INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION ASA COLTON LASALLE EXTENSION UNIVERSITY (Home Study Under Expert Guidance) CHICAGO (12-72) 545002 Copyright, 1916, 1920 All Rights Reserved in All Countries LASALLE EXTENSION UNIVERSITY PRINTED IN U. S. A. CONFERENCE RULINGS OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION INTRODUCTION On account of the great volume of business which it handles, the Interstate Commerce Commission is often called upon to answer inquiries covering the same points a great many times. In many cases the localities and other circumstances are different, but the principle involved is exactly the same. In order to provide answers to these inquiries, the Commission issues what are known as conference rulings. The purpose of the conference rulings is well explained in the first paragraph of the explanatory note which will be found in the Conference Rulings Bulletin No. 7. appearing immediately after this treatise. The paragraph is repeated here in order that the full value of its information may be fully appreciated in connection with the discussion of the rulings which follows. The rulings of the Commission in conference are announced informally from time to time through the public press and are later edited and issued in this form for the information of shippers, carriers, and others interested in transportation matters. The rulings express the views of the Commission on informal inquiries involving special facts or requiring an interpretation and construction of the law, and are to be regarded as precedents governing similar cases. This bulletin contains all the rulings. promulgated by the Commission since it adopted the practice of publishing them, and takes the place of previous bulletins. It should be understood, in studying the conference rulings, that they are only one of the mediums through |