Tennessee Centen Admission of contract laborers by for nial Exposition. eign exhibitors. Vol. 23, p. 332. Proviso. Free entry of articles for exhibition. Sales. Proviso. Duty on articles sold. by the several nations, and space for installing foreign exhibits has been applied for and duly apportioned, and concessions and privileges granted by the exposition management to the citizens and subjects of foreign nations; and Whereas for the purpose of securing the production upon the exposition grounds of scenes illustrative of the architecture, dress, habits, and modes of life, occupation, industries, means of locomotion and transportation, amusements, entertainments, and so forth, of the natives of foreign countries, it has been necessary for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition Company to grant concessions and privileges to certain firms and corporations conceding the right to make such productions: Therefore, Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act of Congress approved February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, prohibiting the importation of foreigners under contract to perform labor, and the Acts of Congress prohibiting the coming of Chinese persons into the United States, and the Acts amendatory of these Acts, shall not be so construed, nor shall anything therein operate to prevent, hinder, or in anywise restrict any foreign exhibitor, 1epresentative, or citizen of a foreign nation, or the holder, who is a citizen of a foreign nation, of any concession or privilege from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition Company of Nashville, Tennessee, from bringing into the United States, under contract, such mechanics, artisans, agents, or other employees, natives of their respective foreign countries, as they, or any of them, may deem necessary for the purpose of making preparations for installing or conducting their exhibits or of preparing for installing or conducting any business authorized or permitted under or by virtue of or pertaining to any concession or privilege which may have been granted by the Tennessee Centennial Exposition Company of Nashville, Tennessee, in connection with such exposition: Provided, however, That no alien shall by virtue of this Act enter the United States under contract to perform labor except by express permission, naming such alien, of the Secretary of the Treasury; and any such alien who may remain in the United States for more than one year, after the close of said exposition, shall thereafter be subject to all the processes and penalties applicable to aliens coming in violation of the alien-contract-labor law aforesaid. SEC. 2. That all articles which shall be imported from foreign countries for the sole purpose of exhibition at said exposition, upon which there shall be a tariff or customs duty, shall be admitted free of payment of duty, customs fees, or charges, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; but it shall be lawful at any time during the exhibition to sell, for delivery at the close of the exposition, any goods or property imported for and actually on exhibition in the exposition buildings or on its grounds, subject to such regulations for the security of the revenue and for the collection of import duties as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe: Provided, That all such articles, when sold or withdrawn for consumption in the United States, shall be subject to the duty, if any, imposed upon such article by the revenue laws in force at the date of importation, and all penalties prescribed by law shall be applied and enforced against such articles and against the persons who may be guilty of any illegal sale or withdrawal. Approved, May 18, 1896. May 21, 1896. [No. 55.] Joint Resolution Authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to deliver condemned cannon to Chamberlain Post, Grand Army of the Republic, to be posted by the soldiers' monument at Saint Johnsbury, Vermont. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Condemned cannon. of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Navy be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to deliver to Chamberlain Donated for soldiers' monument, Saint Proviso. Expense. Post, Grand Army of the Republic, to be posted by the soldiers' monument in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, two light pieces of condemned Johnsbury, Vt. cannon and twenty cannon balls: Provided, That said delivery shall be made without expense to the United States Government and without detriment to the naval service. Approved, May 21, 1896. [No. 56.] Joint Resolution Granting permission to the circuit and county courts in Rockingham County, Virginia, to occupy the Federal court room in Harrisonburg, Virginia. May 28, 1896. Use of public build rily. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That full permission be, and the same Harrisonburg, Va. is hereby, granted to the State of Virginia, and to the circuit and county ing for State courts courts of Rockingham County, in said State, to occupy the United permitted temporaStates court room and the rooms connected therewith at Harrisonburg, in said county of Rockingham, in Virginia, for and during the period necessary for said county of Rockingham to erect a new court-house of its own in said town of Harrisonburg, for the purpose of holding the sessions of said circuit and county courts of Rockingham County in said United States court room for the period named therein, which period shall not exceed three years; and that during said period concurrent jurisdiction, so far as is necessary, over said property be, and the same is hereby, ceded to the State of Virginia for said purposes, so that the sessions of said courts in said building and rooms may be, during said period, fully legalized: Provided, That said rooms shall be kept Provisos. in good repair at the expense of the State of Virginia, and the board of supervisors of said county of Rockingham, in Virginia, shall further provide necessary light and heat for said rooms at their own expense. When occupied by said courts, and at the end of the period herein pro vided for, the use of said rooms shall be relinquished to the United States by the said State of Virginia and said courts of Rockingham County in as good condition as before their occupancy by said court: Provided, further, That the sessions of said courts shall in no way interfere with the sessions of the circuit and district courts of the United States. Approved, May 28, 1896. [No, 57.] Joint Resolution Authorizing the Secretary of War to lend to the mayors of the cities of East Saint Louis, Illinois, and Saint Louis, Missouri, and vicinity, a number of tents. Repairs, etc. Not to interfere with Federal sessions. etc. May 28, 1896. Loan of tents to East Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be, and is hereby, authorized to lend to the mayors of the cities of East Saint St. Louis, St. Louis, Louis, Illinois, Saint Louis, Missouri, and vicinity, under such regulations and restrictions as he may deem proper, a sufficient number of tents to temporarily shelter such citizens of said cities as may have lost their homes by the tornado of yesterday, and to render such other relief in the premises as he may deem necessary. Approved, May 28, 1896. [No. 58.] Joint Resolution To authorize a scientific investigation of the fur-seal fisheries. June 8, 1896. Fur-seal fisheries. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and is hereby, authorized to expend, from any moneys in the Treas- scientific investiga ury not otherwise appropriated, a sum sufficient to provide for the tion. employment of persons to conduct a scientific investigation, during the fiscal years eighteen hundred and ninety-six and eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, of the present condition of the fur-seal herds on the Pribilof, Commander, and Kurile Islands in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, said amount not to exceed for both said years the sum of five thousand dollars. Stenographer. Detail. Expenses. Use of vessel. June 9, 1896. Officers, etc., of Consalaries the day after gress to be paid June adjournment. June 10, 1896. Detroit, Mich. Bronze tablet to be ing. The Secretary is also authorized to employ a stenographer in connection with this investigation at a rate of compensation not exceeding one thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and to pay his compensation and expenses out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The President is authorized to detail, for the purposes of assisting in this investigation, any officer or officers or employees of the United States Government, their actual expenses and the expenses of the person or persons employed under the preceding paragraph to be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The President may detail a vessel of the United States for the purpose of carrying out this investigation. Approved, June 8, 1896. [No. 59.] Joint Resolution To pay the officers and employees of the Senate and House of Representatives on the day following adjournment. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives be, and they are hereby, authorized and directed to pay the officers and employees of the Senate and House of Representatives their respective salaries for the month of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, on the day of said month next following adjournment. Approved, June 9, 1896. [No. 60.] Joint Resolution Authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to place a bronze tablet or inscription on the Government building now being erected in Detroit, Michigan. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury placed in public build. be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to cause to be prepared and placed in some suitable position on the Government building now being erected in the city of Detroit, Michigan, a bronze tablet or an inscription commemorative of the fact that the said public building is erected on the site of the British Fort Lernoult, which was surrendered to the United States in seventeen hundred and ninety-six; and is also on the site of the American Fort Shelby, which was demolished in eighteen hundred and twenty-six: Provided, That the cost of such tablet shall be paid from the appropriation already made for the said building. Proviso. Approved, June 10, 1896. [No. 62.] Joint Resolution Extending the benefits of sections fourteen hundred and twenty-six and fifteen hundred and seventy-three of the Revised Statutes to all enlisted persons in the Navy. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the benefits of honorable discharge as conferred by section fourteen hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes, and of three months' pay upon reenlistment after honorable discharge as conferred by section fifteen hundred and seventythree upon seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, firemen, coal heavers and boys, be, and the same are hereby, extended and made applicable to all enlisted persons in the Navy. And all accounts of paymasters who have made payments to enlisted men, not of the classes named in sections fourteen hundred and twenty-six and fifteen hundred and seventy-three, Revised Statutes, as if they had been included in the provisions of said sections, shall be allowed and passed by the accounting officers of the Treasury as if they had been included in said sections. Approved, June 11, 1896. PUBLIC ACTS OF THE FIFTY-FOURTH CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES Passed at the second session, which was begun and held at the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, on Monday, the seventh day of December, 1896, and was adjourned without day on Wednesday, the third day of March, 1897. GROVER CLEVELAND, President; ADLAI E. STEVENSON, Vice-President and President of the Senate; WILLIAM P. FRYE, President of the Senate, pro tempore; THOMAS B. REED, Speaker of the House of Representatives. CHAP. 1.—An Act To aid and encourage the holding of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition at Nashville, Tennessee, in the year eighteen hundred and ninetyseven, and making an appropriation therefor. December 22, 1896. nial Exposition. Government ex Board to control exhibit. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be exhibited Tennessee Centenat the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, to be held at Nashville, Tennessee, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, by the Govern- hibit. ment of the United States, from its Executive Departments, the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, and the United States Fish Commission, such articles and materials as illustrate the function and administrative faculty of the Government in time of peace and its resources as a war power, tending to demonstrate the nature of our institutions and their adaptation to the wants of the people; and to secure a complete and harmonious arrangement of said Government exhibit a board of management shall be created, to be charged with the selection, purchase, preparation, arrangement, safe-keeping, and exhibition of such articles and materials as the heads of said Departments and institutions of the Government may, respectively, decide shall be embraced in said Government exhibit. The President may also designate additional articles for exhibition. Such board shall be composed Composition. of one member to be detailed by the head of each Executive Department, one by the head of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, and one by the head of the United States Fish Commission; and the President shall name one of said persons so detailed as chairman; and the members of said board shall have no compensation in addition to their regular salary, and their actual and necessary expenses only shall be paid out of the sum hereinafter appropriated. Building for Gov. ernment exhibit. SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause a suitable building or buildings to be erected on the site selected for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition for the Government exhibit, and he is hereby Post, p. 698. anthorized and directed to contract therefor, in the same manner and under the same regulations as for other public buildings of the United States; but the contract for said building or buildings shall not exceed the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and there is hereby appropriated Appropriation. for said building or buildings, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of thirty thousand dollars. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and required to dispose of such exposition. building or buildings, or the material composing the same, at the close Disposal at close of 477 Proceeds. Appropriation for expenses. Free entry of arti cles for exhibition. Sales. Proviso. Duty on articles sold. Medals to be pared at mint. Vol. 17, p. 432. pre of the exposition, giving preference to the city of Nashville or to the said Tennessee Centennial Exposition Company to purchase the same at an appraised value, to be ascertained in such manner as he may determine, and whatever sum may be realized on sale of said building shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States. SEC. 3. That for the purpose of paying the expenses of the selection. purchase, preparation, transportation, installation, care, and return of said Government exhibit, and for the employment of proper persons as officers and assistants by the board of management created by this Act and for their expenses, and for the maintenance of the building hereinbefore provided for, and for other contingent expenses incidental to the Government exhibit, to be approved by the chairman of the board of management and by the Secretary of the Treasury upon itemized accounts and vouchers, there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be disbursed by the board of management herein before created, of which not exceeding the sum of ten thousand dollars shall be expended for clerical service. SEC. 4. That all articles which shall be imported from foreign countries for the sole purpose of exhibition at said exposition, upon which there shall be a tariff or customs duty, shall be admitted free of payment of duty, customs fees, or charges, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; but it shall be lawful at any time during the exhibition to sell, for delivery at the close of the exposition, any goods or property imported for and actually on exhibition in the exposition buildings or on its grounds, subject to such regulations for the security of the revenue and for the collection of import duties as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe: Prorided, That all such articles, when sold or withdrawn for consumption in the United States, shall be subject to the duty, if any, imposed upon such articles by the revenue laws in force at the date of importation, and all penalties prescribed by law shall be applied and enforced against such articles and against the persons who may be guilty of any illegal sale or withdrawal. SEC. 5. That medals with appropriate devices, emblems, and inscriptions commemorative of said Tennessee Centennial Exposition and of the awards to be made to exhibitors thereat, be prepared at soine mint of the United States for the board of directors thereof, subject to the provisions of the fifty-second section of the coinage Act of eighteen R.S., sec. 3551, p.702. hundred and ninety-three, upon the payment by the Tennessee Centennial Exposition Company of a sum not less than the cost thereof; and all the provisions, whether penal or otherwise, of said coinage Act against the counterfeiting or imitating of coins of the United States shall apply to the medals struck and issued under this Act. Nonliability of the United States. SEC. 6. That the United States shall in no manner and under no circumstances be liable for any bond, debt, contract, expenditure, expense, or liability of any kind whatever of the said Tennessee Centennial Exposition Company, its officers, agents, servants, or employees, or incident to or growing out of said exposition, nor for any amount whatever in excess of the one hundred and thirty thousand dollars Restriction on Com herein authorized; and the heads of the Executive Departments, the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, and the United States Fish Commission, and the board of management herein authorized, their officers, agents, servants, or employees, shall in no manner and under no circumstances expend or create any liability of any kind for any sum in excess of the appropriations herein made, or create any deficiency. mission, etc. Availability of ap propriation. SEC. 7. That the appropriation herein made shall take effect when the Secretary of the Treasury shall be satisfied that the solvent appropriations made by the State of Tennessee, its counties and cities, and by individuals or companies to said centennial exposition, together with solvent subscriptions to the stock of the Centennial Company |