Proclamation No. 1464, June 28, 1918, Taking over for the United States Title to and Possession of Property on the Hudson River Owned by the North German Lloyd Dock Co. and the Hamburg-American Line Terminal and Navigation Co.
By the President of the United States of America
A PROCLAMATION
Whereas the Act of Congress making appropriations to supply urgent deficiencies in appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, and prior fiscal years, on account of war expenses and for other purposes, approved March 28, 1918 (Public—No. 109—65th Congress), contains the following provisions:
“The President is authorized to acquire the title to the docks, piers, warehouses, wharves, and terminal equipment and facilities on the Hudson River now owned by the North German Lloyd Dock [Page 303] Company and the Hamburg-American Line Terminal and Navigation Company, two corporations of the State of New Jersey, if he shall deem it necessary for the national security and defense; Provided, That if such property can not be procured by purchase, then the President is authorized and empowered to take over for the United States the immediate possession and title thereof. If any such property shall be taken over as aforesaid, the United States shall make just compensation therefor to be determined by the President. Upon the taking over of said property by the President, as aforesaid, the title to all such property so taken over shall immediately vest in the United States: Provided further, That section three hundred and fifty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not apply to any expenditures herein or hereafter authorized in connection with the property acquired.”
Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, pursuant to the authority vested in me by the said Act of Congress approved March 28, 1918, do hereby determine and declare that the acquisition of title to the foregoing docks, piers, warehouses, wharves, and terminal equipment and facilities, is necessary for the National security and defense, and I do hereby take over for the United States of America the immediate possession and title thereof, including all leaseholds, easements, rights of way, riparian rights and other rights, estates and interests therein or appurtenant thereto.
Just compensation for the property hereby taken over will be hereafter determined and paid.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[seal] Done in the District of Columbia this twenty-eighth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States, one hundred and forty-two.
By the President:
Robert Lansing
Secretary of State.