spectively, 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. Section 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. Section 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. 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 17 TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AFFAIRS IN PORTO RICO Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 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 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 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 PROVIDE REVENUES AND A CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR PORTO RICO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," APPROVED APRIL TWELFTH, NINETEEN HUNDRED, AND TO INCREASE THE SALARY OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION PROVIDED FOR BY SAID ACT. 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 the 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 the 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 district 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. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TEMPORARILY TO PROVIDE REVENUES AND A CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR PORTO RICO, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," APPROVED APRIL TWELFTH, NINETEEN HUNDRED. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled: Section 1.-That the Act entitled "An Act temporarily to provide revenues and a civil government for Porto Rico, and for other purposes," approved April twelfth, nineteen hundred, is hereby amended by inserting at the end of section thirty-one of said Act the following additional proviso: And provided further, That if at the termination of any fiscal year the appropriations necessary for the support of Government for the ensuing fiscal year shall not have been made an amount equal to the sums appropriated in the last appropriation bill for such purpose shall be deemed to be appropriated; and until the Legislature shall act in such behalf the Treasurer may, with the advice of the Governor, make the payments necessary for the purposes aforesaid. Section 2. That all reports required by law to be made by the Governor or members of the Executive Council of Porto Rico to any official in the United States shall hereafter be made to an executive department of the Government of the United States to be designated by the President and the President is hereby authorized to place all matters pertaining to the Government of Porto Rico in the jurisdiction of such department. Approved, July 15, 1909. AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR HOLDING THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR PORTO RICO DURING THE ABSENCE FROM THE ISLAND OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE AND FOR THE TRIAL OF CASES IN THE EVENT OF THE DISQUALIFICATION OR OF INABILITY TO ACT BY THE SAID JUDGE. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the United States district judge of the district of Porto Rico shall be absent from the said district, and that fact shall be made to appear by the certificate in writing of the United States attorney or marshal of that district, filed in the office of the clerk of the United States district court for said district, or when for any reason the said judge shall or may be disqualified or unable to act as such in any cause pending in the district court of the United States for Porto Rico, and that fact shall be made to appear either by proper order entered in the record of said cause by the regular district judge, or by the certificate in writing of the United States attorney or marshal of that district filed in the office of the clerk of the United States district court for said district, the Governor of Porto Rico may, by writing filed in the said clerk's office, designate a justice of the Supreme Court of Porto Rico either as temporary judge of said district court or as special judge thereof; and the temporary judge so designated as aforesaid shall have and may exercise within said district, during the absence of the regular district judge, all the power of every kind by law vested in said district judge, and after the return of said district judge to said district, shall continue to have and exercise said powers with respect to any cause, the trial of which shall have been commenced before him or which shall have been submitted to him for decision prior to the return of said district judge; and the special judge so designated as aforesaid shall have and may exercise within said district all the power of every kind by law vested in said district judge with respect to any cause named in the writing by the Governor, filed as aforesaid, designating the said special judge as aforesaid: Provided, That no additional compensation shall be paid to either such temporary district judge or special district judge for services rendered pursuant to such designation. Approved, January 7, 1913. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO CODIFY, REVISE, AND AMEND THE LAWS RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY," APPROVED MARCH THIRD, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND ELEVEN. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first subdivision of section one hundred and sixteen of an Act entitled "An Act to codify, revise, and amend the laws relating to the judiciary,' approved March third, nineteen hundred and eleven, is hereby amended to read as follows: "First. The first circuit shall include the districts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Porto Rico." SEC. 2. That sections one hundred and twenty-eight, two hundred and thirty-eight, and two hundred and forty-six of the Act aforesaid are hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 128. The circuit courts of appeals shall exercise appellate jurisdiction to review by appeal or writ of error final decisions in the |