The Grit-advocate., 1906-06-29

Railroad Employes-Authority of
Commission to Fix Rates.
Washington.-The following is a
synopsis of The important sections of
the railroad rate bill
Section one makes the law apply to
corporations or persons engaged in
the transportation of oil or other COM
modities, except water, by pipe line, to
those engaged in transportation of
passengers or property by railroad or
partly by railroad and partly by wa
ter, between states.
Common Carriers" Defined.
The term common carrier is de-
scribed as follows:
The term common carrier" as used
In this act. shall include express COM
paE:es and sleeping car companies. The
term railroad" rs used in this act.
shall include all bridges and ferries
used or operated in connection with
any railroad. and also all the road III
use by any corporation operating a
Tailroad, whether owned or operated
under a contract, agreement or lease,
spurs, tracks, and terminal facilities of
every kind used or necessary in the
transportation Of the persons or prop
erty designated herein.
All charges made for any service re1-
dered or to be rendered in the trans
TOrtation OF passengers or property as
aforesaid, or in connection Herewith,
sbal! be just and reasonable; and every
unjust and unreasonable charge for
such service or any part thereof is
prohibited and declared to be unIaw-
full.
What Passes May Be Issued
The section relative to the issuing
of railway passes is as follows:
A. No carrier subject to the proyls-
ions OF this act shall hereafter, direct
Nv or indirectly, issue or give any in
terstaate free ticket, free pass or free
transportation for passengers, except
to its officers. agents, employees. sur
geons, physicians, actual and bona tide
attorneys, and members of their i'm
mediate families; to ministers of reli-
gion, local and travelling secretaries Of
Young Mems Christian associations, in
mates of hospitals and charitable AMI
eleemosynary institutions; to INDECENT,
destitute and homeless persons, and to
such persons when transported ty
charitable societies or hospitals, and
the necessary agents employed in such
transportation; to inmates of the na-
tiOnal homes or state homes for dis
ahied volunteer soldiers and of SOL
,diers' and sailors homes. including
those about to enter and those return
ing home after discharge, under ar
rangements with boards of managers,
and female nurses that served during
the civil war: to ex-union soldiers and
sailors and ex-confederate soldiers;
and to owners and caretakers of live
stock when travelling with such stool:
or when going to point of shipment or
returning from point of delivery.
- Exceptions to the Rule.
Provided, that this provision sh3ll
not be construed to prohibit the inter-
change of passes for the officers, agents
and employees of carriers. and members
of their immediate families, nor to
prohibit any carrier from carrying
passengers free with the object of pr,-
viding relief in cases of general cpl
denic, pestience or other calamitous
visilations, nor prevent such carrier
from giving free or reduced transport
tatlon to laborers transported to any
place for the purpose of supplying any
demand for labor at such place.
Cannot Own Coal Mines.
All common carriers are prohibited
from transporting from one state to
another any article manufactured,
mined or produced by the carrier or
under its authority, and owned wholly
or in part by the carrier; except that
pipe lines operated by oil companies
as well as those offered for transporta-
ton by competitors.
Section 2 amends section 6 of the
present law Sc as to make it obligatory
on the part of carriers to file with the
commission and keep open to the public
schedules showing all rates, fares and
charges between different points on
its own route and points on other
routes, when a through rate is made,
and no change should be made in
these rates without giving 30 days no.
1ice of change. 1t also provides for the
filing of all contracts and agreements
between different lines.
Penalties Are Provided.
The penalties provided for violation
of these rates are as follows:
That section of the act entitled AN
act to further regulate comemrce with
foreign nations and among the states -
approved February 10, 1903, be amend
ed so as to read as follows:
The willful failure upon the part of
any carrier subject to said acts to file