PART IV. THE FEDERAL BILL OF LADING ACT (The Pomerene Bill) August 29, 1916, the Federal Bill of Lading statute, very generally known as the Pomerene Bill, and which makes negotiable bills of lading in interstate and foreign commerce, was signed by the President. After eleven years of unceasing effort a law which makes a railroad responsible for goods for which it has issued a bill of lading is now a reality. Its history attests the difficulty that attaches to even a simple demand for justice when the opposition is organized. The Pomerene Bill passed the Senate in the Sixty-second and again in the Sixty-third Congress, but in each instance it was not reported by the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce to which it was referred. In the Sixty-fourth Congress, after passing the Senate March 9, it was reported with a few unimportant amendments by the House Committee June 24 and was passed by that body August 9. The Senate, August 18, enacted in 1916 the bill, concurring in the House amendment August 29, 1916. January 1, 1917, the law becomes effective. Owing to frauds in the cotton trade of several years ago, legislation of a corrective character has been effected in Congress since the year 1909. One result of these abuses was to safeguard railway bills of lading through the issue of validation certificates. The new statute enacts provisions which cover bills of lading issued by any common carrier. It recognizes the function of the bill of lading as an instrument of credit and creates rules which give it a legal status. Heretofore it has been necessary to rely upon the laws of |