Executive Order 2717

by President of the United States

Whereas an act of Congress approved June 19, 1906, provides "that the Secretary of the Treasury shall have the control, direction, and management of all quarantine stations, grounds, and anchorages established by authority of the United States * * *."

Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority in me vested, and pursuant to section 1 of the act approved March 3, 1917, entitled "An act to provide a temporary government for the West Indies Islands, acquired by the United States from Denmark, etc.," do hereby order that the provisions of the act of Congress approved February 15, 1893, entitled "An act granting additional quarantine powers and imposing additional duties upon the Marine-Hospital Service," and all rules and regulations heretofore prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury under this act are to be given full force and effect in the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John, West Indies, and all public property of the former government of the Virgin Islands, ceded heretofore to the United States, consisting of quarantine reservations, buildings, wharves, docks connected therewith, and equipment, be, and hereby are, taken for uses and purposes of the United States, and the Secretary of the Treasury, through the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, is hereby charged with all administrative duties relating to said quarantine service, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall have estimates prepared by the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service and submitted to Congress for an appropriation for the maintenance of said quarantine service, and securement of reservations where necessary, and additional facilities for the proper enforcement of quarantine preventive measures.

Woodrow Wilson 

The White House,

27 September, 1917.