Charging different rates for a similar service was declared illegal. For years railroad tycoons such as J. P. Morgan and Jay Gould had been milking the public. d. ensure that railroads charged farmers and merchants reasonable and fair rates. Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 - Wikipedia [19][21] In 1962, the ICC banned racial discrimination in buses and bus stations, but it did not do so until several months after a binding pro-integration Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia and the Freedom Rides (in which activists engaged in civil disobedience to desegregate interstate buses). And, like the ICC, later agencies tended to be organized as multi-headed independent commissions with staggered terms for the commissioners. "Selected bibliography pertaining to the history of the Interstate Commerce Commission": pages 261-264. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272. In the following years, the government continued to strip the railroads of their power. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"zDTqHf61F1Ivuq14D._Z7.61l22RbnIzOCLSwPLg75g-86400-0"}; Galambos, Louis, and Joseph Pratt. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. These functions included the oversight of railroad rates and service issues, rail mergers, and labor disputes within the industry. Other regulatory commissions followed: the Federal Trade Commission,. The Surface Transportation Board, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Transportation, now performs the few regulatory tasks that had remained with the ICC. Although the rail and automotive industries were always competitors, they shared technology and talent occasionally. O European diplomats were skilled negotiators Interstate Commerce Commission, United States. Encyclopedia.com. It was originally tasked with regulating the railroad industry but was later given authority over other modes of transportation. However, in the late 1890s, several railroads challenged the agency's ratemaking authority in litigation, and the courts severely limited the ICC's powers. Perhaps in a nod toward this opinion, Congress passed the Transportation Act of 1958 which allowed the ICC to guarantee loans to railroad companies for capital, equipment, and maintenance. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The ICC was abolished in 1995, and many of its remaining functions were transferred to the transportation department. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which operated from 1938 to 1984, was involved in setting interstate routes as well as regulating fares for the commercial airlines. "All charges made for any [rail] service shall be reasonable and just," the act declared, "and every unjust and unreasonable charge for such service is prohibited and declared to be unlawful." double space sentences. The APA reflected a fierce compromise, balancing the competing goals of bureaucratic expertise and legislative accountability. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. In 1980, Congress passed and President Carter signed the Paperwork Reduction Act, which created the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget to review and approve all new reporting requirements. The first sign that the Soviet Union was losing its ability to control its member states was After three decades of legislation, regulation, and antitrust litigation to curb the powerful railroads, the Transportation Act of 1920 was a double-edged sword: the recaptured earnings prevented any one railroad from becoming too big; but at the same time, the ICC was charged with overseeing the consolidation of the railroad industry. Other specific historical instances of federal government action to regulate interstate commerce can be cited. It shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this part to make, give, or cause any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, company, firm, corporation, association, locality, port, port district, gateway, transit point, region, district, territory, or any particular description of traffic, in any respect whatsoever; or to subject any particular person, company, firm, corporation, association, locality, port, port district, gateway, transit point, region, district, territory, or any particular description of traffic to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established by the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, which gave the FTC powersjudicial, legislative, and executiveto administer the Sherman and Clayton acts. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1988. Congress created these agencies to set rates and bring order into industry competition. Encyclopedia.com. The act also established a five-member enforcement board known as the Interstate Commerce Commission. Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act, Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway, Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway, Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway, United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Airline deregulation in the United States, History of rail transport in the United States, "Special Interests and the Interstate Commerce Commission", "The Past and the Future of the Interstate Commerce Commission". Interstate Commerce Act | Encyclopedia.com The ICC was established in 1887 by the Interstate Commerce Act. er / divdr/ n. 1. a person or thing that divides a whole into parts. Among the provisions of the 1920 legislation was the rule, which allowed the ICC to establish rates at levels that were just high enough to yield a fair return on investment (ROI) for the railroad companies. "Mann-Elkins Act United States. The Constitution of Australia provides ( 101-104; also 73) for the establishment of an Inter-State Commission, modeled after the United States' Interstate Commerce Commission. The 1910 bill was partly sponsored by Representative James Robert Mann (18561922) of Illinois.