and proper information and reports compiled from the records made or kept during the period of Federal control affecting their respective lines, and shall keep and continue such records and furnish like information and reports compiled therefrom.

Any carrier which refuses or obstructs such inspection, or which willfully fails to provide reasonable facilities therefor, or to furnish such information or reports shall be liable to a penalty of $500 for each day of the continuance of such offense, which shall accrue to the United States and may be recovered in a civil action to be brought by the United States.

CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF FEDERAL CONTROL.

SEC. 206. (a) Actions at law, suits in equity and proceedings in admiralty, based on causes of action arising out of the possession, use, or operation by the President of the railroad or system of transportation of any carrier (under the provisions of the Federal Control Act, or of the Act of August 29, 1916) of such character as prior to Federal control could have been brought against such carrier, may, after the termination of Federal control, be brought against an agent designated by the President for such purpose, which agent shall be designated by the President within thirty days after the passage of this Act. Such actions, suits, or proceedings may, within the periods of limitation now prescribed by State or Federal statutes but not later than two years from the date of the passage of this Act, be brought in any court which but for Federal control would have had jurisdiction of the cause of action had it arisen against such carrier.

(b) Process may be served upon any agent or officer of the carrier operating such railroad or system of transportation, if such agent or officer is authorized by law to be served with process in proceedings brought against such carrier and if a contract has been made with such carrier by or through the President for the conduct of litigation. arising out of operation during Federal control. If no such contract has been made process may be served upon such agents or officers as may be designated by or through the President. The agent designated by the President under subdivision (a) shall cause to be filed, upon the termination of Federal control, in the office of the Clerk of each District Court of the United States, a statement naming all carriers with whom he has contracted for the conduct of litigation arising out of operation during Federal control, and a like statement designating the agents or officers upon whom process may be served in actions, suits, and proceedings arising in respect to railroads or systems of transportation with the owner of which no such contract has been made; and such statements shall be supplemented from time to time, if additional contracts are made or other agents or officers appointed.

(c) Complaints praying for reparation on account of damage claimed to have been caused by reason of the collection or enforce ment by or through the President during the period of Federal control of rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, or practices (including those applicable to interstate, foreign, or intrastate traffic) which were unjust, unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory, or unduly or unreasonably prejudicial, or otherwise in violation of the Interstate Commerce Act, may be filed with the Commission, within one year after the termination of Federal control, against the agent designated by the President under subdivision (a), naming in the petition the railroad or system of transportation against which such complaint would have been brought if such railroad or system had not been under Federal control at the time the matter complained of took place. The Commission is hereby given jurisdiction to hear and decide such complaints in the manner provided in the Interstate Commerce Act, and all notices and orders in such proceedings shall be served upon the agent designated by the President under subdivi sion (a).

(d) Actions, suits, proceedings, and reparation claims, of the character above described pending at the termination of Federal control shall not abate by reason of such termination, but may be prosecuted to final judgment, substituting the agent designated by the President under subdivision (a).

(e) Final judgments, decrees, and awards in actions, suits, proceedings, or reparation claims, of the character above described, rendered against the agent designated by the President under subdivision (a), shall be promptly paid out of the revolving fund created by section 210.

(f) The period of Federal control shall not be computed as a part of the periods of limitation in actions against carriers or in claims for reparation to the Commission for causes of action arising prior to Federal control.

(g) No execution or process, other than on a judgment recovered by the United States against a carrier, shall be levied upon the property of any carrier where the cause of action on account of which the judgment was obtained grew out of the possession, use, control, or operation of any railroad or system of transportation by the President under Federal control.

REFUNDING OF CARRIERS' INDEBTEDNESS TO UNITED STATES.

SEC. 207. (a) As soon as practicable after the termination of Federal control the sident shall ascertain (1) the amount of the indebted

ness c

termi

made

n

fer

Tnited States, which may exist at the

curred for additions and betterments

nd properly chargeable to capital

account; (2) the amount of indebtedness of such carrier to the United States otherwise incurred; and (3) the amount of the indebtedness of the United States to such carrier arising out of Federal control. The amount under clause (3) may be set off against either or both of the amounts under clauses (1) and (2), so far as deemed wise by the President, but only to the extent permitted under any contract now or hereafter made between such carrier and the United States in respect to the matters of Federal control, or, where no such contract exists, to the extent permitted under paragraph (b) of section 7 of the standard contract between the United States and the carriers relative to deductions from compensation: Provided, That such right of set-off shall not be so exercised as to prevent such carrier from having the sums required for interest, taxes, and other corporate charges and expenses referred to in paragraph (b) of section 7 of such standard contract, accruing during Federal control, and also the sums required for dividends declared and paid during Federal control, including, also in addition, a sum equal to that proportion of such last dividend which the period between its payment and the termination of Federal control bears to the last regular dividend period: And provided further, That such right of set-off shall not be exercised unless there shall have first been paid such sums in addition as may be necessary to provide the carrier with working capital in amont not less than one twenty-fourth of its operating expenses for the calendar year 1919.

(b) Any remaining indebtedness of the carrier to the United States in respect to such additions and betterments shall, at the request of the carrier, be funded for a period of ten years from the termination of Federal control, or a shorter period at the option of the carrier, with interest at the rate of 6 per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, subject to the right of such carrier to pay, on any interest-payment day, the whole or any part of such indebtedness. Any carrier obtaining the funding of such indebtedness as aforesaid shall give, in the discretion of the President, such security, in such form and upon such terms, as he may prescribe.

(c) If the President and the various carriers, or any of them, shall enter into an agreement for funding, through the medium of car trust certificates, or otherwise, the indebtedness of any such carrier to the United States incurred for equipment ordered for the benefit of such carrier, such indebtedness so funded shall not be refundable under the foregoing provisions.

(d) Any other indebtedness of any such carrier to the United States which may exist after the settlement of accounts between the United States and the carrier and is then due shall be evidenced by notes payable in one year from the termination of Federal control, or a shorter period at the option of the carrier, with interest at the rate

of 6 per centum per annum, and secured by such collateral security s the President my deem it advisable to require.

(e) With respect to any bonds, notes, or other securities, acquired under the provisions of this section or of the Federal Control Act r of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the reimbursement of the United States for motive power, cars and other equipment ordered for railroads and systems of transportation under Federal control, and for other purposes," approved November 19, 1919, the President shall have the right to make such arrangements for extension of the time of payment or for the exchange of any of them for other securities, or partly for cash and partly for securities, as may be provided for in any agreement entered into by him or as may in his judgment seem desirable.

(f) Carriers may, by agreement with the President, issue notes or other evidences of indebtedness, secured by equipment trust agreements, for equipment purchased during Federal control by or through the President under section 6 of the Federal Control Act, and allocated to such 'carriers respectively; and the filing of such equipment trust agreements with the Commission shall constitute notice thereof to all the world.

(g) A carrier may issue evidences of indebtedness pursuant to this section without the authorization or approval of any authority, State or Federal, and without compliance with any requirement, State or Federal, as to notification.

EXISTING RATES TO CONTINUE IN EFFECT.

SEC. 208. (a) All rates, fares, and charges, and all classifications, regulations, and practices, in any wise changing, affecting, or determining, any part or the aggregate of rates, fares, or charges, or the value of the service rendered, which on February 29, 1920, are in effect on the lines of carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, shall continue in force and effect until thereafter changed by State or Federal authority, respectively, or pursuant to authority of law; but prior to September 1, 1920, no such rate, fare, or charge shall be reduced, and no such classification, regulation, or practice shall be changed in such manner as to reduce any such rate, fare, or charge, unless such reduction or change is approved by the Commission.

(b) All divisions of joint rates, fares, or charges, which on February 29, 1920, are in effect between the lines of carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, shall continue in force and effect until thereafter changed by mutual agreement between the interested carriers or by State or Federal authorities, respectively.

land grant railroads organized under the Land Grant Act of March 3, 1863, and the Act of July 27, 1866 (chapter 278).

GUARANTY TO CARRIERS AFTER TERMINATION OF FEDERAL CONTROL.

SEC. 209. (a) When used in this section

The term "carrier" means (1) a carrier by railroad or partly by railroad and partly by water, whose railroad or system of transportation is under Federal control at the time Federal control terminates, or which has heretofore engaged as a common carrier in general transportation and competed for traffic, or connected, with a railroad at any time under Federal control; and (2) a sleeping car company whose system of transportation is under Federal control at the time. Federal control terminates; but does not include a street or interurban electric railway not under Federal control at the time Federal control terminates, which has as its principal source of operating revenue urban, suburban, or interurban passenger traffic or sale of power, heat, and light, or both;

The term "guaranty period" means the six months beginning March 1, 1920.

The term "test period" means the three years ending June 30, 1917; and

The term "railway operating income" and other references to accounts of carriers by railroad shall, in the case of a sleeping car company, be construed as indicating the appropriate corresponding accounts in the accounting system prescribed by the Commission.

(b) This section shall not be applicable to any carrier which does not on or before March 15, 1920, file with the Commission a written statement that it accepts all the provisions of this section.

(c) The United States hereby guarantees

(1) With respect to any carrier with which a contract (exclusive of so-called coöperative contracts or waivers) has been made fixing the amount of just compensation under the Federal Control Act, that the railway operating income of such carrier for the guaranty period as a whole shall not be less than one-half the amount named in such contract as annual compensation, or, where the contract fixed a lump sum as compensation for the whole period of Federal operation, that the railway operating income of such carrier for the guaranty period as a whole shall not be less than an amount which shall bear the same proportion to the lump sum so fixed as six months bears to the number of months during which such carrier was under Federal operation, including in both cases the increases in such compensation provided for in section 4 of the Federal Control Act;

(2) With respect to any carrier entitled to just compensation under the Federal Control Act, with which such a contract has not been made, that the railway operating income of such carrier for the guaranty period as a whole shall not be less than one-half of the