Chapter 402. To authorize and encourage the holding of a transmississippi and international exposition at the city of Omaha, in the State of Nebraska, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety eight
1,605 words·~7 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-29/chapter-402-1768146·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 402.— An Act To authorize and encourage the holding of a transmississippi and international exposition at the city of Omaha, in the State of Nebraska, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety eight. June 10, 1896. Preamble.Whereas it is desirable to encourage the holding of a transmississippi and international exposition at the city of Omaha, in the State of Nebraska, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, for the exhibition of the resources of the United States of America and the progress and civilization of the Western Hemisphere, and for a display of the arts, industries, manufactures, and products of the soil, mine, and sea; and Whereas it is desirable that an exhibition shall be made of the great staples of the transmississippi region which contributes so largely to domestic and international commerce; and Whereas encouragement should be given to an exhibit, of the arts, industries, manufactures, and products, illustrative of the progress and development of that and other sections of the country; and Whereas such exhibition should be national as well as international in its character, in which the people of this country, of Mexico, the Central and South American Governments, and other States of the world should participate, and should, therefore, have the sanction of the Congress of the United States; and Whereas it is desirable and will be highly beneficial to bring together at such an exposition, to be held at a ventral position in the western part of the United States, the people of the United States and other States of this continent; and Whereas the Transmississippi and International Exposition Association has undertaken to hold such exposition, beginning on the first day of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and closing on the first day of November, eighteen hundred and ninety eight;
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Transmisaissippi and International Exposition.To be held at Omaha, Nebr., 1896.States of America in Congress assembled*, That a transmississippi and international exposition shall be held at the city of Omaha, in the State of Nebraska, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, under the auspices of the Transmississippi and International Exposition Association: *Proviso*.Nonliability of United States.*Provided*, That the United States shall not be liable for any of the expense attending or incident to such exposition, nor by reason of the same.
Sec. 2. Free entry of articles for exhibition.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 regulation as the Secretary Sales.of the Treasury shall prescribe; but it shall be lawful at any time during the exhibition to sell for delivery at the close thereof any goods or property imported for and actually on exhibition in the exhibition building, or on the grounds, subject to such regulation for the security of the revenue and for the collection of import duties as the Secretary *Proviso*.Duty on articles sold.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 the persons who may be guilty of any illegal sale or withdrawal.
Sec. 3. Government exhibit.That there shall be exhibited at said exposition by the Government of the United States, from its Executive Departments, the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Fish Commission, and the National Museum, such articles and material as illustrate the function383FIFTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 402. 1896. 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 adaptions to the wants of the people; and toBoard to control exhibit. secure a complete and harmonious arrangement of such Government exhibit a board shall be created, to be charged with the selection, preparation, arrangement, safe keeping, and exhibition of such articles and materials as the heads of the several Departments and the directors of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum may respectively decide shall be embraced in said Government exhibit.
The President may also designate additional articles for exhibition. Such board shallComposition. be composed of one person to be named by the head of each Executive Department and Museum and by the President of the United States. The President shall name the chairman of said board, and the board itself shall select such other officers as it may deem necessary. Sec. 4. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause a suitableBuilding for Government exhibit. building or buildings to be erected on the site selected for the transmississippi and international exposition for the Government exhibits, and he is hereby authorized 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 fifty thousand dollars.
The SecretaryDisposal at close of exposition. of the Treasury is authorized and required to dispose of such building or buildings, or the material composing the same, at the close of the exposition, giving preference to the city of Omaha, or to the said Transmississippi and International Exposition Association, to purchase the same at an appraised value to be ascertained in such manner as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury. Sec. 5. The United States shall not be liable on account of saidLiability of United Stales limited. exposition for any expense incident to, or growing out of same, except for the construction of the building or buildings hereinbefore provided for, and for the purpose of paying the expense of transportation, care and custody of exhibits by the Government, and the maintenance of the said building or buildings, and the safe return of articles belonging to the said Government exhibit, and other contingent expenses to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury upon itemized accounts and vouchers, and the total cost of said building or buildings shall not exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars; nor shall the expenses ofLimit of expense. said Government exhibit for each and every purpose connected therewith, including the transportation of same to Omaha and from Omaha to Washington, exceed the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, amounting in all to not exceeding the sum of two hundred thousand dollars: *Provided*, That no liability against the Government shall*Proviso*.Amount to be raised before expenditures can be made. be incurred, and no expenditure of money under this Act shall be made, until the officers of said exposition shall have furnished the Secretary of the Treasury proofs to his satisfaction that there has been obtained by said exposition corporation subscriptions of stock in good faith, contributions, donations, or appropriations from all sources for the purposes of said exposition a sum aggregating not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Sec. 6. That the commission appointed under this Act shall not beAllowance to commissioners. entitled to any compensation for their services out of the Treasury of the United States, except their actual expenses for transportation and a reasonable sum to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury for subsistence for each day they are necessarily absent from home on the business of said commission. The officers of said commission shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by said commission, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, which shall be paid out of the sums appropriated by Congress in aid of such exposition.
Sec. 7. That medals, with appropriate devices, emblems, and inscriptionsMedals to be prepared at mint. commemorative of said transmississippi and international exposition and of the awards to be made to the exhibitors thereat, shall be prepared at some mint of the United States, for the board of directorsVol. 17, p. 432.R. S., sec. 3551, p. 702. thereof, subject to the provisions of the fifty-second section of the384FIFTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Chs. 402–405. 1896. coinage Act of eighteen hundred and ninety-three, upon the payment 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.
Sec. 8. Nonliability for acts of Exposition Association.That the United States shall not in any manner, nor under any circumstances, be liable for any of the acts, doings, proceedings, or representations of said Transmississippi and International Exposition Association, its officers, agents, servants, or employees, or any of them, or for service, salaries, labor, or wages of said officers, agents, servants, or employees, or any of them, or for any subscriptions to the capital stock, or for any certificates of stock, bonds, mortgages, or obligation of any kind issued by said corporation, or for any debts, liabilities, or expenses of any kind whatever attending such corporation or accruing by reason of the same.
Restriction on commission.That nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to create any liability of the United States, direct or indirect, for any debt or obligation incurred, nor for any claim tor aid or pecuniary assistance from Congress or the Treasury of the United States in support or liquidation of any debts or obligations created by said commission in excess of appropriations made by Congress therefor. Approved, June 10, 1896.