shall be submitted to the Congress by the President of the United States, and, if disapproved by Congress, they shall be null and of no effect.

Approved, August 24, 1912,

An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act creating a legislative assembly in the Territory of Alaska and conferring législative power thereon, and for other purposes,” approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:

That nothing in that Act of Congress entitled "An Act creating a legisla tive assembly in the Territory of Alaska and conferring legislative power there on, and for other purposes," approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, shall be so construed as to prevent the courts now existing or tha may be hereafter created in said Territory from enforcing within their respective jurisdictions all laws passed by the legislature within the power conferred up it, the same as if such laws were passed by Congress, nor to prevent the legis lature passing laws imposing additional duties, not inconsistent with the present duties of their respective offices, upon the governor, marshals, deputy marshals. clerks of the district courts, and United States commissioners acting as justiess of the peace, judges of probate courts, recorders, and coroners, and providing the necessary expenses of performing such duties, and in the prosecuting of a crimes denounced by Territorial laws the cost shall be paid the same as is now or may hereafter be provided by Act of Congress providing for the prosecution of criminal offenses in said Territory, except that in prosecutions growing out of any revenue law passed by the legislature the costs shall be paid as in evi. actions and such prosecutions shall be in the name of the Territory.

Approved. August 29, 1914.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-1878.**

An Act providing a permanent form of government for the District of Columbia. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the territory which was ceded by the State of Maryland to the Congress of the United States for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States shall continue to be designated as the District of Columbia. Said District and the property and persons that may be therein shall be subject to the following provisions for the government of the same, and also to any existing laws applicable thereto not hereby repealed or inconsistent with the provisions of this act. The District of Columbia shall remain and continue a municipal corporation, as provided in section two of the Revised Statutes relating to said District, and the Commissioners herein provided for shall be deemed and taken as officers of such corporation; and all laws now in force relating to the District of Columbia not inconsistent with the provisions of this act shall remain in full force and effect.

SEC. 2. That within twenty days after the approval of this act the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate is hereby authorized to appoint two persons, who, with an officer of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, whose lineal rank shall be above that of a captain, shall be Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and who, from and after July first, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, shall exercise all the powers and authority now vested in the Commissioners of said District, except as are hereinafter limited or provided, and shall be subject to all restrictions and limitations and duties which are now imposed upon said Commissioners. The Commissioner, who shall be an officer detailed from time to time from the Corps of Engineers by the President for this duty, shall not be required to perform any other, nor shall he receive any other compensation than his regular pay and allowances as an officer of the Army. The two persons appointed from civil life shall, at the time of their appointment, be citizens of the United States, and shall have been actual residents of the District of Columbia for three years next before their appointment, and have, during that period, claimed residence nowhere else, and one of said three Commissioners shall be chosen 'president of the Board of Commissioners at their first meeting, and annually and whenever a vacaney shall occur thereafter; and said Commissioners shall each of them, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and to faithfully discharge the duties imposed upon him by law; and said Commissioners appointed from civil life shall each receive for his services a compensation at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum, and shall, before entering upon the duties of the office, each give bond in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, with surety as is required by existing law. The official term of said Commissioners appointed from civil life shall be three years, and until their successors are appointed and qualified; but the first appointment shall be one Commissioner for one year and one for two years, and at the expiration of their respective terms their successors shall be appointed for three years. Neither of said Commissioners, nor any officer whatsoever of the District of Columbia, shall be accepted as surety upon any bond required to be given to the District of Columbia; nor shall any contractor be accepted as surety for any officer or other contractor in said District.

SEC. 3. That as soon as the Commissioners appointed and detailed as aforesaid shall have taken and subscribed the oath or affirmation hereinbefore

The District of Columbia is a municipal corporation having an area of approximately sixty-four square miles. The territory comprised in the District was ceded to the United States jointly by the states of Maryland and Virginia in 1789. In 1846 the Virginia part of the District was retroceded to that state. The original local government which had developed in the District was continued until 1871 when a territorial government was established. The act creating the present form of government and establishing the District as a municipal corporation was passed in 1878.

required, all the powers, rights, duties, and privileges lawfully exercised by, and all property, estate, and effects now vested by law in the Commissioners appointed under the provisions of the act of Congress approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four. shall be transferred to and vested in 'and imposed upon said Commissioners; and the functions of the Commissioners so appointed under the act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, shall cease and determine. And the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall have power, subject to the limitations and provisions herein contained, to apply the taxes and other revenues of said District to the payment of the cur rent expenses thereof, to the support of the public schools, the fire department and the police, and for that purpose shall take possession and supervision of all the offices, books, papers, records, moneys, credits, securities, assets, and accounts belonging or appertaining to the business or interests of the govern ment of the District of Columbia, and exercise the duties, powers, and authority aforesaid; but said Commissioners, in the exercise of such duties, powers, and authority, shall make no contract, nor incur any obligation other than such contracts and obligations as are hereinafter provided for and shall be approved by Congress. The Commissioners shall have power to locate the places where hacks shall stand and change them as often as the public interests require. Any person violating any orders lawfully made in pursuance of this power shall be subject to a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars, to be recovered before any justice of the peace in an action in the name of the Commissioners. All taxes heretofore lawfully assessed and due, or to become due, shall be collected pursuant to law, except as herein otherwise provided; but said Commissioners shall have no power to anticipate taxes by a sale or hypoth ecation of any such taxes or evidences thereof; but they may borrow, for the first fiscal year after this act takes effect, in anticipation of collection of revenues. not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars, at a rate of interest not exceeding five per centum per annum, which shall be repaid out of the revenues of that year. And said Commissioners are hereby authorized to abolish any office, to consolidate two or more offices, reduce the number of employees, remove from office, and make appointments to any office under them authorized by law; said Commissioners shall have power to erect, light and maintain lamp-posts, with lamps, outside of the city limits, when, in their judgment, it shall be deemed proper or necessary: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to abate in any wise or interfere with any suit pending in favor of or against the District of Columbia or the Commissioners thereof, or affect any right, penalty, forfeiture, or cause of action existing in favor of said District or Commissioners, or any citizen of the District of Columbia, or any other person, but the same may be commenced, proceeded for, or prosecuted to final judgment, and the corporation shall be bound thereby as if the suit had been originally commenced for or against said corporation. The said Commissioners shai. submit to the Secretary of the Treasury for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth. eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and annually thereafter, for his examination and approval, a statement showing in detail the work proposed to be undertaken by them during the fiscal year next ensuing, and the estimated cost thereof; also the cost of constructing, repairing, and maintaining all bridges authorized by law across the Potomac River within the District of Columbia, and also all other streams in said District; the cost of maintaining all public institutions of charity, reformatories, and prisons belonging to or controlled wholly or in part by the District of Columbia, and which are now by law supported wholly or in part by the United States or District of Columbia; and also the expense of the Washington Aqueduct and its appurtenances; and also an itemized statement and estimate of the amount necessary to defray the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia for the next fiscal year; Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as transferring from the United States authorities any of the public works within the District of Columbia now in the control er supervision of said authorities. The Secretary of the Treasury shall carefully consider all estimates submitted to him as above provided, and shall approve. disapprove, or suggest such changes in the same, or any item thereof, as be

may think the public interest demands; and after he shall have consider and passed upon such estimates submitted to him, he shall cause to be made a statement of the amount approved by him and the fund or purpose to which each item belongs, which statement shall be certified by him, and delivered, together with the estimates as originally submitted, to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, who shall transmit the same to Congress. To the extent to which Congress shall approve of said estimates, Congress shall appropriate the amount of fifty per centum thereof; and the remaining fifty per centum of such approved estimates shall be levied and assessed upon the taxable property and privileges in said district other than the property of the United States and of the District of Columbia; and all proceedings in the assessing, equalizing and levying of said taxes, the collection thereof, the listing return and penalty for taxes in arrears, the advertising for sale and the sale of property for delinquent taxes, the redemption thereof, the proceedings to enforce the lien upon unredeemed property, and every other act and thing now required to be done in the premises, shall be done and performed at the times and in the manner now provided by law, except in so far as is otherwise provided by this act: Provided, That the rate of taxation in any one year shall not exceed one dollar and fifty cents on every one hundred dollars of real estate not exempted by law; and on personal property not taxable elsewhere, one dollar and fifty cents on every one hundred dollars, according to the cash valuation thereof; And provided further, Upon real property held and used exclusively for agricultural purposes, without the limits of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, and to be so designated by the assessors in their annual returns, the rate for any one year shall not exceed one dollar on every one hundred dollars. The collector of taxes, upon the receipt of the duplicate of assessment, shall give notice for one week, in one newspaper published in the city of Washington, that he is ready to receive taxes; and any person who shall, within thirty days after such notice given, pay the taxes assessed against him, shall be allowed by the collector a deduction of five per centum on the amount of his tax; all penalties imposed by the act approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, chapter one hundred and seventeen, upon delinquents for default in the payment of taxes levied under said act, at the times specified therein, shall, upon payment of the said taxes assessed against such delinquent within three months from the passage of this act, with interest at the rate of six per cent. thereon, be remitted.

SEC. 4. That the said Commissioners may, by general regulations consistent with the act of Congress of March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, entitled "An Act for the support of the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, and for other purposes," or with other existing laws, prescribe the time or times for the payment of all taxes and the duties of assessors and collectors in relation thereto. All taxes collected shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and the same, as well as the appropriations to be made by Congress as aforesaid, shall be disbursed for the expenses of said District, on itemized vouchers, which shall have been audited and approved by the auditor of the District of Columbia. certified by said Commissioners, or a majority of them; and the accounts of said Commissioners, and the tax collectors, and all other officers required to account, shall be settled and adjusted by the accounting officers of the Treasury Department of the United States. Hereafter the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay the interest on the three-sixty-five bonds of the District of Columbia issued in pursuance of the act of Congress approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, when the same shall become due and payable; and all amounts so paid shall be credited as a part of the appropriation for the year by the United States toward the expenses of the District of Columbia, as hereinbefore provided:

SEC. 5. That hereafter when any repairs of streets, avenues, alleys, or sewers within the District of Columbia are to be made, or when new pavements are to be substituted in place of those worn out, new ones laid, or new streets opened, sewers built, or any works the total cost of which shall exceed the sum

of one thousand dollars, notice shall be given in one newspaper in Washington, and if the total cost shall exceed five thousand dollars, then in one newspaper in each of the cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, also for one week, for proposals, with full specifications as to material for the whole or any portion of the works proposed to be done; and the lowest responsible propos for the kind and character of pavement or other work which the Commissioner shall determine upon shall in all cases be accepted: Provided, however, That the Commissioners shall have the right, in their discretion, to reject all of such proposals: Provided, That work capable of being executed under a single contract shall not be subdivided so as to reduce the sum of money to be paid therefor to less than one thousand dollars. All contracts for the construction. improvement, alteration. or repairs of the streets, avenues, highways, alleys, gutters, sewers, and all work of like nature shall be made and entered inte only by and with the official unanimous consent of the Commissioners of the District, and all contracts shall be copied into a book kept for that purp and be signed by the said Commissioners, and no contract involving an expend ture of more than one hundred dollars shall be valid until recorded and signe as aforesaid. No pavement shall be accepted nor any pavements laid excep that of the best material of its kind known for that purpose, laid in the mÞS substantial manner; and good and sufficient bonds to the United States, in a penal sum not less than the amount of the contract, with sureties to be a proved by the Commissioners of District of Columbia, shall be required from all contractors, guaranteeing that the terms of their contract shall be strich and faithfully performed to the satisfaction of and acceptance by said Co missioners; and that the contractors shall keep new pavements or other new works in repair for a term of five years from the date of the completion of their contracts; and ten per centum of the cost of all new works shall be re tained as an additional security and a guarantee fund to keep the same repair for said term, which said per centum shall be invested in registered bonds of the United States or of the District of Columbia and the interest thereon pai to said contractors. The cost of laying down said pavement, sewers, and other works, or of repairing the same, shall be paid for in the following proportions and manner, to wit: When any street or avenue through which a street railway runs shall be paved, such railway company shall bear all of the expense f that portion of the work lying between the exterior rails of the tracks of sc roads, and for a distance of two feet from and exterior to such track or tracks on each side thereof, and of keeping the same in repair; but the said railwa companies, having conformed to the grades established by the Commissioners, may use such cobblestone or Belgian blocks for paving their tracks, or the ser between their tracks, as the Commissioners may direct; the United States shi pay one-half of the cost of all work done under the provisions of this sectio except that done by the railway companies, which payment shall be creditesi as part of the fifty per centum which the United States contributes toward the expenses of the District of Columbia for that year; and all payments shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury on the warrant or order of the Comissioners of the District of Columbia or a majority thereof, in such amounts and at such times as they may deem safe and proper in view of the progres of the work: That if any street railway company shall neglect or refuse t perform the work required by this act, said pavement shall be laid betweet the tracks and exterior thereto of such railway by the District of Columia; if such company shall fail or refuse to pay the sum due from them in respect of the work done by or under the orders of the proper officials of said Distric in such case of the neglect or refusal of such railway company to perform tr work required as aforesaid, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shể issue certificates of indebtedness against the property, real or personal, of son railway company, which certificates shall bear interest at the rate of ten pe centum per annum until paid, and which, until they are paid. shall remain sod be a lien upon the property on or against which they are issued together wil the franchise of said company; and if the said certificates are not paid with one year, the said Commissioners of the District of Columbia may proceed t