May'contract for separate parts of stationery.

American goods to be preferred.

Shall make detailed report of

penditures.

rity to perform the same, under a forfeiture not exceeding double the contract price in case of failure; and in case the lowest bidder shall fail to enter into such contract and give such security, within a time to be fixed in such advertisement, then the contract shall be given to the next lowest bidder, who shall enter into such contract.

The three preceding sections shall not prevent either the Secretary or the Clerk from contracting for separate parts of the supplies of stationery required to be furnished.-R. S., Sec. 68.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall, in disbursing the public moneys for the use of the two houses, respectively, purchase only articles the growth and manufacture of the United States, provided the articles required can be procured of such growth and manufacture upon as good terms as to quality and price as are demanded for like articles of foreign growth and manufacture.-R. S., Sec. 69.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the receipts and ex- House of Representatives, respectively, shall report to Congress on the first day of each regular session, and at the expiration of their terms of service, a full and complete statement of all their receipts and expenditures as such officers, showing in detail the items of expense, classifying them under the proper appropriations, and also showing the aggregate thereof, and exhibiting in a clear and concise manner the exact condition of all public moneys by them received, paid out, and remaining in their possession as such officers.-R. S., Sec. 70.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives, respectively, are entitled, for transcribing and certifying extracts from the Journal of the Senate or the Executive Journal of the Senate when the injunction of secrecy has been removed, or from the Journal of the House of Representatives, except when such transcripts are required by an officer of the United States in a matter relating to the duties of his office, to receive from the persons for whom such transcripts are

prepared the sum of ten cents for each sheet containing

one hundred words.-R. S., Sec. 71.

return of United

The Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House Shall make out of Representatives, the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Postmas- States property. ters of the Senate and House of Representatives, and the Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives, shall, severally, make out and return to Congress, on the first day of each regular session, and at the expiration of their respective terms of service, a full and complete account of all property belonging to the United States in their possession, respectively, at the time of returning such account.-R. S., Sec. 72.

All petitions and bills praying or providing for the satisfaction of private claims against the Government, founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of an executive department, or upon any contract, expressed or implied, with the Government of the United States, shall, unless otherwise ordered by resolution of the house in which they are introduced, be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives, with all the accompanying documents, to the Court of Claims.-R. S., Sec. 1060.

No printing or binding shall be done, or blank-books furnished for the House, except on the written order of the Clerk.-R. S., Sec. 3789.

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall cause to be sent to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, at Dayton, in Ohio, and to the branches at Augusta, in Maine, and Milwaukee, in Wisconsin, at Hampton, Virginia, and the Soldiers' Home at Knightstown Springs, near Knightstown, in Indiana, each, one copy of each of the following documents: The Journals of each house of Congress at each and every session; all laws of Congress; the annual messages of the President, with accompanying documents; and all other documents or books which may be printed and bound by order of either house of Congress, including the Congressional Record.-R. S., Sec. 4837.

Shall transmit Court of Claims.

private claims to

Must give writ ing, binding, &c.

ten order for print

Shall send docusoldiers' homes.

ments to certain

Granted the use of the Library.

List of mem

bers, &c., to be

The Joint Committtee on the Library is authorized to grant the use of the Library to the Clerk of the House, subject to the same regulations as members of Congress.-R. S., Sec. 94.

By resolution of February 16, 1867, he is directed to furnished to the furnish the "Globe" at each session a list of the mempublishers of the

Globe.

Attest writs.

Enter petitions.

Delivers

upon

calls the Presi

departments.

bers, with their post-office address, and the number of their seats. Journal, 2, 39, p., 405.

The following duties are imposed upon the Clerk by the Rules of the House, viz:

He shall attest all writs, warrants, and subpoenas issued by the House.-Rule 8.

He shall enter upon the Journal, subject to the control and direction of the Speaker, such petitions and memorials as may be handed to him by members for reference.-Rule 131.

He shall cause to be delivered all propositions adopted dent and heads of by the House, requesting information from the President, or directing it to be furnished by the heads of departments. Rule 53. [His practice is to deliver in person all calls upon the President, and to transmit calls upon the departments by a messenger or through the mail.]

Shall refer maps, &c., to the House

He shall refer all drawings, maps, charts, or other members of the papers, which may at any time come before the House Committee on for engraving, lithographing, or publishing in any way, to the members of the Committee on Printing on the part of the House.-Rule 100.

Printing.

list of reports to

cers of Government.

Shall prepare He shall prepare and cause to be delivered to each be made by offi- member, at the commencement of every session of Congress, a list of the reports which it is the duty of any officer or department of the Government to make to Congress.-Rule 13.

ies of the Journal to States.

Shall send cop- He shall, at the end of each session, send a printed copy of the Journal of the House to the executive, and to each branch of the legislature, of every State.Rule 14.

Shall put decis

He shall note all questions of order, with the decision, of order at end of and put them together at the end of the Journal of

ions of questions

Journal.

every session.-Rule 15.

tices of bills.

He shall enter upon the Journal notices of bills which, Shall enter nomay be handed in by members.-Rule 15.

Shall certify

He shall certify a bill that has passed, noting the day bills which pass. of its passage at the foot thereof.-Rule 127.

He shall sign all House bills which have passed the Shall sign all House.-Joint Rule 5.

House bills which pass.

Shall enroll and certify House bills,

And &c., which pass

He shall enroll on parchment all House bills which shall have passed both houses.-Joint Rule 6. shall certify on the back of the roll that the bill originated in the House of Representatives.-Joint Rule 9. And all orders, resolutions, and votes which are to be presented to the President for his approbation shall also, in the same manner, be previously enrolled, examined, and signed. -Joint Rule 10.

both houses.

ments in commit

He shall enter on a separate paper all amendments Entry of amend. adopted in Committee of the Whole to a bill or report.— tee. Rules 107, 109. [The 107th Rule refers to manuscript bills, having been adopted prior to the practice of printing bills.]

Shall distribute Journal and index to members within thirty days after

He shall, within thirty days after the close of each session of Congress, cause to be completed the printing and primary distribution, to members and Delegates, of adjournment. the Journal of the House, together with an accurate index to the same.-Rule 16.

Shall retain in

He shall retain in the library of his office, for the use library two cop of the members there, two copies of all the books and ies of all public printed documents deposited in the library.-Rule 17.

documents.

one bound copy

for each member.

Shall make weekly statement Speaker's table.

on

He shall have preserved for each member of the House Shall preserve an extra copy, in good binding, of all the documents of all documents printed by order of either house at each session.-Rule 18. He shall make a weekly statement of the resolutions and bills upon the Speaker's table.-Rule 19. [This of business statement is printed and placed upon each member's table every Monday morning. There is, in like manner, placed upon their tables, every Friday morning, a statement of all the bills and resolutions upon the Calendar, designating whether in Committee of the Whole House or of the Whole House on the state of the Union.]

Weekly state

ment of bills, &c.,

on Calendar also

prepared.

Charged with. enforcement of

Rule 166.

He numbers the sections of bills.

The Clerk is charged with the enforcement of the rule prohibiting any person from entering the room over the hall of the House when the House is in session.-Rule 166. The number prefixed to the section of a bill, being merely a marginal indication, and no part of the text of And also bills the bill, the Clerk regulates that.-Manual, p. 111. [He also gives numbers to the bills and joint resolutions as they are introduced or reported.]

and joint resolutions.

Messages (between the two houses) shall be sent by such persons as a sense of propriety in each house may He conveys determine to be proper.-Joint Rule 4. [All messages from the House to the Senate are conveyed by the Clerk or one of his assistants.]

messages to the Senate.

Other duties of Clerk.

Prepares mates and

fund.

esti

dis

In addition to the foregoing, there are various other duties appertaining to the office of Clerk, under the usage and practice of the House, which are discharged by himself and his appointees.

He prepares estimates of the expenses of the House of burses contingent Representatives, and disburses the contingent fund of the House, keeping accounts with the Treasury of the United States of the various items of appropriation for that object. He also disburses the salary fund of the various officers and employés of the House.

Pays salaries.

Keeps Journal.

Keeps minutes of Committees of the Whole.

Reads.

Keeps the files.

He keeps the minutes of proceedings in the House, and makes out, subject to the control of the Speaker, the Journal of said proceedings, in readiness for the same to be read at the next meeting of the House. also prepares the index to the Journal at the end of each session.

Не

He keeps the minutes of proceedings in Committees of the Whole; records all votes taken by yeas and nays, and prepares copies of the same for the printer of the Journal.

He reads all messages, bills, and other papers required by the House to be read, and calls the roll of members.

He keeps the files of the House, preserving all petitions and other papers belonging to its archives, arranged alphabetically, and under the head of the Congress at which they were last acted upon.