[PUBLIC-No. 328-66TH CONGRESS.]

[H. R. 15836.]

An Act To amend the Transportation Act, 1920.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Transportation Act, 1920, is hereby amended by adding after section 211 a new section to read as follows:

"SEC. 212. (a) In making certifications under section 204 or section 209, the Commission, if not at the time able finally to determine the whole amount due under such section to a carrier or the American Railway Express Company, may make its certificate for any amount definitely ascertained by it to be due, and may thereafter in the same manner make further certificates, until the whole amount due has been certified. The authority of and direction to the Secretary of the Treasury under such sections to draw warrants is hereby made applicable to each such certificate. Warrants drawn pursuant to this section, whether in partial payment or in final payment, shall be paid: (1) If for a payment in respect to reimbursement of a carrier for a deficit during the period of Federal control, out of the appropriation made by section 204; (2) if for a payment in respect to the guaranty to a carrier other than the American Railway Express Company, out of the appropriation made by subdivision (g) of section 209; and (3) if for a payment in respect to the guaranty to the American Railway Express Company, out of the appropriation made by the fifth paragraph of subdivision (i) of section 209.

"(b) In ascertaining the several amounts payable under either of such sections, the Commission is authorized, in the case of deferred debits and credits which can not at the time be definitely determined, to make, whenever in its judgment practicable, a reasonable estimate of the net effect of any such items, and, when agreed to by the carrier or express company, to use such estimate as a definitely ascertained amount in certifying amounts payable under either of such sections, and such estimates so agreed to shall be prima facie but not conclusive evidence of their correctness in amount in final settlement." Approved, February 26, 1921.

[H. R. 12161.]

An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States," approved March 4, 1909 (Thirty-fifth Statutes at Large, page 1134).

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sections 232, 233, 234, 235, and 236 of the Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States, approved March 4, 1909, be amended to read, respectively, as follows:

"SEC. 232. It shall be unlawful to transport, carry, or convey, within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States, any high explosive, such as, and including, dynamite, blasting caps, detonating fuzes, black powder, gunpowder, or other like explosive, on any vessel, car, or vehicle of any description operated in the transportation of passengers by a common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, which vessel, car, or vehicle is carrying passengers for hire: Provided, That it shall be lawful to transport on any such vessel, car, or vehicle smokeless powder, primers, fuses, not including detonating fuzes, fireworks, or other similar explosives, and properly packed and marked samples of explosives for laboratory examination, not exceeding a net weight of one-half pound each, and not exceeding twenty samples at one time in a single vessel, car, or vehicle; but such explosives shall not be carried in that part of a vessel, car, or vehicle which is being used for the transportation of passengers for hire: Provided further, That it shall be lawful to transport on any such vessel, car, or vehicle smallarms ammunition in any quantity, and such fusees, torpedoes, rockets, or other signal devices as may be essential to promote safety in operation: And provided further, That nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the transportation of military or naval forces with their accompanying munitions of war on passenger-equipment vessels, cars, or vehicles.

"The words 'detonating fuzes,' as used in this section shall be interpreted to mean fuzes used in naval or military service to detonate the high explosive bursting charges of projectiles, mines, bombs, or torpedoes. The word 'fuses' as used herein shall be interpreted to mean devices used in igniting the bursting charges of projectiles. The word 'primers' as used herein shall be interpreted to mean devices used in igniting the propelling powder charges of ammunition. The word 'fuses as used herein shall be interpreted to mean the slowburning fuses used commercially and intended to convey fire to an explosive or combustible mass slowly or without danger to the person lighting. The word 'fusees' as used herein shall be interpreted to mean the fusees ordinarily used on steamboats and railroads as night signals.

'SEC. 233. The Interstate Commerce Commission shall formulate regulations for the safe transportation within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States of explosives and other dangerous articles, including inflammable liquids, inflammable solids, oxidizing materials, corrosive liquids, compressed gases, and poisonous substances, which shall be binding upon all common carriers engaged in

interstate or foreign commerce which transport explosives or other dangerous articles by land or water, and upon all shippers making shipments of explosives or other dangerous articles via any common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce by land or water. Said commission, of its own motion, or upon application made by any interested party, may make changes or modifications in such regulations, made desirable by new information or altered conditions. Such regulations shall be in accord with the best-known practicable means for securing safety in transit, covering the packing, marking, loading, handling while in transit, and the precautions necessary to determine whether the material when offered is in proper condition to transport. Such regulations, as well as all changes or modifications thereof, shall, unless a shorter time is authorized by the commission, take effect ninety days after their formulation and publication by said commission and shall be in effect until reversed, set aside, or modified. In the execution of the provisions of this Act the Interstate Commerce Commission may utilize the services of the bureau for the safe transportation of explosives and other dangerous articles, and may avail itself of the advice and assistance of any department, commission, or board of the Government, but no official or employee of the United States shall receive any additional compensation for such service except as now permitted by law.

"SEC. 234. It shall be unlawful to transport, carry, or convey within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States, liquid nitroglycerin, fulminate in bulk in dry condition, or other like explosive, on any vessel, car, or vehicle of any description operated in the transportation of passengers or property by land or water by a common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce.

"SEC. 235. Every package containing explosives or other dangerous articles when presented to a common carrier for shipment shall have plainly marked on the outside thereof the contents thereof; and it shall be unlawful for any person to deliver, or cause to be delivered, to any common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce by land or water, or to carry upon any vessel, car, or vehicle operated by any common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign commerce by land or water any explosive, or other dangerous article, as specified in section 233 of this Act, under any false or deceptive marking, description, invoice, shipping order, or other declaration, or without informing the agent of such carrier in writing of the true character thereof, at or before the time such delivery or carriage is made. Whoever shall knowingly violate, or cause to be violated, any provision of this section, or of the three sections last preceding, or any regulation made by the Interstate Commerce Commission in pursuance thereof, shall be fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned not more than eighteen months, or both.

SEC. 236. When the death or bodily injury of any person results from the violation of any of the four sections last preceding, or any regulation made by the Interstate Commerce Commission in pursuance thereof, the person or persons who shall have so knowingly violated, or caused to be violated, such provision or regulation, shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

Approved, March 4, 1921.

[H. R. 6567.]

An Act To amend section 407 of the Transportation Act of 1920.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 407 of the Transportation Act of 1920 be, and it is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph designated as paragraph (9), as follows:

"(9) Upon application of one or more telephone companies for authority to consolidate their properties or a part thereof into a single company, or for authority for one or more such companies. to acquire the whole or any part of the property of another telephone company or other telephone companies or the control thereof by the purchase of securities or by lease or in any other like manner, when such consolidated company would be subject to this Act, the commission shall fix a time and place for a public hearing upon such application and shall thereupon give reasonable notice in writing. to the governor of each of the States in which the physical property affected, or any part thereof, is situated, and to the State public service commission or other regulatory body, if any, having jurisdiction over telephone companies, and to such other persons as it may deem advisable. After such public hearing, if the commission finds that the proposed consolidation, acquisition, or control will be of advantage to the persons to whom service is to be rendered and in the public interest, it shall certify to that effect; and thereupon any Act or Acts of Congress making the proposed transaction unlawful shall not apply. Nothing in this paragraph contained shall be construed as in any wise limiting or restricting the powers of the several States as now existing to control and regulate telephone companies."

Approved, June 10, 1921.

[PUBLIO NO. 149-67TH CONGRESS.]

[S. 621.]

An Act To amend subdivisions (a) and (c) of section 206 of the Trans

portation Act, 1920.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subdivision (a) of section 206 of the Transportation Act, 1920, be, and the same hereby is, amended by striking out the period at the end thereof, substituting a semicolon, and adding the following:

except that actions to enforce awards made by the commission under the provisions of subdivision (c) against the agent so designated by the President may be brought within one year after the date of the commission's award."

SEC. 2. That subdivision (c) of said section 206 be, and the same hereby is, amended to read as follows:

"(c) Complaints praying for reparation on account of damage claimed to have been caused by reason of the collection or enforcement by or through the President during the period of Federal control of rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, or practices (including those applicable to interstate, foreign, or intrastate traffic) which were unjust, unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory, or unduly or unreasonably prejudicial, or otherwise in violation of the Interstate Commerce Act, may be filed with the commission within one year, or, if so claimed in respect of overcharges above the legal tariff charge, within two years and six months, after the termination of Federal control, against the agent designated by the President, under subdivision (a), naming in the petition the railroad or system of transportation against which such complaint would have been brought_if such railroad or system had not been under the Federal control at the time the matter complained of took place. The commission is hereby given jurisdiction to hear and decide such complaints in the manner provided in the Interstate Commerce Act, and all notices and orders in such proceedings shall be served upon the agent designated by the President under subdivision (a)."

Approved, February 24, 1922.