Senate amendment No. 20 was agreed to with the following amendment: Add after "feeble-minded", blind, deaf and dumb.

The committee of conference were unable to agree on amendments numbered 24, 26, and 27. Amendment 24 gives authority to the Director of the Census to contract for printing and binding for the Census Office under certain conditions with private establishments on the principle of competition.

Amendment No. 26 authorizes the Director of the Census, under the supervision of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to purchase or acquire by condemnation the real estate and building now occupied by the Census Office and the lot adjoining the same. The amendment also authorizes the Director of the Census, under the supervision of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to construct a building upon the additional land purchased for the use of the Census Office.

Amendment No. 27 has reference simply to the renumbering of the sections of the bill.

EDGAR D. CRUMPACKER,

EDWIN C. BURLEIGH,

JAMES HAY,

Managers on the part of the House of Representatives.

ESTABLISHMENT OF CONSULATE AT CATANIA, ITALY.

JANUARY 19, 1909.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. PERKINS, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 26709.]

A letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, together with one from the Acting Secretary of State (H. Doc. 1328), in reference to the consulate at Messina, Italy, was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. As is known to all, the city of Messina was destroyed by the recent earthquake, and the consular work of the Messina district is now being transferred to Catania, a port about 50 miles distant. In view of the destruction of Messina it seems expedient that the site of the consulate should be transferred to Catania, and the business transacted in this part of Italy fully justifies us in stationing a consulate at that place. It is to be hoped that the disaster by which Messina was destroyed will not be repeated, yet in view of the nature of the work that will be required of the consul at the place to which he will be assigned, together with the material increase of the cost of living in this section of Italy by reason of the recent earthquake, it seems to the committee quite proper that the salary to be paid at Catania should be $3.000 per annum. The committee therefore recommends the passage of the accompanying bill.

H R-60-2-Vol 1-16

60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.) 2d Session.

No.

AMENDMENT IN RELATION TO BONDING GOVERNMENT OFFICERS.

JANUARY 20, 1909.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. ALEXANDER, of New York, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 24135.]

The Committee on the Judiciary, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 24135) entitled a bill to amend an act entitled "An act making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and for other purposes," report the same favorably and recommend that said bill do pass.

The law as it now stands requires all bonds to be renewed at least once in every four years after their dates, so that every bonded officer of the Government must execute a new bond at least once in every four years similar to the bond originally given.

In a decision dated June 17, 1899, construing the provisions of the act above referred to, the Comptroller of the Treasury said: "When a second bond is given under the same appointment or commission, without any changes in the duties of the officer, the giving of said bond does not operate to release the sureties on the first bond as to future transactions, but as to said future transactions the sureties on both bonds are jointly and severally liable."

All such renewal bonds are therefore held to be cumulative, and are so treated by the accounting officers of the Treasury, the accounts of an officer being stated not with reference to the last or "renewal " bond, but under all the bonds executed by him under the same. appointment.

The liability of an officer to the Government upon his bond is thereby successively increased upon the recurrence of each renewal period. This is true even in cases where the penalty of the bond to be required of a particular officer is fixed by law. Thus, in the case of an officer from whom the law requires a bond of $100,000, the first