Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1878 — INTER-STATE COMMERCE. [ARTICLE]

INTER-STATE COMMERCE.

The Hill Paused by the House of Representatives. Tlie following is the text of the InterState Commerce bill which has passed the lower house of Congress: Section 1. That It shall lie unlawful for any person or persons, engaged alone or associated with others in the transportation of property by railroad from one State or Territory to or through one or more other States or Territories of tho United States, or to or from any foreign country, directly or indirectly to charge to or receive from any person or persons any greater or less rate or amount of freight, compensation or reward than js charged to or received from any other person or persons for like and contemporaneous service in the carrying, receiving, delivering, storing or handling of the same. And all persons, engaged as aforesaid, shall furnish, without discrimination, the same facilities for the carriage, receiving, delivery, storage and handling of all property of like character carried by him or them, and shall perform with equal expedition the same kind of services connected with tlie contemporaneous transportation thereof as aforesaid. No break, stoppage or interruption, nor any contract, agreement or understanding, shall be made to prevent tho carriage of any property from being and being treated as one continuous carriage, in the meaning of this act, from the place of shipment to tlie place of destination, unless such stoppage, interruption, contract or understanding was made for some practical and necessary sosc, without any intent to avoid or interrupt continuous carriago or to evade any of the provisions of thiß act. Bec. 2. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons engaged in the transportation of property, as aforesaid, directly or indirectly to allow any rebate, drawback or other advantage, in any form, upon shipments made or services rendered, as aforesaid, by him or them. Sec. 3. That it shall lie unlawful for any person or persons engaged in tho carriage, receiving, storing or handling of property, as mentioned in the first section of tins act, to enter into any combination, contract, or agreement, by changes of schedule, carriage in different cars, breaking car-loads into less than carloads, or by any other means, witli intent to prevent the carriage of such property from being continuous from the place of shipment to the place of destination, whether carried on one or several railroads. And it shall ho unlawful for any person or persons carrying property, as aforesaid, to enter into any contract, agreement or combination, for the pooling of freights, or to pool the freights of different and competing railroads, by dividing between them tlie aggregate or not proceeds of the earnings of such railroads, or any portion of them. Bec. 4. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons engaged in tlie transportation of property, as provided in tlie first section of this act, to charge or receive any greater compensation per car-load of similar property for carrying, receiving, storing, forwarding or handling the same for a shorter than for a longer distance in one continuous carriage.