was decided that the House could take no action upon, nor transact any other business until a Clerk was elected.

The Clerk, when presiding, has repeatedly refused to entertain motions or resolutions to amend the roll of Representatives elect, and has refused to entertain an appeal from that decision. (See Proceedings, commencement first session Forty-first Congress, and of subsequent Congresses.)

As soon as the Speaker has declared a person elected Clerk, the oath of office is administered to him by the Speaker, and he enters upon the duties of his office.

It is made the duty of the Clerk, within thirty days after he enters upon the duties of his office, to give bond to the United States, with one or more sureties, to be approved by the Comptroller of the Treasury, in the penal sum of $20,000, with condition for the faithful application and disbursement of the contingent fund of the House.-R. S., secs. 58 and 59.

Before the first meeting of each Congress the Clerk of the next preceding House of Representatives shall make a roll of the Representatives elect, and place thereon the names of those persons, and of such persons only, whose credentials show that they were regularly elected in accordance with the laws of their States, respectively, or the laws of the United States.-R. S.,

sec. 31.

In case of a vacancy in the office of Clerk of the House of Representatives, or of the absence or inability of the Clerk to discharge the duties imposed on him by law or custom relative to the preparation of the roll of Representatives or the organization of the House, those duties shall devolve on the Sergeantat-Arms of the next preceding House of Representatives.-R. S., sec. 32.

In case of vacancies in the offices of both the Clerk and the Sergeant-at-Arms, or of the absence or inability of both to act, the duties of the Clerk relative to the preparation of the roll of the House of Representatives or the organization of the House shall be performed by the Doorkeeper of the next preceding House of Representatives.-R. S., sec. 33.

Representatives and Delegates elect to Congress, whose credentials in due form of law have been duly filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives, in accordance with the pro

visions of section 31, may receive their compensation monthly, from the beginning of their term until the beginning of the first session of each Congress, upon a certificate in the form now in use, to be signed by the Clerk of the House, which certificate shall have the like force and effect as is given to the certificate of the Speaker.-R. S., sec. 38, and Laws 2, 43, p. 389. The Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to sign, during the recess of Congress after the first session and until the first day of the second session, the certificates for the monthly compensation of Members and Delegates in Congress, which certificates shall be in the form now in use, and shall have the like force and effect as is given to the certificate of the Speaker.-Stats. at L., vol. 19, p. 145.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall prepare and submit to the two Houses, respectively, at the commencement of each session of Congress, the following statements in writing:

First. A statement showing the names of all the clerks and other persons who have been, during the preceding year, or any part thereof, employed in their respective offices, and those of the messengers of the respective Houses, together with the time that each clerk or other person and each messenger was actually employed, and the sums paid to each. This statement must also show whether such clerks or other persons, or such messengers, have been usually employed; whether the services of any of them can be dispensed with without detriment to the public service, and whether the removal of any particular persons, and the appointment of others in their stead, is required for the better dispatch of business.

Second. A detailed statement, by items, of the manner in which the contingent fund for each House has been expended during the preceding year. This statement must give the names of every person to whom any portion of the fund has been paid; and if for anything furnished, the quantity and price; and if for any services rendered, the nature of such service, and the time employed, and the particular occasion or cause, in brief, that rendered such service necessary, and the amount of all former appropriations in each case on hand, either in the

Treasury or in the hands of any disbursing officer or agent.R. S., sec. 60.

Each of the statements required by the preceding section shall exhibit also the several sums drawn by the Secretary and Clerk, respectively, from the Treasury, and the balances, if any, remaining in their hands.-R. S., sec. 61.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall each require of the disbursing officers acting under their direction or authority the return of precise and analytical statements and receipts for all moneys which may have been, from time to time, during the next preceding year, expended by them; and the results of such returns and the sums total shall be communicated annually to Congress by the Secretary and Clerk, respectively.-R. S., sec. 62.

All expenditures of the Senate and House of Representatives shall be made up to the end of each fiscal year, and shall be reported to Congress at the commencement of each regular session.-R. S., sec. 63.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall, as soon as may be after the close of each session of Congress, prepare and publish a statement of all appropriations made during the session, a statement of the new offices created and the salaries attached to each, and a statement of the offices the salaries attached to which are increased, and the amount of such increase.-R. S., sec. 64.

The duty of preparing the statement authorized by the foregoing section is now imposed on the clerks, respectively, of the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, by virtue of the following provisions:

Hereafter the statement of all appropriations made during each session of Congress, including new offices created and salaries of each and salaries of the officers which are increased and the amounts of such increase authorized by the act of July fourth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, shall be prepared under the direction of the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and House of Representatives, and said statement shall hereafter show also the offices the salaries of which are reduced or omitted, and the amount of such reduction, and shall also contain a chronological history of the regular

appropriation bills passed during the session for which it is prepared.—Stats. at L., vol. 25, p. 587.

The Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House of Representatives shall annually advertise, once a week, for at least four weeks, in one or more of the principal papers published in the District of Columbia, for sealed proposals for supplying the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, during the next session of Congress, with the necessary stationery.-Laws, 2, 43, p. 316.

The advertisement published under the preceding section must describe the kind of stationery required, and must require the proposals to be accompanied with sufficient security for their performance.-R. S., sec. 66.

All such proposals shall be kept sealed until the day speci fied in such advertisement for opening the same, when the same shall be opened in the presence of at least two persons, and the contract shall be given to the lowest bidder, provided he shall give satisfactory security to perform the same, under forfeiture not exceeding double the contract price in case of failure; and in case the lowest bidder shall fail to enter into such contract and give such security within a time to be fixed in such advertisement, then the contract shall be given to the next lowest bidder, who shall enter into such contract.-R. S.,

sec. 67.

The three preceding sections shall not prevent either the Secretary or the Clerk from contracting for separate parts of the supplies of stationery required to be furnished.-R. S.,

sec. 68.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall, in disbursing the public moneys for the use of the two Houses, respectively, purchase only articles the growth and manufacture of the United States, provided the articles required can be procured of such growth and manufac ture upon as good terms as to quality and price as are demanded for like articles of foreign growth and manufacture.-R. S., sec. 69.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives, respectively, shall report to Congress on the first day of each regular session, and at the expiration of their

terms of service, a full and complete statement of all their receipts and expenditures as such officers, showing in detail the items of expense, classifying them under the proper appropriations, and also showing the aggregate thereof, and exhibiting in a clear and concise manner the exact condition of all public moneys by them received, paid out, and remaining in their possession as such officers.-R. S., sec. 70.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives, respectively, are entitled, for transcribing and certifying extracts from the Journal of the Senate or the Executive Journal of the Senate when the injunction of secrecy has been removed, or from the Journal of the House of Representatives, except when such transcripts are required by an officer of the United States in a matter relating to the duties of his office, to receive from the persons for whom such transcripts are prepared, the sum of ten cents for each sheet containing one hundred words.-R. S., sec. 71.

The Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Postmasters of the Senate and House of Representatives, and the Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives shall, severally, make out and return to Congress, on the first day of each regular session, and at the expiration of their respective terms of service, a full and complete account of all property belonging to the United States. in their possession, respectively, at the time of returning such account.-R. S., sec. 72.

All petitions and bills praying or providing for the satisfaction of private claims against the Government, founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of an Executive Department, or upon any contract, expressed or implied, with the Government of the United States, shall, unless otherwise ordered by resolution of the House in which they are introduced, be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives, with all the accompanying documents, to the Court of Claims.-R. S., sec. 1060.

No printing or binding shall be done or blank books furnished for the House except on the written order of the Clerk.-R. S., sec. 3789.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of 6913- -20