Chapter 1000. Making appropriations for fortifications and other works of defense, for the armament thereof, for the procurement of heavy ordnance for trial and service, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 1000.— An Act Making appropriations for fortifications and other works of defense, for the armament thereof, for the procurement of heavy ordnance for trial and service, and for other purposes. March 3, 1903.[[Public, No. 150](/us/pl/57/150).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Fortifications appropriations. That the sums of money herein provided for be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be available until expended, namely: fortifications and other works of defense.
Gun and mortar batteries. For construction of gun and mortar batteries, two million two hundred and thirty-six thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars. Range finders. For installation of range and position finders, two hundred and twenty-three thousand five hundred dollars. Sites. For the procurement or reclamation of land, or right pertaining thereto, needed for the site, location, construction, or prosecution of works for fortifications and coast defenses, two hundred thousand *Proviso*.
Purchases on Cushings Island. dollars: *Provided*, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to purchase land on Cushings Island, Portland Harbor, Maine, for which appropriation was made in the Act making appropriations for fortifications *Ante*, p. 305. and other works of defense, and so forth, approved June sixth, nineteen hundred and two, at such times and in such parcels and quantity as may appear to him to be for the best interests of the Government. Searchlights. For purchase and installation of searchlights for the defenses of our most important harbors, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Preservation, etc. For the protection, preservation, and repair of fortifications for which there may be no special appropriation available, three hundred thousand dollars. 1025 For preparation of plans for fortifications, five thousand dollars. Plans. For tools, electrical and engine supplies and appliances, to be furnished Electric plants. by the Engineer Department, for the use of the troops for maintaining and operating electric light and power plants in gun and mortar batteries, thirty-five thousand dollars.
For construction of sea walls and embankments, eighty-nine thousand Sea walls. five hundred and seventy-five dollars. For the construction of mining casemates, cable galleries, torpedo Submarine mines. storehouses, cable tanks, and other structures necessary for the operation, preservation, and care of submarine mines and their accessories, fifty thousand dollars, to be expended by the Engineer Department. For the purchase of submarine mines and necessary appliances to Torpedoes for harbor defense. operate them for closing the channels leading to our principal seaports, and continuing torpedo experiments, one hundred thousand Balance continued. dollars; this sum and the unexpended balance from the sum of seventeen thousand dollars appropriated in the fortification appropriation *Ante*, p. 306. act of June sixth, nineteen hundred and two, for the purchase of submarine mines and necessary appliances and for continuing torpedo experiments, to be expended through the Ordnance Department.
For purchase of the necessary machinery, tools, and implements for Port Totten, N. Y. Tools. the repair shop of the torpedo depot at Fort Totten, Willets Point, New York, to be expended through the Ordnance Department, three thousand dollars. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War to apply the money Contracts. herein appropriated under the heading “Fortifications and other works of defense,” in carrying on the various works, by contract or otherwise, as may be most economical and advantageous to the Government.
Where said works are done by contract, such contract shall be made after sufficient public advertisement for proposals, in such manner and form as the Secretary of War shall prescribe; and such contracts shall be made with the lowest responsible bidders, accompanied by such securities as the Secretary of War shall require, conditioned for the faithful prosecution and completion of the work according to such contract. armament of fortifications. Armament. For finishing and assembling eight-inch, ten-inch, and twelve-inch Army Gun Factory Eight-inch, etc., guns. guns at the Army Gun Factory, including new firing attachments for guns now in service and any new tools or machinery necessary for their manufacture, eighty thousand dollars.
For oil-tempered and annealed steel for seacoast-defense guns of Steel. eight-inch, ten-inch, and twelve-inch caliber, sixty-one thousand dollars: *Provided*, That no contract for oil-tempered and annealed steel *Provisos*. Maximum price per pound. for high-power coast-defense guns and mortars shall be made at a price exceeding twenty-one cents per pound except for nickel steel: *Provided*, That in the discretion of the Secretary of War a portion of Steel-wire guns. this money may be used for the purchase of material for a limited number of steel-wire seacoast guns.
For purchase, manufacture, alteration, issue, and repair of carriages Carriages. for mounting seacoast guns of eight, ten, and twelve inch calibers, including any new tools or machinery necessary for their manufacture at arsenals, two hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars. For equipping twelve-inch seacoast carriages in service with electrical Electrical apparatus. apparatus for retracting purposes, fifteen thousand dollars. For alteration and improvement of twelve-inch mortar carriages, Mortar carriages. one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars.
For new firing mechanism for twelve-inch mortars, thirty-five thousand Firing mechanism. dollars. For shields for barbette carriages, fifty thousand dollars. Barbette shields. 1026 Reserve supply ammunition. For powders, projectiles, and explosives for reserve supply for cannon, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Rapid-fire guns. For rapid-fire guns, including their mounts, sights, implements, ammunition, and so forth, to be procured by the Secretary of War by contract or otherwise, including any new tools or machinery necessary for their manufacture at arsenals, one million two hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars.
Contract guns. Vol. 26, pp. 319, 770. For eight, ten, and twelve inch guns manufactured by contract under the provisions of the fortifications Acts approved August eighteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, and February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, one hundred and ninety-nine thousand four hundred and seventy-three dollars and twenty-two cents. Proof of guns, etc. For proof of seacoast guns, mortars, and carriages, twenty-five thousand dollars. Armor plates, etc., for tests.
For armor plates and deck plates, including backing and cost of erection, for testing armor-piercing and deck-piercing projectiles, fifteen thousand dollars. Ammunition for practice. For ammunition for artillery practice, including components thereof, and for subcaliber tubes, with their fittings, and ammunition for reloading fired cases, tools, and so forth, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Machine guns. For machine guns, including metallic carriages, with limbers and protective shields, complete, and also automatic and semiautomatic guns, with their mounts, ammunition, and so forth, seventy-five thousand dollars.
Range finders, etc. For range finders, including instruments for fire control and azimuth instruments for coast defense, and for instruments for field batteries, fifty thousand dollars. Equipments. For implements and equipments for service, and also for mounting, repairs, care, and preservation of armament and of instruments for practice, eighty two thousand five hundred dollars. Material, etc. For material, power lathes, machinist tools, and tools and implements for the use of battery mechanics and tools for electrical power plants at the fortifications, ten thousand dollars.
Field guns, etc. For purchase, manufacture, alterations and repair of steel breech-loading field guns and their carriages, including sights, implements, equipments, and tools or machinery necessary for their manufacture at arsenals, two hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars. Field howitzers. For steel field howitzers and their carriages, including implements and equipments, fifty-three thousand dollars. Breech-loading rifles. For steel breech-loading siege rifles and their carriages, including implements, equipments, and platforms, forty thousand dollars.
Breech-loading howitzers. For steel breech-loading howitzers, siege, and their carriages, including implements, equipments, and platforms, forty thousand dollars. Sights. For sights for cannon, twenty thousand dollars. Fuses, etc. For fuses and primers for cannon, fifty thousand dollars. Inspecting instruments. For inspecting instruments, gauges, and templets for the manufacture of cannon, projectiles, and carriages, five thousand dollars. Mortar carriages. For cast-steel top carriages for twelve-inch mortars, forty thousand dollars.
Sandy Hook proving ground. proving ground, sandy hook, new jersey. Maintenance. For current expenses and maintenance of the ordnance proving ground, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, including expenses incident to the transportation of men and material therefor, general repairs and alterations and accessories incidental to testing and proving ordnance, including hire of assistants for the Ordnance Board, skilled mechanical labor, purchase of instruments and other supplies, building and repairing butts and targets, clearing and grading ranges, fifty thousand two hundred and forty-three dollars. 1027 For the necessary expenses of officers while temporarily employed Expenses of officers. on ordnance duties at the proving ground and absent from their proper station, at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per diem while so employed, and the compensation of draftsmen while employed in the Army Ordnance Bureau on ordnance construction, eighteen thousand seven hundred dollars.
For repairs of railroad tracks connecting the proving ground with Railroad track repairs. the Central Railroad of New Jersey, four thousand dollars. For replacing plank roads by macadam, five thousand dollars. Macadam road. frankford arsenal, philadelphia, pennsylvania. Frankford Arsenal. For one brick shop, and machinery for manufacture of shrapnel, Shrapnel shop. forty-three thousand dollars. board of ordnance and fortification. Board of Ordnance and Fortifications. To enable the board to make all needful and proper purchases, Purchases, etc. experiments, and tests to ascertain, with a view to their utilization by the Government, the most effective guns, small arms, cartridges, projectiles, fuses, explosives, torpedoes, armor plates, and other implements and engines of war, and to purchase or cause to be manufactured, under authority of the Secretary of War, such guns, carriages, armor plates, and other war material as may, in the judgment of the board, be necessary, in the proper discharge of the duty devolved upon it by Vol. 25, p. 489. the Act approved September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight; to pay the salary of the civilian member of the Board of Civilian member.
Vol. 26, p. 769. Ordnance and Fortification provided by the Act of February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and for the necessary traveling expenses of said member when traveling on duty as contemplated in said Act; for the payment of the necessary expenses of the board, Per diem. including a per diem allowance to each officer detailed to serve thereon, when employed on duty away from his permanent station, of two dollars and fifty cents a day; and for the test of experimental guns, Tests. carriages, and other devices procured in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification, one hundred thousand dollars, the expenditure of which shall be made by the several bureaus of. the War Department heretofore having jurisdiction of the same, or by the board itself, as the Secretary of War may direct: *Provided*, That before any money shall be expended in the construction *Proviso*.
Right to use inventions. or test of any gun, gun carriage, ammunition, or implements under the supervision of the said board, the board shall be satisfied, after due inquiry, that the Government of the United States has a lawful right to use the inventions involved in the construction of such gun, gun carriage, ammunition, or implements, or that the construction or test is made at the request of a person either having such lawful right or authorized to convey the same to the Government.
That all material purchased under the foregoing provisions of this Purchases to be of American manufacture. Exception. Act shall be of American manufacture, except in cases when, in the judgment of the Secretary of War, it is to the manifest interest of the United States to make purchases in limited quantities abroad, which material shall be admitted free of duty. a. h. emery elevating carriage. A. H. Emery elevating carriage. To enable A. H. Emery to complete and erect the twelve-inch Contract price may be increased. elevating carriage he is building for the Government the Secretary of War, in his discretion, is hereby authorized to increase the contract price of such carriage and its foundations from one hundred and fifty Vol. 31, p. 186. 1028 thousand dollars to one hundred and ninety thousand dollars; and to enable the Secretary of War to make this increase in the price of this work and to make payment therefor the sum of forty thousand dollars *Proviso*.
Condition. is hereby appropriated: *Provided*, That if in the judgment of the Secretary of War the carriage, emplacement, and loading mechanism can be completed for the sum hereby appropriated, and when completed will be of service to the Government, the appropriation herein made shall be available. Approved, March 3, 1903.