Chapter 436. To establish an eight-hour day for employees of carriers engaged in interstate and foreign commerce, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 436.— An Act To establish an eight-hour day for employees of carriers engaged in interstate and foreign commerce, and for other purposes. September 3, 5, 1916[[H. R. 17700](/us/bill/64/hr/17700)][[Public, No. 252](/us/pl/64/252)] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That beginning January first,Eight hour standard workday.Established January 1, 1917, for train employees of interstate common carriers. nineteen hundred and seventeen, eight hours shall, in contracts for labor and service, be deemed a day’s work and the measure or standard of a day’s work for the purpose of reckoning the compensation for services of all employees who are now or may hereafter be employed by any common carrier by railroad, except railroads independently owned and operated not exceeding one hundred milesExceptions. in length, electric street railroads, and electric interurban railroads, which is subject to the provisions of the Act of February fourth,Vol. 24, p. 379. eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, entitled “An Act to regulate 722commerce,” as amended, and who are now or may hereafter be actually engaged in any capacity in the operation of trains used for the transportation of persons or property on railroads, except railroads independently owned and operated not exceeding one hundred miles in length, electric street railroads, and electric interurban railroads, from any State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia to any other State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, or from one place in a Territory to another place in the same Territory, or from any place in the United States to an adjacent foreign country, or from any place in the United States through a foreign country to any other place in the *Proviso*.Terminal or transfer lines not excepted.United States: *Provided*, That the above exceptions shall not apply to railroads though less than one hundred miles in length whose principal business is leasing or furnishing terminal or transfer facilities to other railroads, or are themselves engaged in transfers of freight between railroads or between railroads and industrial plants.
Sec. 2. Commission to investigate effects, etc., of Act. That the President shall appoint a commission of three, which shall observe the operation and effects of the institution of the eight-hour standard workday as above defined and the facts and conditions affecting the relations between such common carriers and employees during a period of not less than six months nor more than Report.nine months, in the discretion of the commission, and within thirty days thereafter such commission shall report its findings to the President and Congress; that each member of the commission created under the provisions of this Act shall receive such compensation as Appropriation.may be fixed by the President.
That the sum of $25,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any money in the United States Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the necessary and proper expenses incurred in connection with the work of such commission, including salaries, per diem, traveling expenses of members and employees, and rent, furniture, office fixtures and supplies, books, salaries, and other necessary expenses, the same to be approved by the chairman of said commission and audited by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury.
Sec. 3. No reduction of wages pending report. That pending the report of the commission herein provided for and for a period of thirty days thereafter the compensation of railway employees subject to this Act for a standard eight-hour workday shall not be reduced below the present standard day’s wage, and for all necessary time in excess of eight hours such employees shall be paid at a rate not less than the pro rata rate for such standard eight-hour workday. Sec. 4. Punishment for violations.
That any person violating any provision of this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than $100 and not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not to exceed one year, or both. Approved, September 3, 1916. Approved, September 5, 1916.