606. Said board shall, on or before the first Monday in December of each year, make a report to the governor of their doings for the preceding fiscal year ending June 30. This report shall contain such information and data collected by the board as may be considered of value in the determination of questions connected with the regulation of commerce in the state, together with such recommendation as to additional legislation relating thereto as the board may deem necessary.

607. [Application of Act-Exceptions.]-That nothing in this act shall apply to the carriage, storage, or handling of property free or at reduced rates for the United States or municipal governments, or for charitable purposes, or to and from fairs and expositions for exhibition thereat, or the issuance of mileage, excursion, commutation passenger tickets; nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit any common carrier from giving reduced rates to ministers of the gospel; nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent railroads from giving free carriage to their own officers or employees, or to prevent the principal officers of any railroad company or companies from exchanging passes or tickets with other railroad companies to their officers and employees or others, and nothing in this act contained shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this act are in addition to such remedies.

608. To carry out the provisions of this act without undue burden to the state officers who compose the state board of transportation, their secretaries are hereby empowered, in all matters of examination or investigation, to perform the duties prescribed for the board themselves; Provided, That all final decisions shall be made by the board themselves.

VII. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

Secs. 609 and 610 formed secs. 117 and 84, R. S. 1866, pp. 230 and 218.

609. Every railroad company shall have power and is hereby authorized to mortgage or execute deeds of trust of the whole or any part of their property and franchises, including any lands or other property granted to said company by the United States, to secure money borrowed by them for the construction and equipment of their roads, and may issue their corporate bonds in sums not less than five hundred dollars-secured by said mortgages or deeds of trust-payable to bearer or otherwise, and, if payable to bearer, negotiable by delivery, bearing interest at a rate not to exceed ten per cent per annum, and convertible into stock, or not, as shall be plainly expressed on the face of each and every bond so issued by said company, and may sell them at such rates or prices as they may deem proper; and if said bonds should be sold below their nominal or par value, they shall be valid and binding upon the company, and no plea of usury shall be put in or allowed by said company upon any suit or proceedings upon the same. The principal and interest on said bonds, or either of them, may be made payable within or without this territory.

610. Such company shall have power to borrow money on the credit of the corporation, and may execute bonds or promissory notes therefor, and to secure the payment thereof may pledge the property and income of such company.

Secs. 611 to 613 formed secs. 118 to 120, ch. 25, R. S. 1866, p. 230.

611. Any mortgage or deed of trust made upon the lands, roads, or other property of any railroad company shall bind and be a valid lien upon all the property mentioned in such deed or mortgage, including rolling stock; and the purchaser under foreclosure of mortgage or trust deed shall have and enjoy all the rights of a purchaser on execution sale; Provided, That nothing in this subdivision shall be so construed as in any manner to interfere with, change, or modify the

rights of this state, or of the United States, to any lands granted by congress to this state or to said companies, or to transfer any right in said lands, otherwise than as subject to all the conditions imposed by the grant made by the United States.

612. Said mortgages or deeds of trust may, by their terms, include and cover not only the property of the companies making them at the time of their date, but property both real and personal which may thereafter be acquired by them, together with all the material and property necessary for the use and operation of said road, and shall be as valid and effectual as if the property were in possession at the time of the execution thereof.

613. Said mortgages or deeds of trust shall be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of each organized county through which said road mortgaged or deeded may run in this state, or wherever it may hold lands included in said mortgages or deeds of trust, and shall be notice to all the world of the rights of all parties under the same; and for this purpose, and to secure the rights of mortgagees or parties interested under deeds of trust so executed and recorded, the rolling stock, personal property, and material necessary for operating the road of said company, belonging to said road, and appertaining thereto, shall be deemed a part of the road, and said mortgages and deeds so recorded shall have the same effect, both as to notice and otherwise, as to the real estate covered by them.

Amended 1887, p. 376.

Sec. 614. "An act to prevent railroad corporations to impose upon the people by bogus surveys in counties or precincts where they are asked to vote bonds or other valuables in aid of such railroad corporations." 1879, p. 151. In force June 1.

614. No proposition shall be submitted to the electors of any county in this state for donations of bonds or any other valuables, to any railroad corporation, unless said railroad corporation, through its authorized and responsible agent, files for record in the county clerk's office, where such donations of bonds or any other valuables are to be voted upon, a plat of the survey showing their exact line of route through said county, within at least two weeks previous to such an election; and no bonds, and so forth, shall be valid in case they are voted unless said railroad corporation build their line of road within forty rods of their survey as filed in the county clerk's office.

Secs. 615 and 616. "An act to compel railroads to name their stations the same as the city or village in which located, and to fix a penalty for a failure so to do." 1891, p. 221. In force Aug. 1. 615. All railroad companies operating lines of railway in this state shall, on a petition signed by a majority of the legal voters of such city or village to the railroad company, call any station located in any city or village the same as the corporate name of said city or village, and the name thereof shall be prominently exposed to public view.

616. Any railroad company failing to comply with the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not less than one hundred ($100) dollars nor more than five hundred ($500) dollars.

Secs. 617 to 621. "An act authorizing the incorporation of union depot companies.” 1887, p. 342. In force April 4.

617. Any number of persons, not less than five, may associate themselves together and become incorporated for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and operating union freight and passenger depots, and the tracks, structures, appliances, and appurtenances incident and necessary to the use of the same, in like manner and by like proceedings as are now provided in chapter 16 of the Revised Statutes of 1885 [ch. 9, Corporations], for the organization of railway companies, including the exercise of the power of eminent domain.

618. Such union depot companies shall be authorized and empowered to locate, establish, construct, furnish, maintain, operate, and enjoy union freight and passenger railway depots at such points as may be determined upon, with such tracks, side tracks, turn-outs, switches, offices, and structures as may be deemed necessary; and shall have power to acquire, take, and hold all real, personal, and mixed property necessary or convenient for the execution of the powers herein granted, and the accomplishment of the objects and purposes of this act.

619. Every union depot company shall have power and is hereby authorized to mortgage or execute deeds of trust of the whole or any part of its property and franchises, including all lands owned or to be acquired by said company, to secure money borrowed by it for the construction and equipment of such union depots and appurtenances; and may issue its corporate bonds in sums of not less than one thousand ($1,000) dollars each, secured by said mortgages or deeds of trust, payable to bearer or otherwise; and, if payable to bearer, negotiable by delivery, and bearing interest at a rate not to exceed seven per centum per annum, and convertible into stock, or not, as shall be expressed on the face of each and every bond so issued by said company; and may sell such bonds at such rates or prices as they may deem proper; and if said bonds shall be sold below the nominal or par value, they shall be binding upon said company, and no plea of usury shall be put in or allowed by said company upon any suit or proceedings upon the same. The principal and interest on said bonds, or either of them, may be made payable within or without the state; and such bonds may be issued to the amount deemed necessary by the board of directors of said company, for the construction and completion of said union depot and appurtenances.

620. Any mortgage or deed of trust made upon the real or personal property of such union depot company shall bind and be a valid lien upon all the property mentioned in such deed or mortgage, and the purchase [r] under foreclosure of said mortgage or deed of trust shall have and enjoy all the rights of a purchaser on execution sale.

621. Said mortgages or deeds of trust may by their terms include and cover not only the property of the companies making them at the time of their date, but property both real and personal which may thereafter be acquired by them, together with all the material and property necessary for the use and operation of said union depots, and shall be as valid and effectual as if the property were in possession at the time of the execution thereof.

VIII. STREET RAILWAYS.

Secs. 622 to 626. "An act to provide for the incorporation of street railroad companies within the cities of this state." 1877, p. 135. In force June 1.

622. Any number of persons may be associated and incorporated under the general laws of this state providing for the creation of corporations for the purpose of constructing and operating a street railroad within any of the cities of this state, upon procuring the consent of a majority of the electors of any such city as hereinafter provided.

Street railway companies are common carriers of passengers and liable as such upon common law principles, and must exercise more than ordinary care for the safety of their passengers. Spellman v. Lincoln Rapid Transit Co., - Neb., — (55 N. W., 270).

623. Every such corporation, previous to the commencement of any business, except its own organization, must adopt articles of incorporation and have them recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the city within which it is proposed to construct and operate such street railroad is situated, and must procure the consent of a majority of the electors of such city as herein provided.

624. The articles of incorporation must fix the termini of the street railroad which the company propose to construct and describe the precise route between such termini, which shall be one continuous line from the one terminus to the other, and also name the streets through which said railway is to be constructed; said articles shall also state the length of the railway so proposed to be constructed, which shall not be authorized or consented to by the electors of any such city, at any one election to exceed the length of five miles.

Amended 1893, ch. 23, p. 160. In force August 1.

625. The question of the consent of a majority of the electors of any such city to the constructing and operating of any such street railroad, shall be determined by submitting the question to the electors of such city at an election to be held for that purpose, and of which election it shall be the duty of the mayor of any such city upon the request of the common council of said city, to give at least ten days' notice by publishing a notice in some newspaper published in such city, which notice shall state the termini, of said proposed street railway as well as describe the precise route between such termini, which shall be one continuous line from one terminus to the other, and also name the streets through which said railway is to be constructed, which proposed railway shall not exceed five miles in length; the form in which such notice shall be taken and the time when such election shall be held, and no election shall hereafter be held except under this provision; And provided further, That no franchise to construct street railways shall be hereafter granted, nor shall any election be hereafter held to vote upon any proposition to give the consent of the electors of any such city to the construction of any street railway, unless there shall have been filed at least ten days before such election, a map or plat showing the route and location of the proposed street railway in the county office wherein are kept the record of deeds of real estate and also whether the proposed railway along such route is to be a single or double track.

Amended 1893, ch. 23, p. 160. In force August 1.

626. Every such election shall be held at the time designated in the notice and shall be held in the same manner and at the same places as the general city elections, and the returns shall be canvassed by the council of such city at its next meeting after any such election, and the result declared, and if a majority of the votes cast at such election shall be in favor of the constructing and operating of such proposed street railroad, the council shall cause the city clerk to make out a certificate of the result stating that the consent of a majority of the electors of such city has been given to the constructing and operating of such railroad, and deliver the same to the chief officer of such street railroad company, who shall cause the same to be recorded in the office of the county clerk where the articles of association of such street railroad company are recorded, and in the same record, and such certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein; and thereupon, such street railroad company shall be authorized to proceed and construct and operate such street railroad, as described in its articles of association, or any portion thereof, subject to such rules and regulations as may be established by ordinances of such city; Provided, That any street railroad hereafter authorized to be constructed shall be built upon the line or route so described in said notice and plat, and not otherwise, and shall be constructed from one of the termni so fixed continuously to the other, and shall be a single or double track as shown on such plat; but no street railway shall hereafter be constructed or consent or authority therefore be given by any city or its electors, upon or along any part of any street in any city, upon or along which any street railway has been already constructed, and where any other company or party owns any street railway upon any part of such street it is hereby

authorized and empowered to consent to the use of any part of its railway by any other company upon such terms as may be agreed upon by them; Provided, That no such use shall be allowed or enjoyed without its consent; Provided, further, that no authority to construct street railway on any street of any city in this state under any franchise hereafter granted, or consent of the electors of any such city thereto, hereafter given, shall be operative or effective unless the owners of a majority of the feet front of the real property abutting upon the street or streets upon which it shall be proposed to construct any such street railway, shall in writing consent thereto, which written consent shall be filed in the office of the city clerk of the city wherein such street is situated before any election to give the consent of the electors of such city shall be called.

Amended 1893, ch. 23, p. 161. In force August 1.

Secs. 627 to 633. "An act to enable street railways to unite their roads by consolidation, purchase, sale, by subscription to or purchase of capital stock, and to mortgage their railroads and property for the construction, equipment, and extension of their roads." 1889, p. 398. In force February 12.

627. Any street railway company existing in pursuance of law in this state or which may be hereafter created and organized therein, any portion of whose road has been located and constructed so as to form with the road of any other street railway company existing, created, and organized as aforesaid, connected or continuous lines and routes of travel or transportation, is hereby authorized to consolidate its railway property and appurtenances with such other street railway and its property and appurtenances into a single corporation; Provided, That any such consolidation or transfer of the property, rights, powers, and franchises of any such company shall not in any manner impair or affect any existing right of reversion under which any of said companies now chartered or organized may exist, in the manner following: The board of directors of said two or more corporations may enter into an agreement, under the corporate seals of each, for the consolidation of said two or more corporations, prescribing the terms and conditions thereof, the mode of carrying the same into effect, the name of the new corporation, the number of the directors thereof, which shall not be less than seven (7) nor more than eleven (11), the time and place of holding the first election of directors, the number of shares of stock in the new corporation, the amount of each share, the manner of converting the shares of corporate stock in each of said two or more corporations into shares in such new corporation, the manner of compensating stockholders in each of said two or more corporations, who refuse to convert their stock into the stock of such new corporation, with such other details as they shall deem necessary to perfect such consolidation of said corporations, and such resulting consolidated corporation shall by operation of law succeed to and hold in perpetuity all the property, rights, powers, and franchises converted upon said constituent companies, and shall assume and perform all the public obligations, duties, agreements, and requirements as common carriers imposed upon said constituent companies.

628. Upon making the agreement mentioned in the preceding section in the manner required therein, and filing a duplicate thereof in the office of the secretary of state and county clerk of the county in which the corporation exists, accompanied by the consent in writing of the owners of two-third (3) of the capital stock of each of said constituent companies, and consent being duly acknowledged by a notary public under his seal of office in like manner as is prescribed for the acknowledgment of deeds, the said two or more corporations shall be merged in the new corporation provided for in such agreement, to be known by the corporate name therein mentioned, and the details of such agreement shall be carried into effect as provided therein.