torpedo or fortification or harbor-defense system owned or constructed or in process of construction by the United States, or shall willfully interfere with the operation or use of any such submarine mine, torpedo, fortification, or harbor-defense system, or shall knowingly, willfully, or or wantonly violate any duly authorized and promulgated order or regulation of the President governing persons or vessels within the limits of defensive sea areas, which defensive sea areas are hereby authorized to be established by order of the President from time to time as may be necessary in his discretion for purposes of national defense, shall be punished, on conviction thereof in a district or circuit court of appeals of the United States for the district or circuit in which the offense was committed, or into which the offender is first brought, by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or by both, in the discretion of the court." Act defining the application of the neutrality laws to subjects of co-belligerents with the United States, May 7, 1917. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section ten of chapter two of an act entitled “An act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States," approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine, be amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 10. Whoever, within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States, enlists or enters himself, or hires or retains another person to enlist or enter himself, or to go beyond the limits of jurisdiction of the United States with intent to be enlisted or entered in the service of any foreign prince, State, colony, district, or people as a soldier or as a marine or seaman on board of any vessel of war, letter of marque, or privateer shall be fined not more than $1,000 and imprisoned not more than three years: Provided, That this section shall not apply to citizens or subjects of any country engaged in war with a country with which the United States is at war, unless such citizen or subject of such foreign country shall hire or solicit a citizen of the United States to enlist or go beyond the jurisdiction of the United States with intent to enlist or enter the service of a foreign country. Enlistments under this provision shall be under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of War." Approved, May 7, 1917. Regulation relating to anchorage and navigation of vessels in waters of United States, February 25, 1918. [Official United States Bulletin, No. 245, To collectors of customs and others concerned: p. 3.] FEBRUARY 25, 1918. In accordance with Title II, section 1, of the so-called espionage act approved June 15, 1917, 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 to better enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes," and with the Executive order dated December 3, 1917, the following rules and regulations are promulgated: 1. All existing rules and regulations governing anchorages and movements of vessels in the navigable waters of the United States established by lawful authority are hereby reaffirmed and continued in force during the period of the present war, under the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury by the aforesaid act and Executive order. 2. The following persons are hereby authorized to enforce the rules and regulations governing the anchorage of vessels herein reaffirmed or promulgated: (a) For the port and harbor of New York and vicinity, the officer designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as captain of the port. (b) For the port of Norfolk, Hampton Roads, and vicinity the officer designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as captain of the port. (c) For all other ports and territorial waters of the United States, the collectors of customs for the district in which such port and waters are located, or the captain of the port when such officer has been designated by the Secretary of the Treasury. INSPECTION OF VESSELS. 3. The collector of customs, through the captain of the port, or other agency acting for the collector, is hereby authorized to inspect and search at any time any vessel, foreign or domestic, or any person or package thereon, within the territorial waters of the United States, to place guards upon such vessels, and to remove therefrom any or all persons not specially authorized by him to go or to remain on board thereof. 4. The collector of customs, through the captain of the port, or other agency acting for the collector, is hereby authorized to take full possession and control of any vessel, foreign or domestic, in the territorial waters of the United States, whenever, in his judgment, such action is necessary in order to secure such vessel from damage or injury, or to prevent damage or injury to any harbor or waters of the United States or to secure the observance of the rights and obligations of the United States. 5. The collector of customs shall refuse clearance to any vessel having on board inflammable and explosive articles so laden or stowed as to render the same unnecessarily dangerous to navigation, and may also refuse clearance to any vessel bound for a foreign port with any person on board, either as officer, member of the crew, or passenger, whose departure from the United States on such vessel has been determined by the action of the proper Federal authorities to be inimical to the interests of the United States in the conduct of the war. 6. The Secretary of the Treasury may require all lighters, barges, tugs, motor boats, sailboats, and similar craft operating in the harbor or waters of any port of entry. to be especially licensed by the collector of customs for such purpose, and may revoke any license so granted for any failure to comply with the anchorage or harbor regulations for such port, or to obey the orders of the captain of the port in such regard, or for any act inimical to the interests of the United States in the conduct of the war. W. G. MCADOO, Secretary of the Treasury. Approved: WOODROW WILSON, 26 FEBRUARY, 1918. President. Executive order establishing defensive sea area, June 29, 1918. [Official United States Bulletin, No. 350, p. 1.] In accordance with the authority vested in me by section forty-four1 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, as amended by the act "Making appropriations for the naval service for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and for other purposes," approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, I Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, do order that the defensive sea area at Chesapeake entrance and the defensive sea area at Hampton Roads, established by Executive order under date of April fifth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, be hereby abolished. 2 And further, I do order established, subject to the same disclaimer of responsibility for damage inflicted as proclaimed in said order of April fifth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, a defensive sea area, to be maintained until further notification, at the place and within the limits described as follows-that is to say: Lower Chesapeake: Outer limit.-Line parallel to that joining Cape Henry Light and Cape Charles Light and 4 nautical miles to eastward thereof, and the lines from Cape Charles Light and from Cape Henry Light perpendicular to this line. Inner limits.-Line tangent to end of wharf on west side of Old Point Comfort and Fort Wool, and a line running from Back River Light through the Light Vessel marking the southern end of the 35-foot cut known as the Baltimore Channel, thence to the eastern shore of Virginia. And I do further order that the "Regulations for Carrying into Effect the Executive Order of the President Establishing Defensive Sea Areas," approved by me April 5, 1917,2 duly promulgated and published, are and shall be considered as of full effect and binding on all 1 Supra, p. 161. "Naval War College International Law Documents, 1917, p. 233, 237. persons and vessels within the limits of the defensive sea area hereby established. The designated points for ships entering and leaving the defensive sea area herein established shall be as follows: Eastern limit.-Chesapeake Bay main ship channel entrance buoy. Western limit.-In channel to northwestward of entrance buoy of dredged channel, Elizabeth River. Northern limit.-Light vessel marking the southern end of the 35-foot cut known as the Baltimore Channel, thence to the eastern shore of Virginia. THE WHITE HOUSE, June 29, 1918. WOODROW WILSON. Proclamation putting into effect law to prevent the acquisition of national ships or yards by foreign interests, August 7, 1918. (Official U. S. Bulletin, No. 386, p. 2.) By the President of the United States of America: A PROCLAMATION. Whereas, an act of Congress, entitled "Shipping act, 1916, " approved September 7, 1916, as amended by an act of Congress entitled "An act to amend the act approved September 7, 1916, entitled, 'An act to establish a United States Shipping Board for the purpose of encouraging, developing, and creating a naval auxiliary and naval reserve and a merchant marine to meet the requirements of the commerce of the United States with its territories and possessions and with foreign countries; to regulate carriers by water in the foreign and interstate commerce of the United States; and for other purposes,' approved July 15, 1918, contains the following provisions: SEC. 37. That when the United States is at war or during any national emergency, the existence of which is declared by proclamation of the President, it shall be unlawful, without first obtaining the approval of the board: (a) To transfer or to place under any foreign registry or flag any vessel owned in whole or in part by any person a citizen of the United States or by a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State, Territory, District, or possession thereof; or (b) To sell, mortgage, lease, charter, deliver, or in any manner transfer, or agree to sell, mortgage, lease, charter, deliver, or in any manner transfer, to any person not a citizen of the United States (1) any such vessel or any interest therein, or (2) any vessel documented under the laws of the United States, or any interest therein, or (3) any shipyard, dry dock, shipbuilding or ship-repairing plant or facilities, or any interest therein; or (c) To enter into any contract, agreement, or understanding to construct a vessel within the United States for or to be delivered to any person not a citizen of the United States, without expressly stipulating that such construction shall not begin until after the war or emergency proclaimed by the President has ended; or (d) To make any agreement, or effect any understanding whereby there is vested in or for the benefit of any person not a citizen of the United States, the controlling interest or a majority of the voting power in a corporation which is organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State, Territory, District, or possession thereof, and which owns any vessel, shipyard, dry dock, or ship-building or ship-repairing plant or facili ties; or (e) To cause or procure any vessel constructed in whole or in part within the United States, which has never cleared for any foreign port, to depart from a port of the United States before it has been documented under the laws of the United States. And whereas the destruction of maritime tonnage during the present war has rendered it imperative that the American merchant marine be retained under American control and free from alien influence; Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, acting under authority conferred in me by said act, do hereby proclaim that a state of war and a national emergency within the meaning of said act do now exist, and I do hereby enjoin all persons from doing of the things in said act declared to be unlawful. For the purposes of said act of Congress, the national emergency herein proclaimed shall be deemed to continue until its termination has been evidenced by a proclamation of the President. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done in the District of Columbia this 7th day of August, in the year of our Lord 1918, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-third. [SEAL.] By the President: FRANK L. POLK, Acting Secretary of State. WOODROW WILSON. REQUISITION OF FOREIGN VESSELS. Proclamation taking over Dutch vessels, March 20, 1918.1 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas the law and practice of nations accords to a belligerent power the right in times of military exigency and for purposes essential to the prosecution of war to take over and utilize neutral vessels lying within its jurisdiction; And whereas the act of Congress of June 15, 1917, entitled "An act making appropriations to supply urgent deficiencies in appropriations for the Military and Naval Establishments on account of war expenses for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for the other purposes," confers upon the President power to take over the possession of any vessel within the jurisdiction of the United States for use or operation by the United States: Now therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, in accordance with international law and practice, and 1 See also correspondence with the Netherlands Government respecting the requisitioning of ships by the associated governments, British Parl. Pap., Misc. No. 11 (1918); correspondence with the Netherlands Government regarding the requisitioning by His Majesty's Government of British owned or chiefly British owned ships under neutral flags, British Parl. Pap., Misc. No. 5 (1918). |