Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/563



and give such security within a reasonable time, to be fixed in such advertisement, then the contract shall be given to the next lowest bidder who shall enter into such contract and give such security. And in case of a failure to supply the articles or to perform the work, by the person entering into such contract, he and his sureties shall be liable for the forfeiture specified in such contract, as liquidates damages, to be sued for in the name of the United States, in any court having jurisdiction thereof.

. And be it further enacted, That all such bids or proposals shall be returned by the person authorized, as aforesaid, to receive the same, to the Executive Department from which such authority is derived, and shall be preserved in said Department, subject to such examination as Congress may at any time order and direct.

. And be it further enacted, That no part of the contingent fund appropriated to any department, bureau, or office, shall be applied to the purchase of books, periodicals, pictures, or engravings, or other thing, except such books, periodicals, and maps, or other thing, as the head of such department shall deem necessary and proper to carry on the business of such department, and shall, by written order, direct to be procured for that purpose.

. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Senate, at the commencement of every regular session of Congress, to report to the Senate, and of the Clerk of the House of Representatives to report to the House, and of the head of each Department to report to Congress, a detailed statement of the manner in which the contingent fund for each House, and of their respective Departments, and for the bureaus and offices therein, has been expended, giving the names of every person to whom any portion thereof has been paid; and if for any thing 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. And they shall require of the disbursing officers, acting under their direction or authority, the return of precise and analytical statements and receipts for all the 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 said officers, respectively.

. And be it further enacted, That the act entitled “,” approved April twentieth, eighteen hundred and eighteen, so far as the same authorizes or requires the laws, resolutions, treaties, and amendments of the Constitution of the United States, to be published in any paper or papers printed in the different States or Territories of the United States, is hereby repealed; and in lieu thereof, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to publish such laws, resolutions, treaties, and amendments, in not less than two nor more than four of the principal newspapers published in the city of Washington for country subscribers, giving the preference to such papers as have the greatest number of permanent subscribers and the most extensive circulation; for which the proprietor for each paper shall receive, as full compensation, at the rate of one dollar for each page of the laws, resolutions, treaties, and amendments, as published in pamphlet form. And if it shall appear, on the examination of any account, that there has been any unreasonable delay or intentional omission in the publication of the laws aforesaid, the proper accounting officer of the Treasury is hereby authorized and required to deduct from such account such sum as shall be charged therein for the publication of any laws which shall have been