Proviso; as no banks are and eighteen, for the performance of the duties aforesaid, as the public convenience will permit: And pro- to states where vided also, That this act shall not be construed to ex- established by tend to any agent for military pensions in any State law. where there is no bank established by law. Office of com missioner of ans ished, etc. abol SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the office of commissioner of loans, upon the delivery of the records and papers, as herein required, to the Bank of the United States, or its branches, or to the State banks employed by the Bank of the United States in those States where there may be no branch, shall be, and hereby is, abolished; and the pay and emoluments of the said commissioners of loans, and the clerks and persons employed by them, after such delivery, shall respectively cease and determine. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the act, entitled "An act for the prompt settlement of public accounts," shall commence, and be in force, on and after force from the the third day of this instant, March, any thing in the 1817. aforesaid act to the contrary notwithstanding. Approved, March 3, 1817. ACT OF MARCH 3, 1817. CHAP. LXXXV.-An act to repeal so much of any acts now in force as authorize a loan of money, or an issue of treasury notes. (Sections 1 and 2 repeal so much of any acts of Congress as authorizes the President to borrow money on the credit of the United States, and to cause certificates of stock to be issued therefor, or to cause treasury notes to be prepared and issued: Provided, That no securities for money already borrowed shall thus be invalidated, nor shall the right of the holders of treasury notes already issued be affected.) An act for the prompt settlement of public accounts in 3d of Mar., Act of Mar. 3, 1817, ch. 45. 3 Stat. L., 377. the act men thorizes a re Treasury notes, Feb. 24, 1815, SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That so much of So much of the act, entitled "An act to authorize the issuing of tioned, as auTreasury notes for the service of the year one thousand issue of the eight hundred and fifteen," as makes it lawful for the repealed. Secretary of the Treasury to cause the Treasury notes, ch. 56. [in] cases therein mentioned, to be re-issued and applied anew to the same purposes, and in the same manner, as when originally issued, be, and the same is hereby repealed. notes now, or come, the prop United States, Treasury SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all Treasury which may be notes which are now, or shall hereafter become, the property of the erty of the United States, (from reimbursement, purto be canceled. chase, exchange, or receipts, on account of taxes, duties, and demands,) shall be cancelled or destroyed at such times, and under such regulations and securities, as the commissioners of the sinking fund, with the approbation of the President, shall establish and determine. Approved, March 3, 1817. ACT OF MARCH 3, 1817. 3 Stat. L., CHAP. LXXXVII.—An act to provide for the redemp 379. [Obsolete.] appropriation tion of the public debt. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assemActs making bled, That so much of any act or acts of Congress, as for the pur- makes appropriations for the purchase or reimbursethe funded ment of the principal, or for the payment of the interest, of the funded debt of the United States be, and the same is hereby repealed. chase, etc., of debt, etc., repealed A n annual priated to the sinking fund. of the money. sum of $10,- SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That from the pro000,000 appro- ceeds of the duties on merchandise imported, and on the tonnage of vessels, and from the proceeds of the internal duties, and of the sales of western lands, now belonging, or which may hereafter belong, to the United States, the annual sum of ten millions of dollars be, and the same Application is yearly, appropriated to the sinking fund; and the said sum is hereby declared to be vested in the commissioners of the sinking fund, in the same manner as the moneys heretofore appropriated to the said fund, to be applied by the said commissioners to the payment of interest and charges, and to the reimbursement or purThe Secre- chase of the principal of the public debt; and it shall Treasury to be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury annually 000,000 to the to cause to be paid to the commissioners of the sinking of the sinking fund, the said sum of ten millions of dollars, in such payments, and at such times in each year, as the situato the time of tion of the treasury will best admit: Provided, That all such payments as may be necessary to enable the said commissioners to discharge or reimburse any demands against the United States, on account of the principal or interest of the debt which shall be actually due in conformity to the engagements of the said United tary of the pay the $10, commissioners fund. Proviso; as payment. Proviso; as to payments the com missioners States, shall [and] may be made at such times in each year as will enable the said commissioners faithfully and punctually to comply with such engagement: Provided also, That any money which may have been paid, be- made to fore the passage of this act, to the commissioners of the heretofore. sinking fund for the year one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, as a part of the annual appropriation heretofore made by law to that fund, shall be held to be a payment for the year one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, on account of the appropriation of ten millions hereinbefore directed. $ 9, 000, 000 additional ap the sinking year 1817, etc. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That in addition to the sum of ten millions of dollars, hereinbefore annually propriated to appropriated to the sinking fund, there shall be appro- fund for the priated for the year one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, to the sinking fund, the further sum of nine millions of dollars, to be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, at such time within. the year as the Secretary of the Treasury shall deem most conducive to the public interest, to be applied by the commissioners of the sinking fund to the purchase or redemption of the public debt: and it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury, at any time during the year one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, if he shall deem it expedient to do so, to cause to be paid to the commissioners of the sinking fund a further sum, not exceeding four millions of dollars, which shall be considered as A further an advance to that amount, on the appropriation of ten 000 during millions, payable in the next year, and the said amount vance, if, etc. shall also be applied by the said commisisoners to the purchase or redemption of the public debt, and the com- Purchase of missioners aforesaid are authorized and directed to apply by the bank, the sums by this act appropriated to the purchase and redemption of the public debt, holden by the Bank of the United States, if not otherwise to be obtained on the terms stated in this act. sum of $4,000, 1817, in ad the debt holden etc. in the treas propriations, two millions SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That after the year Any surplus one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, whenever ury, above ap there shall be, at any time after an adjournment of Con- and leaving gress, in any year, a surplus of money in the treasury, the re, appro above the sums appropriated for the service of such year, sinking fund. the payment of which to the commissioners of the sinking fund, will yet leave in the treasury, at the end of the year, a balance equal to two millions of dollars, then priated to the When there is a surplus in fund, the com purchase the market price. to exceed the such surplus shall be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to the sinking fund, to be paid at such times as the situation of the treasury will best permit; and shall be applied, by the commissioners thereof, to the purchase or redemption of the public debt. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That whenever, in the sinking any year, there shall be a surplus in the sinking fund, missioners may beyond the amount of interest and principal, which may debt at the be actually due and payable to the United States, in such year, in conformity with their engagements, the commissioners of the sinking fund shall be, and they are hereby, authorized, with the approbation of the President of the United States, to purchase the debt of the United The price not States, at its market price, if such price shall not exceed rates specified. the following rates, viz: for stock of the United States, bearing an interest of three per centum per annum, there shall not be paid more than sixty-five dollars for every hundred dollars of the principal thereof: for stock bearing an annual interest of six per centum per annum, there shall not be paid more than the par or true value thereof; and for stock bearing an annual interest of seven per centum, there shall not be paid an advance above the par value thereof, which shall exceed, for every hundred dollars of stock, the computed value of an annuity of one dollar for a number of years, equal to that during which the stock so purchased will not be reimbursable at the pleasure of government, estimating, in such computation, the interest of money at six per centum per Certificates of the public come the prop United States, annum. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all certificates debt which be of public debt which, by payment or purchase, have beerty of the come, or hereafter shall become, the property of the to be cancelled. United States, shall be cancelled or destroyed, at such times, and under such regulations and securities, as the commissioners of the sinking fund, with the approbaNo interest tion of the President, shall establish and determine. And certificates can- no interest shall be considered as accruing, and no furcelled, etc. ther payment shall be made, on account of such debt, to accrue on the certificates of which have been so cancelled and destroyed. Nothing in SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this this act to prevent Con-act contained shall be construed to prevent the Congress plying surplus of the United States, if war shall occur with any foreign gress from ap to other ob jects in case of power, from applying, to any object of public service, war, etc. etc. Nor to af any surplus of the amount herein appropriated to the sinking fund, which may be left in any year after paying the interest and principal which may be actually due and payable by the United States, in conformity with their engagements. Nor shall any thing in this act be fect pledges of construed to repeal, alter, or affect, any of the provisions former acts, of any former act, pledging the faith of the United States to the payment of the interest or principal of the public debt, but all such payments shall continue to be made at the time heretofore prescribed by law, excepting only as before provided, that no payments shall be made on certificates which have become the property of the United States. Approved, March 3, 1817. ACT OF MARCH 3, 1817. CHAP. XCIII. An act to incorporate the subscribers to certain banks in the District of Columbia, and to prevent the circulation of the notes of unincorporated associations within the said district. Exception. 383. 3 Stat. L., Restrictions to buying, sell etc. SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the bank shall, on the bank as in no case, buy and sell the funded debt of the United ing, trading, States, or of any State, or be owners of any ships or vessels, or directly or indirectly be concerned in trade, or the importation, exportation, purchase or sale of any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, except bills of exchange, or bullion, and such ships, vessels, goods, wares, or merchandise, as shall be truly pledged to them by way of security, for debts due, owing, or growing due to the said bank, or purchased by it to secure such debts: Provided, Proviso; as nevertheless, That the said bank may sell and dispose of debt now held either the whole or any part of the funded debt of the United States, which it now holds. to the funded by the bank. (Sections 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 apply same provisions to other banks in Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria.) Approved, March 3, 1817. |