A BILL TO REDISTRIBUTE THE FUNCTIONS OF THE INTER- STATE COMMERCE COMMISSION WITH A VIEW TO MORE EFFICIENT EXERCISE OF RATE-MAKING AUTHORITY: TO EXTEND THE JURISDICTION OF THE COMMISSION IN RELATION TO THE FIXING OF MINIMUM RATES, AND RATES FOR INLAND WATER TRANSPORTATION: TO CREATE A BILL TO AMEND THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT, AS AMENDED, BY EXTENDING ITS APPLICATION TO ADDI- TIONAL TYPES OF CARRIERS AND TRANSPORTATION, MODIFYING CERTAIN PROVISIONS THEREOF, AND CREAT- ING AND ESTABLISHING A TRANSPORTATION BOARD TO CONTENTS Fletcher, R. V., V Statements of Ames, Harry C., Mississippi Valley Barge Line Co--- Ashburn, Gen. T. Q., The Inland Waterways Corporation..... Barrett, O. S., The Barrett Line, Inc.__ Bartley, Guy, The Inland Waterways Corporation. Bayless, Herman A., Mississippi River System Carriers' Association.. Benton, John E., National Association of Railroad Presidents and Utilities Commissioners_ Bowen, Ivan, Motor Bus Operators. Brenckman, Fred, National Grange... Brent, Theodore, The Coast Transportation Co.. Cady, Samuel H., Chicago & North Western Railway. Childe, C. E., transportation counsel... Clay, Cassius M., Reconstruction Finance Corporation.. Page 1178 1219 1063 1075 1092 1384 1636 1405 997 1333 1395 Gorrell, Edgar S., Air Transport Association. 1454 Hadlick, Paul E., Federal Transportation Association. 1370 Hood, J. M., American Short Line Railroad Association.. 1350 Jenny, L. Alfred, Northern Railroad of New Jersey. 1319 Johnson, Gilbert R., Lake Carriers Association 1669 Jones, Hon. Jesse H., Reconstruction Finance Corporation. 1761 Petersen, W. J., Pacific Coast Ship Owners' Association.. 1205 Root, Elihu, Jr., Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Bonds Protective Committee... 1614 Ross, John H., Inland Water Petroleum Carriers' Association..... 1105 Walter, Luthur M., Chicago Great Western Railroad.. TO REDISTRIBUTE THE FUNCTIONS OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1939 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m. in the hearing room, New House Office Building, Hon. Clarence F. Lea (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will please be in order. We have with us Mr. Childe this morning, and we will be very glad to hear from him. STATEMENT OF C. E. CHILDE, OMAHA, NEBR. Mr. CHILDE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, my name is C. E. Childe. I live at Omaha, Nebr., and by profession I am a transportation counsel. I appear here as chairman of the traffic committee of the Mississippi Valley Association. The Mississippi Valley Association is a nonprofit corporation. Its membership is comprised of shippers and other citizens of 22 States in the Mississippi River Basin, extending from Pennsylvania on the east as far as Montana and the Rocky Mountain States on the west. It takes in the whole area between the Alleghenies and the Rockies and between Canada and the Gulf. The object of the Mississippi Valley Association is to promote the commerce of the interior of the United States. This interior area, as you gentlemen know, is rich in raw materials. It produces most of the agricultural, mineral, and forest products of the United States, and these natural resources are largely undeveloped. Our citizens are not lacking the intelligence or in energy or ambition to develop this area, but we have not sufficient population to do it. We are sadly lacking not only in manpower but in manufacturing industries to utilize the raw materials which we produce, or which we have available for production, and by so doing to add to employment and create new wealth and to raise our standard of living, which are the objectives of our association. ADEQUATE TRANSPORTATION THE MOST NEEDED THING The one thing which this interior of the United States needs above all else, as we see it, is adeqaute low-cost transportation, and I wish to put emphasis on the words "low cost." Our transportation costs in the interior are so much higher than in the coastal and Great Lakes areas that we have been unable to attract |