454

TWENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 16. 1841.

Proviso.

Nett proceedsof sales of pub-lic lands, paya-ble at the Trea-sury half yearly,to whom.

Money dueand payable bythis act to befirst applied topayments ofdebts due U. S.

Proviso.

Act of June23,1836, ch.115.

Length of con-tinuation of thisact.

Proviso.

N ot less than$150,000 to beappropriatedannually forsurveys.

Proviso.

Act of March2, 1833, ch. 53.

District of Columbia shall be entitled, shall be applied to free schools,or education in some other form, as Congress may direct: And pro-vided, also, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to theprejudice of future applications for a reduction of the price of the publiclands, or to the prejudice of applications for a transfer of the publiclands, on reasonable terms, to the States within which they lie, or tomake such future disposition of the public lands, or any part thereof, asCongress may deem expedient.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the several sums of moneyreceived in the Treasury as the nett proceeds of the sales of the publiclands shall be paid at the Treasury half yearly on the first day of Januaryand July in each year, during the operation of this act, to such personor persons as the respective Legislatures of the said States and Territo-ries, or the Governors thereof, in case the Legislatures shall have madeno such appointment, shall authorize and direct to receive the same.

Sec. 4. And be it farther enacted, That any sum of money, whichat any time may become due, and payable to any State of the Union, orto the District of Columbia , by virtue of this act, as the portion of thesaid State or District, of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands,shall be first applied to the payment of any debt, due, and payable fromthe said State or District, to the United States : Provided, That thisshall not be construed to extend to the sums deposited with the Statesunder the act of Congress of twenty-third June, eighteen hundred andthirty-six, entitled “ an act to regulate the deposites of the public mo-ney,” nor to any sums apparently due to the United States as balancesof debts growing out of the transactions of the Revolutionary war.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue andbe in force until otherwise provided by law, unless the United States shall become involved in war with any foreign Power, in which event,from the commencement of hostilities, this act shall be suspended duringthe continuance of such war : Provided, nevertheless, That if, prior tothe expiration of this act, any new State or States shall be admitted intothe Union, there be assigned to such new State or States, the proportionof the proceeds accruing after their admission into the Union, to whichsuch State or States may be entitled, upon the principles of this act, to-gether with what such State or States may be entitled to by virtue ofcompacts to be made on their admission into the Union.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That there shall be annuallyappropriated for completing the surveys of said lands, a sum no.t. lessthan one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and the minimum priceat which the public lands are now sold at private sale shall not be in-creased, unless Congress shall think proper to grant alternate sectionsalong the line of any canal or other internal improvement, and at thesame time to increase the minimum price of the sections reserved; andin case the same shall be increased by law, except as aforesaid, at anytime during the operation of this act, then so much of this act as pro-vides that the nett proceeds of the sales of the public lands shall be dis-tributed among the several States, shall, from and after the increase ofthe minimum price thereof, cease and become utterly null and of noeffect, any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided,That if, at any time during the existence of this act, there shall be animposition of duties on imports inconsistent with the provisions of theact of March second one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, en-titled, “ An act to modify the act of the fourteenth of July one thousandeight hundred and thirty-two, and all other acts imposing duties on im-ports,” and beyond the rate of duty fixed by that act, to wit: twentyper cent, on the value of such imports, or any of them, then the distri-bution-»-provided in this act shall be suspended and shall so continueuntil this cause of its suspension shall be removed, and when removed,