Penalties for failure to comply with the provis ions of this act or Interstate Commerce Commis sion. SEC. 5. That any officer or agent of said railroad or telegraph companies, or of any company operating the railroads and telegraph lines of said companies, who shall refuse or the orders of the fail to operate the telegraph lines of said railroad or telegraph companies under his control, or which he is engaged in operating, in the manner directed in this act and by the acts to which it is supplementary, or who shall refuse or fail, in such operation and use, to afford and secure to the Government and the public equal facilities, or to secure to each of said connecting telegraph lines equal advantages and facilities in the interchange of business, as herein provided for, without any discrimination whatever for or adverse to the telegraph line of any or either of said connecting companies, or shall refuse to abide by, or perform and carry out within a reasonable time the order or orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission, shall in every such case of refusal or failure be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall in every such case be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and may be imprisoned not less than six months; and in every such case of refusal or failure the party aggrieved may not only cause the officer or agent guilty thereof to be prosecuted under the provisions of this section, but may also bring an action for the damages sustained Actions for thereby against the company whose officer or agent may be damages may also be brought. guilty thereof, in the circuit or district court of the United States in any State or Territory in which any portion of the road or telegraph line of said company may be situated; and in case of suit process may be served upon any agent of the company found in such State or Territory, and such service shall be held by the court good and sufficient. Duty of railgragh lines sub road and tele ject to this act to tracts and a re Commission. the SEC. 6. That it shall be the duty of each and every one of the aforesaid railroad and telegraph companies, within sixty days from and after the passage of this act, to file file copies of con with the Interstate Commerce Commission copies of all port with contracts and agreements of every description existing between it and every other person or corporation whatsoever in reference to the ownership, possession, maintenance, control, use, or operation of any telegraph lines, or property over or upon its rights of way, and also a report describing with sufficient certainty the telegraph lines and property belonging to it, and the manner in which the same are being then used and operated by it, and the telegraph lines and property upon its right of way in which any other person or corporation claims to have a title or interest, and setting forth the grounds of such to the Commission refusal to make mission. Annual reports claim, and the manner in which the same are being then used and operated; and it shall be the duty of each and every one of said railroad and telegraph companies annually hereafter to report to the Interstate Commerce Commission, with reasonable fullness and certainty, the nature, extent, value, and condition of the telegraph lines and property then belonging to it, the gross earnings, and all expenses of maintenance, use, and operation thereof, and Penalties for its relation and business with all connecting telegraph reports to Com- companies during the preceding year, at such time and in such manner as may be required by a system of reports which said Commission shall prescribe; and if any of said railroad or telegraph companies shall refuse or fail to make such reports or any report as may be called for by said Commission, or refuse to submit its books and records for inspection, such neglect or refusal shall operate as a forDuty of Attor- feiture, in each case of such neglect or refusal, of a sum ney-General not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five prosecute. thousand dollars, to be recovered by the Attorney-General of the United States, in the name and for the use and benefit of the United States; and it shall be the duty of the Interstate Commerce Commission to inform the Attorney-General of all such cases of neglect or refusal, whose duty it shall be to proceed at once to judicially enforce the forfeitures hereinbefore provided. to Right of Conto alter, gress SEC. 7. That nothing in this act shall be construed to amend or repeal. affect or impair the right of Congress, at any time hereafter, to alter, amend, or repeal the said acts hereinbefore · mentioned; and this act shall be subject to alteration, amendment, or repeal as, in the opinion of Congress, justice or the public welfare may require; and nothing herein contained shall be held to deny, exclude, or impair any right or remedy in the premises now existing in the United States, or any authority that the Postmaster-General now Equity rights of the Govern has under title sixty-five of the Revised Statutes to fix ment preserved. rates, or, of the Government, to purchase lines as provided under said title, or to have its messages given precedence in transmission. Public No. 237, approved, August 7, 1888. 1 S 04 APR 20 1945 |