States or the District of Columbia, or from one place in a Territory to another place in the same Territory, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, and notwithstanding that the cars upon or in which they are employed may be held and operated by the carrier under lease or other contract: Provided, however, That this Act shall not be held to apply to employees of street railroads and shall apply only to employees engaged in railroad train service. In every such case the carrier shall be responsible for the acts and defaults of such employees in the same manner and to the same extent as if said cars were owned by it and said employees directly employed by it, and any provisions to the contrary of any such lease or other contract shall be binding only as between the parties thereto and shall not affect the obligations of said carrier either to the public or to the private parties concerned "A common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act is hereinafter referred to as an employer,' and the employees of one or more of such carriers are hereinafter referred to as 'employees.'

The term 'controversy' as used in this Act shall be held to mean any dispute which shall arise between an employer and employees subject to this Act concerning wages, hours of labor, or other conditions of employment, or the respective privileges, rights, and duties of employer and employees (not involving any such violation thereof as constitutes an indictable offense), and which shall interrupt or threaten to interrupt the business in which they are engaged to the serious detriment of the public interest.

"The term lockout' as used in this Act shall be held to mean the closing of a place of employment, or a suspension of work, or a refusal by an employer to continue to employ any one or more of his employees in consequence of a controversy as above defined, or discriminating in the matter of continued employment for reasons other than personal skill, capacity, or fitness against any employee involved in such controversy, the same being done with a view to compelling his employees or to aid another employer in compelling his employees to accept terms of employment.

The term 'strike' as used in this Act shall be held to mean the cessation of work by a body of employees acting in combination in consequence of a controversy as above defined, the same being done as a means of compelling their employer or to aid other employees in compelling their employer to accept terms of employment.

"SEC. 2. That whenever a controversy as hereinbefore defined concerning--wages, hours of labor, or conditions of employment shall arise between an employer or employers and employees subject to this Act interrupting or threatening to interrupt the business of said employer or employers to the serious detriment of the public interest, either party both parties to such controversy may apply to shall immediately notify the Board of Mediation and Conciliation created by this Act and either party may apply to said board and invoke its services for the purpose of bringing about an amicable adjustment of the controversy; and upon the request of either party the said board shall with all practicable expedition put itself in communication with the parties to such controversy and shall use its best efforts, by mediation and conciliation, to bring them to an agreement; and if such efforts to bring about an amicable adjustment through mediation and conciliation shall be unsuccessful, the said board shall at once endeavor to induce the parties to submit their controversy to arbitration in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

"In any case in which an interruption of traffic is imminent and fraught with serious detriment to the public interest, the Board of Mediation and Conciliation may, if in its judgment such action seems desirable; shall proffer its services to the respective parties to the controversy.

"In any case in which a controversy arises over the meaning or the application of any agreement reached through mediation under the provisions of this Act either party to the said agreement may apply to the Board of Mediation and Conciliation for an expression of opinion from such board as to the meaning or application of such agreement, and the said board shall, upon receipt of such request, give its opinion as soon as may be practicable.'

SEC. 2. That there be added at the end of said Act the following provisions:

"SEC. 12. That whenever a controversy shall arise between any employer and his or its employees which can not be settled through mediation and conciliation or by arbitration, in the manner provided in this Act, the President shall be notified by the Board of Mediation abd Conciliation. The President shall thereupon appoint a board of inquiry of three members, to whom the controversy shall be immediately referred. The bourd of inquiry shall forthwith meet, elect one of its members chairman, appoint a secretary, make all necessary rules for the conduct of its work, and proceed to ascertain, so far as possible, all the facts and circumstances of the controversy. No person having a direct pecuniary interest in the controversy may be appointed a member of the board.

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'As soon as may be, and in no event later than three months from the date of the reference of the controversy, the board of inquiry shall submit to the President or to the Board of

Conciliation and Mediation, as the President may direct, a full report of its findings of fact, including its findings as to the cause of the controversy, together with a recommendation for a settlement according to the merits and substantial justice of the case; also the papers and a transcript of any textimony in the case. Upon the submission of its report the work of the board shall terminate. The report shall be forthwith published by the Board of Mediation and Conciliation.

"A majority of the board of inquiry shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business and the finding or recommendation of the majority upon any point shall be deemed that of the board. Any vacancies in the board shall be filled by the President. The board, or any member or committee of members thereunto authorized, may hold hearings anywhere in the United States, and shall have power to require by subpœna the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all books, papers, tariffs, schedules, contracts, agreements, and documents relating to any matter under investigation, without regard to the strict rules of evidence, and in case of disobedience to a subpoena may invoke the aid of any court of the United States to require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, contracts, and other records and documents, to the same extent and under the same conditions and penalties as is provided in section twelve of the act to regulate commerce, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and the amendments thereto. All testimony before the board shall be on oath or affirmation. Any member of the board or the secretary may administer oaths. Witnesses shall be paid the same fees and the same allowances for mileage as witnesses in the courts of the United States. "The board of inquiry shall have power to employ such assistance, to rent such offices, and to purchase such furniture and such books, stationery, and other supplies as may be necessary to enable it to discharge its duties and as the Board of Mediation and Conciliation may authorize. Whenever practicable it shall be supplied with suitable quarters in any Federal building located at its place of meeting or deliberation.

"The compensation of the members of the board of inquiry shall be determined by the President or, if he shall so direct, by the Board of Mediation and Conciliation. The board itself shall determine the compensation of its secretary and of such other persons as it may lawfully employ and as the Board of Mediation and Conciliation may authorize. The members of the board and its employees in addition to their compensation shall be allowed traveling and other necessary expenses, to be approved by the chairman of the Board of Mediation and Conciliation and audited by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury. For these purposes so much as may be necessary of the appropriation of the Board of Mediation and Conciliation is hereby made available.

"Sec. 13. That pending the efforts of the Board of Mediation and Conciliation to settle the controversy through mediation or conciliation or by arbitration, or, where those means have failed, pending the investigation and publication of the report of the board of inquiry, and for thirty days thereafter, it shall be unlawful for the employees to declare or cause or practice a strike, or for the employer to declare or cause or practice a lockout. Any employer or officer or agent thereof violating this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than $25,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. Any employee violating this section, or any officer or agent of any organization of employees violating this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. Any person inciting, encouraging, or in any manner aiding any employer or employee to violate this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be subject to the same punishment as the employer or employee, as the case may be.

COMMITTEE PRINT.

[S., Sixty-fourth Congress, second session.]

A BILL To authorize the President of the United States in certain emergencies to take possession of railroad, telephone, and telegraph lines, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in case of actual or threatened war, insurrection, or invasion, or any emergency requiring the transportation of troops, military equipment, and supplies of the United States, the President of the United States, when in his judgment the public safety may require, is hereby authorized to take possession in whole or in part of any and all telephone and telegraph lines in the United States, their offices and appurtenances; to take possession in whole or in part of any or all railroad lines in the United States, their rolling stock, offices, shops, buildings, and

all their appendages and appurtenances; to prescribe rules and regulations for the holding, using, and maintaining of the aforesaid railroad, telephone, and telegraph lines, or that portion of the same of which possession may be taken, in the manner most conducive to the safety and welfare of the United States; to draft into the military service of the United States and to place under military control any or all of the officers, agents, and employees of the railroad, telephone, or telegraph companies whose lines are so taken into possession; and said officers, agents, and employees shall be thenceforth considered as members of the Military Establishment of the United States, subject to all the restrictions imposed by the rules and articles of war.

SEC. 2. That the draft of the officers, agents, and employees of the said railroad, telephone, and telegraph lines shall be accomplished upon proclamation by the President declaring the occasion therefor, requiring all the officers, agents, or employees of any railroad, telephone, or telegraph company therein named to submit themselves to draft, and directing such officer or officers of the Military Establishment as he may select for the purpose to prepare, either by designation or by lot, as may be most expedient, a roster or rosters of the individual officers, agents, or employees so to be drafted. Upon the making of such roster or rosters notice shall be given to each person so enrolled of the place where and the time when he shall appear and enter upon his service; and any person who shall in any manner willfully evade the receipt of such notice, or who shall fail to present himself for duty at the time named therein, or within such time thereafter as may be necessary to accomplish his journey to the place appointed by the most expeditious route, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 3. That the communication of intelligence over said telephone and telegraph lines and the transportation of troops, equipment, military property, and stores throughout the United States shall be conducted under the control and supervision of such officers as the President may designate; and whenever in his opinion the public safety no longer requires the continued possession by the United States of the said railroad, telephone, and telegraph lines the same shall be restored to the possession of the owners thereof, and the officers, agents, and employees drafted into the Military Establishment of the United States shall be discharged from further duty thereunder unless reenlisted in the manner and for purposes otherwise provided by law.

SEC. 4. That the damages suffered or the compensation to which any railroad, telephone, or telegraph company may be entitled by reason of the seizure and use of any portion of its lines or property under the authority conferred by this Act shall be assessed and determined by the Interstate Commerce Commission, due regard being had to the terms of any acts of land grant or contracts theretofore existing between any such company and the United States. And for the purpose of such assessment and determination the Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby vested with all the powers which it has now or may at the time be authorized by law to exercise in investigating and ascertaining the justice and reasonableness of freight, passenger, express, and mail rates, and in investigating and ascertaining the value of property owned or used by common carriers subject to the act to regulate commerce as amended. The finding by the Interstate Commerce Commission of the amount of such damages or compensation shall be final and conclusive, and the same shall thereupon be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any funds in his hands not otherwise appropriated. All officers, agents, or employees of any railroad, telephone, or telegraph company who may be drafted into the Military Establishment of the United States hereunder shall, during the time that the United States is so in possession of the said railroad, telephone, or telegraph line, receive for their services rendered in connection with the use of the same such compensation as they were theretofore accustomed to receive for similar services.

SEC. 5. That any person or persons having in possession any portion of the railroad, telephone, or telegraph lines aforesaid, or the property thereunto appertaining, who shall refuse to surrender the same to the possession of the United States upon order of the President, or who shall resist or interfere with the unrestrained use by the United States of the property so taken into possession, or any portion of the same, and who shall injure or destroy or attempt to injure or destroy the property aforesaid, or any part thereof, while in the possession of the United States, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both, in the discretion of the

court.

THE UNDERWOOD BILL.

[S. 7031, Sixty-fourth Congress, second session.]

A BILL To give the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to fix the hours of labor and determine wages for employees of carriers engaged in interstate and foreign commerce.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Interstate Commerce Commission shall have the power to fix the hours of labor and determine a just and reasonable wage for all employees who are now or may hereafter be employed by any common carrier which is now or may hereafter be actually engaged in the transportation of persons or property by rail from any State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, or from one place in a Territory to another place in the same Territory, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the United States, and which is subject to the provisions of the act of February fourth, eighteen hundred and eightyseven, entitled "An act to regulate commerce," as amended, except railroads independently owned and operated not exceeding one hundred miles in length: Provided, That the foregoing exception shall not apply to railroads though less than one hundred miles in length whose principal business is leasing or furnishing terminal or transfer facilities to other railroads, or are themselves engaged in transfers of freight between railroads or between railroads and industrial plants.

SEC. 2. That the rate of wages and the hours of labor provided for in this act shall remain fixed for service and pay until changed by the decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which, within a period of not less than six nor more than twelve months from the passage of this act, shall determine what are just and reasonable wages and what shall be the hours of labor for all employees of the railroads above mentioned.

SEC. 3. That the Interstate Commerce Commission shall have the power from time to time to change the hours of labor and the rate of wages for all employees of the railroads named in section one of this act, either in whole or in part, upon its own initiative, on the petition of the employees, the managers of the railroads, or the public.

THE NEWLANDS AMENDMENT.

[Amendment to H. R. 17700, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.]

AMENDMENT Intended to be proposed by Mr. Newlands to the bill (H. R. 17703) to establish an eighthour day for employees of carriers engaged in interstate and foreign commerce, and for other purposes, viz: Add at the end of the bill a new section as follows:

SEC. Any person who shall knowingly and willfully obstruct or retard the operation of trains mentioned in section one of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine not exceeding $100, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both.

TOWNSEND BILL.

[S. 7066, Sixty-fourth Congress, second session.]

A BILL To provide for the investigation of controversies affecting interstate commerce, and for othe

purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever, within any State or States, Territory or Territories, or the District of Columbia, a controversy concerning wages, hours of labor, or conditions of employment shall arise, by reason of which controversy the transportation of the United States mails, the operations, civil or military, of the Government of the United States, or the free and regular movement of commerce among the several States and with foreign nations is, in the judgment of the President, interrupted or directly affected, or threatened with being so interrupted or directly affected, the President may, in his discretion, inquire into the same and investigate the causes thereof, in accordance with the provisions of this act.

SEC. 2. That to this end the President may appoint a special commission, not exceeding seven in number, of persons in his judgment specially qualified to conduct such an investigation. The Commissioner of Labor Statistics shall be ex officio secretary of the commission, and shall keep and preserve the proceedings of all commissions appointed under this act.

SEC. 3. That such commission shall promptly organize, and, upon giving reasonable notice to the parties to the controversy, shall either at the seat of disturbance or elsewhere, as it may deem most expedient, proceed with all convenient dispatch to investigate the causes of such controversy and the remedy therefor.

SEC. 4. That the parties to the controversy shall be entitled to be present in person or by counsel during the investigation and shall be entitled to a hearing thereon, in accordance with such rules of procedure as the commission may adopt; but nothing in this section contained shall be construed as entitling such parties to be present during the consultations of the commission.

SEC. 5. That for the purposes of this act the commission, or any one commissioner, shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations, to sign subponas, to require the testimony of witnesses either by attendance in person or by deposition, and to require the production of such books, papers, contracts, agreements, and documents as may be deemed essential to a just determination of the matters under investigation; and to this end the commission may invoke the aid of the courts of the United States to compel witnesses to attend and testify and to produce such books, papers, contracts, agreements, and documents; and for the purposes of this section it shall be vested with the same powers, to the same extent, and under the same conditions and penalties as are vested in the Interstate Commerce Commission by the act to regulate commerce, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and the acts amendatory thereof and in addition thereto, and all acts which may hereafter be enacted amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto; and it shall be the duty of the said courts of the United States to render said commission the same aid, to the same extent, and under the same conditions as is provided by said acts in aid of said Interstate Commerce Commission, and witnesses examined as aforesaid shall be subject to like duties as provided in said acts, but no witness shall be required to give any testimony incriminating himself, nor shall he be given any immunity: Provided, That no testimony given by him before any commission or commissioner shall be used as evidence against him in any criminal proceedings in any court, except in a prosecution for perjury committed in giving such testimony.

SEC. 6. That for the purposes of this act the commission may, whenever it deems it expedient, employ one or more competent experts to examine accounts, books, or official reports, or to examine and report on any matter material to the investigation in which such examination and report may be deemed of substantial assistance.

SEC. 7. That having made such investigation and ascertained the facts connected with the controversy into which it was appointed to inquire, the commission shall with all convenient dispatch formulate its report thereon, setting forth the facts and causes of the same, locating, so far as may be, the responsibility therefor, and making such specific recommendations as shall in its judgment put an end to such controversy or disturbance and prevent a recurrence thereof, suggesting any legislation which the case may seem to require.

SEC. 8. That the report of such commission shall forthwith be transmitted to the President and by him communicated, with such comments or further recommendations as he may see fit to make, to the principal parties responsible for the controversy or involved therein, and shall be duly transmitted to Congress for its information and action.

SEC. 9. That the commission may from time to time make or amend such general rules or orders as may be deemed appropriate for the order and regulation of its investigations and proceedings and adopt forms of notices and rules for service thereof. SEC 10. That the President is authorized and empowered to fix a reasonable compensation, not to exceed $30 per day, for services, to be paid to the members of the commission from the Treasury at such times and in such manner as he shall direct. The commission shall have authority to employ and fix the compensation of such employees as it may find necessary to the proper performance of its duties. The commission shall be furnished by the Secretary of Labor with suitable offices and all necessary office supplies. Witnesses summoned before the commission shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid to witnesses in the courts of the United States. All of the expenses of the commission, including all necessary expenses for transportation incurred by the commissioners or by their employees under their orders in making any investigation under this act, shall be allowed and paid on the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor approved by the chairman of the commission and the Secretary of Labor.

SEC. 11. That no commission appointed under this act shall continue for a period of over three months from the date of the appointment thereof.

Senator NEWLANDS. Notice has been given to the railway brotherhoods, the railroads' executives, and to the general public of this