of the Army or Navy of the United States into contempt, scorn, contumely, or disrepute, or shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any language intended to incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the United States, or to promote the cause of its enemies, or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully by utterance, writing, printing, publication, or language spoken, urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production in this country of any thing or things, product or products, necessary or essential to the prosecution of the war in which the United States may be engaged, with intent by such curtailment to cripple or hinder the United States in the prosecution of the war, and whoever shall willfully advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated, and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more by $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both: Provided, That any employee or of ficial of the United States Government who commits any disloyal act or utters any unpatriotic or disloyal language, or who, in an abusive and violent manner criticizes the Army or Navy or the flag of the United States shall be at once dismissed from the service. Any such employee shall be dismissed by the head of the department in which the employee may be engaged, and any such official shall be dismissed by the authority having power to appoint a successor to the dismissed official."

Sec. 2. That section one of Title XII and all other provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality, and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes," approved June fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, which apply to section three of Title I thereof shall apply with equal force and effect to said section three as amended.

Title XII of the said Act of June fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto the following section:

Sec. 4. When the United States is at war, the Postmaster General may, upon evidence satisfactory to him that any person or concern is using the mails in violation of any of the provisions of this Act, instruct the postmaster at any post office at which mail is received addressed to such person or concern to return to the postmaster at the office at which they were originally mailed all letters or other matter so addressed, with the words 'Mail to this address undeliverable under Espionage Act' plainly written or stamped upon the outside thereof, and all such letters or other matter so returned to such postmasters shall be by them returned to the senders thereof under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe."

Approved, May 16, 1918.

10. LAND CONDEMNATION ACT

[Public-No. 26-65th Congress. S. 2453.]

An Act to authorize condemnation proceedings of lands for military purposes. [July 2, 1917.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the Secretary of War may cause proceedings to be instituted in the name of the United States, in any court having jurisdiction of such proceedings for the acquirement by condemnation of any land, temporary use thereof or other interest therein, or right pertaining thereto, needed for the site, location, construction, or prosecution of works for fortifications, coast defenses, and military training camps, such proceedings to be prosecuted in accordance with the laws relating to suits for the condemnation of property of the States wherein the proceedings may be instituted: Provided, That when the owner of such land, interest or rights pertaining thereto shall fix a price for the same, which, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, shall be reasonable, he may purchase or enter into a contract for the use of the same at such price without further delay: Provided further, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to accept on behalf of the United States donations of land and the interest and rights pertaining thereto required for the above-mentioned purposes: And provided further, That when such property is acquired in time of war or the imminence thereof upon the filing of the petition for the condemnation of any land, temporary use thereof or other interest therein or right pertaining thereto to be acquired for any of the purposes aforesaid, immediate possession thereof may be taken to the extent of the interest to be acquired and the lands may be occupied and used for military purposes, and the provision 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 during the period of the existing emergency.

Approved, July 2, 1917.

11. PRIORITY SHIPMENT ACT

[Public-No. 39-65th Congress. S. 2356.]

An Act to amend the Act to regulate commerce as amended, and for other purposes. [August 10, 1917.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section one of the act entitled "An Act to regulate commerce," approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, as heretofore amended, be further amended by adding thereto the following: * "That during the continuance of the war in which the United States

* *

is now engaged the President is authorized, if he finds it necessary for the national defense and security, to direct that such traffic or such shipments of commodities as, in his judgment, may be essential to the national defense and security shall have preference or priority in transportation by any common carrier by railroad, water, or otherwise. He may give these directions at and for such times as he may determine, and may modify, change, suspend, or annul them, and for any such purpose he is hereby authorized to issue orders direct, or through such person or persons as he may designate for the purpose or through the Interstate Commerce Commission. Officials of the United States, when so designated, shall receive no compensation for their services rendered hereunder. Persons not in the employ of the United States so designated shall receive such compensation as the President may fix. Suitable offices may be rented and all necessary expenses, including compensation of persons so designated, shall be paid as directed by the President out of funds which may have been or may be provided to meet expenditures for the national security and defense. The common carriers subject to the Act to regulate commerce or as many of them as desire so to do are hereby authorized without responsibility or liability on the part of the United States, financial or otherwise, to establish and maintain in the city of Washington during the period of the war an agency empowered by such carriers as join in the arrangement to receive on behalf of them all notice and service of such orders and directions as may be issued in accordance with this Act and service upon such agency shall be good service as to all the carriers joining in the establishment thereof. And it shall be the duty of any and all the officers, agents, or employees of such carriers. by railroad or water or otherwise to obey strictly and conform promptly to such orders, and failure knowingly and willfully to comply therewith, or to do or perform whatever is necessary to the prompt execution of such order, shall render such officers, agents, or employees guilty of a misdemeanor, and any such officer, agent, or employee shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. For the transportation of persons or property in carrying out the orders and directions of the President, just and reasonable rates shall be fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission; and if the transportation be for the Government of the United States, it shall be paid for currently or monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any funds not otherwise appropriated. Any carrier complying with any such order or direction for preference or priority herein authorized shall be exempt from any and all provisions in existing law imposing civil or criminal pains, penalties, obligations, or liabilities upon carriers by reason of giving preference or priority in compliance with such order or direc

tion.'

Approved, August 10, 1917.

12. FOOD AND FUEL CONTROL ACT

[Public-No. 41-65th Congress. H. R. 4961.]

An Act to provide further for the national security and defense by encouraging the production, conserving the supply, and controlling the distribution of food products and fuel. [August 10, 1917.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That by reason of the existence of a state of war, it is essential to the national security and defense, for the successful prosecution of the war, and for the support and maintenance of the Army and Navy, to assure an adequate supply and equitable distribution, and to facilitate the movement, of foods, feeds, fuel including fuel oil and natural gas, and fertilizer and fertilizer ingredients, tools, utensils, implements, machinery, and equipment required for the actual production of foods, feeds, and fuel, hereafter in this Act called necessaries; to prevent, locally or generally, scarcity, monopolization, hoarding, injurious speculation, manipulations, and private controls, affecting such supply, distribution, and movement; and to establish and maintain governmental control of such necessaries during the war. For such purposes the instrumentalities, means, methods, powers, authorities, duties, obligations, and prohibitions hereinafter set forth are created, established, conferred, and prescribed. The President is authorized to make such regulations and to issue such orders as are essential effectively to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Sec. 2. That in carrying out the purposes of this Act the President is authorized to enter into any voluntary arrangements or agreements, to create and use any agency or agencies, to accept the services of any person without compensation, to cooperate with any agency or person, to utilize any department or agency of the Government, and to coordinate their activities so as to avoid any preventable loss or duplication of effort or funds.

Sec. 3. That no person acting either as a voluntary or paid agent or employee of the United States in any capacity, including an advisory capacity, shall solicit, induce, or attempt to induce any person or officer authorized to execute or to direct the execution of contracts on behalf of the United States to make any contract or give any order for the furnishing to the United States of work, labor, or services, or of materials, supplies, or other property of any kind or character, if such agent or employee has any pecuniary interest in such contract or order, or if he or any firm of which he is a member, or corporation, joint-stock company, or association of which he is an officer or stockholder, or in the pecuniary profits of which he is directly or indirectly interested, shall be a party thereto. Nor shall any agent or employee make, or permit any committee or other body of which he is a member to make, or participate in making, any recommendation concerning such contract or order to any council, board, or commission of the United States, or any member or subordinate thereof, without making to the best of his knowledge and belief a full and complete disclosure in writing to such council, board, commission, or subordinate of any and every pecuniary interest which

he may have in such contract or order and of his interest in any firm, corporation, company, or association being a party thereto. Nor shall he participate in the awarding of such contract or giving such order. Any willful violation of any of the provisions of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000, ar by imprisonment of not more than five years, or both: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not change, alter or repeal section forty-one of chapter three hundred and twenty-one, Thirty-fifth Statutes at Large.

Sec. 4. That it is hereby made unlawful for any person willfully to destroy any necessaries for the purpose of enhancing the price or restricting the supply thereof; knowingly to commit waste or willfully to permit preventable deterioration of any necessaries in or in connection with their production, manufacture, or distribution; to hoard, as defined in section six of this Act, any necessaries; to monopolize or attempt to monopolize, either locally or generally, any necessaries; to engage in any discriminatory and unfair, or any deceptive or wasteful practice or device, or to make any unjust or unreasonable rate or charge, in handling or dealing in or with any necessaries; to conspire, combine, agree, or arrange with any other person, (a) to limit the facilities for transporting, producing, harvesting, manufacturing, supplying, storing, or dealing in any necessaries; (b) to restrict the supply of any necessaries; (c) to restrict distribution of any necessaries; (d) to prevent, limit, or lessen the manufacture or production of any necessaries in order to enhance the price thereof, or (e) to exact excessive prices for any necessaries; or to aid or abet the doing of any act made unlawful by this section.

Sec. 5. That, from time to time, whenever the President shall find it essential to license the importation, manufacture, storage, mining, or distribution of any necessaries, in order to carry into effect any of the purposes of this Act, and shall publicly so announce, no person shall, after a date fixed in the announcement, engage in or carry on any such business specified in the announcement of importation, manufacture, storage, mining, or distribution of any necessaries as set forth in such announcement, unless he shall secure and hold a license issued pursuant to this section. The President is authorized to issue such licenses and to prescribe regulations for the issuance of licenses and requirements for systems of accounts and auditing of accounts to be kept by licensees, submission of reports by them, with or without oath or affirmation, and the entry and inspection by the President's duly authorized agents of the places of business of licensees. Whenever the President shall find that any storage charge, commission, profit, or practice of any licensee is unjust, or unreasonable, or discriminatory and unfair, or wasteful, and shall order such licensee, within a reasonable time fixed in the order, to discontinue the same, unless such order, which shall recite the facts found, is revoked or suspended, such licensee shall, within the time prescribed in the order, discontinue such unjust, unreasonable, discriminatory and unfair storage charge, commission, profit, or practice. The President may, in lieu of any such unjust, unreasonable, discriminatory, and unfair storage charge, commission, profit, or practice, find what is a just, reasonable, nondiscriminatory and fair storage