[PUBLIC LAW 619-81ST CONGRESS]

[CHAPTER 486-2D SESSION]

[8. 2201]

AN ACT

To amend section 2 of the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449), to provide base authority for the performance of certain functions and activities of the Department of Commerce, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 2 of the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449), as amended, be, and the same hereby is, further amended so as to read in full as follows:

"SEO. 2. The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the 'Secretary') is authorized to undertake the following functions:

"(a) The custody, maintenance, and development of the national standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the comparison of standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government.

"(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere.

"(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of materials, supplies, and equipment, including items purchased for use of Government departments and independent establishments.

"(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with private organizations in the establishment of standard practices, incorporated in codes and specifications.

"(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical problems.

"(f) Invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government.

"In carrying out the functions enumerated in this section, the Secretary is authorized to undertake the following activities and similar ones for which need may arise in the operations of Government agencies, scientific institutions, and industrial enterprises:

"(1) the construction of physical standards;

"(2) the testing, calibration, and certification of standards and standard measuring apparatus;

"(3) the study and improvement of instruments and methods of measurements;

"(4) the investigation and testing of railroad track scales, elevator scales, and other scales used in weighing commodities for interstate shipment;

"(5) cooperation with the States in securing uniformity in weights and measures laws and methods of inspection;

"(6) the preparation and distribution of standard samples such as those used in checking chemical analyses, temperature, color, viscosity, heat of combustion, and other basic properties of materials; also the preparation and sale or other distribution of standard instruments, apparatus and materials for calibration of measuring equipment;

"(7) the development of methods of chemical analysis and synthesis of materials, and the investigation of the properties of rare substances;

"(8) the study of methods of producing and of measuring high and low temperatures; and the behavior of materials at high and at low temperatures;

"(9) the investigation of radiation, radioactive substances, and X-rays, their uses, and means of protection of persons from their harmful effects;

"(10) the study of the atomic and molecular structure of the chemical elements, with particular reference to the characteristics of the spectra emitted, the use of spectral observations in determining chemical composition of materials, and the relation of molecular structure to the practical usefulness of materials;

(11) the broadcasting of radio signals of standard frequency; "(12) the investigation of the conditions which affect the transmission of radio waves from their source to a receiver;

"(13) the compilation and distribution of information on such transmission of radio waves as a basis for choice of frequencies to be used in radio operations;

"(14) the study of new technical processes and methods of fabrication of materials in which the Government has a special interest; also the study of methods of measurement and technical processes used in the manufacture of optical glass and pottery, brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay products;

"(15) the determination of properties of building materials and structural elements, and encouragement of their standardization and most effective use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of building materials and conditions under which they may be most efficiently used, and the standardization of types of appliances for fire prevention;

(16) metallurgical research, including study of alloy steels and light metal alloys; investigation of foundry practice, casting, rolling, and forging; prevention of corrosion of metals and alloys; behavior of bearing metals; and development of standards for metals and sands;

"(17) the operation of a laboratory of applied mathematics;

"(18) the prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may be necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein; and

"(19) the compilation and publication of general scientific and technical data resulting from the performance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when such data are of importance to scientific or manufacturing interests or to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including demonstration of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise as may be deemed most effective."

SEO. 2. The Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449), as amended, be, and the same hereby is, further amended by inserting at the end thereof the following sections:

"SEC. 11. For all services rendered for other Government agencies by the Secretary in the performance of functions specified herein, the Department of Commerce may be reimbursed in accordance with section 601 of the Economy Act of June 30, 1932.

"SEC. 12. In the absence of specific agreement to the contrary, equipment purchased by the Department of Commerce from transferred or advanced funds in order to carry out an investigation authorized herein for another Government agency shall become the property of the Department of Commerce for use in subsequent investigations.

"SEC. 13. (a) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to accept and utilize gifts or bequests of real or personal property for the purpose of aiding and facilitating the work authorized herein.

"(b) For the purpose of Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, gifts and bequests accepted by the Secretary of Commerce under the authority of this Act shall be deemed to be gifts and bequests to or for the use of the United States."

Approved July 22, 1950.

[CHAPTER 721-2D SESSION]

(H. R. 8767)

AN ACT

To authorize the exclusion from the mails of all obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy, or vile articles, matters, things, devices, or substances, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, upon evidence satisfactory to the Postmaster General that any person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association is obtaining, or attempting to obtain, remittances of money or property of any kind through the mails for any obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy, or vile article, matter, thing, device, or substance, or is depositing or is causing to be deposited in the United States mails information as to where, how, or from whom the same may be obtained, the Postmaster General

may

(a) instruct postmasters at any post office at which registered letters or any other letters or mail matter arrive directed to any such person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association, or to the agent or representative of such person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association, to return all such mail matter to the postmaster at the office at which it was originally mailed, with the word "Unlawful" plainly written or stamped upon the outside thereof, and all such mail matter so returned to such postmasters shall be by them returned to the senders thereof, under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe; and

(b) forbid the payment by any postmaster to any such person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association, or to the agent or representative of such person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association, of any money order or postal note drawn to the order of such person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association, or to the agent or representative of such person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association, and the Postmaster General may provide by regulation for the return to the remitters of the sums named in such money orders or postal notes.

Approved August 16, 1950.

(445)

[PUBLIC LAW 748-81ST CONGRESS]

[CHAPTER 835-2D SESSION]

[H. R. 8417]

AN ACT

To amend part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, with respect to the regulation of motor carriers engaged in commerce to and from the Territories and possessions of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) section 203 (a) (8) of part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows:

"(8) The term 'State' means any of the several States or the District of Columbia; and the term 'United States' means the several States and the District of Columbia."

(b) Section 203 (a) (11) of such part II is amended to read as follows:

"(11) The term 'foreign commerce' means commerce, whether such commerce moves wholly by motor vehicle or partly by motor vehicle and partly by rail, express, or water, (A) between any place in the United States and any place in a foreign country, or between places in the United States through a foreign country; or (B) between any place in the United States and any place in a Territory or possession of the United States insofar as such transportation takes place within the United States."

SEC. 2. Paragraph (a) of section 206 of such part II is hereby amended by inserting "(1)" after "(a)" where it appears at the beginning of such paragraph, and by inserting at the end of such paragraph two subparagraphs as follows:

"(2) Unless otherwise specifically indicated in such certificate, the holder of any certificate heretofore issued under this part, or hereafter issued under this part pursuant to an application filed on or before the date on which this paragraph takes effect, authorizing the holder thereof to engage as a common carrier by motor vehicle in the transportation in interstate or foreign commerce of passengers or property over any route or routes or within any territory, may without making application under this section engage, to the same extent and subject to the same terms, conditions, and limitations, as a common carrier by motor vehicle in the transportation of passengers or property, as the case may be, over such route or routes or within such territory, in commerce between places in the United States and places in Territories or possessions of the United States.

"(3) Subject to the provisions of section 210, if any person (or its predecessor in interest) was in bona fide operation on March 1, 1950, over any route or routes or within any territory, as a common carrier engaged in the transportation of passengers or property by motor vehicle in commerce between any place in the United States and any place in a Territory or possession of the United States, and has so operated since that time (or if engaged in furnishing seasonal service