custody, clothing, guarding, maintenance, care, and support of said prisoners; subsistence, furniture, and quarters for guards and overseers; the purchase and maintenance of farm implements, tools, equipment, live stock, seeds, and miscellaneous items; transportation and the means of transportation; the maintenance and operation of the means of transportation; and supplies and personal services, and all other necessary items, there is hereby appropriated one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, to be immediately available, payable one half from the revenues of the District of Columbia and the other half from any money in the United States Treasury not otherwise appropriated: Provided, That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby authorized to appoint a superintendent for each institution on the said sites, and to require bond from such superintendent for the faithful performance of his duty, and to employ such other personal service as may be necessary, and the supreme court of the District of Columbia, the Attorney-General, and the warden of the District of Columbia jail when so requested by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall deliver into the custody of either of said superintendents or the authorized deputy or deputies of either of said superintendents, prisoners at the time serving sentence in said jail for offenses against the common law, or against statutes or ordinances relating to the District of Columbia, for the purposes named in the law authorizing the acquisition of sites for said reformatory and workhouse; and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby vested with jurisdiction over such prisoners from the time they are so delivered into the custody of either of said superintendents, or the duly authorized deputy or deputies of said superintendents, including the time when such prisoners are in transit between the District of Columbia and the sites acquired or to be acquired for such reformatory and workhouse and during the period such prisoners are on said sites and until they are released or discharged under due process of law. And all the authority, duties, discretion and powers now vested by law in the Attorney-General of the United States in relation to prisoners in the jail of the District of Columbia serving sentence for offenses against the common law, or against statutes or ordinances relating to the District of Columbia, or held for trial in any court in the District of Columbia, and in relation to the jail of the District of Columbia, including the custody of the jail building, grounds, and appurtenances, the warden and employees thereof, and in relation to and accounting for all appropriations in connection with such prisoners, jail, warden, and employees are hereby vested in the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to take effect and be in enforced on and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and ten; and all laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions hereof are hereby repealed. And the appropriation for "Sites for a reformatory and workhouse" contained in the District appropriation act for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ten, and the appropriation for "Support of prisoners" at the jail of the District of Columbia and for "Washington Asylum" contained in the District appropriation act for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eleven, are hereby made available and may be used interchangeably for the purposes hereinbefore provided for in addition to said appropriation of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars herein made. For the installation of closets, basins, bath tubs, additional water supply system, improvements to women's cells, repairs to roof and to heating apparatus, electric wiring, and articles for use in kitchen and dining room at the jail of the District of Columbia, to be expended under the direction of said commissioners, there is hereby appropriated the sum of thirty-seven thousand two hundred and thirty dollars, to be immediately available, payable one-half from the revenues of the District of Columbia and the other half from any money in the United States Treasury not otherwise appropriated. CONSTRUCTION OF A GUNBOAT ON THE GREAT LAKES. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TRANSMITTING A COMMUNICATION FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY SUBMITTING INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A GUNBOAT ON THE GREAT LAKES, ETC. APRIL 16, 1910.-Read, referred to the Committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department, and ordered to be printed. To the House of Representatives: On March 4, 1910, your honorable body adopted the following resolution: Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested, if not incompatible with the public interest, to furnish the House of Representatives the following information: First. Why is not the appropriation for the construction of a gunboat on the Great Lakes, contained in the naval appropriation act of eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, expended? Second. What steps, if any, have been taken by the United States Government to remove the obstacles that prevented the construction of this vessel? In answer, I beg to transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Navy. THE WHITE HOUSE, April 15, 1910. WM. H. TAFT. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: Referring to the inclosed copy of a resolution by the House of Representatives, dated March 4, 1910, inquiring as to the present status of the authorization for the construction of a gunboat on the Great Lakes, contained in the naval appropriation act of 1898, I have the honor to forward the following information: When Congress authorized the construction of a gunboat on the Great Lakes, as set forth above, the department requested an opinion from the State Department as to whether or not, under the terms of the Rush-Bagot convention of 1817, the department was justified in proceeding with the construction as authorized. The reply was that such construction would be a violation of the terms of the treaty. In the year 1900 the question of the right to build such a vessel was reported to this department as "one of the matters to come before the joint commission on questions affecting the relations between the United States and Canada." This commission met, and the records of this department further show that, on January 30, 1906, the Secretary of State informed the Navy Department in regard to the action of the joint commission on this point as follows: During the proceedings of the Joint High Commission it became evident that Great Britain was prepared to stipulate for total disarmanent on the Lakes. The commission adjourned without arriving at any final conclusion on this question, but the matter is likely to come up again at any time. I therefore request that you will advise me how far, in the opinion of the department, it would be safe to go on in the direction of total disarmament in times of peace, bearing in mind the necessity for maintaining on the Lakes a sufficient naval force for police purposes and military duty in connection with possible civil disturbances in those localities and for the instruction and training of naval militia organizations and rendering the assistance which vessels of the navy are called upon to render from time to time to other branches of the government service or to the merchant marine in extraordinary emergencies. In this connection it will be understood that any agreement for disarmament would not prevent the maintenance of armed revenue cutters or of coast survey vessels and light-house tenders and such other unarmed vessels as the development of commerce on the Lakes may render necessary to the Government in the exercise of its administrative functions. In reply to the above inquiry, the department informed the Secretary of State, on February 28, 1906, that In the opinion of the Navy Department it would seem to be to the best interests of the United States if this agreement [the Rush-Bagot convention of 1817] could be terminated at once. Since the last-mentioned date the department can not learn that any steps have been taken in regard to the matter, probably because no subsequent joint commission has met to consider such matters. For full information on this subject up to 1900, reference is made to the following public documents: Document No. 163, House of Representatives, Twenty-sixth Congress, first session, of April 2, 1840, containing a message from the President of the United States, of March 28, 1840, transmitting the information required by resolution of the House of Representatives of March 9, 1840, relative to the British naval armament on the Lakes, etc. Report No. 4, House of Representatives, Thirty-seventh Congress, third session, of January 8, 1863, containing a report from the Committee on Naval Affairs relative to "the cheapest, most expeditious, and reliable mode of placing vessels of war on Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes," etc. Executive Document No. 9, Senate, Fifty-second Congress, second session, of December 7, 1892, containing a message from the President of the United States, of December 7, 1892, transmitting the information required by resolution of the Senate of April 11, 1892, in regard to the agreement between the United States and Great Britain of 1817, concerning naval force on the Great Lakes. Report No. 471, House of Representatives, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, of February 27, 1900, containing a message from the President of the United States, of February 27, 1900, in reply to a House resolution of January 15, 1900, requesting information in regard to the status of the agreement said to prohibit the building, arming, or maintaining of more than a single war vessel on the Great Lakes. The last-named document gives the status of this matter very fully up to February 27, 1900. In this connection the department finds that Document No. 471, House of Representatives, of February 27, 1900, referred to above, is out of print, except for one file copy in the Navy Department records and such other file copies as may be retained elsewhere. As this particular document is of very great historical interest, and as the original papers from which it was prepared have apparently been misplaced in the department, it is suggested that Congress be requested to authorize reprinting. Faithfully, yours, The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. G. v. L. MEYER, |