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.

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.

A lock canal be constructed across the Isthmus of June 29, 1906. 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 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.

410. Great Lakes-Atlantic Canal.

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

June 13, 1902.
Sec. 4.

Apr. 28. 1904.

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.

411. Great Lakes levels.

The President of the United States is hereby requested to invite the Government of Great Britain to join in the 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.

412. 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.

413. 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.

414. Sponge fishing.

From and after May first, anno Domini nineteen hun- June 20, 1906. dred 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 Sec. 2. 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.

PART XLII.-LEGAL PROCEDURE.

415. Seizure.

R. S., 734.

R. S., 923.

R. S., 939.

415. Seizure.

| 416. Summary trial.

Proceedings on seizures, for forfeiture under any law of the United States, made on the high seas may be prosecuted in any district into which the property so seized is brought and proceedings instituted. Proceedings on such seizures made within any district shall be prosecuted in the district where the seizure is made, except in cases where it is otherwise provided.

When any vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise are seized by an officer of the customs, and prosecuted for forfeiture by virtue of any law respecting the revenue, or the registering or recording, or the enrolling and licensing of vessels, the court shall cause fourteen days' notice to be given of such seizure and libel, by causing the substance of such libel, with the order of the court thereon, setting forth the time and place appointed for trial, to be inserted in some newspaper published near the place of seizure, and by posting up the same in the most public manner for the space of fourteen days, at or near the place of trial; and proclamation shall be made in such manner as the court shall direct. And if no person appears and claims such vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, and gives bond to defend the prosecution thereof and to respond the cost in case he shall not support his claim, the court shall proceed to hear and determine the cause according to law.

All vessels, goods, wares, or merchandise which shall be condemned by virtue of any law respecting the revenue from imports or tonnage, or the registering and recording, or the enrolling or licensing of vessels, and for which bonds shall not have been given by the claimant, shall be sold by the marshal or other proper officer of the court in which condemnation shall be had, to the highest bidder, at public auction, by order of such court, and at such place as the court may appoint, giving at least fifteen days' notice (except in cases of perishable merchandise) in one or more of the public newspapers of the place where such sale shall be; or if no paper is published in such place, in one or more of the papers published in the

nearest place thereto; for which advertising, a sum not exceeding five dollars shall be paid. And the amount of such sales, deducting all proper charges, shall be paid within ten days after such sale by the persons selling the same to the clerk or other proper officer of the court directing such sale, to be by him, after deducting the charges allowed by the court, paid to the collector of the district in which such seizure or forfeiture has taken place, as hereinbefore directed.

In any cause of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, or R. S., 940. other case of seizure, depending in any court of the United States, any judge of the said court, in vacation, shall have the same authority to order any vessel, or cargo, or other property to be delivered to the claimants, upon bail or bond, or to be sold when necessary, as the said court has in term time, and to appoint appraisers, and exercise every other incidental power necessary to the complete execution of the authority herein granted; and the recognizance of bail or bond, under such order, may be executed before the clerk upon the party's producing the certificate of the collector of the district, of the sufficiency of the security offered; and the same proceedings shall be had in the case of said order of delivery or of sale, as are had in like cases when ordered in term time: Provided, That upon every such application, either for an order of delivery or of sale, the collector and the attorney of the district shall have reasonable notice in cases of the United States, and the party or counsel in all other cases. When in any prosecution commenced on account of the R. S., 970. seizure of any vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, made by any collector or other officer, under any act of Congress authorizing such seizure, judgment is rendered for the claimant, but it appears to the court that there was reasonable cause of seizure, the court shall cause a proper certificate thereof to be entered, and the claimant shall not, in such case, be entitled to costs, nor shall the person who made the seizure, nor the prosecutor, be liable to suit or judgment on account of such suit or prosecution: Provided, That the vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise be, after judgment, forthwith returned to such claimant or his agent.

If, in any suit against an officer or other person execut- R. S., 971. ing or aiding or assisting in the seizure of goods, under any act providing for or regulating the collection of duties on imports or tonnage, the plaintiff is nonsuited, or judgment passed against him, the defendant shall recover double costs.

When proceedings are had before a court of the United R. S., 978. States or of the Territories, on several libels, against any vessel and cargo, which might legally be joined in one libel, there shall not be allowed thereon more costs than on one libel, unless special cause for libeling the vessel