Secs. 1 and 2 Carriers maintain agency agency good as to carriers. 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 may desire so to do are hereby authorized without responsiin Washington. bility 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 upon such agency shall be good Service upon service as to all the carriers joining in the establishment thereof. And it shall be the duty of any and all the officers, agents, or employees of such carriers by railroad or Carriers to obey 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 $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. For the transportation of persons or propRates fixed by erty in carrying out the orders and directions of the President, just and reasonable rates shall be fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission; and if the transportation be for the Government of the United States, it shall be paid Payment for for currently or monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury transportation. 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 Carrier comply- from any and all provisions in existing law imposing civil ing exempt from penalties and lia- or criminal pains, penalties, obligations, or liabilities upon carriers by reason of giving preference or priority in compliance with such order or direction. orders. Penalties. the Commission. Government bilities. 24 Stat. L., 379. 41 Stat. L., 479. ination defined SEC. 2.1 [As amended February 28, 1920.] That if any Unjust discrim- common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act shall, and prohibited 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 compensa 1 See Elkins Act, post, page 85. tion 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.] (1) 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 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. Secs. 2 and 3 24 Stat. L., 379. Undue or unence or advantage 41 Stat. L., 479. reasonable prefer forbidden. Carrier not to deliver freight un til charges paid. rules as to credit Commission. by (2) From and after July 1, 1920, no carrier by railroad subject to the provisions of this Act shall deliver or relinquish possession at destination of any freight transported by it until all tariff rates and charges thereon have been paid, except under such rules and regulations Exception, as the Commission may from time to time prescribe to prescribed assure prompt payment of all such rates and charges and to prevent unjust. discrimination: Provided, That the provisions of this paragraph shall not 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 Freight for thereof or for any State or Territory or political sub- local government. division thereof, or for the District of Columbia. Federal, State, or interchange of traffic. (3)1 All carriers, engaged in the transportation of pas- Facilities for sengers 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, Discrimination charges between such connecting lines, or unduly prejudice ing lines forbidany such connecting line in the distribution of traffic that is not specifically routed by the shipper. I See Government-Aided Railroad and Telegraph Act, post, page 165. between connect den. Secs. 3 and 4 Commission may require com minals. terms and com (4) If the Commission finds it to be in the public mon use of ter-interest and to be practicable, without substantially 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 carrier, by another carrier or other carriers, on such Fixation of terms and for such compensation as the carriers affected pensation. 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 terminal facilities have thus been required to be given to Recovery of another carrier or other carriers shall be entitled to damages by carrier whose facili- 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. Long and short haul provision. SEC. 4. [As amended June 18, 1910, and February 28, 41 Stat. L., 480. 1920.] (1) 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 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 or receive as great compensation for a Relief, by Com- 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 mission, from tion. Secs. 4 and 5 longer distance to compensatory. rates, on circui tial water compe for relief. existing rates Commission. Rates reduced 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 permit the Charge for establishment of any charge to or from the more distant be reasonably 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 competitive points and to maintain higher charges to or from Intermediate intermediate points on its line, the authority shall not tous lines. include intermediate points as to which the haul of the petitioning line or route is not longer than that of the Merely potendirect line or route between the competitive points; and tition not ground no such authorization 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 this amendatory Act by virtue of orders of the Commission or as to which Maintenance of application has theretofore been filed with the Commis- pending order by sion and not yet acted upon, shall not be required to be changed by reason of the provisions of this section until the further order of or a determination by the Commission. (2) Wherever a carrier by railroad shall in competi- to meet water tion with a water route or routes reduce the rates on the competition not carriage of any species of freight to or from competitive finding by Compoints it shall not be permitted to increase such rates unless after hearing by the Commission it shall be found that such proposed increase rests upon changed conditions other than the elimination of water competition. SEC. 5. [As amended August 24, 1912, and February 1 Stat. L., 480. 28, 1920.] (1) That, except upon specific approval by freight and diviorder of the Commission as in this section provided, and sion of earnings except as provided in paragraph (16) of section 1 of this Act, it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to 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 a separate offense: Provided, That 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, or upon its own initiative, that the division of their traffic or earnings, to the extent indicated by the Com raised without mission. 24 Stat. L., 379. Pooling of forbidden. Commission may permit, with assent of carriers. Sec. 5 control by lease, or otherwise. mission, 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 (2) Whenever the Commission is of opinion, after purchase of stock, 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 Authorization 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. (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. by Commission, terms. Supplemental orders. Consolidation adopt compre and trade chan (4) The Commission shall as soon as practicable preof railways- pare and adopt a plan for the consolidation of the railway -Commission to properties of the continental United States' into a limited hensive plan. number of systems. In the division of such railways into such systems under such plan, competition shall be -compet i ti on preserved as fully as possible and wherever practicable nels preserved. 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. Hearings upon tentative plan of (5) When the Commission has agreed upon a tentative consolidation. 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 |