accordance with a previously arranged table of redemptions. The draft also provided that the accounts of the federal railroads should be kept distinct from the other branches of administration, so that the financial situation in respect to them could be exactly ascertained at any time. Their net revenue should be employed, first, for the payment of interest and the extinction of the railroad debt; thus serving to supplement the annual returns and making possible a reduction of rates for transportation.
It was provided that the management of the federal railroads should constitute a special division of the federal administration, and should be subject to the supervision and control of the federal authorities; but when it came to arranging the details under this category, the federal assembly made some important changes, which were embodied in the law as it passed.
To the federal assembly was reserved the power of examining and approving the annual accounts on the reports of the management; deciding, with the reservation of the referendum, concerning the construction of new lines and the acquisition of existing ones.,
To the federal council was given authority to draft regulations for the execution of the present law; to name twenty-five members of the administrative council, the members of the general direction, and the members of the arrondissement directories; to approve the annual budget; and to present to the federal chambers the annual accounts and the reports of the management, as well as propositions relative to the construction of new lines and the acquisition of existing ones; and to continue the exercise of functions already possessed by it respecting private lines, so far as those functions are applicable to the federal railroads.
As special to the working of the railroads and with functions extending over the whole system, were instituted the administrative council and the general direction; the administrative council to be composed of fifty-five members appointed for three years: twenty-five by the federal council, twenty-five by the cantons, and five by the arrondissement councils—the federal council so to adjust its nominations that agriculture, commerce, and industry should be equitably represented in the body. This administrative council was given the supervision of the whole administration of the railroads and the functions of preparing the annual budget for submission to the federal council; of examining the annual accounts and reports of operation for submission to the federal council; of fixing rates, classifying merchandise, and making regulations for the time schedules; of satisfying all important agreements made with other railroad enterprises; of preparing the plans for new lines, expensive constructions, and the completion of important works in the system in
