CHAPTER XXIV.

Condemnation of property for generating electric energy: That during the pendency of the present war, any person, association, or corporation, for the purpose of furnishing electric power to the United States or to persons, associations, or corporations engaged in the manufacture of ships, explosives, or munitions of war, or other articles and things for the use of the United States or its allies, upon compliance with the conditions hereinafter set forth, may institute proceedings in any district court of the United States or in any court of any State having jurisdiction of the property to be condemned, for the acquirement by condemnation of any land, the temporary use thereof, or other interest therein, or right pertaining thereto, required for the location or construction of any line or lines for the transmission of electric power for the operation of any plants which are or may be employed in the production of the articles and things hereinbefore mentioned: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to authorize the appropriation of any property already devoted to such use. That proceedings for the condemnation of property required for the generation and transmission of such electric power shall be prosecuted in accordance with the procedure prescribed for the condemnation of property in the State wherein the proceedings may be instituted.

Sec. 2. That before any person, association, or corporation, furnishing or to furnish electric power for the purposes mentioned in section one of this Act, shall have the right to institute proceedings for condemnation, they shall submit to the Secretary of War a full and complete statement of the plan for furnishing power and the nature and extent of the easements or property which they desire to acquire under condemnation proceedings, for the purposes stated in the preceding section. If the Secretary of War approve such plan and finds that the construction or extension of such facilities for the generation or transmission of power and that the condemnation herein authorized is necessary to increase the supply of power for the objects and purposes stated in section one of this Act, then such person, association, or corporation shall, upon the approval of such plan by the Secretary of War, have the right to construct, maintain, and operate the facilities described in such plan, and may cause proceedings to be instituted in any court having jurisdiction thereof for the acquirement by condemnation of any lands, the temporary use thereof, or other interest therein, or right pertaining thereto, as may be needed for the construction, maintenance, and operation of such facilities: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing any rights in any public lands of the United States, or in any waters of the United States except such as may be necessary to build such transmission lines along or across said waters as may be approved by the Secretary of War: Provided further, That the Secretary of War may, prior to granting his approval as above set forth, require such person, association, or corporation to file with him a bond, in an amount and with a surety or sureties satisfactory to him, conditioned upon the prompt construction of the

proposed facilities and the diligent maintenance and operation of the same to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War during the present

war.

Sec. 3. That any person, association, or corporation having secured the approval of the Secretary of War and filed a petition for condemnation as herein provided may, upon filing with the court in which such petition is filed a bond to secure payment of just compensation to the owners of property taken, in a form and an amount and with a surety or sureties approved by said court after such notice and such hearing as the court may prescribe, have the right of immediate possession and use of such property or rights.

Sec. 4. That no plan for the construction or extension of any facilities shall be submitted to or approved by the Secretary of War hereunder after the existing state of war between the United States and its enemies shall have terminated, and the fact of such termination shall be ascertained and proclaimed by the President, but such termination of the existing state of war so ascertained and proclaimed shall not interfere with the condemnation of any land or other property or rights needed for the construction, maintenance, and operation of any facilities approved hereunder by the Secretary of War before such proclamation: Provided, however, That the Secretary of War may upon such termination of the existing state of war and prior to the entry of judgment in any condemnation proceeding hereunder and the commencement of construction or extension of the proposed facilities revoke any approval given hereunder to the plan for such proposed facilities: Provided further, That nothing in this chapter shall be construed as granting any franchise to utilize such facilities after the termination of the existing state of war.

That all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Approved, July 9, 1918.

22. CONTROL OF COMMUNICATIONS ACT

[Public Resolution-No. 38-65th Congress. H. J. Res. 309.]

Joint Resolution to authorize the President, in time of war, to supervise or take possession and assume control of any telegraph, telephone, marine cable, or radio system or systems or any part thereof and to operate the same in such manner as may be needful or desirable for the duration of the war, and to provide just compensation there for. [July 16, 1918.]

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President during the continuance of the present war is authorized and empowered, whenever he shall deem it necessary for the national security or defense, to supervise or to take possession and assume. control of any telegraph, telephone, marine cable, or radio system or systems, or any part thereof, and to operate the same in such manner as may be needful or desirable for the duration of the war, which supervision, possession, control, or operation shall not extend be

yond the date of the proclamation by the President of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace: Provided, That just compensation shall be made for such supervision, possession, control, or operation to be determined by the President; and if the amount thereof, so determined by the President, is unsatisfactory to the person entitled to receive the same, such person shall be paid seventy-five per centum of the amount so determined by the President and shall be entitled to sue the United States to recover such further sum as, added to said seventy-five per centum, will make up such amount as will be just compensation therefor, in the manner provided for by section twenty-four, paragraph twenty, and section_one hundred and forty-five of the Judicial Code: Provided further, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to amend, repeal, impair, or affect existing laws or powers of the States in relation to taxation or the lawful police regulations of the several States, except wherein such laws, powers, or regulations may affect the transmission of Government communications, or the issue of stocks and bonds by such system or systems.

Approved, July 16, 1918.

B. REGULATIONS AND GENERAL ORDERS

1. GENERAL Orders, No. 7

War Department, Washington, January 17, 1918. I-Section I, General Orders, No. 169, War Department, 1917, is rescinded and the following rules of procedure prescribed by the President are substituted therefor. This order will be effective from and after February 1, 1918:

1. Whenever, in time of war, the commanding general of a territorial department or a territorial division confirms a sentence of death, or one of dismissal of an officer, he will enter in the record of trial his action thereon, but will not direct the execution of the sentence. His action will conclude with a recital that the execution of the sentence will be directed in orders after the record of trial has been reviewed in the office of the Judge Advocate General, or a branch. thereof, and its legality there determined, and that jurisdiction, is retained to take any additional or corrective action, prior to or at the time of the publication of the general court-martial order in the case, that may be found necessary. Nothing contained in this rule is intended to apply to any action which a reviewing authority may desire to take under the 51st Article of War.

2. Whenever, in time of peace or war, any officer having authority to review a trial by general court-martial, approves a sentence imposed by such court which includes dishonorable discharge, and such officer does not intend to suspend such dishonorable discharge until the soldier's release from confinement, as provided in the 52d Article of War, the said officer will enter in the record of trial his action thereon, but will not direct the execution of the sentence. His action will conclude with the recital specified in rule 1. This rule will not apply to a commanding general in the field, except as provided in rule 5.

3. When a record of trial in a case covered by rules 1 or 2 is reviewed in the office of the Judge Advocate General, or any branch thereof, and is found to be legally sufficient to sustain the findings and sentence of the court, the reviewing authority will be so informed by letter, if the usual time of mail delivery between the two points does not exceed six days, otherwise, by telegram or cable, and the reviewing authority will then complete the case by publishing his orders thereon and directing the execution of the sentence. If it is found, upon review, that the record is not sufficient to sustain the findings and sentence of the court, the record of trial will be returned to the reviewing authority with a clear statement of the error, omission, or defect which has been found. If such error, omission, or defect admits of correction, the reviewing authority will be advised to reconvene the court for such correction; otherwise he will be advised of the action proper for him to take by way of approval or disapproval of the findings or sentence of the court, remission of the sentence in whole or in part, re

605 trial of the case, or such other action as may be appropriate in the premises.

4. Any delay in the execution of any sentence by reason of the procedure prescribed in rules 1, 2, or 3 will be credited upon any term of confinement or imprisonment imposed. The general court-martial order directing the execution of the sentence will recite that the sentence of confinement or imprisonment will commence to run from a specified date, which date, in any given case, will be the date of original action by the reviewing authority.

5. The procedure prescribed in rules 1 and 2 shall apply to any commanding general in the field whenever the Secretary of War shall so decide and shall direct such commanding general to send records of courts-martial involving the class of cases and the character of punishment covered by the said rules, either to the office of the Judge Advocate General at Washington, D. C., or to any branch thereof which the Secretary of War may establish, for final review, before the sentence shall be finally executed.

6. Whenever, in the judgment of the Secretary of War, the expeditious review of trials by general courts-martial occurring in certain commands requires the establishment of a branch of the Judge Advocate General's Office at some convenient point near the said commands, he may establish such branch office and direct the sending of general court-martial records thereto. Such branch office, when so established, shall be wholly detached from the command of any commanding general in the field, or of any territorial, department, or division commander, and shall be responsible for the performance of its. duties to the Judge Advocate General.

[250.4, A. G. 0.1

II There is hereby established, in aid of the revisory power conferred on the Judge Advocate General of the Army by section 1199, Revised Statutes, a branch of the office of the Judge Advocate General, at Paris, France, or at some other point convenient to the headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, to be selected by the officer detailed as the head of such branch office, after conference with the commanding general of the American Expeditionary Forces in France. The officer so detailed shall be the Acting Judge Advocate General of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, and shall report to and be controlled in the performance of his duties by the Judge Advocate General of the Army.

The records of all general courts-martial in which is imposed a sentence of death, dismissal, or dishonorable discharge and of all military commissions originating in the said expeditionary forces, will be forwarded to the said branch office for review, and it shall be the duty of the said Acting Judge Advocate General to examine and review such records, to return to the proper commanding officer for correction such as are incomplete, and to report to the proper officer any defect or irregularity which renders the findings or sentence invalid or void, in whole or in part, to the end that any such sentence or any part thereof so found to be invalid or void shall not be carried into effect. The said Acting Judge Advocate General will forward all records in which action is complete, together with his review thereof and