do so by such officer; and failing such notice in either case, the claimant or claimants shall forfeit all right and claim thereto; Provided, however, that the time limited by the sixth section of the act of eighteen hundred and fifty-three, in which claimants under the act of eighteen hundred and fifty are required to give notice of their claims, shall be, and the same is hereby extended to the first of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, except in cases where the surveyor general shall request them to do so, as above provided.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That in lieu of the two townships of land granted to the territory of Oregon by the tenth section of the act of eighten hundred and fifty, for universities, there shall be reserved to each of the territories of Washington and Oregon, two townships of land of thirty-six sections each, to be selected in legal subdivisions for university purposes, under the direction of the legislatures of said territories respectively.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That in any case where orphans have been, or may be left in either of the said territories, whose parents, or either of them while living, would have been entitled to a donation under this act, or either of those of which it is amendatory, said orphans shall be entitled to a quarter section of land on due proof being made to the satisfaction of the surveyor general, subject to the decision of the secretary of the Interior. Said land to be set off to them by the surveyor general in good agricultural land, not reserved, or otherwise appropriated, under any law of congress; and, in case of the death of either or any of said orphans, after their lands shall have been designated by the surveyor general, the right or rights of the deceased shall vest in the survivor or

survivors.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all the provisions of this act, and the acts of which it is amendatory, shall be extended to all the lands in Oregon and Washington territories; and, for the purpose of carrying said acts into effect in said territories, the president shall be, and he is hereby authorized to appoint a register and receiver for each of said territories, whose powers, duties, obligations and responsibilities, shall be the same as are now prescribed by law for other land officers, and for the surveyor general of Oregon, so far as they apply to such officers. They shall keep their offices at such place as the president shall, from time to time direct; and their compensation shall be twenty-five hundred dollars each per annum, and office rent; but they shall be entitled to no fees or other emolument of any kind whatsoever, except the receiver's actual and necessary expenses in depositing; and, on satisfactory

proof that either of said officers, or any other officer, has charged or received fees or other rewards not authorized by law, he shall be forthwith removed from office.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the territory of Washington shall be erected into a separate surveying district, and the president of the United States is hereby authorized to appoint a surveyor general for the same, who shall hold his office at such place as the president may direct, and the location thereof may be changed from time to time, if, in the judgment of the president, the public interest should require it, and the powers, duties, obligations, responsiblities and emoluments of the said surveyor general shall be the same as are now prescribed by law for the surveyor general of Oregon. APPROVED, 17th July, 1854.

AN ACT

TO APPROPRIATE THE PROCEEDS OF THE SALES OF THE PUBLIC LANDS, AND TO GRANT PRE-EMPTION RIGHTS.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That from and after the thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and forty-one, there be allowed and paid to each of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Michigan, over and above what each of the said states is entitled to by the terms of the compacts entered into between them and the United States, upon their admission into the Union, the sum of ten per centum upon the nett proceeds of the sales of the public lands which, subsequent to the day aforesaid, shall be made within the limits of each of said States respectively: Provided, That the sum so allowed to the said states respectively, shall be in nowise affected or diminished on account of any sums which have been heretofore, or shall be hereafter applied to the construction or continuance of the Cumberland road, but that the disbursements for the road shall remain, as heretofore, chargeable on the two per centum fund provided for by compacts with several of the said states.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That after deducting the said ten per centum, and what, by the compacts aforesaid, has heretofore been allowed to the states aforesaid, the residue of the nett proceeds, shall be ascertained by deducting from

the gross proceeds all the expenditures of the year for the following objects: Salaries and expenses on account of the general land office, expenses for surveying public lands, salaries and expenses in the surveyor general's offices: salaries, commissions and allowances to the registers and receivers: the five per centum to new states of all the public lands of the United States, wherever situated, which shall be sold subsequent to the said thirty-first day of December, shall be divided among the twenty-six states of the Union and the District of Columbia, and the territories of Wisconsin, Iowa and Florida, according to their respective federal representative population as ascertained by the last census, to be applied by the legislatures of the said states, to such purposes as the said legislatures may direct: Provided, That the distributive share to which the District of Columbia shall be entitled, shall be applied to free schools, or education in some other form, as congress may direct: And provided also, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to the prejudice of further applica- . tions for a reduction of the price of the public lands, or to the prejudice of applications for a transfer of the public lands on reasonable terms, to the states within which they lie, or to make such future disposition of the public lands, or any part thereof as congress may deem expedient.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the several sums of money received in the treasury as the nett proceeds of the sales of the public lands shall be paid at the treasury half yearly on the first day of January and July in each year, during the operation of this act, to such person or persons as the respective legislatures of the said states and territories, or the governors thereof in case the legislatures shall have made no such appointment, shall authorize and direct to receive the same.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That any sum of money which, at any time may become due and payable to any state of the Union, or to the district of Columbia, by virtue of this act, as the portion of the said state or district, of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, shall be first applied to the payment of any debt due and payable from the said state or district to the United States: Provided, That this shall not be construed to extend to the sums deposited with the states under the act of congress of twenty-third June, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, entitled "an act to regulate the deposits of the public money," nor to any sums apparently due to the United States as balances of debts growing out of the transactions of the revolutionary war.

SEC. 5. And be it further enac'ed, That this act shall continue and be in force until otherwise provided by law, unless

the United States shall become involved in war with any foreign power, in which event, from the commencement of hostilities, this act shall be suspended during the continuance of such war: Provided, nevertheless, That if, prior to the expiration of this act, any new state or states shall be admitted into the Union, there be assigned to such new state or states, the proportion of the proceeds accruing after their admission into the Union, to which such new state or states may be entitled, upon the principles of this act, together with what such state or states may be entitled to by virtue of compacts to be made on their admission into the Union.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That there shall be annually appropriated for completing the surveys of said lands, a sum not less than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and the minimum price at which the public lands are now sold at private sale shall not be increased, unless congress shall think proper to grant alternate sections along the line of any canal or other internal improvement, and at the same time to increase the minimum price of the sections reserved; and in case the same shall be increased by law, except as aforesaid, at any time during the operation of this act, then so much of this act as provides that the nett proceeds of the sales of the public lands shall be distributed among the several states, shall from and after the increase of the minimum price thereof, cease and become utterly null and of no effect, anything in this act to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, That if, at any time during the existence of this act, there shall be an imposition of duties on imports inconsistent with the provision of the act of March second, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, entitled, "An act to modify the act of the fourteenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and all other acts imposing duties on imports," and beyond the rate of duty fixed by that act, to wit: twenty per cent. on the value of such imports, or any of them, then the distribution provided in this act shall be suspended and shall so continue until the cause of its suspension shall be removed, and when removed, if not prevented by other provisions of this act, such distribution shall be resumed.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the secretary of the treasury may continue any land district, in which is situated the seat of government of any one of the states, and may continue the land office in such district, notwithstanding the quantity of land unsold in such district may not amount to one hundred thousand acres, when, in his opinion, such continuance may be required by public convenience, or in order to close the land system in such state at a convenient point,