In case of lawful SEC. 3. Hereafter, when any person or persons being under contract sub-lettings, &c., with the Government of the United States for carrying the mails, shall copy of contract to be filed and notice lawfully sub-let any such contract, or lawfully employ any other person given to Sixth Au- or persons to perform the service by such contractor agreed to be perditor. formed, or any part thereof, he or they shall file in the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General a copy of his or their contract; R. S., § 3963. 16 Opin. Att'yGen., 61, 280. -notice what to contain. Sub-contractors to be paid on certificate of Second Assistant Postmaster-General. -unless they have been paid by contractors. Post-office ad And thereupon it shall be the duty of the Second Assistant Postmaster General to notify the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department of the fact of the filing in his office of such contract. Said notice shall embrace the name or names of the original contractor or contractors, the number of the route or routes, the name or names of the sub-contractor or sub-contractors, and the amount agreed to be paid to the sub-contractor or sub-contractors. And upon the receipt of said notice by the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department, it shall be his duty to retain, out of the amount due the original contractor or contractors, the amount stated in said notice as agreed to be paid to the sub-contractor or sub-contractors, and shall pay said amount, upon the certificate of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, to the sub contractor or sub-contractors, under the same rules and regulations now governing the payments made to original contractors: Provided, That upon satisfactory evidence that the original contractor or contractors have paid off and discharged the amount due under his or their contract to the sub-contractor or sub-contractors, it shall be the duty of the Second Assistant Postmaster General to certify such fact to the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department; And thereupon said Auditor shall settle with the original contractor or contractors, under the same rules as are now provided by law for such settlements. SEC. 4. Hereafter all advertisements, notices, proposals for contracts, vertisements; at and all other forms of advertising required by law for the Post Office what rate to be paid for. Department may be paid for at a price not to exceed the commercial R. S., §§ 3826- rates charged to private individuals with the usual discounts, such rates to be ascertained from sworn statements to be furnished to the 1875, ch. 128, § 1, Postmaster-General by the proprietors of the newspapers proposing to 1881, Jau. 21, ch. So advertise: 3828. par. 2. 25. Contracts for carrying mails on water-routes between United made. Provided, That all advertising in newspapers since the tenth day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, shall be audited and paid at like rates. But the Postmaster-General may secure lower terms at special rates, whenever the public interest requires it. SEC. 5. When from any cause it may become necessary to make a new contract for carrying the mails upon any water route between ports of the United States, upon which mail service has previously been perStates ports; how formed, the Postmaster-General may contract with the owner or master of any steamship, steamboat or other vessel plying upon the waters or between ports of the United States, for carrying the mail upon said route for any length of time not exceeding four years and without advertising for proposals therefor whenever the public interest and convenience will thereby be promoted; - when may be made without ad vertisements. -between United States and foreign ports not to be for more than two years. But the price paid for such service shall in no case be greater than the average price paid under the last preceding or then existing regular contract upon the same route. And the Postmaster-General may contract with the owners or masters of steamships steamboats or other vessels plying upon the waters or between ports of the United States for carrying the mails upon such routes where no mail service has previously been performed, without advertising for proposals therefor; but no contract for such new service shall be for a longer time than one year. No contract for carrying the mails between the United States and any foreign port shall be for a longer time than two years, unless otherwise directed by Congress. modified. So much of sections thirty-nine hundred and forty-three, thirty-nine Sections of Rehundred and fifty-six, and thirty-nine hundred and seventy of the Revised vised Statutes Statutes as is in conflict with the preceding sections is hereby repealed. SEC. 6. All laws or parts of laws inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. [May 17, 1878.] R. S., §§ 3943, 3956, 3970. Repeal. CHAPTER 109. AN ACT EXTENDING THE PRIVILEGES OF SECTIONS TWENTY-NINE HUNDRED AND Imports for transportation in bond may be entered at or transported to Bath, Me. Be it enacted, &c., (Sup.) [That the privileges of sections twenty-nine hundred and ninety to twenty-nine hundred and ninety-seven of the Revised Statutes, inclusive, be, and they are hereby, extended to the port of Bath, in the State of Maine.] (1) [May 25, 1878.] NOTE. (1) The sections of Revised Statutes here referred to are repealed, and this act superseded by act of 1880, June 10, ch. 190, where, in § 7, Bath is included among the places for which similar provisions are made. CHAPTER 140. AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF SETTLERS ON THE PUBLIC LANDS UNDER THE PRE- Settlers on public lands changing entries from - when may perfect title. pre-emption to homestead. May 27, 1878. 20 Stat. L., 65, 86. Settlers on pub Be it enacted, &c., That any person who has made a settlement on the public lands under the pre-emption laws, and has subsequent to such set- lic lands changing entries from pretlement changed his filing in pursuance of law to that for a homestead emption to homeentry upon the same tract of land, shall be entitled to have the time re- stead. quired to perfect his title under the homestead laws computed from the date of his original settlement heretofore made, or hereafter to be made, fect title. under the pre-emption laws, subject to all the provisions of the law relating to homesteads. [May 27, 1878.] when may per R. S., § 22592291. 1877, March 3, ch. 123. 1878, June 14, ch. 189. CHAPTER 142. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE CURRENT AND CONTINGENT EXPENSES OF Par. 1. Union agency in Indian Territory abol- Par. 2. Indians employed not deemed employés of ished. Union agency in [Par. 1.] The Union agency in the Indian Territory is hereby abolished, and the duties heretofore devolving upon said agency are transferred to Indian Territory the office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.(1) NOTE.-(1) The Union agency in the Indian Territory, here referred to, was established under that provision of the act making appropriations for the current expenses, &c., of the Indian Department for the year ending June 30, 1875, whereby the sum of $1,500 was appropriated for that year for one agent for the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws and Seminoles" (ch. 389, 18 Stat. L., 147). The Revised Statutes provide, in § 2052, for forty-two (42) Indian agents, but that provision seems never to have been regarded since the passage of those statutes. Indian agents now hold their office and are paid, in point of fact, according to the provisions of annual appropriation acts, and these vary each year. Thus there have been appropriated for one year in each case by the act of 1874, ch. 389 (18 Stat. L., 146), for 69 agents; by the act of 1875, ch. 132 (18 Stat. L., 421), 70 agents; by the act of 1876, ch. 289 (19 Stat. L., 176), 68 agents; by the act of 1877, ch. 101 (19 Stat. L., 271), 69 agents; by the act of 1878, ch. 142 (20 Stat. L., 64), 74 agents; by the act of 1879, ch. 87 (20 Stat. L., 295), 71 agents; by the act of 1880, ch. 85 (21 Stat. L., 114), 68 agents. But these acts make no express change in the permanent provisions of Revised Statutes, § 2052, and, being temporary, are not included in this edition. R. S., § 2052. Indians em- [Par. 2.] Indians employed at agencies in any capacity shall not be ployed not deemed construed as part of agency employees named in section five of the act employés of agen- making appropriations for the Indian service for the fiscal year eighteen 1875, March 3, hundred and seventy-six, approved March third, eighteen hundred and ch. 132, § 5. seventy-five. 87. 1879, Feb. 17, ch. * [May 27, 1878.] May 28, 1878. 20 Stat. L., 87. Commissioners CHAPTER 145. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO RE- Commissioners of District of Columbia may refund certain improvement assessments, correct errors, &c. Be it enacted, &c., That the Commissioners of the District of Columof District Colum- bia be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to refund to bia may refund certain improve- any persons who have heretofore been erroneously assessed for special ment assessments, improvement taxes on property not belonging to them, such moneys as correct errors, &c. they shall be found to have paid as taxes upon such erroneous assessment; and the said Commissioners are empowered to correct any assessment so found to have been made, and collect the tax from the rightful owners of the property. [May 28, 1878.] May 31, 1878. 20 Stat. L., 87. CHAPTER 146. AN ACT TO FORBID THE FURTHER RETIREMENT OF UNITED STATES LEGAL-TENDER NOTES. Reduction of Reduction of amount of issue of United States legal-tender notes prohibited. Be it enacted, &c., That from and after the passage of this act it shall amount of issue of not be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury or other officer under him United States to cancel or retire any more of the United States legal-tender notes. legal-tender notes prohibited. And when any of said notes may be redeemed or be received into the R. S., § 3582. Treasury under any law from any source whatever and shall belong to 1874, June 20, ch. the United States, they shall not be retired cancelled or destroyed but 343, § 6. 1875, Jan. 14, ch. they shall be re-issued and paid out again and kept in circulation: 15, § 3. Provided, That nothing herein shall prohibit the cancellation and destruction of mutilated notes and the issue of other notes of like denomination in their stead, as now provided by law. All acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. [May 31, 1878.] June 1, 1878. 20 Stat. L., 88. Homestead set СПАРТЕR 148. AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF CERTAIN SETTLERS ON THE PUBLIC LANDS. Homestead settlers whose crops were injured by grasshoppers in 1876 may make entry though they had been absent. Be it enacted, &c., That it shall be lawful for homestead settlers on the tlers whose crops public lands whose crops were destroyed or seriously injured by grasswere injured by hoppers in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six, who left their grasshoppers in land in said year, if no other settlement shall have been made thereon may en by, or right or interest therein accrued to, any other person, to return try though they to said land at any time within three months from and after the passage had been absent. of this act; 1879, July 1, ch. And upon the return of such settlers to such land, such absence therefrom shall in no wise affect the original settlements or homestead rights, but such settlers shall be allowed to resume and perfect their settlement, as if no such absence had occurred: Provided, That proof of such destruction or injury of crops, absence and return of such settlers, shall be made in such manner as the Commissioner of the General Land Office may prescribe [June 1, 1878.] 63. CHAPTER 150. AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CITIZENS OF COLORADO, NEVADA AND THE TERRITORIES SECTION 1. Timber, &c., may be cut from mineral lands by bona-fide residents thereof, for building, agricultural, mining, and domestic purposes. Be it enacted, &c. SECTION 2. Registers and receivers to ascertain and notify 3.. Penalty for violation of act. June 3, 1878. 20 Stat. L., 88. [SECTION 1], That all citizens of the United States and other persons, Timber, &c., bona fide residents of the State of Colorado, or Nevada, or either of the may be cut from Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, or mineral lands for Montana, and all other mineral districts of the United States, shall be, ural, mining, and building, agricultand are hereby, authorized and permitted to fell and remove, for build- domestic purposes. ing, agricultural, mining, or other domestic purposes, any timber or R. S., § 2318other trees growing or being on the public lands, said lands being min- 2352, 2461. 1878, April 30, ch. eral, and not subject to entry under existing laws of the United States, 76, par. 2. except for mineral entry, in either of said States, Territories, or districts 1878, June 3, ch. of which such citizens or persons may be at the time bona-fide residents, 151, §§ 4, 5. subject to such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe for the protection of the timber and of the undergrowth growing upon such lands, and for other purposes: Provided, the provisions of this act shall not extend to railroad corporations. SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the register and the receiver of Registers and reany local land-office in whose district any mineral land may be situated ceivers to ascertain and notify to ascertain from time to time whether any timber is being cut or used Commissioner upon any such lands, except for the purposes authorized by this act, when timber is cut within their respective land districts; and, if so, they shall immediately for unauthorized notify the Commissioner of the General Land Office of that fact; And all necessary expenses incurred in making such proper examinations shall be paid and allowed such register and receiver in making up their next quarterly accounts. purposes. lation of act. SEC. 3. Any person or persons who shall violate the provisions of, Penalty for victhis act, or any rules and regulations in pursuance thereof made by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and to which may be added imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months. [June 3, 1878.] CHAPTER 151. Timber lands in California, Ore gon, Nevada, and Washington Territory to be sold. Claims under ex AN ACT FOR THE SALE OF TIMBER LANDS IN THE STATES OF CALIFORNIA, OREGON, SECTION 1. Timber-lands in California, Oregon, Nevada, 2. Application for purchase; what to set forth. 3. Publication of application. Entry and patent. Objection to patent. Be it enacted, &c. [SECTION 1], That surveyed public lands of the United States within the States of California, Oregon and Nevada and in Washington Territory, not included within military, Indian, or other reservations of the United States, valuable chiefly for timber, but unfit for cultivation, and which have not been offered at public sale according to law, may be sold to citizens of the United States, or persons who have declared their intention to become such, in quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one person or association of persons, at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre; and lands valuable chiefly for stone may be sold on the same terms as timber lands: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall defeat or impair any isting laws not im- bona-fide claim under any law of the United States, or authorize the paired. sale of any mining claim, or the improvements of any bona-fide settler, or lands containing gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal, or lands selected by the said States under any law of the United States donating lands for internal improvements, education, or other purposes: 2477. Rights under And provided further, That none of the rights conferred by the act certain existing approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, entitled(1) R. S., § 2338, "An act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over 2339, 2341-2343, the public lands, and for other purposes", shall be abrogated by this act; and all patents granted shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under and by the provisions of said act; and such rights shall be expressly reserved in any patent issued under this act. 96 U. S., 165. Application for purchase; what to set forth. Penalty for false swearing, &c. SEC. 2. That any person desiring to avail himself of the provisions of this act shall file with the register of the proper district a written statement in duplicate, one of which is to be transmitted to the General Land Office, designating by legal subdivisions the particular tract of land he desires to purchase, setting forth that the same is unfit for cultivation, and valuable chiefly for its timber or stone; that it is uninhabited; contains no mining or other improvements, except for ditch or canal purposes, where any such do exist, save such as were made by or belong to the applicant, nor, as deponent verily believes, any valuable deposit of gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, or coal; that deponent has made no other application under this act; that he does not apply to purchase the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use and benefit; and that he has not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any way or manner, with any person or persons whatsoever, by which the title which he might acquire from the government of the United States should inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any person except himself; which statement must be verified by the oath of the applicant before the register or the receiver of the land-office within the district where the land is situated; And if any person taking such oath shall swear falsely in the premises, he shall be subject to all the pains and penalties of perjury, and NOTES. (1) The act of 186, ch. 262 (14 Stat. L., 251), here referred to, is incorporated into Revised |