kill it by inaction and Congress is powerless to prevent his doing so. A number of bills have been thus rendered ineffective. The process is known as a "pocket veto," and what are called the "pocketed laws" are sent to the Department of State from the White House, becoming a part of the Department archives in the Bureau of Rolls and Library. Included in the publications of the laws are the proclamations of the President and treaties with foreign powers, the originals of both being prepared in the Department of State and only leaving it to go to the White House to be signed. As a matter of fact, a treaty is proclaimed by the President before it becomes effective. The ordinary proclamation is, however, printed on a foolscap sheet. The same care is exercised to ensure the correctness of the print as is used in printing a law. The proclamations are not included in the publications of the pamphlet laws, but are embodied in the publications of Statutes at Large. So are the treaties; and they are first printed by the Department in the same form as the slip laws. All treaties, except some postal conventions, are negotiated by the Secretary of State, and the originals of all treaties become a part of the Department's archives. Executive orders are prepared for the President's signature in the Department which has jurisdiction over the subject to which they relate; but they are printed by the Department of State in the same form as proclamations, and the originals become a part of its records. They are not printed in the volumes of laws, although in some cases they have the force of law. Until 1898 the printed editions of the laws passed into the immediate custody of the Bureau of Accounts, in the Department, being distributed according to the act of Congress, and sold subject to the provisions of the following circular, the moneys received being deposited in the Treasury Department and credited to the fund "Miscellaneous Accounts": DEPARTMENT OF STATE. The following are the prices at which the Laws of the United States are sold at this Department, no provision having been made by Congress for their free distribution: Revised Statutes (Edition of 1878), bound Post Roads, and Public Treaties, bound Supplement to the Revised Statutes (Edition of (Abridgment of Vols. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, Laws of first session, 43d Cong., 1873-'74, pamphlet. Laws of second session, 45th Cong., 1877-'78, pamphlet Laws of second session, 46th Cong., 1879-'80, pamphlet $2.90 3.58 2.00 1.05 65 2.99 65 48 2.40 12 50 55 2.28 14 60 Laws of third session, 46th Cong., 1880-'81, pamphlet 46 2.50 72 55 2.30 65 50 2.10 75 50 2.20 1.00 55 2.45 1.05 70 2.60 70 The Revised Statutes (Edition 1878) embraces the laws of a general and permanent nature in force December 1, 1873, and the specific amendments thereof made during the 43d and 44th Congresses. The Supplement to the Revised Statutes is an abridgment of Vols. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 of the Statutes at Large, comprising all the laws of a general and permanent nature passed during the 43d, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th, 50th, and 51st Congresses. Payment is required to be made in cash, postal notes, or by bank drafts on banks in New York city or Washington, D. C., payable to the order of the "Disbursing Clerk, Department of State." Individual checks on banks located outside of New York or Washington can not be accepted. The books will be sent by mail, postage free. Disbursing Clerk. 1 The Act of March 15, 1898, took this duty away from the Department and the laws are now sold by the Superintendent of Documents. Probably the most important law in the Department's custody is the Declaration of Independence, and this document has had a peculiar form of publication which may be appropriately described here. On January 2, 1824, a letter from the Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, was read in the House of Representatives stating that a copperplate facsimile had been made of the Declaration of Independence and two hundred copies struck off, which it remained for Congress to dispose of. A joint resolution was passed May 26, directing that two copies be sent to each of the surviving signers of the document; two copies to the President; two to the late President, Mr. Madison; two to the Marquis de Lafayette; twenty copies to the two houses of Congress; twelve to the different departments; two for the President's house; two for the Supreme Court room; one for each of the Governors of the states; one for each branch of the legislatures of the states; one for each Governor of a territory; one for the legislative council of each territory and the remainder to be distributed to such colleges and universities as the Secretary of State might select. The President was requested to cause the distribution to be made agreeably to this plan.3 The surviving signers were John Adams, Thomas 1 30 Stat., 316. 2 Annals of Congress, 18 Cong., 1st Session, I, 915. 3 4 Stat., 78. Jefferson, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and to each was sent a letter identical with the following, mutatis mutandis: DEPARTMENT OF STATE Washington 24 June 1824. To John Adams, Sir Quincy, Massachusetts. In pursuance of a joint Resolution of the two Houses of Congress, a Copy of which is hereto annexed, and by direction of the President of the United States, I have the honour of transmitting to you, two facsimile copies of the original Declaration of Independence engrossed on parchment, conformably to a secret Resolution of Congress of the 19th July 1776, to be signed by every Member of Congress, and accordingly signed on the second day of August of the same year. Of this Document, unparalleled in the Annals of Mankind, the original deposited in this Department exhibits your name as one of the subscribers. The Rolls herewith transmitted are copies as exact as the art of engraving can present, of the Instrument itself, as well as of the signatures to it. While performing the duty thus assigned to me, permit me to felicitate you and the Country, which is reaping the reward of your labours, as well that your hand was affixed to this record of glory, as that after the lapse of near half a century, you survive to receive this tribute of reverence and gratitude, from your children, the present fathers of the land. With every sentiment of veneration, I have the honour of subscribing myself your fellow Citizen. (Signed) JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.1 The engraver of this, the only facsimile of the Declaration that has ever been made, was William J. Stone of Washington. It is supposed that in making 1 Dept. of State MSS., Miscl. Letters. |