The Committee on Interstate Commerce, to which was referred Senate bill 423 "To amend section 6 of an act entitled 'An act to regulate commerce,' approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and acts amendatory thereof," respectfully reports said bill adversely, and recommends its indefinite postponement. The amendment proposed to section 6 will be found on page 4, commencing on line 10, and ending on page 5, on line 8, of the bill, as follows: _Provided further_, That at any time prior to the expiration of the notice herein required to be given of a proposed increase of rates, fares, or charges, or of joint rates, fares, or charges, any shipper or any number of shippers, jointly or severally, may file with the commission a protest, in writing, against the proposed increase in whole or in part, stating succinctly the grounds of his or their objections to the proposed change. The filing of such protest shall operate to continue in force the then existing rate or rates, fare or fares, charge or charges, proposed to be changed and protested against as aforesaid, until the reasonableness of the rate or rates, fare or fares, charge or charges, proposed to be substituted shall have been determined by the commission. Upon the filing of such protest, a copy thereof shall be mailed by the Secretary of the commission to the carrier or carriers proposing the change and thereafter the commission shall proceed to hear and determine the matter in all respects as it is required to do by sections thirteen and fifteen of this act, in case of a complaint made because of anything done or omitted to be done by any common carrier, as provided in said section thirteen; but throughout the proceeding, the burden of proof shall be on the carrier proposing the change to show that the rate, fare or charge proposed to be substituted is just and reasonable. An amendment was offered in the committee which would modify the original proposition of the amendment, by leaving it to the discretion of the Interstate Commerce Commission, upon the filing of a protest against the proposed increase of rates, to determine whether the schedule filed should go into effect at the end of thirty days or should be suspended by order of the commission until after final hearing, upon the question as to whether the advance was reasonable. This proposed amendment to the amendment of the 6th section, although somewhat modifying its effect, did not alter the principle upon which the original amendment rested, or remove the objections that influenced the committee in reporting the bill adversely. The reasons which control the action of the committee may be briefly stated as follows: REVIEW OF QUESTION BEFORE COMMITTEE.