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TWENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess.II. Ch. 202. 1842.
Employmentof extra clerks.
Employmentof messengers,laborers, &c.
Purchase ofnewspapers.
Stationery andjob printing tobe furnished andperformed bycontract.
tures and appropriations to Congress , and to any of the committeesthereof, to specify, as nearly as may be convenient, the sources fromwhich such estimates are derived, and the calculations upon which theyare founded; and, in so doing, to discriminate between such estimatesas are conjectural in their character, and such as are framed upon actualinformation and application from disbursing officers; and, in commu-nicating the several estimates, reference shall be given to the laws andtreaties by which they are authorized, the dates thereof, and the volume,page, and section, in which the necessary provisions are contained.
Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That no extra clerk shall beemployed, in any department, bureau, or office, at the seat of Govern-ment, except during the session of Congress , or when indispensably ne-cessary to enable such department, bureau, or office, to answer somecall made by either House of Congress at one session, to be answeredat another; and not then, except by order of the head of the depart-ment in which, or in some bureau or office of which, such extra clerkshall be employed; and no such extra clerk, for copying, shall receivemore than three dollars per day, or for any other service more than fourdollars per day, for the time actually and necessarily employed.
Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That no messenger, assistantmessenger, laborer, or other person, shall be employed in any depart-ment, bureau, or office at the seat of Government, .or paid out of thecontingent fund appropriated to such department, bureau, or office, un-less such employment shall be authorized by law, or shall become ne-cessary to carry into effect some object for which appropriations maybe specifically made; and not exceeding one hundred dollars per an-num shall be applied by each department (except the Department ofState, ) for the purchase of newspapers for such department, and all thebureaus and offices connected therewith; and such papers shall be pre-served as files for said department.
Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That all stationery, of every nameand nature, for the use of the two Houses of Congress , and all sta-tionery and job printing, of every name and nature, for the use of theseveral departments of Government, and for the bureaus and offices inthose departments at Washington, including all stationery, blanks, wrap-ping paper, and twine, and mail bags, furnished the post offices andcollectors’ offices throughout the United States , shall hereafter be fur-nished and performed by contract, by the lowest bidder, as follows: theSecretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House of Representatives ,the head of each department, and such deputy postmasters in the PostOffice establishment, and such collectors in the custom-house establish-ment, as the Postmaster General and the Secretary of the Treasuryshall respectively designate for that purpose, shall respectively advertise,once a week, for at least four weeks, in one or more of the principal paperspublished in the places where such articles are to be furnished, or suchprinting done, for sealed proposals for furnishing such articles, or thewhole of any particular class of articles, or for doing such printing, or thewhole of any specified job thereof, to be done at such place, specifying insuch advertisement the amount, quantity, and description of each kind ofarticles to be furnished, and, as near as may be, the nature, amount, andkind of printing to be done; and all such proposals shall be kept sealeduntil the day specified in such advertisement for opening the same, whenthey shall be opened, by or under the direction of the officer makingsuch advertisement, in the presence of at least two persons; and theperson offering to furnish any class of such articles, or to perform anyspecified portion or job of said work, and giving satisfactory securityfor the performance thereof, under a forfeiture not exceeding twice thecontract price in case of failure, shall receive a contract for doing thesame; and in case the lowest bidder shall fail to enter into such con-