in providing for the commutation of timber-culture entries uses the following words, viz: "Registers and receivers shall be allowed the same fees and compensation for final proofs in timber-culture entries as is now allowed by law in homestead entries." This provision appears to be, first, a legislative construction of the previously existing law as allowing the same fees and compensation for services rendered by registers and receivers in final proofs in homestead entries, for reducing the testimony to writing, if made before them, or examining and approving the same, if made before some other officer, under the tenth and twelfth subdivisions of section 2238, Revised Statutes, and act of March 3, 1877 (19 Stat. L., 403), without regard to whether such proofs are made after the expiration of the five-year period of residence and cultivation, or at an earlier date, in commutation cases; and second, an enactment that the fees and compensation indicated shall also be allowed for such services when rendered in connection with timber-culture entries, whether after the expiration of the full statutory period or at an earlier date, in commutation cases, thus equalizing the fees and compensation in all cases of the classes mentioned. The attention of registers and receivers is called to section 2242, Revised Statutes (Appendix No. 1, p. 146), as follows: No register or receiver shall receive any compensation out of the Treasury for past services who has charged or received illegal fees; and on satisfactory proof that either of such officers has charged or received fees or other rewards not authorized by law, he shall be forthwith removed from office. This statute will be strictly enforced. Registers of land offices have no right officially to receive any moneys whatever except such as are paid to them by receivers as salary, fees, and commissions. Should any money be forwarded to the register or paid to him, he will at once pay over the same to the receiver; and where parties address the register as to the cost of any service required, he will refer the matter to the receiver for answer, as the latter is the proper officer to receive all public moneys. All fees collected by registers and receivers, from any source whatever, which would increase their salaries beyond $3,000 each a year, shall be covered into the Treasury, except only so much as may be necessary to pay actual cost of clerical services employed exclusively in contested cases, and they shall report quarterly under oath, of all expenditures for such clerical services, with vouchers therefor. (Act August 4, 1886, 24 Stat. L., 239, Appendix No. 29, p. 183; repeated in act March 3, 1887, 24 Stat. L., 526.) MONTHLY REPORTS. Within three days from the close of each month the register and receiver must make out and transmit to the General Land Office a statement of the business of their respective offices for the preceding month. These reports are in the form of abstracts of preemption declarations and of soldiers' declarations filed, abstracts of lands sold, abstracts of homesteads entered, abstracts of timber-culture entries allowed, abstracts of military bounty-land warrants and of agricultural college scrip located, accompanied by the certificates of purchase, receivers' receipts, homestead and timber-culture applications and affidavits, military bounty-land warrants and agricultural college scrip surrendered as satisfied, and the certificates of location thereof; also of all other forms of entry or location requiring separate returns. Names of parties must be clearly and legibly written in these papers to correspond with the signature to every application; and when spelled in two or more ways, or illegibly written by the person signing, the register must ascertain by proper inquiry the correct orthography and certify to the same upon the margin of the certificate. The abstracts, after being carefully examined by the register and receiver, are to be certified by them as correct and as in conformity with the papers in the entries or locations embraced therein and with their records, which papers, abstracts, and records must agree with each other. MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS. The receiver is required to render promptly, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and to the Secretary of the Treasury, a monthly account of all moneys received, showing the balance due the Govern ment at the close of each month; and at the end of every quarter he must also transmit a quarterly account. (Sec. 2245, Rev. Stat.; Appendix No. 1, p. 146.) He is required to deposit the moneys received by him at some depository designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, when the amount on hand shall have reached the sum of $1,000; and in no case is he authorized, without special instructions, to hold a larger amount in his hands. Laws and instructions relating to mining claims, bounty lands, railroad adjustments, town sites, timber depredations, and other special matters form the subject of separate circulars. Approved July 11, 1899. BINGER HERMANN, Commissioner of the General Land Office. E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. APPENDIX. [No. 1.] REVISED STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES. THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. Duties of Secretary. SEC. 441. The Secretary of the Interior is charged with the supervision of public business relating to the 3 Mar., 1849, c. 108, ss. 3, following subjects: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, v. 9, p. 395. First. The Census; when directed by law. 5 Feb., 1859, c. 22, s. 1, V. 11, p. 379. Second. The public lands, including mines. 20 July, 1868, c. 176, s. 1, v. 15, pp. 92, 106. Maguire v. Tyler, 1 Bl.,195. Fourth. Pensions and bounty lands. Fifth. Patents for inventions. Sixth. The custody and distribution of publications. Seventh. Education. Eighth. Government Hospital for the Insane. * * * * COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE. SEC. 453. The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall perform, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States, or in anywise respecting such public lands, and, also, such as relate to private claims of land, and the issuing of patents for all agents grants] of land under the authority of the Government. * * * * Duties of Commissioner. 25 Apr., 1812, c. 68, s. 1 v. 2, p. 716. July, 1836, c. 352, s. 1, v. 5, p. 107. * EXEMPLIFICATIONS OF PATENTS, RECORDS, BOOKS, OR PAPERS. SEC. 461. All exemplifications of patents, or papers on file or of record in the General Land Office, which may be required by parties interested, shall be furnished by the Commissioner upon the payment by such parties at the rate of fifteen cents per hundred words, and two dollars for copies of township plats or diagrams, with an additional sum of one dollar for the Commissioner's certificate of verification with the General Land Office seal; and one of the employés of the Office shall be designated by the Commissioner as the receiving clerk, and the amounts so received shall, under the direction of the Commissioner, be paid into the Treasury; but fees shall not be demanded for such authenticated copies as may be required by the officers of any branch of the Government, nor for such unverified copies as the Commissioner in his discretion may deem proper to furnish. (See secs. 891, 2469, and 2470.) * * * * * SEC. 891. Copies of any records, books, or papers in the General Land Office, authenticated by the seal and certified by the Commissioner thereof, or, when his office is vacant, by the principal clerk, shall be evidence equally with the originals thereof. And literal exemplifications of any such records shall be held, when so introduced in evidence, to be of the same validity as if the names of the officers signing and countersigning the same had been fully inserted in such record. (See secs. 461, 2469, and 2470.) REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS. SEC. 2234. There shall be appointed by the President, Appointment of registers by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a See all acts establishing register of the land office and a receiver of public land districts. Residence of register and receiver. See all acts establishing land districts. Bond of register and receiver. SEC. 2236. Every register and receiver shall, before entering on the duties of his office, give bond in the 10 May, 1800, ss. v. 2, pp. 73, 75.' 3 Mar., 1853, penal sum of ten thousand dollars, with approved se c. 145, s. 5, v. 10, p. 245. curity, for the faithful discharge of his trust. moneys, for each land district established by law. SEC. 2235. Every register and receiver shall reside at the place where the land office for which he is appointed is directed by law to be kept. 20 Apr. 1818, c. 123, v. 3, p. 466. Salaries of register and re ceiver. 30 May, 1862, c. 86, s. 6, v. lowed an annual salary of five hundred dollars. 12, p. 409. 20 Apr., 1818, c. 123, v. 3, p. 466. SEC. 2238. Registers and receivers, in addition to Fees and commissions of their salaries, shall be allowed each the following fees register and receiver. 4 Sept., 1841, c. 16, s. 12, V. and commissions, namely: 5, p. 21 Mar., 1864; c. 38, s. 4, v. 13, p. 35. SEC. 2237. Every register and receiver shall be al ment filed, and for services in acting on pre-emption claims. 3 Mar. 1873, c. 277, s. 6, v. 17, p. 606. First. A fee of one dollar for each declaratory state Second. A commission of one per centum on all moneys received at each receiver's office.1 Third. A commission to be paid by the homestead 21 Mar. 1864, c. 38, s. 2, v. 13, p. 35. 20 May, 1862, c. applicant, at the time of entry, of one per centum on 75, s. 6, v. 12, p. 393, 15 July 1870, c. 294; s. 25, v. 16, p 320. the cash price, as fixed by law, of the land applied for; and a like commission when the claim is finally established, and the certificate therefor issued as the basis of a patent. Fourth. The same commission on lands entered under any law to encourage the growth of timber on western prairies, as allowed when the like quantity of land is entered with money.2 Fifth. For locating military bounty-land warrants 22 Mar. 1852, c. 19, s. 2, v. 8. 7, v. 12, p. 505, 10, p. 4. 2 July, 1862, c. 130, issued since the eleventh day of February, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, and for locating agricultural college land scrip, the same commission to be paid by the holder or assignee of each warrant or scrip, as is allowed for sales of the public lands for cash, at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. This clause is construed to refer only to receipts from cash sales. It does not apply to fees and commissions. (Circular January 23, 1880.) The clause was superseded by act of March 13, 1874 (18 Stat., 21), which was in turn superseded by act of June 14, 1878 (20 Stat., 113; Appendix No. 8), as interpreted by the decision of the First Comptroller (Copp's Land Owner, vol. ix, p. 240). Dec. 17, 1880, c. 2, v. 21, p. Sixth. A fee, in donation cases, of two dollars and 30 May, 1862, c. 86, s. 6, v. fifty cents for each final certificate for one hundred and 12, p. 409. sixty acres of land; five dollars for three hundred and 311. twenty acres; and seven dollars and fifty cents for six hundred and forty acres. Seventh. In the location of lands by States and corporations under grants from Congress for railroads and 13, p. 35. other purposes, (except for agricultural colleges), a fee for each final location of one hundred and sixty acres; the State or corporation making such location. Eighth. A fee of five dollars per diem for superin- 24 Apr., 1820, c. 51, s. 5, v. tending public-land sales at their respective offices; 3, p. 567. [and to each receiver, mileage in going to and returning from depositing the public moneys received by him ']. Ninth. A fee of five dollars for filing and acting upon each application for patent or adverse claim filed for mineral lands, to be paid by the respective parties. 21 Mar., 1864, c. 38, s. 4, Tenth. Registers and receivers are allowed, jointly, at the rate of fifteen cents per hundred words for testi- v. 13, p. 35. mony reduced by them to writing for claimants, in establishing preemption and homestead rights. Eleventh. A like fee as provided in the preceding subdivision when such writing is done in the land office, in establishing claims for mineral lands. 1 July, 1864, c. 196, s. 1, v. SEC. 2241. Whenever the amount of compensation received at any land office exceeds the maximum allowed by law to any register or receiver, the excess shall be paid into the Treasury, as other public moneys. of one dollar to be paid by 10 May, 1872, c. 152, s. 12, v. 17, p. 95. 21 s. 6, 13, p. 36, and several acts establishing land offices for Utah, Wyoming, and Mon Twelfth. Registers and receivers in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, v. Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, are each entitled to collect and receive fifty per centum on the fees and commissions provided for in the first, third, and tenth subdivisions of this section. tana. 10 May, 1872, c. 152, s. 12, v. 17, p. 95. Fees of and re offices. SEC. 2239. The register for any consolidated land district, in addition to the fees now allowed by law, shall ceiver for consolidated land be entitled to charge and receive for making transcripts for individuals, or furnishing any other record information respecting public lands or land titles in his consolidated land district, such fees as are properly authorized by the tariff existing in the local courts of his district; and the receiver shall receive his equal share of such fees, and it shall be his duty to aid the register in the preparation of the transcripts, or giving the desired record information. SEC. 2240. The compensation of registers and receivers, including salary, fees, and commissions, shall in nov. case exceed in the aggregate three thousand dollars a year each; and no register or receiver shall receive for any one quarter or fractional quarter more than a pro rata allowance of such maximum.2 18 Feb., 1861, c. 38, ss. 1,3, v. 12, p. 131. Maximum of compensation 1864, c. 33, s. 6, for registers and receivers. c. 123, v. 3, p. 466. 20 May, 30 May, 1862, c. 86, s. 6, v. 12, p. 409. 1 July, 1864, c. 196, s. 1, v. 13, p. 335. 22 Mar., c. 19, s. v. 10, p. 4. 2 July, 1862, c. 130, 8.1, V. 12, p. 505. 2 Feb., 1859, c. 19, v. 11, p. 378. 18 Feb., 1861, c. 38, ss. 1, 3, v. 12, p. 131.-U. S. v. Babbit, 1 Bl., 55. Excess of compensation to be paid into Treasury. 3 Mar., 1853, c. 97, s. 1, v. 10, p. 204. 18 Feb., 1861, c. 38, ss. 1, 3, v. 12, p. 131. Part in brackets repealed. Actual expenses only allowed. Act June 16, 1874 (18 Stat., 72). 2 See notes at foot of the preceding page. 3073- -10 |