receive more for transporting a ton of freight than it charges, collects, demands or receives per ton for several tons of freight under a car-load of a like class of freight over the same railroad for the same distance, in the same direction, or to charge, collect, demand or receive more for transporting a hundred pounds of freight than it charges, collects, demands or receives per hundred for several hundred pounds of freight, under a ton, of a like class of freight over the same railroad, for the same distance, in the same direction, all such discriminating rates, charges, collections or receipts, whether made directly or by means of any rebate, drawback or other shift or evasion, shall be deemed and taken against such railroad company as prima facie evidence of the unjust discrimination prohibited by this Act; provided, however, that for the protection and development of any new industry within this State, such railroad company may grant concessions or special rates for any agreed number of car-loads, but such special rates aforesaid shall first be approved by the Board of Railroad Commissioners, and a copy thereof filed in the office thereof. SEC. 26. Penalty for Discrimination. — Any such railroad corporation guilty of extortion or making any unjust discrimination as to passenger or freight rates for the use and transportation of railroad cars or in receiving, handling or delivering freights, shall upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars for the first offence; and for every subsequent offence not less than five thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars, such fine to be imposed in a criminal prosecution by indictment, or shall be subject to the liability prescribed in the next succeeding section to be recovered as therein provided. SEC. 27. Forfeiture. - Any such railroad corporation guilty of extortion or of making any unjust discrimination as to passenger or freight rates or the rates for the use and transportation of railroad cars, or in receiving, handling or delivering freights, shall forfeit and pay to the State of Iowa not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars for the first offence; and not less than five nor more than ten thousand dollars for every subsequent offence, to be recovered in a civil action by proceedings instituted in the name of the State of Iowa. And the release from liability or penalty provided for in section fifteen of this Act shall not apply to either a criminal prosecution under the last preceding section or a civil action brought under this section. SEC. 28. Suits by Commissioners. Whenever said Railroad Commissioners have good reason to believe, that any railroad corporation or common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act has been guilty of extortion or unjust discrimination and thereby become liable to the penalties prescribed in sections twenty-six and twenty-seven hereof, it shall be their duty to immediately cause suits to be commenced and prosecuted against any such railroad corporation or common carrier. Such suits and prosecutions may be instituted in any county of this State through or into which the line of the railroad corporation sued for violation of this act may extend. And such Railroad Commissioners are hereby authorized, when in their judgment it is necessary so to do, to employ counsel to assist the Attorney-General in conducting such suit on behalf of the State. No such suits commenced by said Commissioners shall be dismissed unless the said Commissioners and the Attorney-General shall consent thereto. And the court may in its discretion give preference to such suits over all other business except criminal cases. SEC. 29. Free Transportation; Reduced Rates. - Nothing in this Act shall apply to the carriage, storage or handling of property free or at reduced rates for the United States or this State or municipal governments or for charitable purposes, or to and from fairs and expositions for exhibition thereat, or for the employees of such common carriers or their families or private property or goods for the family use of the employees of such common carriers, or the issuance of mileage, excursion or commutation passenger tickets. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit any common carrier from giving reduced rates to ministers of religion, or to prevent railroads from giving free carriage to their own officers and employees and their families dependent upon said officer or employee for support, and to persons in charge of live-stock being shipped from the point of shipment to destination and return, or to prevent the principal officers of any railroad company or companies from exchanging passes or tickets with other railroad companies for their officers and employees; and nothing in this Act contained shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this Act are in addition to such remedies; provided, that no pending litigation shall in any way be affected by this Act. SEC. 30. Commissioners transported Free. The said Railroad Commissioners and their secretary shall have the right of free transportation in the performance of their duties concerning railroads, on all railroads and railroad trains in this State; and they may take with them experts or other agents whose services they may require and who shall in like manner be transported free of charge. SEC. 31. Appropriation. — To defray the necessary expenses of the said Railroad Commissioners in making investigations and prosecuting suits and to pay all necessary costs attending the same under the provision of this Act there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the State treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be drawn upon warrants of the State auditor issued upon the requisition of said Commissioners, approved by the Governor, which requisition shall be accompanied by an itemized statement of the costs and expenses to be paid. SEC. 32. Section eleven of chapter seventy-seven of the Acts of the Seventeenth General Assembly in relation to the Board of Railroad Commissioners, and all laws now in force in direct conflict with any of the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed. Report to Railroad Commissioners (Chapter 27 of the Acts of the Twenty-fourth General Assemory., AN ACT to amend Section No. 22, of Chapter No. 28, of the Acts of the Twenty-second General Assembly, relating to reports to be made to the Board of Railroad Commissioners. Approved April 8, 1892. That Section No. twenty-two (22) of Chapter No. twentyeight (28) of the Acts of the Twenty-second General Assembly be amended by adding thereto, at the end thereof, the following words: "Such reports shall also contain such other statistics of the road and of its transportation business for the year ending upon the thirtieth day of June of each year as the Commissioners shall require, and all such reports should be made to said Board of Railroad Commissioners, on or before the fifteenth day of September of each year. "The Board of Railroad Commissioners is also hereby authorized to require of any and all common carriers, subject to the provisions of this chapter, such other reports, besides the annual reports hereby required, as in the judgment of such Board of Commissioners shall be deemed necessary and reasonable. Such reports shall be in such form and concerning such subjects and be from such sources as the Commissioners shall require, except as otherwise provided herein. "The time when such reports shall be filed shall be fixed by the Board of Railroad Commissioners. Any corporation, company or individual owning or operating a railway within this State which shall fail, neglect or refuse to make any of the reports provided for herein by the date fixed herein, or that fixed by the Board of Railroad Commissioners, shall be subject to and pay a penalty in the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every day of delay in making such reports after the date fixed." 4. The Joint Rate Act. (Chapter 17, Acts of Twenty-third General Assembly. SECTION 1. Permitted. That Chapter twenty-eight of the Acts of the Twenty-second General Assembly be and the same hereby is amended as follows: That said chapter twenty-eight of the Acts of the Twenty-second General Assembly shall not be construed to prohibit the making of rates by two or more railroad companies for the transportation of property over two or more of their respective lines of railroad within this State, and a less charge by each of said railroad companies for its portion of such joint shipment than its charges for a shipment for the same dis tance wholly over its own line within the State, shall not be considered a violation of said chapter twenty-eight of the Acts of the Twenty-second General Assembly, and shall not render such railroad company liable to any of the penalties of said Act, but the provisions of this section shall not be construed to permit railway companies, establishing joint rates, to make by such joint rates any unjust discrimination between the different shipping points or stations upon their respective lines between which joint rates are established, and any such unjust discrimination shall be punished in the manner and by the penalties provided by chapter twenty-eight of the Acts of the Twenty-second General Assembly. SEC. 2. Reasonable Through Rates. All railway companies doing business in this State shall, upon the demand of any person or persons interested, establish reasonable joint through rates for the transportation of freight between points upon their respective lines within this State, and shall receive and transport freight and cars over such route or routes as the shipper shall direct. Car-load lots shall be transferred without unloading from the cars in which such shipments were first made, unless such unloading in other cars shall be done without charge therefor to the shipper or receiver of such car-load lots, and such transfer be made without unreasonable delay, and less than carload lots shall be transferred into the connecting railway's cars at cost, which shall be included in and made a part of the joint rate adopted by such railway companies or established as provided by this Act. When shipments of freight to be transported between different points within this State are required to be carried by two or more railway companies operating connecting lines, such railway companies shall transport the same at reasonable through rates, and shall at all times give the same facilities and accommodations to local or State traffic as they give to interstate traffic over their lines of road. SEC. 3. Commissioners may establish. In the event that said railway companies fail to establish through joint rates or fail to establish and charge reasonable rates for such through shipments, it shall be the duty of the Board of Railroad Commissioners and they are hereby directed, upon the application of any person or |