Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 50 Part 2.djvu/953

 PROCLAMATIONS, 1937 Rights reserved. Reversionary provi- sion. July 4, 1937 [No. 2242] One hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Constitution and inauguration of the first President. Setting apart period for oommemoration of. There is reserved to the United States the right to occupy such areas of Desecheo Island as may be needed for the establishment of aids to navigation, together with rights for landing and ingress and egress to the areas so occupied by the United States. In the event that Desecheo Island shall cease to be used for forest reserve and native bird preserve purposes, or be devoted to any other than forest reserve and native bird preserve purposes, the same shall revert to the United States. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. DONE at the City of Washington this 16" day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, and of the [SEAL] Independence of the United States of America the one hun- dred and sixty-first. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT By the President: CORDELL HULL Secretary of State. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CONSTITUTION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION WHEREAS the Constitution of the United States was signed on September 17, 1787, and had by June 21, 1788, been ratified by the necessary number of States; and WHEREAS George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789: NOW, THEREFORE, I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, Presi- dent of the United States of America, hereby designate the period from September 17, 1937, to April 30, 1939, as one of commemoration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing and the ratification of the Constitution and of the inauguration of the first President under that Constitution. In commemorating this period we shall affirm our debt to those who ordained and established the Constitution "in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity". We shall recognize that the Constitution is an enduring instrument fit for the governing of a far-flung population of more than one hundred and thirty million engaged in diverse and varied pursuits, even as it was fit for the governing of a small agrarian nation of less than four million. It is therefore appropriate that in the period herein set apart we shall think afresh of the founding of our Government under the Constitution, how it has served us in the past and how in the days to come its principles will guide the nation ever forward. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed. DONE at the City of Washington this fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, and [SEAL] of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-second. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT By the President: CORDELL HULL Secretary of State. 1840

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