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weight or weighing, false representation of the contents of a package or false report or statement of weight, or by any other device or means, whether with or without the consent or connivance of the common carrier or any of its officers, agents or employees.

1910, ch. 180, sec. 18.

430. Every common carrier is required to afford all reasonable, proper and equal facilities for the interchange of passengers, freight and property traffic between the lines owned, operated, controlled or leased by it and the lines of every other common carrier, and for the prompt transfer of passengers and for the prompt receipt and forwarding of freight and property to and from its said lines; and no common carrier shall in any manner discriminate in respect to rates, fares or charges, or in any respect, to any service, or in respect to any charges or facilities for any such transfer in receiving or forwarding between any two or more other common carriers or between passengers, freight or property destined to points upon the lines of any two or more other common carriers, or in any respect with ref erence to passengers, freight or property transferred or received from any two or more other common carriers. This section shall not be construed to require a common carrier to permit or allow any other common carrier to use its tracks or terminal facilities. Every common carrier, as such, is required to re'ceive from every other common carrier, at a connecting point, freight cars of proper standard, and haul the same through to destination, if the destination be upon a line owned, operated or controlled by such common carrier, or if the destination be upon a line of some other common carrier, to haul any car so delivered through to the connecting point upon the line owned, operated, controlled or leased by it, by way of route over which such car is billed, there to deliver the same to the next connecting carrier. Nothing in this section shall be construed as in any wise limiting or modifying the duty of a common carrier to establish joint rates, fares and charges for the. transportation of passengers, freight and property over the lines owned, operated, controlled and leased by it and the lines of other common carriers, nor as in any manner limiting or

modifying the power of the commission to require the establishment of such joint rates, fares and charges. A railroad corporation and street railroad corporation shall not be required to interchange cars except on such terms and conditions as the commission may direct.*

1910, ch. 180, sec. 19.

431. No common carrier, subject to the provisions of this sub-title, shall charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of passengers or of a like kind of property, under substantially similar circumstances and conditions, for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance; but this shall not be construed as authorizing any such common carrier to charge and receive as great a compensation for a shorter as for a longer distance or haul. Upon application of a common carrier the commission may, by order, authorize it to charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of passengers or property in special cases after investigation by the commission, but the order must specify and prescribe the extent to which the common carrier making such application is relieved from the operation of this section, and only to the extent so specified and prescribed shall any common carrier be relieved from the operation and requirements of this section.

Every railroad corporation or other common carrier engaged in the transportation of freight shall, upon reasonable notice, funish to all persons and corporations who may apply therefor and offer freight for transportation, sufficient and suitable cars for the transportation of such freight in carload lots. Every railroad corporation and street railroad corporation shall have sufficient cars and motive power to meet all requirements for the transportation of passengers and property which may reasonably be anticipated, unless relieved therefrom by order of the commission. In case, at any particular time, a common carrier has not sufficient cars to meet all requirements for the transportation of, property in carload lots, all cars available to it for such purposes shall be distributed

Public Service Commission vs. Northern Central Ry., 122 Md. 355, 390,

among the several applicants therefor, without discrimination between shippers, localities or competitive or non-competitive points, but preference may always be given in the supply of cars for shipment of live stock or perishable property. The commission shall have power to make, and by order shall make, reasonable regulations for the furnishing and distribution of freight cars to shippers, for the switching of the same, for the loading and unloading thereof, for demurrage charges in respect thereto, and for the weighing of cars and freights offered for shipment or transported by any common carrier.

1910, ch. 180, sec. 20.

432. The commission and each commissioner shall have power and authority to administer oaths in all parts of the State to witnesses summoned to testify in any inquiry, investigation, hearing or proceeding; and also to administer oaths in all parts of the State whenever the exercise of such power is incidentally necessary or proper to enable the commission or a commissioner to perform a duty or to exercise a power.

The commission shall have the general supervision of all common carriers, railroads, street railroads, railroad corporations and street railroad corporations, and all other corporations and persons subject to the provisions of this sub-title as herein before defined, and shall have the power to and shall examine the same and keep informed as to their general condition, their capitalization, their franchises and the manner in which their lines owned, leased, controlled or operated, are managed, conducted and operated, not only with respect to the adequacy, security and accommodation afforded by their service, but also with respect to their compliance with all provisions of law, orders of the commission and charter requirements.

The commission and each commissioner shall have power to examine all books, contracts, records, documents and papers of any person or corporation subject to its supervision, and by subpoena duces tecum to compel the production thereof. In lieu of requiring production of originals by the subpoena duces tecum, the commission, or any commissioner, may require sworn copies of any such books, records, contracts, documents and papers or parts thereof to be filed with it.

The commission shall conduct a hearing and take testimony as to the advisability of any proposed change of law relating to any common carrier, railroad, street railroad, railroad corporation or street railroad corporation, or other corporation subject to the provisions of this sub-title if requested to do so by the Legislature, by the Senate, or General Assembly, or the Governor, and may conduct such a hearing, when requested to do so by any person or corporation, and shall report its conclusions to the officer, body, person or corporation at whose request the hearing was held. The commission may also recommend the enactment of such legislation with respect to any further matter within its jurisdiction as it deems wise or necessary in the public interest, and may draft or cause to be drafted such bills or acts as it may deem necessary or proper to enact into law the legislation recommended by it.*

1910, ch. 180, sec. 21.

433. The commission shall prescribe the form of the annual reports required under this sub-title to be made by common carriers, railroads, street railroads, railroad corporations and street railroad corporations, and all other corporations subject to the provisions of this sub-title, and may from time to time make such changes therein and additions thereto as it may deem proper; provided, however, that if any such changes or additions require any alteration in the method or form of keeping the accounts of such corporation, the commission shall give to them at least six months' notice before the expiration of any fiscal year of any such changes or additions, and on or before June 30th, in each year, shall furnish a blank form for such report. The contents of such report, and the form thereof, shall conform as nearly as possible to that required of common carriers under the provisions of the Act of Congress entitled "An Act to Regulate Commerce," approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and the Act amendatory thereof approved June twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and six, and other amendments thereto. The commission may require such report to contain information in relation to rates

Gregg vs. Public Service Commission, 121 Md. 1, 29. As to power vel non to prevent an abandonment of a route by a railway, see Public Service Commission VS. P. B. & W. R. R., 122 Md. 438.

or regulations concerning fares or freights, agreements or contracts affecting the same, so far as such rates or regulations pertain to transportation within the State. When the report of any person or corporation is defective, or believed to be erroneous, the commission shall notify it to amend the same within a time prescribed by the commission. The originals of the reports, subscribed and sworn to as prescribed by law, shall be preserved in the office of the commission. The commission may also require common carriers to file periodically reports of earnings and expenses within a specified time. The commission may require of all common carriers specific answers to questions upon which the commission may need information. The annual report required to be filed by a common carrier shall be so filed on or before the thirtieth day of September in each year. The commission may extend the time for making and filing such report for a period not exceeding sixty days. If such common carrier shall fail to make and file the annual report within the time above specified, or within the time as extended by the commission, or shall fail to make specific answer to any question, or shall fail to make the periodic reports when required by the commission as herein provided, within thirty days from the time when it is required to make and file any such report or answer, such common carrier shall forfeit to the State the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every day it shall continue to be in default with respect to such report or answer. Such forfeiture shall be recovered in an action brought by the commission in the name of the State of Maryland. The amount recovered in any such action shall be paid to the State Treasurer, except one-fourth thereof, which shall be paid to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.

1910, ch. 180, sec. 22.

434. The commission shall investigate the cause of all accidents on any railroad or street railroad which result in loss of life or injury to persons or property, and which in its judg ment shall require investigation. Every common carrier is hereby required to give notice to the commission of every accident happening upon any line of railroad or street railroad, owned, operated, controlled or leased by it, within thirty days

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