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ABSTRACT OF PUBLIC LAWS

PASSED AT THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FORTIETH CONGRESS, AND THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS, WITH RESOLUTIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS.

FORTIETH CONGRESS-THIRD SESSION.

CHAP. II.-Sale at Harper's Ferry.-Sec. 1 Provides for sale of government property at Ilarper's Ferry.

CHAP. IV.-Liquor and Tobacco.-Extends for a month and a half the tax on liquor and tobacco of July 20, 1868.

CHAP. VII.-Consular Papers.-Certified papers of, or filed with United States consular officers, admitted in evidence in our courts.

CHAP. XIII-Ilabeas Corpus Extended.The provisions of an act entitled "An act relating to habeas corpus and regulating judicial proceedings in certain cases," approved March 3, 1863, so far as the same relate to the removal of causes from the State to the Federal courts, be, and the same is hereby, declared to extend to any suit or action at law, or prosecution, civil or criminal, which has been or shall be commenced in any State court against the owner or owners of any ship or vessel, or of any railway, or of any line of transportation, firm, or corporation engaged in business as common carriers of goods, wares, or merchandise, for any loss or damage which may have happened to any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, which shall have been delivered to any such owner or owners of any ship or vessel, or any railway, or of any line of transportation, firm, or corporation, engaged in business as common carriers, where such loss or damage shall have been occasioned by the acts of those engaged in hostility to the government of the United States during the late rebellion, or where such loss or damage shall have been cccasioned by any of the forces of the United States, or by any officer in command of such forces: Provided, That this act shall not be construed to affect any contract of insurance for war risks which may have been made with reference to any goods, wares, or merchandise, which shall have been so destroyed.

CHAP. XV.-Contested Elections.-That any register in bankruptcy or notary public, resident in a congressional district the right to represent which is contested, is hereby authorized to take the testimony, and to perform any of the other acts which a judge of any court of the United States is authorized to do by the third section of an act entitled "An act to prescribe the mode of obtaining evidence in cases of contested elections," approved February 9, 1851.

CHAP. XXIX.-Coolie Trade.-Amends the act to prohibit the importation of Coolies so as to include inhabitants of Japan, or any other Oriental country, known as Coolies, as the same affects China.

CHAP. XXXI.-Relief to the Poor.--Gives $30,000 to the destitute poor of the District of Columbia. [Not signed-became a law by lapse of time.]

CHAP. XXXII.--To Prevent Loaning Money on United States Notes.-That no national banking association shall hereafter offer or receive United States notes or national bank notes

as security or as collateral security for any loan of money, or for a consideration shall agree to withhold the same from use, or shall offer or receive the custody or promise of custody of such notes as security, or as collateral security, cr consideration for any loan of money; and any national banking association offending against the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in any United States court having jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and by a further sum equal to one-third of the money so loaned; and the officer or officers of said bank who shall make such loan cr loans shall be liable for a further sum cqual to one quarter of the money so loaned; and the prosecution of such offenders shall be commenced and conducted as provided for the punishment of offenses in an act to provide a national currency, and the fine or penalty so recovered shall be for the benefit of the party bringing such suit. CHAP. XXXIII.-New Assay Office.-Establishes an assay office, with necessary officers and machinery, at Boise City, Idaho.

CHAP. XXXV.-Duties on Machinery.-That machinery for repair may be imported into the United States without payment of duty, under bond to be given in double the appraised value thereof, to be withdrawn and exported after said machinery shall have been repaired; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary.

CHAP. XLII.-Collection Districts.- Establishes a collection district at Aroostock, Me., and enacts that the district of Newark, in the State of New Jersey, shall be extended so as to embrace all the waters and shores of Newark bay and the rivers and bays tributary thereto, the northern shore of the strait or passage known as Kill Van Kull, and all that part of the western shore of the strait or passage known as Staten Island sound, or Arthur Kill, which lies north of the northern boundary line of the town of Rahway.

CHAP. XLV. Duties on Copper and Copper Ores.-That, in lieu of the duties heretofor imposed, there shall be paid on the articles herein enumerated, imported from foreign countries, the following rates, that is to say: cn all corper imported in the form of ores, three cents cn cach pound of fine copper contained therein; on all regulus of copper, and on all black or coarse copper, four cents on each pound of fine copper contained therein; on all old copper, fit cnly for remanufacture, four cents per pound; on all copper in plates, bars, ingots, pigs, and in other forms not manufactured cr herein enumerated, including sulphate of copper or blue vitriol, five cents per pound; on copper in rolled plates, called braziers' copper, sheet, rods, pipes, and copper bottoms, eyelets, and all manufactures of copper, cr of which copper shall be a component

of chief value, not otherwise herein provided for, forty-five per centum ad valorem. [Vetoed, but readopted.]

Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company, for the construction, operation, and maintenance of that part of its line of railroad and telegraph between Denver City and its point of connection with the Union Pacific Railroad, which point shall be in Cheyenne, and to adopt the roadbed already graded by said Denver l'acific Railway and Telegraph Company as said line, and to grant to said Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company the perpetual use of its right of way and depot grounds, and to transfer to it all the rights and privileges, subject to all the obligations pertaining to said part of its line. That the said Union Pacific Rail

CHAP. XLIX-The Franking Privilege.-It shall not be lawful for any officer of the government, member of Congress, or other person entitled by law to the franking privilege, to exercise said privilege otherwise than by his or her written autograph signature upon the matter franked; and all letters or other mail matter not thus franked by the written signature of a person entitled by law to exercise said privilege, shall be charged with the rates of postage which are now, or may be hereafter, established by law. CHAP. L.-Members of the House of Repre-way Company, eastern division, shall extend its sentatives of Montana hereafter to be elected for two years.

CHAP. LII-Brevet Commissions.-From and after the passage of this act, commissions by brevet shall only be conferred in time of war, and for distinguished conduct and public service in presence of the enemy. And all brevet commissions shall bear date from the particular action or service for which the officer was brevetted. CHAP. LIV.-Duties on Spanish Vessels.—Of Spanish vessels coming from any port or place in Spain or her colonies, where no discriminating or countervailing duties on tonnage are levied upon vessels of the United States, or from any other port or place to and with which vessels of the United States are crdinarily permitted to go and trade, there shall be exacted in the ports cf the United States no other or greater duty on tonnage than is or shall be exacted of vessels of the United States.

CHAP. I.VI.-Refunding Money Paid for Substitutes.-That so much of the second section of an act entitled "An act for the relief of certain drafted men," as provides that said section "shall apply only to claims received at the War Department prior to its passage," be, and the same is hereby, repealed: Provided, however, That all claims under said second section of said act shall be presented and filed within two years from the date of the final passage of this act, and not afterwards.

CHAP. LVII.-Pay of Deputy Collectors in Certain Cases.-That any deputy collector of internal revenue who has performed, or may hereafter perform, under authority or requirement of law, the duties of collector of internal revenue in consequence of any vacancy in the office of such collector, shall be entitled to and receive so much of the same pay and compensation as is provided by law for such collector; but no such payment shall in any case be made when the collector has received or is entitled to receive compensation for services rendered during the same period of time. That those persons who held the office of distillery inspector on the 2d of March, 1867, and who continued to perform the duties of that office in ignorance of the repeal of the statute creating it, be paid at the rate of five dollars per day for such time prior to April 1, 1867, as they were actually employed, the amounts so paid to be approved by the commissioner of internal revenue, and paid out of the appropriation for assessing and collecting the internal revenue.

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railroad and telegraph to a connection at the city of Denver, so as to form with that part of its line herein authorized to be constructed, operated, and maintained by the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company, a continuous line of railroad and telegraph from Kansas City, by way of Denver to Cheyenne. And all the provisions of law for the operation of the Union Pacific Railroad, its branches and connections, as a continuous line, without discrimination, shall apply the same as if the road from Denver to Cheyenne had been constructed by the said Union Pacific Railway Company, eastern division but nothing herein shall authorize the said eastern division company to operate the road or fix the rates of tariff for the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company. That said companies are hereby authorized to mortgage their respective portions of said road, as herein defined, for an amount not exceeding thirty-two thousand dollars per mile, to enable them respectively to borrow money to construct the same; and that each of said companies shall receive patents to the alternate sections of land along their respective lines of road, as herein defined, in like manner and within the same limits as is provided by law in the case of lands granted to the Union Pacific Railway Company, eastern division: Provided, That neither of the companies hereinbefore mentioned shall be entitled to subsidy in United States bonds under the provisions of this act.

CHAP. CXXIX.--Railroads in Oregon.Granting right of way through public lands in Washington Territory to the Wallawalla and Columbia River Railroad, under usual restrictions.

CHAP. CXXX.-Reports from Banks.--Requires five reports each year to the comptroller of the currency, according to the form which may be prescribed by him, verified by the cath of the president or cashier, and attested by the signature of at least three directors; which report shall exhibit the resources and liabilities of the association at the close of business on any past day to be by him specified; and the report, in the same form in which it is made to the comptroller, shall be published in a newspaper published in the place where such association is established, or if there be no newspaper in the place, then in the one published nearest thereto in the same county, at the expense of the association. And the comptroller shall have power to call for special reports from any particular association whenever in his judgment the same shall be necessary in order to a full and complete knowledge of its condition. Any associa

which resulted in the capture of New Orleans, and which by law would have been entitled to prize money in the captures made by said vessels, laws in the same manner as they would have been had the district court for the eastern district of Louisiana been then open and the captures made by said vessels had been libelled therein; and any court of the United States having admiralty jurisdiction may take and have ccgnizance of all cases arising out of said captures, and the same proceedings shall be had therein as in other cases of prize.

tion failing to make and transmit any such report shall be subject to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each day after five days that such bank shall delay to make and transmit any re-shall be now entitled to the benefits of the prize port as aforesaid; and in case any association shall delay or refuse to pay the penalty herein imposed when the same shall be assessed by the comptroller of the currency, the amount of such penalty may be retained by the Treasurer of the United States, upon the order of the comptroller of the currency, out of the interest, as it may become due to the association, on the bonds deposited with him to secure circulation; and all sums of money collected for penalties under this section shall be paid into the treasury cf the United States. That, in addition to said reports, each national banking association shall report to the comptroller of the currency the amount of each dividend declared, and the amount of net earnings in excess of said divi-Bridge Company, for the purpose of constructing dends, which report shall be made within ten days after the declaration of each dividend, and attested by the oath.

CHAP. CXXXIII.—In Relation to Bounties. -That when a soldier's discharge states that he is discharged by reason of "expiration of term of service," he shall be held to have completed the full term of his enlistment, and entitled to bounty accordingly. That the widow, minor children, er parents, in the order named, of any soldier who shall have died, after being honorably discharged from the military service of the United States, shall be entitled to receive the additional bounty, to which such soldier would be entitled if living, under the provisions of the twelfth and thirteenth sections of an act entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government for the year ending June 13, 1867, and for other purposes,' and the said provisions of said act shall be so construed. That all claims for the additional bounties granted in sections twelve and thirteen of the act of July 28, 1866, shall, after the first of May next, be adjusted and settled by the accounting officers of the treasury under the provisions of said act; and all such claims as may on the said first of May Le rem ining in the office of the paymaster-general unsettled shall be transferred to the second auditor of the treasury for settlement. [N.B.-The provisions of this act were limited to the 1st of December, 1869, after which no claims could be received.]

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CHAP. CXXXV.-Certifying Checks.-It shall be unlawful for any officer, clerk, cr agent of any national bank to certify any check drawn upon said bank, unless the person or company drawing said check shall have on deposit in said bank at the time such check is certified an amount of money equal to the amount specified in such check; and any check so certified by duly authorized cfficers shall be a good and valid obligation against such bank; and any officer, clerk, cr agent of any national bank viclating the provisions of this act shall subject such bank to the liabilities and proceedings on the part of the comptroller as provided for in section fifty of the national banking law, approved June third, cighteen hundred and sixty-four.

CHAP. CXXXVII.-Prize Money.-That the vessels attached to or connected with Admiral Farragut's fleet in the river Mississippi, which participated in the opening of that river, and

CHAP. CXXXIX.—Brooklyn Bridge.- That the bridge across the East River, between the cities of New York and Brocklyn, in the State of New York, to be constructed under and by virtue of an act of the legislature of the State of York, entitled "An act to incorporate the New York

and maintaining I ridge over the East River be-
tween the cities of New York and Brooklyn,"
passed April sixteenth, eighteen hundred and
sixty-seven, is hereby declared to be, when com-
pleted in accordance with the aforesaid law of
the State of New York, a lawful structure and
post-road for the conveyance of the mails of the
United States: Provided, That the said bridge
shall be so constructed and built as not to ob-
struct, impair, or injuriously modify the naviga-
tion of the river; and in order to secure a com-
pliance with these conditions, the company,
previous to commencing the construction of the
bridge, shall submit to the Secretary of War a
plan of the bridge, with a detailed map of the
river at the proposed site of the bridge, and for
the distance of a mile above and below the site,
exhibiting the depths and currents at all points
of the same, together with all other information
touching said bridge and river as may be deemed
requisite by the Secretary of War, to determine
whether the said bridge, when built, will conform
to the prescribed conditions of the act, not to ob-
struct, impair, cr injuriously modify the naviga-
tion of the river. That the Secretary of War is
hereby authorized and directed, upon receiving
said plan and map and other information, and
upon being satisfied that a bridge built on such
plan and at said locality will conform to the
prescribed conditions of this act, not to obstruct,
impair, or injuriously modify the navigation of
said river, to notify the said company that he
approves the same; and upon receiving such
notification the said company may proceed
to the erection of said bridge, conforming strict-
ly to the approved plan and location.
until the Secretary of War approve the plan and
location of said bridge, and notify said company
of the same in writing, the bridge shall not be
built or commenced; and should any change te
made in the plan of the bridge during the progress
cf the work thereon, such change shall be subject
likewise to the approval of the Secretary of War.
That Congress shall have power at any time to
alter, amend, cr repeal this act.

But

CHAP. CXLI.-Lxtradition of Criminals.That whenever any person who shall have been delivered by any foreign government to an agent or agents of the United States for the purpose of being brought within the United States and tried for any crime of which he is duly accused, the President shall have power to take all necessary

measures for the transportation and safe-keeping of such accused person, and for his security against lawless violence, until the final conclusion of his trial for the crimes or offenses specified in the warrant of extradition, and until his final discharge from custody or imprisonment for or on account of such crimes or offenses, and for a reasonable time thereafter. And it shall be lawful for the President, or such person as he may empower for that purpose, to employ such portion of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia thereof, as may be necessary for the safe-keeping and protection of the accused as aforesaid. That any person duly appointed as agent to receive in behalf of the United States the delivery by a foreign government of any person accused of crime committed within the jurisdiction of the United States, and to convey him to the place of his trial, shall be, and hereby is, "ested with all the powers of a marshal of the United States in the several districts through which it may be necessary for him to pass with such prisoner, so far as such power is requisite for his safe-keeping. That if any person or persons shall knowingly and willfully obstruct, resist, or oppose such agent in the execution of his duties, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such prisoner, whether in the custody cf the agent aforesaid, or of any marshal, sheriff, jailer, or other officer or person to whom his custody may have lawfully been committed, every person so knowingly and willfully offending in the premises shall, on conviction thereof before the district or circuit court of the United States for the district in which the offense was committed, be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned not exceeding one year.

and which may have been committed since said States went into rebellion, be, and hereby is, extended for the period of two years from and after [the time when] said States are or may be restored to representation in Congress: Provided, however, That the provisions hereof shall not apply to treason or other political offenses.

RESOLUTIONS.

No. 2.-Monuments to Generals.-Grants condemned cannon for a monument to General Kearney. [Another resolution does the same for the McPherson monument.]

No. 8.-Provisional Governments. - That the persons now holding civil offices in the provisional governments of Virginia and Texas, who cannot take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes," shall, on the passage of this resolution, be removed therefrom; and it shall be the duty of the district commanders to fill the vacancies so created by the appointment of persons who can take said oath: Provided, That the provisions of this resolution shall not apply to persons who by reason of the removal of their disabilities as provided in the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution shall have qualified for any office in pursuance of the act entitled " An act prescribing an oath of office by persons from whom legal disabilities shall have been removed," approved July eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight: And provided further, That this resolution shall not take effect until thirty days from and after its passage: And it is further provided, That this resolution shall be, and is hereby, extended to and made applicable to the State of Mississippi. [Not signed; became a law after ten days.]

No. 14.-Fifteenth Amendment.-That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as ap amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:

ART. XV. Sec. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

CHAP. CXLII.-Execution of Judgments in Capital Cases.-That whenever a judgment of death has been, or shall hereafter be, rendered in any court of the United States, and the case has been, or shall hereafter be, carried to the Supreme Court of the United States by appeal or writ of error, in pursuance of law, it shall be the duty of the court rendering such judgment, by order of court, to postpone the execution thereof from time to time and from term to term until the mandate of the Supreme Court in such case shall have been received and entered upon the records of the lower court; and in case such judgment is affirmed by the Supreme Court, it shall be the duty of the court rendering the original judgment to appoint a day for the exe-joint committee of Congress on public printing cution thereof; and in case of reversal by the Supreme Court, such further proceedings shall be had in the lower court as the Supreme Court may direct.

CHAP. CXLVII. Territorial Elections. That elections in the Territories of Washington and Idaho for delegates to the House of Representatives of the forty-second Congress shall be held on the first Monday of June, 1870, and afterwards biennially on the first Monday of June; and such officers in said Territories as are now elected at the same time with their delegates shall be elected for offices thereafter to be filled at the times herein specified, unless otherwise provided by the laws of said Territory.

CHAP. CXLVIII. — Indictments in Reb States. That the time for finding indictments in the courts of the United States in the late rebel States for offenses cognizable by said courts,

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Sec. 2. The Congress shall have power to erforce this article by appropriate legislation. No. 19.-Publication of Debates.-That the

is hereby authorized to contract, on behalf of the general government, with Rives and Bailey for the reporting and publication of the debates in Congress for the term of two years, on and from the 4th day of March, 1869: Provided, That, before the United States shall be called on to pay for any reporting or publication of the debates, the accounts therefor shall be submitted to the joint committee on public printing, or to such other officer or officers of Congress as they may designate, and on their or his approbation thereof, as being in all respects according to the contracts, it shall be paid for from the treasury of the United States, after having passed the proper accounting officers thereof. That in case the joint committee on public printing are unable to conclude a satisfactory contract with the said Rives and Bailey, or that they be unable to fulfill any contract that they may make, the joint com.

sand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

mittee on printing be authorized to have the de-
bates reported and printed under the direction of
the Congressional printer at the Government
printing office. That for the purpose aforesaid
there be appropriated and paid, out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropri-
ated, the sum of three hundred and fifty thou-fisheries in Alaska.

No. 21.-Bridge over the Ohio.-Gives consent of Congress to the building of the bridge over the Ohio, at Cincinnati.

No. 22-The Fur Trade.-To protect fur-seal

FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS-FIRST SESSION.

CHAP. I.-To Strengthen the Public Credit. -In order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the Governmen. to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and to settle conflicting questions and interpretations of the laws by virtue of which such obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment, in coin or its equivalent, of all the obligations of the United States not bearing interest, known as United States notes, and of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United States, except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of any such obligation has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or other currency than gold and silver. But none of said interestbearing obligations not already due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity unless at such time United States notes shall be convertible into coin at the option of the holder, or unless at such time bonds of the United States bearing a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed can be sold at par in coin. And the United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision, at the earliest practicable period, for the redemption of the United States notes in coin.

CHAP. III.-For the further security of Equal Rights in the District of Columbia.-The word "white," wherever it occurs in the laws relating to the District of Columbia, or in the charter or ordinances of the cities of Washington or Georgetown, and operates as a limitation on the right of any elector of such District, or of either of the cities, to hold any office, or to be selected and to serve as a juror, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and it shall be unlawful for any person or officer to enforce or attempt to enforce such limitation after the passage of this act.

CHAP. IX.-Chief of Staff.-Abolishes the office of chief of staff to the general of the army. CHAP. X.-Civil Offices.· Amends the act of March 2, 1867, so that every person holding any civil office to which he has been or hereafter may be appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall have become duly qualified to act therein, shall be entitled to hold such office during the term for which he shall have been appointed, unless sooner removed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or by the appointment, with the like advice and consent, of a successor in his place, except as herein otherwise provided. During any recess of the Senate the President is empowered, in his discretion, to suspend any civil officer appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, except judges of the United States Courts, until the end of the next session of the Senate, and to designate some suitable person, subject to be removed in his discretion by the designation of another, to perform the

duties of such suspended officer in the mean time; and such person so designated shall take the oaths and give the bonds required by law to be taken and given by the suspended officer, and shall, during the time he performs his duties, be entitled to the salary and emoluments of such office, no part of which shall elong to the officer suspended; and it shall be the duty of the President, within thirty days after the commencement of each session of the Senate, except for any office which in his opinion ought not to be filled, to nominate persons to fill all vacancies in office which existed at the meeting of the Senate, whether temporarily filled or not, and also in the place of all officers suspended; and if the Senate during such session shall refuse to advise and consent to an appointment in the place of any suspended officer, then, and not otherwise, the President shall nominate another person as soon as practicable to said session of the Senate for said office.

CHAP. XI.-Frauds on the Currency.-Makes those who aid principal offenders in frauds upon the currency equally punishable with the main offenders.

CHAP. XII.-Mexican Claims.-Directs the appointment of a commissioner to adjust Mexican claims under the convention of July 4, 1868. His compensation not to exceed $4,500 in currency per annum. Mexico is to appoint a commissioner with equal powers.

CHAP. XIV.-Freedmen's Hospitals. - The commissioner of the bureau of refugees and freedmen is authorized and directed to continue the freedmen's hospitals at Richmond, Virginia; Vicksburg, Mississippi; and in the District of Columbia, including the asylum for aged and infirm freedmen, and for orphan children; expenses to come from money heretofore appropriated for the bureau; the hospitals to be discontinued as soon as may be practicable, at the discretion of the President.

CHAP. XVI-Indian Matters.-This is the regular appropriation bill, to which was added a clause under which the military and Quaker Indian Peace Commissioners were organized.

CHAP. XVII.-Submission of Southern State Constitutions.-That the President, at such time as he may deem best for the public interest, may submit the Constitution of Virginia to the voters registered at the time of submission, and may submit separately such provisions as he may deem best; such vote to be taken either upon each of said provisions alone, or in connection with other porticns, as the President may direct. At the same election the electors may elect members of the General Assembly, and all officers provided for by said Constitution, also for members of Congress. The commanding officer in Virginia shall cause the registry lists to be revised before this election, appointing such registrars as he deems necessary. [The act provides

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