Chapter 248. To amend the Act of Congress entitled “An Act to establish a commission for the purpose of securing information in connection with questions relative to interstate commerce in coal, and for other purposes,” approved September 22, 1922
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CHAP. 248.— An Act To amend the Act of Congress entitled “An Act to establish a commission for the purpose of securing information in connection with questions relative to interstate commerce in coal, and for other purposes,” approved September 22, 1922. March 4, 1923.[[S. 4160](/us/bill/67/s/4160).][[Public, No. 499](/us/67/pl/499).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,United States Coal Commission.*Ante*, p. 1023, amended.
That the first paragraph of the Act of Congress entitled “An Act to establish a commission for the purpose of securing information in connection with questions relative to interstate commerce in coal, and for other purposes,” approved September 22, 1922, is amended to read as follows: " Established to secure information of coal Industry in interstate commerce.“That for the purpose of securing information in connection with questions relative to interstate commerce in coal and all questions and problems arising out of and connected with the coal industry, there is hereby established a governmental agency to be known and Composition,appointment, etc.designated as the United States Coal Commission, to be composed of not more than seven members appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Judges eligible without impairing office.Judges of courts of the United States shall be eligible for appointment as members of the commission, and the appointment, qualification, and service of a judge as member shall in nowise affect or Congressional ineligibility.impair his tenure as judge. No member of the United States Senate or of the House of Representatives shall be eligible to serve on said Organization.commission. Said commission shall elect a chairman by majority vote of its members and shall maintain central offices in the District of Columbia, but may, whenever it deems it necessary, meet at such other place as it may determine.
A member of the commission may be removed by the President for neglect of duty or malfeasance in Salaries.office but for no other cause. Each member of said commission shall receive a salary of $7,500 a year, except that if a judge of any court of the United States serves as a member of the commission, he shall continue to receive only his salary as judge, and shall receive no1447salary as a member of the commission, but any such judge hereafterTravel, etc., expenses of Judge while Serving. serving as a member of the commission, or who has heretofore under appointment by the President served on or advised with the com-mission, shall be allowed for his necessary expenses of travel and reasonable expenses of maintenance while necessarily away from his place of official residence as judge and in the service of the commission, the same amount, and upon like certificate, as is by law allowed circuit and district judges of the United States when trans-acting official business at places other than their place of official residence as judge, such payment to be paid out of any appropriation for said commission.
Any vacancy on the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment. Said Termination of existence.commission shall cease to exist one year after taking effect of this Act.” " Sec. 2. That such Act of September 22, 1922, is amended byNew matter.*Ante*, p. 1024, amended.Questions to be prepared by Commission. adding after the fourteenth paragraph thereof the following: " “That the commission or any officer, employee, or agent thereof may prepare and submit to and require to be answered by any person written questions of fact concerning any of the matters which by this Act the commission is empowered or directed to investigate, and such person shall thereupon answer fully and in good faith any and all questions so propounded.
Such answersAnswers to be in writing under oath, etc. shall be in writing and shall be verified by oath of the persons making them and shall be returned to the commission or its officer or agent within the time which the commission or any officer or agent thereof may prescribe. The oath may be taken before anyAuthentication. member of the commission or any officer or agent of the commission by it duly authorized, or before any officer authorized to administer oaths either by the laws of the United States or the laws of the State in which verification is made, but when taken before a notary or other State officer such oath shall be certified under the hand and official seal of such officer.
” " Sec. 3. That the seventeenth paragraph of such Act of*Ante*, p. 1025, amended. September 22, 1922, is amended to read as follows: " “That any person who shall willfully neglect or refuse to attendPunishment for specified offenses. and testify or depose, or to produce or permit access to any book, account, record, document, correspondence, paper, or other evidence, or to answer any written questions propounded by the commission or any officer or agent thereof, as herein provided for, and any person who shall willfully give false testimony in respect of any matter or thing under investigation by the commission, or shall make or cause to be made any false entry or statement of fact in any written answer or report called for by the commission or any officer or agent thereof, and any person who shall make or cause to be made any false entry or statement of fact in any book, account, record, document, correspondence, paper, or other evidence, with intent to deceive the commission or any officer or agent thereof, shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
“That in case of disobedience to any subpoena issued by theAssistance of Federal courts to secure obedience to orders, requests, etc. commission or any member thereof, or of refusal or neglect to testify fully and freely concerning any matter or thing under investigation by the commission, or of refusal to make written answer to any question propounded by the commission or any officer or agent thereof, or of refusal to permit access to any book, account, record, document, correspondence, paper, or other evidence, by any person, the commission may invoke the aid of the District Court of the United States for the district in which such person resides, in requiring obedience to its process, orders, and requests; and the several District Courts of the United States are hereby invested1448with jurisdiction in case of such contumacy or refusal to obey the process, orders, and requests of the commission to issue an order Punishment as contempt.requiring compliance therewith.
Any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof.” " Sec. 4. *Ante*, p. 1025, amended. That the last paragraph of such Act of September 22, 1922, is amended to read as follows: " Authorization for expenses.*Post*, p. 1530.“There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $600,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be available until expended, for carrying out the provisions of this Act” " Approved, March 4, 1923.