt of these returns.

This does not mean that the completion of the work as a whole will be delayed, for it seems probable that these returns will all be made within the time limit above named, but simply that the valuation of individual carriers can not be finished in proportion as the entire work progresses.

BUREAU OF INDICES.

The bureau of indices, besides indexing the reports of the Commission, has maintained and added to the comprehensive current index by subject matter, commodity, locality, and docket number of all decisions by the Commission since its organization. An index is also kept by the name of the case, by number, and by subject matter of all pending cases.

State and federal decisions construing the act to regulate commerce and acts supplementary thereto, or amendatory thereof, as well as state and federal decisions involving a construction of the commerce clause of the Constitution or touching the powers or duties of the Commission have been indexed.

LIBRARY.

The library contains approximately 15,000 bound volumes and 10,500 pamphlets, exclusive of books and pamphlets in the various bureaus. In addition to works on transportation and special collections of congressional, departmental, and foreign documents, the library has a law collection consisting of the standard sets of federal and state decisions, digests, statutes, encyclopedias, and treaties. The library is being catalogued according to Library of Congress methods.

THE PANAMA CANAL ACT.

In the last annual report, at page 63, we stated that in interpreting the Panama Canal act we had held that the competition or possibility of competition dealt with in the act was not a vague, indefinite, or remotely possible competition, but real and substantial competition; and that where the competition or potential competition was remote, improbable, or negligible the operation of boat lines by rail carriers might be continued where it was affirmatively shown that such boat line service was being operated in the interest of the public, was of advantage to the convenience and commerce of the people, and a continuance thereof would neither exclude, prevent, nor reduce competition on the route by water. We there brought to the attention of Congress a number of cases then pending in which the competition was real and substantial and not denied, but in which there was abundant testimony on behalf of shippers and shipping interests generally in the territory served to the effect that the service was in the interest of the public and of advantage to the convenience and commerce of the people, and that a discontinuance thereof would be substantially injurious to them and to their localities instead of working any public benefit. We think that these facts should again be brought to the attention of Congress, so that it may determine whether or not authority shall be conferred upon the Commission to permit, in such cases and under such circumstances, a continuance of the railroad ownership, control, or operation of the water lines, subject to such further and different orders as the Commission may subsequently enter, upon a further hearing and a showing of substantially changed circumstances and conditions.

The only important case disposed of under the Panama Canal act since our last report was that relating to the Southern Pacific Company's ownership of Atlantic Steamship Lines, popularly known as the Morgan Line, 43 I. C. C., 168. We found that the Southern Pacific Company does or may compete with its Atlantic