The Mann–Elkins Act was a 1910 United States federal law that is among the Progressive era

Progressivism in the United States

Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...

 reforms. The Act extended the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission

Interstate Commerce Commission

The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...

 (ICC) to regulate the telecommunication

Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...

s industry, and designated telephone

Telephone company

A telephone company is a service provider of telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many were at one time nationalized or state-regulated monopolies...

, telegraph

Telegraphy

Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...

 and wireless

Wireless telegraphy

Wireless telegraphy is a historical term used today to apply to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices, particularly those used during the first three decades of radio before the term radio came into use....

 companies as common carrier

Common carrier

A common carrier in common-law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and that is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport...

s.

Supported by President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

, the law also expanded on the powers granted to the ICC in the 1906 Hepburn Act

Hepburn Act

The Hepburn Act is a 1906 United States federal law that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to set maximum railroad rates. This led to the discontinuation of free passes to loyal shippers. In addition, the ICC could view the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by...

. The ICC was authorized to investigate proposed railroad rate increases and suspend them if warranted. The "long-and-short haul" clause of the original Interstate Commerce Act (1887) was strengthened to prohibit railroads from charging passengers more for a short distance trip, compared to a longer distance ride, over the same route, unless specifically approved by the ICC.

The Act also created the short-lived United States Commerce Court

United States Commerce Court

The Commerce Court of the United States was a brief-lived federal trial court. It was created by the Mann-Elkins Act in 1910 and abolished a mere three years later. The Commerce Court was a specialized court, given jurisdiction over cases arising from orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission...

 for adjudication of railway disputes. The Court presided until 1913, when it was abolished by Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

.

Legislative history

It was passed by the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

, 50-12.