PREFACE ΤΟ THE CODE OF THE LAWS OF THE This Code is the official restatement in convenient form of the general and permanent laws of the United States in force December 7, 1925, now scattered in 25 volumes-i. e., the Revised Statutes of 1878, and volumes 20 to 43, inclusive, of the Statutes at Large. No new law is enacted and no law repealed. It is prima facie the law. It is presumed to be the law. The presumption is rebuttable by production of prior unrepealed Acts of Congress at variance with the Code. Because of such possibility of error in the Code and of appeal to the Revised Statutes and Statutes at Large, a table of statutes repealed prior to December 7, 1925, is published herein together with the Articles of Confederation; The Declaration of Independence; Ordinance of 1787; the Constitution with amendments and index; tables of cross references to the Revised Statutes, the Statutes at Large, the United States Compiled Statutes, Annotated, of the West Publishing Co., and the Federal Statutes, Annotated, of the Edward Thompson Co.; an appendix with the general and permanent laws of the first session of the Sixty-ninth Congress; and finally an exhaustive index of the laws in the Code and appendix. The first official codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States was made in 1874 and followed by a perfected edition in 1878. From 1897 to 1907 a commission was engaged in an effort to codify the great mass of accumulating legislation. The work of the commission involved an expenditure of over $300,000, but was never carried to completion. More recently the task of codification was undertaken by the late Hon. Edward C. Little as chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the House of Representatives, who labored indefatigably from 1919 to the day of his death, June 24, 1924. The volumes which represented the result of his labors were embodied in bills which passed the House of Representatives in three successive Congresses unanimously but failed of action in the Senate. The Code now set forth has resulted from the hearty cooperation of the Committee of the House of Representatives on the Revision of the Laws, and the Select Committee of the United States Senate consisting of Richard P. Ernst, chairman, George Wharton Pepper, and William Cabell Bruce. Under the auspices of the committees of the House and the Senate the actual work of assembling and classifying the mass of material has been done by the West Publishing Co. and the Edward Thompson Co. These two houses have subordinated their private interests to the public good and have produced a result which would have been impossible without them. Acknowledgment of valuable assistance is given to W. H. McClenon, of the Legislative Reference Division of the Library of Congress, and to the law officers and other representatives of the several departments, bureaus, and commissions of the Government. Appreciation is also expressed of the interest in the work taken by the Committee on the Revision of the Federal Statutes of the American Bar Association. Scrutiny of this Code is invited. Constructive criticism is solicited. It is the ambition of the Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the House of Representatives gradually to perfect the Code by correcting errors, eliminating obsolete matter, and restating the law with logical completeness and with precision, brevity, and uniformity of expression. Address criticisms to Chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. ROY G. FITZGERALD, Chairman. Washington, June 30, 1926. iv |