master General and shall be entitled to receive fair and reasonable compensation for such transportation and for the service connected therewith. empowered to fix reasonable rates. The Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby em- Commission powered and directed as soon as practicable to fix and determine from time to. time the fair and reasonable rates and compensation for the transportation of such mail matter by railway common carriers and the service connected therewith, prescribing the method or methods by weight, or space, or both, or otherwise, for ascertaining such rate or compensation, and to publish the same, and orders so made and published shall continue in force until changed by the Commission after due notice and hearing. be considered. In fixing and determining the fair and reasonable Distinction te rates for such service the Commission shall consider the relation existing between the railroads as public service corporations and the Government, and the nature of such service as distinguished, if there be a distinction, from the ordinary transportation business of the railroads. The procedure for the ascertainment of said rates and compensation shall be as follows: be furnished by eral. Within three months from and after the approval of Information to this act, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, the Fostmaster Gen Postmaster General shall file with the Commission a statement showing the transportation required of all railway common carriers, including the number, equipment, size, and construction of the cars necessary for the transaction of the business; the character and speed of the trains which are to carry the various kinds of mail; the service, both terminal and en route, which the carriers are to render; and all other information which may be material to the inquiry, but such other information may be filed at any time in the discretion of the Commission. The Postmaster General is authorized to employ such Clerical force. clerical and other assistance as shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section, and to rent quarters in Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, if necessary, for the clerical force engaged thereon, and to pay for the same out of the appropriation for inland transportation by railroad routes. The Postmaster General shall file with the Commission a comprehensive plan for the transportation of the mails on said railways and shall embody therein what he believes to be the Plan of Post Inaster General Notice to car riers. Hearings Testimony. carriers. reasonable rate or compensation the said railway carriers should receive. Thereupon the Commission shall give notice of not less than thirty days to each carrier so required to transport mail and render service, and upon a day to be fixed by the Commission, not later than thirty days after the expiration of the notice herein required, each of said carriers shall make answer and the Commission shall proceed with the hearing as now provided by law for other hearings between carriers and shippers or associations. All the provisions of the law for taking testimony, securing evidence, penalties, and procedure are hereby made applicable. Classification of For the purpose of determining and fixing rates or compensation hereunder the Commission is authorized to make such classification of carriers as may be just and reasonable and, where just and equitable, fix general rates applicable to all carriers in the same classification. Additional weighing. Order fixing rates. Reexamina tion. Powers of the Commission. Pending such hearings, and the final determination of the question, if the Interstate Commerce Commission. shall determine that it is necessary or advisable, in order to carry out the provisions of this section, to have additional and more frequent weighing of the mails for statistical purposes, the Postmaster General, upon request of the Commission, shall provide therefor in the manner now prescribed by law, but such weighing need not be for more than thirty days. At the conclusion of the hearing the Commission shall establish by order a fair, reasonable rate or compensation to be received, at such stated times as may be named in the order, for the transportation of mail matter and the service connected therewith, and during the continuance of the order the Postmaster General shall pay the carrier from the appropriation herein made such rate or compensation. Either the Postmaster General or any such carrier may at any time after the lapse of six months from the entry of the order assailed apply for a reexamination, and thereupon substantially similar proceedings shall be had with respect to the rate or rates for service covered by said application, provided said carrier or carriers have an interest therein. For the purposes of this section the Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby vested with all the powers which it is now authorized by law to exercise in the in vestigation and ascertainment of the justness and reasonableness of freight, passenger, and express rates to be paid by private shippers. carriers. The Interstate Commerce Commission shall allow to Land-grant railroad companies whose railroads were constructed in whole or in part by a land grant made by Congress on condition that the mails should be transported over their roads at such price as Congress should by law direct only eighty per centum of the compensation paid other railroads for transporting the mails and all service by the railroads in connection therewith. Existing mail pay to remain in force until rea sonable rates are The existing law for the determination of mail pay, except as herein modified, shall continue in effect until the Interstate Commerce Commission under the pro- fixed. visions hereof fixes the fair, reasonable rate or compensation for such transportation and service. RAILWAY-MAIL SERVICE PAY ON URBAN AND INTERURBAN ELECTRIC RAILWAYS. [Provision in the Post Office Department Appropriation Act of July 2, 1918.] 40 Stat. L., 748. Electric and Provisos; rates cable cars. of pay. For inland transportation of mail by electric and cable cars, $555,000: Provided, That the rate of compensation to be paid per mile shall not exceed the rate now paid to companies performing such service, except that the Postmaster General, in cases where the quantity of mail is large and the number of exchange points numerous, may, in his discretion, authorize payment for closed-pouch service at a rate per mile not to exceed one-third above the rate per mile now paid for closed-pouch service, and for mail cars and apartments carrying the mails not to exceed the rate of 1 cent per linear foot per car-mile of travel: Provided further, That the rates for electric car Rates service service on routes over twenty miles in length outside of cities shall not exceed the rates paid for service on steam railroads: Provided, however, That not to exceed $25,000 of the sum hereby appropriated may be expended, in the discretion of the Postmaster General, where unusual conditions exist or where such service will be more expeditious and efficient and at no greater cost than otherwise, and not to exceed $100,000 of this appropriation may be outside of cities, Unusual condi tions Sec. 1 wagon service. fixed by Commission. Substitution of expended for regulation screen or motor screen wagon service which may be authorized in lieu of electric or cable Rates to be car service: Provided further, That the Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby empowered and directed as soon as practicable to fix and determine from time to time the fair and reasonable rates and compensation for the transportation of mail matter by urban and interurban electric railway common carriers and the service connected therewith, prescribing the method or methods by weight or space, or both, or otherwise, for ascertaining such rate or compensation and to publish same, and orders so made and published shall continue in force until changed by the Commission after due notice and hearing: And provided further, That it shall be unlawful for any urban or interurban electric railroad to refuse to perform mail service at the rates or methods of compensation thus provided for such service when required by the Postmaster General so to do, and for such offense shall be fined $100. Each day of refusal shall constitute a separate offense. Standard time established. ians controlling time. STANDARD TIME ACT [AS AMENDED]. AN ACT To save daylight and to provide standard time for the United Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SEC. 1. That, for the purpose of establishing the 40 Stat. L., 450, standard time of the United States, the territory of Zones; merid-continental United States shall be divided into five zones in the manner hereinafter provided. The standard time of the first zone shall be based on the mean astronomical time of the seventy-fifth degree of longitude west from Greenwich; that of the second zone on the ninetieth degree; that of the third zone on the one hundred and fifth degree; that of the fourth zone on the one hundred and twentieth degree; and that of the fifth zone, which shall include only Alaska, on the one Limits to be de- hundred and fiftieth degree. That the limits of each zone shall be defined by an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, having regard for the convenience of commerce and the existing junction points and division points of common carriers engaged in commerce fined by Commission. between the several States and with foreign nations, and such order may be modified from time to time. Secs. 2-5 Standard time ment of carriers. to govern move. controls official SEC. 2. That within the respective zones created under the authority hereof the standard time of the zone shall govern the movement of all common carriers engaged in commerce between the several States or between a State and any of the Territories of the United States, or between a State or the Territory of Alaska and any of the insular possessions of the United States or any foreign country. In all statutes, orders, rules, and regulations Standard time relating to the time of performance of any act by any acts, and accrual officer or department of the United States, whether in tion of rights. the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of the Government, or relating to the time within which any rights shall accrue or determine, or within which any act shall or shall not be performed by any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, it shall be understood and intended that the time shall be the United States standard time of the zone within which the act is to be performed. and determina zones. SEC. 3. [This section, providing for the annual advancing and retarding of standard time, was repealed by Act of Congress of August 20, 1919, 41 Stat. L., 280.] SEC. 4. That the standard time of the first zone shall Designation of be known and designated as United States Standard Eastern Time; that of the second zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Central Time; that of the third zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Mountain Time; that of the fourth zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Pacific Time; and that of the fifth zone shall be known and designated as United States Standard Alaska Time. repealed. SEC. 5. That all Acts and parts of Acts in conflict Conflicting Actș herewith are hereby repealed. [By an Act, approved March 4, 1921 (41 Stat. L., 1446), the Panhandle and Plains section of Texas and Oklahoma was transferred to the United States standard central time zone.] 47719°-21-12 |