lands which shall have reverted before the said first day of July next, and which shall then belong to the United States, together with the sections, and parts of sections, heretofore reserved for the future disposal of Congress, which shall, at the time aforesaid, remain unsold, shall be offered at public sale to the highest bidder, who shall make payment therefor, in half quarter sections, at the land office for the respective districts, on such day or days as shall, by proclamation of the President of the United States, be designated for that purpose;Sale of lands reverting, &c. after 1st July, 1820.
All lands unsold at public, may be entered at private sale. and all lands which shall revert and become forfeited for failure of payment after the said first day of July next, shall be offered in like manner at public sale, at such time, or times, as the President shall by his proclamation designate for the purpose: Provided, That no such lands shall be sold at any public sales hereby authorized, for a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, nor on any other terms than that of cash payment; and all the lands offered at such public sales, and which shall remain unsold at the close thereof, shall be subject to entry at private sale, in the same manner, and at the same price with the other lands sold at private sale, at the respective land offices.
Public sales for two weeks.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the several public sales authorized by this act, shall, respectively, be kept open for two weeks, and no longer; and the registers of the land office and the receivers of public money shall, each, respectively, be entitled to five dollars for each day’s attendance thereon.
Preference to be given to the highest bidder.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That in every case hereafter, where two or more persons shall apply for the purchase, at private sale, of the same tract, at the same time, the register shall determine the preference, by forthwith offering the tract to the highest bidder.
Approved, April 24, 1820.
Statute Ⅰ.
Chap. LII.—An Act in addition to the several acts for the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments.
Act of March 2, 1809, ch. 28.
Unexpended moneys to be carried to the surplus fund.
Balances of moneys drawn, after the object has been effected, to be repaid to the treasury, &c.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause to be carried to the account of the surplus fund, any moneys appropriated for the Department of War, or of the Navy, which may remain unexpended in the treasury, or in the hands of the treasurer, as agent for those departments, whenever he shall be informed, by the secretaries of those departments, that the object for which the appropriation was made has been effected. And it shall be the duty of the Secretaries of War and Navy Departments, to cause any balance of moneys drawn out of the treasury, which shall remain unexpended, after the object for which the appropriation was made shall be effected, to be repaid to the treasury of the United States; and such moneys, when so repaid, shall be carried to the surplus fund.
Secretaries to estimate the probable demands, and the balance to be deducted, &c.
Accounts to be annually rendered.
Unexpended moneys in the hands of the treasurer, as agent of War and Navy Departments, for more than two years, &c. to be carried to the surplus fund.
Proviso.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, to lay before Congress, on the first day of February, of each year, a statement of the appropriations of the preceding year, for their departments respectively, showing the amount appropriated under each specific head of appropriation, the amount expended under each, and the balance remaining unexpended, either in the treasury, or in the treasurer’s hands, as agent of the War or Navy Departments, on the thirty-first December preceding: And it shall be further the duty of the Secretaries aforesaid, to estimate the probable demands which may remain on each appropriation, and the balance shall be deducted from the estimates of their departments, respectively, for the service of the current year; and accounts shall also be annually rendered, in manner and form as aforesaid, exhibiting the sums expended out of the estimates aforesaid, and the balance, if any, which may remain on
