3768. R. S., § 3767, same either by advertisement or circular, as the Joint Committee on Public Printing may direct, and shall make contracts for the same with the lowest responsible bidder, making a return of the same to the Joint Committee on Public Printing, showing the number of bidders, the amounts of each bid and the awards of the contracts. 1876, Jan. 25, ch. 4. Proclamations one newspaper, That so much of all laws or parts of laws as provide for the election or appointment of Public Printer be, and the same are hereby, repealed, to take effect from and after the passage of this act; and the President of the United States shall appoint by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a suitable person who must be a practical printer and versed in the art of book-binding, to take charge of and manage the Government Printing Office from and after the date aforesaid: He shall be called the "Public Printer," and shall be vested with all the powers and subject to all the restrictions pertaining to the officer now known as the Public Printer; He shall give bond in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, said bond to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. [Par. 2.] That all executive proclamations, & all treaties required and treaties to be by law to be published, shall be published in only one newspaper the published in only same to be printed and published in the District of Columbia and to be &c., and advertise- designated by the Secretary of State and in no case of advertisement ments for contracts for contracts for the public service shall the same be published in any not to be published in District of Co- newspaper published and printed in the District of Columbia unless the lumbia, except, supplies or labor covered by such advertisement are to be furnished or performed in said District of Columbia. &c. R. S., § 38263828. 1881, Jan. 21, ch. 25. Superintendent of life-saving serv; ice to make annual report, &c. * [Par. 3.] The person in immediate charge of the life saving service, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall make a report annually to the Secretary of the Treasury, showing the manner in which all moneys appropriated for the maintenance of said service shall have been expended, and setting forth specifically the operations of said serv1878, June 18, ch. ice during the year; and said report shall be transmitted to Congress 265, § 7. with the papers accompanying the Annual Finance Report. R. S., § 4242 4249. R. S., § 2749. Cadet third lieu- [Par. 4.] Hereafter upon the occurring of a vacancy in the grade of tenant for Revenue third lieutenant in the Revenue Marine Service, the Secretary of the Marine Service may be appointed. Treasury may appoint a cadet, not less than eighteen nor more than twenty-five years of age, with rank next below that of third lieutenant, 16 Opin. Att'y- whose pay shall be three-fourths that of a third lieutenant, and who Gen., 288. shall not be appointed to a higher grade until he shall have served a satisfactory probationary term of two years and passed the examination required by the regulations of said service; and upon the promotion of such cadet another may be appointed in his stead; but the whole number of third lieutenants and cadets shall at no time exceed the number of third lieutenants now authorized by law. Metropolitan Po- [Par. 5.] The duties devolved and the authority conferred upon the lice of District Co- board of Metropolitan Police by law, for police purposes, in said District, lumbia; powers, shall extend to and include all public squares or places; and said board &c., of, extended to public squares and is hereby authorized and required to make appropriate rules and reguplaces. lations in relation thereto. (1) Two assistant * [Par. 6.] For salaries and traveling expenses of agents at seal-fisheries agents at seal-fish- in Alaska, eries in Alaska dis continued. Provided, however, That the two assistant agents whose salaries as R. S., § 1973, fixed by law at two thousand one hundred and ninety dollars each per 1974. 1875, March 3, ch. 130, § 1. NOTE.-(1) This provision is repeated in the act of 1877, ch. 105 (19 Stat. L., 346). annum, shall be discontinued from and after the first day of October eighteen hundred and seventy-six Cost of survey of 2223. [Par. 7.] That an accurate account shall be kept by each surveyorgeneral of the cost of surveying and platting every private land claim, claims to be kept to be reported to the General Land-Office with the map of such claim; and to be paid by and that a patent shall not issue nor shall any copy of any such survey parties before patbe furnished for any such private claim until the cost of survey and ents issue. platting shall have been paid into the Treasury of the United States by R. S., § 2218, the party or parties in interest in said grant or by any other party: And provided further, That before any land granted to any railroad company by the United States shall be conveyed to such company, or any persons entitled thereto under any of the acts incorporating or relating to said company, unless such company is exempted by law from the payment of such cost, there shall first be paid into the Treasury of the United States the cost of surveying, selecting, and conveying the same by the said company or persons in interest. of lands granted to railroads to be paid by companies, &c. [Par. 8.] That the land offices at Chillicothe, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indi- Land offices at ana, Springfield, Illinois, and the office of recorder of land-titles of the Chillicothe, InState of Missouri, (2) are hereby abolished, from and after the thirtieth dianapolis, and Springfield, reday of September next and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby author- corder of landized to transfer to the States respectively aforesaid such of the tran- titles of Missouri, scripts, documents, and records of the offices aforesaid as may not be and surveyor-general of Kansas required for use of the United States, and as the States respectively in abolished. which said offices are situated may desire to preserve; And the office of the surveyor-general of Kansas is hereby abolished from and after the thirtieth of September next. [July 31, 1876.] NOTES.-(2) See notes to act of 1874, June 6, ch. 223, p. 28. R. S., §§ 2207, 2256, pars. 1-3. 1874, June 6, ch. 223, § 3. CHAPTER 255. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE MILITARY ACADEMY Quartermaster and commissary for cadets to be detailed and supplies furnished at cost. Aug. 7, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 124. tailed and supplies That the Secretary of War be hereby directed to detail a competent Quartermaster officer to act as quartermaster and commissary for the battalion of and commissary cadets, by whom all purchases and issues of supplies of all kinds for for cadets to be de the cadets, and all provisions for the mess, shall be made, and that all furnished at cost. supplies of all kinds and descriptions shall be furnished to the cadets R. S., § 1309– at actual cost, without any commission or advance over said cost; and 1341. such officer so assigned shall perform all the duties of purveying and supervision for the mess, as now done by the purveyor, without other compensation. [August 7, 1876.] CHAPTER 256. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A NEW LAND-DISTRICT IN THE TERRITORY OF WYOMING. Aug. 9, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 126. 1. Evanston land-district in Wyoming estab 2. register and receiver for. Be it enacted, &c. [SECTION 1], That all the public lands in the Territory of Wyoming lying west of the thirty-first meridian of longitude west from Washing. ton shall constitute a new land-district, to be called the Evanston dis trict. Evanston land district in Wyoing established. R. S., § 2256, par. 91, 2d ed., p. 413. Evanston land SEC. 2. That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint, district; register by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or during the recess and receiver for; office may be rethereof, and until the next session after such appointment, a register moved. and a receiver for said district, who shall be required to reside in the R. S., §§ 2234- town of Evanston, Wyoming Territory, until such time as the President may, in his discretion, remove the site of said land-office from said town, be subject to the same laws and be entitled to the same compensation as is or may hereafter be provided by law in relation to the existing land-offices and officers in said Territory. [August 9, 1876.] 2247. Aug. 11, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 127. Kansas. R. S., § 2283, 2284. CHAPTER 259. AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS IN KANSAS TO [SECTION 1], That any bona fide settler, residing at the time of comBona-fide settlers pleting his or her entry, as hereinafter provided, upon any portion of may purchase the lands sold to the United States, by virtue of the first article of the Osage lands in treaty concluded between the United States and the Great and Little Osage tribe of Indians September twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and sixty five, and proclaimed January twenty-first, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, who is a citizen of the United States, or shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, shall be, and hereby is, entitled to purchase the same, in quantity not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, at the price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, within one year from the passage of this act, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and on the terms hereinafter provided: 1874, June 23, ch. 488. 1880, May 28, ch. 107. 1881, March 3, ch. 149. Treaty (14 Stat. L., 687). certain railways &c. Provided, That no bona fide settler as aforesaid on said land shall be denied the right to purchase land under the provisions of this act on the ground that he or she may heretofore have had the benefit of the homestead or preëmption laws of the United States. SEC. 2. That any person who is a citizen of the United States, or has Purchasers in declared his intention to become such, who in good faith had purchased good faith from any portion of said land from either the Leavenworth, Lawrence and entitled to land, Galveston Railroad Company, or the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company, prior to the commencement of the two suits in the name of the United States against said companies, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Kansas, to test the legality of title of said railroad companies to said lands, or portions thereof, to wit; before the twenty-fifth day of February, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and shall prove to the satisfaction of the register and the receiver of the proper land office that he or she has, in good faith, before the date last aforesaid, paid said railroad companies, or either of them, the consideration-money, or a portion thereof, and also that he or she has in good faith made lasting and valuable improvements thereon, shall be, and hereby is declared to be entitled to purchase said lands, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, to include his or her improvements, on the same terms and conditions that actual settlers are authorized by this act to purchase said lands; that the rights of the said purchasers from said railroad companies shall attach at the date of the payment aforesaid made to said railroads or either of them: Provided, That the said improvements are made before the date last aforesaid: And provided further, That said claimant actually resides on the land at the time of completing his or her entry thereof at the proper land office: Provided further, That the heirs of any deceased purchaser from said railroads shall have the same right to purchase the said lands so purchased from the said railroads as the original purchaser would have had, had he lived. Rights of heirs. Terms of pur SEC. 3. That the parties desiring to make entries under the provisions of this act who will, within twelve months after the passage of the same chase; price, &c. make payment at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, for the land claimed by said purchaser, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner of the General Land Office may prescribe, as follows, that is to say; Entry to be com Said purchaser shall pay for the land he or she is entitled to purchase one-fourth of the price of the land at the time the entry is made, and pleted in one year. the remainder in three annual payments, drawing interest at the rate of five per centum per annum, which payment shall be secured by notes of said purchaser, payable to the United States; And the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold title until the last payment is made; And the Secretary of the Interior shall cause patents to issue to all parties who shall complete their purchases under the provisions of this act; Patents to issue. And if any claimant fails to complete his or her entry at the proper Payment of land-office within twelve months from the passage of this act, he or she whole may be shall forfeit all right to the land by him or her so claimed, except in made at any time. cases where the land is in contest: Provided further, That nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent any purchaser of said land from making payment at any time of the whole or any portion of the purchase money. Laws in relation R. S., § 2380 SEC. 4. That the laws of the United States in relation to the preemption of town-sites shall apply to the tract of land first above de- to town-sites apscribed, except that the declaratory statement provided by existing lands, except, &c. plicable to Osage laws in such cases shall be filed with the register of the proper landoffice within sixty days after the passage of this act, and the occupants 2394. of town-sites shall not be allowed to purchase more than three hundred and twenty acres actually occupied as a town-site, except in case where town-site companies have purchased all claim of title of the original settlers, and all titles claimed by any railroad company, in which case said town-site company, by its proper agent, shall have the same right to enter said lands that the original settlers would have had, not exceeding in amount eight hundred acres, and shall pay therefor the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, in the same manner as actual occupants are required to pay. Prior lawful entries reinstated. SEC. 5. That all lawful entries heretofore made of any of said lands, and set aside or cancelled by the Secretary of the Interior, on the ground that the said railroads had a prior grant of said lands, be reinstated by the said Secretary of the Interior, subject to any valid adverse claim that may have accrued before or since such sale or cancellation. SEC. 6. That all declaratory statements made by persons desiring to purchase any portion of said land under the provisions of this act, statements; where shall be filed with the register of the proper land office within sixty and when filed. days after the passage of the same: Provided, however, That those who may settle on said land after the passage of this act shall file their declaratory statement within twenty days after settlement, and complete their purchase under the provisions of this act within one year thereafter. SEC. 7. That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent sand lands from being taxed under the laws of the State of Kansas, as other lands are or may be taxed in said State, from and after the time the first payment is made on said land, according to the provisions of this act. Declaratory Right of Kansas to tax. Railways to SEC. 8. That the said railroads or either of them shall have the right have right to pur- to purchase such subdivisions of lands as are located outside of the chase right of way, heretofore granted to them, and which were occupied by them on said tenth day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, for stock-yards, storage-houses, or any other purposes legitimately connected with the operation and business of said roads, whenever the same does not conflict with a settler who in good faith made a settlement prior to the occupation of said lands by said railroad company or companies, in the same manner and at the same price settlers are authorized to purchase under the provisions of this act. [August 11, 1876.] Aug. 11, 1876. CHAPTER 260. 19 Stat. L., 129. Amendment of. AN ACT TO AMEND SUB-SECTIONS TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX AND TWO HUNDRED Sureties on bonds of bidders for carrying mail to - knowingly swearing falsely; how punished. -on failure or refusal of contractor to perform -on failure of accepted bidder, &c., to enter into contract. Limit of temporary service. Contracts may be continued six months beyond term. Penalty for wrongfully failing to enter .nto con. tract. - prima facie evidence in such case. Be it enacted, &c., That sub-sections two hundred and forty-six and 1874, June 23, ch. two hundred and fifty-one of section twelve, of an act entitled "An act 456, § 12. making appropriations for the service of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventyfive, and for other purposes," approved June the twenty-third, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and for other purposes, and also to amend section thirty-nine hundred and fifty-four of the Revised Statutes be amended as follows: Sureties on bonds answer in "SEC. 246. That before the bond of a bidder, provided for in the aforeof bidders for car- said section, is approved, there shall be indorsed thereon the oaths of rying mail to take the sureties therein, taken before an officer qualified to administer oaths, terrogatories, &c. that they are owners of real estate worth in the aggregate a sum double R. S., §§ 3946, the amount of said bond, over and above all debts due and owing by 3947, 3953. them, and all judgments, mortgages, and executions against them, after allowing all exemptions of every character whatever. 1878, May 17, ch. 107. - knowingly swearing falsely; how punished. contract, &c. Accompanying said bond and as a part thereof, there shall be a series of interrogatories, in print or writing, to be prescribed by the Postmaster-General, and answered by the sureties under oath showing the amount of real estate owned by them, a brief description thereof, and its probable value, where it is situated, in what county and State the record evidence of their title exists. And if any surety shall knowingly and willfully swear falsely to any statement made under the provisions of this section he shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and, on conviction thereof, be punished as is provided by law for commission of the crime of perjury." Proceedings on "SEC. 251. That after any regular bidder whose bid has been accepted failure of lowest shall fail to enter into contract for the transportation of the mails acbidder to enter into cording to his proposals, or having entered into contract, shall fail to R. S., 3951- commence the performance of the service stipulated in his or their contract as therein provided, the Postmaster General shall proceed to con1878, May 17, ch. tract with the next lowest bidder or bidders in the order of their bids, 107. for the same service, who will enter into a contract for the performance 3954. |