[CHAPTER 687-2D SESSION]

[H. R. 5053]

AN ACT

To provide for the establishment of the Independence National Historical Park, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, for the purpose of preserving for the benefit of the American people as a national historical park certain historical structures and properties of outstanding national significance located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and associated with the American Revolution and the founding and growth of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior, following the consummation of agreements with the city of Philadelphia and the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia as prescribed in section 2 of this Act, is authorized to acquire by donation or with donated funds, or to acquire by purchase, any property, real or personal, within the following-described areas, such park to be fully established as the "Independence National Historical Park" when, in the opinion of the Secretary, title to sufficient of the lands and interests in lands within such areas, shall be vested in the United States: Provided, That the park shall not be established until title to the First United States Bank property, the Merchants' Exchange property, the Bishop White house, the Dilworth-Todd-Moylan house, and the site of the Benjamin Franklin house, together with two-thirds of the remaining lands and interests in lands within the following-described areas, shall have been vested in the United States:

(a) An area of three city blocks bounded generally by Walnut Street, Fifth Street, Chestnut Street, and Second Street, but excluding the new United States customhouse at the southeast corner of Second and Chestnut Streets, identified as "project A", as described in the report of the Philadelphia National Shrines Park Commission, dated December 29, 1947.

(b) A memorial thoroughfare, or mall, extending generally from the south side of Walnut Street to the north side of Manning Street, identified as part of "project B" in the report of the Commission. (c) The site of the residence of Benjamin Franklin, and related grounds, comprising approximately a one-hundred-foot-wide strip, extending southward from Market Street approximately three hundred feet between Third and Fourth Streets, and encompassing a portion of Orianna Street, identified as "project C" in the report of the Commission.

(d) Certain land and buildings immediately adjacent to Christ Church, situated on the west side of Second Street, and north of Market Street, identified as "project E" in the report of the Commission: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior first enter into an agreement with the proprietor or proprietors of said property (Christ Church), said agreement to contain the usual and customary provisions

for the protection of the property, assuring its physical maintenance as a national shrine, without any limitation or control over its use for customary church purposes.

SEC. 2. In furtherance of the general purposes of this Act as prescribed in section 1 hereof, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the city of Philadelphia to assist in the preservation and interpretation of the property known as the Independence Hall National Historic Site and with the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia to assist in the preservation and interpretation of Carpenters' Hall, in connection with the Independence National Historical Park. Such agreements shall contain, but shall not be limited to, provisions that the Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service, shall have right of access at all reasonable times to all public portions of the property now within Independence Hall National Historic Site and to Carpenters' Hall for the purpose of conducting visitors through such buildings and grounds and interpreting them to the public, that no changes or alterations shall be made in the property within the Independence Hall National Historic Site, including its buildings and grounds, or in Carpenters' Hall, except by mutual agreement between the Secretary of the Interior and the other parties to the contracts.

SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, is authorized to construct upon a portion of the land described in section 1 of this Act, or upon other land that may be donated for such purpose, which property he is hereby authorized to accept, such offices and administration buildings as he may deem advisable, together with a suitable auditorium for the interpretation of the historical features of the national historical park. The Secretary of the Interior is also authorized to accept donations of property of national historical significance located in the city of Philadelphia which the Secretary may deem proper for administration as part of the Independence National Historical Park. Any property donated for the purposes of this section shall become a part of the park, following its establishment, upon acceptance by the United States of title to such donated property.

SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his discretion, to establish a suitable advisory commission of not to exceed eleven members. The members of the advisory commission shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, with three members to be recommended by the Governor of Pennsylvania, three by the mayor of Philadelphia, and one each by the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia and the Independence Hall Association.

The functions of the advisory commission shall be to render advice to the Secretary of the Interior, from time to time, upon matters which the Secretary of the Interior may refer to them for consideration.

SEC. 5. The administration, protection, and development of the park shall be exercised under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior by the National Park Service, subject to the provisions of the Act of August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535; 16 U. S. C. 1-4), as amended and supplemented, and the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16 U. S. C. 461-467).

SEC. 6. For the purpose of acquiring the property described in section 1 of this Act, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated not

to exceed the sum of $4,435,000. Funds appropriated pursuant to this Act shall be available for any expenses incidental to acquisition of property as prescribed by this Act, including the employment of the necessary services in the District of Columbia, and including to the extent deemed necessary by the Secretary of the Interior, the employment without regard to the civil-service laws or the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, of such experts and other officers and employees as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act efficiently and in the public interest.

Approved June 28, 1948.

[CHAPTER 716-2D SESSION]

[S. 1447]

AN ACT

To prohibit the importation of foreign wild animals and birds under conditions other than humane, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 241 of the Act entitled "An Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States", approved March 4, 1909 (U. S. C., title 18, sec. 391), is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 241. (a) The importation into the United States or any Territory or district thereof, of the mongoose, the so-called 'flying foxes' or fruit bats, the English sparrow, the starling, and such other birds and animals as the Secretary of the Interior may from time to time declare to be injurious to the interests of agriculture or horticulture, is hereby prohibited: and all such birds and animals shall, upon arrival at any port of the United States, be destroyed or returned at the expense of the owner. Nothing in this subsection shall restrict the importation of natural-history specimens for museums or scientific collections, or of certain cage birds, such as domesticated canaries, parrots, or such other birds as the Secretary of the Interior may designate. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to make regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this subsection and subsection (b).

"(b) The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe such requirements and issue such permits as he may deem necessary for the transportation of wild animals and birds under humane and healthful conditions, and it shall be unlawful for any person, including any importer, knowingly to cause or permit any wild animal or bird to be transported to the United States, or any Territory or district thereof, under inhumane or unhealthful conditions or in violation of such requirements. In any criminal prosecution for violation of this subsection and in any administrative proceeding for the suspension of the issuance of further permits

"(1) the condition of any vessel or conveyance, or the enclosures in which wild animals or birds are confined therein, upon its arrival in the United States, or any Territory or district thereof, shall constitute relevant evidence in determining whether the provisions of this subsection have been violated; and

"(2) the presence in such vessel or conveyance at such time of a substantial ratio of dead, crippled, diseased, or starving wild animals or birds shall be deemed prima facie evidence of the violation of the provisions of this subsection." Approved June 29, 1948.

[CHAPTER 725-2D SESSION]

[H. J. Res. 427]

JOINT RESOLUTION

Correcting Act establishing the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park, as amended.

Whereas a clerical or printer's error by omission of words appears in section 1 of Public Law Numbered 620 amending the Act of April 25, 1947, establishing the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park: Therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1 of the Act of April 25, 1947, establishing the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park as amended by Public Law Numbered 620 be further amended by striking out the period at the end of section 1 and inserting the following: ", are hereby dedicated and set apart as a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and shall be known as the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his discretion, to construct and maintain a road or highway through the park connecting with a State or Federal highway.'

Approved June 29, 1948.

(315)