system of accounts, and the manner in which such accounts shall be kept. [Annual reports to be filed with commission by Septem ber 30 of each year.] Said detailed reports shall contain all the required statistics for the period of twelve months ending on the thirtieth day of June in each year, or on the thirty-first day of December in each year if the Commission by order substitute that period for the year ending June thirtieth, and shall be made out under oath and filed with the commission at its office in Washington within three months after the close of the year for which the report is made, [Commission may grant additional time.] unless additional time be granted in any case by the Commission; and if any carrier, person, or corporation subject to the provisions of this Act shall fail to make and file said annual reports within the time above specified, or within the time extended by the Commission, for making and filing the same, or shall fail to make specific answer to any question authorized by the provisions of this section within thirty days from the time it is lawfully required so to do, such party shall forfeit to the United [Penalty.] States the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every day it shall continue to be in default with respect thereto. The Commission shall also have authority by general or special orders to [Monthly or periodical reports.] require said carriers, or any of them, to file monthly reports of earnings and expenses, and to file periodical or special, or both periodical and special, reports concerning any matters about which the Commission is authorized or required by this or any other law to inquire or to keep itself informed or which it is required to enforce; and such periodical or special reports shall be under oath whenever the Commission so requires; and if any such carrier shall fail to make and file any such periodical or special report within the time fixed by the Commission, it shall be subject to the forfeitures last above provided. [Recovery of forfeitures.] Said forfeitures shall be recovered in the manner provided for the recovery of forfeitures under the provisions of this Act. [Oath to annual reports, how taken.] The oath required by this section may be taken before any person authorized to administer an oath by the laws of the State in which the same is taken. [Commission may prescribe forms of accounts, records, and memoranda, and have access thereto.] The Commission may, in its discretion, prescribe the forms of any and all accounts, records, and memoranda to be kept by carriers subject to the provisions of this Act, including the accounts, records, and memoranda of the movement of traffic as well as the receipts and expenditures of moneys. The Commission shall at all times have access to all accounts, records, and memoranda kept by carriers subject to this Act, and it shall be unlawful for [Carrier can not keep other accounts than those pre scribed by commission.] such carriers to keep any other accounts, records, or memoranda than those prescribed or approved by the Commission, and it may employ special agents or examiners, who shall have authority [Commission may employ special examiner to inspect ac- under the order of the Commission to inspect and examine any and all accounts, records, and memoranda kept by such carriers. This provision shall apply to receivers of carriers and operating trustees. [Punishment of carrier by forfeiture for failure to keep In case of failure or refusal on the part of any such carrier, receiver, or trustee to keep such accounts, records, and memoranda on books and in the manner prescribed by the Commission, or to submit such accounts, records, and memoranda as are kept to the inspection of the Commission or any of its authorized agents or examiners, such carrier, receiver, or trustee shall forfeit to the United States the sum of five hundred dollars for each such. offense and for each and every day of the continuance of such offense, such forfeitures to be recoverable in the same manner as other forfeitures provided for in this Act. [Punishment of person for false entry in accounts or rec- Any person who shall willfully make any false entry in the accounts of any book of accounts or in any record or memoranda kept by a carrier, or who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, alter, or by any other means or device falsify the record of any such account, record, or memoranda, or who shall willfully neglect or fail to make full, true, and correct entries in such accounts, records, or memoranda of all facts and transactions appertaining to the carrier's business, or shall keep any other accounts, records, or memoranda than those prescribed or approved by the Commission, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject, upon conviction in any court of the United States or competent jurisdiction, to a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not less than one year nor more than three years, [Amendment of February 25, 1909.] or both such fine and imprisonment: Provided, That the Commission may in its discretion issue orders specifying such operating, accounting, or financial papers, records, books, blanks, tickets, stubs, or documents of carriers which may, after a reason [When destruction of papers permissible.] able time, be destroyed, and prescribing the length of time such books, papers, or documents shall be preserved. [Punishment of special examiner who divulges facts or Any examiner who divulges any fact or information which may come to his knowledge during the course of such examination, except in so far as he may be directed by the Commission or by a court or judge thereof, shall be subject, upon conviction in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, to a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both. [United States courts may issue mandamus to compel That the circuit and district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction, upon the application of the Attorney-General of the United States at the request of the Commission, alleging a failure to comply with or a violation of any of the provisions of said Act to regulate commerce or of any Act supplementary thereto or amendatory thereof by any common carrier, to issue a writ or writs of mandamus commanding such common carrier to comply with the provisions of said Acts, or any of them. [Commission may employ special agents or examiners to And to carry out and give effect to the provisions of said Acts, or any of them, the Commission is hereby authorized to employ special agents or examiners who shall have power to administer oaths, examine witnesses, and receive evidence. [Receiving common carrier liable for loss or damage on That any common carrier, railroad, or transportation company receiving property for transportation from a point in one State to a point in another State shall issue a receipt or bill of lading therefor and shall be liable to the lawful holder thereof for any loss, damage, or injury to such property caused by it or by any common carrier, railroad, or transportation company to which such property may be delivered or over whose line or lines such property may pass, and no contract, receipt, rule, or regulation shall exempt such common carrier, railroad, or transportation [Remedies under existing law not barred.] company from the liability hereby imposed. Provided: That nothing in this section shall deprive any holder of such receipt or bill of lading of any remedy or right of action which he has under existing law. [Initial carrier may have recourse upon carrier respon sible for loss or damage.] That the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company issuing such receipt or bill of lading shall be entitled to recover from the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company on whose line the loss, damage, or injury shall have been sustained the amount of such loss, damage, or injury as it may be required to pay to the owners of such property, as may be evidenced by any receipt, judgment, or transcript thereof. § 404. The amendments of 1906 and 1910.-This section has been extensively amended. Thus by the act of 1906 the provision for the annual reports was made more specific, and also the reports of accidents, and detailed regulation of the forms of accounts, records, memoranda of the carriers, and the prohibition of any other records or memoranda than those prescribed by the rules of the commission; the power of inspection, and penalties to enforce this right of inspection, and punishment for false entries, and mandamus to compel compliance with the provisions of the act, with the employment of special agents and examiners, and the provision as to the liability of the initial carriers, were all added in this amendment of 1906. In 1910 was added the provision for filing of reports at the end of the calendar year, if so ordered by the commission; the requirement of filing monthly or special reports was made more specific, and provision was also enacted for authorizing the destruction of books and papers of the carriers after a reasonable time. § 405. Railroads not subject to section 20 of the act.-A railroad which is not subject to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act is not bound to make any report of its business to the Interstate Commerce Commission under this section. Thus a railroad located wholly within a state, which transports freight, whether coming from within or without the state, solely on local bills of lading, under a special contract limited to its own lines, and without dividing charges with any other carriers, or assuming any other obligations to or for it, is not bound to make any report of its business to the Interstate Commerce Commission. United States ex rel. v. K. & S. R. Co., 81 Fed. 783 (1897), W. Dist. of Mich. See also Commission v. Belaire C. & Z. R. Co., 77 Fed. 942 (1897). But where a carrier operates a railroad wholly within a state, but is engaged in interstate trans portation by agreements for through traffic, it is required under the act to report to the commission as to the interstate commerce. Commission v. Seaboard Ry. Co., 82 Fed. 563 (1897). § 406. The enforcement of reports by mandamus.-Prior to the amendatory act of 1906, it had been held by the supreme court in a suit brought by the commission against the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Company, that the circuit court had no jurisdiction under the section before the amendment of 1906 to enforce reports by writ of mandamus, as such power to issue original writs of mandamus only existed in the circuit courts when specifically conferred by statute. Under the act as amended the right to issue mandamus to compel a compliance with any of the provisions of the act is conferred upon the circuit courts and district courts, upon application of the attorneygeneral at the request of the commission. § 407. The liability of the initial carrier.—The so-called Carmack amendment, imposing upon the initial carrier the liability for loss or damage on through shipments with a remedy over, was inserted in 1906 in this section and has been sustained by the supreme court as the rightful exercise of the power of congress under the commerce clause. Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Riverside Mills, 219 U. S. p. 186, 55 L. Ed. p. — (January 3, 1911). In this case the court affirmed the circuit court of the southern district of Georgia, in holding the initial carrier in an interstate shipment liable to the shipper for a loss while the goods were in charge of connecting carriers, and although the bill of lading provided no carrier should be liable for loss or damage not occurring on its portion of the route. The court said the liability of the receiving carrier in such a case was that of a principal for the negligence of its own agent. It held, however, that the attorney's fee, taxable as a part of the costs under sec. 8 of the act, was not collectible in this case under this Carmack amendment, since the cause of action was the loss of property which was in no way traceable to the violation of the provision of the stat ute. The court in this case assumed that the through routing was under a voluntary arrangement made by the carrier wherewith the defendant had made its own arrangements and division of rate; and the court said that was the presumption in the absence of anything in the record to show a different arrangement. The court, therefore, did not pass upon the question whether the liability would exist if the through routing was compulsory, that is, forced upon the carrier by the commission under sea. 15 of the |