SEC. 5. That the bonds given pursuant to this act shall be deposited in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury.

SEC. 6. That any person duly elected and qualified as Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives shall continue in said office until his successor is chosen and qualified, subject, however, to removal by the House of Representatives.

SEC. 7. That the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives shall prepare and submit to the House of Representatives, at the commencement of each regular session of Congress, a statement in writing exhibiting the several sums drawn by him pursuant to the provisions of this act, the application and disbursement of the same, and the balance, if any, remaining in his hands.

SEC. 8. That there shall be employed in the office of Sergeant-at-Arms one deputy to the Sergeant-at-Arms, at a salary of two thousand dollars a year; one cashier, at a salary of three thousand dollars a year; one payingteller, at a salary of two thousand dollars a year; one bookkeeper, at a salary of one thousand eight hundred dollars a year; one messenger, at a salary of one thousand two hundred dollars a year; one page, at a salary of seven hundred and twenty dollars a year; and one laborer, at a salary of six hundred and sixty dollars a year.

SEC. 9. That section two hundred and thirty-seven of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 237. That the fiscal year of the Treasury of the United States in all matters of accounts, receipts, expenditures, estimates, and appropriations, except accounts of the Secretary of the Senate for compensation and traveling expenses of Senators, and accounts of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives for compensation and mileage of Members and Delegates, shall commence on the first day of July in each year; and all accounts of receipts and expenditures required by law to be published annually shall be prepared and published for the fiscal year, as thus established.

"The fiscal year for the adjustment of the accounts of Secretary of the Senate for compensation and traveling expenses of Senators and of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives for compensation and mileage of Members and Delegates shall extend to and include the third day of July."

SEC. 10. That all laws and parts of laws inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.-26 Stat. at L., pp. 645, 646.

Sections 1 and 2 of the foregoing act are identical with the provisions of Rule IV of the House.

By R. S., sec. 53, and the act of June 20, 1874 (Sess. Laws, 1, 43, p. 87), it is provided that (in addition to his regular salary) he shall receive, directly or indirectly, no fees, other compensation, or emolument whatever for performing the duties of his office, or in connection therewith.

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

The Sergeants-at-Arms of the Senate and of the House of Representatives are authorized to make such regulations as they may deem necessary for preserving the peace and securing the Capitol from defacement, and for the protection of the public property therein, and they shall have power to arrest and detain any person violating such regulations, until such person can be brought before the proper authorities for trial. R. S., sec. 1820.

APPOINTMENT AND CONTROL BY, OF CAPITOL POLICE.

There shall be a Capitol police, the members of which shall be appointed by the Sergeants-at-Arms of the two Houses and the Architect of the Capitol Extension. There shall be a captain of the Capitol police and such other members, with such rates of compensation, respectively, as may be appropriated for by Congress from year to year.-R. S., sec. 1821.

The captain of the Capitol police may suspend any member of the force, subject to the approval of the two Sergeants-atArms and of the Architect of the Capitol Extension.-R. S., sec. 1823.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate and the Sergeant-atArms of the House of Representatives are directed to select and regulate the pattern for a uniform for the Capitol police and watchmen, and to furnish each member of the force with the necessary belts and arms, at a cost not to exceed twenty dollars per man, payable out of the contingent fund of the Senate and House of Representatives upon the certificate of the officers above named.-R. S., sec. 1824.

The members of the Capitol police shall furnish, at their own expense, each his own uniform, which shall be in exact conformity to that required by regulation of the Sergeant-atArms.-R. S., sec. 1825.

It is also made the duty of the Sergeant-at-Arms to make out a full and complete account of all the property belonging

to the Government in his possession on the first day of each regular session and at the expiration of his term of service.R. S., sec. 72.

(See Capitol; Call of the House; Absent Members; Mace.)

SESSIONS OF CONGRESS.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.-Const. 1, 4, 2, 5.

He (the President) may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses or either of them.-Const. 2, 3, 17.

Under section 4, Article 1, of the Constitution, in the absence of legislation or proclamation fixing a different date, the Congress meets on the first Monday in December of every year (first session being in the odd year, and the second session in the even).

Since the Constitution went into effect there have been thirty sessions, commencing at periods other than the date prescribed in the Constitution. Of these, the date of commencement of nineteen have been fixed by law; and twelve, including the first session of the Fifty-third Congress, have been specially convened by the President on extraordinary occasions.

The last session of a Congress expires, by limitation, on the 4th of March of each odd-numbered year, unless by concurrent resolution or, in case of disagreement of the two Houses by proclamation of the President, there is an earlier adjournment. (See adjournment sine die, ante, p. 245.)

There is no limitation to the period of a first session or other session than the last; and if a session, being convened before the period prescribed by the Constitution for its meeting, fails to adjourn sine die before the first Monday in December, the duration of such session is not interrupted by the arrival of said day; and if the Congress should finally adjourn at any time after that day, it could not again assemble before the following December, except it be convened by law or proclamation.

Instances of sessions of Congress, conver ed prior to December, extending beyond the constitutional date (the first Monday in December), are as follows:

First and second sessions, Second Congress; second session, Third Congress; second session, Fifth Congress; second session, Sixth Congress; first and second sessions, Eighth Congress; first and second sessions, Tenth Congress; second session, Eleventh Congress; first and second sessions, Twelfth Congress; third session, Thirteenth Congress; second session, Fifteenth Congress, and second session, Sixteenth Congress. For list of sessions of Congress, showing date of commencement, of adjournment, how convened, etc., see Appendix, post, pp. 615, 616.

(See Meeting of Congress.)

SECRET SESSION.

Whenever confidential communications are received from the President of the United States, or whenever the Speaker or any Member shall inform the House that he has communica tions which he believes ought to be kept secret for the present, the House shall be cleared of all persons except the Members and officers thereof, and so continue during the reading of such communications, the debates and proceedings thereon, unless otherwise ordered by the House.-Rule XXX.

Such parts of the Journal of a secret session as may, in the judgment of the House, require secrecy need not be published. Const., 1, 5, 5.

a Clerk, Sergeant-at

There shall be elected Arms, Doorkeeper, Postmaster, and Chaplain, each of whom shall take an oath to keep the secrets of the House.-Rule II.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

Three of the Regents of said Institution shall be Members of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the Speaker. The Members of the House so appointed shall serve for the term of two years, and on every alternate fourth Wednesday of December a like number shall be appointed in the same manner, to serve until the fourth Wednesday in December in the second year succeeding their appointment. Vacancies, occasioned by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be filled as vacancies in committees are filled.-R. S., secs. 5580 and 5581.

The Board of Regents shall submit to Congress, at each ses

sion thereof, a report of the operations, expenditures, and condition of the Institution.-R. S., sec. 5593.

SPEAKER.

The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers.-Const., 1, 2, 6.

Upon the ascertainment of the fact that a quorum of Members-elect is present, and its announcement by the Clerk of the last House, it is usual for the House, on motion of some Member, immediately to "proceed, viva voce, to the election of a Speaker for the Congress."-Journal, 1, 35, p. 8.

The right of a Member-elect to take the oath as a Member was held by the Clerk to present no higher question of privilege than the election of Speaker to fill a vacancy in that office, on the ground that one question of privilege could not be presented while another was pending.-Journal, 2, 44, p. 8. A better ground for the decision would have been that the Speaker is the only officer authorized by law to administer the oath,

At the first session of Congress after every general election of Representatives, the oath of office shall be administered by any Member of the House of Representatives to the Speaker; and by the Speaker to all the Members and Delegates present, and to the Clerk, previous to entering on any other business; and to the Members and Delegates who afterwards appear, previous to their taking their seats.-R. S., sec. 30.

According to the usage, the Member selected to administer the oath to the Speaker is that one who has been longest a Member of the House.-Journal, 1, 26, p. 79.

(See Meeting of Congress.)

Until the Forty-ninth Congress the Speaker was next in succession to the Presidency in the event of death, removal, or resignation of the President and Vice-President, and in default of a President of the Senate. By the act approved January 19, 1886, the succession devolves on the several members of the Cabinet in the order of seniority of their respective Departments; except the Secretary of Agriculture, the latter Department having been created since the passage of the act.

The President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or a chairman of the Committee of the Whole,