serve or execute any such search warrant, or shall assault, beat, or wound any such officer or person, knowing him to be an officer or person so authorized, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than two years.

SEC. 19. Sections one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and twenty-six of the Criminal Code of the United States shall apply to and embrace all persons making oath or affirmation or procuring the same under the provisions of this title, and such persons shall be subject to all the pains and penalties of said sections.

SEC. 20. A person who maliciously and without probable cause procures a search warrant to be issued and executed shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.

SEO 21. An officer who in executing a search warrant willfully exceeds his authority, or exercises it with unnecessary severity, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.

SEC. 22. Whoever, in aid of any foreign Government, shall knowingly and willfully have possession of or control over any property or papers designed or intended for use or which is used as the means of violating any penal statute, or any of the rights or obligations of the United States under any treaty or the law of nations, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

SEC. 23. Nothing contained in this title shall be held to repeal or impair any existing provisions of law regulating search and the issue of search warrants.

TITLE XII.

USE OF MAILS.

SECTION 1. Every letter, writing, circular, postal card, picture, print, engraving, photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter or thing, of any kind, in violation of any of the provisions of this Act is hereby declared to be nonmailable matter and shall not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any post office or by any letter carrier: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to authorize any person other than an employe of the Dead Letter Office, duly authorized thereto, or other person upon a search warrant authorized by law, to open any letter not addressed to himself

SEC. 2. Every letter, writing, circular, postal card, picture, print, engraving, photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter or thing, of any kind, containing any matter advocating or urging treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States, is hereby declared to be nonmailable.

SEC. 3. Whoever shall use or attempt to use the mails or Postal Service of the United States for the transmission of any matter declared by this title to be nonmailable, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Any person violating any provision of this title may be tried and punished either in the district in which the unlawful matter or publication was mailed, or to which it was carried by mail for delivery according to the direction thereon, or in which it was caused to be delivered by mail to the

TITLE XIII.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

SECTION 1. The term "United States" as used in this Act includes the Canal Zone and all territory and waters, continental or insular, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

SEO. 2. The several courts of first instance in the Philippine Islands and the district court of the Canal Zone shall have jurisdiction of offenses under this Act committed within their respective districts, and concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts of the United States of offenses under this Act committed upon the high seas, and of conspiracies to commit such offenses, as defined by section thirtyseven of the Act entitled "An Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States," approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine, and the provisions of said section, for the purpose of this Act, are hereby extended to the Philippine Islands, and to the Canal Zone. In such cases the district attorneys of the Philippine Islands and of the Canal Zone shall have the powers and perform the duties provided in this Act for United States attorneys.

SEC. 3. Offenses committed and penalties, forfeitures, or liabilities incurred prior to the taking effect hereof under any law embraced in or changed, modified, or repealed by any chapter of this Act may be prosecuted and punished, and suits and proceedings for causes arising or acts done or committed prior to the taking effect hereof may be commenced and prosecuted, in the same manner and with the same effect as if this Act had not been passed.

SEC. 4. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of this Act shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.

[H. R. 6175.]

An Act Giving the United States Shipping Board power to suspend present provisions of law and permit vessels of foreign registry and foreign-built vessels admitted to American registry under the Act of August eighteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, to engage in the coastwise trade during the present war and for a period of one hundred and twenty days thereafter, except the coastwise trade with Alaska.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That during the present war with Germany and for a period of one hundred and twenty days thereafter the United States Shipping Board may, if in its judgment the interests of the United States require, suspend the present provisions of law and permit vessels of foreign registry, and foreignbuilt vessels admitted to American registry under the Act of August eighteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, to engage in the coastwise trade of the United States: Provided, That no such vessel shall engage in the coastwise trade except upon a permit issued by the United States Shipping Board, which permit shall limit or define the scope of the trade and the time of such employment: Provided further, That in issuing permits the board shall give preference to vessels of foreign registry owned, leased, or chartered by citizens of the United States or corporations thereof: And provided further, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to the coastwise trade with Alaska or between Alaskan ports.

Approved, October 6, 1917.

[S. 3389.]

An Act To authorize and empower the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation to purchase, lease, requisition, or otherwise acquire, and to sell or otherwise dispose of improved or unimproved land, houses, buildings, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation is hereby authorized and empowered within the limits of the amounts herein authorized

(a) To purchase, lease, requisition, including the requisition of the temporary use of, or acquire by condemnation or otherwise any improved or unimproved land or any interest therein suitable for the construction thereon of houses for the use of employees and the families of employees of shipyards in which ships are being constructed for the United States.

(b) To construct on such land for the use of such employees and their families houses and all other necessary or convenient facilities, upon such conditions and at such price as may be determined by it, and to sell, lease, or exchange such houses, land, and facilities upon such terms and conditions as it may determine.

(c) To purchase, lease, requisition, including the requisition of the temporary use of, or acquire by condemnation or otherwise any houses or other buildings for the use of such employees and their families, together with the land on which the same are erected, or any interest therein, all necessary and proper fixtures and furnishings therefor, and all necessary and convenient facilities incidental thereto; to manage, repair, sell, lease, or exchange such lands, houses, buildings, fixtures, furnishings and facilities upon such terms and conditions as it may determine to carry out the purposes of this Act.

(d) To make loans to persons, firms, or corporations in such manner upon such terms and security, and for such time not exceeding ten years, as it may determine to provide houses and facilities for the employees and the families of employees of such shipyards.

Whenever said United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation shall acquire by requisition or condemnation such property or any interest therein, it shall determine and make just compensation therefor, and if the amount thereof so determined is unsatisfactory to the person entitled to receive the same, such person shall be paid seventy-five per centum of the amount so determined, and shall be entitled to sue the United States to recover such further sum as added to such seventy-five per centum will make such an amount as will be just compensation for the property or interest therein so taken, in the manner provided by section twenty-four, paragraph twenty, and section one hundred and forty-five of the Judicial Code.

That whenever the said United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation shall requisition any property or rights, or upon the filing of a petition for condemnation hereunder, immediate pos

Bession may be taken by it of such land, houses, or other property, rights, and facilities, to the extent of the interests to be acquired therein, and the same may be immediately occupied and used, and the provisions of section three hundred and fifty-five of the Revised Statutes, providing that no public money shall be expended upon such land until the written opinion of the Attorney General shall be had in favor of the validity of the title nor until the consent of the legislature of the State in which the land is located has been given, shall be, and the same are hereby, suspended as to all land acquired hereunder.

The power to acquire property by purchase, lease, requisition, or condemnation, or to construct houses, or other buildings, and to make loans, or otherwise extend aid as herein granted shall cease with the termination of the present war with Germany. The date of the conclusion of the war shall be declared by proclamation of the President.

The word "person" used herein shall include a trustee, firm, or corporation. The word "shipyard" shall include any factory, workshop, warehouse, engine works, buildings, or grounds used for manufacturing, assembling, construction, or other process in shipyards and dockyards and discharging terminals, and other facilities connected therewith, now or hereafter used in connection with shipbuilding.

That for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act the expenditure of $50,000,000 is hereby authorized, and in executing the authority granted by this Act, the said United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation shall not expend or obligate the United States to expend more than the said sum, nor shall any contract for construction be entered into which provides that the compensation of the contractor shall be the cost of construction plus a percentage thereof for profit, unless such contract shall also fix the reasonable cost of such construction as determined by the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation and provide that upon any increase in cost above the reasonable cost so fixed by such board, the percentage of profit shall decrease as the cost increases in accordance with a rate to be fixed by said board and expressed in the contract. No contract shall be let without the approval of the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent said board from contracting for the payment of premiums or bonuses for the speedy completion of the work contracted for: Provided further, That the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation shall report to Congress on the first Monday in December of each year the names of all persons or corporations with whom it has made contracts and of such subcontractors as may be employed in furtherance of this Act, including a statement of the purposes and amounts thereof, together with a detailed statement of all expenditures by contract or otherwise for land, buildings, material, labor, salaries, commissions, demurrage, or other charges In excess of $10,000.