computing the depreciated value of such vessel, depreciation shall be computed on each vessel on the schedule adopted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for income-tax purposes.

"The foregoing provision respecting the requisition or the acquisition of ownership by the United States shall run with the title to such vessel or vessels and be binding on all owners thereof."

SEC. 3. That section 902 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as amended (49 Stat. 2015; U. S. C., 1934 edition, Supp. IV, title 46, sec. 1242), is amended to read as follows:

"SEO. 902. (a) Whenever the President shall proclaim that the security of the national defense makes it advisable or during any national emergency declared by proclamation of the President, it shall be lawful for the Commission to requisition or purchase any vessel or other watercraft owned by citizens of the United States, or under construction within the United States, or for any period during such emergency, to requisition or charter the use of any such property. The termination of any emergency so declared shall be announced by a further proclamation by the President. When any such property or the use thereof is so requisitioned, the owner thereof shall be paid just compensation for the property taken or for the use of such property, but in no case shall the value of the property taken or used be deemed enhanced by the causes necessitating the taking or use. If any property is taken and used under authority of this section, but the ownership thereof is not required by the United States, such property shall be restored to the owner in a condition at least as good as when taken, less ordinary wear and tear, or the owner shall be paid an amount for reconditioning sufficient to place the property in such condition. The owner shall not be paid for any consequential damages arising from a taking or use of property under authority of this section.

"(b) When any vessel is taken or used under authority of this section, upon which vessel a construction-differential subsidy has been allowed and paid, the value of the vessel at the time of its taking shall be determined as provided in section 802 of this Act, and in determining the value of any vessel taken or used, on which a construction-differential subsidy has not been paid, the value of any national defense features previously paid for by the United States shall be excluded.

"(c) If any property is taken and used under authority of this section, but the ownership thereof is not required by the United States, the Commission, at the time of the taking or as soon thereafter as the exigencies of the situation may permit, shall transmit to the person entitled to the possession of such property a charter setting forth the terms which, in the Commission's judgment, should govern the relations between the United States and such person and a statement of the rate of hire which, in the Commission's judgment, will be just compensation for the use of such property and for the services required under the terms of such charter. If such person does not execute and deliver such charter and accept such rate of hire, the Commission shall pay to such person on account of just compensation a sum equal to 75 per centum of such rate of hire as the same may from time to time be due under the terms of the charter so tendered,

such further sum as added to such 75 per centum will make up such amount as will be just compensation for the use of the property and for the services required in connection with such use. In the event of loss or damage to such property, due to operation of a risk assumed by the United States under the terms of a charter prescribed in this subsection, but no valuation of such vessel or other property or mode of compensation has been agreed to, the United States shall pay just compensation for such loss or damage, to the extent the person entitled thereto is not reimbursed therefor through policies of insurance against such loss or damage.

"(d) In all cases, the just compensation authorized by this section shall be determined and paid by the Commission as soon as practicable, but if the amount of just compensation determined by the Commission is unsatisfactory to the person entitled thereto, such person shall be paid 75 per centum of the amount so determined and shall be entitled to sue the United States to recover such further sum as, added to said 75 per centum will make up such amount as will be just compensation therefor, in the manner provided for by section 24, paragraph 20, and section 145 of the Judicial Code (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 28, secs. 41, 250).

"(e) The Commission is authorized to repair, recondition, reconstruct, and operate, or charter for operation, any property acquired under authority of this section. The Commission is further authorized to transfer the possession or control of any such property to any department or agency of the Government of the United States upon such terms and conditions as may be approved by the President. In case of any such transfer the department or agency to which the transfer is made shall promptly reimburse the Commission for its expenditures on account of just compensation, purchase price, repairs, reconditioning, reconstruction, or charter hire for the property transferred. Such reimbursements shall be deposited in the construction fund established by section 206 of this Act."

[CHAPTER 558-1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 6273]

AN ACT

To exempt certain motorboats from the operation of sections 4 and 6 of the Motor Boat Act of June 9, 1910, and from certain other Acts of Congress, and to provide that certain motorboats shall not be required to carry on board copies of the pilot rules.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sections 4 and 6 of the Act of June 9, 1910 (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, secs. 514 and 516), shall not apply to motorboats propelled by outboard motors while competing in any race previously arranged and announced, or if such boats be designed and intended solely for racing, while engaged in such navigation as is incidental to the tuning up of the boats and engines for the race.

SEC. 2. Motorboats as defined by section 1 of the Act of June 9, 1910 (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 511), the Act of June 7, 1897 (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 33, ch. 3), the Act of February 8, 1895 (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 33, ch. 4), and by section 4412 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 33, ch. 5) shall not be required to carry on board copies of the pilot rules.

Approved, August 7, 1939.

[CHAPTER 643-1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 7090]

AN ACT

To amend section 4488 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 481).

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first two sentences appearing in paragraph 1 of section 4488 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 481), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4488. Every steamer navigating the ocean, or any lake, bay, or sound of the United States, shall be provided with such numbers of lifeboats, floats, rafts, life-preservers, line-carrying projectiles, and the means of propelling them, and drags, as will best secure the safety of all persons on board such vessel in case of disaster; and every seagoing vessel carrying passengers, and every such vessel navigating any of the northern or northwestern lakes, shall have the lifeboats required by law, provided with suitable boat-disengaging apparatus, so arranged as to allow such boats to be safely launched. And the Board of Supervising Inspectors shall fix and determine, by their rules and regulations, the character and arrangement of boatdisengaging apparatus and the character of lifeboats, floats, rafts, life-preservers, line-carrying projectiles, and the means of propelling them, and drags that shall be used on such vessels, and also the character and capacity of pumps or other appliances for freeing the steamer from water in case of heavy leakage, the capacity of such pumps or appliances being suited to the navigation in which the steamer is employed."

Approved, August 10, 1939.

[CHAPTER 644—1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 7091]

AN AUT

To amend section 4471 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 464).

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4471 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (U. S. C., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 464), is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4471. Every steamer permitted by her certificate of inspection to carry as many as fifty passengers, or upward, and every steamer carrying passengers, which also carries cotton, hay, or hemp, shall be provided with a good double-acting steam fire pump, or other equivalent apparatus for throwing water. Such pump or other apparatus for throwing water shall be kept at all times and at all seasons of the year in good order and ready for immediate use, having at least two pipes of suitable dimensions, one on each side of the vessel, to convey the water to the upper decks, to which pipes there shall be attached, by means of stopcocks or valves, both between decks and on the upper deck, good and suitable hose of sufficient strength to stand a pressure of not less than one hundred pounds to the square inch, long enough to reach to all parts of the vessel and properly provided with nozzles, and kept in good order and ready for immediate service. Each fire pump thus prescribed shall be supplied with water by means of a suitable pipe connected therewith, and passing through the side of the vessel so low as to be at all times under water when she is afloat. Every steamer shall also be provided with a pump which shall be of sufficient strength and suitably arranged to test the boilers thereof.

"On and after October 1, 1937, every passenger vessel with berthed or stateroom accommodation for fifty or more passengers shall be equipped with an automatic sprinkler system, which shall be in addition to any other device or devices for fire protection, of a type prescribed by the Board of Supervising Inspectors and approved by the Secretary of Commerce. All enclosed portions of such vessels accessible to passengers or crew (except cargo holds, machinery spaces, and, when of fire-resisting construction, toilets, bathrooms, and spaces of similar construction) shall be protected by an automatic sprinkler system: Provided, That if after investigation the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation finds in the case of a particular vessel the application of this paragraph is unnecessary properly to protect life on such vessel, an exception may be made. The Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation shall cause to be made suitable tests and inspections as will insure the proper working of such systems. In carrying out the provisions of this paragraph the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation is hereby authorized and directed to prescribe the particular approved type, character, and manner of installa