the powers herein and heretofore conferred. The provisions of this act shall also apply to any carriers to which Federal control may be hereafter extended.

SEC. 10. That carriers while under Federal control shall be subject to all laws and liabilities as common carriers, whether arising under State or Federal laws or at common law, except in so far as may be inconsistent with the provisions of this act or any other act applicable to such Federal control or with any order of the President. Actions at law or suits in equity may be brought by and against such carriers and judgments rendered as now provided by law; and in any action at law or suit in equity against the carrier, no defense shall be made thereto upon the ground that the carrier is an instrumentality or agency of the Federal Government. Nor shall any such carrier be entitled to have transferred to a Federal court any action heretofore or hereafter instituted by or against it, which action was not so transferable prior to the Federal control of such carrier; and any action which has heretofore been so transferred because of such Federal control or of any act of Congress or official order or proclamation relating thereto shall upon motion of either party be transferred to the court in which it was originally instituted. But no process, mesne or final, shall be levied against any property under such Federal control.

That during the period of Federal control, whenever in his opinion the public interest requires, the President may initiate rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, and practices by filing the same with the Interstate Commerce Commission, which said rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, and practices shall not be suspended by the commission pending final determination.

Said rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, and practices shall be reasonable and just and shall take effect at such time and upon such notice as he may direct, but the Interstate Commerce Commission, shall, upon complaint, enter upon a hearing concerning the justness and reasonableness of so much of any order of the President as establishes or changes any rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice of any carrier under Federal control, and may consider all the facts and circumstances existing at the time of the making of the same. In determining any question concerning any such rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, or practices or changes therein, the Interstate Commerce Commission shall give due consideration to the fact that the transportation systems are being operated under a unified and coordinated national control and not in competition.

After full hearing the commission may make such findings and orders as are authorized by the act to regulate commerce as amended,

105889°-19-2

and said findings and orders shall be enforced as provided in said act: Provided, however, That when the President shall find and certify to the Interstate Commerce Commission that in order to defray the expenses of Federal control and operation fairly chargeable to railway operating expenses, and also to pay railway tax accruals other than war taxes, net rents for joint facilities and equipment, and compensation to the carriers, operating as a unit, it is necessary to increase the railway operating revenues, the Interstate Commerce Commission in determining the justness and reasonableness of any rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice shall take into consideration said finding and certificate by the President, together with such recommendations as he may make.

SEC. 11. That every person or corporation, whether carrier or shipper, or any receiver, trustee, lessee, agent, or person acting for or employed by a carrier or shipper, or other person, who shall knowingly violate or fail to observe any of the provisions of this act, or shall knowingly interfere with or impede the possession, use, operation, or control of any railroad property, railroad, or transportation system hitherto or hereafter taken over by the President, or shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of any order or regulation made in pursuance of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000, or, if a person, by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both. Each independent transaction constituting a violation of, or a failure to observe, any of the provisions of this act, or any order entered in pursuance hereof, shall constitute a separate offense. For the taking or conversion to his own use or the embezzlement of money or property derived from or used in connection with the possession, use, or operation of said railroads or transportation systems, the criminal statutes of the United States, as well as the criminal statutes of the various States where applicable, shall apply to all officers, agents, and employees engaged in said railroad and transportation service, while the same is under Federal control, to the same extent as to persons employed in the regular service of the United States. Prosecutions for violations of this act or of any order entered hereunder shall be in the district courts of the United States, under the direction of the Attorney General, in accordance with the procedure for the collection and imposing of fines and penalties now existing in said courts.

SEC. 12. That moneys and other property derived from the operation of the carriers during Federal control are hereby declared to be the property of the United States. Unless otherwise directed by the President, such moneys shall not be covered into the Treasury, but such moneys and property shall remain in the custody of the same officers, and the accounting thereof shall be in the same manner

and form as before Federal control. Disbursements therefrom shall, without further appropriation, be made in the same manner as before Federal control and for such purposes as under the Interstate Commerce Commission classification of accounts in force on December twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and seventeen, are chargeable to operating expenses or to railway tax accruals and for such other purposes in connection with Federal control as the President may direct, except that taxes under Titles One and Two of the act entitled "An act to provide revenue to defray war expenses, and for other purposes," approved October third, nineteen hundred and seventeen, or any act in addition thereto or in amendment thereof, shall be paid by the carrier out of its own funds. If Federal control begins or ends during the tax year for which any taxes so chargeable to railway tax accruals are assessed, the taxes for such year shall be apportioned to the date of the beginning or ending of such Federal control, and disbursements shall be made only for that portion of such taxes as is due for the part of such tax year which falls within the period of Federal control.

At such periods as the President may direct, the books shall be closed and the balance of revenues over disbursements shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the revolving fund created by this act. If such revenues are insufficient to meet such disbursements, the deficit shall be paid out of such revolving fund in such manner as the President may direct.

SEC. 13. That all pending cases in the courts of the United States affecting railroads or other transportation systems brought under the act to regulate commerce, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, as amended and supplemented, including the commodities clause, so called, or under the act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies, approved July second, eighteen hundred and ninety, and amendments thereto, shall proceed to final determination as soon as may be, as if the United States had not assumed control of transportation systems; but in any such case the court having jurisdiction may, upon the application of the United States, stay execution of final judgment or decree until such time as it shall deem proper.

SEC. 14. That the Federal control of railroads and transportation systems herein and heretofore provided for shall continue for and during the period of the war and for a reasonable time thereafter, which shall not exceed one year and nine months next following the • date of the proclamation by the President of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace: Provided, however, That the President may, prior to July first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, relinquish control of all or any part of any railroad or system of transportation, further Federal control of which the President shall deem not needful

or desirable; and the President may at any time during the period of Federal control agree with the owners thereof to relinquish all or any part of any railroad or system of transportation. The President may relinquish all railroads and systems of transportation under Federal control at any time he shall deem such action needful or desirable. No right to compensation shall accrue to such owners from and after the date of relinquishment for the property so relinquished.

SEC. 15. That nothing in this act shall be construed to amend, repeal, impair, or affect the existing laws or powers of the States in relation to taxation or the lawful police regulations of the several States, except wherein such laws, powers, or regulations may affect the transportation of troops, war materials, Government supplies, or the issue of stocks and bonds.

SEC. 16. That this act is expressly declared to be emergency legislation enacted to meet conditions growing out of war; and nothing herein is to be construed as expressing or prejudicing the future policy of the Federal Government concerning the ownership, control, or regulation of carriers or the method or basis of the capitalization thereof.

Approved, March 21, 1918.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF RAILROADS TO EXERCISE POWERS CONFERRED ON THE PRESIDENT BY CONGRESS.

Whereas, by the proclamation dated December 26, 1917, taking over each and every system of transportation and the appurtenances thereof located wholly or in part within the boundaries of the continental United States, it was provided "that the possession, control, operation, and utilization of such transportation systems hereby by me undertaken, shall be exercised by and through William G. McAdoo, who is hereby appointed and designated Director General of Railroads," and the said William G. McAdoo pursuant to said proclamation entered upon and has continued to discharge the duties of Director General of Railroads as provided therein; and

Whereas, since the issuance of said proclamation the Congress of the United States has passed an act entitled An Act to Provide for the Operation of Transportation Systems while under Federal Control, for the Just Compensation of their Owners, and for other Purposes, which act was duly approved by me on the 21st day of March, 1918, and is now in full force and effect; and in terms confers upon the President the powers specified therein and the authority to carry the same into effect; and

Whereas, it is provided in Section 8 of said act that the President may execute any of the powers therein and theretofore granted him with relation to the Federal control of systems of transportation and parts thereof, including railroads, inland waterways, etc., through such agencies as he may determine;

Now, therefore, I, WOODROW WILSON, President of the United States, under and by virtue of the powers and authority so vested. in me by said act and of all other powers me hereto enabling, do hereby authorize the said William G. McAdoo, Director General of Railroads as aforesaid, either personally or through such divisions, agencies, or persons as he may appoint, and in his own name or in the name of such divisions, agencies, or persons, or in the name of the President to agree with the carriers or any of them or with any other person in interest, upon the amount of compensation to be paid pursuant to law, and to sign, seal, and deliver in his own name or in the name of the President or in the name of the United States such agreements as may be necessary and expedient with the several carriers or other persons in interest respecting compensation, or any other matter concerning which it may be necessary or expedient to deal and to make any and all contracts, agreements, or obligations necessary or expedient and to issue any and all orders which may in any way be found necessary and expedient in connection with the Federal control of systems of transportation, railroads, and inland waterways as fully in all respects as the President is authorized to do, and generally to do and perform all and singular all acts and things and to exercise all and singular the powers and duties which in and by the said act, or any other act in relation to the subject hereof, the President is authorized to do and perform.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done in the District of Columbia this 29th day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-second.

WOODROW WILSON.

[SEAL.]

By the President:

ROBERT LANSING,

Secretary of State.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

POSSESSION AND CONTROL OF CERTAIN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS.

Whereas the Congress of the United States, in the exercise of the constitutional authority vested in them, by joint resolution of the