THE ACT TO REGULTE COMMERCE. (As amended March 2, 1889, and February 10, 1891). Carriers and transportation Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 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, under a common control, management, or arrangement 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 trans- subject to the act. portation 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 roads in use by any corporation operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement, or lease; and the term "transportation" shall include all instrumentalites of shipment or carriage. "railroad" and What the terms transporta tion" include. All charges made for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property as aforesaid, or in connection therewith, or for the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of such property, shall be Charges to be reasonable and just; and every unjust and unreasonable reasonable. charge for such service is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. SEC. 2. 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, subject to the provisions of this act, than it charges, demands, collects, Unjust dis. or receives from any other person or persons for doing for 349 crimination for bidden. reasonable pref him or them a like and contemporaneous service in the transportation of a like kind of traffic 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. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any parUidue or un ticular person, company, firm, corporation, or locality, or any erence or advan- 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. tage forbidden. traffic. Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this act Facilities for shall, according to their respective powers, afford all reasoninterchange of able, proper, and equal facilities for the interchange of traffic between their respective lines, and for the receiving, forwarding, and delivering of passengers and property to and from their several lines and those connecting therewith, and shall not discriminate in their rates and charges between such connecting lines; but this shall not be construed as requiring any such common carrier to give the use of its tracks or terminal facilities to another carrier engaged in like business. haul provision. SEC. 4. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act to charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation Long and short of passengers or of like kind of property, under substantially similar circumstances and conditions, for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line, in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance; but this shall not be construed as authorizing any common carrier within the terms of this act to charge and receive as great compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance: Provided, however, That upon application to the Commission appointed under the provisions of this act, such common carrier may, in special cases, after investigation by the Commission, be authorized 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 of this act. SEC. 5. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act to enter into any conPooling of tract, agreement, or combination with any other common freights and division of earn- carrier or carriers for the pooling of freights of different and ings forbidden. 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 a separate offense. SEC. 6. (As amended.) That every common carrier suject to the provisions of this act shall print and keep open to public inspection schedules showing the rates and fares and charges for the transportation of passengers and property which any such common carrier has established and which are in force at the time upon its route. The schedules printed as aforesaid by any such common carrier shall plainly state the places upon its railroad between which property and passengers will be carried, and shall contain the classification of freight in force, and shall also state separately the terminal charges and any rules or regulations which in anywise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such aforesaid rates and fares and charges. Such schedPrinting and ules shall be plainly printed in large type, and copies for the posting of sched use of the public shall be posted in two public and conspicuous places, in every depot, station, or office of such car- charges. rier 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. rates, ules of ules of rates on 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 inspecPrinting and tion, at every depot or office where such freight is received posting of sched for shipment, schedules showing the through rates estab- freight carried lished and charged by such common carrier to all points in through a foreign country. 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; and any law in conflict with this section is hereby repealed. Ten days' pub lic notice of advances in rates No advance shall be made in the rates, fares, and charges which have been established and published as aforesaid by any common carrier in compliance with the requirements of this section, except after ten days' public notice, which shall plainly state the changes proposed to be made in the schedule then in force, and the time when the increased rates, fares, or charges will go into effect; and the proposed to be given. changes shall be shown by printing new schedules, or shall be plainly indicated upon the schedules in force at the time and kept open to public inspection. Reductions in such published rates, fares, or charges shall only be made after Three days' public notice of three days' previous public notice, to be given in the same reduction in manner that notice of an advance in rates must be given. And when any such common carrier shall have established and published rates, fares, and charges in compliance with the provisions of this section, it shall be unlaw- Published ful for such common carrier to charge, demand, collect, or deviated from. receive from any person or persons a greater or less compensation for the transportation of passengers or property, or for any services in connection therewith, than is specified in such published schedule of rates, fares, and charges as may at the time be in force. Every commmon carrier subject to the provisions of this rates to be given. rates not to be ules of rates, tares, filed with Commission. Copies of sched act shall file with the Commission hereinafter provided for and copies of its schedules of rates, fares, and charges which charges to be have been established and published in compliance with the requirements of this section, and shall promptly notify said Commission of all changes made in the same. Every Copies of con- such common carrier shall also file with said Commission tracts and agreements to be filed copies of all contracts, agreements, or arrangements with with Commis- other common carriers in relation to any traffic affected by sion. the provisions of this act to which it may be a party. And in cases where passengers and freight pass over continuous lines or routes operated by more than one common carrier, and the several common carriers operating such lines Joint tariffs to or routes establish joint tariffs of rates or fares or charges be filed with for such continuous lines or routes, copies of such joint tariffs shall also, in like manner, be filed with said Commismission to pre- sion. Such joint rates, fares, and charges on such continuscribe publicity. Ous lines so filed as aforesaid shall be made public by such Commission. Power of Com advance in joint charges. sion of reduction common carriers when directed by said Commission, in so far as may, in the judgment of the Commission, be deemed practicable; and said Commission shall from time to time prescribe the measure of publicity which shall be given to such rates, fares, and charges, or to such part of them as it may deem it practicable for such common carriers to publish, and the places in which they shall be published. No advance shall be made in joint rates, fares, and charges, Ten days' notice shown upon joint tariffs, except after ten days' notice to the to Commission of Commission, which shall plainly state the changes proposed rates, fares, and to be made in the schedule then in force, and the time when Three days' no- the increased rates, fares, or charges will go into effect. No tice to Commis- reduction shall be made in joint rates, fares, and charges, in joint rates, except after three days' notice, to be given to the Commission fares, and as is above provided in the case of an advance of joint rates. Power of Com The Commission may make public such proposed advances, advances or re- or such reductions, in such manner as may, in its judgment, ductions public. be deemed practicable, and may prescribe from time to time the measure of publicity which common carriers shall give to advances or reductions in joint tariffs. charges. mission to make Joint rates, fares, and deviated from, It shall be unlawful for any common carrier, party to any charges not to be joint tariff, to charge, demand, collect, or receive from any person or persons a greater or less compensation for the transportation of persons or property, or for any services in connection therewith, between any points as to which a joint rate, fare, or charge is named thereon than is specified in the schedule filed with the Commission in force at the time. may prescribe The Commission may determine and prescribe the form Commission in which the schedules required by this section to be kept forms of sched- open to public inspection shall be prepared and arranged, les of rates and may change the form from time to time as shall be found expedient. fares, and charges. Penalties for If any such common carrier shall neglect or refuse to file or publish its schedules or tariffs of rates, fares, and charges as provided in this section, or any part of the same, such neglecting or re- common carrier shall, in addition to other penalties herein fusing to file or prescribed, be subject to a writ of mandamus, to be issued by and any circuit court of the United States in the judicial district wherein the principal office of said common carrier is situ publish fares, charges. rates, ated, or wherein such offense may be committed, and if such common carrier be a foreign corporation in the judicial circuit wherein such common carrier accepts traffic and has an agent to perform such service, to compel compliance with the aforesaid provisions of this section; and such writ shall issue in the name of the people of the United States, at the relation of the Commissioners appointed under the provisions of this act; and the failure to comply with its requirements shall be punishable as and for a contempt; and the said Commissioners, as complainants, may also apply, in any such circuit court of the United States, for a writ of injunction against such common carrier, to restrain such common carrier from receiving or transporting property among the several States and Territories of the United States, or between the United States and adjacent foreign countries, or between ports of transshipment and of entry and the several States and Territories of the United States, as mentioned in the first section of this act, until such common carrier shall have complied with the aforesaid provisions of this section of this act. carriage of SEC. 7. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act to enter into any combination, contract, or agreement, expressed or implied, to prevent, by change of time schedule, carriage in different cars, or by other means or devices, the carriage of freights from being continuous from the place of shipment to the Continuous place of destination; and no break of bulk, stoppage, or in- freights not to be terruption made by such common carrier shall prevent the unnecessarily incarriage of freights from being and being treated as one continuous carriage from the place of shipment to the place of destination, unless such break, stoppage, or interruption was made in good faith for some necessary purpose, and without any intent to avoid or unnecessarily interrupt such continuous carriage or to evade any of the provisions of this act. terrupted. SEC. 8. That in case any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act shall do, cause to be done, or permit to be done any act, matter, or thing in this act prohibited or declared to be unlawful, or shall omit to do any act, matter, or thing in this act required to be done, such common carLiability of rier shall be liable to the person or persons injured thereby common carriers for damages. for the full amount of damages sustained in consequence of1 any such violation of the provisions of this act, together with a reasonable counsel or attorney's fee, to be fixed by the court in every case of recovery, which attorney's fee shall be taxed and collected as part of the costs in the case. Persons claiming to be dam SEC. 9. That any person or persons claiming to be damaged by any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act may either make complaint to the Commission as hereinafter provided for, or may bring suit in his or their own behalf for the recovery of the damages for which such common carrier may be liable under the provisions of this act, in any aged may com district or circuit court of the United States of competent plain to Commission or bring jurisdiction; but such person or persons shall not have the suit in United right to pursue both of said remedies, and must in each case elect which one of the two methods of procedure herein provided for he or they will adopt, In any such action brought S. Mis, 31-23 States courts, |