An Act to establish the rate of compensation for the position of the General Counsel of the Department of Commerce
PL 83-607 (H.R.8921), enacted 08/20/1954

68 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 607-AUG. 20, 1954 
753 
powerplant may be constructed with a capacity of sixteen thousand 
kilowatts. 
The Secretary is further authorized to undertake the reha-
bilitation of works of the Medf ord and Rogue Kiver Valley Irrigation 
Districts as under the provisions of the Act of October 7,1949 (63 Stat. 
724), as amended. 
SEC. 2. (a) In constructing, operating, and maintaining the Talent 
division, the Secretary shall be governed by the Federal reclamation 
laws (Act of June 17,1902; 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof 
or supplementary thereto) except as is otherwise provided in this Act. 
(b) Any contract entered into under section 9, subsection (d), 
of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1187, 1193; 43 
U. S. C, 1946 ed., sec. 485h), for payment of those portions of the 
costs of constructing, operating, and maintaining the Talent division 
which are properly allocable to irrigation and which are assigned to 
be paid by the contracting organization shall provide for the repay-
ment of the portion of the construction cost of the division assigned; 
to any contract unit or, if the contract unit be divided into two or 
more blocks, to any such block over a period of not more than sixty 
years, exclusive of any permissible development period, or as near 
thereto as is consistent with the adoption and operation of a variable 
payment formula which, being based on full repayment within the 
period stated under average conditions, permits variance in the 
required annual payments in the light of economic factors pertinent 
of the ability of the organization to pay. 
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, 
all net revenues derived from the sale of commercial power from the 
Talent division shall be applied, first, to the amortization of that 
portion of the cost of constructing the division which is allocated 
to commercial power with interest on the unamortized balance thereof 
at the average rate (which rate shall be certified by the Secretary of 
the Treasury) paid by the United States on its marketable long-term 
securities outstanding on the date of this Act and, thereafter, to the 
amortization of that portion of the cost of constructing the division 
which is allocated to irrigation but which is beyond the ability of the 
contracting irrigation organization to repay as provided above. Con-
tracts for the disposition of power from the Talent division shall be 
entered into with the financial objective of returning the power allo-
cation with interest plus as much of the irrigation allocation as is 
beyond the ability of the water users to repay, all as hereinbefore 
provided, within a period of not more than sixty years. 
SEC. 3. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated for con-
struction of the Talent division and for the rehabilitation work 
authorized to be undertaken by section 1 of this Act, out of any 
moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of 
$22,900,000 plus such amounts, if any, as may be required by reason 
of changes in construction costs as indicated by engineering cost 
indexes applicable to the type of construction involved therein. 
Approved August 20, 1954. 
43 u s e 504. 
Laws governing. 
43 u s e 371 note. 
C o n t r a c t pay-
ments. 
e o m m e r c i a l 
power sales. 
Use of revenue. 
Appropriation. 
Public Law 607 
CHAPTER 776 
^^ 
A C T 
August 20, 1954 
To establish the rate of compensation for the position of the General Counsel of 
[H. R. 8921] 
the Department of Commerce. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Refresentatvves 
of the 
United States of America in Congress ojssemhled^ That that portion of 
commerce D e 
the Act of March 18,1904, relating to the Office of the General Counsel partment. 
General Counsel. 
39777 O—55—pt. 1-
-50 
754 
PUBLIC LAW 608-AUG. 20, 1954 
[68 S T A T , 
5 u s e S92b. 
of the Department of Commerce (33 Stat. 85, 135), as amended and 
supplemented by the Act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 736), by Public 
Law 584, Eighty-second Congress (66 Stat. 758), and by section 7 
of Executive Order 6166 of June 10, 1933, be, and the same is hereby, 
amended to read as follows: 
"There shall be in the Department of Commerce a General Counsel, 
who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, and who shall have basic compensation at tlie 
rate per annum provided for Assistant Secretaries." 
Approved August 20, 1954. 
August 20, 1954 
[S. 3546] 
Public Law 608 
CHAPTER 777 
AN ACT 
To provide an imiuediate program for the modernization and improvement of 
such merchant-type vessels in the reserve fleet as are necessary for national 
defense. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
R^T^'Ac't^of IIM^ V'^^i^d States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may 
be cited as the "Emergency Ship Repair Act of 1954". 
STATEMENT OF TURPOSE 
SEC. "2. It is the purpose of this Act in the interests of national 
defense to provide for the immediate improvement and moderniza-
tion of needed merchant-type vessels in the reserve fleet under the 
jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce, and thereby to provide a 
much needed stimulus to the shipbuilding and ship repair industries 
of the Nation. 
63 Stat. 377. 
40 u s e 471 note. 
R E S E R V E F J - E E T MODERNIZATION AND REPAIR PROGRAM 
SEC. 3. The Secretary of Commerce shall, after consulting the Sec-
retary of Defense, formulate and carry out to the extent authorized 
under the provisions of this Act a program of repairing, modernizing, 
or converting such merchant-type vessels in the national defense 
reserve under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Commerce as may be 
necessary to provide for the purpose of national defense an adequate 
and ready reserve fleet of merchant and auxiliary vessels. 
CONTRACTING AUTHORIZATION 
SEC. 4. The Secretary of Commerce shall, within 
twenty-four 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, enter into such 
contracts for the repair, modernization, and conversion of vessels as 
may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. Such con-
tracts (1) may provide for the expenditure by the United States of 
not more than $25,000,000, (2) shall be with private shipbuilding or 
ship repair yards on the Atlantic, Pacific, and gulf coasts of the 
United States, (3) shall be entered into in accordance with applicable 
provisions of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act 
of 1949. In entering into such contracts the Secretary of Commerce 
shall not alter the present Maritime Administration policy of inviting 
single bids or split bids or both for drydock and nondrydock work.