206 



CONGRESS. (CARRIERS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES.) 



filed and is ponding has committed an act of bank- 

 ruptcy, or has neglected, or is neglecting, or is about 

 to so neglect his property that it has thereby dete- 

 riorated, or is thereby deteriorating, or is about 

 thereby to deteriorate "in value, issue a warrant to 

 the marshal to seize and hold it subject to further 

 orders. Before such warrant is issued the peti- 

 tioners applying therefor shall enter into a bond in 

 such an amount as the judge shall fix, with such 

 sureties as he shall approve, conditioned to indem- 

 nify such bankrupt for such damages as he shall 

 sustain in the event such seizure shall prove to have 

 been wrongfully obtained. Such property shall be 

 released if such bankrupt shall give bond in a sum 

 which shall be fixed by the judge, with such sureties 

 as he shall approve, conditioned to turn over such 

 property, or pay the value thereof in money to the 

 trust ee,"in the event he is adjudged a bankrupt pur- 

 suant to such petition. 



"Sue. 70. Title to property. a. The trustee of 

 the estate of a bankrupt, upon his appointment and 

 qualification, and his successor or successors, if he 

 shall have one or more, upon his or their appoint- 

 ment and qualification, shall in turn be vested by 

 operation of law with the title of the bankrupt, as 

 of the date he was adjudged a bankrupt, except in 

 so far as it is to property which is exempt, to all (1) 

 documents relating to his property : (2) interests in 

 patents, patent rights, copyrights, and trade-marks ; 

 (3) powers which he might have exercised for his 

 own benefit, but not those which he might have ex- 

 ercised for some other person : (4) property trans- 

 ferred by him in fraud of his creditors ; (5) property 

 which prior to the filing of the petition he could by 

 any means have transferred or which might have 

 been levied upon and sold under judicial processes 

 against him : Provided, That when any bankrupt 

 shall have any insurance policy which has a cash 

 surrender value payable to himself, his estate, or 

 personal representatives, he may within thirty days 

 after the cash surrender value has been ascertained 

 and stated to the trustee by the company issuing 

 the same, pay or secure to the trustee the sum so 

 ascertained and stated, and continue to hold, own, 

 and carry such policy free from the claims of the 

 creditors participating in the distribution of his 

 estate under the bankruptcy proceedings, otherwise 

 the policy shall pass to the trustee as assets ; and (6) 

 rights of action arising upon contracts or from the 

 unlawful taking or detention of, or injury to, his 

 property. 



" b. All real and personal property belonging to 

 bankrupt estates shall be appraised by three disin- 

 terested appraisers ; they shall be appointed by, and 

 report to the court. Real and personal property 

 shall, when practicable, be sold subject to the ap- 

 proval of the court ; it shall not be sold otherwise 

 than subject to the approval of the court for less 

 than 75 per cent, of its appraised value. 



"e. The title to property of a bankrupt estate 

 which has been sold, as herein provided, shall be 

 conveyed to the purchaser by the trustee. 



" d. Whenever a composition shall be set aside, or 

 discharge revoked, the trustee shall upon his ap- 

 pointment and qualification, be vested as herein 

 provided with the title to all of the property of the 

 bankrupt as of the date of the final decree setting 

 aside the composition or revoking the discharge. 



". The trustee may avoid any transfer by the 

 bankrupt of his property which any creditor of such 

 bankrupt might nave avoided, and may recover the 

 property so transferred, or its value, from the per- 

 son to whom it was transferred, unless he was a 

 bona fide holder for value prior to the date of the 

 adjudication. Such property may lie recovered or 

 its value collected from whoever may have received 

 it, except a bona fide holder for value. 



"/. Upon the confirmation of a composition 

 offered by a bankrupt, the title to his property shall 

 thereupon revest in him. 



" THE TIME WHEN THIS ACT SHALL GO INTO EFFECT. 



"a. This act shall go into full force and effect 

 upon its passage : Provided, however, That no pe- 

 tition for voluntary bankruptcy shall be filed within 

 one month of the passage thereof, and no petition 

 for involuntary bankruptcy shall be filed within 

 four months of the passage thereof. 



" b. Proceedings commenced under State insol- 

 vency laws before the passage of this act shall not 

 be affected by it." 



Carriers and their Employees. The Congress 

 passed, and the President approved, June 1, 1898, 

 the following act in regard to arbitration in cases 

 of controversy among those engaged in interstate 

 commerce: 



" Be it enacted, etc., That the provisions of this 

 act shall apply to any common carrier or carriers 

 and their officers, agents, and employees, except 

 masters of vessels and seamen, as defined in section 

 4612, Revised Statutes of the United States, en- 

 gaged in the transportation of passengers or prop- 

 erty wholly by railroad, or partly by railroad and 

 partly by water, for a continuous carriage or ship- 

 ment, from one State or Territory of the United 

 States, or the District of Columbia, to any other 

 State or Territory of the United States, or the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, or from any place in the United 

 States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any 

 place in the United States through a foreign coun- 

 try to any other place in the United States. 



"The term 'railroad' as used in this act shall in- 

 clude all bridges and ferries used or operated in 

 connection with any railroad, and also all the road 

 in use by any corporation operating a railroad, 

 whether owned or operated under a contract, agree- 

 ment, or lease ; and the term ' transportation ' shall 

 include all instrumentalities or shipment or car- 

 riage. 



" The term ' employees ' as used in this act shall 

 include all persons actually engaged in any capacity 

 in train operation or train service of any descrip- 

 tion, and notwithstanding that the cars npon or in 

 which they are employed may be held and operated 

 by the carrier under lease or other contract : Pro- 

 vided, however. That this act shall not be held to 

 apply to employees of street railroads and shall 

 apply only to employees engaged in railroad train 

 service. In every such case the carrier shall be re- 

 sponsible for the acts and defaults of such employees 

 in the same manner and to the same extent as if 

 said cars were owned by it, and said employees di- 

 rectly employed by it, and any provisions to the 

 contrary of any such lease or other contract shall 

 be binding only as between the parties thereto and 

 shall not affect the obligations of said carrier either 

 to the public or to the private parties concerned. 



" SEC. 2. That whenever a controversy concern- 

 ing wages, hours of labor, or conditions of employ- 

 ment shall arise between a carrier subject to this 

 act and the employees of such carrier, seriously in- 

 terrupting or threatening to interrupt the business 

 of said carrier, the Chairman of the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission and the Commissioner of Labor 

 shall, upon the request of either party to the cont n>- 

 versy, with all practicable expedition, put themselves 

 in communication with the parties to such contro- 

 versy, and shall use their best efforts, by mediation 

 and conciliation, to amicably settle the same ; and 

 if such efforts shall be unsuccessful, shall at once 

 endeavor to bring about an arbitration of said con- 

 troversy in accordance with the provisions of this 

 act. 



" SEC. 3. That whenever a controversy shall arise 



