mine to be necessary and advisable in the interests of national defense, or as may be specified in the warrants. Persons in the United States, including the Philippine Islands and the Canal Zone, furnishing any of the above-mentioned facilities shall be authorized, and under rules and regulations prescribed by the United States Maritime Commission with the approval of the President may be required, to grant such priorities, anything in any contract whether heretofore or hereafter made to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 4. In the administration of this Act it shall be the policy of the Commission to make fair and reasonable provision for priorities with respect to (1) the importation of substantial quantities of strategic and critical materials, (2) the transportation of substantial quantities of materials when such transportation is requested by any defense agency, and (3) the transportation in the foreign or domestic commerce of the United States of substantial quantities of materials deemed by the Commission to be essential to the defense of the United States: Provided, That there shall be no unjust discrimination between ports of the United States. Nothing in this Act shall authorize the exaction of any sum from the holder of a warrant solely for the privilege of carrying cargo on any route. Vessels that on January 1, 1941, were engaged primarily in the coastwise transportation of coal for national defense and domestic consumption shall be granted warrants only so long as they continue in the same service as of said date, except that in case any such vessel ceased, before June 15, 1941, to engage in such transportation of coal and before such date became principally engaged in the transportation of defense materials, the Commission may grant such vessel a warrant for such service as it deems suitable pursuant to section 2.

SEC. 5. The term "citizen of the United States" as used in this Act includes corporations, partnerships, and associations existing, authorized, or organized under the laws of the United States or any State, district, Territory, or possession thereof.

SEC. 6. Whoever willfully violates any rule, regulation, or order issued under the authority conferred herein shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by imprisonment for not more than two years or both: Provided, That the District Court of the Canal Zone and the several courts of first instance of the Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands shall have jurisdiction over offenses committed against the provisions of this Act within the Canal Zone and the Philippine Islands, respectively.

Approved, July 14, 1941.

[CHAPTER 302-18T SESSION]

[H. R. 4887)

AN ACT

To authorize the construction of Coast Guard cutters necessary in the interest of national defense and for performance of Coast Guard duties, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in the interest of national defense, and to provide necessary facilities for the Coast Guard for the performance of its prescribed duties, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to construct and equip thirteen Coast Guard cutters, three of which shall be especially designed for ice breaking in the Arctic regions.

SEC. 2. The President is authorized and empowered, in the interest of the national defense, through the Commandant of the Coast Guard, to purchase, charter, requisition the use of, or the possession of, for the use of the Coast Guard in the training of Coast Guard cadets and merchant marine personnel, any foreign vessel designed as a merchant marine training ship, which is lying idle in waters within the jurisdiction of the United States: Provided, That the provisions of the Act of Congress approved June 6, 1941 (Public, Numbered 101, Seventy-seventh Congress), except the third and fourth provisos of section 1 thereof, applicable to foreign merchant vessels shall be applicable to any foreign vessel acquired under this section.

SEC. 3. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such amount as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Approved, July 15, 1941.

[CHAPTER 328-18T SESSION]

[H. R. 5256]

AN ACT

Authorizing appropriations for the United States Navy, additional shipbuilding, ship repair, and ordnance manufacturing facilities, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $300,000,000 for essential equipment and facilities at either private or naval establishments for building or equipping any complete naval vessel or portion thereof heretofore or hereafter authorized; $160,000,000 for essential equipment and facilities at either private or naval establishments for repairing, altering, or converting any vessel operated by the Navy or being prepared for naval use; and $125,000,000 for essential equipment and facilities for the manufacture or production of ordnance material, munitions, and armor at either private or naval establishments.

SEO. 2. The authority herein granted shall include the authority to acquire lands at such locations as the Secretary of the Navy, with the approval of the President, may deem best suited to the purpose, erect or extend buildings, and acquire the necessary machinery and equipment, and shall be in addition to all authority heretofore granted for these purposes.

Approved, July 29, 1941.

[CHAPTER 416-1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 3864]

AN ACT

To amend the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the registry of pursers and surgeons as staff officers on vessels of the United States, and for other purposes", approved August 1, 1939.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the registry of pursers and surgeons as staff officers on vessels of the United States, and for other purposes", approved. August 1, 1939 (Public, Numbered 251, Seventy-sixth Congress; 53 Stat. 1145), is amended to read as follows:

"That there shall be registered staff officers in the United States merchant marine in the following grades: (1) Chief purser, (2) purser, (3) senior assistant purser, (4) junior assistant purser, (5) surgeon. The Secretary of Commerce (in this Act called the Secretary) shall register, and issue certificates of registry to, qualified individuals applying for registry in such grades, as hereinafter provided, and every such individual when so registered and serving in the staff department on a vessel of the United States shall rank as a staff officer on such vessel. Officers registered under the provisions of this Act and pursers' clerks and such persons as may be assigned to the senior registered surgeon shall constitute a separate and independent department on vessels of the United States to be known as the staff department. Such staff department shall be composed of a medical division and a purser's division. The medical division shall be under the charge of the senior registered surgeon on such vessel, who shall be responsible solely to the master. The purser's division shall be under the charge of the senior registered purser on such vessel, who shall be responsible solely to the master. On oceangoing vessels licensed to carry more than one hundred passengers, such officer in charge of the purser's division of the staff department shall be a registered chief purser; and whenever more than three persons are employed in the purser's division of the staff department on such vessels, there shall be a minimum of one registered senior assistant purser and one registered junior assistant purser in such purser's division of that staff department. No person shall be eligible for registry as a staff officer under the provisions of this Act who is not a citizen of the United States." Approved, September 24, 1941.

[CHAPTER 424-1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 5425]

AN ACT

To permit the steamship Port Saunders, official number 220150, and steamship Hawk, official number 220149, to engage in the fisheries.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the steamship Port Saunders, official number 220150, and the steamship Hawk, official number 220149, may be registered or enrolled and licensed as vessels of the United States for the purpose of engaging in the fisheries as long as such vessels are owned by a citizen of the United States, native born or fully naturalized, or a corporation which is a citizen of the United States and of which 75 per centum of the interest therein is owned by citizens of the United States, as defined in section 2 (c) of the Shipping Act, 1916, as amended: Provided, That neither of these vessels may engage in the coastwise trade under penalty of forfeiture.

Approved, September 25, 1941.