person or persons so damaged by suit in any district or circuit court of the United States, where the person or persons causing such damage can be found, or may have an agent, office, or place of business; and the person or persons so offending shall for each offence forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than one thousand dollars, to be recovered by the United States, by action. in any circuit or district court aforesaid, one-half of such penalty or penalties, when collected, to be paid to the informer. Any action to be brought as aforesaid to recover any such penalty or damages may be considered, and if so brought shall be regarded as a subject of equity jurisdiction and discovery, and affirmative relief may be sought and obtained therein. In any such action so brought as a case of equitable cognizance, preliminary or final injunctions may, without allegation or proof of damage to any plaintiff or complainant, be granted upon proper application. restraining, forbidding, and prohibiting the commission or continuance of any acts, matters, or things, within the terms or purview of this act, prohibited or forbidden. In any action aforesaid, and upon any application for any injunction above provided for, any director, officer, receiver, or trustee of any corporation or company aforesaid, or any receiver, trustee, or person aforesaid, or any agent of any such corporation or company, receiver, trustee, or person aforesaid, or of any of them alone or with any other person or persons, party or parties, may and shall be compelled to attend, appear, and testify and give evidence, and no claim that any such testimony or evidence might or might tend to criminate the person testifying or giving evidence shall be of any avail, but such evidence or testimony shall not be used as against such person on the trial of any indictment against him. The attendance and appearance of any of the persons who as aforesaid may be compelled to appear or testify, and the giving of the testimony or evidence by the same, respectively, and the production of books and papers thereby, may and shall be compelled, the same as in the case of any other witness; and in case any such deposition or evidence, or the production of any books or papers, may be desired or required for the purpose of applying for or sustaining any injunction aforesaid, the same, and the production of books and papers,

may and shall be had, taken, and compelled, by or before any United States commissioner, or in any manner provided or to be provided for, as to the taking of other depositions or evidence, or the attendance of witnesses, or the production of other books or papers, in or by chapter seventeen of title thirteen of the Revised Statutes of the United States. In actions to be brought as aforesaid, damages sustained in the period of a month or part of a month may be regarded as and counted or declared upon, or complained of generally, and as one separate cause of action, and so, whether such damages be sustained in one month or in different months; and such separate causes of action may be joined in the same action. No action aforesaid shall be sustained unless brought within one year after the cause of action shall accrue.

SEC. 8. That any director or officer of any corporation or company acting or engaged as aforesaid, or any receiver or trustee, lessee, or person acting or engaged as aforesaid, or any agent of any such corporation or company, receiver, trustee or person aforesaid, or of one of them alone, or with any other corporation, company, person, or party, who shall directly or indirectly do, or cause or willingly suffer or permit to be done, any act, matter, or thing in this act prohibited or forbidden, or directly or indirectly aid or abet therein; or shall directly or indirectly omit or fail to do any act, matter or thing in this act required to be done, or cause or willingly suffer or permit any act, matter, or thing so directed or required to be done not to be so done; or shall directly or indirectly aid or abet any such omission or failure; or shall directly or indirectly be guilty of any infraction of this act, or directly or indirectly aid or abet therein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one thousand dollars.

SEC. 9. That nothing in this act shall apply to the carriage, receiving, storage, handling, or forwarding of property less than an ordinary car load, or wholly within one State or Territory, and not destined for carriage in another State or Territory, or going to or coming from some foreign country, or to property carried for the United States at lower rates of freight and charges than for the general public, or to the transportation of

articles free or at reduced rates of freight for charitable purposes, or to or from public fairs and expositions for exhibition.

SEC. 10. That the words "person or persons" as used in this act, except where otherwise provided, shall be construed and held to mean person or persons, officer or officers, corporation or corporations, company or companies, receiver or receivers, trustee or trustees, lessee or lessees, agent or agents, or other person or persons acting or engaged in any of the matters and things mentioned in this act.

Passed the House of Representatives December 11, 1878.
GEO. M. ADAMS,

Attest:

Clerk

CHAPTER XXIII

THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT OF 1887: ITS COMPOSITION AND LOGIC

There were four chief matters at issue throughout the debates on the interstate commerce bills: (1) a commission, (2) the anti-rebate provision, (3) an anti-pooling provision, and (4) a long-and-short-haul clause. The Senate majority favored a federal commission and the permission of railway pooling; it tolerated a weak and elastic long-and-short-haul clause and an anti-rebate provision. The great majority of the House were opposed to a commission, pooling, and rebating, and favored a rigid long-and-short-haul clause. Obviously here is a situation which calls for compromise.

THE COMPROMISE

From the view point of Mr. Cullom and the Senate majority the chief change made in the conference bill' lay in the provision which forbade pooling (s. 19). This was their great concession. Mr. Cullom stated that the conference bill was practically the same as the Senate bill excepting that it prohibited pooling.2

Other modifications of the Senate bill were as follows." The District of Columbia was included in its scope and the term, railway, was defined to include "all the road in use by any corporation operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement or lease" (s. 1). Provisions concerning damages were taken out and combined in a new section with an

1 The bill proposed as a compromise by the conference committee. 2 Cong. Rec., 1886-87, p. 171.

Ibid., p. 170.

additional provision allowing a reasonable counsel's or attorney's fee in case of recovery (ss. 2, 3, 4). The section requiring carriers to furnish reasonable and proper facilities was. amended to require proper and equal facilities (s. 3). A change in the long-and-short-haul clause was considered to be of some importance. The words of the Senate bill, "from the same original point of departure or to the same point of arrival” were stricken out and the formula, "the shorter being included. within the longer distance," was inserted. The provision authorizing the commission to make exceptions to the clause was also slightly modified with the idea of greater rigidity. Section. five of the Senate bill was replaced by section six of the conference bill which was a combination of the House and Senateprovisions concerning publicity of rates. The new section not only directed the commission to secure publicity of rates over each railway and connecting lines, but also required each railway to publish rates between all points on its line.

Senator Platt was the only one of the conferrees who did not sign the conference report, basing his action upon the objectionable change in the long-and-short-haul clause, and, above all, upon the insertion of an anti-pooling provision.*

5

On the other hand, the changes and concessions as stated by the House conferrees were the following. The most important. addition came in the provision for a commission. Furthermore the House bill had applied to freight transportation alone, whereas the conference bill included passenger service; and the House bill was also broadened by the inclusion of transportation partly by water when used under common control with a railway for a continuous interstate shipment. The long-and-short-haul clause was modified by allowing the commission to make exceptions. As to publicity, the House bill had required the public posting of rates by the railways; the conference bill required carriers after ninety days to keep printed schedules of rates and fares for public inspection.

Upon the completion of the conference report a member of the minority in the House committee on commerce stated his

Ibid., p. 360.

Ibid., p. 695.