OCR Text |
Show AQUEDUCT NEAR SAN DIEGO, CALIF. 5 It is reported that all contracts for the construction of the San Diego aqueduct have been awarded, and that, as of April 15, 1946, the cost to the Navy was $13,503,500. Latest information indicates that the work is over 50 percent completed and, according to present estimates, should be completed by November 1947. Under date of June 6, 1946, I wrote to the Secretary of the Navy calling attention to the said contract with the city of San Diego and requesting that there be furnished a report indicating the particular provisions of the First and Second War Powers Acts and of the act of July 2, 1940, which contain authority for the involved contract, together with a statement of the facts and circumstances which are considered to bring the contract within the purview of the statutory ¦authority relied upon. The reply of the Secretary of the Navy pointed out that the project was initiated on instructions from the President, following the report of the special committee, discussed hereinbefore, and stated that, under the circumstances, the subject contract is considered to be one for the expansion of facilities necessary in the interest of the national defense, and authorized, as in the case of all facility contracts, by the statutes cited. The remainder of the letter is as follows: Under the First War Powers Act the President issued Executive Order No. •9262, authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to exercise the powers authorized by subdivisions (a) and (b) of section 1 of the act of July 2, 1940. Under Executive Order No. 9001 the Secretary of the Navy was authorized to enter into contracts without regard to the provisions of law relating to the making of contracts. Section 201, title II, of the Second War Powers Act provides: "The Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, or any other officer, board, commission, or governmental corporation authorized by the President, may acquire by purchase, donation, or other means of transfer, or may cause proceedings to be instituted in any court having jurisdiction of such proceedings^ to acquire by condemnation, any real property, temporary use thereof, or other interest therein, together with any personal property located thereon or used therewith, that shall be deemed necessary, for military, naval, or other war purposes, such proceedings to be in accordance with the Act of August 1, 1888 (25 Stat. 357), to any other applicable Federal statute, and may dispose of such property or interest therein by sale, lease, or otherwise, in accordance with section 1 (b) of the Act of July 2, 1940 (54 Stat. 712). Upon or after the filing of the condemnation petition, immediate possession may be taken and the property may be occupied, used, and improved for the purposes of this Act, notwithstanding any other law. Property acquired by purchase,, donation, or other means of transfer may be occupied, used, and improved, for the purposes of this section prior to the approval of title by the Attorney General as required by section 355 of the Revised Statutes, as amended." The pertinent provisions of the act of July 2, 1940, referred to in Executive Order No. 9262, and section 201, title II, of the Second War Powers Act, are as follows: "That (&) in order to expedite the building up of the national defense, the Secretary of War is authorized, out of tha moneys appropriated for the War Department for national-defense purposes for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941, with or without advertising, (1) to provide for the necessary construction, rehabilitation, conversion and installation at military posts, depots, stations, or other localities, of plants, buildings, facilities, utilities and appurtenances thereto (including Government-owned facilities at privately owned plants and the expansion of such plants, and the acquisition of such land, and the purchase or lease of such structures, as may be necessary), for the development, manufacture, maintenance, and storage of military equipment, munitions, and supplies, and for shelter; (2) to provide for the development, purchase, manufacture, shipment, maintenance, and storage of military equipment, munitions, and supplies, and for shelter, at such places and under such conditions as he may deem necessary; and (3) to enter into such contracts (including contracts for educational orders, and for the exchange of deteriorated, unserviceable, obsolescent, or surplus military equipment, munitions, and supplies or other military equipment, munitions, |