On the whole, the best statistical source for this information is the annual computation published by the Archiv fiir Eisenbahnwesen, the official organ of the Prussian Ministry of Public Works; but the figure quoted above utilizes the Board of Trade returns for the United Kingdom and the report of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the United States.
United Kingdom, 1908.39,316 £ 33,333 United States, 1908.254,192 10,372 2 1 he figures for the United States are from the report of the Interstate Commerce Commission for the year ended 30th of June 1908, and comprise mileage of first, second, third and fourth tracks, and paid-up capital in the hands of the public only.
In America, the basic units have been the ton-mile and the passenger-mile, and these figures are now required to be furnished to the Interstate Commerce Commission and to most of the state commissions as well.
For its enforcement, it created an Interstate Commerce Commission of five members, with powers of investigation, and with authority to issue remedial orders upon complaint and after hearing.
This law, however, did not serve in practice to secure so general a use of power brakes on freight trains as was thought desirable, and another act was passed in 1903 to give the Interstate Commerce Commission authority to prescribe what should be the minimum number of power-braked cars in each train.
