And provided further, That the rate of interest specified in section two hundred and two of said Revised Statutes shall be increased to ten per centum per annum from and after the passage of this act. SEC. 2. * [June 10, 1879.] CHAPTER 17. AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO ISSUE June 10, 1879. 21 Stat. L., 9. Bonds of District sued to redeem [SECTION 1], That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and they are hereby, authorized to prepare, execute, and deposit with Columbia to be isthe Secretary of the Treasury of the United States bonds of the District funded debt, &c. of Columbia, bearing interest not exceeding five per centum per annum, and payable twenty years after date, to the amount of not more than one million two hundred thousand dollars, the proceeds to be used only for the redemption of funded indebtedness of said District or of the late municipal corporations of Washington and Georgetown which became due January first and March first, eighteen hundred and seventynine, or those now existing and payable at pleasure, for the redemption of which the sinking fund of said District may not provide. form, denomina tion of. Said five per centum bonds shall be in such form and denominations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall approve, and shall be numbered tion, and registraconsecutively and registered in the office of the auditor of said District, and also in the office of the Register of the Treasury of the United States, in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct, and shall bear the seal of the District of Columbia: Provided, That this act shall not be construed to make the government of the United States liable for either the principal or interest of said bonds, or any part thereof. &c. Said bonds shall be sold by the Secretary of the Treasury to the high- how to be sold, est bidder upon public tender, but for not less than their par value, after being advertised for one week in two daily newspapers in the city of Washington and two in the city of New York. The bids shall be opened by the Secretary of the Treasury and the awards approved by him. The money realized from the sale of said bonds shall be paid out by the Secretary of the Treasury only for the purposes named in this act. SEC. 2. That the provisions of all acts conflicting herewith, and the acts or parts of acts authorizing said Commissioners of the District of Columbia to issue bonds to redeem certain bonds of said District falling due January first and March first, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, no bonds having been issued thereunder, are hereby repealed. (1) [June 10, 1879.] NOTE (1) The parts of act here referred to are in the act of 1878, ch. 359 (20 Stat. L., 208), as amended by act of 1878, ch. 11 (20 Stat. L., 259). They are not printed in this edition because nothing was done under them and they are repealed. Repeal. : June 11, 1879. 21 Stat. L., 10. CHAPTER 18. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT APPROVED FEBRUARY TWENTY-FOURTH, EIGHTEEN HUN- SECTION 1. Jackson County transferred from western to 2. Processes returnable at San Antonio instead 3. Transfer of pending cases. 4. Districts in Texas to be part of fifth judicial Be it enacted, &c. SECTION Northern district; jurisdiction and terms of circuit courts in. Eastern and western districts; jurisdiction and terms of circuit court in. Jackson County [SECTION 1], That so much of the act to which this is amendatory as transferred from provides that Jackson County shall be embraced in the western judicial western to eastern district of Texas, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and the said judicial district of Texas. county of Jackson is hereby placed in the eastern judicial district of said State; R. S., § 548. 1879, Feb. 24, ch. 97, §§ 2, 3. Processes return nio instead of And all process issued against defendants residing therein shall be returned to Galveston; And all civil causes of action which have accrued in said county, of which the courts of the United States have jurisdiction, shall be cognizable in the court at Galveston, but all offenses committed in said county against the laws of the United States before the passage of this act shall be cognizable in the court of the western district, as provided in said act of the twenty-fourth of February, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine. SEC. 2. That so much of the act to which this is an amendment as able at San Anto- makes all process against defendants residing in the counties of AranBrowns ville for Ssas, Duval, Nueces, La Salle, Zapata, San Patricio, Refugio, Dimmit, Webb, Encinal, and Maverick returnable to Brownsville is hereby repealed, and such process is hereby made returnable to San Antonio; certain counties. 1879, Feb. 24, ch. 97, § 5. Transfer of pending cases. Districts in Tex as to be part of fifth 97. Northern dis And all causes of civil action which have accrued in said counties, or either of them, since the passage of the act to which this is an amendment, or which shall hereafter accrue, shall be cognizable in the court at San Antonio. SEC. 3. Civil actions or proceedings now pending against parties residing in either of said counties in the courts named in the first and second sections hereof, as provided in the act to which this is an amendment, may, on the application of either party, be transferred to the proper court of said district under this act; and in case of such transfer, all papers and files therein, with copies of all journal entries, shall be transferred to the office of the clerk of such court; and the same shall proceed in all respects as though originally commenced in said court; And civil actions or proceedings now pending in the circuit courts at Brownsville, Austin, Galveston or Tyler which under this act would be cognizable in some other district, may on the application of either party be transferred to the proper court of said district, and in case of such transfer all papers and files therein with copies of all journal-entries, shall be transferred to the office of the clerk of such court, and the same shall proceed in all respects as though originally commenced in said court. SEC. 4. The several districts as established in the act to which this is an amendment are hereby declared to be a part of the fifth judicial circuit; and the courts of the said northern district shall have the same jurisdiction as is conferred by law upon the courts of the eastern and western districts of said State; And the circuit court for said northern district shall be held twice a and terms of cir- year at Waco on the first Mondays in April and October, at Dallas on the first Mondays in June and December, and at Graham on the first Mondays in February and August, cuit courts in. R. S., § 658. 1879, Feb. 24, ch. 97, § 4. Eastern and western districts; terms of circuit And the circuit courts shall be held at Jefferson in the eastern dis- R. S., § 658. 1879, Feb. 24, ch. 97, § 4. SEC. 5. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this act are hereby Repeal. repealed. [June 11, 1879.] CHAPTER 19. AN ACT TO EXTEND THE TIME FOR THE PAYMENT OF PRE-EMPTORS ON CERTAIN PUB- Pre-emptors of certain public lands in Minnesota and Dakota to have till October, 1880, to make proof and payment. June 12, 1879. 21 Stat. L., 11. lands in Minnesota Be it enacted, &c., That the time at which pre-emptors on the public Pre-emptors of lands in the State of Minnesota, including the lands within the Fort certain public Ridgeley and Sioux Indian reservations, and the old Sioux Indian res- and Dakota to have ervation in the county of Grant, Territory of Dakota, are now required till October, 1880, to make final proof and payment, be, and the same is hereby, extended to make proof and two years from October first, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, in all payment. cases when the pre-emptor shall make due proof before the register and R. S., § 2267. receiver of the local land office in the district in which their lands are 206. situated that their crops have been destroyed or seriously injured by grasshoppers within two years prior to October first, eighteen hundred 308. and seventy-eight. [June 12, 1879.] 1874, June 3, ch. 1874, June 18, ch. CHAPTER 20. AN ACT TO EXTEND THE TIME OF SPECIAL POSTAL SERVICE UNTIL SERVICE CAN BE Special postal service may be extended. Postmaster-General may make temporary con- June 12, 1879. 21 Stat. L., 11. Special tended. postal Be it enacted, &c., That in cases where special service has already been placed on new routes, the Postmaster General may, in his discretion, service may be exextend such service until the time when service can be obtained by advertisement, not exceeding in any case one year. make And whenever an accepted bidder shall fail to enter into contract, or Postmaster-Gena contractor on any mail-route shall fail or refuse to perform the service eral may on said route according to his contract, or when a new route shall be temporary contracts for carrying established or new service required, or when, from any other cause, mail without adthere shall not be a contractor legally bound or required to perform such vertisement in cerservice, the Postmaster-General may make a temporary contract for tain cases. R. S., § 3941. carrying the mail on such route, without advertisement, for such period 1876, Aug. 11, ch. as may be necessary, not in any case exceeding one year, until the serv- 260. ice shall have commenced under a contract made according to law. And 1878, May 17, ch. any provision of statute in conflict with this provision is hereby repealed. 107, § 1. [June 12, 1879.] CHAPTER 23. AN ACT RELATING TO VINEGAR FACTORIES ESTABLISHED AND OPERATED PRIOR TO Vinegar factories established before March, 1879, within 600 feet of distillery, &c., may be operated under regulations of Commissioner. Be it enacted, &c., That any vinegar factory for the manufacture of vinegar, established and operated as a vinegar factory prior to March June 14, 1879. 21 Stat. L., 20. Vinegar factories established before March, 1879, with in 600 feet of dis- first, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, may be operated for the mantillery, &c., may ufacture of vinegar by the use of alcoholic vapor within such distance be operated under regulations of less than six hundred feet of any distillery or rectifying-house under such regulations as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue may prescribe with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. [June 14, 1879.] Commissioner. 1879, March 1, ch. 125, § 5. CHAPTER 33. June 21, 1879. AN ACT TO RELIEVE THE CHURCHES OF THE DISTRICT OF COUMBIA, AND TO CLEAR Church property bia relieved from 1. Church property in District of Columbia re- 2. taxes collected on, to be refunded. Be it enacted, &c. [SECTION 1], That so much of an act of Congress entitled "An act for in District Colum the government of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes", taxation and from approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, as was sale of same for construed to authorize the Commissioners of the District to set aside taxes heretofore. former exemptions from taxation of church property which was actually 1874, June 20, ch. held and used for the purpose of divine worship, and to enforce a tax 337, § 2. upon such property, be, and is hereby, repealed; and the title to such property is hereby declared to vest in the trustees, or such other persons as held the title to the same at the time of the passage of the act of eighteen hundred and seventy-four, or their successors in interest, notwithstanding the sale of such property for non-payment of taxes. taxes collected SEC. 2. That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and on, to be refunded. they hereby are, authorized and required to refund to the trustees or other proper officers of such church or churches as have paid the taxes assessed against them under the act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, such sums respectively as were paid by each upon property actually held and used for the purpose of divine worship. [June 21, 1879.] CHAPTER 34. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JUDICIAL INTERNAL REVENUE. [Par. 1.] That hereafter storekeepers at distilleries that mash less than sixty bushels of grain per day shall be allowed not exceeding fifty dollars per month. But when one person acts as storekeeper and gauger, his salary shall not exceed four dollars per day for the time actually employed. Investigating agents for South SOUTHERN CLAIMS COMMISSION. [Par. 2.] For compensation of three investigating agents, at five dolern Claims Com lars per day when actually employed; also traveling expenses of agents, mission. fees and mileage to government witnesses, costs of summoning government witnesses, fees to commissioners for taking testimony, fees for abstracts and exemplifications of public records relating to claims and claimants, six thousand dollars: to claimants of Provided, That said agents shall give notice to claimants whose claims Agent of southit is proposed to investigate of the time and place of taking testimony, ern claims commiswho shall have the right to cross examine every witness who may tes- sion to give notice tify in behalf of the government; and said agents shall also take at taking testimony. the same time the testimony of any and all witnesses who may be pre- Rules to be presented by the claimant, on his paying the expenses thereof; And all such testimony, both on behalf of the claimant and the government, shall be taken under the law and rules which usually govern the taking of testimony; scribed. Commission And the judges of the Southern Claims Commission shall prescribe and publish rules for the taking of the testimony, and shall provide in all cases for full and fair notice to be given of the time and place thereof; abolished, And sections two, three, four, five, and six of the act of March third, eighteen hundred and seventy one, authorizing the Southern Claims 724. Commission, are hereby repealed, to take effect on and after the tenth day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty. * SEC. 3. That sections forty-seven hundred and seventy-one, fortyseven hundred and seventy-two, and forty-seven hundred and seventythree of the Revised Statutes of the United States, providing for biennial examinations of pensioners, are hereby repealed: R. S., § 3689, p. 1878, ch. 329, § 2, par. 15. Repealing 1871, March 3, ch. 116, § 2-6. Biennial examination of pensioners abolished. Repealing R. S., § 4771– 4773. Special examinacontinued, Provided, That the Commissioner of Pensions shall have the same power as heretofore to order special examinations, whenever, in his tions. &c., but pensionjudgment, the same may be necessary, and to increase or reduce the ers to have notice pension according to right and justice; but in no case shall a pension before reduction be withdrawn or reduced except upon notice to the pensioner and a of pensions. R. S., §§ 4775, hearing upon sworn testimony, except as to the certificate of the ex- 4776. amining surgeon. In order to provide for the speedy payment of arrearages of pensions, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to issue immediately in payment thereof, as they may be adjusted, the legal tender currency, now in the United States Treasury, held as a special fund for the redemption of fractional currency under section one of joint resolution number seventeen of the Congress of the United States, approved July twenty-second, eighteen hundred and seventy-six; And fractional currency presented for redemption shall be redeemed in any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. Notes held as fund for redempcurrency to be issued, &c. tion of fractional 1876, July 22, Res. No. 17, § 1, p. 254. CHAPTER 35. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE ARMY FOR THE FISCAL June 23, 1879. 21 Stat. L., 30. |