Sec. 23. Nothing contained in this title shall be held to repeal or impair any existing provisions of law regulating search and the issue of search warrants.

TITLE XII.

USE OF MAILS.

Section. 1. Every letter, writing, circular, postal card, picture, print, engraving, photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter or thing, of any kind, in violation of any of the provisions of this Act is hereby declared to be nonmailable matter and shall not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any post office or by any letter carrier: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to authorize any person other than an employé of the Dead Letter Office, duly authorized thereto, or other person upon a search warrant authorized by law, to open any letter not addressed to himself.

Sec. 2. Every letter, writing, circular, postal card, picture, print, engraving, photograph, newspaper, pamphlet, book, or other publication, matter or thing, of any kind, containing any matter advocating or urging treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States, is hereby declared to be nonmailable.

Sec. 3. Whoever shall use or attempt to use the mails or Postal Service of the United States for the transmission of any matter declared by this title to be nonmailable, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Any person violating any provision of this title may be tried and punished either in the district in which the unlawful matter or publication was mailed, or to which it was carried by mail for delivery according to the direction thereon, or in which it was caused to be delivered by mail to the person to whom it was addressed.

TITLE XIII.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

Section 1. The term "United States" as used in this Act includes the Canal Zone and all territory and waters, continental or insular, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Sec. 2. The several courts of first instance in the Philippine Islands and the district court of the Canal Zone shall have jurisdiction of offenses under this Act committed within their respective districts, and concurrent jurisdiction with the district courts of the United States of offenses under this Act committed upon the high seas, and of conspiracies to commit such offenses, as defined by section thirty-seven of the Act entitled "An Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States," approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine, and the provisions of said section, for the purpose of this Act, are hereby extended to the Philippine Islands, and to the Canal Zone. In such cases the district attorneys of the Philippine Islands and of the Canal Zone shall have the powers and perform the duties provided in this Act for United States attorneys.

Sec. 3. Offenses committed and penalties, forfeitures, or liabilities incurred prior to the taking effect hereof under any law embraced in

or changed, modified, or repealed by any chapter of this Act may be prosecuted and punished, and suits and proceedings for causes arising or acts done or committed prior to the taking effect hereof may be commenced and prosecuted, in the same manner and with the same effect as if this Act had not been passed.

Sec. 4. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of this Act shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. Approved, June 15, 1917.

[Public-No. 150-65th Congress. H. R. 8753.]

An Act to amend section three, title one, of the Act entitled "An Act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality, and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes," approved June fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen and for other purposes. [May 16, 1918.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section three of title one of the Act entitled "An Act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality, and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes," approved June fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"Sec. 3. Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements, or say or do anything except by way of bona fide and not disloyal advice to an investor or investors, with intent to obstruct the sale by the United States of bonds or other securities of the United States or the making of loans by or to the United States, and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause, or attempt to cause, or incite or attempt to incite, insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct or attempt to obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy of the United States, or any language intended to bring the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag of the United States, or the uniform

of the Army or Navy of the United States into contempt, scorn, contumely, or disrepute, or shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any language intended to incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the United States, or to promote the cause of its enemies, or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully by utterance, writing, printing, publication, or language spoken, urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production in this country of any thing or things, product or products, necessary or essential to the prosecution of the war in which the United States may be engaged, with intent by such curtailment to cripple or hinder the United States in the prosecution of the war, and whoever shall willfully advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated, and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more by $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both: Provided, That any employee or of ficial of the United States Government who commits any disloyal act or utters any unpatriotic or disloyal language, or who, in an abusive. and violent manner criticizes the Army or Navy or the flag of the United States shall be at once dismissed from the service. Any such employee shall be dismissed by the head of the department in which the employee may be engaged, and any such official shall be dismissed by the authority having power to appoint a successor to the dismissed official."

Sec. 2. That section one of Title XII and all other provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality, and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes," approved June fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, which apply to section three of Title I thereof shall apply with equal force and effect to said section three as amended.

Title XII of the said Act of June fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto the following section:

Sec. 4. When the United States is at war, the Postmaster General may, upon evidence satisfactory to him that any person or concern is using the mails in violation of any of the provisions of this Act, instruct the postmaster at any post office at which mail is received addressed to such person or concern to return to the postmaster at the office at which they were originally mailed all letters or other matter so addressed, with the words 'Mail to this address undeliverable. under Espionage Act' plainly written or stamped upon the outside thereof, and all such letters or other matter so returned to such postmasters shall be by them returned to the senders thereof under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe."

Approved, May 16, 1918.

10. LAND CONDEMNATION ACT

[Public No. 26-65th Congress. S. 2453.]

An Act to authorize condemnation proceedings of lands for military purposes. [July 2, 1917.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the Secretary of War may cause proceedings to be instituted in the name of the United States, in any court having jurisdiction of such proceedings for the acquirement by condemnation of any land, temporary use thereof or other interest therein, or right pertaining thereto, needed for the site, location, construction, or prosecution of works for fortifications, coast defenses, and military training camps, such proceedings to be prosecuted in accordance with the laws relating to suits for the condemnation of property of the States wherein the proceedings may be instituted: Provided, That when the owner of such land, interest or rights pertaining thereto shall fix a price for the same, which, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, shall be reasonable, he may purchase or enter into a contract for the use of the same at such price without further delay: Provided further, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to accept on behalf of the United States donations of land and the interest and rights pertaining thereto required for the above-mentioned purposes: And provided further, That when such property is acquired in time of war or the imminence thereof upon the filing of the petition for the condemnation of any land, temporary use thereof or other interest therein or right pertaining thereto to be acquired for any of the purposes aforesaid, immediate possession thereof may be taken to the extent of the interest to be acquired. and the lands may be occupied and used for military purposes, and the provision 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 during the period of the existing emergency.

Approved, July 2, 1917.

11. PRIORITY SHIPMENT ACT

[Public-No. 39-65th Congress. S. 2356.]

An Act to amend the Act to regulate commerce as amended, and for other purposes. [August 10, 1917.]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section one of the act entitled "An Act to regulate commerce," approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, as heretofore amended, bet further amended by adding thereto the following: * *

*

"That during the continuance of the war in which the United States

is now engaged the President is authorized, if he finds it necessary for the national defense and security, to direct that such traffic or such shipments of commodities as, in his judgment, may be essential to the national defense and security shall have preference or priority in transportation by any common carrier by railroad, water, or otherwise. He may give these directions at and for such times as he may determine, and may modify, change, suspend, or annul them, and for any such purpose he is hereby authorized to issue orders direct, or through such person or persons as he may designate for the purpose or through the Interstate Commerce Commission. Officials of the United States, when so designated, shall receive no compensation for their services rendered hereunder. Persons not in the employ of the United States so designated shall receive such compensation as the President may fix. Suitable offices may be rented and all necessary expenses, including compensation of persons so designated, shall be paid as directed by the President out of funds which may have been or may be provided to meet expenditures for the national security and defense. The common carriers subject to the Act to regulate commerce or as many of them as desire so to do are hereby authorized without responsibility or liability on the part of the United States, financial or otherwise, to establish and maintain in the city of Washington during the period of the war an agency empowered by such carriers as join in the arrangement to receive on behalf of them all notice and service of such orders and directions as may be issued in accordance with this Act and service upon such agency shall be good service as to all the carriers joining in the establishment thereof. And it shall be the duty of any and all the officers, agents, or employees of such carriers by railroad or water or otherwise to obey strictly and conform promptly to such orders, and failure knowingly and willfully to comply therewith, or to do or perform whatever is necessary to the prompt execution of such order, shall render such officers, agents, or employees guilty of a misdemeanor, and any such officer, agent, or employee shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. For the transportation of persons or property in carrying out the orders and directions of the President, just and reasonable rates shall be fixed by the Interstate Commerce Commission; and if the transportation be for the Government of the United States, it shall be paid for currently or monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any funds not otherwise appropriated. Any carrier complying with any such order or direction for preference or priority herein authorized shall be exempt from any and all provisions in existing law imposing civil or criminal pains, penalties, obligations, or liabilities upon carriers by reason of giving preference or priority in compliance with such order or direction."

Approved, August 10, 1917.