end of the fifth, tenth, twentieth, twenty-fifth, thirth-fifth, and fortieth years respectively, every member dying at either of those periods shall have provided for his family out of the funds of the association the sums of seventy-five, two hundred and twenty-five, four hundred and seventy-five, five hundred and seventy-five, eight hundred and twenty-five, and one thousand and seventy-five dollars respectively.

may be increased diminished with the consent

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, with the consent Foregoing rates of three-fourths of all the contributing members, the foregoing or rates may, at any time, be increased or diminished, and subse- of three-fourths quently altered, as may be deemed warranted or required by of the members. the then existing funds of the association: Provided, That any Proviso. and every such act of alteration, duly attested by the presiding and recording officers of the association, and under its seal, shall be filed within ten days after the adoption thereof, in the office of clerk of the circuit court of the District of Columbia for the county of Washington, whose duty it is hereby made to receive and record the same in his office.

re

moved from of

tinue their pay

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That any member of the Members association who has been, or may hereafter be, removed from fice may disconoffice, may at any time hereafter, and after such removal, dis- ments without continue his quarterly payments to the funds of the association, forfeiture. and instead of thereby forfeiting his previous payments, as provided in the original act of incorporation of said association, by such discontinuance, there shall be paid to the family of such member, at his death, such an amount of the said funds as they would have been entitled to had his death occurred at the time he discontinued his payments.

Members may SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful designate the for a member of said association who has a wife and children person or persons who shall receive to designate his widow as entitled to receive the whole benefit the benefits of his of his membership; if no widow, his children, or such of them membership. as he may designate; and if no child or children, then such person or persons as he may designate, (or adopt,) by giving notice in writing to the president and board of officers of the name or names of such person or persons.

SEC.5. And be it further enacted, That so much of the original act of incorporation, and of the act of the third of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-five, amendatory thereof,as is inconsistent with the provisions of the act, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

Approved March 2, 1849.

Inconsistent

acts repealed.

CHAP. 77. AN ACT making appropriations for the payment of navy pensions for the year ending the thirtieth June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

[SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise

Invalid pen

sion.

Widows and or

phans.

Invalids wound

ed on board pri

appropriated, for the payment of navy pensions for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty:

To pay invalid pensions, forty thousand dollars;

To pay the pensions of widows and orphans of officers, seamen and marines, fifty thousand dollars;

To pay the pensions of invalids who were wounded on board vate, armed ves- of private armed vessels during the last war with Great Britain, three thousand dollars.

sels.

Approved March 2, 1849.

mon schools in Iowa.

CHAP. 78.-AN ACT declaratory of the act for the admission of the State of Iowa into the Union.

[SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre sentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That by the act entitled "An act for the admission of Support of com the State of Iowa into the Union," approved December twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and forty-six, the United States assented to the application for the support of common schools, as made in the second section of the tenth article of the constitution of said State, of the five per cent. of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands within the State of Iowa, and of the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to said State by the act of the fourth of September, eighteen hundred and forty-one; said land to be selected in legal subdivisions of not less than three hundred and twenty acres.

Approved March 2, 1849.

Money in lieu

be paid to certain volunteers.

CHAP. 79.-AN ACT to allow subsistence to certain Arkansas and other volunteers, who have been prisoners of war in Mexico.

[SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre sentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper accounting officers of the army of of subsistence, to the United States be, and they are hereby, required to pay, in money, to each volunteer of the Arkansas regiment, and to each volunteer of any other corps that has been in the military service of the United States, who has been a prisoner of war in Mexico, the sum of forty cents a day, in lieu of subsistence, during the whole time of his imprisonment.

Benefits of this

act to be extend

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the benefits provied to legal repre- ded by the first section of this act extend to the legal representatives of said volunteer.

sentatives.

What evidence

shall be sufficien

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the same evidence as is now required to establish the fact of ordinary service, shall be sufficient to establish the fact of imprisonment, and to authorize and require said accounting officers to make the pay

ment provided by the first section of this act, upon application of said volunteer, his authorized agent, or legal representative. Approved March 2, 1849.

CHAP. 80.-AN ACT concerning the Pay department of the army.

of the army reOfficers-their

emoluments.

Disbursing offi

[SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the pay department of the army shall consist of Pay department a Paymaster General, who shall have the rank of colonel, and organized. the same pay and allowances as are at present provided by law, rank, pay, and and the same tenure of office as the heads of other disbursing departments of the army; two deputy Paymasters General, with the same rank, pay, and allowances as are now provided by law for such officers, and the same tenure of office as officers of like grade in other disbursing departments of the army; and twenty-five Paymasters, with the same rank, pay, and allowances as are now provided by law for such officers, and the same tenure of office as officers of like grade in other disbursing departinents of the army. That it shall be the duty of all dis- cers of the debursing officers of the pay department to renew their bonds, or new their bonds furnish additional security, at least once in four years, or as every four years. much oftener as the President may direct. That the officers the pay depart of the pay department, provided for by the first section of this sist. act, shall consist of the Paymaster General, the two deputy Paymasters General now in commission, the fifteen Paymasters who were in service under the acts in force at the commencement of the war with Mexico, and ten Paymasters to be selected from the additional paymasters now in service, and the thirteen Paymasters, authorized by the acts of seventeenth of June, eighteen hundred and forty-six, and the third of March, eighteen hundred and forty-seven.

Approved March 2, 1849.

partment to re

Of what officers

ment shall con

CHAP. 81. AN ACT to continue the light at Sand's Point, on Long Island.

Light at Sand's

[SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of the fourth section of the act of the third of March, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, entitled point, L. I., con "An act authorizing the erection of certain light-houses, and for other purposes," as requires the light at Sand's Point, on Long Island, to be discontinued, be, and it is hereby, repealed. Approved March 2, 1849.

Linued.

act for authenti

cords, amended and explained.

CHAP. 82.-AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act for authenticating certain records," approved February twenty-second, eighteen hundred and forty

nine.

[SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asFirst section of sembled, That the first section of the act entitled "An act for cating certain re- authenticating certain records," approved February twenty. second, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it may and shall be lawful for the keepers or persons having the custody of laws, judgments, orders, decrees, journals, correspondence, or other public documents of any foreign government or its agents, relating to the title to lands claimed by or under the United States, on the application of one of the head of one of the departments, the Solicitor of the Treasury, or the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to authenticate the same under his hand and seal, and certify the same to be correct and true copies of such laws, judgments, orders, decrees, journals, correspondence, or other public documents; and when the same shall be certified by an American minister or consul under his hand and seal of office, or by a judge of one of the United States courts under his hand and seal, to be true copies of the originals, the same shall be sealed up by him and returned to the Solicitor of the Treasury, who shall file the same in his office, and cause it to be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose. A copy of said laws, judgments, orders, decrees, journals, correspondence, or other public documents so filed, or of the same so recorded in said book, may be read in evidence in all courts, where the title to land claimed by or under the United States may come into question, equally with the originals thereof.

Approved March 2, 1849.

sion of act of Ju

of vacancies in

CHAP. 83-AN ACT to provide for an increase of the medical staff, and for an additional number of chaplains of the army of the United States.

[SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress asRepeal of provi- sembled, That so much of section third of an act entitled "An ly 19, 1848, pro- act to amend an act entitled An act supplemental to an act enhibiting the filling titled An act providing for the prosecution of the existing wat the medical staff. between the United States and the Republic of Mexico, and for other purposes," approved July nineteen, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, as prevents the filling of vacancies in the medical department of the army until further authorized by law, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

Medical staff increased.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the medical staff of the army be increased by the addition of ten assistant sur

geons, to be appointed as provided by existing laws, and the regulations made-under them.

ten additional

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of Appointment of the act of eighteen hundred and thirty-eight be, and hereby are, chaplains authorextended so as to authorize the employment of ten additional ized chaplains, for military posts of the United States.

of the army-ap

thorized.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the President be, Judge advocate and he is hereby, authorized, by and with the advice and con- pointment of, ausent of the Senate, to appoint a suitable person as judge advocate for the army, to be taken from the captains in the army, who shall have the brevet rank, pay, and emoluments of a major of cavalry, and that so much of the proviso to the third section of the act approved July nineteenth, eighteen hundred and forty eight, as relates to officers of the Adjutant General's department, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. Approved March 2, 1849.

CHAP. 84.-AN ACT for changing the location of the land office in the Chippewa land district, and establishing an additional land district in the State of Wisconsin.

Land office at falls of St. Croix,

[SEC. 1.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the thirtieth June next, the land office for the sale of the public lands in the Chippewa land dis- Wisconsin, to be trict shall be removed from the falls of St. Croix, to Still- removed to Stillwater in the county of St. Croix, in the proposed Territory of Minesota; and sales of the public lands in said district shall thereafter he held at Stillwater, in the county aforesaid.

water.

Additional land

district created.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That for the sale of the public lands in the Territory of Wisconsin, an additional land office and land office and land district are hereby created, comprising all the lands not included within the districts of land subject to sale at Green Bay, Milwaukee, or Mineral Point, which shall be called the western land district.

and

compensa.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President be, Register receiver to be and he is hereby, authorized to appoint, by and with the ad- appointed; their vice and consent of the Senate, a register and a receiver of the powers, duties, public moneys for the said district, who shall respectively be tions. required to reside at the site of said office, and who shall have the same powers, perform the same duties, and be entitled to the same compensation as are, or may be, prescribed by law in relation to other land officers of the United States.

Lands in said district to be ex

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the President is authorized to cause the public lands in the said district, with posed to sale. the exemption of sections numbered sixteen, in each township, reserved for the use of schools, or such other lands as may be selected by law in lieu thereof, and of such other tracts as he may select for military or other purposes, to be exposed to sale in the same manner, and upon the same terms and conditions as the other public lands of the United States.