Chapter 3540. 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
1,984 words·~9 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-34/chapter-3540-2112406·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 3540.— 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. June 25, 1906. [[H. R. 14171](/us/bill/59/hr/14171).] [[Public, No. 292](/us/pl/59/292).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Fortifications appropriations. That the stuns of money herein provided for be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be available until expended, namely: fortifications and other works of defense.
For modernizing older emplacements, one hundred and fifty thousandModernizing older emplacements. dollars. For construction of tire-control stations and accessories, includingFire-control stations, etc. purchase of lands and rights of way, and for the purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of necessary lines and means of electrical communication, including telephones, dial and other telegraphs, wiring and all special instruments, apparatus, and materials, coast signal apparatus, and salaries of electrical experts, engineers, and other necessary employees, connected with the use of coast artillery; for the purchase, manufacture, and test of range finders and otherRange finders, etc. instruments for fire control at the fortifications, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, seven hundred thou-sand dollars.
For purchase and installation of searchlights for the defenses of ourSearchlights. most important harbors, one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. For the protection, preservation, and repair of fortifications forPreservation, etc. which there may be no special appropriation available, two hundred thousand dollars. For preparation of plans for fortifications, five thousand dollars.Plans. For tools, electrical and engine supplies and appliances, to be furnishedElectric 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 thousand dollars.
For construction of sea walls and embankments, fifty thousandSea walls. dollars. Preservation and repair of torpedo structures: For preservation ofTorpedo structures. and repair structures erected for the torpedo defense of the United States, ten thousand dollars.463 For the construction of mining casemates, cable galleries, torpedoSubmarine mines. storehouses, cable tanks, and other structures necessary for the operation, preservation, and care of submarine mines and their accessories, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, to be expended by the Engineer Department.
It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War to apply the moneyContracts. herein and hereafter appropriated for fortifications and other works of defense, in carrying on the various works, by contract or other-wise, 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 the purchase, manufacture, and test of machine and automaticMachine guns. guns, including their carriages, sights, implements, equipments, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, thirty-three thousand dollars. For the purchase, manufacture, and test of mountain, field, andMountain, field, and siege cannon. siege cannon, including their carriages, sights, implements, equipments, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, five hundred thousand dollars.
For the purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition for machineAmmunition. and automatic guns, and for mountain, field, and siege cannon, including the necessary experiments in connection therewith, and the machinery necessary for its manufacture at the arsenals, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. For the purchase, manufacture, and test of seacoast cannon for coastSeacoast cannon. defense, including their carriages, sights, implements, equipments, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, one hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars.
For the purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition for seacoastAmmunition. cannon, including the necessary experiments in connection therewith, and the machinery necessary for its manufacture at the arsenals, three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. For the purchase, manufacture, and test of inspecting instruments forInspecting instruments, range finders, etc. the manufacture of cannon, carriages, and ammunition; range finders and other instruments for fire control in field batteries, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, eighty-three thou-sand dollars.
For the purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition, subcaliberAmmunition, etc., for seacoast artillery practice. tubes, and other accessories for seacoast artillery practice, including the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For the alteration and maintenance of the mobile artillery, includingAlterations, mobile artillery. the purchase, and manufacture of machinery, tools, and materials necessary for the work and the expenses of the mechanics engaged thereon, fifty thousand dollars.
For the purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition, subcaliberAmmunition, etc., for field practice. tubes, and other accessories for mountain, field, and siege artillery practice, including the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, seventy-seven thousand dollars. For the alteration and maintenance of the seacoast artillery, includingAlterations, seacoast artillery. the purchase and manufacture of machinery, tools, and materials necessary for the work and the expenses of the mechanics engaged464 thereon, three hundred and twenty thousand dollars: *Provided.* That*Proviso*.Balance available. the unexpended balance of thirty-nine thousand three hundred and two dollars and sixteen cents of the forty thousand dollars appropriated by Act of March third, nineteen hundred and three, for cast-steelVol. 32, p. 1036. top carriages for twelve-inch mortars, is hereby made available for the purposes above named. proving ground, sandy hook, new jersey.
Sandy Hook proving ground, N.J. For current expenses and maintenance of the ordnance provingMaintenance. 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.
For the necessary expenses of officers while temporarily employedExpenses 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 withTrack repairs. the Central Railroad of New Jersey, six thousand dollars.
Watertown Arsenal, Watertown, Massachusetts: For newWatertown Arsenal, Mass. machines and the installation of same, fifteen thousand dollars. For modifying part of pattern storehouse for use as pattern shop, including purchase and installation of necessary machines, work-benches. and heating apparatus, five thousand five hundred dollars. watervliet arsenal, watervliet, new york. Watervliet Arsenal. For electrifying heavy machines, twenty thousand dollars.Motors. Powder Factory.
Powder factory. For the erection and equipment of a powder factory, with its necessaryErection and equipment. communications and accessory structures, upon such reservation now or that may hereafter be under the control of the War Department as may be selected by the Secretary of War. one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars. under the chief signal officer. For the purpose of connecting Forts Dade and De Soto. Florida, with the mainland by a military telegraph and cable line, four thousand five hundred and fifty dollars. submarine mines.
For the purchase of submarine mines and necessary appliances toSubmarine mines operate them for closing the channels leading to our principal seaports, and continuing torpedo experiments; for the. purchase of the necessary machinery, tools, and implements for the repair shop of the torpedo depot at Fort Totten, New York, and for extra-duty pay to soldiers necessarily employed for periods not less than ten days on work in connection with the issue, receipt, and care of submarine mining material at the torpedo depot, three hundred thousand dollars. fortifications in insular possessions.
Insular possessions. For construction of seacoast batteries in the Hawaiian Islands, twoHawaii.Seacoast batteries. hundred and sixty thousand dollars. For procurement of land needed as sites for the defenses of theSites. Hawaiian Islands, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 465 For the purchase, manufacture, and test of seacoast cannon for coastSeacoast guns. defense for the insular possessions, including their carriages, sights, implements, equipments, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, four hundred thousand dollars: *Provided*, That*Proviso*.Carriages. the Secretary of War is authorized to mount seven twelve-inch rilles on a corresponding number of carriages to be procured out of appropriations made or to be made hereunder for the insular possessions, said guns being on hand in excess of the. number of carriages provided for emplacements in the United States.
For purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition for seacoastAmmunition. cannon, for the insular possessions, including the necessary experiments in connection therewith, and the machinery necessary for its manufacture at the arsenals, one hundred thousand dollars. For purchase, manufacture, and test of inspecting instruments forInspecting instruments, range finders, etc. the manufacture of cannon, carriages, and ammunition; range tinders and other instruments for tire control at the fortifications in the insular possessions, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, thirty-two thousand dollars.
For the alteration and maintenance of the seacoast artillery in theAlterations. insular possessions, including the purchase and manufacture of machinery, tools, and materials necessary for the work, and the expenses of the mechanics engaged thereon, live thousand dollars. board of ordnance and fortification. Board of Ordnance and Fortification. 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 byVol. 25, p. 489. the Act approved September twenty-second, eighteen hundred andCivilian member.Vol. 26, p. 769. eighty-eight: to pay the salary of the civilian member of the Board of 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, carriages,Tests, etc. and other devices procured in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification, live 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, **Proviso*.Right to use invention.That before any money shall be expended in the construction 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 thisMaterial to be of American manufacture. 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. Approved, June 25, 1906.