James Clark McReynolds

“ Whenever the Commission shall have completed the tentative valuation of the property of any common carrier, as herein directed, and before such valuation shall become final, the Commission shall give notice by registered letter to the said carrier, the Attorney General of the United States, the governor of any state in which the property so valued is located, and to such additional parties as the Commission may prescribe, stating the valuation placed upon the several classes of property of said carrier, and shall allow thirty days in which to file a protest of the same with the Commission. ”

“ There is nothing to indicate that the Commission willfully disregarded the law as honestly interpreted or failed to proceed in an orderly manner, or that it will not consider and pass upon all the matters set up in the protest and repeated here. Pending further action by it the tentative valuation will not become final and no proceedings thereon can be taken. Under the circumstances disclosed appellants must pursue the remedy provided by the statute and give the Commission opportunity to take final action before they can properly ask interposition by the courts. ”