pension or bounty land than such as the Commissioner of Pensions shall direct to be paid to him, not exceeding twenty-five dollars; nor shall such agent, attorney or other person demand or receive such compensation, in whole or in part, until such pension or bounty-land claim shall be allowed: Provided, That in all claims allowed since June twentieth eighteen hundred and seventy-eight where it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Pensions that the fee of ten dollars, or any part thereof, has not been paid, he shall cause the same to be deducted from the pension, and the pension agent to pay the same to the recognized attorney.

SEC. 4. That section forty-seven hundred and eighty-six of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4786. The agent or attorney of record in the prosecution of the case may cause to be filed with the Commissioner of Pensions, duplicate articles of agreement, without additional cost to the claimant, setting forth the fee agreed upon by the parties, which agreement shall be executed in the presence of and certified by some officer competent to administer oaths. In all cases where application is made for pension or bounty land, and no agreement is filed with the Commissioner as herein provided, the fee shall be ten dollars and no more. And such articles of agreement as may hereafter be filed with the Commissioner of Pensions are not authorized, nor will they be recognized except in claims for original pensions, claims for increase of pension on account of a new disability, in claims for restoration where a pensioner's name has been or may hereafter be dropped from the pension rolls on testimony taken by a special examiner, showing that the disability or cause of death, on account of which the pension was allowed, did not originate in the line of duty, and in cases of dependent relatives whose names have been or may hereafter be, dropped from the rolls on like testimony, upon the ground of non-dependence, and in such other cases of difficulty and trouble as the Commissioner of Pensions may see fit to recognize them: Provided, That no greater fee than ten dollars shall be demanded, received, or allowed in any claim for pension or bounty land granted by special act of Congress, nor in any claim for increase of pension on account of the increase of the disability for which the pension had been allowed: And provided further, That no fee shall be demanded, received, or allowed in any claim for arrears of pension or arrears of increase of pension allowed by any act of Congress passed subsequent to the date of the allowance of the original claims in which such arrears of pension, or of increase of pension, may be allowed. The articles of agreement herein provided for shall be in substance as follows, to wit:

Whereas I,

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT

late a

9

in company

of the

regiment of volunteers, war of eighteen hundred and sixty-one (or, if the service be different, here state the same), having made application for pension under the laws of the United States: Now, this agreement witnesseth, that for and in consideration of services done and to be done in the premises, I hereby agree to allow my attorney, the fee of dollars, which shall include all amounts to be paid for any service in furtherance of said claim; and said fee shall not be demanded by or payable to my said attorney (or attorneys), in whole or in part, except in case

of

of the granting of my pension by the Commissioner of Pensions; and then the same shall be paid to him (or them) in accordance with the provisions of sections forty-seven hundred and sixty-eight and fortyseven hundred and sixty-nine of the Revised Statutes.

STATE OF
County of

SS.

(Claimant's signature.)
(Two witnesses' signatures.)

day of

Be it known that on this, the anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty -, personally appeared the abovenamed who, after having had read over to — in the hearing and presence of the two attesting witnesses, the contents of the foregoing articles of agreement, voluntarily signed and acknowledged the same to be free act and deed.

And now, to wit, this

day of

(Official signature.)

anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty I (or we) accept the provisions contained in the foregoing articles of agreement, and will, to the best of my (or our) ability, endeavor faithfully to represent the interest of the claimant in the premises.

Witness my (or our) hand, the day and year first above written.

STATE OF

County of

Personally came

whom I know to be the person he represents himself to be, and who, having signed above acceptance of agreement, acknowledged the same to be free act and deed. (Official signature.)

And if in the adjudication of any claim for pension in which such articles of agreement have been, or may hereafter be, filed, it shall appear that the claimant had, prior to the execution thereof, paid to the attorney any sum for his services in such claim, and the amount so paid is not stipulated therein, then every such claim shall be adjudicated in the same manner as though no articles of agreement had been filed, deducting from the fee of ten dollars allowed by law such sum as claimant shall show that he has paid to his said attorney.

Any agent or attorney or other person instrumental in prosecuting any claim for pension or bounty land, who shall directly or indirectly contract for, demand or receive or retain any greater compensation for his services or instrumentality in prosecuting a claim for pension or bounty land than is herein provided, or for payment thereof at any other time or in any other manner than is herein provided, or who shall wrongfully withhold from a pensioner or claimant the whole or any part of the pension or claim allowed and due such pensioner or claimant, or the land warrant issued to any such claimant, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall for every such offense be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the

court.

SEC. 5. That the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe rules and regulations governing the recognition of agents, attorneys, or other persons representing claimants before his department, and may require of such persons, agents, and attorneys, before being recognized as rep

resentatives of claimants, that they shall show that they are of good moral character and in good repute, possessed of the necessary qualifi cations to enable them to render such claimants valuable service, and otherwise competent to advise and assist such claimants in the presentation of their claims and such Secretary may, after notice and opportunity for a hearing, suspend or exclude from further practice before his department any such person, agent or attorney shown to be incompetent, disreputable, or who refuses to comply with the said rules and regulations, or who shall with intent to defraud in any manner deceive, mislead, or threaten any claimant, or prospective claimant, by word, circular, letter, or by advertisement.

SEC. 6. The Commissioner shall have power, subject to review by the Secretary, to reject or refuse to recognize any contract for fees, herein provided for, whenever it shall be made to appear that any undue advantage has been taken of the claimant in respect to such contract. Approved, July 4, 1884.

[PUBLIC-No. 90.]

AN ACT making appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and for other puposes.

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 appropriated, for the support of the Army for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, as follows: For expenses of the Commanding General's Office, one thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.

For expenses of recruiting and transportation of recruits from rendezvous to depot, one hundred and ten thousand dollars. And no money appropriated by this act shall be paid for recruiting the Army beyond the number of twenty-five thousand enlisted men, including Indian scouts and hospital-stewards; and thereafter there shall be no more than twenty-five thousand enlisted men in the Army at any one time, unless otherwise authorized by law.

For contingent expenses of the Adjutant-General's Department at the headquarters of military divisions and departments, two thousand five hundred dollars.

For expenses of the Signal Service of the Army: Purchase, equipment, and repair of field-electric telegraphs; signal equipments and stores; binocular glasses, telescopes, and other necessary instruments; telephone apparatus, and maintenance of same, five thousand dollars. PAY DEPARTMENT.-For pay of the Army: For one LieutenantGeneral; three major-generals; fifteen brigadier-generals; twenty-three aids-de-camp, in addition to pay in the line; one military secretary, in addition to pay in the line; sixty-six colonels; eighty-five lieutenantcolonels; two hundred and forty-one majors; three hundred and eleven captains (mounted); three hundred and one captains (not mounted); thirty-four chaplains; fourteen store-keepers; forty adjutants; forty regimental quartermasters; adjutant and quartermaster of Engineer Battalion, in addition to pay in the line; two hundred and eighteen first lieutenants (mounted); three hundred and fifty first lieutenants (not mounted); one hundred and forty-five second lieutenants (mounted); three hundred second lieutenants (not mounted); one hundred and eighty acting commissaries of subsistence, in addition to pay in line; additional pay to officer in charge of public building and grounds in Washington; additional pay to officer in command of the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, one thousand dollars; additional pay to officers of foot regiments while on duty which requires them to be mounted; additional pay to officers for length of service, to be paid with their current monthly pay; pay to enlisted men for length of servce, payable with their current monthly pay; retired officers; for the payment of any such officers as may be in service, either upon the active or retired list, during the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, in excess of the numbers for each class provided for in this act; enlisted men of all grades, not exceeding twenty-five thousand men; the allowances for travel, retained pay, and clothing not drawn, payable to enlisted men on discharge; two retired ordnance sergeants; and for interest on deposits of enlisted men; for mileage of officers of

the Army for travel, over shortest usually traveled routes, not to exceed one hundred and sixty thousand dollars; for miscellaneous expenses, to wit: Hire of not exceeding seventy-five contract surgeons and one hundred and sixty hospital-matrons; extra duty pay to enlisted men for service in hospitals; pay of fifty paymaster's clerks, at the rate of one thousand four hundred dollars each per annum, and fourteen veterinary surgeons; hire of paymasters' messengers, not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars; post quartermaster sergeants; cost of telegrams on official business received and sent by officers of the Army; compensation of citizen clerks and witnesses attending upon courtsmartial, military commissions, and courts of inquiry; for reimbursement of traveling expenses of paymasters' clerks actually paid by them; and for commutation of quarters to commissioned officers on duty without troops at places where there are no public quarters; in all, twelve million one hundred and fifty thousand dollars: Provided, That hereafter any paymaster of the rank of major who has served twenty years in the United States Army as a commissioned officer may, upon his own application or by direction of the President, be placed upon the retired-list of the Army, until the Pay Department shall be reduced to thirty-five members, as follows: One Paymaster-General, with the rank of brigadiergeneral; two assistant paymasters-general, with the rank of colonel; three deputy paymasters-general, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and twenty-nine paymasters, with the rank of major; and no more appointments of paymasters shall be made in the Pay Department until the number shall be reduced below twenty-nine majors, and thereafter the number of officers in the Pay Department shall not exceed thirty-five: Provided further, That nothing herein shall be construed to change the present relative rank of any officer now in the pay corps: And provided further, That section twelve hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Statutes, relating to the detail of officers of the Army to act as presidents, superintendents, and professors of colleges and universities, be so amended as to read "but the number of officers so detailed shall not exceed forty at any time," instead of thirty, as now provided by act of July fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, amendatory of said section.

SUBSISTENCE OF THE ARMY.-For rations for twenty-five thousand enlisted men, one thousand five hundred and five civil employees, seventy-five contract surgeons, one hundred and sixty hospital-matrons, two hundred military convicts, one thousand prisoners of war (including such Indian prisoners as are captured but whose subsistence is not otherwise appropriated for by Congress), and for additional half-rations for one hundred and twenty sergeants and corporals of ordnance, a total of not exceeding ten million two hundred and twenty thousand rations, estimated at twenty cents each; for difference between the cost of the ration and commutation thereof, at rates prescribed by the Secretary of War, for the following enlisted men, namely: Those detailed for clerical and messenger duty at headquarters of the Army, and at headquarters of divisions, departments, districts, and general recruiting service, and for various duties at military posts and stations, those traveling on detached duty where it is impracticable to carry cooked or travel rations, and those ordered to participate in department, division, and Army rifle competition; for difference between the cost of the ration and the cost of cooked rations for enlisted men and recruits at recruiting stations; cost in excess of ordinary rations of hot coffee and canned food, or travel-ration, for troops traveling, when it is impracticable to cook rations; for subsistence of Indians visiting military posts and of Indians employed without pay as guides and scouts; in all, one million