by reason of decrease below ten thousand in population or ten thou- population or revsand dollars in gross postal revenue, except in the discretion of the enue. Postmaster-General,

tion.

SEC. 2. That there may be in all cities which contain a population Carriers, how of seventy-five thousand or more three classes of letter-carriers, as classified, in cities follows: Carriers of the first class, whose salaries shall be one thou- of 75,000 populasand dollars per annum; of the second class, whose salaries shall be 1882, Aug. 2, ch. eight hundred dollars per annum, and of the third class, whose sala- 373, ante, p. 363. ries shall be six hundred dollars per annum. 1888, May 24, ch. 308, post, p. 587. SEC. 3. That in places containing a population of less than seventy-in cities less than five thousand there may be two classes of letter-carriers, as follows: 75,000 population. Carriers of the second class, whose salaries shall be eight hundred and fifty dollars per annum, and of the third class, whose salaries shall be six hundred dollars per annum.

SEC. 4. That all laws inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Repeal. [January 3, 1887.]

CHAP. 25.-An act to amend the law relating to the bonds of executors in the District of

Columbia.

Jan. 17, 1887.

24 Stat. L., 361.

of executors when

Be it enacted, &c., That whenever hereafter a testator shall, by In District of last will and testament, request that his executor or executors be not Columbia; bonds required to give bond for the performance of his or their duty as such testator requests executor or executors, then and in such case the bond required of no bonds to be resuch executor or executors shall be in such penalty as the court may quired. consider sufficient to secure the payment of the debts due by said testator; and said bond shall be conditioned accordingly, and shall be in no other or greater penalty:

Provided, however, That the penalty of this bond shall not exceed double the value of the estate; and when less than this sum, may be increased, or an additional bond be required, whenever it shall be made to appear to the court that the bond as given is insufficient to secure the payment of the debts of the testator:

in that case penalty not to exceed double value of

estate, &c.

Court may require additional

R. S. of D. C., SS 974-978.

And provided further, That whenever any creditor or distributee or legatee entitled to take under the said will shall make it appear to bond, or the court that any executor who has given such bond only as is herein executor in case provided for is wasting the assets of the estate, or that the assets in of waste. &c. the hands of such executor are in danger of being lost, wasted or misappropriated, then and in such case the court shall have power to remove said executor or require him to give additional bond, with security in penalty sufficient to secure the interests of all the creditors and distributees or legatees entitled to take as aforesaid, and conditioned accordingly; and on his failure to give bond or bonds as aforesaid, as required by the court, within a time named by such court, his letters testamentary shall be revoked forthwith.

SEC. 2. That any will hereafter executed devising real estate in the District of Columbia from which it shall appear that it was the intention of the testator to devise property acquired after the execution of the will, shall be deemed, taken and held to operate as a valid devise of all such property. [January 17, 1887.]

After-acquired real estate may be devised by will.

1888, July 9, ch. 597, post, p. 596.

CHAP. 41.-An act relating to sales for taxes in the District of Columbia.

Jan. 26, 1887.

24 Stat. L., 364. District of Co

land sold for taxes

Be it enacted, &c., That hereafter sales of real estate, after advertisement as required by law, by the collector of taxes for the District lumbia: deed of of Columbia, for taxes or assessments that have been or may be to be presumptive levied by the Commissioners of said District, or by other lawful au- evidence, &c.

153-187.

R. S. of D. C., SS thority, shall entitle the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, if the property be not redeemed within two years from the date of such sale, to 1877, March 3, ch. 117, § 5, ante, a deed from the Commissioners of the District, which deed shall vest in the grantee a good and valid title, and shall be presumptive p. 143. 1878, June 11, evidence in all controversies in relation thereto that the property so ch. 180, § 4, ante, conveyed was subject to the taxes for which the property was sold, that such taxes were not paid, and that the property was not redeemed before the execution of the deed, and that the manner of levy, notice, sale, and all the other prerequisites of law were complied with necessary and proper to make such deed and title valid. [January 26, 1887.]

p. 176.

1890, March 19,

ch. 40, post, p.709.

January 26, 1887. CHAP. 45.-An act for the further protection of property from fire, and safety of lives, in the District of Columbia. 24 Stat. L., 365. District Colum- Be it enacted, &c., That it shall be the duty of the owner or ownbia, certain build- ers, in fee or for life, of every building constructed and used, or inings over 50 feet tended to be used, as a hotel, factory, manufactory, theater, tenementhigh to provide fire-escapes and house, seminary, college, academy, hospital, asylum, hall, or place stand-pipes. of amusement, and of the trustee or trustees of every estate, associaR. S. of D. C., § tion, society, college, academy, school, hospital, or asylum owning or using any building fifty feet high or upwards, used for any of the 1878, June 14, purposes herein above mentioned, to provide and caused to be ch. 194, ante, P. erected and affixed to said building iron fire-escapes and combined 1887, March 3, stand-pipes and ladders, or either of said appliances as may be apch. 390, post, p. proved and adopted by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

79.

181.

567.

Hallways and

SEC. 2. That in all hotels, factories, manufactories, workshops, stairways to be schools, seminaries, colleges, hospitals, asylums, halls, or places lighted. of amusement, or other places mentioned in this act, the hallways and stairways shall be properly lighted when occupied at night; and at the head and foot of each flight of stairs, and at the intersection of all hallways with main corridors, shall be kept during the night a red light;

Alarms.

Notices.

Penalty.

Liability for

And one or more proper alarms or gongs, capable of being heard throughout the building, shall always remain easy of access and ready for use in each of said buildings, to give notice to the inmates in case of fire;

And there shall be kept posted in a conspicuous place in every sleeping-room a notice descriptive of such means of escape; and the building inspector and chief engineer of the fire department shall have the right to designate the location of the said fire-escapes and stand-pipes in conformity with this act, and shall grant certificates of approval to every person, firm, corporation, trustee, and board of school trustees complying with the requirements of this act, which certificates shall relieve the party or parties from the liabilities of fines or damages imposed by this act.

SEC. 3. That every person, corporation, trustee, or board of school directors neglecting or refusing to comply with the requirements of the first section of this act, upon receiving thirty days' notice of the same, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, to be collected as fines are now by law collected; and the building inspector and chief engineer shall cause to be erected upon said building said appliances as in their judgment may be necessary, and the same shall be charged and held as a lien against said property and collected the same as other improvements made by the District authorities;

And in case of fire occurring in any such building not provided neglect in case of with said appliances as may be required by the building inspector and chief engineer of the fire department, and in accordance with the requirements of the first section of this act, the person, persons,

fire.

trustee, trustees, corporation, or school directors who or which neglected to provide such building with said appliances as aforesaid shall be liable in an action for damages in case of death or personal injury being caused in consequence of such fire breaking out in said building; and such action may be maintained by any person or persons now authorized by law to sue, as in other cases for injuries caused by neglect of duty.

SEC. 4. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. [January 26, 1887.]

Repeal.

CHAP. 46.--An act to regulate insurance in the District of Columbia.

Jan. 26, 1887.

24 Stat. L., 366. District of Co

lumbia; insurance

Be it enacted, &c., That no company hereafter organized or incorporated within the District of Columbia shall transact the business of insurance in any of its branches unless the whole capital of such companies; capital required. company be not less than one hundred thousand dollars, actually and R. S. of D. C., in good faith paid up in full, in cash, excepting life-insurance com- §§ 553-593. panies which issue to their members policies or certificates agreeing to pay benefits or sums of money which are to be realized by assessments levied upon the members; no other capital than such assessments shall be required of them.

The Commissioners of said District, or any two of them, shall ascertain and determine such facts, upon evidence satisfactory to them to be filed in their office, and thereupon shall issue to such companies authority to transact business.

authority to transact business,

how obtained.

Annual returns of condition, &c., to Commis

SEC. 2. That every insurance company doing business in said District must transmit to the Commissioners of the District a statement of its condition and business for the year ending on the preceding sioners. thirty-first day of December, which statement shall be rendered on the first day of January following or within sixty days thereafter, except that foreign companies shall transmit their statements of business, other than that done in the United States, prior to the following first day of July, which statements must be in form and state the particulars required by the blanks prescribed by the Commissioners;

Special state

And the Commissioners, or any two of them, may require at any time statements from any company doing business within the Dis- ments. trict, or from any of its officers or agents, on such points as they may deem necessary and proper to elicit a full exhibit of its business and standing, all of which statements herein required must be verified by the signatures and oaths of the president or vice-president, or the secretary or actuary.

Companies not

No company having neglected to file a statement required of it within the time and manner prescribed shall do any business, after filing statements notification by the Commissioners, cr any two of them, while such not to do business. neglect continues; and any company or association neglecting to make and transmit any statement required shall forfeit one hundred dollars for each day's neglect.

Assets of fire

SEC. 3. That every fire-insurance company, to entitle itself to the written authority by this act required to transact business in the companies to equal liabilities, District, shall have assets equal to its liabilities, including a rein- &c. surance reserve liability equal to fifty per centum of premiums received upon one year-risk, and an amount proportioned to the unexpired time upon all other fire risks.

marine

com

Every company doing an inland or marine business shall have of inland and assets equal to its liabilities, including a reinsurance reserve liability equal to the total premiums charged upon all unexpired inland or marine risks.

panies.

Every life-insurance company, excepting those organized upon the of life plan of assessments on their members, shall have assets equal to its panies.

com.

Commissioners

to ascertain compliance with law, and may revoke authority, &c.

act business until

liabilities, including a reserve liability computed upon the basis of the American experience table of mortality, at four and one-half per centum interest.

Before issuing any written authority to any company to transact business in the District, the Commissioners, or a majority of them, shall satisfy themselves that such company has complied with the law; and at any time thereafter they shall revoke such authority when satisfied that such company has fallen below such requirements.

Foreign compa- SEC. 4. That no insurance company organized or incorporated nies not to trans- under the laws of any of the United States of America, or of any an attorney in fact foreign state or country, shall transact the business of insurance in be appointed. any of its branches within the District of Columbia until such company shall have duly constituted some proper person domiciled in the District their agent and attorney-in-fact for the purpose of receiving for them summonses, writs, and processes issuing out of any court having any jurisdiction in said District, and until the evidence of such appointment of such agent and attorney-in-fact, authenticated in a manner satisfactory to the Commissioners of the District, or any two of them, shall be filed in the office of such Commissioners.

Penalty for transacting business

SEC. 5. That any insurance company, or any officer or agent of any insurance company, effecting any contract of insurance in bewithout authority. half of such company when the written authority required by this act shall not have been given by said Commissioners, or after such authority has been revoked, shall be subject to a penalty of one hundred dollars for every offense, to be recovered by due process in the courts of the District.

Application to be attached to policy.

To take effect in 90 days.

SEC. 6. That each insurance company doing business in the District of Columbia shall attach to each policy issued by such company a copy of the application made by the insured, so that the whole contract may appear in said application and policy.

SEC. 7. That this act shall take effect and be in full force after ninety days from its passage. [January 26, 1857.]

Jan. 26, 1887. 24 Stat. L., 368. District of Co

tax on business.

CHAP. 48.-An act to repeal parts of an act relating to tax on the business of real-estate agents in the District of Columbia, approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two.

Be it enacted, &c., That so much of clause thirty-eight of section. lumbia real-estate twenty-one of the act of the legislative assembly of the District of agents not to pay Columbia entitled "An act imposing a license on trades, business, Repealing in and professions practiced or carried on in the District of Columbia, part approved August twenty-third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, Laws of D. C., 1 requiring real-estate agents to pay twenty-five dollars annually, and Leg. Assembly,pp. in addition a monthly tax of one-fourth per centum on gross receipts, 91,99: and 2 Leg. as amended by the act amendatory thereof, approved June twentieth, Assembly, p. 63. eighteen hundred and seventy-two, as requires real-estate agents in said District to pay a tax of one per centum on their commissions in lieu of said monthly tax of one-fourth per centum on gross receipts, and so much of section fifteen of said act approved August twentythird, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, as requires said real-estate agents to give bond to said District, and all other laws and acts, or parts thereof, inconsistent herewith, be, and the same are hereby, repealed;

-to pay annual license fee.

And from and after the passage of this act real-estate agents in the District of Columbia shall pay a license-fee of fifty dollars per annum, to be collected as other licenses are collected in said District. [January 26, 1887.]

CHAP. 49.-An act to authorize the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to make police January 26, 1887. regulations for the government of the District.

24 Stat. L., 368. Commission ers

Be it enacted, &c., That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to make, D. C. may make modify, and enforce usual and reasonable police regulations in and for said District as follows:

police regulations.

R. S. of D. C., $335. 1878, June

11, ch. 180, § 6, ante, p. 178.

&c.

First. For causing full inspection to be made, at any reasonable pawnbrokers, times, of the places where the business of pawnbroking, junk-dealing, R. S. of D. C., or second-hand clothing business may by carried on.

S 404. 1889.

substances.

street venders. R. S. of D. C.,

404.

March 2, ch. 413, post, p. 699. 1891, March 3, ch. 531, post, p. 910. Second. To regulate the storage of highly inflammable substances -inflammable in the thickly populated portions of the District. Third. To locate the places where licensed venders on streets and public places shall stand, and change them as often as the public interests require, and to make all the necessary regulations governing their conduct upon the streets in relation to such business. Fourth. To make needful regulations for the orderly disposition -carriage stands. of carriages or other vehicles assembled on streets or public places, and to require vehicles upon such streets and avenues as they deem necessary to pass along on the right side thereof.

R. S. of D. C.,

$404.

1878, June 11, ch. 180,§8,ante, p.175. hack charges.

Fifth. To establish and regulate the charges to be made by owners of hacks and hackney carriages of any kind whatsoever. Sixth. To prohibit conducting droves of animals upon such streets droves of aniand avenues as they may deem needful to public safety and good order.

Seventh. To regulate the keeping and running at large of dogs and fowls.

Res. No. 25, § 2, par. 1,

mals.

dogs and fowls. 1880, April 24, ante, pp. 304, 306.

streets and side

Eighth. To prohibit the deposit upon the streets or sidewalks of deposits on fruit, or any part thereof, or other substance or articles that might litter the same, or cause injury to or impede pedestrians.

walks.

Ninth. To regulate or prohibit loud noises with horns, gongs, or noises and fireother instruments, or loud cries, upon the streets or public places, works. and to prohibit the use of any fireworks or explosives within such

portions of the District as they may think necessary to public safety.

Tenth. To regulate the movements of vehicles on the public passage of vestreets and avenues for the preservation of order and protection of hicles. life and limb.

Eleventh. To prescribe reasonable penalties for the violation of — penalties. any of the regulations in this act mentioned; and said penalties may be enforced in any court of the District of Columbia having jurisdiction of minor offenses, and in the same manner that such minor offenses are now by law prosecuted and punished.

Regulations to

SEC. 2. That the regulations herein provided for shall, when adopted, be printed in one or more of the daily newspapers published be printed in in the District of Columbia; and no penalty prescribed for the vio- newspapers, &c. lation of said regulations shall be enforced until thirty days after such publication. [January 26, 1887.]

CHAP. 70.—An act granting pensions to the soldiers and sailors of the Mexican war, and for January 29, 1887. other purposes.

24 Stat. L., 371.

of Mexican War

Be it enacted, &c., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he Surviving officers is hereby, authorized and directed to place on the pension-roll the and enlisted men names of the surviving officers and enlisted men, including marines, militia, and volunteers, of the military and naval services of the R. S.. SS 4730, United States, who being duly enlisted, actually served sixty days with 4731.

1889, Mar 2, ch.

the Army or Navy of the United States in Mexico, or on the coasts 390, § 6, post.p.693.