§ 148. (Act June 6, 1900, c. 791, § 1.) Delivery to and preservation in Library of bound volumes from files of House of Representatives.

The Clerk of the House of Representatives is hereby authorized and directed to deliver to the Librarian of Congress all bound volumes of original papers, general petitions, printed matter, books, and manuscripts now in, or that may hereafter come into, the files of the House, which in his judgment are not required to be retained in the immediate custody of the file clerk; and it shall be the duty of the Librarian of Congress to cause all such matter so delivered to him to be properly classified by Congress and arranged for preservation and ready reference. All of such matter to be held as a part of the files of the House of Representatives, subject to its orders and rules. (31 Stat. 642.)

This was a provision of the sundry civil appropriation act for the fiscal year 1901, cited above.

§ 149. (Act Feb. 25, 1903, c. 755, § 1.) Transfer to Library of books, etc., from Executive Departments or bureaus, etc. The head of any Executive department or bureau or any commission of the Government is hereby authorized from time to time to turn over to the Librarian of Congress, for the use of the Library of Congress, any books, maps, or other material in the library of the department, bureau, or commission no longer needed for its use, and in the judgment of the Librarian of Congress appropriate to the uses of the Library of Congress. (32 Stat. 865.)

This was a provision of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1904, cited above.

§ 150. (Act March 4, 1909, c. 297, § 1.)

Transfer to other libraries of books, etc., and disposition of useless material. The Librarian of Congress may from time to time transfer to other governmental libraries within the District of Columbia, including the Public Library, books and material in the possession of the Library of Congress in his judgment no longer necessary to its uses, but in the judgment of the custodians of such other collections likely to be useful to them, and may dispose of or destroy such material as has become useless. (35 Stat. 858.)

This was a provision of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1910, cited above.

§ 151. (Act June 28, 1902, c. 1301, § 1.) Sale of copies of card indexes and other publications.

The Librarian of Congress is hereby authorized to furnish to such institutions or individuals as may desire to buy them, such copies of the card indexes and other publications of the Library as may not be required for its ordinary transactions, and charge for the same a price which will cover their cost and ten per centum added, and all moneys received by him shall be deposited in the Treasury. (32 Stat. 480.)

This was a provision of the sundry civil appropriation act for the fiscal year 1903, cited above.

§ 152. (R. S. § 99.) Smithsonian library.

The library collected by the Smithsonian Institution under the provisions of the act of August ten, eighteen hundred and forty-six, chapter twenty-five, and removed from the building of that Institution, with the consent of the Regents thereof, to the Library of Congress, shall, while there deposited, be subject to the same regulations as the Library of Congress, except as hereinafter provided.

Act April 5, 1866, c. 25, § 1, 14 Stat. 13.

§ 153. (R. S. § 100.) How to be kept and used.

The Smithsonian Institution shall have the use thereof in like manner as before its removal, and the public shall have access thereto

for purposes of consultation on every ordinary week-day, except during one month of each year, in the recess of Congress, when it may be closed for renovation. All the books, maps, and charts of the Smithsonian library shall be properly cared for and preserved in like manner as are those of the Congressional Library; from which the Smithsonian library shall not be removed except on re-imbursement by the Smithsonian Institution to the Treasury of the United States of expenses incurred in binding and in taking care of the same, or upon such terms and conditions as shall be mutually agreed upon by Congress and the Regents of the Institution.

Act April 5, 1866, c. 25, § 2, 14 Stat. 13.

* *

§ 154. (Act March 3, 1901, c. 830, § 1.) Library of House of Representatives under control of Librarian of Congress. The library of the House of Representatives shall hereafter be under the control and direction of the Librarian of Congress, who shall provide all needful books of reference therefor. The librarian, two assistant librarians, and assistant in the library, shall be appointed by the Clerk of the House, with the approval of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Fifty-sixth Congress, and thereafter no removals shall be made from the said positions except for cause reported to and approved by the Committee on Rules. (31 Stat. 964.)

This was a provision accompanying appropriations for the office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1902, cited above. The words omitted here, "above provided for," referred to appropriations therein.

Stealing, wrongfully defacing, etc., any book, pamphlet, etc., belonging to the Library of Congress, or to any public library in the District of Columbia, when not otherwise punishable by some statute of the United States, was made punishable by provisions of Act June 19, 1878, c. 317, 20 Stat. 171.

Sec.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Congressional Investigations

155. Oaths to witnesses, by whom administered.

156. Oaths to witnesses may be administered by any member of Congress.

157. Refusal of witness to testify.

Sec.

158. No privilege to refuse to answer criminating questions.

159. Proceedings against witnesses failing to testify.

160. Fees of witnesses residing in District of Columbia.

§ 155. (R. S. § 101.) Oaths to witnesses, by whom administered. The President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or a chairman of a Committee of the Whole, or of any committee of either House of Congress, is empowered to administer oaths to witnesses in any case under their examination.

Act May 3, 1798, c. 36, § 1, 1 Stat. 554. Act Feb. 8, 1817, c. 10, 3 Stat. 345.

Provisions for administration of oaths in the Senate, by the Presiding Officer for the time being, the Secretary of the Senate, or the Chief Clerk, including oaths to witnesses, are contained in Act April 18, 1876, c. 66, ante, §§ 27, 28.

Authority to administer oaths to witnesses was also conferred upon members of either House by Act June 26, 1884, c. 123, post, § 156; and upon masters in chancery, on examination of witnesses as to private claims pending before any committee, by Act Feb. 3, 1879, c. 40, post, § 6409.

Notes of

Power to require attendance of witnesses.-Either house of Congress in the discharge of the powers and duties

Decisions

devolved upon it by the Constitution and as necessarily incident thereto, has the undoubted right to require the per

sonal attendance, before its committees as a witness, of any citizen, to be paid for his attendance or not, according to

§ 156. (Act June 26, 1884, c. 123.)

its will and pleasure. Lilley v. U. S. (1878) 14 Ct. Cl. 539.

Oaths to witnesses may be ad

ministered by any member of Congress. Any member of either House of Congress may administer oaths to witnesses in any matter depending in either House of Congress of which he is a member, or any committee thereof. (23 Stat. 60.) This was an act entitled "An act to provide for the administration of oaths to witnesses in matters depending in either House of Congress," cited above.

§ 157. (R. S. § 102.) Refusal of witness to testify.

Every person who having been summoned as a witness by the authority of either House of Congress, to give testimony or to produce papers upon any matter under inquiry before either House, or any committee of either House of Congress, willfully makes default, or who, having appeared, refuses to answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars nor less than one hundred dollars, and imprisonment in a common jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve months. Act Jan. 24, 1857, c. 19, § 1, 11 Stat. 155.

Notes of Decisions

Validity of provisions.-This section is constitutional. In re Chapman (1897) 17 Sup. Ct. 677, 678, 166 U. S. 661, 41 L. Ed. 1154. See, also, In re Chapman (1895) 15 Sup. Ct. 331, 156 U. S. 211, 39 L. Ed. 401; Chapman v. U. S. (1895) 5 App. D. C. 122.

This section is not so connected with R. S. § 103, post, § 158, that, if the latter section be held unconstitutional, the former must fall with it. Chapman (1897) 17 Sup. Ct. 677, 679, 166 U. S. 661, 41 L. Ed. 1154.

In re

Scope of inquiry.-The words "any matter under inquiry" mean any matter within the jurisdiction of the two houses which are before them for consideration and proper for their action, and questions pertinent thereto and facts or papers bearing thereon. In re Chapman (1897) 17 Sup. Ct. 677, 678, 166 U. S. 661, 41 L. Ed. 1154.

The Senate has jurisdiction to inquire as to charges in the public press as to alleged dealings of Senators in the stock of a corporation whose business was affected by a pending tariff

bill, thereby impugning the integrity of such members in a manner calculated to destroy public confidence in that body, and to subject the individuals to censure or expulsion.

It is not essential to the jurisdiction in such a case that the preamble and resolution for the investigation shall declare that the proceeding is taken for the purpose of censure or expulsion. In re Chapman (1897) 17 Sup. Ct. 677, 680, 166 U. S. 661, 41 L. Ed. 1154.

Power of courts to require attendance and testimony of witnesses.The power of the United States courts to authorize the taking of depositions on letters rogatory from courts of foreign countries exists by international comity; but no comity of any kind can be invoked, by a mere investigating commission appointed by Congress, to authorize a peremptory order to compel a witness to answer interrogatories propounded by the commission. In re Pacific Ry. Commission (C. C. 1887) 32 Fed. 241, 256.

§ 158. (R. S. § 103.) No privilege to refuse to answer criminating questions.

No witness is privileged to refuse to testify to any fact, or to produce any paper, respecting which he shall be examined by either House of Congress, or by any committee of either House, upon the ground that his testimony to such fact or his production of such paper may tend to disgrace him or otherwise render him infamous. Act Jan. 24, 1862, c. 11, 12 Stat. 333.

Provisions that testimony given by the witness shall not be used against him in any criminal proceeding were made by R. S. § 859, post, § 1467.

Cited without definite application, In re Chapman (1895) 15 Sup. Ct. 331, 332, 156 U. S. 211, 39 L. Ed. 401; In

re Chapman (1897) 17 Sup. Ct. 677, 678, 166 U. S. 661, 41 L. Ed. 1154.

§ 159. (R. S. § 104.) Proceedings against witnesses failing to testify.

Whenever a witness summoned as mentioned in section one hundred and two fails to testify, and the facts are reported to either House, the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House, as the case may be, shall certify the fact under the seal of the Senate or House to the district attorney for the District of Columbia, whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for their action.

Act Jan. 24, 1857, c. 19, § 3, 11 Stat. 156.
Notes of Decisions

Punishment for contempt.-The Senate and House may punish persons other than its own members for contempts of its authority. Anderson v. Dunn (1821) 6 Wheat. 204, 5 L. Ed. 242; Ex parte Nugent (C. C. 1848) Fed. Cas. No. 10,375.

Though the Constitution gives no power to either House of Congress to punish for contempt, except when committed by their own members, the House of Representatives, while a Congress is sitting, may convict one for contempt for breach of the privileges of the House and of the dignity and authority of the same. Anderson v. Dunn (1821) 6 Wheat. 204, 225, 5 L. Ed. 242.

K., for refusing to answer certain questions put to him, as a witness, by the House, concerning the business of a real estate partnership of which he was a member, and to produce certain books and papers in relation thereto, was, by an order of the house, imprisoned for 45 days in the common jail of the District of Columbia. He brought suit to recover damages therefor against the sergeant-at-arms, who executed the order, and the members of the committee who caused him to be brought before the house, where he was adjudged to be in contempt of its authority. Held that, although the house can punish its own members for disorderly conduct, or for failure to attend its sessions, and can decide cases of contested elections, and determine the qualifications of its members, and exercise the sole power of impeachment of officers of the government, and may, where the examination of witnesses is necessary to the performance of these duties, fine or imprison a contumacious witness, there is not found in the United States Constitution any general power vested in either house to punish for contempt. Kilbourn V. Thompson (1880) 103 U. S. 168, 26 L. Ed. 377.

The court, without affirming that such a power can arise in any case other than those already specified, decides that it can exist in no case where the house, attempting to exercise it, invokes its aid in a matter to which its authority does not extend, such as an inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen. Id.

The resolution of the House under which K. was summoned and examined as a witness directed its committee to

examine into the history and character of what was called the "real estate pool" of the District of Columbia. The preamble recited, as the grounds of the investigation, that J. C. & Co., who were debtors of the United States, and whose affairs were then in litigation before a bankruptcy court, had an interest in the pool, or were creditors of it. The subject-matter of the investigation was judicial, and not legislative. It was then pending before the proper court, and there existed no power in Congress, or in either house thereof, on the allegation that an insolvent debtor of the United States was interested in a private business partnership, to investigate the affairs of that partnership, and consequently no authority to compel a witness to testify on the subject. Id.

The parliament of England, before its separation into bodies since known as the "House of Lords" and the "House of Commons," was a high court of judicature, the highest in the realm, possessed of the general power incident to such a court of punishing for contempt, and on its separation the power remained with each body, but neither house of Congress was constituted a part of any court of general jurisdiction, nor has it any history to which the exercise of such power can be traced. Its power must be sought alone in some express grant in the Constitution, or be found necessary to carry into effect such powers as are there granted. Id.

An investigation by a committee of Congress, under a resolution reciting that a certain firm, who were debtors of the United States, were interested in a so-called real estate pool in the District of Columbia, the history and character of which the committee was to examine, on the assumption that a settlement had been made in bankruptcy proceedings against said debtor to the disadvantage of the United States, was judicial in its nature, and therefore not a legitimate subject of legislative inquiry. Id.

An inquiry by the United States Senate as to what person, if any, had violated the rule of the Senate which requires that all treaties laid before them should be kept secret until the Senate should take off the injunction of secrecy, is a matter within the jurisdiction

Witnesses residing in the District of Columbia and not in the service of the government of said District or of the United States, who shall be summoned to give testimony before any committee of the House of Representatives, shall not be allowed exceeding two dollars for each day's attendance before said committee. (19 Stat. 41.)

This was a proviso annexed to an appropriation in the deficiency appropriation act for the fiscal year 1876, cited above.