THATthe Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to purchase, for and on behalf of the United States, one or more of the bridges already constructed across the eastern branch of the Potomac river, and now in actual use, which he may deem advisable for public convenience and suitable for the interest of the United States, together with all the rights, privileges, property, and immunities appertaining thereto, now held or enjoyed by the company or companies owning the same, if he, the said Secretary, shall be able to obtain the same at a price which two or more disinterested persons, to be appointed by the said Secretary, shall, by their award, state them to be respectively worth, and to hold such conveyance of the same as shall be sufficient in law, which conveyances said company of companies is, or are hereby, authorized to make by deed under their corporate seal, which shall be recorded among the land records of the county of Washington, in the District of Columbia, and the original preserved in the Treasury Department.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if the Secretary of the Treasury shall

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not be able to purchase one or more of said bridges, in the manner aforesaid, he shall be, and he is hereby, directed to cause to be constructed, by contract or otherwise, a bridge, upon such plan and of such dimensions as he may approve, across the eastern branch of the river Potomac, within the District of Columbia, at such site as he shall deem best for the convenience of the public, with a draw of sufficient width in said bridge over the channel of the river.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That said bridge or bridges, when constructed or purchased, shall be forever free of toll to all persons passing and repassing the same, their carriages, conveyances, property or accompaniments of any kind, and shall be delivered in charge of the Commissioner on Public Buildings.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That a sum not exceeding thirty thousand dollars, payable from the treasury of the United States, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to carry this act into effect.