Third Assistant SEC. 4. That the Third Assistant Postmaster General, when directed may sign contracts by the Postmaster General, may also sign, in his name, in the place and for postage stamps, &c. stead of the Postmaster General, and attest his signature by the seal of the Post Office Department, all contracts for supplies of postage-stamps, stamped envelopes, newspaper-wrappers, postal-cards, registered-package envelopes, locks, seals, and official envelopes for the use of postmasters, and return of dead letters, that may be required for the postal service. R. S.,§§ 389,3914. Letters, packages, &c., on gov ernment, business 3913. 3896 SEC. 5. That it shall be lawful to transmit through the mail, free of postage, any letters, packages, or other matters relating exclusively to the business of the Government of the United States: Provided, That every such letter or package to entitle it to pass free shall bear over the words "Official business" an endorsement showing also the name of the Department, and, if from a bureau or office, the names of the Department and bureau or office, as the case may be, whence 1879, March 3, transmitted. 1875, March 3, ch. 128, § 3. ch. 180, § 29. 15 Opin. Att'y-Gen., 262. 16 Opin. Att'y-Gen., 455. R. S., § 3915. 1879, March 3, ch. 180, § 29. 15 Opin. Att'y Gen., 262. 16 Opin. Att'y Gen., 455. Members of Con And if any person shall make use of any such official envelope to avoid the payment of postage on his private letter, package, or other matter in the mail, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of three hundred dollars, to be prosecuted in any court of competent jurisdiction. SEC. 6. That for the purpose of carrying this act into effect, it shall be the duty of each of the Executive Departments of the United States to provide for itself and its subordinate offices the necessary envelopes: and in addition to the endorsement designating the Department in which they are to be used, the penalty for the unlawful use of these envelopes shall be stated thereon. SEC. 7. That Senators, Representatives, and Delegates in Congress, gress, Secretary of the Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives, Senate, and Clerk of House may send may send and receive through the mail, all public documents printed by by mail public doc- order of Congress: and the name of each Senator, Representative, Deleuments free. gate, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House shall be written R. S., §§ 3896- thereon, with the proper designation of the office he holds: and the 1874, June 23, ch. provisions of this section shall apply to each of the persons named therein until the first day of December following the expiration of their 3913. 456, § 13. 1875, March 3, respective terms of office. ch. 128, § 3. 3. 1877, Dec. 15, ch. [March 3, 1877.] 1879, March 3, ch. 180, § 1, par. 4. 16 Opin. Att'y Gen., 271. March 3, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 344. CHAPTER 105. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR SUNDRY CIVIL EXPENSES OF THE GOVERN- Cost of printing [Par. 1.] There shall be taxed against the losing party in each and records in Supreme every cause pending in the Supreme Court of the United States or in Court and Court of the Court of Claims of the United States, the cost of printing the record Claims to be paid in such case, which shall be collected, except when the judgment is R. S., § 677, against the United States, by the clerks of said courts respectively, and paid into the Treasury of the United States; but this shall only apply to records printed after the first of October next. by parties, &c. 1053. 96 U.S., 594. [Par. 2.] One half of the expense of the indigent persons who may be District Columhereafter admitted [to the government hospital for the insane] from the bia to pay half exDistrict of Columbia shall be paid from the treasury of said District pense of indigent Provided, That hereafter such indigent persons shall be admitted only to hospital. upon order of the executive authority of the said District. [Par. 3.] Hereafter the subject of ventilation and heating the House of Representatives be placed under the direction of the Architect of the Capitol. [March 3, 1877.] insane committed R. S., § 48384858. 1879, ch. 182. Architect of Capitol to have direc tion of ventilation and heating House. R. S., § 1816. 1878, June 19, ch. 329, par. 2. CHAPTER 106. AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS TO SUPPLY DEFICIENCIES IN THE APPROPRIATIONS Contracts for rent of buildings in District of Columbia not to be made without previous appropriation, &c. * March 3, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 370. Contracts for Hereafter no contract shall be made for the rent of any building, or part of any building, to be used for the purposes of the Government in rent of buildings the District of Columbia, until an appropriation therefor shall have been in District Colummade in terms by Congress, and that this clause be regarded as notice without previous to all contractors or lessors of any such building or any part of building. appropriation, &c. [March 3, 1877.] * CHAPTER 107. AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE SALE OF DESERT LANDS IN CERTAIN STATES AND TEK bia not to be made R. S., § 3679, 3732. 1874, June 22, ch. 388. 1880, June 15, ch. 225, par. 3. 15 Opin. Att'y Gen., 274. March 3, 1877. Be it enacted, &c. Citizens may re lands. 2353 [SECTION 1], That it shall be lawful for any citizen of the United States, or any person of requisite age "who may be entitled to become claim and pura citizen, and who has filed his declaration to become such" and upon chase any desert payment of twenty five cents per acre-to file a declaration under oath R. S., with the register and the receiver of the land district in which any desert 2379. land is situated, that he intends to reclaim a tract of desert land not 1875, March 3, exceeding one section, by conducting water upon the same, within the ch. 160. period of three years thereafter, right to use wa Provided however that the right to the use of water by the person so conducting the same, on or to any tract of desert land of six hundred ter therefor. and forty acres shall depend upon bona fide prior appropriation: and such right shall not exceed the amount of water actually appropriated, and necessarily used for the purpose of irrigation and reclamation: and all surplus water over and above such actual appropriation and use, together with the water of all, lakes, rivers and other sources of water supply upon the public lands and not navigable, shall remain and be held free for the appropriation and use of the public for irrigation, mining and manufacturing purposes subject to existing rights. Contents of declaration. Patent; when to issue. Limit to quantity of land purchasable. Desert lands de fined. sioner to determine Said declaration shall describe particularly said section of land if surveyed, and, if unsurveyed, shall describe the same as nearly as possible without a survey. At any time within the period of three years after filing said declaration, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and receiver of the reclamation of said tract of land in the manner aforesaid, and upon the payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre for a tract of land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres to any one person, a patent for the same shall be issued to him. Provided, that no person shall be permitted to enter more than one tract of land and not to exceed six hundred and forty acres which shall be in compact form. SEC. 2. That all lands exclusive of timber lands and mineral lands which will not, without irrigation, produce some agricultural crop, shall be deemed desert lands, within the meaning of this act, which fact shall be ascertained by proof of two or more credible witnesses under oath, whose affidavits shall be filed in the land office in which said tract of land may be situated Act to apply only SEC. 3. That this act shall only apply to and take effect in the States in certain States, of California, Oregon and Nevada, and the Territories of Washington, &c., and Commis- Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming Arizona, New Mexico and Dakota, what are desert and the determination of what may be considered desert land shall be subject to the decision and regulation of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. [March 3, 1877.] lands. CHAPTER 108. March 3, 1877. 19 Stat. L., 377. Hot Springs, Ark.; receivership abolished. 1870, ch. 126 (16 Stat. L., 149). 5. 10 Ct. Cls., 289. 92 U. S., 698. AN ACT IN RELATION TO THE HOT SPRINGS RESERVATION IN THE STATE OF ARKANSAS. [SECTION 1], That so much of section five of an act of June eleventh, eighteen hundred and seventy, in relation to the Hot Springs reservation of Arkansas, as provides for the appointment of a receiver by the court, be, and the same is hereby, repealed: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the right of the United States to collect and receive rents already due. Commissioners SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to lay out reservaupon the passage of this act, to appoint three discreet, competent, and tion. 1878, Dec. 16, ch. disinterested persons, who shall constitute a board of commissioners, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, who are hereby authorized 1880, June 16, ch. to perform and discharge the duties specified by this act, and for that purpose shall meet at Hot Springs, in the State of Arkansas, within thirty days after their appointment, and shall, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, subscribe to the usual oath for civil officers, and shall, at their first meeting, organize by the election of one of their number as chairman of the board, having given ten days' notice of the time and place of meeting in some daily paper published at Hot Springs, which notice shall be continued during the entire session of said board 246. of commissioners, and all the evidence herein provided to be taken by said board shall be taken at Hot Springs. Manner of lay SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of said commissioners, after examination of the topography of the reservation, to lay out into convenient ing out. squares, blocks, lots, avenues, streets, and alleys, the lines of which shall correspond with the existing boundary lines of occupants of said reservation as near as may be consistent with the interests of the United States, the following-described lands, to wit: The south half of section twenty eight, the south half of section twenty-nine, all of sections thirty-two and thirty three, in township two south and range nineteen west; and the north half of section four, the north half of section five, in township three south and range nineteen west, situate in the county of Garland, and State of Arkansas, and known as the Hot Springs reservation. be reserved and 1878, Dec. 16, ch. SEC. 4. That before making any subdivision of said lands, as described Land including in the preceding section, it shall be the duty of said board of commis- certain springs to sioners, under the direction and subject to the approval of the Secretary put in charge of a of the Interior, to designate a tract of land included in one boundary, superintendent. sufficient in extent to include, and which shall include all the hot or warm springs situate on the lands aforesaid, to embrace, as near as may be, what is known as Hot Springs Mountain, and the same is hereby reserved from sale, and shall remain under the charge of a superintendent, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, however, That nothing in this section shall prevent the Secretary of the Interior from fixing a special tax on water taken from said springs, sufficient to pay for the protection and necessary improvement of the same. SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of said commissioners to show by metes and bounds on the map herein provided for, the parcels or tracts of lands claimed by reason of improvements made thereon or occupied by each and every such claimant and occupant on said reservation; to hear any and all proof offered by such claimants and occupants and the United States in respect to said lands and in respect to the improvements thereon; and to finally determine the right of each claimant or occupant to purchase the same, or any portion thereof, at the appraised value, which shall be fixed by said commissioners: 5. Tax on water taken from springs. 1878, June 20, ch. 359, par. 15. 5. 1878, Dec. 16, ch. Duty of commissioners. Claims to be filed Provided, however, That such claimants and occupants shall file their claims, under the provisions of this act, before said commissioners within within six months. six calendar months after the first sitting of the said board of commissioners, or their claims shall be forever barred; And no claim shall be considered which has accrued since the twenty fourth day of April, eighteen hundred and seventy-six Commissioners tendance of witnesses. SEC. 6. That the said commissioners shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers touching the oc- may compel atcupancy or improvements of or on said lands, or any other matter in any wise belonging or appertaining either to the said lands or the improvements thereon; shall have power to examine under oath all witnesses that may come before them, and all testimony shall be reduced to writing, and preserved as hereinafter provided. SEC. 7. That said commissioners shall have power to remove, or cause to be removed, all buildings or obstructions upon the said Hot Springs reservation when the same may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act, as also all obstructions to streets, alleys or roads, to be laid off, straightened or widened as herein provided for. - may remove obstructions. - &c. SEC. 8. That the commissioners shall have power to straighten or may straighten widen any of the present streets or alleys in the town of Hot Springs, or widen streets, and to lay off such additional streets, alleys, and roads in said Hot Springs reservation, or in the town, before the sale or disposition of any of the property herein mentioned, as the convenience of the public and the interest of the United States may require, and for that purpose may condemn all buildings that they may find necessary to condemn in order Commissioners to make report. -to issue certifi to straighten or widen said streets and alleys, or to lay off new streets, alleys, and roads, and also all buildings or improvement on the reservation herein made, and to fix the value on all property thus condemned. SEC. 9. That it shall be the duty of said commissioners, without delay, to file in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, the map and survey herein provided for, with the boundary-lines of each claim clearly marked thereon, and with each division and subdivision traced and numbered, accompanied by a schedule, showing the name of each claimant, and of each lot or parcel of land, the appraised value thereof, numbers to correspond with such claim upon the map; also all of the evidence taken by them respecting the claimants' possessory right of occupation to any portion of the Hot Springs reservation and their findings in each case; also their appraisal of each tract or parcel of land, and the improvements thereon; And it shall be the duty of said commissioners to issue a certificate cates to claimants. to each claimant, setting forth the amount of land the holder is entitled to purchase, and the valuation fixed thereon, and also showing the character and the valuation fixed upon the improvements of said tract or parcel of land, and to issue a certificate or certificates to all persons whose improvements are condemned, as herein provided, showing the value of said improvements. Lands may be entered and pat ented. 1880, Jan. 14, res. No. 4. Public notice. lands. SEC. 10. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior, within thirty days (1) after said commissioners file said report and map in his office, to instruct the United States land-officers of Little Rock (Arkansas) land district to allow said lands to be entered as hereinafter provided, and to cause a patent to issue therefor; And it shall be the duty of the land officers authorized to sell said lands to give twenty days public notice in the Little Rock and Hot Springs newspapers that said lands are subject to entry in accordance with the provisions of this act. Occupants may SEC. 11. That any claimant or occupant, his heirs or legal represententer and pay for atives, in whose favor said commissioners have adjudicated, shall, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, have the sole right to enter and pay for, at the price fixed by said commissioners, the amount of land the commissioners had adjudged that they were entitled to purchase, at any time within twelve months next after the land-officers give the public notice herein required. On failure of oc- SEC. 12. That upon the failure of any claimant or occupant in whose cupant to purchase favor the commissioners have adjudged to pay the valuation fixed upon property to be sold. said land within the time and in the manner herein prescribed, then 1880, June 16, ch. said lands, together with all other lands that no one has an adjudicated 246. Occupants may remove ments. right to purchase under this act, shall be sold, by direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to the highest bidder at public sale for not less than the appraised value thereof at the land office at Little Rock, after notice of such sale has been advertised three months in some newspaper in the town of Hot Springs and in such other papers as he may designate, said lands and improvements to be sold together; And the proceeds arising from the sale thereof shall be paid to the receiver of public moneys at the land-office in Little Rock, Arkansas. SEC. 13. That any claimant or occupant who does not desire to purimprove- chase the lands adjudicated to him or her at the valuation fixed by said commissioners shall have the right to remove any improvements made on said land, at his or her own cost, before the time fixed for the payment for said lands. Disposition of proceeds of sale. - of water-rents. SEC. 14. That the money arising from the sale of the lands shall be paid into the Treasury in the same manner as other moneys arising from the sale of public lands, and held for the purpose herein specified and at the further disposal of Congress; And the money arising from water-rents shall be under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, and expended by him for the purposes hereinbefore stated, an account of which shall be annually rendered to NOTE.-(I) This time is extended sixty days from January 14, 1880, by resolution of that date, No. 4. |