The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-15

| one which the committee will very likely
| recommend ito the House for passage,
provides that railroad corporations shall
be punished for violation Of the interstate
| commerce laws and also that any person
or firm who gets the benefit of violation
| of the laws shall be punished. The law
now in force merely says that an employe
Of the corporation who violates the law
| shall be punished; law which Is con-
| stantly violated without fear Of punish
ment because Of all the cases that have
been brought into the courts not one has
resulted In a conviction.
To make the proposed amendment quite
clear 1t may be well to quote the exact
language of the Corliss bill on this point.
1t Is as follows:
BE it enacted. etc. That Section. 10 of
an Act entitled IAN Act to regulate COM
merce." as amended March End, 1890, be
amended so as to read as follows:
Sec, 10. Every carrier. every lessee,
trustee, receiver officer, agent, OF repre-
sentative Of a carrier who shall transport
or offer to transport trafic subject to this
Act at any other rate or upon any other
terms and conditions than are published
in accordance with the provisions of the
Act: or who by the payment Of any re-
bate or by. any other device, departs from
such published rate in the transportation
of such trafic. or who transports such
trafic without having first published a
tariff applicable to the same, agreeable to
the provision Of this Act; and any person
who. prJ:ures or solieits to be done or
assistants. aids, or abets in the doing of
any one of the aforesaid acts. shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and
shall, upon conviction thereof. be sub
ject to a fine OF not less than 5000 and
not more than $2o.oo0 for each such Of
Tense.
Amy person, whether an employee or a
principal or a member of firm or COM
pany, or an employee, agent, or officer OF
a corporation, for any Of whom as con-
signor or consignee any carrier subject
to the provisions of this Act shall trans
port property. who shall knowingly. by
false description false weight. or false
representation OF the contents of any
package. or by any other fraudulent
means. obtain or attempt to obtain the
transportation of property. with or with
out the collision Of the carrier or any Of
its employees, agents, representatives. for
a less compensation than that prescribed
by the published tariffs or schedules OF
rates in force at the time. shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor. and shall, upon
conviction thereof. be subject TO "A fine
of not less than 81 900 nor more than 5000
for each such offense."
The proposed amendment of Section 10
goes further and provides that the carrier
or it's agent who violates any provision of
the Act for which no penalty is other
wise expressly provided shall be punisha-
BILE by a fine of not less than 81. 900 and
not more than 5000 for each such Of
Tense.
1t says plainly that every corporation
which shall be guilty of any act or omis-
sion which II done by an individual would
be misdemanor under the provisions of
the Act, shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor and shall be subject to the
same penalty which is provided for the
individual" It provides also that viola
lions shall be proEecuted in any United
States Court having jurisdiction Of crimes
within the district in which such viola
ton was committed
Every witness before the committee
either directly or indirectly endorsed tn