may reject and refuse to file any schedule that is tendered for filing which does not provide and give lawful notice of its effective date, and any schedule so rejected by the commission shall be void and its use shall be unlaw ful.

(f) In case of failure or refusal on the part of any carrier, receiver, or trustee to comply with the terms of any regulation adopted and promulgated or any order made by the commission under the provisions of this section, such carrier. receiver, or trustee shall be liable to a penalty of not more than $500 for each such offense, and for each and every day of the continuance of such offense, which renalty shall accrue to the United States and may be recovered in a civil action brought by the United States.

(g) Whenever there shall be filed with the commission any schedule stating a new rate, fare, or charge, or any regulation or practice affecting any rate, fare, or charge, the commission shall have, and it is hereby given authority, either upon complaint or upon its own initiative without complaint, at once, and if it so orders without answer or other formal pleading by the interested carrier or carriers, but upon reasonable notice, to enter upon a hearing concerning the lawfulness of such rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice; and pending such hearing and the decision thereon the commission, upon filing of such schedule and delivering to the carrier or carriers affected thereby a statement in writing of its reasons for such suspension, may suspend the operation of such schedule and defer the use of such rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice, but not for a longer period than one hundred and twenty days beyond the time when it would otherwise go into effect; and after full hearing, whether completed before or after the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice goes into effect, the commission may make such order with reference thereto as would be proper in a proceeding initiated after it had become effective. If any such hearing can not be concluded within the period of suspension, the commission may extend the time of suspension for a further period not exceeding thirty days, and if the proceeding has not been concluded and an order made at the expiration of such thirty days, the proposed change of rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice shall go into effect at the end of such period, but at any hearing involving a rate, fare, or charge increased or sought to be increased after the passage of this act, the burden of proof to show that the increased fare, rate, or charge, or proposed increased rate, fare, or charge, is just and reasonable, shall be upon the carrier, and the commission shall give to the hearing and decision of such questions preference over all other questions pending before it and decide the same as speedily as possible.

(b) The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction upon the relation of any person or persons, firm or corporation, alleging such violation by a common carrier of any of the provisions of this act as prevents the relator from having interstate messages transmitted by said common carrier at the rates as are charged, or upon terms or conditions as favorable as those given by said common carrier for like messages under similar conditions to any other transmittor, to issue a writ or writs of mandamus against said common carrier commanding such common carrier to move and transmit the information or to furnish facilities for transmission to the party applying for the writ: Provided, That if any question of fact as to the proper compensation to the common carrier for the service to be enforced by the writ is raised by the pleadings the writ of peremptory mar damus may issue, notwithstanding such question of fact is determired, upon such terms as to security, payment of money into the court, or otherwise as the court may think proper pending the determination of the question of fact: Provided, That the remedy hereby given by writ of mandamus shall be cumulative and shall not be held to exclude or interfere with other remedies provided by this act.

SEC. 35. (a) Any person, or corporation, or association, or any mercantile, agricultural, or manufacturing society, or other organization, or any body politic or municipal organization, or any common 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 complaint 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. If such common carrier within the time specified shall make reparation for any injury alleged to have been caused the common carrier shall be relieved of liability to the complainant only for this particular violation of law thus complained of. If such carrier or carriers 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.

(b) Said commission shall in like manner and with the same authority and powers investigate any complaint forwarded by a public-service commissioner or the public-service commission of any State or Territory, and the commission shall have full authority and power at any time to institute an inquiry, on its own motion, in any case and as to any matter or thing concerning which complair t is authorized to be made, to or before said commission by any provision of this act, or concerning which any question may arise under any of the provisions of this act, or relating to the enforcement of any of the provisions of this act. Ard the said commission shall have the same powers and authority to proceed with any inquiry instituted on its own motion as though it had been appealed to by complaint or petition under any of the provisions of this act, including the power to make and enforce any order or orders in the case, or relating to the matter or thing concerning which the inquiry is had, excepting orders for the payment of money. No complaint shall at any time be dismissed because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant.

(c) Whenever in any investigation under the provisions of this act there shall be brought in issue any rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice made or imposed by authority of any State, the commission before proceeding to hear and dispose of such issue shall cause the State or States interested to be notified of the proceeding. The commission may confer with the authorities of any State having regulatory jurisdiction over the class of persons and corporations subject to this act with respect to the relationship between rates structures and practices of carriers subject to the jurisdiction of such State bodies and of the commission; and to that end is authorized and empowered, under rules to be prescribed by it, and which may be modified from time to time, to hold joint hearings with any such State regulating bodies on any matters wherein the commission is empowered to act and where the rate-making authority of a State is or may be affected by the action taken by the commission. The commission is also authorized to avail itself of the cooperation, services, records, and facilities of such State authorities in the enforcement of any provisions of this act.

(d) Whenever in any such investigation the commission, after full hearing, finds that any such rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice causes any undue or unreasonable advantage, preference, or prejudice as between persons or localities in intrastate commerce on the one hand and interstate or foreign commerce on the other hand, or any undue, unreasonable, or unjust discrimination against interstate or foreign commerce, which is hereby forbidden and declared to be unlawful, it shall prescribe the rate, fare, or charge, or the maximum and minimum, or maixmum or minimum, thereafter to be charged and the classification, regulation, or practice thereafter to be observed, in such manner as, in its judgment, will remove such advantage, preference, prejudice, or discrimination. Such rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, and practices shall be observed while in effect by the carriers parties to such proceedings affected thereby, the law of any State or the decision or order of any State authority to the contrary notwithstanding.

(e) Whenver an investigation shall be made by said commission, it shall be its duty to make a report in writing in respect thereto, which shall state the conclusions of the commission, together with its decision, order, or requirement in the premises; and in case damages are awarded such report shall include the findings of fact on which the award is made.

(f) All reports of investigations made by the commission shall be entered of record, and a copy thereof shall be furnished to the party who may have complained, and to any common carrier that may have been complained of.

(g) The commission may provide for the publication of its reports and decisions in such form and manner as may be best adapted for public information and use, and such authorized publications shall be competent evidence of the reports and decisions of the commission therein contained in all courts of the United States and of the several States without any further proofs or authentication thereof. The commission may also cause to be printed for early distribution its annual report.

(h) Except as otherwise provided in this act, all orders of the commission, other than orders for the payment of money, shall take effect within such reasonable time, not less than thirty days, and shall continue in force until its further order, or for a specified period of time, according as shall be prescribed in the

order, unless the same shall be suspended or modified or set aside by the commission, or be suspended or set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 36. (a) If, after hearing on a complaint made as provided in section 35 of this act, the commission shall determine that any party complainant is entitled to an award of damages under the provisions of this act for a violation thereof, the commission shall make an order directing the carrier to pay to the complainant the sum to which he is entitled on or before a day named.

(b) If a carrier does not comply with an order for the payment of money within the time limit in such order, the complainant, or any person for whose benefit such order was made, may file in the district court of the United States for the district in which he resides or in which is located the principal operating office of the carrier, or through which the line of the carrier runs, or in any State court of general jurisdiction having jurisdiction of the parties, a petition setting forth briefly the causes for which he claims damages, and the order of the commission in the premises. Such suit in the district court of the United States shall proceed in all respects like other civil suits for damages, except that on the trial of such suits the findings and order of the commission shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated, except that the petitioner shall not be liable for costs in the district court nor for costs at any subsequent stage of the proceedings unless they accrue upon his appeal. If the petitioner shall finally prevail, he shall be allowed a reasonable attorney's fee, to be taxed and collected as a part of the costs of the suit.

(c) All actions at law by carriers subject to this act for recovery of their charges, or any part thereof, shall be begun within three years from the time the cause of action accrues. All complaints for the recovery of dmages shall be filed with the commission within two years from the time the cause of action accrues, unless the carrier, after the expiration of such two years or within ninety days before such expiration, begins an action for recovery of charges in respect of the same service, in which case such period of two years shall be extended to and including ninety days from the time such action by the carrier is begun. In either case the cause of action in respect to transmission of information shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to accrue upon delivery or tender of delivery thereof by the carrier. A petition for the enforcement of an order for the payment of money shall be filed in the district court or State court within one year from the date of the order.

(d) In such suits all parties in whose favor the commission may have made an award for damages by a single order may be joined as plaintiffs, and all of the carriers parties to such order awarding such damages may be joined as defendants, and such suit may be maintained by such joint plaintiffs and against such joint defendants in any district where any one of such joint plaintiffs could maintain such suit against any one of such joint defendants; and service of process against any one of such defendants as may not be found in the district where the suit is brought may be made in any district where such defendant carrier has its principal operating office. In case of such joint suit, the recovery, if any, may be by judgment in favor of any one of such plaintiffs, against the defendant found to be liable to such plaintiff.

(e) After a decision, order, or requirement has been made by the commission in any proceeding, any party thereto may at any time make application for rehearing of the same, or any matter determined therein, and it shall be lawful for the commission in its discretion to grant such a rehearing if sufficient reason there

for be made to appear. Applications for rehearing shall be governed by such general rules as the commission may establish. No such application shall excuse any carrier from complying with or obeying any decision, order, or requirement of the commission, or operate in any manner to stay or postpone the enforcement thereof, without the special order of the commission. In case a rehearing is granted the proceedings thereupon shall conform as nearly as may be to the proceedings in an original hearing, except as the commission may otherwise direct; and if, in its judgment, after such rehearing and the consideration of all facts, including those arising since the former hearing, it shall appear that the original decision, order, or requirement is in any respect unjust or unwarranted, the commission may reverse, change, or modify the same accordingly. Any decision, order, or requirement made after such rehearing, reversing, changing, or modifying the original determination shall be subject to the same provisions as an original order.

(f) The venue of any suit hereafter brought to enforce, suspend, or set aside, in whole or in part, any order of the commission shall be in the judicial district wherein is the residence of the party or any of the parties upon whose petition

the order was made, except that where the order is not made upon the petition of any party the venue shall be in the district where the matter complained of before the commission arises, and except that where the order does not relate either to transmission of information or to a matter so complained of before the commission the matter covered by the order shall be deemed to arise in the district where one of the petitioners in court has either its principal office or its principal operating office.

SEC. 37. (a) The commission is hereby authorized to require annual reports from all common carriers subject to the provisions of this act, to prescribe the manner in which such reports shall be made, and to require from such carriers specific answers to all questions upon which the commission may need information. The commission may, in its discretion, for the purpose of enabling it the better to carry out the purposes of this act, prescribe a period of time within which all common carriers subject to the provisions of this act shall have, as near as may be, a uniform system of accounts and the manner in which such accounts shall be kept.

(b) The commission may, in its discretion, prescribe the forms of any and all accounts, records, and memoranda to be kept by carriers subject to the provisions of this act, including the accounts, records, and memoranda of the movement of traffic, as well as of the receipts and expenditures of moneys. The commission shall, as soon as practicable, prescribe, for carriers subject to this act, the classes of property for which depreciation charges may be properly included under operating expenses, and the percentages of depreciation which shall be charged with respect to each of such classes of property, classifying the carriers as it may deem proper for this purpose. The commission may, when it deems necessary, modify the classes and percentages so prescribed. The carriers subject to this act shall not charge to operating expenses any depreciation charges on classes of property other than those prescribed by the commission, or charge with respect to any class of property a percentage of depreciation other than that prescribed therefor by the commission. No such carrier shall in any case include in any form under its operating or other expenses any depreciation or other charge or expenditure included elsewhere as a depreciation charge or otherwise under its operating or other expenses. The commission shall at all times have access to all accounts, records, and memoranda, including all documents, papers, and correspondence now or hereafter existing, and kept or required to be kept by carriers subject to this act, and the provisions of this section respecting the preservation and destruction of books, papers, and documents shall apply thereto, and it shall be unlawful for such carriers to keep any other accounts, records, or memoranda than those prescribed or approved by the commission, and it may employ special agents or examiners, who shall have authority under the order of the commission to inspect and examine any and all accounts, records, and memoranda, including all documents, papers, and correspondence now or hereafter existing, and kept or required to be kept by such carriers. This provision shall apply to receivers of carriers and operating trustees.

(c) In case of failure or refusal on the part of any such carrier, receiver, or trustee to keep such accounts, records, and memoranda on the books and in the manner prescribed by the commission, or to submit such accounts, records, and memoranda as are kept to the inspection of the commission or any of its authorzied agents or examiners, such carrier, receiver, or trustee shall forfeit to the United States the sum of $500 for each such offense and for each and every day of the continuance of such offense, such forfeitures to be recoverable in the same manner as other forfeitures provided for in this act.

(d) Any person who shall willfully make any false entry in the accounts of any book of accounts or in any record or memoranda kept by a carrier, who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, alter, or by any other means or device falsify any such account, record, or memoranda, or who shall willfully neglect or fail to make full, true, and correct entries in such accounts, records, or memoranda of all facts and transactions appertaining to the carrier's business, or shall keep any other accounts, records, or memoranda than those prescribed or approved by the commission, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject, upon conviction in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, to a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 or imprisonment for a term of not less than one year nor more than three years, or both such fine and imprisonment: Provided, That the commission may in its discretion issue orders specifying such operating, accounting, or financial papers, records, books, blanks, or documents 51014-29-PT 1-2

of carriers which may, after a reasonable time, he destroyed, and prescribing the length of time such books, papers, or documents shall be preserved.

SEC. 38. (a) From and after one hundred and twenty days after this section takes efect, it shall be unlawful for any carrier to issue any share of capital stock or any bond or other evidence of interest in or indebtedress of the carrier (hereinafter in this section collectively termed "securities") or to assume any obligation or liability as lessor, lessee, guarantor, indorser, surety, or otherwise, in respect of the securities of any other person, natural or artificial, even though permitted by the authority creating the carrier corporations, unless and until, and then only to the extent that, upon application by the carrier, and after investigation by the commission of the purposes and uses of the proposed issue and the procce's thereof, or of the proposed assumption of obligation or liability in respect of the securities of any other person, natural or artificial, the commission by order authorizes such issues or assumption. The commission shall make such order only if it finds that such issue or assumption (1) is for some lawful object within its corporate purposes, and compatible with the public interest, which is necessary or appropriate for or consistent with the proper performance by the carrier of service to the public as a common carrier, and which will not impair its ability to perform that service, and (2) is reasonably necessary and appropriate for such purpose.

(b) The commission shall have power by its order to grant or deny the application as made, or to grant it in part and deny it in part, or to grant it with such modifications and upon such terms and conditions as the commission may deem necessary or appropriate in the premises, and may from time to time, for good cause shown, make such supplemental orders in the premises as it may deem necessary or appropriate, and may by any such supplemental order modify the provisions of any previous order as to the particular purposes, uses, and extent to which, or the conditions under which, any securities so theretofore authorized or the proceeds thereof may be applied, subject always to the requirements of the foregoing paragraph.

(c) Every application for authority shall be made in such form and contain such matters as the commission may prescribe. Every such application, as also every certificate of notification hereinafter provided for, shall be made under oath, signed and filed on behalf of the carrier by its president, a vice president, auditor, comptroller, or other executive officer having knowledge of the matters therein set forth and duly designated for that purpose by the carrier.

(d) Whenever any securities set forth and described in any application for authority or certificate of notification as pledged or held unencumbered in the treasury of the carrier shall, subsequent to the filing of such application or certificate, be sold, pledged, repledged, or otherwise disposed of by the carrier, such carrier shall, within ten days after such sale, pledge, repledge, or other disposition, file with the commission a certificate of notification to that effect, setting forth therein all such facts as may be required by the commission.

(e) Upon receipt of any such application for authority the commission shall cause notice thereof to be given to and a copy filed with the governor of each State in which the applicant carrier operates. The railroad commissions, public service or utilities commissions, or other appropriate State authorities of the State shall have the right to make before the commission such representations as they may deem just and proper for preserving and conserving the rights and interest of their people and the States, respectively, involved in such proceeding. The commission may hold hearings, if it sees fit, to enable it to determine its decision upon the application for authority.

(f) Nothing herein shall be construed to imply any guaranty or obligation as to such securities on the part of the United States.

(g) The foregoing provision of this section shall not apply to notes to be issued by the carrier maturing not more than two years after the date thereof and aggregating (together with all other then outstanding notes of a maturity of two years or less) not more than 5 per centum of the par value of the securities of the carrier then outstanding. In the case of securities having no par value, the par value for the purposes of this paragraph shall be the fair market value as of the date of issue. Within ten days after the making of such notes the carrier issuing the same shall file with the commission a certificate of notification, in such form as may from time to time be determined and prescribed by the commission, setting forth as nearly as may be the same matters as those required in respect of applications for authority to issue other securities: Provided, That in any subsequent funding of such notes the provisions of this section respecting other securities shall apply.