Page:United States Reports, Volume 209.djvu/97

 9 U.S. discrimination in mspt of the transportation of any property in interstate or foreign commerce by any common carrier subject to said act to reguiate commerce and the acts amenda- tory thereto whereby any such property shall by any device whatever be trpor at a less rate than that named in the tariffs published and filed by such carrier, ns is required by said act to regulate commerce and the acts amendaWry thereto, or whereby any other advantage is given or discrimination is practiced. Every person or corporation who shall offer, grant, or give or solicit, accept or receive any such rebates, conceions, or discriminations shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not ism than one thousand dollars nor more than twenty thoand dollsas." In this act we find punishment by imprisonment abolished, and the shipper and carrier are placed upon the like footing, and it is made unlawful for any person or corporation to offer, grant, solicit, give, or to accept or receive, any rebate, con- eelion or disolmlnation in respect to transportation of prop- erty in interstate or foreign commerce, whereby any such property shall, by any device whatever, be transported for a le rate than that published and filed by such carriers, or whe?eby any other advantage is given or discrimination practiced. And we find the word device disassociated from any such words as fraudulent conduct, scheme or contrivance, but the act seeks to reach all means and methods by which te unlgwful preference of rebate, concession or discrimination is offered, granted, given or received. Had it been the inten- tion of Congress to limit the obtaining of such preferences to fraudulent schemes or devices, or to thcee operating only by dishonest, underhanded methods, it would have been easy to have so provided in words that would be unmistakable in their mexning. A device need not be necessarily fraudulent; the term includes anything which is a plan or contrivance. Webster defines it to be "that which is devised or formed by design; a contrivance; an invention; a project," etc.

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