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any person leave, deposit, or have in his possession in any dwellinghouse, shop, or manufactory, dynamite, giant powder, nitro-glycerine, or any explosive compound of which nitro-glycerine forms a part. Any violation of this act shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars nor less than one hundred dollars. [Approved August 29, 1885.]

CHAPTER 98.

AN ACT RELATING TO RAILROAD CROSSINGS, AND THE DUTIES OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS IN CERTAIN CASES.

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SECTION 1. Every railroad corporation shall maintain warning signs at every railroad crossing at grade, except as hereinafter provided.

SECT. 2. Such warning signs shall be constructed upon a uniform pattern, to be determined by the railroad commissioners; but warning signs already in existence and legible shall not be required to be of the established pattern, except as they are renewed.

SECT. 3. No warning signs shall be required to be placed at a crossing where gates or a flagman is employed.

SECT. 4. When a locomotive approaches within eighty rods of a crossing over a highway at grade, the whistle shall be sounded by two long and two short whistles, and the bell shall be rung until the locomotive passes the crossing; provided, that no whistle need be sounded in cities and villages where upon petition and complaint the board of railroad commissioners shall decide that it is not necessary.

SECT. 5. No railroad shall be constructed across another railroad at grade without the consent in writing of the board of railroad commissioners.

SECT. 6. When a railroad is hereafter laid out across a highway or other way it shall be constructed so as not to unreasonably obstruct the same, and unless the railroad commissioners authorize a crossing at grade, it shall be constructed so as to pass either over or

under the highway or other way; and whenever any railroad now existing, or hereafter constructed, crosses any highway or other way at grade, if such highway or other way is so situated that in the ordinary running of trains it is impossible to avoid a detention longer than two minutes, the railroad commissioners, upon petition, after hearing all persons interested therein, may prescribe and establish such regulations and restrictions relating to the time of obstructing such highway or other way, by placing or running engines, cars, or trains thereon, as in their judgment are proper for the protection of the public; provided, that in no case shall such obstruction exceed five minutes; and an appeal from all decisions of the board of railroad commissioners under this act shall be had to the supreme court of the State.

SECT. 7. A railroad corporation may raise or lower a highway or other way for the purpose of having its road pass over or under the same; but before proceeding to bridge or excavate for the purpose of crossing the same, the railroad commissioners shall be notified, and the board shall give opportunity for any parties to appear and be heard before giving its written consent to the proposed change in the manner of crossing.

SECT. 8. A railroad corporation may alter the course of a highway or other way for the purpose of facilitating the crossing of the same by its road, or of permitting its road to pass at the side thereof without crossing, upon obtaining the written consent of the railroad commissioners; but such consent shall not be given until all parties in interest shall have been duly notified and heard.

SECT. 9. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed, and this act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved August 29, 1885.]

THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT

PASSED BY THE FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS.

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 transportation 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 road 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 instrumentalities of shipment or carriage.

All charges made for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property as aforesaid, or in con

nection therewith, or for the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of such property, shall be reasonable and just; and every unjust and unreasonable charge for such service is prohibited and declared to be unlawful.

SECT. 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, or receives from any other person or persons for doing for 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.

SECT. 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 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.

Every common carrier 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 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.

SECT. 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 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.

SECT. 5. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of 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 offence.

SECT. 6. That every common carrier subject to the provisions of this act shall print and keep for 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 railroad, as defined by the first section of this act. 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 upon such railroad, and shall also state separately the terminal charges and any rules or regulations which in any wise change, affect, or determine any part of the aggregate of such aforesaid rates and fares and charges. Such schedules shall be plainly printed in large type, of at least the size of ordinary pica, and copies for the use of the public shall be kept in every depot or station upon any such railroad, in such places and in such form that they can be conveniently inspected.

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 for public inspection, at every depot 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

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