Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 25.djvu/429

 FIFTIETH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 772. 1888. 383 them, or by any act amendatory or supplementary thereto, are required to construct, maintain, or operate telegraph lines, and all companies engaged in operating said railroad or telegraph lines shall forthwith and henceforward, by and through their own respective corporate officers and employees, maintain, and operate, for railroad, Governmental, commercial, and all other purposes, telegraph lines, and exercise by themselves alone all the telegraph franchises conferred upon them and obligations assumed by them under the acts making the grants as aforesaid. Sec. 2. That whenever any telegraph com any which shall have Equalfacilitiestqbe accepted the provisions of title sixty-five of) the Revised Statutes EK? °° °°°”"°"’g shal_ extend its line to any station or office of a telegraph line be- mfg S- Tim LXV»v- longing to any one of said railroad or telegraph companies, referred ` to in the first section of this act, said telegraph company so extending its line shall have the right and said railroad or telegraph company shall allow the line of said telegraph company so extending its me to connect with the telegraph line of said railroad or telegraph company to which it is extended at the place where their lines may meet, for the prompt and convenient interchange of telegraph business between said companies; and such railroad and telegraph companies, referred to in the first section of this act, shall so operate their respective telegraph lines as to adord equal facilities to all, without iscrimination in favor of or against any person, company, or corporation whatever, and shall receive, deliver, and exchange business with connecting telegraph lines on equal terms, and affording equal facilities, and without discrimination for or against any one of such connecting lines; and such exchange of business shall be on terms just and equitable. Sec. 3. That if any such railroad or telegraph company referred to O£¤w*€*¤P¢0§)mm¢r¤<; in the first section of this act, or company operating such railroad co ei:ell mmm or telegraph line shall refuse or fail, in whole or in part, to maintain, and o rate a telegraph line as provided in this act and acts to which this is supplementary, for the use of the Government or the public, for commercial and other purposes, without discrimination, or shall refuse or fail to make or continue such arrangements for the interchange of business with any connecting telegraph company, then any person, company, corporation, or connecting telegraph company may apply for relief to the Interstate Commerce Commission, whose duty it shall thereupon be, under such rules and regulations as said Commission may prescribe, to ascertain the facts, and determine and order what arrangement is proper to be made in the articular case, and the railroad or telegraph com any concerned shall) abide by and perform such order; and it shallpbe the duty of the Interstate Commerce Commission, when such determination and order are made, to notify the parties concerned, and, if necessary, enforce the same by writ of mandamus in the courts of the United States, in the name of the United States, at the relation of either of said Interstate Commerce Commissioners: Provided, That the said Prvvm Commissioners may institute any inquiry, upon their own motion, Investigations. in the same manner and to the same edect as though complaint had been made. Sm:. 4. That in order to secure and preserve to the United States the Atmr¤ey—G<>¤e¤¤1t<> full value and benefit of its liens upon all the telegraph lines required $§${,‘?,?_.§ht§”§§`r(€;$,$?§‘,$,‘? to be constructed by and lawfully belonging to said railroad and tel- ¤¤*¤*· egraph companies referred to in the first section of this act, and to have the same ossessed, used, and operated in conformity with the provisions of this act and of the several acts to which this act is supplementary, it is hereby made the duty of the Attorney·General of the United States, by proper proceedings, to prevent any unlawful interference with the rights and equities of the United States under this act, and under the acts hereinbefore mentioned, and under all acts of Congress relating to such railroads and telegraph lines,