ticular shipper its fuel cars, and the foreign fuel cars assigned to such shipper, and a failure so to do constitutes undue discrimination under the Act.71 It seems that under the Act a carrier engaged in interstate commerce, in determining the distributive share of cars due to a particular shipper, must count against the shipper the private and foreign fuel cars supplied to him, although such cars are used only in intrastate commerce.72 If a mine, in filling its contract to supply fuel coal to the railroad, does not exhaust its equitable pro rata of cars, then cars should be given it for commercial shipments sufficient to complete its full pro rata share of all available cars.73 It is, therefore, plainly established that fuel cars must be counted against the distributive share of the mine receiving them subject to the conditions and limitations herein stated.74 § 945. Private facilities considered in the apportionment. By the most recent development in this law of car distribution the private cars utilized by a particular shipper are counted as part of his allotment.75 In the distribution of cars by an interstate railroad company among coal mines on a percentage basis in times of shortage of cars, private cars owned by shippers or consignees, which have no right upon the company's tracks except by virtue of its charter, must be considered as leased to it and as forming a part of its commercial equipment; and while the owner is entitled to the exclusive use of such cars, they are to be counted against the mine as a part of its percentage in the distribution.76 This whole matter as to the regulation of the distribution of cars was threshed out in a series 71 United States v. Baltimore & O. R. R., 165 Fed. 113. 72 Majestic Coal & Coke Co. v. Illinois C. R. R., 162 Fed. 810. 73 Royal Coal & Coke Co. v. So. Ry., 13 I. C. C. 440. 74 Hillsdale Coal & Coke Co. v. P. R. R., 19 I. C. C. 356. 75 But such distributing arrangements are not necessarily conclusive even when agreed upon between the railroad and the principal shippers. United States v. Norfolk & W. Ry. Co., 143 Fed. 266, 74 C. C. A. 404. 76 See Logan Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania Ry. Co., 154 Fed. 497, holding of cases in the United States Supreme Court recently." It was noted that the regulations established by the railroads had dealt with the car situation as though there were four classes of cars: (1) System cars, that is, cars owned by the carrier and in use for the transportation of coal; (2) company fuel cars, that is, cars belonging to the company, and used by it when necessary for the movement of coal from the mines on its own line, solely for its own fuel purposes; (3) private cars, that is, cars either owned by coal mining companies or shippers or consumers and used for the benefit of their owners in conveying coal from the mines to designated points of delivery; (4) foreign, railway fuel cars, that is, cars owned by other railroad companies and sent to mines upon other lines, the coal being intended for use as fuel by such foreign railroad companies. As Mr. Justice White pointed out in making this analysis of the problem in the leading case, some systems of car distribution had excluded some of these classes from consideration in the allotment, and other systems had excluded others. Such class distinctions, he admitted, might perhaps be made by the railroads without its being personal discrimination. But, as he said in writing the opinion of the court, it was within the power of the Commission to insist that all shippers should be treated alike, regardless of what classes of cars they were utilizing in their shipments. It is now currently held that a carrier should give to owners or lessees of private cars the use of such cars; and should also give to a coal company the foreign railway fuel cars consigned to it; but such "private" and "foreign" railway fuel cars should, in the distribution of cars, be counted against the company, which should not be given, in addition to such delivery, a share a division of cars based upon subtracting such special or private cars as were coming to a shipper from his capacity figures and allowing him his pro rata amount upon the balance not outrageous. 77 See Interstate Commerce Commission v. Chicago & Alton R. R. Co., 215 U. S. 479, 30 Sup. Ct. 163; Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co. v. United States ex rel., 215 U. S. 481, 30 Sup. Ct. 155. of the system cars except when the number of "private" and "foreign" railway fuel cars so delivered is less than its distributive share of the available cars, including system cars, foreign railway fuel cars, and so-called private cars.78 However, it is still true that owners of private cars are entitled to their use, even though their number exceeds ratable proportion; but they must be counted against the distributive share of mine receiving them.79 78 Railroad Commission of Ohio v. Hocking Valley Ry., 2 I. C. C. 398. Compare the doctrines of the Commission as to the necessity of charging demurrage upon private cars when in use, even while being unloaded by the owner, in order to make no discrimination against those using system cars. See Proctor Gamble & Co. v. United States, 225 U. S. 282, 32 Sup. Ct. 761. 79 Hillsdale Coal & Coke Co. v. P. R. R., 19 I. C. C. 356. Suppose, for example, there are as between two mines A and B of equal capacity on a given day 100 of these specially classified cars specifically directed to the A mine for billing and 80 of the general system cars available for distribution; under these rules the B mine will get all of the 80 system cars. If there were 80 special cars for the A mine and 100 system cars, the B mine would get 90 of the system cars, giving the B mine 10 of them. CHAPTER XX REGULATION OF FINANCIAL OPERATIONS § 950. Provisions of the Act. 951. Prohibition of intercorporate relationships. Topic A. Supervision of Current Accounting § 952. Who must file reports. 953. Extent of powers over accounts. 954. Methods of amortization accounting. 955. Depreciation cannot be capitalized. 956. Writing off superseded property. 957. Supervision of fixed charges. 958. Permanent improvements out of capital. 959. Absorbing earnings in improvements. Topic B. Separation of Interstate Account § 960. Apportionment of interstate business. 961. Methods of the division. 962. Bases of the proportion. 963. Apportionment of total expense. 964. Inherent difficulties of the problem. 965. Comparisons with interstate rates. 966. Supremacy of the federal system. 967. Discrimination produced by State action. Topic C. Valuation of Carrier's Properties § 968. The tests of the Supreme Court. 969. The inquiries of the Congress. 970. The investigations of the Commission. 971. Necessity for official valuations. 972. Valuation based upon investment. 973. Present value the basis of valuation. 974. Whether market values should be considered. 975. Consideration given to the entrepreneur. 976. Details of the present valuation. 977. Finality of this valuation. Topic D. Prohibition of Intercorporate Relationships § 978. Restraint of trade at common law. 979. Certain decisions support pooling. 980. Pooling forbidden by the Commerce Act. § 981. Meaning of the Sherman Act. $950. Provisions of the Act. The scope of the powers of the Commission under section 20 has already been indicated. As to reports from the carriers subject to its jurisdiction, the Commission requires annual reports in such form as it prescribes to elicit such information as it may desire. Such annual reports shall show in detail the capital accounts of the corporation and the dividends paid, including the funded and floating debt and the interest and cost therefor and also the operating expenses and receipts therefrom including the amounts expended in betterments and improvements, together with the balances of profit and loss, and a complete exhibit of the financial operations for the year, including an annual balance sheet. The Commission has authority by general or special orders to require the carriers to file monthly reports of earnings and expenses, and to file periodical or special, or both periodical and special, reports concerning any matters about which the Commission is authorized or required to inquire or to keep itself informed or which it is required to enforce. As to accounts the Commission may by further provisions of section 20 prescribe the forms of any and all acccounts to be kept by carriers including all memoranda relating thereto, and it may impose upon the carriers a uniform system of accounting. The Commission has access to all accounts, records, and memoranda kept by carriers subject to this Act, and it shall be unlawful for such carriers to keep any other accounts, records, or memoranda than those prescribed or approved by the Commission. Reference should also be made to the Valuation Act of 1903, providing that the Commission shall investigate, ascertain, and report the value of all the property owned or used by every |