Chapter 54. 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
2,766 words·~13 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-39/chapter-54-3908973·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 54.— 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. February 14, 1917.[[H. R. 20453](/us/bill/64/hr/20453).][[Public, No. 309](/us/pl/64/309).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * That the following sums areFortifications appropriations. appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be immediately available and to continue available until expended, namely:
FORTIFICATIONS AND OTHER WORKS OF DEFENSE. engineer department.Engineer Department. For construction of gun and mortar batteries, $2,500,000.Gun and mortar batteries. The Secretary of War is authorized to transfer to the owners of theFort Wright, N. Y.Transfer of right of way. adjacent land, in partial consideration for the transfer to the United States of an easement in other land of said owners, the title of the United States to a right of way now owned by the United States and located between the tract of land known as the main Fort H.
G. Wright Military Reservation and the tract of land known as the Mount Prospect Tract, on Fishers Island, Long Island Sound, New York. For modernizing older emplacements, $102,000.Modernizing emplacements. For construction of fire-control stations and accessories, includingFire-control stations. purchase of lands and rights of way, purchase and installation 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; purchase, manufacture, and test ofRange finders. range finders and other instruments for fire control at the fortifications, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, $608,796.
For maintenance of Coast Artillery war-instruction matériel atCoast Artillery war instruction. Coast Artillery posts, including necessary material and labor therefor and for extra-duty pay to soldiers necessarily employed for periods not less than ten days, $750. For installation and replacement of electric-light and power plantsElectric plants. at seacoast fortifications, $110,000. 910 Searchlights.For purchase and installation of searchlights for seacoast defenses, $250,000.
Preservation, etc.For protection, preservation, and repair of fortifications for which there may be no special appropriation available, and of structures for the torpedo defense of the United States and for maintaining channels for access to torpedo wharves, $250,000. Plans.For preparation of plans for fortifications and other works of defense, $25,000. Supplies, etc., electric plants.For maintenance and repair of searchlights and electric light and power equipment for seacoast fortifications, and for tools, electrical and other supplies, and appliances to be used in their operation, including the purchase of reserve lights, $40,000.
Torpedo structures, etc.For construction of mining casemates, cable galleries, torpedo storehouses, cable tanks, and other structures necessary for the operation, preservation, and care of submarine mines and their accessories, and for providing channels for access to torpedo wharves, $150,000. Sites, etc.For procurement or reclamation of land, or rights pertaining thereto, needed for site, location, construction, or prosecution of works for fortifications and coast defenses, $100,000.
Sea walls, etc.For construction of sea walls and embankments, $93,000. Roads, water systems, etc.For the construction of roads, trails, water and sewer systems, and so forth, for the service of seacoast fortifications, $40,000. Motor passenger vehicles.For purchase, maintenance, repair, and operation of motor-propelled passenger-carrying vehicles, expenditures are authorized to an amount not exceeding $2,300 during the fiscal year nineteen hundred and eighteen, from funds available from appropriations for fortifications in the continental United States. under the chief signal officer.Signal service.
Fire-control stations.For operation and maintenance of fire-control installations at seacoast defenses, $140,000. Airships, etc.For the purchase, manufacture, maintenance, operation, and repair of airships and other aerial machines, buildings for equipment, and other accessories necessary in the aviation section for use in connection with the seacoast defenses of the United States, $3,600,000. Airship stations, etc.,Statement of facilities available for.The Secretary of War is directed to submit to Congress on or before January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, a detailed statement of the land, buildings, and other facilities now available and to be required for the accommodation of airships and other aerial machines to be used in connection with the seacoast defenses of the continental United States, the insular possessions, and the Panama Canal. armament of fortifications.Armament.
Mountain, field, and siege cannon.For purchase, manufacture, and test of mountain, field, and siege cannon, including their carriages, sights, implements, equipments, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, *Proviso*.Contracts authorized.$6,900,000: *Provided,* That the Chief of Ordnance, United States Army, is authorized to enter into contracts or otherwise incur obligations for the purposes above mentioned not to exceed $2,200,000 in addition to the appropriations herein and heretofore made.
Ammunition.For purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition for mountain, field, and siege cannon, including the necessary experiments in connection therewith and the machinery necessary for its manufacture at *Proviso*.Contracts authorized.the arsenals, $7,310,000: *Provided,* That the Chief of Ordnance, United States Army, is authorized to enter into contracts or otherwise incur obligations for the purposes above mentioned not to exceed $2,000,000 in addition to the appropriations herein and heretofore made. 911 For purchase, manufacture, and test of seacoast camion for coastSeacoast cannon. defense, including their carriages, sights, implements, equipments, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, $9,231,000: *Provided,* That the Chief of Ordnance, United States*Proviso*.Contracts authorized.
Army, is authorized to enter into contracts or otherwise incur obligations for the purposes above mentioned not to exceed $2,200,000 in addition to the appropriations herein and heretofore made. For purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition for seacoastAmmunition. cannon, and for modernizing projectiles on hand, including the necessary experiments in connection therewith, and the machinery necessary for its manufacture at the arsenals, $10,940,000: *Provided,* That*Proviso*.Contracts authorized. the Chief of Ordnance, United States Army, is authorized to enter into contracts or otherwise incur obligations for the purposes above mentioned not to exceed $2,000,000, in addition to the appropriations herein and heretofore made.
For purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition, subcaliberAmmunition, etc., for practice. guns, and other accessories for seacoast artillery practice, including the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, $572,000. For alteration and maintenance of the mobile artillery, includingAltering, etc., mobile artillery. the purchase and manufacture of machinery, tools, and materials necessary for the work and the expenses of the mechanics engaged thereon, $1,000,000.
For purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition, subcaliberAmmunition, etc., for field, etc., artillery practice. guns, and other accessories for mountain, field, and siege artillery practice, including the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, $1,000,000. For alteration and maintenance of seacoast artillery, including theAltering seacoast artillery. purchase and manufacture of machinery, tools, materials necessary for the work, and expenses of civilian mechanics and extra-duty pay of enlisted men engaged thereon, $700,000. proving ground, sandy hook, new jersey.Sandy Hook proving ground.
For current expenses of the ordnance proving ground, Sandy Hook,Expenses, etc. New Jersey, comprising the maintenance of rail and water transportation, repairs, alterations, accessories, and service of employees incidental to testing and proving ordnance matériel, hire of assistants for the Ordnance Board, purchase of instruments and articles required for testing and experimental work, building and repairing butts and targets, clearing and grading ranges, $90,000. For necessary expenses of officers not occupying public quarters atTemporary employments. the proving ground, while employed on ordnance duty thereat, at the rate of $2.50 per diem while so employed, and the compensation of draftsmen while employed in the Army Ordnance Bureau on ordnance construction, $35,000. submarine mines.
For purchase, manufacture, and test of submarine-mine matériel,Submarine mines.Accessories for practice. and other accessories for submarine-mine practice, including the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, $26,000. For maintenance of submarine-mine matériel within the limits ofMaintenance of supplies, etc. continental United States, purchase of necessary machinery, tools, and implements for the repair shop of the torpedo depot at FortFort Totten torpedo depot.
Totten, New York, extra-duty pay to soldiers necessarily employed for periods not less than ten days in connection with the issue, receipt, and care of submarine-mining matériel at the torpedo depot, and for torpedo-depot administration, $68,000. 912 FORTIFICATIONS IN INSULAR POSSESSIONS.Insular possessions. engineer department.Engineer Department. Seacoast batteries, Hawaiian Islands.For construction of seacoast batteries in the Hawaiian Islands, $720,000. Preservation, repair, etc.For protection, preservation, and repair of fortifications, including structures erected for torpedo defense, for which there may be no special appropriation available, and for maintaining channels for access to torpedo wharves, at the following localities:
Hawaiian Islands.In the Hawaiian Islands, $7,500; Philippine Islands.In the Philippine Islands, $15,000; In all, $22,500. Road locations, Hawaiian Islands.For surveys to locate strategic roads in connection with land defenses in the Hawaiian Islands, $10,000. Electric plants.For maintenance and repair of searchlights and electric light and power equipment for seacoast fortifications and for tools, electrical and other supplies, and appliances to be used in their operation at the following localities:
Hawaiian Islands.In the Hawaiian Islands, $2,500; Philippine Islands.In the Philippine Islands, $5,000; In all, $7,500. Sea walls, Hawaiian Islands.For construction of sea walls and embankments, Hawaiian Islands, $10,500. Automobile, Hawaiian Islands.For maintenance, repair, and operation of one automobile, expenditures are authorized to an amount not exceeding $900 during the fiscal year nineteen hundred and eighteen, from funds available from appropriations for fortifications in the Hawaiian Islands. under the chief signal officer.Signal Service.
Fire-control installations.For operation and maintenance of fire-control installations at seacoast defenses, $12,500. Airships, etc.For the purchase, manufacture, maintenance, operation, and repair of airships and other aerial machines, buildings for equipment, and other accessories necessary in the aviation section for use in connection with the seacoast defenses in the following localities: Philippine Islands.Philippine Islands, $600,000; Hawaiian Islands.Hawaiian Islands, $600,000. ordnance department.Armament.
Seacoast cannon.For purchase, manufacture, and test of seacoast cannon for coast defenses, including their carriages, sights, implements, equipments, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, *Proviso*.Contracts authorized.$617,000: *Provided,* That the Chief of Ordnance, United States Army, is authorized to enter into contracts and otherwise incur obligations for the purposes above mentioned not to exceed $59,000 in addition to the appropriation herein made.
Ammunition.For purchase, manufacture, and test of ammunition for seacoast cannon, including the necessary experiments in connection therewith, and the machinery necessary for its manufacture at the arsenals, *Proviso*.Contracts authorized.$2,229,000: *Provided,* That the Chief of Ordnance, United States Army, is authorized to enter into contracts and otherwise incur obligations for the purposes above mentioned not to exceed $1,000,000 in addition to the appropriations herein and heretofore made.
Altering, etc., seacoast artillery.For alteration and maintenance of the seacoast artillery, including the purchase and manufacture of machinery, tools, and materials necessary for the work, and expenses of the civilian mechanics, and extra-duty pay of enlisted men engaged thereon, $494,510. Maintenance of submarine mine supplies.For maintenance of the submarine mine material in the insular possessions, $10,000. 913 under the chief of coast artillery.Chief of Coast Artillery.
For construction of fire-control stations and accessories, includingFire-control stations. purchase of lands and rights of way, purchase and installation 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; purchase, manufacture, andRange finders. test of range finders and other instruments for fire control at the fortifications, and the machinery necessary for their manufacture at the arsenals, $31,537.
BOARD OF ORDNANCE AND FORTIFICATION.Board of Ordnance and Fortification. For all needful and proper purchases, experiments, and tests toPurchases, tests, etc. 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 the Act approvedVol. 25, p. 489.
September twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight; salaryCivilian member. of the civilian member of the board and for his necessary traveling expenses when traveling on duty as provided by the Act of FebruaryVol. 26, p. 769. twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one; necessary expenses of the board, including rent of offices in the District of Columbia, at not exceeding $900 per annum, and a per diem allowance to eachPer diem, etc. officer detailed to serve thereon, when employed on duty away from his permanent station, of $2.50; test of experimental guns, carriages,Tests, etc. and other devices procured in accordance with the recommendation of the board, $150,000, 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*Proviso*.Right to use invention. 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.
Sec. 2. That all material purchased under the 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. Sec. 3. That not to exceed $15,000 of the funds appropriated byOrdnance Office.Rent of space for draftsmen. this Act for the armament of fortifications may be expended for the rental of suitable space in Washington, District of Columbia, or for the alteration or repair of any available building owned by the Government, for the use of the drafting force of the office of the Chief of Ordnance engaged in the design of matériel appropriated for in this and other Acts: *Provided,* That the Chief of Ordnance is authorized,*Proviso*.Five-year lease. in his discretion, to enter into a contract for the lease of such suitable space for a period not to exceed five years, at an annual rental not to exceed $15,000.
Sec. 4. That appropriations in this Act shall not be expended forPrice for powder limited. powder other than small-arms powder at a price in excess of 53 cents a pound. 914 Sec. 5. Limit on price for purchases. That except as expressly otherwise authorized herein no part of the sums appropriated by this Act shall be expended in the purchase from private manufacturers of any material at a price in excess of twenty-five per centum more than the cost of manufacturing such material by the Government, or, where such material is not or has not been manufactured by the Government, at a price in excess of twenty-five per centum more than the estimated cost of manufacture *Proviso*.Waived in emergencies.by the Government: *Provided,* That whenever in the opinion of the President the situation is such as to justify such action he may waive the limitations contained in this section.
Sec. 6. Operations of arsenals not to be restricted. That expenditures for carrying out the provisions of this Act shall not be made in such manner as to prevent the operation of the Government arsenals at their most econominal rate of production, except when a special exigency requires the operation of a portion of *Proviso*.No pay to officers using time-measuring device on work of employees.an arsenal’s equipment at a different rate: *Provided,* That no part of the appropriations made in this Act shall be available for the salary or pay of any officer, manager, superintendent, foreman, or other person having charge of the work of any employee of the United States Government while making or causing to be made with a stop watch or other time-measuring device a time study of any job of any such employee between the starting and completion thereof, or of the movements of any such employee while engaged upon such work; nor shall any part of the appropriations made in this Act be available Cash rewards, etc., restricted.to pay any premium or bonus or cash reward to any employee in addition to his regular wages, except for suggestions resulting m improvements or economy in the operation of any Government plant.
Approved, February 14, 1917.