Page:United States Reports, Volume 209.djvu/341

 o0 u.s. Op'mlon of th Court. as to the intention of Congress, and when we come to ]oolr at the provisions of the statute, as amended, we are convinced that Congress did not intend that the amendment should apply to cases where the bond had already been executed, the work done, the respective rights of the parties' settled, and the cause of action already in existence. If Congress had intended otherwise, we think it would have still further amended the original act by providing in plain language that the amend- ment should apply to all cases, and not be confined to the future. The plaintiff in error contends that where an amendment to an act relates only to procedure, it takes effect upon causes of action existing when the amendment was passed, and hence that part of the amendment in question applies and prevents the taking of jurisdiction by the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of New York. It is admitted by the plaintiff in error that the act is not. confined to procedure but deals with sub- stantive rights in some instances, one of which is the provision granting a preference to the United States over all other cred- itors. In such case cornreel admits that the provision must be construed and hcld to apply to bonds executed subsequent to the enactment of the statute, and to such bonds alone. Under the statute of 1894 no such preference could be ob- tained. Araerin Surety Co. o/ New York v. Lawrenceville Fed. Rep. 414. It would follow necessarily that if the full amount of the liability of the surety on the bond were insufficient to pay all the claims and demands, the provision that, after paying the full amount due the United States, the remainder only should be distributed pro rata among the intervenom, would also be a substantive amendment and not one of procedure. Hence counsel admits that the full amount which may be due the Uni- ted States depends upon whether the bond was executed prior or subsequent to the amendment of the statute; that if the bond were executed prior thereto, the Government is only en-

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