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History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy, Captain Linwood S. Howeth, USN (Retired), 1963, pages 552-553:
Appendix D. Proposed Legislation for National Control of Radio, 1905
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.
SECTION 1. That a person or corporation shall not use or operate any apparatus for wireless telegraphy as a means of commercial intercourse among the several states or with foreign nations, nor upon any vessel of the United States engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, nor for the receipt or transmission of wireless telegraphic messages or signals the effect of which extends beyond the exclusive jurisdiction of the state or territory in which the same are made, or where interference would be caused thereby with the receipt of messages or signals from beyond the jurisdiction of the said state or territory, except under and in accordance with a license in that behalf granted by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; but nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to the transmission and exchange of wireless telegraphic messages or signals between points situated in the same state, provided the effect thereof shall not extend beyond the jurisdiction of the said state or interfere with the reception of messages or signals from beyond said jurisdiction; and no license shall be required for the transmission or exchange of messages or signals by or on behalf of the Government of the United States. Any person or corporation who shall use and operate any apparatus for wireless telegraphy in violation of this section, or knowingly aid or abet another person or corporation in so doing, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and the apparatus or device so unlawfully used and operated may be adjudged forfeited to the United States.
SECTION 2. Every such license shall be in such form as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall determine and shall contain the terms, conditions and restrictions on and subject to which the license is granted, and shall be for a period of one year. Every such license shall specify the location of the station in which said apparatus shall be used and shall not be construed to authorize the use of any wireless telegraph apparatus in any other station than the one specified. Every such license shall be subject to such regulations as may be established sequent Acts and treaties of the United States. Every such license shall provide that the President of the United States may, in time of war or public peril, cause the closing of any wireless apparatus station and the removal therefrom of all wireless telegraphic apparatus, or authorize the use and control of any such station or apparatus by any department of the Government.
SECTION 3. For the purpose of preventing or minimizing interference between naval and military wireless telegraph stations and the private or commercial wireless telegraph stations in bona fide operation at the time of the passage of this Act, the President of the United States shall establish regulations to govern said private or commercial stations, which may be granted licenses in accordance therewith, and such regulations shall have the force and effect of the law and be enforced by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor as other regulations herein provided for.
SECTION 4. Every license granted under the provisions of this Act for the operation or use of wireless telegraph apparatus in any station which may be established after the passage of this Act, shall be on the condition that the said operation or use thereof shall not interfere with any naval or military wireless telegraph station; and a license to use any wireless telegraphic apparatus previously granted shall be liable to revocation by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor upon the production of evidence satisfactory to him of the fact of such interference. An appeal as to both law and fact from the order or decision of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor in any case involving the right of any person or corporation to obtain or retain a license shall lie to the Circuit Court of Appeals of the jurisdiction in which such person resides or such corporation is formed, as in case of other appeals to the said court from the Circuit Courts of the United States.
SECTION 5. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have power to make regulations prescribing the form and manner in which applications for licenses under this Act shall be made and respecting the granting of such licenses, and regulations otherwise suitable to secure the due execution of the provisions of this Act, and from time to time to add to, modify, amend or revoke such regulations as in his judgment may seem expedient; and such regulations when so adopted shall have the force and effect of law.
SECTION 6. Licenses may be granted under this Act for the use and operation of wireless telegraphic apparatus at fixed stations upon the mainland, islands, or the navigable waters of the United States, to be known as licenses of the first class, and upon vessels of the United States engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, to be known as licenses of the second class; that the fee for licenses of the first class shall be one hundred dollars for each station, and that the fee for licenses of the second class shall be five hundred dollars for each vessel equipped for the use and operation of wireless telegraphy; but no fee shall be required for any license granted for the conduct of experiments in wireless telegraphy. All fees for licenses shall be turned into the Treasury of the United States and a statement of all those collected in each fiscal year shall be reported to Congress.
SECTION 7. The expression "wireless telegraph" as used in this Act means any system of electrical communication by telegraphy without the aid of any wire connecting the points from, and to which, the messages, signals or other communications are sent or received.
SECTION 8. It shall be the duty of every person or corporation using or operating a wireless telegraph pursuant to a license granted under this Act to answer wireless calls and signals from and for any other person or corporation so licensed to receive all messages or signals tendered for transmission to any other neighboring or connecting apparatus, at the price customarily asked and received for such service, to transmit the same to such neighboring or connecting apparatus without discrimination and without regard to the system of telegraphy by which such calls, signals, or messages are made; and a neglect or refusal to observe the requirements of this section when practicable, shall be cause for revocation of license.
SECTION 9. Any person or corporation who shall willfully or maliciously interfere with sending or receiving of wireless telegraphic messages or signals by or on behalf of the Government of the United States, or by any person or corporation using or operating wireless telegraph instrument pursuant of a license granted under this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and on conviction thereof shall be punished for every such offense by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a period not exceeding twelve months or by both.
SECTION 10. A person or corporation shall not use or operate any apparatus for wireless telegraphy on a foreign ship whilst that ship is in territorial waters of the United States otherwise than in accordance with the regulations made for that purpose by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and any breach of any such regulations will make the offender liable to a penalty not to exceed fifty (50.00) dollars for each offense and to the forfeitures of any apparatus for wireless telegraphy installed or worked on such ships. Save as aforesaid nothing in this Act shall apply to the working of apparatus for wireless telegraphy installed in any foreign ship.
SECTION 11. Any wireless telegraph station owned and operated by a department of the Government shall not compete for commercial messages with licensed telegraph stations.
SECTION 12. This Act shall take effect and be in force on and after the first day of July, nineteenth hundred and five; provided, however, that the third and fourth sections of this Act shall take effect and be in force at the time of its passage.
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