Chapter 434. To encourage the holding of the Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition at the city of Toledo, Ohio
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CHAP. 434.— An Act To encourage the holding of the Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition at the city of Toledo, Ohio. March 3, 1899. Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition, Toledo, Ohio.Preamble.Whereas it is desirable to encourage the holding of the Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition at the city of Toledo, in the State of Ohio, in the year nineteen hundred and two or nineteen hun- FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 434. 1899. 1347 dred and three, as the Ohio general assembly may hereafter determine, for the exhibition of the resources of the United States of America, Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, and the progress and civilization of the American countries, and for a display of the arts, industries, manufactures, and products of the soil, mine, and sea; and Whereas it is desirable to commemorate by an appropriate naval display the important victory of Commodore Perry in the western waters of Lake Erie, beside which waters said exposition is located; and Whereas it is desirable for its historical and educational effect that there be given an exhibition of the Indians of North America, and especially the tribes of the old Northwest Territory; and Whereas it is desirable that an exhibition shall be made of the great staples of the original Northwest Territory and Ohio Valley 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 international as well as national m 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 the people of the United States and other States of this continent; and Whereas the Ohio Centennial Company, a corporation, has undertaken to hold such exposition, beginning on the first day of May, nineteen hundred and two or nineteen hundred and three, and closing on the first day of November, nineteen hundred and two or nineteen hundred and three:
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * That there shall be exhibitedExhibits from Executive Departments. by the Government of the United States at said Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition from the Executive Departments, the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, the Commission of Fish and Fisheries, the Department of Labor, and the Bureau of American Republics such articles and materials as illustrate the function and administrative faculty of the Government, its resources as a war power, and its relations to other American Republics; and, to secure a—board to arrange, etc. complete and harmonious arrangement of said Government exhibit, a board of management shall be created, to be charged with the selection, purchase, preparation, transportation, arrangement, safe-keeping, exhibition, and return 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—composition of. be composed of one member to be detailed by the head of each Executive Department, one by the head of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, one by the head of the United States Fish Commission, one by the Commissioner of Labor, and one by the Director of the Bureau of American Republics. The President shall name one of said persons so detailed as chairman, and the board itself shall appoint its secretary, disbursing officer, and such other officers as it may deem necessary.
The members of said board of management, with other—compensation, etc. officers and employees of the Government who may be detailed to assist them, including officers of the Army and Navy, shall receive no compensation in addition to their regular salaries, but they shall be allowed their actual and necessary traveling expenses, together with a per diem in lieu of subsistence, to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury, while necessarily absent from their homes engaged upon the business of the board.
Officers of the Army and Navy shall receive this allowance in lieu of the transportation and mileage now allowed by law. 1348 FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 434. 1899. Detail of Government officials.Any provision of law which may prohibit the detail of persons in the employ of the United States to other service than that which they customarily perform shall not apply to persons detailed for duty in connection with the Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition. Employees of the board not otherwise employed by the Government, shall be entitled to such compensation as the board may determine.
Disbursing officer, bond of.The disbursing officer shall give bond in the sum of twenty thousand dollars for the faithful performance of his duties, said bond to be —advances to, for expenses Government exhibit.approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury shall advance to said officer from time to time, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, a sum of money from the appropriation for the Government exhibit, not exceeding at any one time three-fourths of the penalty of his bond, to enable him to pay the expenses of said exhibit as authorized by the board of management herein created.
Sec. 2. Government buildings. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause a suitable building or buildings, from plans to be approved by the board of management, to be erected on the site selected at the Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition for the Government exhibit; 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 —cost limited.United States; but the contract for said building or buildings shall not exceed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, said sum being hereby appropriated for said purpose out of any money in the Treasury not —final disposition of.otherwise appropriated.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall dispose of such building or buildings or the material composing the same after the close of the exposition, giving preference to the city of Toledo or the Ohio Centennial Company to purchase the same at an appraised value, to be ascertained in such manner as the President and Secretary of the Treasury may determine; and whatever sum maybe so realized shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States. Sec. 3. Appropriation for expenses.
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, or in the event of his absence or disability by such other officer as the board may designate, upon itemized accounts and vouchers, there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be disbursed by the board of management hereinbefore created, of which not exceeding the sum of *Proviso.*Appropriation conditioned on subscriptions of equal amount.ten thousand dollars shall be expended for clerical service: *Provided,* That no liability against the Government shall 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 purpose of said exposition, a sum aggregating not less than five hundred thousand dollars, nor until the State of Ohio shall by legislative enactment have appropriated a sum of money equal to that herein appropriated.
Sec. 4. Exhibits imported for, admitted free. 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 —subsequent sale of.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 FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS.
Sess. III. Chs. 434, 435. 1899. 1349 duties as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe: *Provided,* That*Provisos.*—duty. 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: *And provided further,* That all necessary expenses incurredSalaries and expenses. in carrying out the provisions of this section, including salaries of customs officials in charge of imported articles, shall be paid to the Treasury of the United States by the Ohio Centennial Company, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Sec. 5. That medals with appropriate devices, emblems, and inscriptionsCommemorative medals. commemorative of said Ohio Centennial and Northwest Territory Exposition and of the awards to be made to exhibitors thereat be prepared at some mint in the United States for the board of directors thereof, subject to the provisions of the fifty-second section of the coinageVol. 17, p. 432. Act of eighteen hundred and ninety-three, upon the payment by the Ohio Centennial 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 medal struck and issued under this Act.
Sec. 6. That the United States shall in no manner and under no circumstancesLiability of United States limited. be liable for any bond, debt, contract, expenditure, expense, or liability of any kind whatever of the said Ohio Centennial 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 five hundred thousand dollars herein authorized; and the heads of the Executive Departments, the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, the Commission of Fish and Fisheries, the Department of Labor, and the Bureau of American Republics, 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.
Sec. 7. That at the close of the Ohio Centennial and Northwest TerritoryReturn of exhibits to Executive Departments, etc. Exposition the exhibits of the United States Government shall be returned to the several departments or bureaus from which they were received; and such collections as may be acquired by the board by purchase, preparation, gift, or otherwise, illustrating the natural resources, industries, customs, and commerce of the other American Republics, shall be placed for permanent preservation in the United States National Museum.
Sec. 8. That the appropriation herein made, of five hundred thousandAvailability of appropriation. dollars in all, shall take effect and become available immediately upon the proof being made to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that the conditions prescribed in section three of this Act have been complied with. Approved, March 3, 1899.