thorizing the Secretary of State to publish the laws, etc., currently, "in not more than one newspaper in the District of Columbia, and in not more than three newspapers in each of the territories of the United States." The compensation for printing by the newspapers was fixed by this Act "at the rate of one dollar for each printed page of the laws, resolutions, and treaties, as published in the pamphlet form." The pamphlet was prescribed to be "eleven thousand copies of the Acts of Congress at large, including all resolutions passed by Congress, amendments to the Constitution adopted, and all public treaties made and ratified since the last publication of the laws; which copies shall be printed on paper, and in the size of the sheet and type, in a manner to correspond with the late revised edition of the laws, published by Bioren and Co." The Secretary of State was required, also, to insist that whoever printed the laws should furnish "two good and sufficient sureties for the faithful performance of the con tract." The appropriation for carrying out the Act was "whatever sum of money may be necessary." By Act of April 24, 1818, the Secretary was ordered to have printed the laws of Michigan Territory, and to distribute them among the people of the Territory. All the previous Acts were modified by the law of May 11, 1820, prescribing the publication of the laws "in a number of public newspapers, not exceeding one in the District of Columbia, and in not more than three newspapers in each of the several states and territories of the United States." All treaties, except Indian treaties, he was ordered to publish in one newspaper, "and that to be within the limits of the state or territory to which the subject matter of such treaty shall belong." These publications in the newspapers did not, however, interfere with the pamphlet publications by the Department; but the Act of August 26, 1842, recognized as authority the edition of Little, Brown & Company and discontinued the Department pamphlet. This Act also provided for the printing 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." The compensation allowed was the same as that fixed by the Act of April 20, 1818. Little, Brown & Company continued to publish the laws; and October 31, 1850, under authority, the Secretary of State concluded a contract with them for that purpose. The Act of June 25, 1864, revived the pamphlet publication by the Department and discontinued the payments to Little, Brown & Company, provision being made, also, for the publication in newspapers. The Act of July 23, 1866, appropriated $15,000 for printing the laws in newspapers in the insurgent States. A resolution of March 31 of that year had directed the renewal of the contract with Little, Brown & Company, provided that the charges for the publication of their edition of the laws were not more than five per cent. above cost price. The appropriation Act of 1872 required that the pamphlet publication of the laws should cease after March 4, 1875. In 1874 the contract with Little, Brown & Company having come to an end was not renewed, and the publication of the laws was placed solely in the hands of the Secretary of State by Act of June 20. This was the Act that created the "Revised Statutes of the United States," and the Secretary was also authorized to "cause to be edited, printed, published and distributed pamphlet copies of the statutes" of that and each future session of Congress, and bound copies of the laws of each Congress. The Act provided that the pamphlet copies of the acts and resolutions be distributed as follows:. To the President and Vice President of the United States, two copies each; to each Senator, Representative, and Delegate in Congress, one copy; to the librarian of the Senate, for the use of Senators, one hundred and twentysix copies; to the librarian of the House, two hundred and fifty copies, for the use of the Representatives and Delegates; to the Library of Congress, fourteen copies; to the Department of State, including those for the use of legations and consulates, six hundred copies; to the Treasury Department, two hundred copies; to the War Department, including those for the use of officers of the Army, two hundred copies; to the Navy Department, including those for the use of officers of the Navy, one hundred copies; to the Department of the Interior, including those for the use of the surveyors-general and registers and receivers of public land offices, two hundred and fifty copies; to the Post Office Department, fifty copies; to the Department of Justice, including those for the use of the Chief Justice and associate justices, the judges and the officers of the United States and territorial courts, four hundred and twenty-five copies; to the Department of Agriculture, ten copies; to the Smithsonian Institution, five copies; to the Government Printing Office, two copies; to the governors and secretaries of Territories, one copy each; to be retained in the custody of the Secretary of State, one thousand copies; and ten thousand cópies shall be distributed to the States and Territories in proportion to the number of Senators, Representatives, and Delegates in Congress to which they are at the time entitled. |