the national capital has said that Alaska has never produced enough to pay her original cost. The fact is that Alaska has produced more than $68,000,000 since her purchase by the United Stated in the fishing and seal industries, not including the output of her mines. The commerce and trade of the country have also been much greater than the casual observer could possibly conceive of." The acquisition of the coal fields of Alaska by England is of far more importance than may be appreciated by our government. To make this matter plainer, it is well to call attention to the fact that the only coal supply station now open to the United States on the Pacific coast is on Puget sound. The Alaskan coal deposits have been proved to be very extensive, although not yet being opened up to the commercial world. England now, through the Dominion of Canada, has vast coal fields in British Columbia. The only ocean inlet to Puget sound is the strait of San Juan de Fuca, washing the shores of United States territory on the south and the British possessions on the north. It may be pertinent in this connection to say that the English government is now at work on strong fortifications on the shores of this strait, fortifications that will cost millions of dollars and will not be exceeded for impregnability by any fort on the continent. With these the strait of San Juan de Fuca will be practically under British control, and with the Alaskan coal fields owned by England the United States would not have a coaling station in the entire Pacific waters. Besides this, England at all times has a liberal fleet of warships at Esquimalt, Vancouver island, the point where the great fort is now being constructed. The revenues now derived by the British from their inland possessions bordering on Alaska are of such extent that she is looking with jealous eye upon the rich country, the harbors, the lumber, the coal, the mineral wealth, the fishing and seal industry, all within the lands and waters now the property of the United States, and for the continued own. ership of which the Americans on the North Pacific coast are exceedingly anxious that the government at Washington shall resist the claims of Great Britain with all its energy and power. ALIEN LAND-OWNING. The evils resulting from the large holdings of American real estate by alien landlords have been severely felt by many of the new and some of the older states of the union. These foreign land-owners impede the development of the states in which their holdings are located. They refuse to sell their lands, and prefer to establish a system of agencies and bailiffs detrimental to the state and the counties in which the lands are located. Several state legislatures, notably in Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska, have made efforts to deal with the question, but so far with only indifferent success. The government of the United States has passed a law to restrict ownership of real estate in the territories to American citizens, and such law is still in force. The act of 1878 provided that "it shall be unlawful for any person or persons not citizens of the United States, or who have not lawfully declared their intention to become such citizens, or for any corporation not created by or under the laws of the United States or of some state or territory of the United States, to hereafter acquire, hold or own real estate so hereafter acquired, or any interest therein, in any of the territories of the United States or in the District of Columbia, except such as may be acquired by inheritance or in good faith in the ordinary course of justice in the collection of debts heretofore created." The second section provides that no corporation of which more than 20 per cent of the capital stock is held by aliens shall acquire or hold real estate in the territories. The third section regulates the holding of lands by railway, turnpike and canal companies, and the fourth provides that "all property acquired, held or owned in violation of the provisions of this act shall be forfeited to the United States." In 1887 the state of Illinois passed a law to restrict the right of aliens to acquire and hold real property. The fact that Viscount Scully practically owns the best parts of the counties of Logan, Livingston and Tazewell, and is conducting a system of tenantry offensive to the people, was the cause of the law. The law provides that: "A non-resident alien, firm of aliens, or corporation incorporated under the laws of any foreign country, shall not be capable of acquiring title to or taking or holding any land or real estate in this state, by descent, devise, purchase or otherwise, except that the heirs of aliens who have heretofore acquired lands in this state under the laws thereof, and the heirs of aliens who may acquire land under the provisions of this act, may take such lands by devise or descent and hold the same for the space of three years and no longer, if such alien at the time of so acquiring such land is of the age of twenty-one years, and if not twenty-one years of age, then for the term of five years from the time of so acquiring such lands; and if, at the end of the time herein limited, such lands so acquired by such alien heirs have not been sold to bona-fide purchasers for value or such alien heirs have not become actual residents of this state, the same shall revert and escheat to the state of Illinois the same as the lands of other aliens under the provisions of this act." Some of the other western states have similar laws. All that has been done to limit alien landholding has been at the instance and through the influence of the organized associations of the tenantry on such estates in the several states, and their movements have always been attended with the utmost secrecy. Such an association exists in Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas to resist to the utmost the demands of the English landlords. The organization is a secret one and is the first really agrarian agitation in American history. The association has already influenced legislation in a marked degree. This development in the situation more than anything else has caused the English land-owners to form an alliance among themselves. The movement was first proposed in the interest of the Scully estate in Illinois. It is intended to have an agent in attendance at the meetings of the legislatures of all the states involved this winter. The matter was brought to the attention of the British ambassador to the United States in the fall of 1894, when he visited the London foreign office, but what is to be done in the matter no one cares to say. The English owners feel that they have not been fairly dealt with by their American tenantry, and it is likely that this year (1896) will witness a crisis in the entire western agrarian movement. The duke of Beaufort and the duke of Sutherland both assert that the meetings of the land-owners now periodically held at the Bank of England are meant entirely to effect economy in the collection of rents. At present each land-owner has his set of agents, who work independently. By consolidating the collection systems the landlords hope to expedite business. The tenants profess to be alarmed by this new development. They see in it more rack-renting, and committees have been detailed to obtain legal redress if possible. At any event there is in prospect for the first time an open war between the British land-owners and their tenants in America. It is impossible to give a strictly accurate list of the foreign land-owners and their realestate holdings in this country, but the following comprises the names of the largest syndicates and individual holders, with the acreage under their control and their location. While not complete, it shows the extent of the evil against which so much complaint is made in many quarters: The Texas Land Union (Syndicate No. 3) owns 3,000,000 acres. Interested peers: Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Earl Cadogan, H. C. Fitzroy Somerset (duke of Beaufort), William Alexander Lochiel Stephenson Douglas-Hamilton (duke of Beaudon), the duke of Rutland, U. J. Kay-Shuttleworth and Ethel Cadogan (maid in waiting to the queen). This syndicate owns whole counties in Texas and tens of thousands of persons pay it rentals. Sir Edward Reid. 2,000,000 acres in Florida only. This syndicate includes the present duchess of Marlborough, Lady Randolph Churchill and Lady Lister-Kaye. Viscount Scully, 3,000,000 acres in central Illinois. His lordship maintains an elaborate system of bailiffs. Syndicate No, 4, 1,800,000 acres in Mississippi. It includes the marquis of Dalhousie, George Henry Howard Cholmondeley (Viscount Cholmondeley), Georgiania (Viscountess Cross), the Hon. Lady Hamilton Gordon and the Hon. Lady Biddulph. Marquis of Tweedale, 1,750,000 acres. The marquis is William Montagu Hay, notorious in Scotland as the rack-rent lord. Phillips, Marshall & Co., London, 1,300,000 acres. This firm has the whole peerage for its clients. The Anglo-American Syndicate, London, 750,000 acres. The funds of widowed peeresses are largely invested here. The lands are in the south and west. Bryan H. Evans, 700,000 acres in Mississippi. Mr. Evans resides in London. The duke of Sutherland, 125,000 acres. The duke is widely known as a rack-rent nobleman of police court fame. The British Land Company, 320,000 acres in Kansas. William Whalley, 310,000 acres. Mr. Whal- Benjamin Newgas Liverpool, 100,000 acres. English Land Company, 50,000 acres in Alexander Grant, London, 35,000 acres in Kansas. Syndicate No. 6. 110,000 acres in Wisconsin. This syndicate includes the earl of Verulam and the earl of Lankeville. M. Elfenhauser, Halifax, 600,000 acres in West Virginia. Syndicate No. 1, 50,000 acres in Florida. This is a Scotch concern. It is claimed that fully 20,000,000 acres of American land are thus owned by great landowners in England and Scotland. This does not include the Holland Syndicate, which owns 5,000,000 acres of grazing land in western states, nor the German Syndicate, owning 2,000,000 acres in various states. THE TORRENS SYSTEM. Registration and transfer of title to real estate. Illinois is the first state in the union to move in the direction of adopting the so-called Torrens system of registration and transfer of the title to real estate. The system is by no means a new one except on this continent. It has been in operation for over a century in Prussia, Bavaria and other European states, notably in Hamburg, where it has been used for upward of 600 years. It has been in use since 1858 in South Australia, since 1861 in Queensland, since 1862 in Victoria and New South Wales, since 1863 in Tasmania, since 1870 in New Zealand and British Columbia, since 1874 in parts of England and in Western Australia, since 1884 in Ontario (Canada) and since 1885 in Manitoba. It is therefore no untried system. into effect was presented to the legislature in 1893. It passed the senate by a vote of 28 yeas to 4 nays, but lacked 7 votes of a majority in the house and failed. At the session of the legislature in 1895 the bill was again presented, passed and became a law July 1, 1895. It does not, however, become operative until it is submitted to a vote of the people of a county and adopted by a majority of the In 1891 the Real Estate Board of the city of Chicago invited Mr. Theodore Sheldon to explain the Torrens system, which invitation he accepted. Soon after the State Bar Association procured the adoption of a joint resolution by the XXXVIIth general assembly authorizing a commission to make an investigatlon of the system and report to the governor. The governor appointed as that commission James K. Edsall, Theodore Sheldon and Willis G. Jack son, of Chicago, George W. Prince of Galesburg and Frank H. Jones of Springfield. The death of Mr. Edsall made a vacancy which was filled by the appointment of H B. Hurd. The report of the commission was made in December, 1892 The commission favored the adoption of the system and a bill carrying it votes cast. The great purpose of the Torrens system is to free land titles of the expense of conveyance, the perils that have always attended real-estate transactions and the expense of investigating chains of title back through former owners. Judge Hurd, one of the commissioners of the state appointed to investigate the system, gives the following as to its details: The first step is to provide an officer, or set of officers, experts who can make an examination of title once for all down to a given time-that is, down to the time of the application to have the title registered; and the title being found to be in the applicant, to certify that fact, entering the certificate in a book called the register, and delivering a copy to the owner, which certificate is conclusive as to ownership. "This is called registering the title, and is quite a different thing from recording the instruments of conveyance or keeping an abstract of them. The title being thus registered, the next thing is to provide for subsequent dealings so that at each transfer of the title all questions of form and substance must be conclusively settled so that the purchaser will get just what he buys. If he buys a fee-simple clear of all incumbrances he will get a feesimple clear of all incumbrances; if he buys subject to incumbrance or any less interest than a fee it will appear upon the register and in the certificate that will be delivered to him, and there is no going back of the certificate. It is a matter of no consequence to him who owned the land before him, or how many owners there may have been, or what nice questions of law have been or might be raised upon the various conveyances through which it has come down to him; they have all been settled and dropped into oblivion. "All this is made practicable and comparatively easy by the simple manner in which the register is kept. The first certificate is the first thing that will appear in the register, this being a new root of title, back of which it is not necessary to go; all that need be attended to is the subsequent dealings. If the registered owner mortgages it, the mortgage will be filed in the office of the registrar and a memorial of mortgage will be entered immediately under the certificate of title. When the mortgage is released the notation will be canceled. If an execution or attachment is levied upon the land the fact is certified to the registrar and he enters at the same place a memorial of the fact. When that is disposed of the memorial is disposed of, and so on as to everything that may affect the title up to the time of the next transfer. "When the owner wishes to transfer the land he surrenders his certificate of title and it is canceled. A new one is issued to the transferee, which is registered upon a new page. The dealings under the old certificate are closed and thereafter will proceed under the new. Each successive certificate constitutes a new root of title. If the transfer is subject to incumbrances or outstanding interests of any kind the notation of them under the former certificate will be brought forward by entry under the new. "When only a part of the land described in a certificate of title is transferred a new certificate is issued to the transferee for what he gets and another to the owner for the balance, I have not attempted to go into exceptions, as in case of frauds, etc., or into particulars beyond sufficient to give an understanding of the leading principles upon which the system proceeds, which may be summed up in a single line: Clear up everything as you go along and have no afterclaps. Short accounts and frequent settlements avoid difficulties." Sir Robert Torrens, after whom the system is named, because he more than any one else has systematized the various modes of pro cedure in vogue in various countries into the modern plan, says: "It is not necessary to examine abstracts of title-these no longer exist-they having been delivered up to the registrar, and that officer, when he grants a certificate of title, cancels all previous evidences of title. Accordingly, an investor runs no risk of blunder or any incompetency of the conveyancer or examining solicitor. Every transaction has its complete security and finality. "In fine, the benefits which have attended this measure, wherever adopted in its integrity, may be summed up: 1. It has substituted security for insecurity. "2. It has reduced the cost of conveyancing from pounds to shillings and the time occupied from months to days. "3. It has exchanged obscurity and verbiage for brevity and clearness. "4. It has so simplified ordinary dealings that he who has mastered the three R's' can transact his own conveyancing. "5. It affords protection against fraud. "6. It has restored to their just value many estates, held under good holding titles, but depreciated in consequence of some blur or technical defect, and barred the recurrence of any similar fault. 7. It has largely diminished the number of chancery suits by removing those conditions that afford grounds for them." In a British province where the Torrens system has been in force for some time the registrar-general sums up its benefits as follows: "1. The title to real property has been greatly simplified without radical changes in the general law. 2. Stability of title, with safety to purchasers and mortgagees, has been secured. "3. The ownership of property, either in town or country, is shown by the register at a glance, and whether it is incumbered or not. "4. It increases the salable value of property. "5. It enables both venders and purchasers to accurately ascertain the expenses of carrying out any sale or transfer. "6. It protects trusts, estates and beneficiaries. 7. It prevents fraud and protects purchasers and mortgagees from misrepresentations. 8. It has secured the chief advantages of the old system of recording of deeds (of which notice is the most important principle) and has operated so as to almost entirely dispense with investigations of prior title." The system has lately been considered by a number of states-New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, California, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Wisconsin and possibly some others. IMPORTANT LEGISLATION. The following is a synopsis of the last session of the LIIId Congress to March 4, 1895, when it expired by limit of law: FOR RELIEF OF HOMESTEADERS. WHEREAS, During the summer and autumn of 1891 extensive forest fires prevailed in northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, resulting in the death of many homesteaders and their families, the destruction of their property and effects, and of much of the green timber growing upon them, which homesteads are valuable chiefly for the timber standing and growing on them; and, WHEREAS, Under existing law homesteaders are not allowed to cut or sell green or burned timber, except for the purpose of clearing and improving, and all burned timber not cut within a short period will become worthless and a loss to the settler and the government; therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep resentatives of the United States of America în Congress assembled, That all such persons actually occupying homesteads in said states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan at the time of such fires, upon claims under the laws of the United States, on lands of the United States, whose property and buildings were destroyed by such fires, and the heirs of all such persons who perished by such fires, and all persons who by reason of such fires and loss of property were obliged to leave their homesteads, are hereby granted two years' additional time in which to make final proof. And temporary absence for any period within two years from the date of this act shall be deemed constructive possession and residence, but shall not be deducted from the time required to make final proof. SEC. 2. That all persons whose property was destroyed by such fires, and the heirs of all persons who were actual occupants of the homesteads at the time of the fire, and who lost their lives in and by that fire, may, by proving such actual occupancy at the date of such fires, make proof showing compliance with the law up to the date of the fire, and shall make payment at the minimum price under existing statues, in the same manner as if such claimants were alive, and upon receipt of such proof of loss of property by such fires, or death of the claimant, heirs surviving, and upon payment as aforesaid, a patent shall be issued to such claimant. or his or her heirs. SEC. 3. That the claimant upon any homestead, who by reason of not having lived thereon the necessary length of time to enable him to commute under section 2301 of the revised statutes as amended by the act of March 3, 1891, his heirs, executor, administrator, or guardian of his minor heirs, may, when the quantity of timber destroyed upon his or her homestead shall not exceed 75,000 feet of merchantable green timber, file an estimate in the land office where such homestead was entered, with such reasonable proofs as the commissioner of public lands may prescribe, as to the quantity of timber destroyed upon any sectional subdivision, and thereupon the register and receiver may, under the direction of the commissioner of public lands, issue a license or permit to cut the burned timber on any homestead or sectional fraction thereof, upon payment of the sum of $1.25 per acre for such sectional subdivision, and the government shall issue a patent for the same to the claimant or his or her heirs. Approved Jan. 19, 1895. COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS' TICKETS. An amendment to the interstate commerce law provided that nothing in this act shall prevent the issuance of joint interchangeable 5,000-mile tickets, with special privileges as to the amount of free baggage that may be carried under mileage tickets of 1,000 or more miles. But before any common carrier, subject to the provisions of this act, shall issue any such joint interchangeable mileage tickets with special privileges, as aforesaid, it shall file with the interstate commerce commission copies of the joint tariffs of rates, fares or charges on which such joint interchangeable mileage tickets are to be based, together with specifications of the amount of free baggage permitted to be carried under such tickets, in the same manner as common carriers are required to do with regard to other joint rates by section 6 of this act; and all the provisions of said section 6 relating to joint rates, fares and charges shall be observed by said common carriers and enforced by the interstate commerce commission as fully with regard to such joint interchangeable mileage tickets as with regard to other joint rates, fares and charges referred to in said section 6. It shall be unlawful for any common carrier that has issued or authorized to be issued any such joint interchangeable mileage tickets to demand, collect or receive from any person or persons a greater or less compensation for transportation of persons or baggage under such joint interchangeable mileage tickets than that required by the rate, fare or charge specified in the copies of the joint tariff of rates, fares or charges filed with the commission in force at the time. The provisions of section 10 of this act shall apply to any violation of the requirements of this proviso. Approved Feb. 8, 1895. GETTYSBURG MILITARY PARK. That the secretary of war is hereby authorized to receive from the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, a corporation chartered by the state of Pennsylvania, a all the lands belonging to said association, deed of conveyance to the United States of embracing about 800 acres, more or less, and being a considerable part of the battlefield of Gettysburg, together with all rights of way over avenues through said lands acquired by said association, and all improvements made by it in and upon the same. Upon the due execution and delivery to the secretary of war of such deed of conveyance, the secreBattlefield Memorial Association the sum of tary of war is authorized to pay to the said $2,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary to discharge the debts of said association, the amount of such debts to be verified by the officers thereof, and the sum of $2,000 is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to meet and defray such charges. SEC. 2. That as soon as the lands aforesaid shall be conveyed to the United States the secretary of war shall take possession of the same, and such other lands on the battlefield as the United States have acquired, or shall hereafter acquire, by purchase or condemnation proceedings; and the lands aforesaid shall be designated and known as the "Gettysburg National Park." SEC. 3. That the Gettysburg National Park shall, subject to the supervision and direction of the secretary of war, be in charge of the commissioners heretofore appointed by the secretary of war for the location and acquisition of lands at Gettysburg, and their successors; the said commissioners shall have their office at Gettysburg, and while on duty shall be paid such compensation out of the appropriation provided in this act as the secretary of war shall deem reasonable and just. And it shall be the duty of the said commissioners, under the direction of the secretary of war, to superintend the opening of such additional roads as may be necessary for the purposes of the park and for the improvement of the avenues heretofore laid out therein, and to properly mark the boundaries of the said park, and to ascertain and definitely mark the lines of battle of all troops engaged in the battle of Gettysburg, so far as the same shall fall within the limits of the park. SEC. 4. That the secretary of war is hereby authorized and directed to acquire, at such times and in such manner as he may deem best calculated to serve the public interest, such lands in the vicinity of Gettysburg, Pa., not exceeding in area the parcels shown on the map prepared by Major-General Daniel E. Sickles, United States army, and now on file in the office of the secretary of war, which were occupied by the infantry, cavalry and artillery on the ist, 2d and 3d days of July, 1863, and such other adjacent lands as he may deem necessary to preserve the important topographical features of the battlefield: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be deemed and held to prejudice the rights acquired by any state or by any military organization to the ground on which its monuments or markers are placed, nor the right of way to the same. Section 8 of the bill provides for a bronze tablet containing Mr. Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg, Nov. 19, 1863, on the occasion of the dedication of the national cemetery. The speech was as follows: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead'shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Approved Feb. 11, 1895. PUBLIC BUILDING AT CHICAGO. That the secretary of the treasury is hereby authorized and directed to cause to be erected upon the present postoffice site in the city of Chicago and state of Illinois, which site is bounded by Adams, Jackson, Clark and Dearborn streets, a commodious and sufficiently fireproof building for the use of the postoffice, United States courts, United States sub-treasury, United States collectors, and other necessary officers of the government; the building to be so erected as to occupy all the available area of the present site to the street lines on all sides, and the secretary of the treasury is authorized to contract with the lowest and best bidder, after reasonable notice by advertisement in two or more newspapers published in the city of Chicage, for the sale of the present building as hereinbefore described and the removal of the same from the site where it is now located, and the secretary of the treasury is further authorized and directed to have prepared by the su pervising architect of the treasury department full and complete plans, specifications and detailed drawings of the building to be erected, the said plans to be approved by the secretary of the treasury, the postmastergeneral and the secretary of the interior. SEC. 2. That the secretary of the treasury is hereby further authorized in the specifications for the erection of said building to enter into contract for the construction of any portion thereof, and the several contracts for the different portions of said building shall be awarded, after public advertisement according to law for not less than one month, to the lowest responsible bidder or bidders. Said contracts shall be made at such times that the actual work of construction shall progress continuously, and no delay be caused in the erection of the building: Provided, That the entire cost of said building when completed shall not exceed the sum of $4,000,000. Approved Feb. 13, 1895. THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY. That the president's suggestion, made in his last annual message to this body-namely, that Great Britain and Venezuela refer their dispute as to boundaries to friendly arbitration-be earnestly recommended to the favor That the secretary of the treasury be and is hereby authorized and directed to suspend the operation of section 3005 of the revised statutes, in so far as thes ame permits goods, wares and merchandise to be transported in bond through the United States into the free zone of Mexico, so long as the Mexican freezone law exists: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to prevent the transportation of merchandise in bond to be delivered at points in the territory of Mexico beyond the limits of said free zone. Approved March 1, 1895. COPYRIGHT LAW. If any person, after the recording of the composition, print, cut, engraving, or phototitle of any map, chart, dramatic or musical graph, or chromo, or of the description of any painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or model cuted as a work of the fine arts, as provided or design intended to be perfected and exeby this act, shall, within the term limited, contrary to the provisions of this act, and without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, engrave. etch, work, copy, print, publish, dramatize, translate, or import, either in whole or in part, or by varying the main design, with intent to evade the law, or, knowing the same to be so printed, published, dramatized, translated, or imported, shall sell or expose to sale any copy of such map or other article, as aforesaid, he shall forfeit to the proprietor all the plates on which the same shall be copied and every sheet thereof, either copied or printed, and shall further forfeit $1 for every sheet of the same found in his possession, either printing. printed, copied, published, imported, or exposed for sale; and in case of a painting, statue, or statuary, he shall forfeit $10 for every copy of the same in his possession, or by him sold or exposed for sale: Provided, however, That in case of any such infringement of the copyright of a photograph made from any object not a work of fine arts, the sum to be recovered in any action brought under the provisions of this section shall be not less than $100, nor more than $5,000, and: Provided, further, That in case of any such infringement of the copyright of a painting, drawing, statue, engraving, etching, print, or model or design for a work of the fine arts or of a photograph of a work of the fine arts, the sum to be recovered in any action brought through the provisions of this section shall be not less than $250, and not more than $10,000. One-half of all the foregoing penalties shall go to the proprietors of the copyright and the other half to the use of the United States. Approved March 2, 1895. ACCRUED PENSIONS. That from and after the 28th day of September, 1892, the accrued pension to the date of the death of any pensioner, or of any person entitled to a pension having an application therefor shall issue prior or subsequent to the therefor pending, and whether a certificate death of such person, shall, in the case of a person pensioned, or applying for pension, on account of his disabilities or service, be paid, first, to his widow; second, if there is no widow, to his child or children under the age of 16 years at his death; third, in case of a widow, to her minor children under the age of 16 years at her death. Such accrued pension shall not be considered a part of the assets of the estate of such deceased person, nor be |