findings of the Commission conclusive. Because the Act makes certain findings of fact by the Commission prima facie evidence of such facts it does not at all follow that it also determines their probative force.43 Since the findings and order of the Commission are made only prima facie evidence, the carrier which controverts them may claim either that the findings are not supported by the evidence, or that there is other evidence tending to disprove them, or that the Commission has reached an erroneous conclusion of law. But in any case of conflicting evidence, the fact that the findings of the Commission are made by law prima facie true may make them the determining factor, and to this must be added the weight due to the Commission's special knowledge of transportation conditions and the fact that it had the witnesses before it and saw their manner of testifying. In every case, therefore, the burden of proof is on the carrier seeking to overthrow the Commission's findings, which can only be done by preponderant and controlling evidence which rebuts and disproves the result arrived at by the Commission. 46 Whether the suit for the enforcement of the Commission's order was instituted by the Commission or by the original complainant before that body does not affect the weight to be given to the Commission's findings. 47 As the findings of fact are not conclusive against the carrier, so they are not conclusive in its favor. Therefore a demurrer will not lie to a petition by the Interstate Commerce Commission to compel a railroad company to desist from exacting unreasonable rates on the ground that the Commission's findings of fact do not support its order if the findings 43 Lehigh Valley Ry. v. Clark, 207 Fed. 717. 44 Illinois Central Ry. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 206 U. S. 441, 51 L. ed. 1128, 27 Sup. Ct. 700. 45 Interstate Commerce Commission v. L. & N. Ry., 118 Fed. 613, Interstate Commerce Commission v. 46 Tift v. Southern Ry., 138 Fed. 753. 47 Interstate Commerce Commission v. Lehigh Valley Ry., 49 Fed. 177. expressly state that the charge made is unreasonable, although the findings may not appeal to the judgment of the court upon the merits. 18 The findings of the Commission should be so set forth in its report as to exclude extraneous, embarrassing or incompetent matter calculated to confuse or mislead.49 The report should not be made up of mere conclusions, but should give the parties affected, as well as the court before which enforcement proceedings are brought, definite and distinct information as to what was found as facts, and the Commission's opinion thereon, such as would be necessary to make a judicial opinion sufficient and satisfactory for ordinary litigation.50 48 Interstate Commerce Commission v. C., B. & Q. Ry., 94 Fed. 272. 49 Western N. Y. & P. Ry. v. Penn Refining Co., 137 Fed. 343, 70 C. C. 50 Interstate Commerce Commission v. L. & N. Ry., 73 Fed. 409. APPENDIX A THE ACT TO REGULATE COMMERCE AS AMENDED § 1. Carriers and transportation subject. [See generally Chapters III, IV, V, and XIX, supra.] SEC. 1. (As amended June 29, 1906, April 13, 1908, and June 18, 1910.) That the provisions of this Act shall apply to any corporation or any person or persons engaged in the transportation of oil or other commodity, except water and except natural or artificial gas, by means of pipe lines, or partly by pipe lines and partly by railroad, or partly by pipe lines and partly by water, and to telegraph, telephone, and cable companies (whether wire or wireless) engaged in sending messages from one State, Territory, or District of the United States, to any other State, Territory, or District of the United States, or to any foreign country, who shall be considered and held to be common carriers within the meaning and purpose of this Act, and to any common carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad (or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used under a common control, management, or arrangement for a continuous carriage or shipment), from one State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, to any other State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, or from one place in a Territory to another place in the same Territory, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, and also to the transportation in like manner of property shipped from any place in the United States to a foreign country and carried from such place to a port of transshipment, or shipped from a foreign country to any place in the United States and carried to such place from a port of entry either in the United States or an adjacent foreign country: Provided, however, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the transportation of passengers or property, or to the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of property wholly within one State and not shipped to or from a foreign country from or to any State or Territory as aforesaid, nor shall they apply to the transmission of messages by telephone, telegraph, or cable wholly within one State and not transmitted to or from a foreign country from or to any State or Territory as aforesaid. The term " 'common carrier" as used in this Act shall include express companies and sleeping car companies. The term "railroad" as used in this Act shall include all bridges and ferries used or operated in connection with any railroad, and also all the road in use by any corporation operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement, or lease, and shall also include all switches, spurs, tracks, and terminal facilities of every kind used or necessary in the transportation of the persons or property designated herein, and also all freight depots, yards, and grounds used or necessary in the trans portation or delivery of any of said property; and the term "transportation" shall include cars and other vehicles and all instrumentalities and facilities of shipment or carriage, irrespective of ownership or of any contract, express or implied, for the use thereof and all services in connection with the receipt, delivery, elevation, and transfer in transit, ventilation, refrigeration or icing, storage, and handling of property transported; and it shall be the duty of every carrier subject to the provisions of this Act to provide and furnish such transportation upon reasonable request therefor, and to establish through routes and just and reasonable rates applicable thereto; and to provide reasonable facilities for operating such through routes and to make reasonable rules and regulations with respect to the exchange, interchange, and return of cars used therein, and for the operation of such through routes, and providing for reasonable compensation to those entitled thereto. All charges made for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property and for the transmission of messages by telegraph, telephone, or cable, as aforesaid, or in connection therewith, shall be just and reasonable; and every unjust and unreasonable charge for such service or any part thereof is prohibited and declared to be unlawful: Provided, That messages by telegraph, telephone, or cable, subject to the provisions of this Act, may be classified into day, night, repeated, unrepeated, letter, commercial, press, Government, and such other classes as are just and reasonable, and different rates may be charged for the different classes of messages: And provided further, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent telephone, telegraph, and cable companies from entering into contracts with common carriers, for the exchange of services. And it is hereby made the duty of all common carriers subject to the provisions of this Act to establish, observe, and enforce just and reasonable classifications of property for transportation, with reference to which rates, tariffs, regulations, or practices are or may be made or prescribed, and just and reasonable regulations and practices affecting classifications, rates, or tariffs, the issuance, form, and substance of tickets, receipts, and bills of lading, the manner and method of presenting, marking, packing, and delivering property for transportation, the facilities for transportation, the carrying of personal, sample, and excess baggage, and all other matters relating to or connected with the receiving, handling, transporting, storing, and delivery of property subject to the provisions of this Act which may be necessary or proper to secure the safe and prompt receipt, handling, transportation, and delivery of property subject to the provisions of this Act upon just and reasonable terms, and every such unjust and unreasonable classification, regulation, and practice with reference to commerce between the States and with foreign countries is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. No common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act shall, after January first, nineteen hundred and seven, directly or indirectly, issue or give any interstate free ticket, free pass, or free transportation for passengers, except to its employees and their families, its officers, agents, surgeons, physicians, and attorneys at law; to ministers of religion, traveling secretaries of railroad Young Men's Christian Associations, inmates of hospitals and charitable and eleemosynary institutions, and persons exclusively engaged in charitable and eleemosy |