list of deposits No. 4, herewith, to go to the credit of the undermentioned appropriations.

Given under my hand this 1st day of May, 1883.

mates, and Appropriations. To Maj. E. D. BAKER:

(FORM NO. 8.)

LIST NO. 83, 2002.—NATIONAL BANKS.-COVERED BY REQUISITION NO.Deposits to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States in the undernamed depositories during the second quarter of 1883, on account of appropriations under the direction of the War Department.

Deposit.

For whose credit.

Appropriation.

Date.

Place.

1883.

April 26 1st N. B., Port- E. D. Baker, Maj.. Incidental expenses, 1883.

land, Oregon.

Army transportation, 1883.
Clothing, &c., 1883
Con. & rep. of hospitals, 1883

Correct.

(Signed)

W. F. MACLENNAN,
Chf. Warrant Div.

(Stamped:) Third Auditor's Office, Bookkeeper's Division, April 26, 1883.

WAR DEPARTMENT.

No. 8505.

To the Secretary of the Treasury:

SIR: Please issue a warrant on Maj. E. D. Baker in favor of the Treasurer of the United States for twelve thousand two hundred and sixty-eight dollars and fourteen cents, being amount deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States as per list of deposits No. 83, 2002, herewith, to go to the credit of the undermentioned appropriations.

Given under my hand this 1st day of May, 1883.

ROBERT T. LINCOLN,
Secretary of War.

JAS. S. DELANO,

Act'g Second Comptroller.

E. W. KEIGHTLEY,

Third Auditor.

APPROPRIATIONS.

Incidental expenses, 1883
Army transportation, 1883.
Clothing, &c., 1883....

Con. & rep's. hospitals, 1883..

1,772 30 5,445 84

50 00 5,000 00

12,268 14

TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

To Maj. E. D. BAKER:

Pay to the Treasurer of the United States, to be credited to the appropriations named in the margin of this warrant, twelve thousand two hundred and sixtyeight dollars and fourteen cents, amount of deposits to credit of the Treasurer, as per list No. 88, herewith, pursuant to a requisition, No. 8505, of the Secretary of War, dated May 1, 1853, countersigued by the Second Comptroller of the Treasury and registered by the Third Auditor. And for so doing this shall be your warrant,

Given under my hand and the seal of the Treasury
Department this 31st day of May, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-three,
and of Independence the one hundred and seventh.
Signed:
JOHN C. NEW,

Assistant Secretary.

Ordnance, ordnance stores,

Ordnance service,

Repairs of arsenals,

Arming and equipping the mili tia,

Expenses of recruiting,

and sup

Medical and hospital depart

5, 000 00

12, 268 14

W. P. TITCOMB,
Ass't Register.

OFFICE OF THE TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES.
Received June 10, 1883.

E. O. GRAVES,

Asst Treasurer.

IN THE MATTER OF THE PAYMENT OF THE CONTRACT-PRICE FOR A SITE PURCHASED FOR A UNITED STATES COURT-HOUSE, CUSTOMHOUSE, AND POST-OFFICE AT PENSACOLA, FLORIDA.-SITE CASE.

1. Under the act of June 10, 1882 (22 Stat., 99), the contract-price for a site purchased for a United States court-house, custom-house, and post-office at Pensacola, Fla., may be paid, before "the consent of the legislature of the State" of Florida, "to such purchase, has been given."

2. The proper construction of section 355 of the Revised Statutes considered. 3. The opinions of the Attorneys-General of May 6, 1861 (10 Op. Att-Gen., 35), and March 27, 1877 (15 Op. Att.-Gen., 212), referred to.

4. A construction of a statute long acquiesced in should not, as a general rule, be changed, unless manifestly and palpably erroneous.

The act of June 10, 1882 (22 Stat., 99), provides:

"That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to purchase, at private sale or by condemnation, in pursuance of the statute of the State of Florida, all the land that he may deem necessary adjacent to the site lately occupied by the United States custom-house, post-office, and United States court-rooms in the

city of Pensacola, Florida, and to cause to be erected thereon a suitable brick or stone building, with a fire-proof vault extending to each story, for the use and accommodation of the United States district and circuit courts, custom-house, post-office, and other Government offices in that city, at a cost not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, including the purchase of land; and the building hereby authorized shall be so erected as to afford an open space of not less than fifty feet between it and any other building; and the sum of two hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose herein mentioned."

Section 355 of the Revised Statutes provides, that:

"No public money shall be expended upon any site or land purchased by the United States for the purposes of erecting thereon any armory, arsenal, fort, fortification, navy-yard, custom-house, light-house, or other public building, of any kind whatever, until the written opinion of the Attorney-General shall be had in favor of the validity of the title, nor until the consent of the legislature of the State in which the land or site may be, to such purchase, has been given."

The acts making appropriations for the purchase of sites, and for the construction of public buildings thereon, usually provide, that no money shall be expended for either purpose, until jurisdiction over the land to be purchased has been ceded by the proper State to the United States. (Acts of May 25, July 12 and 27; and August 3, 1882; 22 Stat., 97, 161, 177, 217).

The statutes of the State of Florida provide as follows:

"SEC. 3. The United States are hereby authorized and empowered to purchase, acquire, hold, own, occupy, and possess such land or lands within the limits of this State as they shall adjudge it expedient, and shall seek to occupy and hold as sites on which to erect and maintain forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings, or any of them, as contemplated and provided in the Constitution of the United States; said purchases to be effected either by contract with the owner or owners of said land or lands, or in the manner hereinafter provided."

Section 4 provides for the manner of condemning the land by the circuit court, and paying for the same, when the agent of the United States and the owner cannot agree.

"SEC. 5. Whenever the United States shall contract for, purchase, or acquire any land or lands within the limits of this State for the purposes aforesaid, in either of the modes above mentioned and provided, and shall desire to acquire constitutional jurisdiction over such land or lands for said purposes, it shall and may be lawful for the governor of this State, upon application made to him in writing on behalf of the United States for that purpose, accompanied by the proper evidence of said purchase, contract, or acquisition of record, describing the land or lands sought to be ceded by convenient metes and bounds, and the said governor shall be and he is hereby authorized and empowered there. upon, in the name and on behalf of this State, to cede to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the land or lands so purchased or acquired and sought to be ceded; the United States to hold, use, occupy, own, possess and exercise said jurisdiction over the same for the purposes aforesaid, and none other whatsoever," &c. (McClellan's Digest, Laws of Florida, chap. 133, pp. 686, 687.)

The account of John B. Guttman against the United States for $18,000 for the purchase price of real estate purchased under the act of June 10, 1882 (22 Stat., 99), is presented to the First Comptroller in its regular course of settlement, to decide whether it may be allowed and paid. It is shown that the title to the real estate is valid, and is approved by the Attorney-General, as required by section 355 of the Revised Statutes.

DECISION BY WILLIAM LAWRENCE, First Comptroller :

The sole question presented for decision is, whether the contract price for real estate purchased for the United States under the act of June 10, 1882 (22 Stat., 99), for a site for a court-house, custom-house, and postoffice at Pensacola, Fla., can lawfully be paid, "until the consent of the legislature of the State" of Florida, "to such purchase, has been given." The act of June 10, 1882 (22 Stat., 99), unlike some other acts of a similar nature, does not require any such consent as a condition precedent to the purchase and payment for the lands. If section 355 of the Revised Statutes is to be construed literally, it does not require that "the consent of the legislature of the State" be obtained prior to the purchase of the land, but only prior to the expenditure of any money "for the purposes of erecting thereon any public building." This section, however, requires as precedent to something-either to the purchase of the real estate, or to the expenditure of money for the purpose of erecting public buildings thereon-two conditions, to-wit: (1) that "the written opinion of the Attorney General shall be had in favor of the validity of the title," and (2) that "the consent of the legis lature of the State *, to such purchase, has been given." These two conditions seem inseparable, and, on the language of the statute, cannot be made conditions precedent to different purposes.

The apparent intention of Congress was to secure a valid title to the real estate before paying for it. The intention is equally apparent to require the consent of the legislature of the State to the purchase, which, in practice, means the grant to the United States of a right of jurisdiction over the land so purchased. There is the same necessity for procuring this prior to the completion of the purchase of the land as for ascertaining the validity of the title. It is not to be supposed that Congress intended to authorize a purchase of real estate without a certainty that the consent of the State to such purchase would be given with a cession of jurisdiction, for without these the object of the purchase would totally fail, and a statute should be construed not only ut res magis valeat quam pereat, but so that its objects may be effected, and not so that they may fail. A somewhat different construction has been given to the statute, in view, doubtless, of opinions previously given, and of usages thereunder of long standing.

Thus, the Attorney-General, in a communication of January 20, 1883,