of the governor, make the payments necessary for the purposes a foresaid.

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and may, in its discretion, from time to time publish the same, and the yeas and nays on any question shall, on the demand of one-fifth of the members present, be entered on the journal.

The sessions of each house and of the committees of the whole shall

be open.

Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

No law shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall be so altered or amended on its passage through either house as to change its original purpose.

No act of the legislature except the general appropriation bills for the expenses of the Government shall take effect until ninety days after its passage, unless in case of emergency (which shall be expressed in the preamble or body of the act) the legislature shall by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house otherwise direct. No bill, except the general appropriation bill for the expenses of the government only, introduced in either house of the legislature after the first forty days of the session, shall become a law.

No bill shall be considered or become a law unless referred to a committee, returned therefrom, and printed for the use of the members: Provided, That either house may by a majority vote discharge a committee from the consideration of a measure and bring it before the body for consideration.

No bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title; but if any subject shall be embraced in any act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be so expressed.

No law shall be revived, or amended, or the provisions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only, but so much thereof as is revived, amended, extended, or conferred shall be reenacted and published at length.

The presiding officer of each house shall, in the presence of the house over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the legislature, after their titles shall have been publicly read, immediately before signing; and the fact of signing shall be entered on the journal.

The legislature shall prescribe by law the number, duties, and compensation of the officers and employees of each house; and no payment shall be made for services to the legislature from the treasury,

or be in any way authorized to any person, except to an acting officer or employee elected or appointed in pursuance of law.

No bill shall be passed giving any extra compensation to any public officer, servant or employee, agent or contractor, after services shall have been rendered or contract made.

Except as otherwise provided in this Act, no law shall' extend the term of any public officer, or increase or diminish his salary or emoluments after his election or appointment, nor permit any officer or employee to draw compensation for more than one office or position. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives, but the senate may propose or concur with amendments, as in case of other bills.

The general appropriation bill shall embrace nothing but appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments, interest on the public debt, and for public schools. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one subject.

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of both houses may be necessary, except on the question of adjournment, or relating solely to the transaction of business of the two houses, shall be presented to the governor, and before it shall take effect be approved by him, or, being disapproved, shall be repassed by twothirds of both houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.

Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, offer, give, or promise any money or thing of value, testimonial, privilege, or personal advantage to any executive or judicial officer or member of the legislature to influence him in the performance of any of his public or official duties, shall be deemed guilty of bribery, and be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.

The offense of corrupt solicitation of members of the legislature, or of public officers of Porto Rico, or of any municipal division thereof, and any occupation or practice of solicitation of such members or officers to influence their official action, shall be defined by law, and shall be punished by fine and imprisonment.

In case the available revenues of Porto Rico for any fiscal year, including available surplus in the insular treasury, are insufficient to meet all the appropriations made by the legislature for such year, such appropriations shall be paid in the following order, unless otherwise directed by the governor :

First class. The ordinary expenses of the legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the State government, and interest on any public debt, shall first be paid in full.

Second class. Appropriations for all institutions, such as the penitentiary, insane asylum, industrial school, and the like, where the inmates are confined involuntarily, shall next be paid in full.

Third class. Appropriations for education and educational and charitable institutions shall next be paid in full.

Fourth class. Appropriations for any other officer or officers. bureaus or boards, shall next be paid in full.

Fifth class. Appropriations for all other purposes shall next be paid.

That in case there are not sufficient revenues for any fiscal year, including available surplus in the insular treasury, to meet in full the appropriations of said year for all of the said classes of appropriations, then said revenues shall be applied to the classes in the order above named, and if, after the payment of the prior classes in full, there are not sufficient revenues for any fiscal year to pay in full the appropriations for that year for the next class, then, in that event, whatever there may be to apply on account of appropriations for said class shall be distributed among said appropriations pro rata according as the amount of each appropriation of that class shall bear to the total amount of all of said appropriations for that class for such fiscal year.

No appropriations shall be made, nor any expenditure authorized by the legislature, whereby the expenditure of the Government of Porto Rico during any fiscal year shall exceed the total revenue then provided for by law and applicable for such appropriation or expenditure, including any available surplus in the treasury, unless the legislature making such appropriation shall provide for levying a sufficient tax to pay such appropriation or expenditure within such fiscal year.

SEC. 35. That at the first election held pursuant to this Act the qualified electors shall be those having the qualifications of voters under the present law. Thereafter voters shall be citizens of the United States twenty-one years of age or over and have such additional qualifications as may be prescribed by the legislature of Porto Rico: Provided, That no property qualification shall ever be imposed upon or required of any voter.

SEC. 36. That the qualified electors of Porto Rico shall at the next general election choose a Resident Commissioner to the United States, whose term of office shall begin on the date of the issuance of his certificate of election and shall continue until the fourth of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-one. At each subsequent election, beginning with the year nineteen hundred ad twenty, the qualified electors of Porto Rico shall choose a Resident Commissioner to the United States, whose term of office shall be four years from the fourth of March following such general election, and who shall be

entitled to receive official recognition as such Commissioner by all of the departments of the Government of the United States, upon presentation, through the Department of State, of a certificate of election of the Governor of Porto Rico. The Resident Commissioner shall receive a salary, payable monthly by the United States, of $7,500 per annum. Such Commissioner shall be allowed the same. sum for stationery and for the pay of necessary clerk hire as is now allowed to Members of the House of Representatives of the United States; and he shall be allowed the sum of $500 as mileage for each session of the House of Representatives and the franking privilege granted Members of Congress. No person shall be eligible to election as Resident Commissioner who is not a bona fide citizen of the United States and who is not more than twenty-five years of age, and who does not read and write the English language. In case of a vacancy in the office of Resident Commissioner by death, resignation, or otherwise, the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint a Resident Commissioner to fill the vacancy, who shall serve until the next general election and until his successor is elected and qualified.

SEC. 37. That the legislative authority herein provided shall extend to all matters of a legislative character not locally inapplicable, including power to create, consolidate, and reorganize the municipalities so far as may be necessary, and to provide and repeal laws and ordinances therefor; also the power to alter, amend, modify, or repeal any or all laws and ordinances of every character now in force in Porto Rico or municipality or district thereof in so far as such alteration, amendment, modification, or repeal may be consistent with the provisions of this Act.

No executive department not provided for in this Act shall be created by the legislature, but the legislature may consolidate departments, or abolish any department, with the consent of the President of the United States.

SEC. 38. That all grants of franchises, rights, and privileges of a public or quasi public nature shall be made by a public-service commission, consisting of the heads of executive departments, the auditor, and two commissioners to be elected by the qualified voters at the first general election to be held under this Act, and at each subsequent general election thereafter. The terms of said elective commissioners elected at the first general election shall commence on the twenty-eighth day following the said general election, and the terms of the said elective commissioners elected at each subsequent general election shall commence on the second day of January following their election; they shall serve for four years and until their successors are elected and qualified. Their compensation shall be $8 for

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each day's attendance on the sessions of the commission, but in no case shall they receive more than $400 each during any one year. The said commission is also empowered and directed to discharge all the executive functions relating to public-service corporations heretofore conferred by law upon the executive council. Franchises, rights, and privileges granted by the said commission shall not be effective until approved by the governor, and shall be reported to Congress, which hereby reserves the power to annul or modify the same.

The interstate-commerce Act and the several amendments made or to be made thereto, the safety-appliance Acts and the several amendments made or to be made thereto, and the Act of Congress entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to regulate commerce,' approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eightyseven, and all Acts amendatory thereof, by providing for a valuation of the several classes of property of carriers subject thereto and securing information concerning their stocks, bonds, and other securities," approved March first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, shall not apply to Porto Rico.

The Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico is hereby authorized to enact laws relating to the regulation of the rates, tariffs, and service of public carriers by rail in Porto Rico, and the Public-Service Commission hereby created shall have power to enforce such laws under appropriate regulation.

SEC. 39. That all grants of franchises and privileges under the section last preceding shall provide that the same shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal, and shall forbid the issue of stocks or bonds except in exchange for actual cash or property at a fair valuation to be determined by the public-service commission equal in amount to the par value of the stocks or bonds issued, and shall forbid the declaring of stock or bond dividends, and in the case of public-service corporations shall provide for the effective regulation of charges thereof and for the purchase or taking of their property by the authorities at a fair and reasonable valuation.

That nothing in this Act contained shall be so construed as to abrogate or in any manner impair or affect the provision contained in section three of the joint resolution approved May first, nineteen hundred, with respect to the buying, selling, or holding of real estate. That the Governor of Porto Rico shall cause to have made and submitted to Congress at the session beginning the first Monday in December, nineteen hundred and seventeen, a report of all the real estate used for the purposes of agriculture and held either directly or indirectly by corporations, partnerships, or individuals in holdings in excess of five hundred acres.