reception of the same in each election district within such city, and the provisions of chapter six hundred and eighty of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-two, entitled "An act in relation to the elections constituting chapter six of the general laws," and any act or acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto shall apply thereto as far as the nature of the case may allow. No ballot which may be provided under this section shall be deemed invalid by reason of any error in dimensions, style of printing, or other formal defect, or through having been deposited in the wrong ballot box, but all of such ballots shall be canvassed and returned as if such formal defect had not existed, or as if they had been deposited in the box provided for the purpose. Upon the canvass of such votes by the board of county canvassers of the county in which such city is located, it shall be the duty of said board to file with the county clerk of said county a statement which shall declare the total number of votes cast in said city "for municipal construction of rapid transit road,” and the total number so cast therein "against municipal construction of rapid transit road." And the said railway or railways shall be constructed by the said city and at the public expense, if it shall be found from such statements so filed that there is a majority of the votes so cast in favor of such municipal construction.

Chap. 752. Laws of 1894.

Duty of board in case of municipal construction.

§ 13. In case the majority of votes cast at such election shall be in favor of such municipal construction of said railway or railways, it shall be the duty of said board of rapid transit railway commissioners within thirty days after the official declaration of the said vote to proceed to construct the said railway or railways, and to make and let all contracts required for the per formance of the work necessary to be done and performed in and about the construction thereof. All such contracts must, before execution, be approved as to form by the counsel to the corporation, or other chief legal adviser for said city. Chap. 752, Laws of 1894.

Act when to take effect.

§ 14. This act shall take effect immediately; except that the building of said road, or the sale of the franchises as provided for in sections seven and thirty-four of the act hereby amended, as so amended, is postponed until, and made dependent upon, the determination of that question by the vote of the people as called for by sections twelve and thirteen of this act.

Chap. 752, Laws of 1894.

See provisions of Greater New York Charter, ante.

Interstate Commerce Act and Kindred Acts, as Amended to September 30, 1905.

CONTENTS.

(Showing Citations.)

An act to regulate commerce, approved February 4, 1887, and in effect April 5, 1887 (24 Statutes at Large, 379; 1 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S., 529), as amended by an act approved March 2, 1889 (25 Statutes at Large, 855; 1 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S., 684), and by an act approved February 10, 1891 (26 Statutes at Large, 743; 1 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S., 891), and by an act approved February 8, 1895 (28 Statutes at Large, 643; 2 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S., 369).

An act in relation to testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission, and in cases or proceedings under or connected with an act entitled an act to regulate commerce, and amendments thereto, approved February 11, 1893 (27 Statutes at Large, 443; 2 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S., 80).

An act to further regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the States, approved February 19, 1903 (32 Statutes at Large).

An act to expedite the hearing and determination of suits in equity pending or hereafter brought under the act of July 2, 1890, entitled an act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies, an act to regulate commerce, or any other acts having a like purpose that may be hereafter enacted, approved February 11, 1903 (32 Statutes at Large). An act supplementary to the act of July 1, 1862, entitled an act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes, and also of the act of July 2, 1864, and other acts amendatory of said first-named act, approved August 7, 1888 (25 Statutes at Large, 382; 1 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S. 602).

An act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to equip their cars with automatic couplers and continuous brakes and their locomotives with driving-wheel brakes, and for other purposes, approved March 2, 1893 (27 Statutes at Large, 531; 2 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S., 102), as amended by an act approved April 1, 1896 (29 Statutes at Large, 85; 2 Supp. to Rev. Stat. U. S., 455).

An act to amend an act entitled an act to promote the safety of employees and travelers, and so forth, approved March 2, 1893, and amended April 1, 1896, approved March 2, 1903 (32 Statutes at Large).

An act requiring common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to make full reports of all accidents to the Interstate Commerce Commission, approved March 3, 1901 (31 Statutes at Large, 1446).

AN ACT TO REGULATE COMMERCE.

Carriers and transportation subject to the act.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of this act shall apply to any common carrier or carriers engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used, under a common control, management, or arrangement, for a continuous carriage or shipment, from one state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, to any other state or territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, 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 also to the transportation in like manner of property shipped from any place in the United States to a foreign country and carried from such place to a port of transshipment, or shipped from a foreign country to any place in the United States and carried to such place from a port of entry either in the United States or an adjacent foreign country: Provided, however, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to the transportation of passengers or property, or to the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of property, wholly within one state, and not shipped to or from a foreign country from or to any state or territory as aforesaid.

What the terms "railroad" and "transportation " include.

The term "railroad" as used in this act shall include all bridges and ferries used or operated in connection with any railroad, and also all the road in use by any corporation operating a railroad, whether owned or operated under a contract, agreement, or lease; and the term "transportation" shall include all instrumentalities of shipment or carriage.

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Charges must be reasonable and just.

All charges made for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property as aforesaid, or in connection therewith, or for the receiving, delivering, storage, or handling of such property, shall be reasonable and just; and every unjust and unreasonable charge for such service is prohibited and declared to be unlawful.

Unjust discrimination defined and forbidden.

§ 2. That if any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act shall, directly or indirectly, by any special rate, rebate, drawback, or other device, charge, demand, collect, or receive from any person or persons a greater or less compensation for any service rendered, or to be rendered, in the transportation of passengers or property, subject to the provisions of this act, than it charges, demands, collects, or receives from any other person or persons for doing for him or them a like and contemporaneous service in the transportation of a like kind of traffic under substantially similar circumstances and conditions, such common carrier shall be deemed guilty of unjust discrimination, which is hereby prohibited and declared to be unlawful.

Undue or unreasonable preference or advantage forbidden.

§ 3. That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, company, firm, corporation, or locality, or any particular description of traffic, in any respect whatsoever, or to subject any particular person, company, firm, corporation, or locality, or any particular description of traffic, to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever.

Facilities for interchange of traffic.

Every common carrier subject to the provisions of this act shall, according to their respective powers, afford all reasonable,