ation of such Panama Canal, and all duties, matters, and transactions affecting the Canal Zone, be subject to the order and direction of such officer of the Army.

This Act shall be known as, and referred to as, the Sec. 14. Panama Canal Act, and the right to alter, amend, or repeal any or all of its provisions or to extend, modify, or annul any rule or regulation made under its authority is expressly reserved.

J. Res.

Purchases of material and equipment for use in the June 25, 1906. 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.

All laws affecting imports of articles, goods, wares, and Mar. 2, 1905. 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.

424. Great Lakes-Atlantic Canal.

The President of the United States is authorized to Mar. 2, 1895. 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.

425. 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.

Apr. 28, 1904.

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.

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

Vessels of the United States, or belonging to the United States, and no others, shall be employed in the transportation by sea of coal, provisions, fodder, or supplies of 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.

427. Exemption of private property at sea.

28, 1904.

It is the sense of the Congress of the United States that J. Res., Apr. 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.

428. Hospital ships.

Hospital ships, concerning which the conditions set Feb. 14, 1908. 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 proclama- Sec. 2. tion 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.

429. Sponge fishing.

On and after August fifteenth, anno Domini nineteen Aug. 15, 1914. hundred and fourteen, it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States, or person owing duty of obedience to the laws of the United States, or any boat or vessel of the United States, or person belonging to or on any such boat or vessel, to take or catch, by any means or method, in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Straits of Florida outside of State territorial limits, any commercial sponges measuring when wet less than five inches in their maximum diameter, or for any person or vessel to land, deliver, cure, offer for sale, or have in possession at any port or place in the United States, or on any boat or vessel of the United States, any such commercial sponges. The presence of sponges of a diameter of less than five Sec. 2. inches on any vessel or boat of the United States engaged in sponging in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Straits of Florida outside of State territorial limits, or the possession of any sponges of less than the said diameter sold or delivered by such vessels, shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this Act.

Every person, partnership, or association guilty of a Sec. 3. violation of this Act shall be liable to a fine of not more than $500, and in addition such fine shall be a lien against the vessel or boat on which the offense is committed, and said vessel or boat shall be seized and proceeded against by process of libel in any court having jurisdiction of

the offense.

Sec. 4.

Sec. 5.

Mar. 3, 1915.

Any violation of this Act shall be prosecuted in the district court of the United States of the district wherein the offender is found or into which he is first brought.

It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Commerce to enforce the provisions of this Act, and he is authorized to empower such officers and employees of the Department of Commerce as he may designate, or such officers and employees of other departments as may be detailed for the purpose, to make arrests and seize vessels and sponges, and upon his request the Secretary of the Treasury may employ the vessels of the Revenue Cutter Service or the employees of the Customs Service to that end. For expenses in protecting the sponge fisheries, including 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 August fifteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, to regulate the sponge fisheries, $2,500.

430. Liens on vessels.

June 23, 1910. Any person furnishing repairs, supplies, or other necessaries, 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.

Sec. 2.

Sec. 3.

Sec. 4.

The following persons shall be presumed to have authority 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 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, supplies, or other necessaries was without authority to bind the vessel therefor.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a furnisher of repairs, supplies, or other necessaries from waiving his right to a lien at any time, by agreement or otherwise, and this Act shall not be construed to affect the rules of law now existing, either in regard to the right

to proceed against a vessel for advances, or in regard to laches in the enforcement of liens on vessels, or in regard to the priority or rank of liens, or in regard to the right to proceed in personam.

This Act shall supersede the provisions of all state Sec. 5. statutes conferring liens on vessels in so far as the same purport to create rights of action to be enforced by proceedings in rem against vessels for repairs, supplies, and other necessaries.

431. Enforcement of navigation laws.

To enable the Secretary of Commerce to provide and Mar. 4, 1915. operate such motor boats and employ thereon such persons as may be necessary for the enforcement, under his direction by customs officers, of laws relating to the navigation and inspection of vessels, boarding of vessels, and counting of passengers on excursion boats, $22,000.

To enable the Secretary of Commerce to employ tem- Mar. 4, 1915. porarily, in addition to those now provided for by law, such other persons as may be necessary, of whom not more than two at any one time may be employed in the District of Columbia, to enforce the laws to prevent overcrowding of passenger and excursion vessels, and all necessary expenses in connection therewith, $15,000. 432. Licensing of customhouse brokers.

The collector or chief officer of the customs at any port June 10, 1910. of entry or delivery shall, upon application, issue to any person of good moral character, being a citizen of the United States a license to transact business as a customhouse broker in the collection district in which such license is issued, and on and after sixty days from the approval of this Act no person shall transact business as a custom-house broker without a license granted in accordance with this provision; but this Act shall not be so construed as to prohibit any person from transacting business at a custom-house pertaining to his own importations. The collector or chief officer of the customs may at any Sec. 2. time, for good and sufficient reasons, serve notice in writing upon any custom-house broker so licensed to show cause why said license shall not be revoked, which notice shall be in the form of a statement specifically setting forth the grounds of complaint. The collector or chief officer of customs shall within ten days thereafter notify the custom-house broker in writing of a hearing to be held before him within five days upon said charges. At such hearing the custom-house broker may be represented by counsel, and all proceedings, including the proof of the charges and the answer thereto, shall be presented, with right of cross-examination to both parties, and a stenographic record of the same shall be made and a copy thereof shall be delivered to the custom-house broker. At the conclusion of such hearing the collector or chief officer of customs shall forthwith transmit all papers and the stenographic report of the hearing, which shall consti