Excerpt from Railroad Valuation by the Interstate Commerce Commission The issue was simply one of interpretation of the act, and the basis of the difference Of interpretation can be explained only in terms of the act. The railroads based their claim for the finding of such a sum on the words contained in the title of the ac pro viding for a valuation of the several classes of property, and upon the presence of the word whole in the seventh paragraph as indicated below. The argument of Mr. Farrell (and in substance his argument follows that previously advanced by the Cali fornia Railroad Commission, Brief on Fundamental Principles, pp. 11 - 13, and Mr. Max Thelen, of that body, Hearings, January, 1916, pp. 7-23) looked also to the language of the act. The first paragraph provides that the Commission shall, as hereinafter pro vided, investigate, ascertain and report the value of all the property owned or used by every common carrier. The significant words are here held to be the qualifying phrase. As hereinafter provided, since the following paragraph requires the Commis sion to ascertain and report the three cost values cost of reproduction new, cost of production less depreciation, and original cost to date. A separate paragraph, de voted to land, directed a report of the original cost of all lands and the present value and separately the original and present cost of condemnation in excess of such original cost or present value. The seventh paragraph then reads, such inves tigation shall show the value of the property of every common carrier as a whole and separately the value of its property in each of the several states classified and in detail as herein required. The carriers contended that the final clause, classified and in detail as herein required, etc. Did not modify the phrase, as a whole Mr. Far rell and Mr. Aitchison insisted that the phrase did so serve as a modifier, and that, taken in connection with the same words in the first paragraph, and the classification of cost values, etc., the requirement of the act was met, when such figures were reported. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.