FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS, 1871-1873. 697 



to issue bonds, not in excess of its capital stock, and secure the pay- 

 ment of the same, principal and interest, by mortgage upon its property 

 and prospective income. 



SEC. 9. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury of 

 the United States, as soon as practicable after the passage of this act, 

 to cause to be prepared, in accordance .with a design approved by the 

 United States Centennial Commission and the Secretary of the Treasury, 

 a .sufficient number of certificates of stock to meet the requirements of 

 this act; and any person found guilty of counterfeiting, or attempting 

 to counterfeit, or knowingly circulating false certificates of stock, herein 

 authorized, shall be subject to the same pains and penalties as are or 

 may be provided by law for counterfeiting United States currency; but 

 nothing in this act shall be so construed as to create any liability of 

 the United States, direct or indirect, for any debt or obligation incurred, 

 nor for any claim, by the centennial international exhibition, or the cor- 

 poration hereby created, for aid or pecuniary assistance from Congress 

 or the Treasury of the United States, in support or liquidation of any 

 debts or obligations created by the corporation herein authorized: And 

 provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to override 

 or interfere with the laws of any State; and all contracts made in any 

 State for the purposes of the centennial international exhibition shall 

 be subject to the laws thereof: And provided further, That no member 

 of said Centennial Board of Finance assumes any personal liability for 

 any debt or obligation which may be created or incurred by the corpo- 

 ration authorized by this act. 



SEC. 10. That as soon as practicable after the said exhibition shall 

 have been closed, it shall be the duty of said corporation to convert its 

 property into cash, and, after the payment of all its liabilities, to divide 

 its remaining assets among its stockholders, pro rata, in full satisfaction 

 and discharge of its capital stock; and it shall be the duty of the 

 United States Centennial Commission to supervise the closing up of 

 the affairs of said corporation, to audit its accounts, and submit, in a 

 report to the President of the United States, the financial results of the 

 centennial exhibition. 



SEC. 11. That the commission created by the act referred to in the 

 preamble of this act is hereby made and constituted a body politic and 

 corporate in law, with power to do such acts and enter into such obli- 

 gations as may be promotive of the purposes for which such commis- 

 sion was established. Its title shall be the United States Centennial 

 Commission. It shall have a common and corporate seal, and possess 

 all the rights incident to corporate existence. 



SEC. 12. That the alternate commissioners appointed pursuant to 

 section four of the act approved March third, 1871, referred to in the 

 preamble to this act, shall have all the powers of a commissioner when 

 the commissioner is not present at any meeting. When the commis- 



