"The Governor of the Panama Canal is authorized

"a. To maintain and operate a postal service in the Canal Zone, including a money-order system, a parcel-post system, a postal-savings system, and such other services as may be necessary or convenient in connection with the postal service;

"b. To establish and discontinue post offices;

"c. To prescribe the postage rates: Provided, however, That the United States domestic postage rates shall be applicable to regular mail exchanged with the United States; and

"d. To prescribe the postage stamps and other stamped paper which shall be used in such service.

CROSS REFERENCES

Extension to Canal Zone of United States laws and regulations defining crimes against the postal service, see title 5, section 111.

For the laws of the Postal Service of the United States, see U. S. Code, title 39.

"272. DEFRAYING EXPENSES FROM REVENUE SO FAR AS POSSIBLE.-The expenses of operating the Canal Zone postal service shall be defrayed, so far as possible, from the revenue derived therefrom, the use of which for that purpose is authorized.

"273. ACCEPTANCE OF POSTAL-SAVINGS DEPOSITS.-Such of the post offices of the Canal Zone as may be designated by the Governor are hereby authorized, under such regulations as the Governor may prescribe, to receive postal-savings deposits, and to issue therefor postal-savings certificates in the form to be prescribed by the Governor.

"274. RATE OF INTEREST ON POSTAL-SAVINGS CERTIFICATES.-Postalsavings certificates issued as provided in this chapter shall bear interest at such rate, not exceeding 3 per centum per annum, as shall be established by the President.

"275. FAITH OF UNITED STATES PLEDGED TO PAYMENT OF DEPOSITS.The faith of the United States is pledged to the payment of postalsavings certificates issued as provided in this chapter, with accrued interest thereon, in the same manner as such faith is pledged by law with respect to deposits made in postal-savings depository offices in the United States.

"276. CONTROL OF MONEY-ORDER AND POSTAL-SAVINGS FUNDS.-The funds received from the issuance of money orders and postal-savings certificates by the Canal Zone postal service shall be under the control of the Governor.

"277. DEPOSIT OF MONEY-ORDER AND POSTAL-SAVINGS FUNDS IN UNITED STATES TREASURY.-The Governor is authorized to cause to be deposited in the United States Treasury for safekeeping but subject to his control all or any part of the funds, including interest thereon, received from the issuance of money orders and postalsavings certificates, and such funds or any part thereof may be withdrawn from time to time under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Governor.

"278. DEPOSIT OF MONEY-ORDER AND POSTAL-SAVINGS FUNDS IN BANKS; SECURITY.-The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to designate one or more national-banking associations to be deposi

tories, under such regulations as may be prescribed by him, of funds received from the issuance of money orders and postal-savings certificates, including interest therefrom, and is hereby directed to require the associations thus designated to give satisfactory security, by the deposit of United States bonds or otherwise, for the safekeeping and prompt payment of the funds deposited with them, and such associations are authorized to give such security as may be required. All pledges of securities heretofore made for the safekeeping and prompt payment of any such funds are hereby ratified, approved, and validated.

4279. INVESTMENT OF MONEY-ORDER AND POSTAL-SAVINGS FUNDS IN SECURITIES OF THE UNITED STATES.-The Governor is hereby authorized to invest all or any part of the funds referred to in the two preceding sections in bonds or other securities of the United States and to deposit such securities with the Treasurer of the United States for safekeeping, and to sell such securities, or any part of them, when such sale is necessary or desirable in the interest of the postal service. Before making such purchases or sales of securities, the Governor shall request the advice of the Secretary of the Treasury.

"280. USE OF INTEREST AND PROFITS ON MONEY-ORDER AND POSTALSAVINGS FUNDS.-The interest and profits received from the deposit in banks or the investment, as provided in this chapter, of moneyorder and postal-savings funds shall form a part of the Canal Zone postal revenues and shall be available to pay the interest on postalsavings certificates, the expenses of operating the Canal Zone postal service, and the losses which are chargeable to the said service.

"281. APPLICATION OF FOREGOING PROVISIONS TO DEPOSIT MONEY ORDERS. All the provisions of this chapter relating to postal-savings certificates and the funds received therefrom, including interest, shall apply equally to money orders issued in lieu of postal-savings certificates prior to the effective date of this Act, and to the funds received therefrom, including interest."

SEC. 3. That section 843 of title 5 of the Canal Zone Code is amended so as to read as follows:

"843. PLACING SIGNS ON LANDS OR STRUCTURES IN CANAL ZONE.— The Governor of the Panama Canal is hereby authorized to make rules and regulations in respect to the construction or placing of signs, bills, posters, or other advertising devices on any lands, buildings, or other structures in the Canal Zone. Any person who shall violate any provision of such rules and regulations shall be punished by a fine of not more than $25, or by imprisonment in jail for not more than ten days, or by both; and every day that any such advertising device shall remain upon such lands or structures, in violation of such rules and regulations, shall constitute a separate offense."

SEC. 4. That section 125 of title 6 of the Canal Zone Code is amended so as to read as follows:

"125. PROCEEDINGS ON PLEA OF GUILTY.-If the defendant pleads guilty, the magistrate may hear testimony to determine the gravity of the offense and, within twenty-four hours after such plea or hearing of testimony, shall render judgment as to the punishment to be imposed."

SEC. 5. That section 521 of title 6 of the Canal Zone Code is amended so as to read as follows:

"521. WARRANT FOR EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT OF DEATH; TIME OF EXECUTION.-When judgment of death is rendered, a warrant signed by the judge and attested by the clerk, under the seal of the court, must be drawn and delivered to the marshal. It must state the conviction and judgment, and appoint a day on which judgment is to be executed, which must be not less than ninety nor more than one hundred and twenty days from the time of judgment, and must direct the marshal to deliver the defendant, within ten days from the time. of judgment, to the warden of the penitentiary, for execution."

SEC. 6. That this Act shall take effect sixty days after the date of its enactment.

Approved, June 13, 1940.

[CHAPTER 364-3D SESSION]
[H. R. 8026]

AN ACT

To establish the composition of the United States Navy, to authorize the construction of certain naval vessels, 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 authorized composition of the United States Navy in under-age vessels as established by the Act of May 17, 1938 (52 Stat. 401), is hereby further increased by one hundred and sixty-seven thousand tons, as follows:

(a) Aircraft carriers, seventy-nine thousand five hundred tons, making a total authorized under-age tonnage of two hundred and fifty-four thousand five hundred tons.

(b) Cruisers, sixty-six thousand five hundred tons, making a total authorized under-age tonnage of four hundred and seventy-nine thousand and twenty-four tons.

(c) Submarines, twenty-one thousand tons, making a total authorized under-age tonnage of one hundred and two thousand nine hundred and fifty-six tons: Provided, That the foregoing total tonnage for aircraft carriers, cruisers, and submarines may be varied by thirty-three thousand four hundred tons in the aggregate so long as the sum of the total tonnages of these classes as authorized herein is not exceeded: Provided further, That the terms used in this or any other Act to describe vessels of designated classes shall not be understood as limited or controlled by definitions contained in any treaty which is not now in force.

SEC. 2. The President of the United States is hereby authorized to construct such vessels, including replacements authorized by the Act of March 27, 1934 (48 Stat. 503), as may be necessary to provide the total under-age composition authorized in section 1 of this Act.

SEC. 3. The President of the United States is hereby authorized to acquire or construct naval airplanes, and lighter-than-air craft, and spare parts and equipment, as may be necessary to provide and maintain the number of useful naval airplanes at a total of not more than four thousand five hundred, including five hundred airplanes for the Naval Reserve; and the number of useful nonrigid lighterthan-air craft at a total of not more than eighteen.

SEC. 4. The President of the United States is hereby further authorized to acquire and convert or to undertake the construction of seventy-five thousand tons of auxiliary vessels of such size, type, and design as he may consider best suited for the purposes of national defense.

SEC. 5. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appro

priated, such sums as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act, including not to exceed $35,000,000 for shipbuilding ways, shipbuilding docks, and essential equipment and facilities at naval establishments for building or equipping any ship, herein or heretofore authorized, and, in addition, not to exceed $6,000,000 for essential equipment and facilities at either private or naval establishments for the production of armor or armament: Provided, That equipment and facilities procured for the production of armor or armament pursuant to the authority contained herein may be leased, sold, or otherwise disposed of, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy, when no longer required for use under naval contract.

SEC. 6. The allocation and contracts for construction of the vessels herein authorized as well as the procurement and construction of airplanes and spare parts, shall be in accordance with the terms and conditions provided by the Act of March 27, 1934 (48 Stat. 503), as amended.

SEC. 7. Vessels of the following categories shall hereafter be deemed under age until the number of years indicated have elapsed since completion: Battleships, twenty-six years; aircraft carriers and cruisers, twenty years; other combatant surface craft, sixteen years; submarines, thirteen years.

SEC. 8. The construction, alteration, furnishing, or equipping of any naval vessel authorized by this Act, or the construction, alteration, furnishing, or equipping of any naval vessels with funds from any appropriation available for such purposes, contracts for which are made after June 30, 1940, shall be in accordance with the provisions of Public Law Numbered 846, Seventy-fourth Congress, approved June 30, 1936, unless such course, in the judgment of the President of the United States, should not be in the interest of national defense.

SEC. 9. For the purpose of modernizing the United States ships New York, Texas, and Arkansas, alterations and repairs to such vessels are hereby authorized at a total cost not to exceed the sum of $6,000,000. This sum shall be in addition to the total appropriation expenditures for repairs and changes to each of these vessels as limited by the Act of July 18, 1935 (49 Stat. 482; U. S. C., title 5, sec. 468a).

SEC. 10. The provisions of section 4 of the Act approved April 25, 1939 (53 Stat. 590, 592), shall, during the period of any national emergency declared by the President to exist, be applicable to naval public works and naval public utilities projects in the Fourteenth Naval District for which appropriations are made or authorized: Provided, That the fixed fee to be paid the contractor as a result of any contract entered into under the authority contained herein, or any contract hereafter entered into under the authority contained in said Act of April 25, 1939, shall not exceed 6 per centum of the estimated cost of the contract, exclusive of the fee, as determined by the Secretary of the Navy.

SEC. 11. In the discretion of the President, there is hereby authorized and established a Naval Consulting Board of seven members to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among eminent civilians in the fields of industry,