By Independent Offices Appropriation Act of April 5, 1941 (55 Stat. 119), the approval of the President is required as to the extent and location of transmission lines authorized by resolution of July 31, 1940, supra.

By act of July 18, 1941 (55 Stat. 599) the Tennessee Valley Authority was authorized to transfer lands in its possession to any other department or agency of the Government and also, with the approval of the War Department, to convey or lease Nitrate Plant Numbered 1, at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and Waco Quarry.

The act of November 21, 1941 (55 Stat. 773) authorizes the reconstruction and relocation of highway and railroad bridges by the Tennessee Valley Authority, subject to approval of the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War in accordance with existing law.

Notes of Decisions

In general. (1st paragraph.)-Change ci- | Authority funds appropriated to it by the tation to read: State of Alabama v. U. S. Congress. (June 9, 1941), 40 Op. Atty. Gen. (1930), 69 Ct. Cl. 340; reversed on other No. 17. grounds (1931), 282 U. S. 502.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is not subject to the provisions of Title III of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 and related statutes and is not required to account to the General Accounting Office in accordance with the provisions of those statutes.

The Tennessee Valley Authority as an "agency of the Federal Government" is not subject to the jurisdiction of State courts and is free from the State's regulation or control. Tennessee Valley Authority Act, sec. 1 et seq., 16 U. S. C. 831 et seq. City of Middlesboro v. Kentucky Utilities Co.

Settlement warrants may properly be used to make available to the Tennessee Valley (Ky., 1940), 146 S. W. (2d) 48.

1887. Tennessee Valley Authority; sale of surplus power.

Notes of Decisions

Sale to power companies. (3d para- | Authority (D. C., 1938), 21 F. Supp. 947: graph.)-Change citation to read: Tennessee affirmed (1938), 306 U. S. 118. Electric Power Co. บ. Tennessee Valley

1890. Bonneville project.

The electric energy generated in the operation of the said Bonneville project shall be disposed of by the said administrator as hereinafter provided. The administrator shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be responsible to said Secretary of the Interior, shall receive a salary at the rate of $10,000 per year, and shall maintain his principal office, at a place selected by him in the vicinity of the Bonneville project. The Secretary of the Interior shall also appoint, without regard to the civil-service laws, an Assistant Administrator, chief engineer, and general counsel and shall fix the compensation of each at not exceeding $7,500 per annum. The Assistant Administrator shall perform the duties and exercise the powers of the Administrator, in the event of the absence or sickness of the Administrator until such absence or sickness shall cease, and, in the event of a vacancy in the office of Administrator until a successor is appointed. The administrator shall, as hereinafter provided, make all arrangements for the sale and disposition of electric energy generated at Bonneville project not required for the operation of the dam and locks at such project and the navigation facilities employed in connection therewith. He shall act in consultation with an advisory board composed of a representative designated by the Secretary of War, a representative designated by the Secretary of the Interior, a representative designated by the Federal Power Commission, and a representative designated by the Secretary of Agriculture. The form of administration herein established for the Bonneville project is intended to be provisional pending the establishment of a permanent administration for Bonneville and other projects in the Columbia River Basin. The Secretary

of War shall install and maintain additional machinery, equipment, and facilities for the generation of electric energy at the Bonneville project when in the judgment of the administrator such additional generating facilities are desirable to meet actual or potential market requirements for such electric energy. The Secretary of War shall schedule the operations of the several electrical generating units and appurtenant equipment of the Bonneville project in accordance with the requirements of the administrator. The Secretary of War shall provide and maintain for the use of the administrator at said Bonneville project adequate station space and equipment, including such switches, switchboards, instruments, and dispatching facilities as may be required by the administrator for proper reception, handling, and dispatching of the electric energy produced at the said project, together with transformers and other equipment required by the administrator for the transmission of such energy from that place at suitable voltage to the markets which the administrator desires to serve. The office of the Administrator of Bonneville project is hereby constituted an office in the Department of the Interior and shall be under the jurisdiction and control of the Secretary of the Interior. All functions vested in the Administrator of the Bonneville project under this Act may be exercised by the Secretary of the Interior and, subject to his supervision and direction, by the Administrator and other personnel of the project. Sec. 2a, act of Aug. 20, 1937 (50 Stat. 732); act of Mar. 6, 1940 (54 Stat. 47); 16 U.S. C. 832a.

The second paragraph of this section has been amended as above.

1891a. Fort Peck railroad; hours of labor.-That the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act relating to the limitation of the hours of daily service of laborers and mechanics employed upon the public works of the United States and of the District of Columbia," approved August 1, 1892, as amended, shall not be applicable with respect to the service and employment of persons employed in connection with the operation or maintenance of the Government-owned Wiota-Fort Peck Railroad in the State of Montana; but the hours of labor or service of such persons shall be limited to the same extent that such hours of labor or service would be limited, if the United States in the operation of such railroad were a common carrier subject to the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by limiting the hours of service of employees thereon," approved March 4, 1907, as amended. Sec. 1, act of June 12, 1940 (54 Stat. 348).

Any officer or agent of the United States whose duty it shall be to employ, direct, or control any person employed in connection with the operation or maintenance of such railroad who shall intentionally require or permit such person to be employed for hours of labor or service in violation of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each and every such offense shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not to exceed $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court having jurisdiction thereof. Sec. 2, act of June 12, 1940 (54 Stat. 348).

1892. Florida Barge Canal.—That, in order to promote the national defense and to promptly facilitate and protect the transport of materials and supplies needful to the Military Establishment, there is hereby authorized to be constructed under the direction of the Secretary of War and the supervision of the Chief of Engineers a high-level lock barge canal from the Saint Johns River across Florida to the Gulf of Mexico in accordance with

the plans set forth in the letter of the Chief of Engineers dated June 15, 1942; and that there is also authorized the enlargement of the present Intracoastal Waterway from the vicinity of Apalachee Bay to Corpus Christi, Texas, and its extension to the vicinity of the Mexican border so as to provide throughout the entire length of the canal a channel twelve feet deep and one hundred and twenty-five feet wide: Provided, That between Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, the project shall be modified in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in his report dated April 27, 1942, except that the annual payments to be made by the Government to the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans are not limited by this Act to the amount recommended by the Chief of Engineers but are left open to negotiations between the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and the Chief of Engineers: Provided further, That the Chief of Engineers is authorized to expedite the utilization of the facilities herein above authorized by the employment of temporary structures and available materials, and within reasonable limits to vary, in his discretion, the above-prescribed dimensions wherever advisable: And provided further, That subject to the provisions of Public Law 197, Seventy-seventh Congress, there is authorized to be constructed one or more pipe lines, together with all necessary terminal facilities, for the transport of petroleum and its products, from the vicinity of Port Saint Joe and other points on the Gulf Coast of Florida to the Saint Johns River, and a crude-oil pipe line from the Tinsley Oil Field in the vicinity of Yazoo, Mississippi, to Charleston, South Carolina, and/or Savannah, Georgia. Sec. 1, act of July 23, 1942 (56 Stat. 703).

For Public Law 197, Seventy-seventh Congress, to which reference is made in the text, supra, see act of July 30, 1941 (55 Stat. 610).

The act of June 17, 1943 (57 Stat. 156) authorizes the acquisition of Gulf County Canal, Florida, as part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

I. Construction in general.-Where statute D. C., 1940), 110 F. (2d) 246. is ambiguous, courts look to its contemporary legislative history to illuminate its purpose. Landay v. U. S. (C. C. A. 6, 1939), 108 F. (2d) 698; certiorari denied (1940), 309 U. S. 681.

A statute is not "retroactive" merely because it draws upon antecedent facts for its operation. Id.

The intention of Congress is to be sought for primarily in the language used and when the language expresses an intention reasonably intelligible and plain, it must be accepted without modification by resort to construction or conjecture. Gorin v. U. S. (C. C. A. 9, 1940), 111 F. (2d) 712.

In construing a statute, unless Congress has definitely indicated an intention that words should not be construed otherwise, court must apply them according to their usual acceptation. Id.

V. Effect of amendments.-The enactment after midnight, June 30, 1939, of bill H. R. 3325, extending the time for exercise of powers relating to the stabilization fund and alteration of the weight of the dollar, will confer upon the President the powers enumerated therein until June 30, 1941.

An amendatory act is not invalid because it purports to amend a statute that has terminated, or to extend a power conferred by, but expired under the terms of, an existing statute. (1939), 39 Op. Atty. Gen. 308.

Generally, a statutory amendment is indicative of a legislative intent to make a sub

II. Administrative construction.-In a suit stantial change in the pre-existing law, but

to recover certain entrance and clearance fees paid to a collector of customs, the liability for the fees turned on whether certain coastal waters were part of the sea. The Treasury Department has consistently ruled since 1897 that they are and has collected fees on that basis. Held, That a long continued departmental construction of a statute is entitled to great weight and should not be upset except for the most cogent reasons. Borderline Transportation Co. v. Haas, Collector of Customs (C. C. A. 9, 1942), 128 F. (2d) 192.

III. Construction; equitable as distinguished from literal.-The strict letter of an act must yield to its evident spirit and purpose when that is necessary to give effect to the intent of Congress. United States for Use and Benefit of J. H. Welch Co., Inc. v. Fleisher

not every change in phraseology indicates a desired change in substance and effect, and a change may be made for purpose of expressing more clearly and accurately the same intent or to improve diction or to meet a new and unanticipated condition brought about by judicial interpretation of the preexisting law. Oklahoma Tax Commission et al. v. Stanolind Pipe Line Co. (C. C. A., 10, 1940), 113 F. (2d) 853; certiorari denied (1940), 311 U. S. 693.

VI. Repeals by implication.-Repeals of statutes by implication are not looked

on

with favor. Safe Harbor Water Power Corporation V. Federal Power Commission; Same v. United States et al. (C. C. A. 3, 1941), 124 F. (2d) 800.

A later act repeals an earlier act by im

Engineering & Construction Co. (D. C., plication, only when the conflicts or incon

W. D. N. Y., 1939), 30 F. Supp. 961.

IV. Date effective.-A statute operates prospectively only unless the contrary plainly appears, and ought not to be construed as retrospective in the absence of clear, strong, and imperative language commanding it. Neild et al. v. District of Columbia (App.

sistencies between the acts are plain and irreconcilable. Id.

Where a statute provides a new, specific, and complete remedy and fully covers the subject matter, the provisions of the statute will be looked to alone and resort will not be had to prior existing general remedies as cumulative. Id.

1910. Revised Statutes, first edition; definition of terms.

Notes of Decisions

Vessels. An airship is not a "vessel" a smooth sea as an auxiliary function.

within terms of statute limiting liability of owner of vessel to the amount of his interest, though adapted to operating on the water in

46

U. S. C. A., sec. 183 et seq.; 1 U. S. C. A., sec. 3. Dollins v. Pan-American Grace Airways, Inc. (D. C., 1939), 27 F. Supp. 487.

1922. Pay Readjustment Act; date effective and repeal of prior laws. The original text of this section, based on section 22, act of June 10, 1922 (42 Stat. 633); 37 U. S. C. 81, was expressly repealed by 1371c-19(2), ante. The subject matter is covered by 1371c-19(2), (3), ante.