in a proceeding of involuntary bankruptcy, be a bar to the discharge of such debtor or debtors." That section fifty-one hundred and eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended so as to read as follows:(1) When bankrupt charge. At any time after the expiration of six months from the adjudication of bankruptcy, or if no debts have been proved against the bankrupt, may apply for disor if no assets have come to the hands of the assignee, at any time after the expiration of sixty days, and before the final disposition of the cause, the bankrupt may apply to the court for a discharge from his debts. This section shall apply in all cases heretofore or hereafter commenced. [July 26, 1876.] NOTE.-(1) This amendment is incorporated in the second edition of the Revised Statutes in § 5108. CHAPTER 239. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT APPROVED MAY EIGHT, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY- July 29, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 202. Officers of Army may have certain leave of absence without deduction Officers of Army may have certain leave of absence without deduction of pay. Be it enacted, &c., That an act approved May eighth, eighteen hun dred and seventy-four, in regard to leave of absence of Army officers, be and the same is hereby, so amended that all officers on duty shall be allowed in the discretion of the Secretary of War, sixty days' leave of of pay. absence without deduction of pay or allowance: Provided, That the same be taken once in two years: And provided further, That the leave of absence may be extended to 16 Opin. Att'ythree months, if taken once only in three years, or four months if taken only once in four years. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. [July 29, 1876.] R. S., § 1265. 1874, May 8, ch. 154. Gen., 577, 619. CHAPTER 246. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR SUNDRY CIVIL EXPENSES OF THE GOVERNMENT SECTION 1. Par. 5. Metropolitan Police of District of Co- Par. 6. Two assistant agents at seal-fisheries in Par. 7. Cost of survey of private land claims to - of lands granted to railroads to be paid by Par. 8. Land offices at Chillicothe, Indianapolis, [Par. 1.] That from and after the passage of this act it shall be the duty of the Public Printer to employ no workmen not thoroughly skilled in their respective branches of industry, as shown by a trial of their skill under his direction; July 31, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 102. Public Printer to employ only skilled workmen. R. S., § 3763. 1877, Feb. 16, ch. 58. And whenever it becomes necessary for the Public Printer to make in purchase of purchases of materials not already due under contracts he shall prepare materials to invite a schedule of the articles required, showing the description, quantity, award contract to and quality of each article and shall invite proposals for furnishing the lowest bidder, &c. proposals and R. S., 3768. 4. 3767, same either by advertisement or circular, as the Joint Committee on Public Printing may direct, and shall make contracts for the same with 1876, Jan. 25, ch. the lowest responsible bidder, making a return of the same to the Joint Committee on Public Printing, showing the number of bidders, the amounts of each bid and the awards of the contracts. Proclamations one newspaper, That so much of all laws or parts of laws as provide for the election or appointment of Public Printer be, and the same are hereby, repealed, to take effect from and after the passage of this act; and the President of the United States shall appoint by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a suitable person who must be a practical printer and versed in the art of book-binding, to take charge of and manage the Government Printing Office from and after the date aforesaid: He shall be called the "Public Printer," and shall be vested with all the powers and subject to all the restrictions pertaining to the officer now known as the Public Printer; He shall give bond in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, said bond to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. [Par. 2.] That all executive proclamations, & all treaties required and treaties to be by law to be published, shall be published in only one newspaper the published in only same to be printed and published in the District of Columbia and to be &c., and advertise- designated by the Secretary of State and in no case of advertisement ments for contracts for contracts for the public service shall the same be published in any not to be published in District of Co- newspaper published and printed in the District of Columbia unless the lumbia, except, supplies or labor covered by such advertisement are to be furnished or performed in said District of Columbia. &c. R. S., §§ 38263828. 1881, Jan. 21, ch. 25. * Superintendent [Par. 3.] The person in immediate charge of the life-saving service, of life-saving serv; under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall make a report ice to make annual annually to the Secretary of the Treasury, showing the manner in which report, &c. R. S., § 4242- all moneys appropriated for the maintenance of said service shall have been expended, and setting forth specifically the operations of said service during the year; and said report shall be transmitted to Congress with the papers accompanying the Annual Finance Report. 4249. 1878, June 18, ch. 265, § 7. R. S., § 2749. 16 Opin. Att'yGen., 288. Cadet third lieu- [Par. 4.] Hereafter upon the occurring of a vacancy in the grade of tenant for Revenue third lieutenant in the Revenue Marine Service, the Secretary of the Marine Service may be appointed. Treasury may appoint a cadet, not less than eighteen nor more than twenty-five years of age, with rank next below that of third lieutenant, whose pay shall be three-fourths that of a third lieutenant, and who shall not be appointed to a higher grade until he shall have served a satisfactory probationary term of two years and passed the examination required by the regulations of said service; and upon the promotion of such cadet another may be appointed in his stead; but the whole number of third lieutenants and cadets shall at no time exceed the number of third lieutenants now authorized by law. Metropolitan Po- [Par. 5.] The duties devolved and the authority conferred upon the lice of District Co- board of Metropolitan Police by law, for police purposes, in said District, lumbia; powers, shall extend to and include all public squares or places; and said board &c., of, extended to public squares and is hereby authorized and required to make appropriate rules and reguplaces. lations in relation thereto. (1) Two assistant [Par. 6.] For salaries and traveling expenses of agents at seal-fisheries agents at seal-fish- in Alaska, eries in Alaska dis continued. Provided, however, That the two assistant agents whose salaries as R. S., § 1973, fixed by law at two thousand one hundred and ninety dollars each per 1974. 1875, March 3, ch. 130, § 1. NOTE.-(1) This provision is repeated in the act of 1877, ch. 105 (19 Stat. L., 346). annum, shall be discontinued from and after the first day of October eighteen hundred and seventy-six * Cost of survey R. S., §§ 2218, 2223. [Par. 7.] That an accurate account shall be kept by each surveyorgeneral of the cost of surveying and platting every private land claim, of private land claims to be kept to be reported to the General Land-Office with the map of such claim; and to be paid by and that a patent shall not issue nor shall any copy of any such survey parties before patbe furnished for any such private claim until the cost of survey and ents issue. platting shall have been paid into the Treasury of the United States by the party or parties in interest in said grant or by any other party : And provided further, That before any land granted to any railroad of lands granted company by the United States shall be conveyed to such company, or to railroads to be any persons entitled thereto under any of the acts incorporating or re- paid by companies, lating to said company, unless such company is exempted by law from the payment of such cost, there shall first be paid into the Treasury of the United States the cost of surveying, selecting, and conveying the same by the said company or persons in interest. &c. Land offices at [Par. 8.] That the land offices at Chillicothe, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, Springfield, Illinois, and the office of recorder of land-titles of the Chillicothe, InState of Missouri, (2) are hereby abolished, from and after the thirtieth dianapolis, and Springfield, reday of September next and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby author- corder of landized to transfer to the States respectively aforesaid such of the tran- titles of Missouri, scripts, documents, and records of the offices aforesaid as may not be and surveyor-general of Kansas required for use of the United States, and as the States respectively in abolished. which said offices are situated may desire to preserve; And the office of the surveyor-general of Kansas is hereby abolished from and after the thirtieth of September next. [July 31, 1876.] NOTES.-(2) See notes to act of 1874, June 6, ch. 223, p. 28. R. S., §§ 2207, 2256, pars. 1-3. 1874, June 6, ch. 223, § 3. CHAPTER 255. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE MILITARY ACADEMY Quartermaster and commissary for cadets to be detailed and supplies furnished at cost. Aug. 7, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 124. That the Secretary of War be hereby directed to detail a competent Quartermaster officer to act as quartermaster and commissary for the battalion of and commissary cadets, by whom all purchases and issues of supplies of all kinds for for cadets to be detailed and supplies the cadets, and all provisions for the mess, shall be made, and that all furnished at cost. supplies of all kinds and descriptions shall be furnished to the cadets at actual cost, without any commission or advance over said cost; and 1341. such officer so assigned shall perform all the duties of purveying and supervision for the mess, as now done by the purveyor, without other compensation. [August 7, 1876.] R. S., § 1309 CHAPTER 256. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A NEW LAND-DISTRICT IN THE TERRITORY OF WYOMING. SECTION SECTION [SECTION 1], That all the public lauds in the Territory of Wyoming lying west of the thirty-first meridian of longitude west from Washing. ton shall constitute a new land-district, to be called the Evanston dis trict. Aug. 9, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 126. Evanston land district in Wyoming established. R. S., § 2256, par. 91, 2d ed., p. 413. Evanston land SEC. 2. That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint, district; register by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or during the recess office may be re- thereof, and until the next session after such appointment, a register and a receiver for said district, who shall be required to reside in the R. S., § 2234- town of Evanston, Wyoming Territory, until such time as the President may, in his discretion, remove the site of said land-office from said town, be subject to the same laws and be entitled to the same compensation as is or may hereafter be provided by law in relation to the existing land-offices and officers in said Territory. [August 9, 1876.] moved. 2247. Aug. 11, 1876. 19 Stat. L., 127. Kansas. 2284. CHAPTER 259. AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF THE OSAGE CEDED LANDS IN KANSAS TO [SECTION 1], That any bona fide settler, residing at the time of comBona-fide settlers pleting his or her entry, as hereinafter provided, upon any portion of may purchase the lands sold to the United States, by virtue of the first article of the Osage lands in treaty concluded between the United States and the Great and Little R. S., § 2283, Osage tribe of Indians September twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and proclaimed January twenty-first, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, who is a citizen of the United States, or shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, shall be, and hereby is, entitled to purchase the same, in quantity not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, at the price of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, within one year from the passage of this act, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and on the terms hereinafter provided: 1874, June 23, ch. 488. 1880, May 28, ch. 107. 1881, March 3, ch. 149. Treaty (14 Stat. L., 687). &c. Provided, That no bona fide settler as aforesaid on said land shall be denied the right to purchase land under the provisions of this act on the ground that he or she may heretofore have had the benefit of the homestead or preemption laws of the United States. SEC. 2. That any person who is a citizen of the United States, or has Purchasers in declared his intention to become such, who in good faith had purchased good faith from any portion of said land from either the Leavenworth, Lawrence and certain railways entitled to land, Galveston Railroad Company, or the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company, prior to the commencement of the two suits in the name of the United States against said companies, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Kansas, to test the legality of title of said railroad companies to said lands, or portions thereof, to wit; before the twenty-fifth day of February, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and shall prove to the satisfaction of the register and the receiver of the proper land office that he or she has, in good faith, before the date last aforesaid, paid said railroad companies, or either of them, the consideration-money, or a portion thereof, and also that he or she has in good faith made lasting and valuable improvements thereon, shall be, and hereby is declared to be entitled to purchase said lands, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, to include his or her improvements, on the same terms and conditions that actual settlers are authorized by this act to purchase said lands; that the rights of the said purchasers from said railroad companies shall attach at the date of the payment aforesaid made to said railroads or either of them: Provided, That the said improvements are made before the date last aforesaid: And provided further, That said claimant actually resides on the land at the time of completing his or her entry thereof at the proper land office: Provided further, That the heirs of any deceased purchaser from said railroads shall have the same right to purchase the said lands so purchased from the said railroads as the original purchaser would have had, had he lived. Rights of heirs. Terms of pur SEC. 3. That the parties desiring to make entries under the provisions of this act who will, within twelve months after the passage of the same chase; price, &c. make payment at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, for the land claimed by said purchaser, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner of the General Land Office may prescribe, as follows, that is to say; Entry to be com Said purchaser shall pay for the land he or she is entitled to purchase one-fourth of the price of the land at the time the entry is made, and pleted in one year. the remainder in three annual payments, drawing interest at the rate of five per centum per annum, which payment shall be secured by notes of said purchaser, payable to the United States; And the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold title until the last payment is made; And the Secretary of the Interior shall cause patents to issue to all parties who shall complete their purchases under the provisions of this act; Patents to issue. Payment of And if any claimant fails to complete his or her entry at the proper land-office within twelve months from the passage of this act, he or she whole may be shall forfeit all right to the land by him or her so claimed, except in made at any time. cases where the land is in contest: Provided further, That nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent any purchaser of said land from making payment at any time of the whole or any portion of the purchase money. Laws in relation SEC. 4. That the laws of the United States in relation to the preemption of town-sites shall apply to the tract of land first above de- to town-sites apscribed, except that the declaratory statement provided by existing lands, except, &c. plicable to Osage laws in such cases shall be filed with the register of the proper land- R. S., §§ 2380office within sixty days after the passage of this act, and the occupants 2394. of town-sites shall not be allowed to purchase more than three hundred and twenty acres actually occupied as a town-site, except in case where town-site companies have purchased all claim of title of the original settlers, and all titles claimed by any railroad company, in which case said town-site company, by its proper agent, shall have the same right to enter said lands that the original settlers would have had, not exceeding in amount eight hundred acres, and shall pay therefor the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, in the same manner as actual occupants are required to pay. Prior lawful entries reinstated. SEC. 5. That all lawful entries heretofore made of any of said lands, and set aside or cancelled by the Secretary of the Interior, on the ground that the said railroads had a prior grant of said lands, be reinstated by the said Secretary of the Interior, subject to any valid adverse claim that may have accrued before or since such sale or cancellation. SEC. 6. That all declaratory statements made by persons desiring to purchase any portion of said land under the provisions of this act, statements; where shall be filed with the register of the proper land office within sixty and when filed. days after the passage of the same: Provided, however, That those who may settle on said land after the passage of this act shall file their declaratory statement within twenty days after settlement, and complete their purchase under the provisions of this act within one year thereafter. Declaratory to tax. SEC. 7. That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent Right of Kansas said lands from being taxed under the laws of the State of Kansas, as other lands are or may be taxed in said State, from and after the time the first payment is made on said land, according to the provisions of this act. |