and payable thirty years from such date, and bearing interest payable quarterly in gold coin at the rate of two per centum per annum; and the bonds herein authorized shall be exempt from all taxes or duties of the United States, as well as from taxation in any form by or under State, municipal, or local authority: Provided, That said bonds may be disposed of by the Secretary of the Treasury at not less than par, under such regulations as he may prescribe, giving to all citizens of the United States an equal opportunity to subscribe therefor, but no commissions shall be allowed or paid thereon; and a sum not exceeding one-tenth of one per centum of the amount of the bonds herein authorized is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay the expense of preparing, advertising, and issuing

the same.

The President is hereby authorized, upon the acquisi- Apr. 28, 1904 tion of the property of the New Panama Canal Company and the payment to the Republic of Panama of the ten millions of dollars provided by article fourteen of the treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the twenty-sixth day of February, nineteen hundred and four, to be paid to the latter Government, to take possession of and occupy on behalf of the United States the zone of land and land under water of the width of ten miles, extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the canal to be constructed thereon, which said zone begins in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from mean low-water mark and extends to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to the distance of three marine miles from mean low-water mark, and also of all islands within said zone, and in addition thereto the group of islands in the Bay of Panama named Perico, Naos, Culebra, and Flamenco, and, from time to time, of any lands and waters outside of said zone which may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of the said canal, or of any auxil iary canals or other works necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of said enterprise, the use, occupation, and control whereof were granted to the United States by article two of said treaty. The said zone is hereinafter referred to as "the Canal Zone." The payment of the ten millions of dollars provided by article fourteen of said treaty shall be made in lieu of the indefinite appropriation made in the third section of the Act of June twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and two, and is hereby appropriated for said purpose.

Until the expiration of the Fifty-eighth Congress, unless provision for the temporary government of the Canal Zone be sooner made by Congress, all the military, civil, the and judicial powers as well as the power to make all

June 25, 1906.
J. Res.

June 29, 1906.

Mar. 2, 1905.

Mar. 2, 1895.

rules and regulations necessary for the government of the Canal Zone and all the rights, powers, and authority granted by the terms of said treaty to the United States shall be vested in such person or persons and shall be exercised in such manner as the President shall direct for the government of said Zone and maintaining and protecting the inhabitants thereof in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and religion.

Purchases of material and equipment for use in the construction of the Panama Canal shall be restricted to articles of domestic production and manufacture, from the lowest responsible bidder, unless the President shall, in any case, deem the bids or tenders therefor to be extortionate or unreasonable.

A lock canal be constructed across the Isthmus of Panama connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, of the general type proposed by the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers, created by order of the President dated January twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and five, in pursuance of an Act entitled "An Act to provide for the construction of a canal connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans," approved June twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and two.

All laws affecting imports of articles, goods, wares, and merchandise and entry of persons into the United States from foreign countries shall apply to articles, goods, wares, and merchandise and persons coming from the Canal Zone, Isthmus of Panama, and seeking entry into any State or Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia.

417. Great Lakes-Atlantic Canal.

The President of the United States is authorized to appoint, immediately after the passage of this Act, three persons, who shall have power to meet and confer with any similar committee which may be appointed by the Government of Great Britain or of the Dominion of Canada, and who shall make inquiry and report whether it is feasible to build such canals as shall enable vessels engaged in ocean commerce to pass to and fro between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, with an adequate and controllable supply of water for continual use; where such canals can be most conveniently located, the probable cost of the same, with estimates in detail; and if any part of the same should be built in the territory of Canada, what regulations or treaty arrangements will be necessary between the United States and Great Britain to preserve the free use of such canal to the people of this country at all times; and all necessary facts and considerations relating to the construction and future use of deep-water channels between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. The persons so appointed shall serve without compensation in any form, but they shall be paid their actual traveling and other necessary expenses, not

exceeding in all ten thousand dollars, for which purpose the said sum of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated. The President may, in his discretion, detail as one of such persons an officer of the Army or Navy.

418. Great Lakes' levels.

The President of the United States is hereby requested June 13, 1902. to invite the Government of Great Britain to join in the Sec. 4. formation of an international commission, to be composed of three members from the United States and three who shall represent the interests of the Dominion of Canada, whose duty it shall be to investigate and report upon the conditions and uses of the waters adjacent to the boundary lines between the United States and Canada, including all of the waters of the lakes and rivers whose natural outlet is by the River Saint Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean; also upon the maintenance and regulation of suitable levels; and also upon the effect upon the shores of these waters and the structures thereon, and upon the interests of navigation, by reason of the diversion of these waters from or change in their natural flow; and, further, to report upon the necessary measures to regulate such diversion, and to make such recommendations for improvements and regulations as shall best subserve the interests of navigation in said waters. The said commissioners shall report upon the advisability of locating a dam at the outlet of Lake Erie, with a view to determining whether such dam will benefit navigation, and if such structure is deemed advisable, shall make recommendations to their respective Governments looking to an agreement or treaty which shall provide for the construction of the same, and they shall make an estimate of the probable cost thereof. The President, in selecting the three members of said Commission who shall represent the United States, is authorized to appoint one officer of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, one civil engineer well versed in the hydraulics of the Great Lakes, and one lawyer of experience in questions of international and riparian law, and said Commission shall be authorized to employ such persons as it may deem needful in the performance of the duties hereby imposed; and for the purpose of paying the expenses and salaries of said Commission the Secretary of War is authorized to expend from the amounts heretofore appropriated for the Saint Marys River at the Falls, the sum of twenty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary to pay that portion of the expenses of said Commission chargeable to the United States.

419. Employment of vessels of the United States for public purposes.

Vessels of the United States, or belonging to the United Apr. 28, 1904. States, and no others, shall be employed in the transpor

tation by sea of coal, provisions, fodder, or supplies of

J. Res., Apr. 28, 1904.

Mar. 24, 1908.

Sec. 2.

June 20, 1906.

Sec. 2.

any description, purchased pursuant to law, for the use of the Army or Navy unless the President shall find that the rates of freight charges by said vessels are excessive and unreasonable, in which case contracts shall be made under the law as it now exists: Provided, That no greater charges be made by such vessels for transportation of articles for the use of the said Army and Navy than are made by such vessels for transportation of like goods for private parties or companies.

420. Exemption of private property at sea.

It is the sense of the Congress of the United States that it is desirable, in the interest of uniformity of action by the maritime states of the world in time of war, that the President endeavor to bring about an understanding among the principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating into the permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption of all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or destruction by belligerents.

421. Hospital ships.

Hospital ships, concerning which the conditions set forth in articles one, two, and three of the convention concluded at The Hague on July twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, for the adaptation to maritime warfare of the principles of the Geneva convention of August twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, are fulfilled, shall, in the ports of the United States and the possessions thereof, be exempted, in time of war, from all dues and taxes imposed on vessels by the laws of the United States, and from all pilotage charges.

The President of the United States shall by proclamation name the hospital ships to which this Act shall apply, and shall indicate the time when the exemptions herein provided for shall begin and end.

422. Sponge fishing.

From and after May first, anno Domini nineteen hundred and seven, it shall be unlawful to land, deliver, cure, or offer for sale at any port or place in the United States any sponges taken by means of diving or diving apparatus from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or Straits of Florida: Provided, That sponges taken or gathered by such process between October first and May first of each year in a greater depth of water than fifty feet shall not be subject to the provisions of this Act: And provided further, That no sponges taken from said waters shall be landed, delivered, cured, or offered for sale at any port or place in the United States of a smaller size than four inches in diameter.

Every person guilty of a violation of this Act shall for each offense be liable to a fine of not less than one hundred

dollars or more than five hundred dollars, which fine shall be a lien against the vessel on which the offense was committed. And every vessel used or employed in violation of this Act shall be liable to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars or forfeiture, and shall be seized and proceeded against by process of libel in any court having jurisdiction of the offense.

Any violation of this Act shall be prosecuted in the dis- Sec. 3. trict court of the United States of the district wherein the offense was committed.

It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce and Sec. 4. Labor to enforce the provisions of this Act, and upon his request the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Navy may employ the vessels of the RevenueCutter Service and of the Navy, respectively, to that end. 423. Protection of sponge fisheries [Bureau of Fisheries].

For expenses in protecting the sponge fisheries, includ- Mar. 4, 1911. ing employment of inspectors, watchmen and temporary assistants, hire of boats, rental of office and storage, care of seized sponges and other property, travel, and all other expenses necessary to carry out the provisions of the Act of June twentieth, nineteen hundred and six, to regulate the sponge fisheries, five thousand dollars.

424. Liens on vessels.

Any person furnishing repairs, supplies, or other neces- June 23, 1910. saries, including the use of dry dock or marine railway, to a vessel, whether foreign or domestic, upon the order of the owner or owners of such vessel, or of a person by him or them authorized, shall have a maritime lien on the vessel which may be enforced by a proceeding in rem, and it shall not be necessary to allege or prove that credit was given to the vessel.

The following persons shall be presumed to have au- Sec. 2. thority from the owner or owners to procure repairs, supplies, and other necessaries for the vessel: The managing owner, ship's husband, master, or any person to whom the management of the vessel at the port of supply is intrusted. No person tortiously or unlawfully in possession or charge of a vessel shall have authority to bind the vessel.

The officers and agents of a vessel specified in section Sec. 3. two shall be taken to include such officers and agents when appointed by a charterer, by an owner pro hac vice, or by an agreed purchaser in possession of the vessel, but nothing in this Act shall be construed to confer a lien when the furnisher knew, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence could have ascertained, that because of the terms of a charter party, agreement for sale of the vessel, or for any other reason, the person ordering the repairs,