opened in accordance with that order, and the regulations established thereunder shall continue as prescribed in said order and regulations until they are finally closed by the withdrawal of the deposits.

SEC. 2. For the accommodation of persons desiring to deposit their savings in the post offices of the Canal Zone, money orders may be issued in the Canal Zone payable to the purchaser at the office of issue, for which no fee shall be charged.

SEC. 3. This order shall take effect from and after October 1, 1914.

THE WHITE HOUSE, September 5, 1914.

WOODROW WILSON.

By the act of Congress approved August 21, 1916, it was provided that interest should be paid on deposit money orders issued by the Canal Zone post offices at a rate not to exceed 2 per cent per annum. Sections 5, 6, and 7 of that act are as follows:

That any person who commits any act or who carries on any business, trade, or occupation in the Canal Zone without complying with the rules and regulations established by the President for the levying, assessing, and collecting of taxes, or who violates any rules or regulations for the use of the public roads and highways, or who violates any rules and regulations touching the licensing, taxes, operation, and use of self-propelled vehicles, or who violates any of the police regulations authorized hereunder, shall be punished by fine not to exceed $25 or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the court's discretion.

SEC. 6. That deposit money orders issued in the Canal Zone in lieu of postal savings certificates, in accordance with the rules and regulations heretofore established by the President, or that may hereafter be established by him, shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 2 per centum per annum.

SEC. 7. That the interest received from the Canal Zone money-order funds deposited in banks under Canal Zone regulations shall be available to pay the interest on deposit money orders authorized by the preceding section. Such interest shall also be available to pay any losses which are chargeable to the Canal Zone postal service.

By the act of September 21, 1922, Congress raised the rate of interest to be paid on such deposit money orders from 2 to 3 per cent. Section 6 of that act is as follows:

SEC. 6. That deposit money orders issued in the Canal Zone in lieu of postal savings certificates in accordance with the rules and regulations heretofore established by the President, or that may hereafter be established by him, shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 3 per centum per annum.

This bill (H. R. 7514) repeals all existing laws of the Canal Zone with reference to the Postal Service and provides new legislation upon that subject. The act retains only so much of the existing law as is considered necessary for the maintenance and operation of the Postal Service under the existing policy. This new act makes the revenues derived from the deposit money order funds a part of the general postal revenues and provides that the expenses of operating the Canal Zone Postal Service shall be defrayed, so far as possible, from the revenues derived therefrom. During the last five years, since the discontinuance of use of the Panama postage stamps, for which a 40 per cent subsidy was paid under the provisions of an agreement entered into by President Taft with the Republic of Panama, the Canal Zone Postal Service has been operating without a deficit, excepting one year when there was a slight loss. The administrative authorities of the zone feel that it is highly desirable to make the Postal Service in the zone self-supporting as far as is possible, so that it will not be necessary to come to Congress for an appropriation to cover deficits in postal operations.

The first paragraph of the bill makes no new provisions with respect to the personnel of the service or the use of postage stamps. It merely continues the present methods which have been in effect for many years.

The applicable parts of existing law, with the parts added and omitted indicated by brackets and italics, as provided in the bill, are inserted herewith and are as follows:

[Matter stricken out inclosed in black brackets and new matter in italic]

That the postal service of the Canal Zone shall be [conducted, regulated, and controlled] governed by such of the laws, rules, and regulations of the Postal Service of the United States as are not inapplicable to the conditions [of law and fact] existing in the Canal Zone [and the laws enacted and the rules and regulations adopted by the Isthmian Canal Commission.], and the Governor of the [Zone] Panama Canal is [hereby authorized to establish new post offices, or discontinue those already established, [at such places and at such times as, in his judgment, the public service requires,] to provide such rules and regulations as are necessary for the operation of the service, [The postmasters of the Canal Zone shall be appointed by the Governor] to appoint the personnel thereof, [Postage stamps for the payment of postage in the Canal Zone shall be the postage stamps of the United States, surcharged with the words, "Canal ZonePanama."] and to prescribe the postage stamps and other stamped paper which shall be used in such service: Provided, however, That the expenses of operating the Canal Zone postal service shall be defrayed, so far as possible, from the revenues derived therefrom, the use of which for that purpose is hereby authorized.

SEC. 2. That deposit money orders issued in the Canal Zone in lieu of postal savings certificates in accordance with [the] rules and regulations heretofore established by the President or that may hereafter be established by him shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 3 per centum per annum.

SEC. 3. That the interest received from the Canal Zone money-order funds deposited in banks under Canal Zone regulations shall be available to pay the interest on deposit money orders authorized by the preceding section. Such interest which shall form a part of the postal revenues shall also be available to pay [any] the losses which are chargeable to the Canal Zone postal service. Sec. 4. That all other laws for the operation_of_the_Canal Zone postal service excepting Section 43a of the Penal Code of the Canal Zone are hereby repealed. (NOTE.-Section 43a referred to as contained in H. R. 7519 reads as follows:) "SEC. 43a. The Postal Laws and Regulations of the United States not locally inapplicable which define crimes against the Postal Service and prescribe punishments therefor are hereby extended to the Canal Zone and shall be enforceable in the courts of the Canal Zone in the manner and form prescribed for other criminal cases by the Canal Zone laws."

О

1st Session

No. 527

TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CUSTOMS SERVICE IN THE CANAL ZONE, AND OTHER MATTERS

FEBRUARY 17, 1932.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. LEA, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 7515]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7515) to provide for the establishment of a customs service in the Canal Zone, and other matters, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

The bill has the approval of the President and the Secretary of War, as appears from the following letter:

Hon. SAM RAYBURN,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 28, 1932.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. RAYBURN: The receipt is acknowledged of a letter from the Hon. Clarence F. Lea, dated January 15, 1932, inclosing, and requesting on behalf of your committee a report upon, certain bills for the revision of the laws of the Canal Zone introduced by him, including bill H. R. 7515, entitled "A bill to provide for the establishment of a customs service in the Canal Zone, and other matters.

This is one of the proposals made for the revision of the laws of the Canal Zone recommended by me in letter to the President dated June 5, 1930, and in conformity with the provisions of the act of May 17, 1928 (45 Stat. 596), entitled "An act to revise and codify the laws of the Canal Zone," forwarded by him to the Congress with his message of June 9, 1930. The message and report submitted therewith were printed as House Document No. 460, Seventy-first Congress, second session. The reasons for recommending the enactment of this bill are given on page 318 of that document.

Briefly, the purpose of the bill is merely to make legally effective regulations which have been in force for a number of years, the authority for which is doubtful. The bill contemplates no change in policies nor in personnel. The applicable provisions of the Executive order of September 25, 1925, relating to the customs service in the Canal Zone, with the amendments thereto indicated, will be found in House Report No. 2825, Seventy-first Congress, third session, to accompany H. R. 14083.

The early consideration and passage of the legislation proposed for the Canal Zone are recommended.

Sincerely yours,

PATRICK J. HURLEY,
Secretary of War.

During the Seventy-first Congress this matter was referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, whose comment is as follows:

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 19, 1930.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Receipt is acknowledged of your communication of December 3, 1930, forwarding for report thereon bill No. H. R. 14083 to provide for the establishment of a customs service in the Canal Zone.

As this is not a matter coming within the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department, it has no comments to make thereon. However, as the question appears to be one properly coming under the jurisdiction of the Panama Canal, it is respectfully suggested that your communication be addressed to the Chief of Office, The Panama Canal, Washington, D. C.

Very truly yours,

A. W. MELLON, Secretary of the Treasury.

A general statement relating to the revision and codification of the laws of the Canal Zone is made in the report on H. R. 7519, where the text of the law authorizing such work is quoted. This is one of the measures in the general revision.

On April 28, 1904, Congress passed an act to provide for the temporary government of the Canal Zone and section 2 of that act conferred broad powers upon the President to govern the Canal Zone until further action by Congress. Section 2 of that act was as follows:

SEC. 2. That until the expiration of the Fifty-eighth Congress, unless provision for the temporary government of the Canal Zone be sooner made by Congress, all the military, civil, and judicial powers as well as the power to make all rules and regulations necessary for the government of the Canal Zone, and all the rights, powers, and authority granted by the terms of said treaty to the United States shall be vested in such person or persons and shall be exercised in such manner as the President shall direct for the government of said zone and maintaining and protecting the inhabitants thereof in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.

On May 9, 1904, the President issued an Executive order placing the Isthmian Canal Commission composed of seven members, under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War, and defining the functions of the commission, including the power to legislate. Under the authority of this Executive order the commission enacted 24 acts. which were later assembled and published in a volume known as "Laws of the Canal Zone." While Congress in general terms conferred authority upon the President to issue orders and regulations and rules governing the Panama Canal, the authority did not go so far as to authorize the President to fix crimes and misdemeanors and to prescribe penalties for violating them. The defining of crimes and misdemeanors and fixing the penalties for committing them is a function of the law-making power of the Government, and it is doubtful whether Congress can delegate that authority to an executive officer. By later legislative acts, Congress prescribed penalties for violation of the Executive orders that were issued by the President under authority conferred upon him, but many of the Executive orders issued by the President during the construction of the Panama Canal in which he assumed the authority to prescribe penalties for violations of rules and regulations established are believed to be invalid, and in revising and codifying the laws of the Canal Zone, it is obviously very desirable that all question be removed from the validity of any of the existing rules and regulations that have been