XX. ORGANIC ACT.-JOINT RESOLUTION OF MAY 1, 1900. SECTION 41.-That this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first day of May, nineteen hundred. Approved, April 12, 1900. JOINT RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AFFAIRS IN PORTO RICO PENDING THE APPOINTMENT AND QUALIFICATION OF THE CIVIL OFFICERS PROVIDED FOR IN THE ACT APPROVED APRIL TWELFTH, NINETEEN HUNDRED, ENTITLED, "AN ACT TEMPORARILY TO PROVIDE REVENUES AND A CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR PORTO RICO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: That until the officer to fill any office provided for by the Act of April twelfth, nineteen hundred, entitled "An Act temporarily to provide revenues and a civil government for Porto Rico, and for other purposes," shall have been appointed and qualified, the officer or officers now performing the civil duties pertaining to such office may continue to perform the same under the authority of said Act; and no officer of the Army shall lose his commission by reason thereof: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be held to extend the time for the appointment and qualification of any such officers beyond the first day of August, nineteen hundred. SECTION 2. That all railroad, street railway, telegraph and telephone franchises, privileges or concessions granted under section thirty-two of said Act shall be approved by the President of the United States, and no such franchise, privilege, or concession shall be operative until it shall have been so approved. SECTION 3.-That all franchises, privileges or concessions granted under section thirty-two of said Act shall provide that the same shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal; shall forbid the issue of stock or bonde, except in exchange for actual cash, or property at a fair valuation, equal in amount to the par value of the stock or bonds issued; shall forbid the declaring of stock or bond dividends; and, in the case of public-service corporations, shall provide for the effective regulation of the charges thereof and for the purchase or taking by the public authorities of their property at a fair and reasonable valuation. No corporation shall be authorized to conduct the business of buying and selling real estate or be permitted to hold or own real estate except such as may be reasonably necessary to enable it to carry out the purposes for which it was created, and every corporation hereafter authorized to engage in agriculture shall by its charter be restricted to the ownership and control of not to exceed five hundred acres of land; and this provision shall be held to prevent any member of a corporation engaged in agriculture from being in any wise interested in any other corporation engaged in agriculture. Corporations, however, may loan funds upon real estate security, and purchase real estate when necessary for the collection of loans, but they shall dispose of real estate so obtained within five years after receiving the title. Corporations not organized in Porto Rico, and doing business therein, shall be bound by the provisions of this section so far as they are applicable. Approved, May 1, 1900. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT, ENTITLED "AN ACT TEMPORARILY TO PORTO RICO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," APPROVED Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: SECTION 1.-That the salary of the commissioner of education for Porto Rico shall, from and after the first day of April, nineteen hundred and one, be four thousand dollars per annum, and in addition to the duties provided by section thirty-six of the Act of April twelfth, nineteen hundred, the executive council shall, from time to time, determine the salaries of all officials and assistants, appointed by the United States district court, including the clerk and the interpreter, which shall be paid out of the revenues of Porto Rico as other salaries and expenses of like character are paid under the provisions of said Act. SECTION 2.-That such fees and expenses as are payable by the United States, if earned or incurred in connection with a circuit or district court of the United States, shall be paid from the revenues of Porto Rico, if earned or incurred in connection with the district court of the United States for Porto Rico. That all such fees, fines, costs, and forfeitures as would be deposited to the credit of the United States, if collected and paid into a circuit or district court of the United States, shall become revenues of Porto Rico, if collected and paid into the district court of the United States for Porto Rico. The commissioners appointed, as provided in section thirty-four of said Act, approved April twelfth, nineteen hundred, shall be entitled to the fees provided for United States commissioners Provided. That payments of fees and expenses, heretofore made in good faith by the United States dis trict marshal, either from funds advanced to him by the United States or by Porto Rico, may be allowed by the accounting officers of the United States or the accounting officers of Porto Rico, as the case may be, in the settlement of his accounts. SECTION 3.-That the jurisdiction of the district court of the United States for Porto Rico in civil cases shall, in addition to that conferred by the Act of April twelfth, nineteen hundred, extend to and embrace controversies where the parties, or either of them, are citizens of the United States, or citizens or subjects of a foreign State or States, wherein the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of interests or costs, the sum or value of one thousand dollars. SECTION 4.-That jurors and witnesses in the United States district court of Porto Rico shall be entitled to and receive fifteen cents for each mile necessarily traveled over any stage line or by private conveyance and ten cents for each mile over any railway in going to and returning from said courts: Provided, That no constructive or double mileage fees shall be allowed by reason of any person being summoned both as witness and juror, or as witness in two or more cases pending in the same court and triable at the same term thereof. Approved, March 2, 1901. |
