BILL RECOMMENDED BY THE COMMISSION TO AMEND THE ACT TO REGULATE COMMERCE. A BILL To amend an Act entitled An Act to regulate commerce, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and all Acts amendatory thereof. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section one of an Act entitled An Act to regulate commerce, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, be amended so as to read as follows: SEC. 1. That the provisions of this Act shall apply to any common carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used for a continuous carriage or shipment, from one State or Territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, to any other State or Territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, and also to the transportation in like manner of property shipped from any place in the United States to a foreign country and carried from such place to a port of transshipment, or shipped from a foreign country to any place in the United States and carried to such place from a port of entry either in the United States or an adjacent foreign country: Provided, however, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the transportation of passengers or property, or to the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of property wholly within one State and not shipped to or from a foreign country from or to any State or Territory as aforesaid. The term railroad, as used in this Act, shall include all bridges and ferries used or operated in connection with any railroad, and also all the road in use by any corporation operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement, or lease; and the term transportation shall include cars and other vehicles and all instrumentalities and facilities of shipment or carriage, irrespective of ownership or of any contract, express or implied, for the use thereof, and all services in connection with the receipt, delivery, elevation, and transfer in transit, ventilation, refrigeration or icing, storage, and handling of property transported; and it shall be the duty of every carrier subject to the provisions of this Act to provide and furnish such transportation upon reasonable request therefor. All charges made for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property as aforesaid, or in connection therewith, shall be just and reasonable; and every unjust and unreasonable charge for such service or any part thereof is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. SEC. 2. That section six of said Act, as amended March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, be amended so as to read as follows: SEC. 6. Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act shall file with the Commission created by this Act tariffs showing all the rates, fares, and charges for transportation, as defined in the first section of this Act, between points upon its own route and between points upon its own route and points upon the route of any other carrier when a through route and joint rate have been established by agreement or otherwise; and this provision shall apply when the route connecting two points in the United States passes through an adjacent foreign country, and when the traffic is moving to or from any foreign country. Such tariffs shall plainly state the places between which passengers or property will be carried, shall contain the classification of freight in force, and shall also state separately all terminai charges, including storage, and all privileges or facilities which shall be allowed other than those involved in the transportation of passengers or property, as defined in the first section of this Act, in ordinary course between two definite points, and any rules or regulations which in anywise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of said rates, fares, and charges, or the value thereof, to the shipper or consignee. Every such common carrier shall also file with said Commission copies of all contracts, agreements, or arrangements relating to any traffic or transportation affected by the provisions of this Act to which it may be a party. H. Doc. 195, 59—1—12 177 The carrier shall plainly print such tariffs in large type, and shall keep posted, for the use of the public, two copies in two public and conspicuous places in every depot, station, or office of such carrier where passengers or freight, respectively, are received for transportation, in such manner that they shall be accessible to the public and can be conveniently inspected. No change shall be made in any tariff of rates, fares, and charges filed and published as aforesaid, unless the carrier shall file with the Commission a statement showing such changes and the date when they shall take effect, and shall post new tariffs, as herein before provided, or plainly indicate such changes upon those already posted, at least sixty days before the taking effect of such changes; but the Commission may, for good cause shown, allow changes upon less than sixty days' notice, and may do this either in a particular instance or by general order applicable to special conditions and species of traffic. The names of the several carriers which are parties to any joint tariff shall be specified therein, and each of the parties thereto, other than the one filing the same, shall file with the Commission such evidence of concurrence therein or acceptance thereof as may be required or approved by the Commission; and where such evidence of concurrence or acceptance is filed it shall not be necessary for the carriers filing the same to also file copies of the tariffs in which they are named as parties. The Commission may determine and prescribe the form, subjects to be contained in, and arrangement of the tariffs required to be published and filed, as aforesaid, and may change such form, subjects, or arrangement thereof from time to time as shall be found expedient. The Commission may, in its discretion and for good cause shown, change or modify the foregoing requirements in respect of the publishing, posting, and filing of tariffs, and may do this either in particular instances or by general order applicable to special or peculiar circumstances or conditions. No carrier shall, unless otherwise provided by this Act, receive or participate in the transportation of passengers or property, as defined in the first section of this Act, unless the rates, fares, and charges upon which the same are transported by said carrier have been filed and published in accordance with the provisions of this section; nor shall any carrier charge or demand or collect or receive a greater or less or different compensation for such transportation of passengers or property, or for any service in connection therewith, between the points named in such tariffs than the rates, fares, and charges which are specified in the tariff filed and in effect at the time; nor shall any carrier refund or remit in any manner or by any device any portion of the rates, fares, and charges so specified, nor extend to any shipper or person any privileges or facilities in the transportation of passengers or property, except such as are specified in such tariffs. Any freight shipped from the United States through a foreign country into the United States, the through rate on which shall not have been made public as required by this Act, shall, before it is admitted into the United States from said foreign country, be subject to customs duties as if said freight were of foreign production, and any law in conflict with this section is hereby repealed. SEC. 3. That section thirteen of said Act be amended so as to read as follows: SEC. 13. That any person, firm, corporation, or association, or any mercantile, agricultural, or manufacturing society, or any body politic or municipal organization, or any carrier, complaining of anything done or omitted to be done by any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act in contravention of the provisions thereof, may apply to said Commission by petition, which shall briefly state the facts; whereupon a statement of the charges thus made shall be forwarded by the Commission to such common carrier, who shall be called upon to satisfy the complaint or to answer the same in writing within a reasonable time, to be specified by the Commission; and such answer shall be verified, if required by the Commission. If such common carrier, within the time specified, shall make reparation for the injury alleged to have been done, said carrier shall be relieved of liability to the complainant only for the particular violation of law thus complained of. If such carrier shall not satisfy the complaint within the time specified, or there shall appear to be any reasonable ground for investigating said complaint, it shall be the duty of the Commission to investigate the matters complained of in such manner and by such means as it shall deem proper. Said Commission shall in like manner investigate any complaint forwarded by the railroad commissioner or railroad commission of any State or Territory, at the request of such commissioner or commission, and may institute any inquiry on its own motion in the same manner and to the same effect as though complaint had been made. No complaint shall at any time be dismissed because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant. |