the Tuesday next preceding the first Thursday in February [1877] . . ., each House shall, by viva voce vote, appoint five of its members, who with the five associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, to be ascertained as hereinafter provided, shall constitute a commission for the decision of all questions upon or in respect of such double returns named in this section. On the Tuesday next preceding the first Thursday in February . . . [1877] . . ., or as soon thereafter as may be, the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States now assigned to the first, third, eighth, and ninth circuits shall select, in such manner as a majority of them shall deem fit, another of the associate justices of said court, which five persons shall be members of said commission; and the person longest in commission of said five justices shall be the president of said commission. . . . All the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes of each State shall be opened, in the alphabetical order of the States, as provided in section one of this act; and when there shall be more than one such certificate or paper, as the certificates and papers from such State shall so be opened, (excepting duplicates of the same return,) they shall be read by the tellers, and thereupon the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all such objections so made to any certificate, vote, or paper from a State shall have been received and read, all such certificates, votes, and papers so objected to, and all papers accompanying the same, together with such objections, shall be forthwith submitted to said commission, which shall proceed to consider the same, with the same powers, if any, now possessed for that purpose by the two Houses acting separately or together, and, by a majority of votes, decide whether any and what votes from such State are the votes provided for by the Constitution of the United States, and how many and what persons were duly appointed electors in such State, and may therein take into view such petitions, depositions, and other papers, if any, as shall, by the Constitution and now existing law, be competent and pertinent in such consideration; which decision shall be

made in writing, stating briefly the ground thereof, and signed by the members of said commission agreeing therein; whereupon the two houses shall again meet, and such decision shall be read and entered in the journal of each House, and the counting of the votes shall proceed in conformity therewith, unless, upon objection made thereto in writing by at least five Senators and five members of the House of Representatives, the two Houses shall separately concur in ordering otherwise, in which case such concurrent order shall govern. No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall have been finally disposed of.

SEC. 6. That nothing in this act shall be held to impair or affect any right now existing under the Constitution and laws to question, by proceeding in the judicial courts of the United States, the right or title of the person who shall be declared elected, or who shall claim to be President or Vice-President of the United States, if any such right exists.

THE coinage act of February 12, 1873 [No. 174], omitted the silver dollar from the list of pieces thereafter to be coined, but retained the trade dollar. A bill to provide for the free and unlimited coinage of silver dollars was introduced in the House December 13, 1876, by Richard P. Bland of Missouri, as a substitute for a bill "to utilize the products of gold and silver mines," introduced June 3. The bill passed the House the same day by a vote of 167 to 53, 69 not voting. In the Senate the bill was referred to the Committee on Finance, which reported it January 16, 1877, without recommendation, pending the report of the silver commission. November 5, by a vote of 164 to 34, 92 not voting, the rules were suspended to allow Bland to introduce and the House to pass a free coinage bill.' The bill was taken up

1 "The previous question being ordered and the rules suspended, a single vote would introduce the bill without a reference to a committee, and would pass it

in the Senate January 28 and debated until February 15. The Senate added sections 2 and 3 of the act, the provisos of section 1, and, on motion of William B. Allison of Iowa, the limitation on the amount of coinage, the vote on the latter amendment being 49 to 22. The final vote in the Senate was 48 to 21, 7 not voting. February 21 the House concurred in the Senate amendments. On the 28th the bill was vetoed by President Hayes, but was passed over the veto, in the House by a vote of 196 to 73, 23 not voting; in the Senate by a vote of 46 to 19, 11 not voting. The coinage provision of the act was repealed by section 5 of the act of July 14, 1890 [No. 182, post]. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XX., 25, 26. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 45th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Record. See House Misc. Doc. 27; Senate Exec. Doc. 3, 50th Cong., 2d Sess.; Sherman, Recollections, II., chaps. 31 and 32, and annual report as Secretary of the Treasury, December, 1877.

An act to authorize the coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to restore its legal-tender character.

Be it enacted. . ., That there shall be coined, at the several mints of the United States, silver dollars of the weight of four hundred and twelve and a half grains Troy of standard silver, as provided in the act of . . . [January 18, 1837] . . ., on which shall be the devices and superscriptions provided by said act; which coins together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the United States, of like weight and fineness, shall be a legal tender, at their nominal value, for all debts and dues public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. And the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to purchase, from time to time, silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not less than two million dollars worth per month, nor more than four million dollars worth per month, and cause the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased, into such dollars. And any gain or seigniorage arising from this coinage shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury, as provided under existing laws relative to the subsidiary coinage: Provided, That the amount of money at any one time invested in such silver bullion, exclusive of such resulting coin, shall not exceed five million dollars. . . .

SEC. 2. That immediately after the passage of this act, the President shall invite the governments of the countries composing the without any power of amendment, without the usual reading at three separate times." (Sherman, Recollections, II., 603.)

Latin Union, so-called, and of such other European nations as he may deem advisable, to join the United States in a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and silver, for the purpose of establishing, internationally, the use of bi-metallic money, and securing fixity of relative value between those metals; such conference to be held at such place, in Europe or in the United States, at such time within six months, as may be mutually agreed upon by the executives of the governments joining in the same, whenever the governments so invited, or any three of them, shall have signified their willingness to unite in the same.

The President shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint three commissioners, who shall attend such conference on behalf of the United States, and shall report the doings thereof to the President, who shall transmit the same to Congress.

SEC. 3. That any holder of the coin authorized by this act may deposit the same with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, in sums not less than ten dollars, and receive therefor certificates of not less than ten dollars each, corresponding with the denominations of the United States notes. The coin deposited for or representing the certificates shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certificates shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, and, when so received, may be reissued.

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No. 179. Civil Service Act

January 16, 1883

In his annual message of December 5, 1870, President Grant urged the attention of Congress to a reform in the civil service of the country." In accordance with this recommendation, the sundry civil appropriation act of March 3, 1871, authorized the President to prescribe regulations for admission to the civil service. A civil service commission was appointed, and for two years appropriations were made for its support. The continuance of the appropriations was urged by Grant, and again by President Hayes in his annual messages of 1879 and 1880, but without inducing congressional action. The assassination of President Garfield called public attention forcibly to the

evils of the existing system of appointment and removal, and the annual message of President Arthur, December 6, 1881, brought the subject of civil service reform strongly before Congress. A bill "to regulate and improve the civil service" was introduced in the Senate December 6, 1881, by George H. Pendleton of Ohio, and on January 11, 1882, was referred, together with a bill "to prevent extortion from persons in the public service, and bribery and coercion by such persons," to the Committee on the Civil Service and Retrenchment. The bill was reported with amendments March 29, the committee report to accompany it not being submitted until May 15. The session closed without further action. The Pendleton bill was taken up December 11 and formed the principal subject of debate until the 27th, when, with various amendments, it passed the Senate by a vote of 38 to 5, 33 not voting. The bill was reported in the House without amendment January 4, 1883, read three times and passed, the final vote being 155 to 46, 88 not voting.

REFERENCES. - Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XXII., 403-407. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 47th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Record. Pendleton's report of May 15 in Senate Report 576. The annual reports of the Civil Service Commission are the primary authorities on the operation of the act; see also the Proceedings of the National Civil Service Reform League. The pamphlet and periodical literature is extensive. On the earlier history of the movement see House Report 47, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. (Jenckes's report); Senate Exec. Doc. 10, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., and Senate Exec. Doc. 53 (same in House Exec. Doc. 221), 43d Cong., 1st Sess. (commission reports); Senate Report 289, 44th Cong., 1st Sess. (Boutwell's report); House Exec. Doc. 1, Part 1, 46th Cong., 2d Sess. (Eaton's report); House Exec. Doc. 1, Part 8, ibid., and House Exec. Doc. 94, 46th Cor Sess. (New York regulations); Senate Report 872, 46th Cong., 3d Sess. (Pendleton's report). See also Senate Report 2373, 50th Cong., 1st Sess.

3d

An act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States. Be it enacted..., That the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three persons, not more than two of whom shall be adherents of the same party, as Civil Service Commissioners, and said three commissioners shall constitute the United States Civil Service Commission. Said commissioners shall hold no other official place under the United States.

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SEC. 2.

That it shall be the duty of said commissioners: FIRST. To aid the President, as he may request, in preparing suitable rules for carrying this act into effect, and when said rules shall have been promulgated it shall be the duty of all officers of the United States in the departments and offices to which any