Secs. 2, 3. INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT retardation of the passage of the mail, or of the orderly conduct or movement of interstate or foreign commerce in any part of the United States, or of any train, locomotive, car or other vehicle upon any railroad or elsewhere in the United States engaged in interstate or foreign commerce: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be constructed to repeal, modify, or affect Clayton antitrust either section six or section twenty of an Act entitled "An Act to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes," approved October fifteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen. Proviso, as to act. 40 Stat. L., 272. President may facilities ized. author may Carriers maintain agency in Washington. direct priority in (24) That during the continuance of the war in which the United States is now engaged the transportation President is authorized, if he finds it necessary for the national defense and security, to direct that such during war. traffic or such shipment of commodities as, in his judgment, may be essential to the national How direction defense and security shall have preference or priority in transportation by any common carrier by may be given. railroad, water, or otherwise. He may give these directions at and for such times as he may determine, and may modify, change, suspend, or annul them, and for any such purpose he is hereby Administrative authorized to issue orders direct, or through such person or persons as he may designate for the purpose or through the Interstate Commerce Commission. Officials of the United States, when so designated, shall receive no compensation for their services rendered hereunder. Persons not in the employ of the United States so designated shall receive such compensation as the President may fix. Suitable offices may be rented and all necessary expenses, including compensation of persons so designated, shall be paid as directed by the President out of funds which may have been or may be provided to meet expenditures for the national security and defense. The common carriers subject to the Act to regulate commerce or as many of them as desire so to do are hereby authorized without responsibility or liability on the part of the United States, financial or otherwise, to establish and maintain in the city of Washington during the period of the war an agency empowered by such carriers as join in the arrangement to receive on behalf of them all notice and service of such orders and directions as may be issued in accordance with this Act, and service such agency shall be good service as to all the carriers joining in the establishment thereof. upon And it shall be the duty of any and all the officers, agents, or employees of such carriers by railroad or water or otherwise to obey strictly and conform promptly to such orders, and failure knowingly and willfully to comply therewith, or to do or perform whatever is necessary to the prompt execution of such order, shall render such officers, agents, or employees guilty of a misdemeanor, and any such officer, agent, or employee shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than Rates fixed by $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. For the transportation of persons or property in carrying out the orders and directions of the President Payment for just and reasonable rates shall be fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission; and if the transGovernment transportation. Service upon agency good as to carriers. Carriers to obey orders. Penalties. the Commission. Carrier complying exempt from penalties and liabilities. 24 Stat. L., 379. 41 Stat. L., 479. Unjust discrimination defined and prohibited. 24 Stat. L., 379: 41 Stat. L., 479. Undue or un ence or advantage forbidden. portation be for the Government of the United States, it shall be paid for currently or monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any funds not otherwise appropriated. Any carrier complying with any such order or direction for preference or priority herein authorized shall be exempt from any and all provisions in existing law imposing civil or criminal pains, penalties, obligations, or liabilities upon carriers by reason of giving preference or priority in compliance with such order or direction. SEC. 2. [As amended February 28, 1920.] That if any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act shall, directly or indirectly, by any special rate, rebate, drawback, or other device charge, demand, collect, or receive from any person or persons a greater or less compensation for any service rendered, or to be rendered, in the transportation of passengers or property or the transmission of intelligence, subject to the provisions of this Act, than it charges, demands, collects, or receives from any other person or persons for doing for him or them a like and contemporaneous service in the transportation or transmission of a like kind of traffic or message under substantially similar circumstances and conditions, such common carrier shall be deemed guilty of unjust discrimination, which is hereby prohibited and declared to be unlawful. SEC. 3. [As amended February 28, 1920. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier reasonable prefer- subject to the provisions of this Act to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, company, firm, corporation, or locality, or any particular description of traffic, in any respect whatsoever, or to subject any particular person, company, firm, corporation, or locality, or any particular description of traffic, to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever. Carrier not to deliver freight (2) From and after July 1, 1920, no carrier by railroad subject to the provisions of this Act until charges paid. shall deliver or relinquish possession at destination of any freight transported by it until all tariff Exception, rules as to credit prerates and charges thereon have been paid, except under such rules and regulations as the Comscribed by Com- mission may from time to time prescribe to assure prompt payment of all such rates and charges mission. See Elkins Act. Secs. 4, 5. INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT and to prevent unjust discrimination: Provided, That the provisions of this paragraph shall not Freight for Federal, State, or local be construed to prohibit any carrier from extending credit in connection with rates and charges on freight transported for the United States for any department, bureau, or agency thereof, or for any State or Territory or political subdivision thereof, or for the District of Columbia. government. Facilities for interchange of traffic. Discrimination between connecting lines forbidden. Commission may require com minals. (3) All carriers, engaged in the transportation of passengers or property, subject to the provisions of this Act, shall, according to their respective powers, afford all reasonable, proper, and equal facilities for the interchange of traffic between their respective lines, and for the receiving forwarding, and delivering of passengers or property to and from their several lines and those connecting therewith, and shall not discriminate in their rates, fares, and charges between such connecting lines, or unduly prejudice any such connecting line in the distribution of traffic that is not specifically routed by the shipper. (4) If the Commission finds it to be in the public interest and to be practicable, without submon use of ter- stantially impairing the ability of a carrier owning or entitled to the enjoyment of terminal facilities to handle its own business, it shall have power to require the use of any such terminal facilities, including main-line track or tracks for a reasonable distance outside of such terminal, of any Fixation of carrier, by another carrier or other carriers, on such terms and for such compensation as the carterms and compensation. riers affected may agree upon, or, in the event of a failure to agree, as the Commission may fix as just and reasonable for the use so required, to be ascertained on the principle controlling compensation in condemnation proceedings. Such compensation shall be paid or adequately secured before the enjoyment of the use may be commenced. If under this paragraph the use of such terminal facilities of any carrier is required to be given to another carrier or other carriers, and the carrier whose terminal facilities are required to be so used is not satisfied with the terms fixed for such use, or if the amount of compensation so fixed is not duly and promptly paid, the carrier whose Recovery of damages by carterminal facilities have thus been required to be given to another carrier or other carriers shall be rier whose facili- entitled to recover, by suit or action against such other carrier or carriers, proper damages for any injuries sustained by it as the result of compliance with such requirement, or just compensation for such use, or both, as the case may be. ties are used. 24 Stat. L., 379. 36 Stat. L., 539. tion. SEC. 4. [As amended June 18, 1910, and February 28, 1920.] (1) That it shall be unlaw41 Stat. L., 480. ful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act to charge or receive any greater Long and short haul provision. compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers, or of like kind of property, for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line or route in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance, or to charge any greater compensation as a through rate than the aggregate of the intermediate rates subject to the provisions of this Act, but this shall not be construed as authorizing any common carrier within the terms of this Act to charge Relief, by Commission, from or receive as great compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance: Provided, That upon operation of sec- application to the Commission such common carrier may in special cases, after investigation, be authorized by the Commission to charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of passengers or property; and the Commission may from time to time prescribe the extent to which such designated common carrier may be relieved from the operation of this section; but in exercising the authority conferred upon it in this proviso the Commission shall not be reasonably permit the establishment of any charge to or from the more distant point that is not reasonably compensatory for the service performed; and if a circuitous rail line or route is, because of such circuity, granted authority to meet the charges of a more direct line or route to or from competirates, on circuitous tive points and to maintain higher charges to or from intermediate points on its line, the authority shall not include intermediate points as to which the haul of the petitioning line or route is not water competition longer than that of the direct line or route between the competitive points; and no such authorinot ground for zation shall be granted on account of merely potential water competition not actually in existence: And provided further, That rates, fares, or charges existing at the time of the passage of Maintenance of this amendatory Act by virtue of orders of the Commission or as to which application has theretoexisting rates pending order by fore been filed with the Commission and not yet acted upon, shall not be required to be changed Commission. by reason of the provisions of this section until the further order of or a determination by the Com Charge for longer distance to compensatory. Intermediate lines. Merely potential relief. Rates reduced mission. mission. to meet water (2) Wherever a carrier by railroad shall in competition with a water route or routes reduce competition not raised without the rates on the carriage of any species of freight to or from competitive points it shall not be perfinding by Committed to increase such rates unless after hearing by the Commission it shall be found that such 24 Stat. L., 379. proposed increase rests upon changed conditions other than the elimination of water competition. Pooling of SEC. 5. [As amended August 24, 1912, and February 28, 1920.] (1) That, except upon freight and divi- specific approval by order of the Commission as in this section provided, and except as provided in paragraph (16) of section 1 of this Act, it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to 41 Stat. L., 480. of earnings forbidden. Sec. 5. INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT this Act to enter into any contract, agreement, or combination with any other common carrier or carriers for the pooling of freights of different and competing railroads, or to divide between them the aggregate or net proceeds of the earnings of such railroads, or any portion thereof; and in any case of an agreement for the pooling of freights as aforesaid each day of its continuance shall be deemed Commission a separate offense: Provided, That whenever the Commission is of opinion, after hearing upon may permit, with assent of carriers. application of any carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property subject to this Act, or upon its own initiative, that the division of their traffic or earnings, to the extent indicated by the Commission, will be in the interest of better service to the public, or economy in operation, and will not unduly restrain competition, the Commission shall have authority by order to approve and authorize, if assented to by all the carriers involved, such division of traffic or earnings under such rules and regulations, and for such consideration as between such carriers and upon such terms and conditions as shall be found by the Commission to be just and reasonable in the premises. Acquisition of control by lease, purchase of stock, or otherwise. Authorization by terms. orders. hensive plan. (2) Whenever the Commission is of opinion, after hearing, upon application of any carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property subject to this Act, that the acquisition, to the extent indicated by the Commission, by one of such carriers of the control of any other such carrier or carriers either under a lease or by the purchase of stock or in any other manner not involving the consolidation of such carriers into a single system for ownership and operation, will be in the public interest, the Commission shall have authority by order to approve and authorize such acquisition, under such rules and regulations and for such consideration and on such terms and conditions as shall be found by the Commission to be just and reasonable in the premises. Supplemental (3) The Commission may from time to time, for good cause shown, make such orders, supplemental to any order made under paragraph (1) or (2), as it may deem necessary or appropriate. Consolidation (4) The Commission shall as soon as practicable prepare and adopt a plan for the consolidation of railways-Commission to of the railway properties of the continental United States into a limited number of systems. In adopt compre- the division of such railways into such systems under such plan, competition shall be preserved as fully as possible and wherever practicable the existing routes and channels of trade and commerce shall be maintained. Subject to the foregoing requirements, the several systems shall be so arranged that the cost of transportation as between competitive systems and as related to the values of the properties through which the service is rendered shall be the same, so far as practicable, so that these systems can employ uniform rates in the movement of competitive traffic and under efficient management earn substantially the same rate of return upon the value of their respective railway properties. - competition and trade channels preserved. Hearings upon tentative plan of consolidation. (5) When the Commission has agreed upon a tentative plan, it shall give the same due publicity and upon reasonable notice, including notice to the Governor of each State, shall hear all persons who may file or present objections thereto. The Commission is authorized to prescribe a procedure for such hearings and to fix a time for bringing them to a close. After the hearings plan; publication; are at an end, the Commission shall adopt a plan for such consolidation and publish the same; but it may at any time thereafter, upon its own motion or upon application, reopen the subject for such changes or modifications as in its judgment will promote the public interest. The consolidations herein provided for shall be in harmony with such plan. Adoption of modifications. When railroads (6) It shall be lawful for two or more carriers by railroad, subject to this act, to consolidate may be consolidated; condi- their properties, or any part thereof, into one corporation for the ownership, management, and operation of the properties theretofore in separate ownership, management, and operation, under the following conditions: tions- -harmony with general plan; approval. -stocks and bonds not to ex properties. (a) The proposed consolidation must be in harmony with and in furtherance of the complete plan of consolidation mentioned in paragraph (5) and must be approved by the Commission. (b) The bonds at par of the corporation which is to become the owner of the consolidated ceed value of properties, together with the outstanding capital stock at par of such corporation, shall not exceed the value of the consolidated properties as determined by the Commission. The value When railroads of the properties sought to be consolidated shall be ascertained by the Commission under section be consoli- 19a of this Act, and it shall be the duty of the Commission to proceed immediately to the ascertainment of tainment of such value for the properties involved in a proposed consolidation upon the filing of the application for such consolidation. may value. -procedure upon application. -notice. (c) Whenever two or more carriers propose a consolidation under this section, they shall present their application therefor to the Commission, and thereupon the Commission shall notify the Governor of each State in which any part of the properties sought to be consolidated is situated and the carriers involved in the proposed consolidation, of the time and place for a public hearing. If after such hearing the Commission finds that the public interest will be promoted by the con Sec. 5. ization, terms. INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT order of author- solidation and that the conditions of this section have been or will be fulfilled, it may enter an order -consolidation approving and authorizing such consolidation, with such modifications and upon such terms and effected notwith- conditions as it may prescribe, and thereupon such consolidation may be effected, in accordance standing State law or order. with such order, if all the carriers involved assent thereto, the law of any State or the decision or order of any State authority to the contrary notwithstanding. Consolidation of express companies. Carriers relieved from antitrust tions. (7) The power and authority of the Commission to approve and authorize the consolidation of two or more carriers shall extend and apply to the consolidation of four express companies into the American Railway Express Company, a Delaware corporation, if application for such approval and authority is made to the Commission within thirty days after the passage of this amendatory Act; and pending the decision of the Commission such consolidation shall not be dissolved. (8) The carriers affected by any order made under the foregoing provisions of this section and other prohibi- and any corporation organized to effect a consolidation approved and authorized in such order shall be, and they are hereby, relieved from the operation of the "antitrust laws," as designated in section 1 of the Act entitled: "An Act to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes," approved October 15, 1914, and of all other restraints or prohibitions by law, State or Federal, in so far as may be necessary to enable them to do anything authorized or required by any order made under and pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section. 42 Stat. L., 27. Consolidation of telephone companies. Public hearing Notice to State officials. (9) Upon application of one or more telephone companies for authority to consolidate their properties or a part thereof into a single company, or for authority for one or more such companies to acquire the whole or any part of the property of another telephone company or other telephone companies or the control thereof by the purchase of securities or by lease or in any other like manner, when such consolidated company would be subject to this Act, the Commission shall fix a time and place for a public hearing upon such application and shall thereupon give reasonable notice in writing to the Governor of each of the States in which the physical property affected, or any part thereof, is situated, and to the State Public Service Commission or other regulatory body, if any, having jurisdiction over telephone companies, and to such other persons as it may deem advisable. After Authorization such public hearing, if the Commission finds that the proposed consolidation, acquisition, or control will be of advantage to the persons to whom service is to be rendered and in the public interest, Prior prohibi- it shall certify to that effect; and thereupon any Act or Acts of Congress making the proposed translaws inap- action unlawful shall not apply. Nothing in this paragraph contained shall be construed as in any Regulatory wise limiting or restricting the powers of the several States as now existing to control and regulate telephone companies. by Commission. tive plicable. powers of States unaffected. 37 Stat. L., 566. Railroads not to own competing water carriers. Each day's violation a separate offense. Commission determine competition as to (9) From and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and fourteen, it shall be unlawful for railroad company or other common carrier subject to the Act to regulate commerce to own, any lease, operate, control, or have any interest whatsoever (by stock ownership or otherwise, either directly, indirectly, through any holding company, or by stockholders or directors in common, or in any other manner) in any common carrier by water operated through the Panama Canal or elsewhere with which said railroad or other carrier aforesaid does or may compete for traffic, or any vessel carrying freight or passengers upon said water route or elsewhere with which said railroad or other carrier aforesaid does or may compete for traffic; and in case of the violation of this provision each day in which such violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense. (10) Jurisdiction is hereby conferred on the Interstate Commerce Commission to determine to questions of fact as to the competition or possibility of competition, after full hearing, on the application of any railroad company or other carrier. Such application may be filed for the purpose of determining whether any existing service is in violation of this section and pray for an order permitting the continuance of any vessel or vessels already in operation, or for the purpose of asking an order to install new service not in conflict with the provisions of this paragraph. The Commission may on its own motion or the application of any shipper institute proceedings to inquire into the operation of any vessel in use by any railroad or other carrier which has not applied to the ComOrder to be final. mission and had the question of competition or the possibility of competition determined as herein provided. In all such cases the order of said Commission shall be final. Commission (11) If the Interstate Commerce Commission shall be of the opinion that any such existing may permit continuance of water specified service by water other than through the Panama Canal is being operated in the interest line operation by of the public and is of advantage to the convenience and commerce of the people, and that such extension will neither exclude, prevent, nor reduce competition on the route by water under consideration, the Interstate Commerce Commission may, by order, extend the time during which Rates, etc., to be such service by water may continue to be operated beyond July first, nineteen hundred and fourteen. In every case of such extension the rates, schedules, and practices of such water carrier shall be filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission and shall be subject to the Act to regulate commerce and all amendments thereto in the same manner and to the same extent as if the railroad or railroads. filed with Commis sion. This paragraph was added by an Act of June 10, 1921, as paragraph (9), Section 407, Transportation Act, 1920. Sec. 6. 24 Stat. L., 379. 25 Stat. L., 855. 34 Stat. L., 584. 41 Stat. L., 483. Schedules, printing and filing; open to public. Components applicable when no joint rate estab lished. INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT other common carrier controlling such water carrier or interested in any manner in its operation: Provided, Any application for extension under the terms of this provision filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission prior to July first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, but for any reason not heard and disposed of before said date, may be considered and granted thereafter. SEC. 6. [Amended March 2, 1889. Following section substituted June 29, 1906. Amended June 18, 1910, August 24, 1912, August 29, 1916, and February 28, 1920.] (1) That every common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act shall file with the Commission created by this Act and print and keep open to public inspection schedules showing all the rates, fares, and charges for transportation between different points on its own route and between points on its own route and points on the route of any other carrier by railroad, by pipe line, or by water when a through route and joint rate have been established. If no joint rate over the through route has been established, the several carriers in such through route shall file, print and keep open to public inspection as aforesaid, the separately established rates, fares, and charges applied to the through transportation. The schedules printed as aforesaid by any such common carrier shall plainly state the places between which property and passengers will be carried, and shall contain the classification of freight in force, and shall also state separately all terminal charges, storage charges, icing charges, and all other charges which the Commission may require, all privileges or facilities granted or allowed and any rules or regulations which in any wise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such aforesaid rates, fares, and charges, or the value of the service rendered to the passenger, shipper, or conPosting for pub- signee. Such scheduies shall be plainly printed in large type, and copies for the use of the public lic inspection. shall be kept posted 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 form that they shall be accessible to the public and can be conveniently inspected. The provisions of this section shall apply to all traffic, transportation, and facilities defined in this Act. What schedules shall show. Applies to all traffic, transportation, and facilities. Schedules rates, freight carried through foreign country. of (2) Any common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act receiving freight in the United States to be carried through a foreign country to any place in the United States shall also in like manner print and keep open to public inspection, at every depot or office where such freight is received for shipment, schedules showing the through rates established and charged by such common carrier to all points in the United States beyond the foreign country to which it accepts freight for shipment; and 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. Freight subject to customs duties when through rates not published. Thirty days' notice of change in rates required. (3) No change shall be made in the rates, fares, and charges or joint fares and charges which have been filed and published by any common carrier in compliance with the requirements of this section, except after thirty days' notice to the Commission and to the public published as aforesaid, which shall plainly state the changes proposed to be made in the schedule then in force and the time when the changed rates, fares, or charges will go into effect; and the proposed changes shall be shown Commission by printing new schedules, or shall be plainly indicated upon the schedules in force at the time and may modify re kept open to public inspection: Provided, That the Commission may, in its discretion and for good quirements of cause shown, allow changes upon less than the notice herein specified, or modify the requirements of this section in respect to publishing, posting, and filing of tariffs, either in particular instances or plification of by a general order applicable to special or peculiar circumstances or conditions. Provided further, schedules and That the Commission is hereby authorized to make suitable rules and regulations for the simplifi this section. Rules for sim amendments. Joint tariffs to specify carriers participating. 34 Stat. L., 584. cation of schedules of rates, fares, charges, and classifications and to permit in such rules and regulations the filing of an amendment of or change in any rate, fare, charge, or classification without filing complete schedules covering rates, fares, charges or classifications not changed if, in its judgment, not inconsistent with the public interest. (4) 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 Evidence of necessary for the carriers filing the same to also file copies of the tariffs in which they are named concurrence; effect of filing. as parties 24 Stat. L., 379. Copies of traffic (5) Every common carrier subject to this Act shall also file with said Commission copies of all contracts and contracts, agreements, or arrangements with other common carriers in relation to any traffic arrangements to affected by the provisions of this Act to which it may be a party. be filed. 25 Stat. L., 855. (6) The Commission may determine and prescribe the form in which the schedules required Commission by this section to be kept open to public inspection shall be prepared and arranged and may change may prescribe forms of schedules. the form from time to time as shall be found expedient. |