ing acts of Congress affecting Porto Rico, the present incumbents of those offices shall continue in office in accordance with the terms and at the salaries prescribed by this act, excepting the heads of those departments who are to be appointed by the governor and who shall continue in office only until their successors are appointed and have qualified. The offices of secretary of Porto Rico and director of labor, charities, and correction are hereby abolished. Authority is given to the respective appointing authorities to appoint and commission persons to fill the new offices created by this act.

SEC. 53. That any bureau or office belonging to any of the regular departments of the government, or hereafter created, or not assigned, may be transferred or assigned to any department by the governor with the approval of the Senate of Porto Rico.

SEC. 54. That deeds and other instruments affecting land situate in the District of Columbia, or any other territory or possession of the United States, may be acknowledged in Porto Rico before any notary public appointed therein by proper authority, or any officer therein who has ex officio the powers of a notary public: Provided, That the certificate by such notary shall be accompanied by the certificate of the executive secretary of Porto Rico to the effect that the notary taking such acknowledgment is in fact such notarial officer.

SEC. 55. That nothing in this act shall be deemed to impair or interrupt the jurisdiction of existing courts over matters pending therein upon the approval of this act, which jurisdiction is in all respects hereby continued, the purpose of this act being to preserve the integrity of all of said courts and their jurisdiction until otherwise provided by law, except as in this act otherwise specifically provided.

SEC. 56. That this act shall take effect upon approval, but until its provisions shall severally become operative, as hereinbefore provided, the corresponding legislative and executive functions of the government in Porto Rico shall continue to be exercised and in full force and operation as now provided by law; and the Executive Council shall, until the assembly and organization of the Legislature of Porto Rico as herein provided, consist of the attorney general, the treasurer, the commissioner of the interior, the commissioner of education, the commissioner of health, and the commissioner of agriculture and labor, and the five additional members as now provided by law. And any functions assigned to the Senate of Porto Rico by the provisions of this act shall, until this said senate has assembled and organized as herein provided, be exercised by the Executive Council as thus constituted: Provided, however, That all appointments made by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council as thus constituted, in the Executive Council as authorized by section thirteen of this act or in the office of Executive Secretary of Porto Rico, shall be regarded as temporary and shall expire not later than twenty days from and after the assembly and organization of the legislature hereinbefore provided, unless said appointments shall be ratified and made permanent by the said Senate of Porto Rico.

SEC. 57. That the laws and ordinances of Porto Rico now in force shall continue in force and effect, except as altered, amended, or modified herein, until altered, amended or repealed by the legislative authority herein provided for Porto Rico or by act of Congress of the United States; and such legislative authority shall have power when not inconsistent with this act, by due enactment to amend, alter, modify, or repeal any law or ordinance, civil or criminal, continued in force by this act as it may from time to time see fit.

SEC. 58. That all laws or parts of laws applicable to Porto Rico not in conflict with any of the provisions of this act, including the laws relating to tariffs, customs, and duties on importations into Porto Rico prescribed by the act of Congress entitled "An Act temporarily to provide revenues and a civil government for Porto Rico, and for other purposes," approved April twelfth. nineteen hundred, are hereby continued in effect, and all laws and parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed. Approved. March 2, 1917.

VIRGIN ISLANDS (DANISH WEST INDIES).-1917.*

An Act To provide a temporary government for the West Indian Islands acquired by the United States from Denmark by the convention entered into between said countries on the fourth day of August, nineteen hundred and sixteen. and ratified by the Senate of the United States on the seventh day of Sep tember, nineteen hundred and sixteen, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, except as hereinafter provided, all military, civil, and judicial powers necessary to govern the West Indian Islands acquired from Denmark shall be vested in a governor and in such person or persons as the President may appoint, and shall be exercised in such manner as the President shall direct until Congress shall provide for the government of said islands: Provided, That the President may assign an officer of the Army or Navy to serve as such governor and perform the duties appertaining to said office: And provided further, That the governor of the said islands shall be appointed by aml with the advice and consent of the Senate: And provided further. That the compensation of all persons appointed under this act shall be fixed by the President.

SEC. 2. That until Congress shall otherwise provide, in so far as compatible with the changed sovereignty and not in conflict with the provisions of this act, the laws regulating elections and the electoral franchise as set forth in the code of laws published at Amalienborg the sixth day of Apri nineteen hundred and six, and the other local laws, in force and effect in said islands on the seventeenth day of January, nineteen hundred and seventeen. shall remain in force and effect in said islands, and the same shall be administered by the civil officials and through the local judicial tribunals established in said islands, respectively; and the orders, judgments, and decrees of said judicial tribunals shall be duly enforced. With the approval of the Presi dent, or under such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe, any of said laws may be repealed, altered, or amended by the colonial council having jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the judicial tribunals of said islands shal extend to all judicial proceedings and controversies in said islands to which the United States or any citizen thereof may be a party. In all cases arising in the said West Indian Islands and now reviewable by the courts of Denmark. writs of error and appeals shall be to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and, except as provided in sections two hundred and thirty-nine and two hundred and forty of the Judicial Code, the judgments, orders, and decrees of such court shall be final in all such cases.

SEC. 3. That on and after the passage of this act there shall be levied. collected, and paid upon all articles coming into the United States or its posses sions, from the West Indian Islands ceded to the United States by Denmark, the rates of duty and internal-revenue taxes which are required to be levied, collected, and paid upon like articles imported from foreign countries: Providei. That all articles, the growth or product of, or manufactured in such islands from materials the growth or product of such islands or of the United States. or of both, or which do not contain foreign materials to the value of more-than twenty per centum of their total value, upon which no drawback of customs duties has been allowed therein, coming into the United States from such islands shall hereafter be admitted free of duty.

SEC. 4. That until Congress shall otherwise provide. all laws now imposing taxes in the said West Indian Islands, including the customs laws and regulations, shall, in so far as compatible with the changed sovereignty and not other

*The Danish West Indies were acquired of Denmark by the treaty of cession executed on August 4, 1916, in consideration of the payment of $25,000,000. The group consists of three islands-St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix and certain small adjacent islands. A temporary government was provided for the Islands by the Acts of March 3, 1917.

wise herein provided. continue in force and effect, except that articles the growth, product, or manufacture of the United States shall be admitted there free of duty: Provided, That upon exportation of sugar to any foreign country. or the shipment thereof to the United States or any of its possessions, there shall be levied, collected, and paid thereon an export duty of $8 per ton of two thousand pounds irrespective of polariscope test, in lieu of any export tax now required by law.

SEC. 5. That the duties and taxes collected in pursuance of this act shall not be covered into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States, but shall be used and expended for the government and benefit of said islands under such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe.

SEC. 6. That for the purpose of taking over and occupying said islands and of carrying this act into effect and to meet any deficit in the revenues of the said islands resulting from the provisions of this act the sum of $100,000 is hereby appropriated. to be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and to be applied under the direction of the President of the United States.

SEC. 7. That the sum of $25,000,000 is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be paid in the city of Washington to the diplomatic representative or other agent of His Majesty the King of Denmark duly authorized to receive said money, in full consideration of the cession of the Danish West Indian Islands to the United States made by the convention between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of Denmark entered into August fourth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, and ratified by the Senate of the United States on the seventh day of September, nineteen hundred and sixteen.

SEC. 8. That this act, with the exception of section seven, shall be in force and effect and become operative immediately upon the payment by the United States of said sum of $25,000,000. The fact and date of such payment shall thereupon be made public by a proclamation issued by the President and published in the said Danish West Indian Islands and in the United States. Section seven shall become immediately effective and the appropriation thereby provided for shall be immediately available,

Approved, March 3, 1917.

MINOR INSULAR DEPENDENCIES.

(a) GUANO ISLANDS.*

Whenever any citizen of the United States discovers a deposit of guano on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other government, and not occupied by the citizens of any other government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President be considered as appertaining to the United States.

The introduction of guano from such islands, rocks, or keys, shall be regulated as in the coasting-trade between different parts of the United States, and the same laws shall govern the vessels concerned therein.

All acts done, and offenses or crimes committed, on any such island, rock. or key, by persons who may land thereon, or in the waters adjacent thereto. shall be deemed committed on the high seas, on board a merchant ship or vesse belonging to the United States; and shall be punished according to the laws of the United States, relating to such ships or vessels and offenses on the high seas, which laws for the purpose aforesaid are extended over such islands. rocks, and keys.

The President is authorized, at his discretion, to employ the land 2nd naval forces of the United States to protect the rights of the discoverer or of his widow, heir, executor, administrator, or assigns.

Nothing in this title contained shall be construed as obliging the United States to retain possession of the islands, rocks, or keys, after the guano shal have been removed from the same.

Approved August 18, 1856.

(b) GUAM.

Guam was ceded to the United States by Spain in 1898. It has a fine harbor, a naval station, and a cable depot. Congress has never established a civil government for Guam and by order of the President it is controlled by the Navy Department.

(c) MIDWAY OR BROOKS ISLANDS.

The Midway or Brooks Islands were annexed by the United States in 1867. The group consists of four islands. No civil government has been provided for them and they are under the administrative control of the Navy Departmen: They are used chiefly as intermediate repeating stations for the America Pacific cable, stretching from San Francisco to Manila.

(d) TUTUILA.

Tutuila, Manua and four smaller islands, forming the southern part of the Samoan group, were ceded to the United States by the Anglo-German-America partition treaty of December 2, 1899. The administrative control of the islands is vested by the President in the Navy Department.

(e) WAKE ISLAND.

Wake Island is an uninhabited island which was annexed by the Unite! States on January 17, 1899. Its only value lies in its possible use as a cable

station.

The Guano Islands are small, uninhabited islands over which the federal govern ment extends its control "to benefit American agriculture by promoting the supply of guano at a reasonable price." The United States is in possession of about seventy-five guano islands, a few of which are in the Caribbean Sea, but most of which are scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean. Among the Guano Islands are Howland and Baker's Islands, both of which were taken possession of in 1857. The acts regulating guate islands were passed August 18, 1856: July 28, 1866, and April 2, 1872; and the chie provisions of these acts are given above.

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

The subjoined bibliography and list of the texts of the federal and state constitutions and the organic laws of the territories and colonial dependencies are in no sense exhaustive; only those sources which are supposed to contain the authentic and authorized text of the several constitutions and organic laws are given. In addition to the specific authorities cited below, liberal and constant use has been made of the Convention Journals, Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Conventions of the several states, and the text of the constitutions found therein; the reprints of the constitutions published in the several states by authority of the secretary of state; the text of the constitution found in the Code of Laws or Revised Statutes of each state; the State Manuals, Blue Books and other similar publications; the standard histories of the several states; and verified copies of proposed constitutional amendments. prepared by the secretary of state, and designed for distribution among the electors. In some states the secretary of state is required by law to publish the constitution in full with the session laws of each legislature, and the verified text of the constitutional amendments proposed and adopted are invariably given in the session laws prior or subsequent to their ratification. Beginning with the year 1910, an excellent summary of the substance of the proposed amendments submitted to the electors in each of the states, with the resulting vote thereon, may be found in The American Year Book. Of the standard compilations of the federal and state constitutions and other similar documents, the following are of greatest value:

Poore, Ben Perley. The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other, Organic Laws of the United States. Parts I and II, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1877.

Thorpe, Francis Newton, The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States. Territories, and Colonies Now or Heretofore Forming the United States of America. 7 Volumes. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1909,

1. United States--The Constitution of the United States of America as Amended to May 1, 1913. Washington. Government Printing Office, 1913. Document No. 12, 63d Congress, first session.

2. Alabama--Constitution of the State of Alabama. Brown Printing Co., State Printers and Binders, Montgomery, Alabama, 1915. Code of Alabama, 1907. Alabama Official and Statistical Register, compiled by Thomas M. Owen, Director of the Department of Archives and History.

3. Arizona--Pamphlet containing the text of the proposed Constitution of Arizona as submitted to Congress. Revised Statutes, 1913. Pamphlets containing all referred measures to be voted on in 1912, 1914 and 1916, compiled by Sidney P. Osborn, Secretary of State.

4. Arkansas--Constitution of the State of Arkansas, with Amendments, issued by Earle W. Hodges, Secretary of State, 1911. Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas, William F. Kirby, 1904. Supplement to Kirby's Digest, 1911.

5. California--Constitution of the State of California and Summary of Amendments, prepared by the Legislative Counsel Bureau, 1915. Pamphlet containing the proposed amendments to the constitution of California to be submitted at the election of November 7. 1916, certified by the Secretary of State.

6.

Colorado-Annotated Statutes of 1891 and 1912.

7. Connecticut--Constitution of the State of Connecticut by Authority, 1916. S. Delaware--Constitution of the State of Delaware with Amendments,

published by the Secretary of State. 1913. Revised Statutes, 1915.

9. Florida-General Statutes, 1906.

10. Georgia-Constitution of the State of Georgia of force January 1, 1917. Print of an Officially Certified Copy, compiled by Ella May Thornton. Code of Georgia, 1911.