and persons acting as such, and to make a full, accurate and faithful return to the Treasury department of their condition.

13. And be it further enacted, That the said officers, respectively, whose duty it is made, by this act, to receive, keep, and disburse the public moneys, as the fiscal agents of the government, may be allowed any necessary additional expenses for clerks, fire-proof chests, or vaults, or other necessary expenses of safekeeping, transferring and disbursing said moneys; all such expenses of every character to be first expressly authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, whose directions upon all the above subjects, by way of regulation and otherwise, so far as authorized by law, are to be strictly followed by all the said officers: Provided, That the whole number of clerks to be appointed by virtue of this section of this act shall not exceed ten; and that the aggregate compensations of the whole number shall not exceed sixteen thousand dollars, nor shall the compensation of any one clerk so appointed exceed eight hundred dollars per annum.

§14. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury may, at his discretion, transfer the balances remaining with any of the present depositaries, to any other of the present depositaries, as he may deem the safety of the public money or the public convenience may require: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer the balances remaining with any of the present depositaries, to the depositaries constituted by this act, before the first day of January next. And provided that, for the purpose of payments on public account, out of balances remaining with the present depositaries, it shall be lawful for the Treasurer of the United States to draw upon any of the said depositaries as he may think most conducive to the public interests, or to the convenience of the public creditors, or both.

§ 15. And be it further enacted, That all marshals, district attorneys, and others having public money to pay to the United States, and all patentees wishing to make payment for patents to be issued, may pay all such moneys to the Treasurer of the United States, to the treasurer of either of the mints in Philadelphia or New Orleans, to either of the other assistant treasurers, or to such other depositary constituted by this act as shall be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury in other parts of the United States to receive such payments, and give receipts or certificates of deposit therefor.

§ 16. And be it further enacted, That all officers and other persons charged by this act, or any other act, with the safekeeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public moneys, other than those connected with the Post-Office Department, are hereby required to keep an accurate entry of each sum received, and of each payment or transfer, and that if any one of the said officers, or of those connected with the Post-Office Department, shall convert to his own use, in any way whatever, or shall use, by way of investment in any kind of property or merchandise, or shall loan, with or without interest, or shall deposit in any bank, or shall exchange for other funds except as allowed by this act, any portion of the public moneys entrusted to him for safekeeping, disbursement, transfer, or for any other purpose, every such act shall be deemed and adjudged to be an embezzlement of so much of the said moneys, as shall be thus taken, converted, invested, used, loaned, deposited, or exchanged, which is hereby declared to be a felony; and any failure to pay over or to produce the public moneys entrusted to such person, shall be held and taken to be prima facie evidence of such embezzlement; and if any officer charged with the disbursement of public moneys shall accept or receive, or transmit to the Treasury Department to be allowed in his favor, any receipt or voucher from a creditor of the United States, without having paid to such creditor, in such funds as the said officer may have received for disbursement, or such other funds as he may be authorized by this act to take in exchange, the full amount specified in such receipt or voucher, every such act shall be deemed to be a conversion by such officer to his own use of the amount specified in such receipt or voucher; and any officer or agent of the United States, and all persons advising or participating in such act, being convicted thereof before any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than six months nor more than ten years, and to a fine equal to the amount of the money embezzled. And upon the trial of any indictment against any person for embezzling public money, under the provisions of this act, it shall be sufficient evidence for the purpose of showing a balance against such person, to produce a transcript from the books and proceedings of the treasury, as required in civil cases, under the provisions of the act entitled,An act to provide more effectually for the settlement of accounts between the United States and receivers of public money," approved March third, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven; and the provisions of this act shall be so construed as to apply to all persons charged with the safe-keeping, transfer, or disbursement of the public money, whether such persons be indicted as receivers or depositaries of the same; and the refusal of such person, whether in or out of office, to pay any draft, order, or warrant, which may be drawn upon him by the proper officer of the Treasury Department for any public money in his hands belonging to the United States, no matter in what capacity the same may have been received or may be held, or to transfer or disburse any such money promptly, upon the legal requirement of any authorized officer of the United States, shall be deemed and taken, upon the trial of any indictment against such person for embezzlement, as prima facie evidence of such embezzlement.

§17. And be it further enacted, That until the rooms, offices, vaults, and safes, directed by the first four sections of this act to be constructed and prepared for the use of the Treasurer of the United States, the treasurers of the mints at Philadelphia and New Orleans,

and the assistant treasurers at New York, Boston, Charleston, and St. Louis, can be constructed and prepared for use, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to procure suitable rooms for offices for those officers at their respective locations, and to con tract for such use of vaults and safes as may be required for the safekeeping of the public moneys in the charge and custody of those officers, respectively; the expense to be paid by the United States. And whereas, by the thirtieth section of the act entitled "An act to regulate the collection of duties imposed by law on the tonnage of ships or vessels, and on goods, wares, and merchandises imported into the United States," approved July thirty-one, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, it was provided that all fees and dues collected by virtue of that act should be received in gold and silver coin only: and whereas also, by the fifth section of the act, approved May ten, eighteen hundred, entitled "An act to amend the act entitled 'An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river,"" it was provided that payment for the said lands shall be made by all purchasers in specie, or in evidences of the public debt; and whereas experience has proved that said provisions ought to be revived and enforced, according to the true and wise intent of the constitution of the United States

§ 18. And be it further enacted, That, on the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and thereafter, all duties, taxes, sales of public lands, debts, and sums of money accruing or becoming due to the United States, and also all sums due for postages, or otherwise, to the General Post-Office Department, shall be paid in gold and silver coin only, or in treasury notes issued under the authority of the United States: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall publish, monthly, in two newspapers at the city of Washington, the amount of specie at the several places of deposit, the amount of treasury notes or drafts issued, and the amount outstanding on the last day of each month.

§ 19. And be it further enacted, That on the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and thereafter, every officer or agent engaged in making disbursements on account of the United States, or of the General Post-Office, shall make all payments in gold and silver coin, or in treasury notes, if the creditor agree to receive said notes in payment; and any receiving or disbursing officer or agent who shall neglect, evade, or violate the provisions of this and the last preceding section of this act, shall, by the Secretary of the Treasury, be immediately reported to the President of the United States, with the facts of such neglect, evasion, or violation; and also to Congress if in session; and if not in session, at the commencement of its session next after the violation takes place.

§ 20. And be it further enacted, That no exchange of funds shall be made by any disbursing officers or agents of the government, of any grade or denomination whatsoever, or connected with any branch of the public service, other than an exchange for gold and silver; and every such disbursing officer, when the means for his disbursements are furnished to him in gold and silver, shall make his payments in the money so furnished; or when those means are furnished to him in drafts, shall cause those drafts to be presented at their place of payment, and properly paid according to the law; and shall make his payment in the money so received for the drafts furnished, unless, in either case, he can exchange the means in his hands for gold and silver at par. And it shall be, and is hereby, made the duty of the head of the department immediately to suspend from duty any disbursing officer who shall violate the provisions of this section, and forthwith to report the name of the officer or agent to the President, with the fact of the violation, and all the circumstances accompanying the same, and within the knowledge of the said Secretary, to the end that such officer or agent may be promptly removed from office, or restored to his trust and the performance of his duties, as to the President may seem just and proper: Provided, however, That those disbursing officers having at present, credits in the banks, shall, until the first day of January next, be allowed to check on the same, allowing the public creditors to receive their pay from the banks, either in specie or bank notes. §21. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue and publish regulations to enforce the speedy presentation of all government drafts for payment at the place where payable, and to prescribe the time, according to the different distances of the depositaries from the seat of government, within which all drafts upon them, respectively, shall be presented for payment; and, in default of such presentation, to direct any other mode and place of payment which he may deem proper; but, in all these regulations and directions, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to guard, as far as may be, against those drafts being used or thrown into circulation as a paper currency, or medium of exchange. And no officer of the United States shall, either directly or indirectly, sell or dispose to any person or persons, or corporations, whatsoever, for a premium, any treasury note, draft, warrant, or other public security, not his private property, or sell or dispose of the avails or proceeds of such note, draft, warrant or security in his hands for disbursement, without making return of such premium, and accounting therefor by charging the same in his accounts to the credit of the United States; and any officer violating this section shall be forthwith dismissed from office. § 22. And be it further enacted, That the assistant treasurers directed by this act to be appointed, shall receive, respectively, the following salaries per annum, to be paid quarteryearly at the treasury of the United States, to wit: the assistant treasurer at New York

shall be paid a salary of four thousand dollars per annum; the assistant treasurer at Boston shall be paid a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; the assistant treasurer at Charleston shall be paid a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; the assistant treasurer at St. Louis shall be paid a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; the treasurer of the mint at Philadelphia shall, in addition to his present salary, receive five hundred dollars annually, for the performance of the duties imposed by this act; the treasurer of the branch mint at New Orleans shall also receive five hundred dollars annually, for the additional duties created by this act; and these salaries, respectively, shall be in full for the services of the respective officers, nor shall either of them be permitted to charge or receive any commission, pay or perquisite, for any official service, of any character or description whatsoever; and the making of any such charge, or the receipt of any such compensation, is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor, for which the officer convicted thereof, before any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, shall be subject to punishment by fine, or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the court before which the offence shall be tried.

§23. And be it further enacted, That there shall be, and hereby is appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five thousand dollars, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in such repairs or additions as may be necessary to put in good condition for use, with as little delay as may be consistent with the public interests, the offices, rooms, vaults, and safes herein mentioned, and in the purchase of any necessary additional furniture and fixtures, in the purchase of necessary books and stationery, and in defraying any other incidental expenses necessary to carry this act into effect.

$21. And be it further enacted, That all acts or parts of acts which come in conflict with the provisions of this act, be, and the same are hereby repealed. APPROVED, August 6th, 1846.

STATISTICS OF POPULATION.

PROGRESS OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

TABULAR VIEW OF THE PROGRESSIVE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE ORIGINAL CENSUS OF 1790 UNTIL 1901, BY WM. DARBY, AUTHOR OF A UNIVERSAL GAZETTEER.' "#

THE first idea of constructing such a table, was suggested by the results of a process undertaken from mere curiosity. That process was performed by taking the sum of the first census of 1790, and allowing an increment of 3 per cent annually; thus, 3,929,827, in ten consecutive operations on the principle assumed, gave, for 1800, 5,281,468, which differed only 23,457 in deficit from the actual returns by the census of the latter year. I then carried on the process up to 1840, and found as shown by the subjoined table. The thought was then excited to construct a centennial table.

It must be obvious to any person moderately acquainted with the subject, that, in such a case, no rule can be made absolute; nor is it of primary importance that positive accuracy as to numbers should, were it practicable, be obtained. The very remarkable fact developed by the middle column must excite surprise in the first exhibition, but must also secure confidence in the general results. This column is based entirely on the original sum of 3,929,827, without any regard to the intermediate decennial enumerations.

The first, or left hand column, contains the decennial returns by the census, with the ratios of increase during the terms, up to 1840. The mean ratio during the fifty years, from 1790 to 1840, inclusive, comes out to a very near fraction, 4.342. This ratio was then used to deduce the decennial numbers through the subsequent half century.

Even well-informed persons, but who have not paid particular attention to the subject, may be excusably startled when they read the future increase and enormous mass of population stated opposite the year 1901, at the foot of either column. The tables, however, contain internal evidence of accuracy as far as the nature of the case can admit, and especially by showing that, in the previous half century to 1840, the population had more than quadrupled. Further, that the so established increase was made under difficulties, some of which are removed, and all lessened in their deteriorating effects; whilst, on the other side, facilities of transportation by land and water, by steam, roads, and other improved means, are multiplied and multiplying beyond all human anticipation. The once terrible danger of savage warfare is now only matter of history. In brief, the elements of civilized life are indefinitely increased in number and power.

* As originally published in the National Intelligencer.

1834,

Ra. of in., 14,419,230 432,570 1890, 73,977,990 73,382,185 2,191,464

We have in the preceding table an approximative view of the population of the United States through 110 years. The accuracy of the census of 1840 has been severely, and in some respects justly criticised; but, in regard to the aggregate number of persons, there is strong evidence to sustain the general results. I may repeat that, in deducing the

numbers under the head, "by an annual increment of 3 per cent," the process was continued throughout on the original basis. The coincidences shown by the two columns could not have arisen, except from corresponding accuracy in taking and recording the material.

Mere numbers, however, though the most material, is only one of the considerations which claim our attention. The spread and location of the people demand the most attentive inquiry. We may, in returning to 1790, inquire where did then population exist? In answer, it may be observed, that, with not an exception of one-tenth, the main spine of the Appalachian mountains bounded in 1790 the resident population towards the interior of the continent. It is safe, therefore, to assume the Atlantic slope, with an area of 300,000 square miles, and a distributive population of about 13 to the square mile, as the space and number of people on it when the first census was taken.

Before 1790, scattering settlements had been made on the fountains of interior rivers; but, during the decennial period from 1790 to 1800, those settlements greatly increased, and expanded into the interior basin; and it may be premised that, for reasons too obvious to specify, Louisiana and Florida come into our general view. By the census of 1800, the subjoined sections had a population of—

100,000

To which add, by supposition, for Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, Michigan, Florida, and Louisiana,......

Total,..............

484,727

This amount for the aggregate population of the United States on the central basin may rather excite suspicion of excess than the contrary. The space embraced by the extremes of settlement amounted to about 360,000 square miles, or not 14 persons to 10 square miles. At the same epoch, New Orleans, with perhaps 5,000 inhabitants, was the only city deserving the title. But the great central valley was reached, and in the next ten years great was the change. In 1810, excluding that of the western parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the interior population, as shown by the census of that year, stood as follows:

These elements yield a distributive population of a very small fraction over two to the square mile. On the much most densely populated sections, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, with a combined area of 118,000 square miles, the aggregate population expressed in round numbers of 917,000, the distributive population did not reach eight to the square mile.

By the census returns of 1820, the entire surface designated in the latter table was represented to possess a distributive population of about four to the square mile, or an ag gregate of 2,217,464; the population having rather more than doubled in the decennial period from 1810 to 1820.

In 1830, on the same surface as above, the census reported an aggregate of 3,672,569; the ratio of increase from 1820 to 1830 being about 1 7-10ths; and, though the interior population had so rapidly increased, still the distribution fell short of seven to the square mile.

The fifth census (of 1840) was, except that of 1790, the most important yet taken, as half a century was embraced by the extremes, and an aggregate of 5,302,918 inhabitants was reported by the last enumeration; and yet only a small fraction over ten to the square mile. When we behold a wilderness changed in so few years from a howling waste to the prosperous aspect presented in 1840, we are inspired with pleasing wonder; and yet, when we reflect, our conviction must be involuntary that population has only taken its steps of infancy, as the density was not then equal to one-sixth of some of the Atlantic sections of inferior soil.