# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/24th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 353

Chap. CCCLIII.—An Act in addition to the act entitled “An act making appropriations, in part, for the support of Government, for the year eighteen hundred and thirty-six, and for other purposes.
1836, ch. 7. Appropriations for members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and for various other purposes.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated: For ​compensation granted by law to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, in addition to the appropriation heretofore made for that object, seventy-two thousand two hundred and sixteen dollars; for compensation of the Senators and Representatives elected by Michigan, seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-six dollars; for the contingent expenses of the Senate, twelve thousand dollars; for allowance for wastage in gold and silver coinage at the mint: for labour and for alloy, in addition to the former appropriation, thirty-three thousand dollars; for extra clerk hire in the General Land Office, for the year eighteen hundred and thirty-six, fourteen thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-four cents; for messengers in the offices of the Chief Engineer, Adjutant General, the commanding General, Surgeon General and Inspector General, and in the Clothing Bureau, Topographical, Ordnance, and Subsistence Departments, two thousand five hundred and sixty-eight dollars; for the assistant messenger in the First Comptroller’s office, in addition to a former appropriation, fifty dollars; for compensation to the surveyor in Alabama, in addition to a former appropriation, five hundred dollars; for compensation to the clerks in the office of the Secretary of the Navy, and in the Navy Commissioner’s Office, in addition to the sums already appropriated for the present year, nineteen hundred dollars.
Provision of act of May 9, 1836, ch. 60, relating to a clerk in Naval Commissioners’ office, repealed.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act of the ninth of May, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, “providing for the salaries of certain officers therein mentioned, and for other purposes,” as provides for the employment of an additional clerk in the office of the Navy commissioners, and for his compensation for the year eighteen hundred and thirty-six, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
Third section of act making certain appropriations for 1835 repealed, and Secretary of Treasury authorized to pay collectors, &c. Act of March 3, 1835, ch. 30.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the third section of the act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the Government, for the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, is hereby repealed; and that the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized to pay to the collectors, deputy collectors, naval officers, surveyors, and their respective clerks, together with the weighers, gaugers, measurers, and markers, of the several ports of the United States, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as will give to the said officers, respectively, the same compensation in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, according to the importations of that year, as they would have been entitled to receive, if the1832, ch. 227. Proviso. act of the fourteenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, had not gone into effect: Provided, That no officer shall receive, under this act, a greater annual salary or compensation than was paid to such officer for the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two; and that, in no case shall the compensation of any other officers than collectors, naval officers, surveyors, and clerks, whether by salaries, fees, or otherwise, exceed the sum of fifteen hundred dollars each per annum; nor shall the union of any two or more of those offices in one person, entitle him to receive more than that sum per annum: Provided, further,Proviso. That the said collectors, naval officers, and surveyors, shall render an account quarterly to the Treasury, and the other officers herein named, or referred to, shall render an account quarterly to the respective collectors of the customs, where they are employed, to be forwarded to the Treasury, of all the fees and emoluments whatever by them respectively received; and of all expenses incidental to their respective offices; which accounts shall be rendered on oath or affirmation, and shall be in such form, and be supported by such proofs, to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, as will, in his judgment, best enforce the provisions of this section, and show its operation and effect:Proviso. Proviso. Provided, also, That any salary or compensation due for the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, ​shall not be affected by this section: Provided, however, That in the event of any act being passed by Congress at the present session to regulate and fix the salaries or compensation of the respective officers of the customs, then this section shall operate and extend to the time such act goes into effect, and no longer.
Appropriations for consulates in Turkey, and for other purposes.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the following sums are hereby appropriated to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for interpreters, guards, and other expenses incidental to the consulates in the Turkish dominions, five thousand five hundred dollars. For refunding the duty paid upon the Belgian vessel Antonius and her cargo beyond the amount which would have been paid by a Dutch vessel, fourteen hundred and twenty-six dollars and seven cents. For compensation to the clerks in the office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in addition to a former appropriation, fifty dollars. For an outfit of a Charge d’Affaires to Russia, four thousand five hundred dollars. For compensation to the third Assistant Postmaster General, one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. For compensation to the clerks, messengers and watchmen in the Post Office Department, as provided by the act to change the organization of the said Department, in addition to the sum heretofore appropriated for compensation to the clerks and messengers in the office of the Postmaster General, four thousand and fifty dollars. For compensation to the Auditor for the Post Office Department, one thousand five hundred dollars; for compensation to the clerks and messengers in the office of the Auditor for the Post Office Department, as provided by the1836, ch. 270. act to change the organization of the said Department, twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. For contingencies in the office of the Auditor for the Post Office Department, fifteen hundred dollars. For alterations and repairs of the Capitol, including repairs of the roof over the principal stairway to the Representatives’ hall, and coppering the projecting steps and top surface of the cornice round the base of the dome of the rotunda, six thousand three hundred and eighteen dollars and seventy-five cents. For lighting lamps, and keeping the grounds and walks of the Capitol square in order, including the cost of trees and shrubs, four thousand five hundred dollars. For the gardener employed in superintending the Capitol square and other public grounds, one thousand dollars. For alterations and repairs of the President’s house, for the gardener’s salary, and for keeping the grounds and walks in order, including the cost of trees and shrubs, three thousand four hundred and sixty dollars. For the annual expenses of two fire engines, two hundred dollars. For gravelling the yard east of the Capitol, two thousand dollars. For repairing culverts, two hundred and thirty-one dollars. For purchase of Smith’s spring, including one acre of land, and for enclosing the same, for building culverts and keeping the water-pipes in order, five thousand three hundred dollars. For attendants on the furnaces of the rotunda during the recess, one hundred and fifty dollars. For replanting trees and keeping boxes in order on the Pennsylvania Avenue, purchase of trees and planting in Fountain square, Lafayette square, and across the public reservation at Seventh street, one thousand two hundred dollars. For a workshop, one thousand two hundred dollars. For conveying the surplus water of the Capitol to the Botanic garden, making a basin, and purchasing a fountain of Hiram Powers, five thousand dollars.
For enclosing the garden and grounds of the Magazine and Marine Hospital, near the Eastern Branch, five hundred dollars. For a dwarf wall and fence between the executive buildings and the President’s house, one thousand one hundred and sixty-five dollars and fifty cents. For extending the Capitol square, and improving the grounds within and adjacent to the same, as far west as the first street intersecting the Pennsylvania Avenue from the east, the sum of twenty-five thousand ​dollars, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. For enlarging the folding-room of the House, three hundred and fifty dollars.
For a treasury building.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, [That] the President of the United States be, and he hereby is authorized to cause to be erected on or near the site of the former treasury building, or any other public lot which he may select, a fire-proof building of such dimensions as may be required for the present and future accommodations of the Treasury Department, upon such plan and of such materials as he may deem most advantageous; and that for this purpose there be appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars.
Materials for the walls. Proviso.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the material of which the walls of the Capitol and President’s Mansion are constructed, shall be adopted for the construction of the aforesaid building: Provided, upon full inquiry, a cheaper and more suitable material cannot be obtained.Proviso. And provided always, That the foundation walls of the said buildings below the surface of the earth and two feet above shall be of the hardest and most solid rock.
Building, &c. for patent office.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That there be erected, on some appropriate site, under the direction of the President of the United States, a fire-proof building with suitable accommodations for the Patent Office, and to be provided with the necessary cases and furniture; the expense of which shall not exceed one hundred and eight thousand dollars.
Appropriation therefor.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That there be and hereby is appropriated for defraying the expense of such building and cases, the sum of one hundred and eight thousand dollars, to be paid out of the patent fund in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Material for the walls. Proviso.Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the same kind of material of which the walls of the Capitol and the Mansion of the President are constructed shall be adopted for the construction of the aforesaid building: Provided, a cheaper and more suitable material cannot be procured.
Duties and powers of the commissioners of the sinking fund transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury.Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the duties and powers of the commissioners of the sinking fund are hereby suspended until revived by law, and that the records of the commissioners be transferred to the custody of the Secretary of the Treasury, who is hereby authorized and directed to pay out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated any outstanding debts of the United States and the interest thereon.
For purchase of land, &c. at Key West.Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That for the purchase of eight acres of land with the improvements thereon near the Barracks at Key West, if in the opinion of the Secretary of War the public service and health of the troops require it, a sum not exceeding six thousand dollars is hereby appropriated.
Provisions of an act relating to the number of custom-house officers, suspended. March 3, 1835, ch. 30. 1836, ch. 48.Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That so much of the third section of the act entitled “An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of Government for the year eighteen hundred and thirty-five,” as provides that “the whole number of custom-house officers in the United States on the first of January, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, shall not be increased until otherwise allowed by Congress,” be and the same is hereby suspended until the fourth day of March next.
Approved, July 4, 1836.