Bons so designated, shall be paid as directed by the President out of funds which may have been or may be provided to meet expenditures for the national security and defense. The common carriers subject to the Act to regulate commerce or as many of them as desire so to do are hereby authorized without responsibility or liability on the part of the United States, hnancial or otherwise, to establish and maintain in the city of Washington during the period of the war an agency empowered by such carriers as join in the arrangement to receive on behalf of them all notice and service of such orders and directions as may be issued in accordance with this Act. and service upon such agency shall be good service as to all the carriers joining in the establishment thereof. And it shall be the duty of any and all the officers, agents, or employees of such carriers by railroad or water or otherwise to obey strictly and conform promptly to such orders, and failure knowingly and willfully to comply therewith, or to do or perform whatever is necessary to the prompt execution of such order, shall render such officers, agents, or employees guilty of a misdemeanor, and any such officer, agent, or employee shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. For the transportation of persons or property in carrying out the orders and directions of the President, just and reasonable rates shall be fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission; and if the transportation be for the Government of the United States, it shall be paid for currently or monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any funds not otherwise appropriated. Any carrier complying with any such order or direction for preference or priority herein. authorized shall be exempt from any and all provisions in existing law imposing civil or criminal pains, penalties, obligations, or liabilities upon carriers by reason of giving preference or priority in compliance with such order or direction.'

Approved, August 10, 1917.

71-725 O-66-3

[PUBLIC-No. 176-65TH CONGRESS.]

[H. R. 10297.)

An Act To amend an act entitled "An Act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to equip their locomotives with safe and suitable boilers and appurtenances thereto," approved February seventeenth, nineteen hundred and eleven.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act entitled "An Act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to equip their locomotives with safe and suitable boilers and appurtenances thereto," approved February seventeenth, nineteen hundred and eleven, as amended, be, and is hereby, amended as follows:

"Amend section three so as to provide that the salary of the chief inspector shall be $5,000 per year; the salary of each assistant inspector shall be $4,000 per year.

"Amend section four so as to provide that the salary of each district inspector shall be $3,000 per year."

SEC. 2. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as amending, altering, or repealing any of the other provisions of said sections. Approved, June 26, 1918.

[H. R. 13261.]

An Act Providing for the transportation from the District of Columbia of governmental employees whose services no longer are required.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the heads of the several executive departments and other governmental establishments in the District of Columbia are authorized to furnish to such civilian employees, receiving compensation, exclusive of the additional $120, at the rate of not more than $1,400 per annum or less than $100 per annum, under their respective jurisdiction as have come to the District of Columbia since April sixth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, whose services are no longer required and whose employment has been or may be terminated by the Government without delinquency or misconduct on their part during the period from November eleventh, nineteen hundred and eighteen, to February twentieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, inclusive, their actual railroad transportation, including sleeping-car accommodations, from the District of Columbia to the place from which they accepted employment or to their legal residence, or to such other place not a greater distance as the employee may elect.

SEC. 2. That such transportation must be applied for within ten days after the termination of service and shall be used within five days after issuance unless an extension of time on account of illness be granted by the proper authority: Provided, That as to the employees whose services have been terminated during the period between November eleventh, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and the date of the passage of this Act, inclusive, the time within which transportation shall be applied for shall be twenty days from the date of the passage of this Act. Any person who shall sell, exchange, or transfer such transportation for the use of another shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100.

SEC. 3. That the expenses authorized by this Act shall be paid from the following appropriations for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and nineteen, which hereby are made available therefor:

For the War Department, from "Transportation of the Army and its supplies."

For the Navy Department, from "Pay, miscellaneous."

For all other executive departments and independent establishments, from the appropriations for the support of the services in which such persons are employed.

SEC. 4. That any employee who would be entitled to transportation, including sleeping-car accommodation under this Act and who has left the District of Columbia prior to the passage of this Act, but not before December tenth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, upon application and presentation within sixty days after the passage of this Act of proper proof shall have refunded the cost of actual railroad transportation, including sleeping-car accommodation, from the District of Columbia to the place from which employment was

accepted, or to their legal residence, or to such other place not a greater distance to which the employee may have gone: Provided, That payment to any employee for leave of absence not earned in proportion to the term of employment shall be deducted from the refund authorized in this section.

SEC. 5. That the provision made in this Act for the transportation of employees shall not be supplemented in any manner by the various services in which they are employed.

SEC. 6. That the provisions made in this Act for the transportation of employees shall not apply to those who enter such service after the passage of this Act.

Approved, January 7, 1919.

[S. 3319.]

An Act To provide for the reimbursement of the United States for motive power, cars, and other equipment ordered for railroads and systems of transportation under Federal control, 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 order to make provision for the reimbursement of the United States for the sums advanced to provide motive power, cars, and other equipment ordered by the President for the railroads and systems of transportation now under Federal control, herein called "carriers," pursuant to the authority conferred by the second paragraph of section 6 of the Act of March 21, 1918, the President may, upon such terms as he shall deem advisable, receive in reimbursement cash, or obligations of any carrier, or part cash and part such obligations, or in his discretion he may accept for such motive power, cars, or other equipment, cash or the shares of stock or obligations, secured or unsecured, of any corporation not a carrier organized for the purpose of owning equipment or equipment obligations, or part cash and part such. shares of stock and obligations, and he may transfer to such corporation any obligations of carriers received on account of motive power, cars, or other equipment, and he may execute any instruments necessary and proper to carry out the intent of the second paragraph of section 6 of said Act of March 21, 1918, to the end that title to the motive power, cars, and other equipment so ordered by the President as aforesaid for the carriers may rest in them or their trustees or nominees.

In addition to the powers herein and heretofore conferred, the President is further authorized to dispose, in the manner and for the consideration aforesaid, of motive power, cars, and other equipment, if any, provided by him in accordance with any other provisions of said section, and of any obligations of carriers that may be received in reimbursement of the cost thereof.

SEO. 2. That any contract for the sale of any motive power, cars, or other equipment ordered or provided under any of the provisions of section 6 of said Act of March 21, 1918, may provide that title thereto, notwithstanding delivery of possession, shall not vest in the carrier until the purchase price, which may be payable in installments during any period not exceeding fifteen years, shall be fully paid and the conditions of purchase fully performed. Any such contract shall be in writing, and acknowledged or proved before some person authorized to administer oaths, and filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission within sixty days after the delivery thereof, and shall be valid and enforceable as against all persons whomsoever.

SEO. 3. That nothing herein contained shall be deemed to abrogate or limit the powers conferred upon the President by said Act of March 21, 1918.