which said bids or proposals were received; and an abstract of all bids or proposals received for the supplies and services embraced in any contract shall be attached to, and filed with said contract when the same is filed in the office of the Second Comptroller of the Treasury. Act approved February 27, 1877, chap. 69, “An act to perfect the revision of the statutes of the United States and of the statutes relating to the District of Columbia." (19 Stat., 241.) * SEC. 1. * * Section two hundred and twenty-five is amended Military supplies lost in by adding at the end of the section the following: In settling the actual service. accounts of the commanding officer of a company for clothing and other military supplies, the affidavit of any such officer may be received to show the loss of vouchers or company books, or any matter or circumstance tending to prove that any apparent deficiency was occasioned by unavoidable accident or lost in actual service, without any fault on his part, or that the whole part of such clothing and supplies has been properly and legally used and appropriated; and such affidavit may be considered as evidence to establish the facts set forth, with or without other evidence, as may seem to the Secretary of War just and proper under the circumstances of the case. * * * Section thirty-seven hundred and forty-three is amended by inserting after the word "States" in the fourth line, the words "the Second Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, or the Commissioner of Customs, respectively, according to the nature thereof." Act approved December 14, 1877, chap. 1, “An act to provide a method for the settlement and adjustment of the accounts of the attorney of the United States for the District of Columbia." (20 Stat., 7.) SEC. 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the emolument returns of the attorney Emoluments United States of the United States for the District of Columbia shall be returned to attorney for the Attorney General and the accounts of the said attorneys shall be District of Corendered, audited, and paid in the same manner as accounts of all other district attorneys are rendered, audited, and paid. lumbia. Act approved May 17, 1878, chap. 107, "An act to regulate the advertising of mail lettings, and for other purposes." (20 Stat., 62.) SEC. 3. Hereafter, when any person or persons being under con- Subcon trac tors, mail servtract with the Government of the United States for carrying the mails, ice. shall lawfully sublet any such contract, or lawfully employ any other person or persons to perform the services by such contractor agreed to be performed, or any part thereof, he or they shall file in the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General a copy of his or their contract; and thereupon it shall be the duty of the Second Assistant Postmaster General to notify the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department of the fact of the filing in his office of such contract. * * * Act approved June 11, 1878, chap. 180, "An act providing a permanent form of government for the District of Columbia." (20 Stat., 105.) SEC. 4. * * * and the accounts of said commissioners, and the tax collectors, and all other officers required to account (of the District of Columbia) shall be settled and adjusted by the accounting officers of the Treasury Department of the United States. Limitation on claims. Act approved June 14, 1878, chap. 191, "An act making appropriations for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, and prior years, and for those heretofore treated as permanent, for reappropriations, and for other purposes." (20 Stat., 130.) SEC. 4. That so much of section five of the act approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, as directs the Secretary of the Treasury at the beginning of each session to report to Congress with his annual estimates any balances of appropriations for specific objects affected by said section that may need to be reappropriated be, and hereby is, repealed. And it shall be the duty of the several accounting officers of the Treasury to continue to receive, examine, and consider the justice and validity of all claims under appropriations the balances of which have been exhausted or carried to the surplus fund under the provisions of said section that may be brought before them under the period of five years. And the Secretary of the Treasury shall report the amount due each claimant, at the commencement of each session, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall lay the same before Congress for consideration: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the reexamination and payment of any claim or account which has been once examined and rejected, unless reopened in accordance with existing law. Act approved June 19, 1878, chap. 312, "An act authorizing a general account of advances for naval appropriations." (20 Stat., 167.) SEC. 3. That the Fourth Auditor shall declare the sums due from the several special appropriations upon complete vouchers as heretofore, according to law; and he shall adjust the said liabilities with the "General account of advances." See note following quotation. Duties Auditor for Railroad Act approved June 19, 1878, chap. 316, "An act to create an Auditor of SEC. 2. That the office of Auditor of Railroad Accounts is hereby established as a bureau of the Interior Department. Auditor to be appointed by the President, etc., salary five thousand dollars, actual and necessary traveling expenses allowed, etc. SEC. 3. Duties. To prescribe system of reports to be rendered by Accounts. railroad companies whose roads are in whole or in part west, north, or south of the Missouri River, and to which the United States have granted any loan of credit or subsidy in bonds or lands; to examine Act approved February 4, 1879, chap. 45, "An act to amend section * * * SEC. 1. Auditor Post Hereafter when a deficiency shall be discovered Office Depart in the accounts of any postmaster who after the adjustment of his ment report deaccounts fails to make good such deficiency, it shall be the duty of the Sixth Auditor of the Treasury Department to notify * * * ficiency of postmasters. Act approved March 1, 1879, chap. 125, "An act to amend the laws relating to internal revenue." (20 Stat., 327.) SEC. 2. That the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended Clerks, courts, duty internal. as follows, namely: That section seven hundred and ninety-seven be revenue cases. amended by adding thereto the following: "He shall also, at the close of each quarter or within ten days thereafter, report to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue all moneys paid into court on account of cases arising under the internal-revenue laws, as well as all moneys paid out on suits on bonds of collectors of internal revenue. The report shall show the name and nature of each case, the date of payment into court * * certain official bonds required by this act to be filed with the First Comptroller of the Treasury." * Act approved March 3, 1879, chap. 182, "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty, and for other purposes." (20 Stat., 402.) for due SEC. 2. That all sums due upon certificates issued, or which may be Claims issued by the accounting officers of the Treasury in settlement of claims colored soldiers. pay, etc., for pay, bounty, prize money, or other moneys due to colored soldiers, sailors, or marines, or their legal representatives, shall be paid by the officers of the Pay Department of the Army, under the direction of the Paymaster General, who is already charged with the payment of like dues to white soldiers: Provided, first, That no such certificate shall be issued until it shall have been ascertained that the application is made by the original claimant, or, if he is dead, by his true living legal representative, nor until the identity of such claimant or representative as an agent or attorney be employed, the allowances for his services shall not in any case exceed that contemplated in the scale of fees and allowances fixed by the second section of a joint resolution approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, entitled "Joint resolution amendatory of a joint resolution respecting bounties to colored soldiers, and the pensions, bounties, and allowances to their 75554-11- -6 Land-grant railroads. See secs. 300 A and 300 B, R. S., heirs," approved June fifteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and such allowance shall be stated in a separate certificate in favor of the agent or attorney claimant. * * * Act approved March 3, 1879, chap. 183, "An act making appropriations to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and for prior years and for those heretofore treated as permanent, and for other purposes." (20 Stat., 420.) SEC. 1. * * * That for the proper adjustment of the accounts of the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Kansas Pacific, Western Pacific, and Sioux City and Pacific Railroad Companies, respectively, for services which have been or may be hereafter performed for the Government for transportation of the Army and transportation of the mails, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to make such entries upon the books of the department as will carry to the credit of said companies the amounts so earned or to be earned by them during each fiscal year and withheld under the provisions of section fifty-two hundred and sixty of the Revised Statutes and of the act of Congress approved May seventh, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight. * * Act approved April 30, 1878, chap. 77, "An act for the allowance of certain claims reported by the accounting officers of the Treasury Department." (20 Stat., 524.) SEC. 2. No claim shall hereafter be allowed by the accounting and act of June officers, under the provisions of the act of Congress, approved June 16, 1874. sixteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, or by the Court of Claims, or by Congress, to any person, where such claimant, or those under whom he claims, shall willfully, knowingly, and with intent to defraud the United States, have claimed more than was justly due in respect of such claim, or presented any false evidence to Congress, or to any department or court, in support thereof. Act approved May 11, 1880, chap. 85, “An act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, and for other purposes." (21 Stat., 131.) Accounts, SEC. 1. * * * Indian Accounts of such transactions (purchases of Indian service. service) shall be kept in the Indian Bureau and in training schools and reports thereof made from time to time. Act approved June 16, 1880, chap. 252, "An act making appropriations for the Agricultural Department of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, and for other purposes." (21 Stat., 296.) Accounts, Ag- SEC. 2. The Commissioner of Agriculture is hereby directed and riculture Department. required to account and report to the proper accounting officers of the Treasury in the same manner and at the same times as the heads of executive departments of the Government are now required by law to account and report. Act approved March 3, 1881, chap. 129, "An act making appropriations for the Agricultural Department of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and for other purposes." (21 Stat., 385.) SEC. 2. That the Commissioner of Agriculture is hereby directed Accounts, Agand required to account and report to the proper accounting officers partment. of the Treasury in the same manner and at the same times as the heads of executive departments of the Government are now required by law to account and report. riculture De Act approved August 5, 1882, chap. 389, "An act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eightythree, and for other purposes." (22 Stat., 228.) SECTION 1. * * * And the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby Special provisions Mar. 3, authorized to sell as waste paper, or otherwise dispose of, the files of 1877; Mar. 3. 1881; Aug. 7, papers which have accumulated, or may hereafter accumulate, in the 1882. office of the Auditor for the Post Office Department that are not needed in the transaction of current business and have no permanent official or historical value; and the proceeds of said sales he shall pay into the Treasury, and make report thereof to Congress. A joint resolution approved August 3, 1882, No. 63, "A joint resolution requiring the Public Printer to publish certain decisions of the First Comptroller of the Treasury Department." (22 Stat., 391.) de cisions of First Resolved by the, &c., That the Public Printer be, and he is, required Printing to print not more than one volume each year of the decisions and Comptroller. opinions of the First Comptroller of the Treasury Department, with such explanatory matter as he may furnish, and to furnish for the use of each Senator, Representative, and Delegate in Congress ten copies thereof, to the Comptroller two thousand copies, and for the distribution in the manner provided in section seven of the act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four (Eighteenth Statutes at Large, page one hundred and thirteen), providing for the publication of the statutes, one-half the number therein mentioned. Act approved March 3, 1883, chap. 128, “An act making apropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eightyfour, and for other purposes." (22 Stat., 539.) Duties Dep. uty First Comp That the Deputy First Comptroller in the Department of the Treasury shall be, and is authorized, in the name of the First Comptroller, to troller. countersign all warrants, except accountable warrants, and to sign all other papers in like manner under the direction of the First Comptroller and in case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the Deputy First Comptroller, the Secretary of the Treasury may, by an appointment, under his hand and official seal, delegate to any officer in the office of the First Comptroller the authority to perform the duties of the Deputy First Comptroller until a successor is appointed or such absence or sickness shall cease. |