tracts of public land within their limits as a hindrance, and began to clamor for the restoration of these lands. Schemes without number were now concocted for the disposal of the public lands, and in the session of 1827-28 Congress actually gave away to States and individuals-largely on the plea of internal improvementno less than 2,300,000 acres of public land, and the suggestion was seriously made to restore all the public lands in the States to the State governments. This was, however, strongly opposed, and many warm debates were carried on in Congress for several years on the public land question. These were in a measure checked by the fever for speculation in public lands which raged from 1834 till it precipitated the crash of 183, but were renewed with even greater ardor when the proposition came up to have the general government assume the debts of the States which had lost heavily in the speculative era. The plan of giving the public lands to States was again thrust forward, and was advocated by President Tyler in his first message, but though a number of bills were brought before Congress proposing such a distribution none actually became laws, except one providing for a gift of land to new States, which was passed in 1841, as a part of the first pre-emption law. The cession of public lands to railroads on a large scale was begun in 1850, and has since led to the disposal of a very large proportion of the public lands. About 1852 a homestead law, which was warmly advocated by the free soil Democracy, became a national question. Several bills passed one house of Congress, but failed in the other. In 1860 a homestead bill actually passed, but was vetoed by President Buchanan, on the plea that its provisions were not fair to all classes concerned. It was not until 1862 that the homestead law, as we have it to-day, was adopted. The public lands undisposed of and open to settlement are divided into two classes with respect to price, one class being held at $1.25 per acre as the minimum price, the other at $2.50 per acre; being the alternate sections reserved by the United States in land grants to railroads,

etc. Such tracts are sold on application to the registers and receivers of the district land offices to legally qualified parties upon conditions of actual residence and improvement under the pre-emption laws. Widows, heads of families, or single persons over twenty-one years of age, if citizens of the United States, or aliens who have declared their intention to become citizens, have the right of pre-emption to the maximum quantity of 160 acres each on becoming settlers and complying with the regulations. Under the homestead laws a citizen, or an alien having declared his intention of becoming a citizen, has the right to 160 acres of either the $1.25 or $2.50 class after actual residence and cultivation for five years. Under the timber culture law a citizen, or one who has declared his intention to become such, if the head of a family, or a single person over twenty-one years, may acquire title to 160 acres on cultivating 10 acres of trees thereon for eight years. Not more than 320 acres can be acquired by one person under all the land laws. A person who served for 90 days in the army, navy, or marine corps of the United States during the rebellion, has remained loyal to the United States government, and has been honorably discharged, is allowed 160 acres of public land, and such homestead settler shall be allowed six months after locating his homestead, and filing his declaratory statement, within which to make his entry and commence his settlement and improvement. The time the settler has served in the army, navy, or marine corps shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title; or if discharged on account of wounds received or disability incurred in the line of duty, then the term of enlistment shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, without reference to the time he may have served, but no patent shall issue to any homestead settler who has not resided upon, improved, and cultivated his homestead for a period of at least one year after he shall have commenced his improvements. The desert land act applies only to the States of California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Idaho,

Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota, and the Territories of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Any person desiring to make entry of desert land in any of these States must file with the officers of the land office for the district wherein the land is situated a declaration showing that he is a citizen, or intends to become a citizen, that he intends to reclaim the tract of land-giving its situation-which he enters; that the land will not produce crops without irrigation; that there is no timber growing upon it, and not to his knowledge any kind of valuable mineral deposited in it. It is necessary also to procure at least two disinterested and credible witnesses to make affidavit that the land is actually desert land. These witnesses must not only bring presumptive proof of their honesty, but must also show that they are acquainted with the situation and character of the land of which they speak. The applicant for the land must then pay for it at the rate of twenty-five cents per acre, and he is not allowed to take up more than one section. If within three years after this application he can make satisfactory proof that he has irrigated the land, the applicant can receive a patent for the land on paying the additional sum of $1 therefore. It is provided that the right to use water from any contiguous natural sources for irrigating desert land thus taken up shall depend upon bona fide prior appropriation, and shall not in any case exceed the amount of water actually needed for reclaiming the land. The only public land that can be sold to parties not actual settlers is that situated in the State of Missouri.

House of Representatives is the name of the lower House of the Legislature in many of the States, also of the corresponding House of the United States Legislature. Article 1, section 2, of the Constitution, treats of the House of Representatives. Its members are apportioned on the basis of population, the larger States thus having greater influence than the smaller. (See Apportionment; Congress; Senate.) Its members are elected for two years. The salary of Rep

resentatives is $5,000 a year, $125 a year additional for stationery and newspapers, and mileage at the rate of twenty cents a mile to and from Washington at every session of Congress, Unexcused absence causes a deduction from the salary. To be elected a Congressman a person must be at least twenty-five years of age, and he must have been seven years a citizen; he must, moreover, at the time of his election be an inhabitant of the State for which he is chosen. The House of Representatives chooses its Speaker and other officers. The power of the Speaker is enormous. Unless otherwiseordered by the House (which is seldom the case) he appoints all committees and the method of the House in transacting its business renders the committees of first importance. All measures are referred to the standing committees, and the power over the life or death of a bill is practically unlimited. A majority of the members elected constitute a quorum. The House has sole power of impeachment; all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House, and on it falls the duty of electing the President of the United States when the vote of the electors fails to result in a choice. Representatives being elected more frequently than Senators, and being elected directly by the people, are apt to be more thoroughly informed of the present feelings of their constituents, and are thus more apt to sway by them than the Senate. The latter is more conservative. These differences have led to the terms popular or lower House, and upper House as applied to the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively. Each Territory has a delegate in the House, with the right to debate on matters pertaining to his Territory, but no vote.

Houston, Samuel, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1793. In his early life he had wandered to Tennessee, where he had lived three years among the Cherokee Indians. He was then, successively, "a gallant soldier in the War of 1812, an Indian agent, a lawyer, district attorney, major-general of militia, member of Congress and Governor of Tennessee." About

1830 he again suddenly joined the Cherokees, among whom he lived three years as a chief. Leaving them, he and a number of other adventurers set out for Texas with the intention of causing a revolution there and ultimately annexing it to the United States. Texas declared her independence in 1836, and Houston, though at first compelled to retreat before a large force under Santa Anna, finally succeeded in dividing and utterly defeating the opposing army. This assured the independence of Texas, which was during the next year acknowledged by the United States. Other powers

soon did the same. Houston had meanwhile been elected President of the new republic. He served in that capacity in 1836-8 and 1842-4. Texas was annexed to the United States in 1845. Subsequently Houston represented her in the Senate in 1846-59, and in 1859 he was elected Governor. Though elected as a Union man, it was his lack of energy that threw Texas into the hands of the secessionists. In 1861 he resigned, and soon after, in 1863, he died.

How Gold and Silver Coins are Tested.-The testing of gold and silver coins, which takes place yearly at the Philadelphia mint, is called the trial of the pyx. It is a custom of very ancient origin and derives its name from the pyx or chest in which the coins to be examined are kept. The examination is made in the presence of the director of the mint and a board of examiners. For each delivery of coins made by the chief coiner a certain number are reserved for trial and deposited in the pyx under the charge of the superintendent of the mint and the assayer. Coins from the coinage of other mints are transmitted quarterly to the Philadelphia mint. The examiners make a certified report of the trial after examination. If this shows the coins to be within the limit of tolerance in fineness and weight it is filed, but if not the fact is certified to the president, and he has power to order all the officers implicated in the error thenceforward disqualified for holding their offices.