Chapter 19. To authorize and empower the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation to purchase, lease, requisition, or otherwise acquire, and to sell or otherwise dispose of improved or unimproved land, houses, buildings, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 19.— An Act To authorize and empower the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation to purchase, lease, requisition, or otherwise acquire, and to sell or otherwise dispose of improved or unimproved land, houses, buildings, and for other purposes. March 1, 1918.[[S. 3389](/us/bill/65/s/3389).][[Public, No. 102](/us/pl/65/102).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Houses, etc., for shipyard employees.Authority of Fleet Corporation.*Post*, p. 535. That the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation is hereby authorized and empowered within the limits of the amounts herein authorized—
(a)Purchase, etc., of sites for houses. To purchase, lease, requisition, including the requisition of the temporary use of, or acquire by condemnation or otherwise any improved or unimproved land or any interest therein suitable for the construction thereon of houses for the use of employees and the families of employees of shipyards in which ships are being constructed for the United States.
(b)Build houses for employees and families on acquired sites. To construct on such land for the use of such employees and their families houses and all other necessary or convenient facilities, upon such conditions and at such price as may be determined by it, and to sell, lease, or exchange such houses, land, and facilities upon such terms and conditions as it may determine.
(c)Acquire houses, etc., for use of employees. To purchase, lease, requisition, including the requisition of, the temporary use of, or acquire by condemnation or otherwise any houses or other buildings for the use of such employees and their families, together with the land on which the same are erected, or any interest therein, all necessary and proper fixtures and furnishings therefor, and all necessary and convenient facilities incidental thereto; Management of property, etc.to manage, repair, sell, lease, or exchange such lands, houses, buildings, fixtures, furnishings and facilities upon such terms and conditions as it may determine to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(d)Loans to persons providing houses, etc. To make loans to persons, firms, or corporations in such manner upon such terms and security, and for such time not exceeding ten years, as it may determine to provide houses and facilities for the employees and the families of employees of such shipyards. Determine and pay for property taken.Whenever said United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation shall acquire by requisition or condemnation such property or any interest therein, it shall determine and make just compensation therefor, and if the amount thereof so determined is unsatisfactory to the person entitled to receive the same, such 439person shall be paid seventy-five per centum of the amount so Suit, etc., if amount unsatisfactory.determined, and shall be entitled to sue the United States to recover such further sum as added to such seventy-five per centum will make such an amount as will be just compensation for the property Procedure.Vol. 36, pp. 1093, 1136.or interest therein so taken, in the manner provided by section twenty-four, paragraph twenty, and section one hundred and forty-five of the Judicial Code. That whenever the said United States Shipping Board EmergencyImmediate possession of property authorized. Fleet Corporation shall requisition any property or rights, or upon the filing of a petition for condemnation hereunder, immediate possession may be taken by it of such land, houses, or other property, rights, and facilities, to the extent of the interests to be acquired therein, and the same may be immediately occupied and used, and Restriction as to title, etc., suspended.[R. S., sec. 355, p. 60](/us/rs/s355/p6).the provisions of section three hundred and fifty-five of the Revised Statutes, providing that no public money shall be expended upon such land until the written opinion of the Attorney General shall be had in favor of the validity of the title nor until the consent of the legislature of the State in which the land is located has been given, shall be, and the same are hereby, suspended as to all land acquired hereunder. The power to acquire property by purchase, lease, requisition, or Powers to cease on termination of war.condemnation, or to construct houses, or other buildings, and to make loans, or otherwise extend aid as herein granted shall cease with the termination of the present war with Germany. The date of the conclusion of the war shall be declared by proclamation of the President. The word “person” used herein shall include a trustee, firm, or Terms construed.corporation. The word “shipyard” shall include any factory, workshop, warehouse, engine works, buildings, or grounds used for manufacturing, assembling, construction, or other process in shipyards and dockyards and discharging terminals, and other facilities connected therewith, now or hereafter used in connection with shipbuilding. That for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act the Expenditure authorized.*Post*, p. 651.Limitations.expenditure of $50,000,000 is hereby authorized, and in executing the authority granted by this Act, the said United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation shall not expend or obligate the United States to expend more than the said sum, nor shall any contract for construction be entered into which provides that the compensation of the contractor shall be the cost of construction plus a percentage thereof for profit, unless such contract shall also fix the reasonable cost of such construction as determined by the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation and provide that upon any increase in cost above the reasonable cost so fixed by such board, the percentage of profit shall decrease as the cost increases in accordance with a rate to be fixed by said board and expressed in the contract. No contract shall be let without the approval of the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation: *Provided, however*, *Provisos*.Premiums, etc., for speedy completion.That nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent said board from contracting for the payment of premiums or bonuses for the speedy completion of the work contracted for: *Provided further*, That the United States Shipping Board Emergency Report to Congress.Fleet Corporation shall report to Congress on the first Monday in December of each year the names of all persons or corporations with whom it has made contracts and of such subcontractors as may be employed in furtherance of this Act, including a statement of the Detailed statement of all expenditures in excess of $10,000.purposes and amounts thereof, together with a detailed statement of all expenditures by contract or otherwise for land, buildings, material, labor, salaries, commissions, demurrage, or other charges in excess of $10,000. Approved, March 1, 1918.