Chapter 1253. To authorize the Government of the United States to participate in celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the Oregon country by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the years eighteen hundred and four, eighteen hundred and five, and eighteen hundred and six, and fo
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CHAP. 1253.— An Act To authorize the Government of the United States to participate in celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the Oregon country by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the years eighteen hundred and four, eighteen hundred and five, and eighteen hundred and six, and for other purposes. April 13, 1904. [[S. 276](/us/bill/58/s/276).] [[Public No. 111](/us/pl/58/111).] Whereas by an act duly passed by the legislature of the State of Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, Portland, Oreg.
Participation of United States Government, authorized. Preamble. Oregon, approved January thirtieth, nineteen hundred and three, said State authorized the holding at the city of Portland, Oregon, commencing May first, nineteen hundred and five, and ending November first, nineteen hundred and five, an industrial exposition to appropriately celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the exploration of the Oregon country by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and “by means of said exhibition to benefit the people of the State of Oregon by way of the advertisement and development of its agricultural, horticultural, mineral, lumber, manufacturing, shipping, educational, and other resources” of said State; and Whereas under and by virtue of said act of the legislature of the State of Oregon a commission consisting of eleven members, residents and inhabitants of said State, was authorized and appointed, known and designated as the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Commission, and the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of said State, have jointly undertaken the inauguration of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition at said city of Portland, to be held under the joint supervision, control, and management of said commission and corporation, as provided by said act; and Whereas a number of States have enacted laws for and appropriated money to enable them to participate in said exposition, and other States have signified their intention of so doing, and satisfactory assurances have been given by representatives of foreign governments that their governments will make interesting and instructive exhibits at said exposition illustrative of their material progress during the past century, and it is believed that the commerce of the United States in oriental and oceanic countries will be materially aided and developed by such exposition:
Now, therefore, for the purpose of contributing to the success of said exposition and enabling our insular possessions and also oriental and oceanic countries to exhibit of their products and resources at said exposition, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Exemption from duty of imported exhibits. That all articles that 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 the payment of duty, customs fees, or charges, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe;
Sales. but it shall be lawful at any time during the exposition to sell for delivery at the close thereof any goods or property imported for and actually on exhibition in the exposition buildings or on the grounds, subject to such regulations for the security of the revenue and for the collection of import duties as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe: *Provided*, That all such articles when sold or withdrawn for *Proviso*. Duty on articles sold or withdrawn. 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 withdrawal, and on articles which shall have suffered diminution or deterioration from incidental handling and necessary exposure the duty, if paid, shall be assessed according to the appraised value at the time of withdrawal for consumption, and the penalties prescribed by law shall be enforced against any person guilty of any illegal sale or Enforcement of penalties. withdrawal. 176 Sec. 2.
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 National Museum, and the Library of Congress such articles and material as illustrate the function and administrative faculty of the Government in time of peace and its resources as a war power, tending to demonstrate the nature of our Bureau of American Republics. institutions and their adaptation to the wants of the people; and the Bureau of American Republics is hereby invited to make an exhibit illustrative of the resources and international relations of the American Republics, and space in the United States Government building shall Government board, duties, etc. be provided for that purpose, and to secure a complete and harmonious arrangement of such Government exhibit a United States Government board shall be created, whose duty it shall be to select from the Government exhibit to be made by such Executive Departments at the city of Saint Louis, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in the year nineteen hundred and four, such articles and things as they may deem advisable, and transport the same to the city of Portland, Oregon, to be there exhibited as a part of the Government exhibit at said exposition; and said United States Government board shall also be charged with the selection, purchase, preparation, transportation, arrangement, safe-keeping, exhibition, and return of such additional articles and materials as the heads of the several departments, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the Director of the National Museum, the Librarian of Congress, and the Director of the Bureau of American Republics may respectively decide shall be embraced in said Government exhibit.
And said Government board is hereby authorized to rent and use such building or buildings in the District of Columbia as may be necessary in the preparation of said exhibit. The President of the United States may also designate additional articles Composition of board. for exhibition. Such Government board shall be composed of one person to be named by the head of each of the Executive Departments, one by the head of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, one by the Librarian of Congress, 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, Detail of Government officers. disbursing officer, and such other officers as it may deem necessary. The members of said Government board, with other 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 Traveling and per diem expenses. 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 Allowance in lieu of subsistence and mileage. their homes engaged upon the business of the board.
Officers of the Army and Navy shall receive said allowance in lieu of the subsistence and mileage now allowed by law; and the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy may, in their discretion, detail retired army or navy officers for such duty. 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 said Lewis and Clark Centennial Compensation of employees.
Exposition. Employees of the board not otherwise employed by the Government shall be entitled to such compensation as the board may determine, and such employees may be selected and appointed by said Bond of disbursing officer. board. The disbursing officer shall give bond in such sum as the Secretary of the Treasury may determine for the faithful performance Advance of funds. of his duties, said bond to be approved by said Secretary. 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 Gov-177ernment exhibit herein authorized, not exceeding at any one time Limit. three-fourths of the penalty of his bond, to enable him to pay the expenses of said exhibit as authorized by the United States Government board herein created: *Provided*, That so much of the Government *Provisos*.
Forestry and irrigation exhibits. exhibit herein authorized as relates to forestry and irrigation shall be made in a separate building, to be erected as hereinafter provided for that purpose, and said building shall be known as the forestry and irrigation building, and shall be of sufficient size to accommodate forestry exhibits other than the United States forestry exhibits: *And Limit of cost. provided further*, That the cost of said exhibit herein authorized, including the selection, purchase, preparation, transportation, arrangement, safe-keeping, exhibition, and return of the articles and materials so exhibited, including the forestry and irrigation exhibit, and for rent of building or buildings in the District of Columbia, shall not exceed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, which amount is Appropriation. hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to aid Alaskan exhibit. the inhabitants of the district of Alaska in providing and maintaining an appropriate and creditable exhibit of the products and resources of said district at the said Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, and for that purpose he is authorized to appoint one or more persons to supervise the selection, purchase, preparation, transportation, arrangement, installation, safe-keeping, exhibition, and return of such articles as may be exhibited from said district at said exposition; and he is hereby authorized to select so much of the exhibit of the. district of Alaska at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at the city of Saint Louis, in the year nineteen hundred and four, as he may deem necessary for the purpose of making said exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, and that the cost of said exhibit of said district of Alaska, Limit of cost. including such selection, purchase, preparation, transportation, arrangement, installation, safe-keeping, exhibition, and return of the articles so exhibited shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, which sum is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury Appropriation. not otherwise appropriated.
Sec. 4. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause a suitable Buildings. building or buildings to be erected on the site selected for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition for the said Government exhibit, including a suitable building for an exhibit of the United States Life-Saving For Life-Saving Service exhibits. Service, the forestry and irrigation building herein referred to, and also cause to be erected a suitable building or buildings on said For Alaska, Hawaii, and Philippine Islands, etc. site for the use of the district of Alaska, the Territory of Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, and also oriental and oceanic countries that may desire an exhibit of their products and resources at said exposition.
Said buildings shall be erected from plans prepared by the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, to be approved by said United States Government board; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized Contract. and directed to contract for said buildings in the same manner and under the same regulations as for other public buildings of the United States, but the contract for said buildings and the preparation Limit of cost. of grounds therefor and the lighting thereof, inclusive, shall not exceed the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which sum is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and Disposal of buildings at close. required to dispose of said buildings, or the materials composing the same, at the close of the exposition, giving preference to the city of Portland, or to the said Lewis and Clark Centennial and American and Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair corporation, to purchase the same at an appraised value to be ascertained in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury may determine. 178 Sec. 5. Allotment of space.
That the allotment of space for exhibitors in the building or buildings erected under authority of this Act for the use of the district of Alaska, the Territory of, Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, and also for the use of oriental and oceanic countries, including the space not occupied by the Government board in the foresty and irrigation building, shall be done and performed without charge to exhibitors by the Government board authorized by section two of this Act. Sec. 6. Memorial gold dollars.
That upon the approval of this Act the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon the request of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Limit. and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair Company, cause to be coined at the mints of the United States not to exceed two hundred and fifty thousand gold dollars, of legal weight and fineness, to be known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition gold dollar, struck in commemoration Designs, etc. of said exposition. The words, devices, and designs upon said gold dollars shall be determined and prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and all provisions of law relative to the coinage and legal-tender quality of all other gold coin shall be applicable to the coin issued under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
That the said coins shall be disposed of by the Secretary of the Treasury to the said Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair Company at par, under rules and regulations Medals. and in amounts to be prescribed by him. That medals with appropriate devices, emblems, and inscriptions commemorative of said Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition and of the awards to be made to the exhibitors thereat shall be prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury at some mint of the United States for the board of directors [R.
S., sec. 3551, p. 702](/us/rs/s3551/p702). of said exposition company, subject to the provisions of the fifty-second section of the coinage Act of eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and upon the payment of a sum not less than the cost thereof; and all 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 issued under this Act. Sec. 7. Limit of Governmental liability. That the United States shall not be liable on account of said exposition for any expense incident to or growing out of the same except for the construction of the building or buildings hereinbefore authorized and for the purpose of paying the expense incident to the selection, preparation, purchase, installation, transportation, care, custody, and safe return of the exhibits made by the Government, and for the employment of proper persons as officers and assistants by the Government board created by this Act and for other expenses, and for the maintenance of said building or buildings and other contingent expenses, to be approved by the chairman of the Government board, or, in the event of his absence or disability, by such officer as the board may designate, and the Secretary of the Treasury, upon *Proviso*.
Proof of bona fide subscriptions. itemized accounts and vouchers: *Provided*, That no liability against the Government shall be incurred and no expenditure of money appropriated by this Act shall be made until the officers of said exposition shall have furnished to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury proof that there has been obtained for the purpose of completing and opening said exposition bona fide subscriptions to the stock of said exposition company by responsible parties, contributions, donations, or appropriations, from all sources, a sum aggregating not less than six hundred thousand dollars.
Sec. 8. United States not liable for acts of Exposition officials, etc. That the United States shall not in any manner or under any circumstances be liable for any of the acts, doings, or representations of said Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, or the commission created by the act of the legislature of the State of Oregon, herein referred to, their 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 179 them, or for any subscriptions to the capital stock, or for any stock certificates, bonds, mortgages, or obligations of any kind issued by said corporation or said commission, or for any debts, liabilities, or expenses of any kind or nature whatever attending such exposition corporation or commission, or accruing by reason of the same.
Sec. 9. That nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to create Nonliability of United States in excess of appropriation. any liability upon the part of the United States, direct or indirect, for any debt or obligation incurred, or for any claim for 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 United States Government board in excess of appropriations hereafter made by Congress therefor.
Approved, April 13, 1904.