Mr. Wood moved that when the House adjourns it be to meet on Friday next; which motion was agreed to.

Mr. Wood moved to reconsider the vote last taken, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to.

By unanimous consent, leave of absence was granted as follows, viz: To Mr. Aldrich, until December 4;

To Mr. Brentano, until December 4;

To Mr. Cabell, for three days;

To Mr. Covert, until Monday next;

To Mr. Joseph J. Davis, for seven days;

To Mr. Landers, for one week;

To Mr. Lapham, until December 4;

To Mr. Hanna, for remainder of present session;

To Mr. Mayham, for eight days;

To Mr. Steele, for seven days.

By unanimous consent, leave was granted to withdraw from the files of the House papers in the following cases, viz:

To Mr. Gunter, in the cases of William Porter, William S. Turner and Annie Turner, and William F. Graves; and

To Mr. Mackey, in the case of William L. Reilly.

Mr. Blair, by unanimous consent, from the Committee of Accounts, reported a joint resolution (H. Res. No. 58) fixing the date on which the payment of the twenty-one clerks to the committees of the House of Representatives who are paid during the session only shall begin; which was read twice, engrossed, read the third time, and passed.

Mr. Blair moved to reconsider the vote last taken, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to.

Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate therein. Mr. Blair also, by unanimous consent, from the same committee, reported the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to, viz:

Resolved, That the committee clerks who are paid during the session only be continued in the employment of the House from the adjournment of the present to the opening of the next session of Congress, and the Clerk of this House is hereby authorized and directed to pay them out of the miscellaneous items of the contingent fund.

Mr. Blair moved to reconsider the vote last taken, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to.

The Speaker, by unanimous consent, laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Interior, relative to the exhaustion of the authorized edition of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office for October 9, 1877; which was referred to the Committee on Printing.

And then,

On motion of Mr. Hale, at 2 o'clock and 58 minutes p. m., the House adjourned.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1877.

The following memorials, petitions, and other papers were laid on the Clerk's desk, under the rule, and referred as follows, viz:

By Mr. Bayne: Resolution of the Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, indorsing the bill to regulate interstate commerce and prevent unjust discriminations by common carriers;

to the Committee on Commerce.

By Mr. Butler: The petition of Mrs. Martha Lachman, for compensation for services in the Army;

to the Committee ou Military Affairs.

By Mr. Campbell: The petitions of James B. Treadwell and Regina Quentin, for pensions;

to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

Also, the petition of W. A. Rodgers. late first lieutenant Company K, Eighteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, for additional pay as an officer in the Army;

to the Committee on Military Affairs.

By Mr. Dibrell: The petition of citizens of McMinn County, Tennessce, that a pension be granted to John Kiltner;

to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions.

Also, the petition of the members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church at Calhoun, Tennessee, for pay of their church-house, torn down and used by the United States Army;

to the Committee on War-Claims.

By Mr. Eickhoff: The petition of citizens of New York, for the restora tion of the wages of mechanics employed upon public buildings and in navy-yards throughout the country and in the departments at Washing ton to their former rates;

to the Committee on Education and Labor.

By Mr. Elam: A paper relating to the establishment of a post-route from Marthaville to Allen, Louisiana;

By Mr. Fort: A paper relating to the establishment of a post-route from Saint Anne, Illinois, by way of Pembroke, to Morocco, Indiana; to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads.

By Mr. Garfield: The petition of Reuben Delevan Mussey, that the Secretary of the Treasury be authorized to settle his accounts on principles of equity;

to the Committee on Military Affairs.

By Mr. Gunter: Papers relating to the claim of Robert Y. Wood, for property taken by the United States Army;

By Mr. Hooker: Papers relating to the claim of the heirs of Rebecca L. De Leon, for rent of house by the United States military authorities; to the Committee on War-Claims.

Also, papers relating to the petition of J. M. Stone, William M. Campton, and W. C. McAlexander, sureties on the official bond of B. B. Emory, deceased, late collector of internal revenue of the third district of Mississippi, for relief;

to the Committee on the Judiciary.

By Mr. Kenna: Papers relating to the claims of Mrs. Jane T. Hawkins and Kiah Smoot, for compensation for property used and destroyed by the United States Army;

Also, papers relating to the claim of citizens of Raleigh County, West Virginia, for compensation for the destruction of the Baptist church at Raleigh Court-House, West Virginia, by the United States Army; to the Committee on War-Claims.

By Mr. Kimmel: The petition of Palmer Engleman, for a pension; to the Committee on Invalid Pensious.

By Mr. Marsh: The petition of George Ritter, of Nauvoo, Illinois, for relief on account of obstruction to navigation in front of his mill prop erty, caused by the construction of a coffer-dam at Des Moines Rapids, Iowa, by the United States for the purpose of building a canal; to the Committee on Railways and Canals.

By Mr. Swann: The petition of Emily J. Fardy, of Baltimore, Mary

land, that she be refunded $3,000 retained by the United States for the failure on her part to complete a steam-propeller for the Coast Survey in 1873;

to the Committee of Claims.

By Mr. Throckmorton: Papers relating to the claims of J. H. Baker,. Spencer Bevers, E. L. Carter, E. L. Clark, A. Graham, J. G. Halsell, William M. Hardin, Elizabeth Harper, C. F. Hazlewood, John Keenan, J. P. Lindsey, Francisco Lopez, J. C. Loving, James C. Loving, James Martin, Leandro Martin, Daniel E. Moore, Joseph Rice, Susan M. Rivers, D. G. and D. A. Sanford, R. Vaughan, A. N. Wood, and S. N. Wood, for Indian depredations;

to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

By Mr. Turner: Papers relating to the establishment of certain postroutes in Kentucky;

to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads.

By Mr. Walker: The petition of 1,000 workingmen of Maine, New York, and Virginia, for the enforcement of the eight-hour law;

to the Committee on Education and Labor.

By Mr. Jere N. Williams: A paper relating to a change of the postroute from Perate to Brundige, so as to go by way of Barr's Mill instead of Buckhorn, Alabama;

to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads.

Mr. Luttrell, by unanimous consent, submitted the following resolu tion; which was referred to the Committee of Accounts:

Resolved, That all persons who were discharged from the "soldiers' roll" by the Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives since November 1, 1877, be allowed one month's pay, in order that they may be enabled to reach their homes.

Mr. Boyd, by unanimous consent, from the Committee of Accounts, reported a joint resolution (H. Res. 59) authorizing payment of the em ployés of the House of Representatives their salaries for time served by them during the present session of Congress without having taken the oath prescribed by law; which joint resolution was read twice, engrossed, read the third time, and passed.

Mr. Boyd moved to reconsider the vote last taken, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to.

Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate therein. Mr. Butler, by unanimous consent, from the Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill of the House (H. R. 1532) to provide a method for the settlement and adjustment of the accounts of the attorney of the United States for the District of Columbia, reported the same without amendment.

The House having proceeded to its consideration,

Ordered, That the bill be engrossed, and read a third time.

Being engrossed, the bill was accordingly read the third time and passed.

Mr. Butler moved to reconsider the vote last taken, and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; which latter motion was agreed to.

Ordered, That the Clerk request the concurrence of the Senate therein. Mr. Robbins, from the Committee of Ways and Means, to which was referred the bill of the House (H. R. 224) for the relief of Thomas A. Nicholson, reported the same without amendment, accompanied by a report in writing thereon.

Ordered, That the bill and report be committed to a Committee of the Whole House and printed.

Mr. Goode, by unanimous consent, presented a memorial of the Mexi can Veteran Association of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, praying; which was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

Mr. Blackburn, by unanimous consent, introduced bills of the following titles; which were severally read twice, ordered to be printed, and referred as follows, viz:

A bill (H. R. 1743) for the relief of Mary Quinn, of Lexington, Kentucky;

to the Committee on War-Claims.

A bill (H. R. 1744) for the relief of William P. Thorne, of Henry County, Kentucky;

to the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice.

A bill (H. R. 1745) for the relief of Granville Garnett, of Owen County, Kentucky;

to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. John H. Baker moved that the rules be suspended, so as to enable him to submit and the House to agree to the following preamble and resolution, viz:

Whereas it is alleged that in many parts of the country farmers, mechanics, and other classes of business and laboring men are harassed with suits for damages and claims for royalties by persons claiming that patents held by them are infringed by the employment of many articles and implements necessary in common use among the farming and industrial classes, which are essential to the successful prosecution of their various pursuits, which have been and are being purchased in open market and used by them in good faith and in ignorance of such alleged infringement: Therefore,

Resolved, That the Committee on Patents be, and it is hereby, instructed, as soon as practicable, to report to the House a bill which shall prohibit the bringing or maintenance of suits for damages for any infringement of a patent against any person who purchases for his own use, and not for sale or barter to another, any article or implement in market, unless at the time he purchased the same he knew that it infringed some existing patent.

Pending which,

On motion of Mr. Clymer, at 12 o'clock and 45 minutes p. m., the House adjourned.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1877.

The following memorials, petitions, and other papers were laid on the Clerk's desk, under the rule, and referred as follows, viz:

By Mr. John W. Caldwell: The petition of George Wright & Sons, and other citizens of Kentucky, for the amendment of the revenue laws so as to allow distillers to bond their whisky for three years and to reduce the tax on distilled spirits of every kind to fifty cents a gallon; to the Committee of Ways and Means.

By Mr. Chalmers: Resolutions of the mayor and aldermen of Vicksburg, Mississippi, that aid be granted to the Texas and Pacific Railroad Company;

to the Committee on the Pacific Railroad.

Also, resolutions of the same body, asking the use of a dredge boat in the Sunflower and Yazoo Rivers;

to the Committee on Commerce.

Also, resolutions of the same body, asking for the building of a custom-house and post-office in Vicksburg, Mississippi;

to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.

By Mr. Gunter: Papers relating to the claim of Cane Hill College and Presbyterian church, Arkansas, for compensation for college building destroyed by the United States Army;

to the Committee of Claims.

By Mr. House: The petition of Adam Woolf, surveyor and collector of the port of Nashville, Tennessee, for an increase of his salary; to the Committee of Ways and Means.

Also, resolutions of the Clarksville (Tennessee) Tobacco Board of Trade, asking an appropriation for the improvement of the Cumberland and Red Rivers;

to the Committee on Commerce.

By Mr. John S. Jones: The petition of F. W. Morrison and others, for a change of the pension laws;

to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

By Mr. Loring: Papers relating to the claim of the heirs of Nicholas and Mark Antoine Foquet;

By Mr. Pound: The petition of citizens of Amherst, Wisconsin, for the repeal of the bankrupt law;

to the Committee on the Judiciary.

By Mr. Swann: The petition of Martha Strawbet, for a pension; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

By Mr. Alpheus S. Williams: The petition of Jacob H. Stark, for pay for services as an officer in the United States Army;

to the Committee on Military Affairs.

By Mr. Richard Williams: Memorial of citizens of Oregon, for an extension of time to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company; for the repeal of the branch land-grant, and in lieu thereof applying an equal amount of land to the line of the Portland and Salt Lake Road, between Columbia River and Salt Lake, and for a joint road from the junction of said roads through Cascade Mountains to Portland; and for protection to settlers;

to the Committee on the Pacific Railroad.

By Mr. Wilson: The petitions of John W. Ramsbury and Margaret. M. Russell, for pay for property used by the United States;

to the Committee on War-Claims.

Also, a paper relating to the establishment of a post-route from Harrisville to Glenville, West Virginia;

to the Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Sympson, one of their clerks: Mr. Speaker: The Senate have passed a joint resolution of the House (H. Res. 48) in relation to the international industrial exposition to be held in Paris in 1878; with amendments, in which I am directed to ask the concurrence of the House of Representatives.

The regular order being demanded, the Speaker announced as the regular order of business the motion of Mr. John H. Baker to suspend the rules, so as to enable him to introduce and the House to pass the following preamble and resolution, pending when the House adjourned on yesterday, viz:

Whereas it is alleged that in many parts of the country farmers, mechanics, and other classes of business and laboring men are harassed with suits for damages and claims for royalties by persons claiming that patents held by them are infringed by the employment of many articles and implements necessary in common use among the farming and industrial classes, which are essential to the successful prosecution of their