SEC. 9. Not more than $10,000 of any funds hereafter appropriated for the purposes of this Act may be expended by the Director of Public Buildings and Public Parks for obtaining, by contract or otherwise, such special technical personal services as may be necessary, at rates of pay as may be fixed by the director not exceeding those usual for similar services, without reference to civil-service rules and the Classification Act of 1923.

SEC. 10. Appropriations of the amount necessary to carry out the provisions of sections 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of this Act, not exceeding $1,750,000, are hereby authorized.

Approved, February 27, 1929.

[PUBLIC-No. 856-70TH CONGRESS]
(H. R. 16274]

An Act To provide for the establishment of a municipal

center in the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and they are hereby, authorized and directed to acquire by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, all of squares numbered 490, 491, 533, and reservation 10, in the District of Columbia, including buildings and other structures thereon, as a site for a municipal center, and to construct thereon necessary buildings to house municipal activities: Provided, That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby authorized to close and vacate such portions of streets and alleys as lie between or within such squares, as in the judgment of said commissioners may be necessary, and the portions of such streets and alleys so closed and vacated shall thereupon become parts of such sites: Provided further, That if this property or any part thereof shall be condemned, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall be entitled to enter immediately into the possession of any such property for which an award shall have been made by paying the amount of such award into the registry of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

SEC. 2. That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, payable in like manner as other appropriations for the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia, such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act, including not to exceed $10,000 for the employment, by contract or otherwise, of architectural and other professional services, as approved by the commissioners and without reference to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. Approved, February 28, 1929.

(H. R. 13461]

An Act To provide for the acquisition of land in the District of Columbia for the use of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the head of any executive department or independent bureau, or other officer of the United States, or any board or commission of the United States, hereinafter referred to as the acquiring authority, has been, or hereafter shall be, authorized by law to acquire real property in the District of Columbia for the construction of any public building or work, or for parks, parkways, public playgrounds, or any other public purpose, such acquiring authority shall be, and hereby is, authorized to acquire the same in the name of the United States by condemnation under judicial process whenever in the opinion of such acquiring authority it is necessary or advantageous so to do; and in every such case the Attorney General of the United States, upon the request of such acquiring authority, shall cause a proceeding in rem for such condemnation to be instituted in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, holding a special term as a district court of the United States, which court is hereby vested with jurisdiction of all such cases of condemnation with full power to hear and determine all issues of law and fact that may arise in the same.

INSTITUTION OF PROCEEDINGS

SEO. 2. Every such condemnation proceeding shall be instituted by filing in said court a verified petition which shall contain or have annexed thereto the following:

(1) A statement of the authority under which and the public use for which the lands are to be acquired.

(2) A description of the lands to be acquired sufficient for the identification thereof. Where such lands, taken together, constitute all privately owned land in any square in the city of Washington it shall be sufficient to designate the same by the number of the square as the same appears on the records of squares in the office of the surveyor of the District of Columbia.

(3) A plan showing the lands to be acquired.

(4) The names of the owners of the lands to be acquired, so far as ascertainable by reasonable inquiry, and of the persons in actual and open possession of the same. If it shall appear from the land records of the District of Columbia that a right, title, interest, or estate in said lands was formerly vested in any person who is known, or may be presumed, to be deceased, which right, title, interest, or estate, if valid and subsisting, would be adverse to the person in present possession claiming to be owner of said lands, and the names of the heirs or devisees of such deceased person are not known, it shall be sufficient to describe them in the petition and in any order of citation or publication or other process thereon as "the unknown heirs or devisees" of such deceased person. And such designation shall be valid and effective to all intents and purposes as if all

persons claiming by, through, or under said deceased person had been specifically named.

(5) A statement of the estate or interest in said lands which petitioner intends to acquire for the public use stated.

(6) A prayer that said lands be condemned and taken for the use of the United States and that the title to the same in fee simple, or such estate or interest as may be specified, be vested in the United States.

CITATION AND NOTICE

SEC. 3. The court shall cause public notice of the institution of such proceeding to be given by an order of citation requiring all persons claiming to have any right, title, interest, or estate in the lands to be acquired, or to be entitled to compensation in respect of the taking of the same, and all persons occupying the same, to appear in said court on a day to be named in said order of citation to answer the petition and make claim for the compensation to which they deem themselves entitled.

SEC. 4. Such order of citation shall contain a description of the lands to be acquired sufficient for the identification thereof and the names of the persons given in the petition as claiming to have any right, title, interest, or estate in said lands on to be entitled to compensation in respect of the taking of the same and as occupying the same. If any such person is alleged in said petition to be a nonresident of the District of Columbia, the order of citation shall also state the last place of residence of such person, if known.

SEC. 5. Said order of citation shall be published at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation published in the District of Columbia.

SEC. 6. The court shall also direct service of a copy of said order of citation before the return date of the said order upon each of the persons named therein who is, so far as ascertainable by reasonable inquiry, residing or sojourning at the time within the District of Columbia. The court shall also require a copy of said order of citation to be mailed, postpaid, to such of the persons named therein as may be shown by said petition or affidavit to be nonresidents of the District of Columbia, such copy to be addressed to such persons at their last known places of residence.

DEFAULT IN APPEARANCE

SEC. 7. In default of appearance on or before the return day specified in said order of citation (or on or before such further day as the court for cause shown may allow for the purpose) every person having any right, title, interest, or estate in the lands described in said order, or entitled to compensation in respect of the taking of the same or entitled to the possession of, or occupying the same, shall be deemed to have consented to the taking and condemnation of said lands for the public purpose stated at and for such compensation as may be finally awarded therefor in the proceeding and shall be bound by all orders, judgments, and decrees that may be entered in said proceeding.

SEC. 8. The court may, by order, upon application and for cause shown, at any time prior to final judgment permit any person claim

ing any right, title, interest, or estate in the lands to be acquired or to be entitled to compensation in respect of the taking of the same to appear in said proceeding upon such terms and conditions as the court may direct.

GUARDIANS AD LITEM

SEC. 9. If any person having, or claiming to have, any right, title, interest, or estate in the lands to be acquired, or entitled, or claiming to be entitled, to compensation in respect of the taking of the same, or entitled or claiming to be entitled, to the possession of the same, appears to be under legal disability by reason of infancy, insanity, idiocy, or other like cause, the court, after the return day specified in the order of citation, upon the application of any person interested, shall appoint some suitable person as guardian ad litem to appear for such person under disability. Failure to apply for the appointment of a guardian ad litem for any such person under disability shall not affect the validity of the proceedings.

VESTING OF TITLE AND RIGHT TO COMPENSATION

SEC. 10. The petitioner may file in the cause, with the petition or at any time before judgment, a declaration of taking signed by the authority empowered by law to acquire the lands described in the petition, declaring that said lands are thereby taken for the use of the United States. Said declaration of taking shall contain or have annexed thereto

(1) A statement of the authority under which and the public use for which said lands are taken.

(2) A description of the lands taken sufficient for the identification thereof.

(3) A statement of the estate or interest in said lands taken for said public use.

(4) A plan showing the lands taken.

(5) A statement of the sum of money estimated by said acquiring authority to be just compensation for the land taken.

Upon the filing of said declaration of taking and of the deposit in the registry of the court, to the use of the persons entitled thereto, of the amount of the estimated compensation stated in said declaration, title to the said lands in fee simple absolute, or such less estate or interest therein as is specified in said declaration, shall vest in the United States of America, and said lands shall be deemed to be condemned and taken for the use of the United States, and the right to just compensation for the same shall vest in the persons entitled thereto; and said compensation shall be ascertained and awarded in said proceeding and established by judgment therein, and the said judgment shall include, as part of the just compensation awarded, interest at the rate of 6 per centum per annum on the amount finally awarded as the value of the property as of the date of taking, from said date to the date of payment; but interest shall not be allowed on so much thereof as shall have been paid into the registry. No sum so paid into the registry shall be charged with commissions or poundage.

Upon the application of the parties in interest, the court may order that the money deposited in the registry of the court, or any

part thereof, be paid forthwith for or on account of the just compensation to be awarded in said proceeding. If the compensation finally awarded in respect of said lands or any parcel thereof shall exceed the amount of the money so received by any person entitled, the court shall enter judgment against the United States for the amount of the deficiency.

Upon the filing of a declaration of taking, the court shall have power to fix the time within which and the terms upon which the parties in possession shall be required to surrender possession to the petitioner. The court shall have power to make such orders in respect of encumbrances, liens, rents, taxes, assessments, insurance, and other charges, if any, as shall be just and equitable.

SETTING DATE FOR TRIAL AND SELECTION OF JURY

SEC. 11. When all the persons who have been summoned or published against in said case, as hereinbefore provided, have either answered or are in default as aforesaid, and all persons under legal disability have answered by their guardians ad litem, or in the judgment of the court ample opportunity has been given for the same, the case shall be regarded as ready for trial, and, upon the application of any party to said suit, the court shall forthwith set an early date to be especially fixed by it, not less than ten nor more than twenty days from the date of such application, for the trial of the issues of law and fact raised in said case, and the ascertainment of the compensation or damages to be awarded for the taking of the lands to be condemned. The court shall thereupon order the jury commission to draw from the special box provided for by law the names of as many persons, not less than twenty, as the court may direct, and to certify said names to the clerk of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia as a panel of prospective jurors. The persons so certified shall be thereupon summoned by the United States marshal for the District of Columbia to appear in said court on the day specially fixed for the trial of said cause. selecting or impaneling said jury, the court may, in its discretion, cause a second, third, or other further list of prospective jurors to be drawn, certified, and summoned in like manner. From the persons so certified and summoned, the court, after examination on oath and in open court as to their qualifications, shall select and impanel a jury of five capable and disinterested persons who shall have the qualifications of jurors as prescribed by law for the courts of the District of Columbia, and in addition thereto shall be freeholders of said district and shall not be in the service or employment of the United States or of the District of Columbia.

OATH OF JUROR

Before

SEC. 12. To the jurors so selected and impaneled the court shall administer an oath or affirmation that they are not interested in any manner in the lands to be condemned and that they are not to their knowledge related to any person interested therein, and that they will impartially and to the best of their judgment ascertain, appraise, and award just compensation for the lands to be condemned and taken in said proceeding.