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United States, and shall have, in addition to the ordinary jurisdiction of district courts of the United States, jurisdiction of all cases cognizant in the circuit courts of the United States, and shall proceed therein in the same manner as a circuit court. The laws of the United States relating to appeals, writs of error and certiorari, removal of causes, and other matters and proceedings as between the courts of the United States and the courts of the several States shall govern in such matters and proceedings as between the district court of the United States and the courts of Porto Rico. Regular terms of said court shall be held at San Juan, commencing on the second Monday in April and October of each year, and also at Ponce on the second Monday in January of each year, and special terms may be held at Mayaguez at such other stated times as said judge may deem expedient. All pleadings and proceedings in said court shall be conducted in the English language.

The United States district court hereby established shall be the successor to the United States provisional court established by General Orders, Numbered Eighty-eight, promulgated by BrigadierGeneral Davis, United States Volunteers, and shall take possession of all records of that court, and take jurisdiction of all cases and proceedings pending therein, and said United States provisional court is hereby discontinued.

SEC. 35. That writs of error and appeals from the final decisions of the supreme court of Porto Rico and the district court of the United States shall be allowed and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same manner and under the same regulations and in the same cases as from the supreme courts of the Territories of the United States; and such writs of error and appeal shall be allowed in all cases where the Constitution of the United States, or a treaty thereof, or an Act of Congress is brought in question and the right claimed thereunder is denied; and the supreme and district courts of Porto Rico and the respective judges thereof may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are grantable by the judges of the district and circuit courts of the United States. All such proceedings in the Supreme Court of the United States shall be conducted in the English language.

SEC. 36. That the salaries of all officials of Porto Rico not appointed by the President, including deputies, assistants, and other help, shall be such, and be so paid out of the revenues of Porto Rico, as the executive council shall from time to time determine: Provided, however, That the salary of no officer shall be either increased or diminished during his term of office. The salaries of all officers and all expenses of the offices of the various officials of Porto Rico, appointed as herein provided by the President, including deputies, assistants, and other help, shall also be paid out of the revenues of Porto Rico on the warrant of the auditor, countersigned by the governor.

The annual salaries of the officials appointed by the President, and so to be paid, shall be as follows:

The governor, eight thousand dollars; in addition thereto he shall be entitled to the occupancy of the buildings heretofore used by the chief executive of Porto Rico, with the furniture and effects therein, free of rental.

The secretary, four thousand dollars.

The attorney-general, four thousand dollars.
The treasurer, five thousand dollars.

The auditor, four thousand dollars.

The commissioner of the interior, four thousand dollars.
The commissioner of education, three thousand dollars.

The chief justice of the supreme court, five thousand dollars. The associate justices of the supreme court (each), four thousand five hundred dollars.

The marshal of the supreme court, three thousand dollars. The United States district judge, five thousand dollars. The United States district attorney, four thousand dollars. The United States district marshal, three thousand five hundred dollars.

SEC. 37. That the provisions of the foregoing section shall not apply to the municipal officials. Their salaries and the compensation of their deputies, assistants, and other help, as well as all other expenses incurred by the municipalities, shall be paid out of the municipal revenues in such manner as the legislative assembly shall provide.

SEC. 38. That no export duties shall be levied or collected on exports from Porto Rico; but taxes and assessments on property, and license fees for franchises, privileges, and concessions may be imposed for the purposes of the insular and municipal governments, respectively, as may be provided and defined by act of the legislative assembly; and where necessary to anticipate taxes and revenues, bonds and other obligations may be issued by Porto Rico or any municipal government therein as may be provided by law to provide for expenditures authorized by law, and to protect the public credit, and to reimburse the United States for any moneys which have been or may be expended out of the emergency fund of the War Department for the relief of the industrial conditions of Porto Rico caused by the hurricane of August eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine: Provided, however, That no public indebtedness of Porto Rico or of any municipality thereof shall be authorized or allowed in excess of seven per centum of the aggregate tax valuation of its property.

SEC. 39. That the qualified voters of Porto Rico shall, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, anno Domini nineteen hundred, and every two years thereafter, choose a resident commissioner to the United States, who shall be entitled to official recognition as such by all Departments, upon presentation to the Department of State of a certificate of election of the governor of Porto Rico, and who shall be entitled to a salary, payable monthly by the United States, at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum: Provided, That no person shall be eligible to such election who is not a bona fide citizen of Porto Rico, who is not thirty years of age, and who does not read and write the English language.

SEC. 40. That a commission, to consist of three members, at least one of whom shall be a native citizen of Porto Rico, shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to compile and revise the laws of Porto Rico; also the various codes of procedure and systems of municipal government now in force, and to frame and report such legislation as may be necessary to make a simple, harmonious, and economical government, establish

justice and secure its prompt and efficient administration, inaugurate a general system of education and public instruction, provide buildings and funds therefor, equalize and simplify taxation and all the methods of raising revenue, and make all other provisions that may be necessary to secure and extend the benefits of a republican form of government to all the inhabitants of Porto Rico; and all the expenses of such commissioners, including all necessary clerks and other assistants that they may employ, and a salary to each member of the commission at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum, shall be allowed and paid out of the treasury of Porto Rico as a part of the expenses of the government of Porto Rico. And said commission shall‍ make full and final report, in both the English and Spanish languages, of all its revisions, compilations, and recommendations, with explanatory notes as to the changes and the reasons therefor, to the Congress on or before one year after the passage of this Act.

SEC. 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.

TEMPORARY PROVISION FOR CIVIL AFFAIRS IN PORTO RICO

1900

[FIFTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION]

[No. 23.] 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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 bonds, 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.

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