Following, indeed, the laws, decrees, regulations, orders, and instructions issued down to 1889 came so many others--dealing, in some instances, with even the minutest detail concerning some particular phase of the organisation in course of being perfected--that a collected series of those still in force in 1902 formed a volume of over 700 pages.[28] Since the issue of this somewhat formidable collection, still further changes have been introduced, the general conditions being finally modified by decrees passed on December 8, 1913. Without attempting to indicate all the successive stages in this prolonged series of legislative and administrative efforts, it may suffice to offer a general sketch of the French organisation of military rail-transport on the basis of the laws, regulations and practices in operation on the outbreak of war in 1914. Connected with each of the great railway systems there is a permanent _Line Commission_ ("Commission de réseau") which consists of (1) a technical member who, in practice, is the general manager of the line; and (2) a military member, who is a member of the General Staff of the Army. The former is chosen by the railway administration, subject to the approval of the War Minister, and the latter by the War Minister himself. Each Line Commission controls the services of a combined technical and military staff, and each Commissioner has a deputy who can take his place and exercise his powers in case of need. While the Military Commissioner is specially responsible for measures adopted from a military point of view, the Railway Commissioner is specially responsible for putting at the command of the Army, as far as may be necessary or practicable, all the resources of the particular railway system he represents. The authority of a Line Commission on any one of the great railway systems extends to the smaller, or secondary, lines situate within the same territory; but the smaller companies may themselves claim to be represented on the Commission by a duly credited agent. Among the duties to be discharged by a Line Commission in time of peace are the following:-- 1. Investigation of all matters to which military transport on the line or the system can give rise. 2. Study of all the available resources of the system, in material and men, from the point of view of military requirements. 3. Preparation of plans, estimates, and other data in connection with the movement of troops, etc. 4. Verification of reports concerning extent of lines, rolling stock, and station or traffic facilities. 5. Special instruction of the railway staff. 6. Inspection of lines, bridges, etc. 7. The carrying out of experiments of all kinds with a view to ameliorating or accelerating the facilities offered by the system in respect to military transports.