Chapter 371. Extending certain privileges of canal employees to other officials on the Canal Zone and authorizing the President to make rules and regulations affecting health, sanitation, quarantine, taxation, public roads, self-propelled vehicles, and police powers on the Canal Zone, and for other purposes, inc
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CHAP. 371.— An Act Extending certain privileges of canal employees to other officials on the Canal Zone and authorizing the President to make rules and regulations affecting health, sanitation, quarantine, taxation, public roads, self-propelled vehicles, and police powers on the Canal Zone, and for other purposes, including provision as to certain fees, money orders, and interest deposits. August 21, 1916[[H. R. 15955](/us/bill/64/hr/15955)][[Public, No. 226](/us/pl/64/226)] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That, until otherwise providedCanal Zone.Sanitation, etc., regulations subject to the President. by Congress, the President is authorized to make rules and regulations in matters of sanitation, health, and quarantine for the Canal Zone or to modify or change existing rules and regulations and those hereafter made from time to time.
Violations of any quarantinePunishments for violations. regulations provided for herein shall be punished by fine not to exceed $500 or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed ninety days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the court’s discretion; and 528a violation of any sanitary regulations hereunder shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $25 or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the court’s discretion. Each day such violation may continue shall constitute a separate offense.
Sec. 2. Taxes. That, until otherwise provided by Congress, the President is hereby authorized to make and from time to time change rules and regulations for levying, assessing, and collecting ad valorem, excise, license, and franchise taxes in the Canal Zone, or to modify Limit.or change existing rules or regulations for that purpose. Ad valorem taxes imposed shall not exceed one per centum of the value of the property, nor shall franchise or excise taxes exceed two per centum of gross earnings.
Sec. 3. Public roads.Regulations, etc. That, until otherwise provided by Congress, it shall be lawful for the President to make, publish, and enforce all rules and regulations for the use of the public roads and highways in the Canal Zone, and also for regulating, licensing, and taxing the use and operation of all self-propelled vehicles using the public highways, including speed limit, signals, tags, license fees, and all detailed regulations which may be from time to time deemed necessary in the Automobile tax.exercise of the authority hereby conferred.
The taxes on automobiles may be graded according to the value or the power of the machine, and such rules and regulations as now exist may be changed by such order from time to time, and any that may be hereafter made Agreement with Panama.may be changed from time to time. The President may make mutual agreements with the Republic of Panama touching the reciprocal use of the highways of the Canal Zone and the Republic of Panama by self-propelled vehicles touching taxes and license fees, and any other matter of regulation to establish comity for the convenience of the residents of the two jurisdictions.
Sec. 4. Enforcement of police power. That it shall be unlawful to commit any breach of the peace or engage in or permit any disorderly, indecent, or immoral conduct in the Canal Zone. The President is authorized to enforce this provision by making rules and regulations to assert and exercise the police power in the Canal Zone, or for any portion or division thereof, and he may amend or change any such regulation now existing or hereafter made. Sec. 5. Punishment for violating regulations, etc.
That any person who commits any act or who carries on any business, trade, or occupation in the Canal Zone without complying with the rules and regulations established by the President for the levying, assessing, and collecting of taxes, or who violates any rules or regulations for the use of the public roads and highways, or who violates any rules and regulations touching the licensing, taxes, operation, and use of self-propelled vehicles, or who violates any of the police regulations authorized hereunder, shall be punished by fine not to exceed $25 or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the court’s discretion.
Sec. 6. Deposit money orders. That deposit money orders issued in the Canal Zone in lieu of postal savings certificates in accordance with the rules and regulations heretofore established by the President, or that may hereafter be established by him, shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding two per centum per annum. Sec. 7. Payment of interest. That the interest received from the Canal Zone money-order funds deposited in banks under Canal Zone regulations shall be available to pay the interest on deposit money orders authorized by the preceding section.
Such interest shall also be available to pay any losses which are chargeable to the Canal Zone postal service. Sec. 8. Customs fees, etc. That whenever a customs officer of the Canal Zone shall certify an invoice, landing certificate, or other similar document, or shall register a marine note of protest, or shall perform any notarial services, he shall be authorized to collect a fee equivalent to the fee 529prescribed by the United States consular regulations for the same act or service when performed by consular officials.
Sec. 9. The laws relating to seamen of vessels of the United StatesSeamen regulations. on foreign voyages shall apply to seamen of all vessels of the United States at the Panama Canal Zone, whether such vessels be registered or enrolled and licensed, and the powers in respect of such seamen of such vessels bestowed by law upon consular officers of the United States in foreign ports and upon shipping commissioners in ports of the United States are hereby bestowed upon the shipping commissioner and deputy shipping commissioners on the Panama Canal Zone.
Sec. 10. The President is hereby authorized to make rules andImmigration, etc., restrictions. regulations, and to alter or amend the same from time to time, touching the right of any person to enter or remain upon or pass over any part of the Canal Zone; for the detention of any person entering theDeportations. Canal Zone in violation of such rules and regulations, and return of such person to the country whence he or she came, on the vessel bringing such person to the Canal Zone, or any other vessel belonging to the same owner or interest, and at the expense of such owner or interest; and in addition to the punishment prescribed by this sectionWithholding clearances. for violation of any such rules and regulations, the authorities of the Canal Zone may withhold the clearance of such vessel from any port in the Canal Zone until any fine imposed and the cost of maintenance of such person are paid.
Any person violating any of such rules orPunishment for violations. regulations shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction in the district court of the Canal Zone shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding a year, or both in the discretion of the court. It shall be unlawful for any person, byPunishment for injuring Panama Canal, etc. any means or in any way, to injure or obstruct or attempt to injure or obstruct, any part of the Panama Canal or the locks thereof or the approaches thereto.
Any person violating this provision shall be guilty of a felony, and on conviction in the district court of the Canal Zone shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding twenty years, or both, in the discretion of the court. If the act shall cause the death of any person withinCausing death. a year and a day thereafter, the person so convicted shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished accordingly. Sec. 11. That all laws, orders, or ordinances in conflict with thisConflicting laws repealed.
Act are hereby repealed. Approved, August 21, 1916.