Chapter 186.
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CHAP. 186.— An act to promote the education of the blind. March 3, 1879. Whereas, the trustees, superintendents, and teachers of the variousPreamble.Education of the blind. State and public institutions for the instruction of the blind, representing the interests of over thirty thousand blind persons in the United States, have united in a petition to Congress to take into consideration the needs of the blind in the United States ; and Whereas the Association of the American Instructor’s of the Blind, at their session in Philadelphia, in August, eighteen hundred and seventy- six, representing twenty-six State and public institutions for the instruction of the blind, have set forth in a series of resolutions that the especial needs of the blind are embossed books and tangible apparatus, and have recommended that if any aid should be given by Congress it would most efficiently come through increasing the means of the American Printing House for the Blind, located in Louisville, Kentucky ; and Whereas it appears that the Kentucky legislature, in eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, by an act of special legislation, declared James Guthrie, W.
F. Bullock, Theodore 8. Bell, Bryce M. Patten, John Milton, H. T. Curd, and A. O. Branuin, and their successors, a body corporate under the name and style of the Trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind, with the avowed purpose of printing books and making apparatus for the instruction of the blind of the United States, for 468 FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 186. 1879. Preamble, continued.general distribution, and for the sake of philanthropy, and with no desire for pecuniary gain ; and Education of the blind.Whereas the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Delaware have made appropriations for the aid of said American Printing House for the Blind, of which, on account of the outbreak of the civil war, only a small part of the money appropriated by the first three named States was ever available ; and Whereas by the money from the States of Kentucky, New Jersey, and Delaware, a printing-house for the blind was established, and is now supplied with presses, type, stereotype foundry, steam-engine, a well- equipped bindery, and all the appliances necessary for the manufacture of embossed books, and has for the last ten years been manufacturing embossed books superior in every way to any manufactured elsewhere, which have been distributed gratuitously to the 1)1 ind in the States of Kentucky, New Jersey, and Delaware, by which the blind in those States have been very much benefited ; and Whereas it is desirable that the blind of the whole country should be equally benefited, and the intentions of the trustees to establish an educational institution of the most practical beneficence and wisest philanthropy upon a national basis, should be accomplished, inasmuch as the education of the blind is a subject of national importance:
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* Appropriation. That the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, out of money in the United States Treasury American Printing-House for the Blind.Investment.not otherwise appropriated, be, arid hereby is, set apart as a perpetual fund for the purpose of aiding the education of the blind in the United States of America, through the American Printing House for the Blind.
Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is hereby directed to hold said sum in trust for the pur pose aforesaid ; and it shall be his duty, upon the passage of this act, to invest said sum in United States interest bearing bonds, bearing interest at four per centum, of the issue of July, eighteen hundred and seventy, and upon their maturity to reinvest their1 proceeds in other United States interest-bearing bonds, and so on forever. Sec. 3. Income. That the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is hereby authorized to pay over, semiannually, to the trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind, located in Louisville, Kentucky, and chartered in eighteen hundred and fifty-eight by the legislature of Kentucky, upon the requisition of their president, countersigned by their treasurer, the semiannual interest upon the said bonds, upon the following conditions:
First. Conditions of payment. The income upon the, bonds thus held in trust for the education of the blind shall be expended by the trustees of the American Printing House each year in manufacturing and furnishing embossed books for Distribution of publications.the blind and tangible apparatus for their instruction; and the total amount of such books and apparatus so manufactured and furnished by this income shall each year be distributed among all the public institutions for the education of the blind in the States and Territories of the United States and the District of Columbia, upon the requisition of the Basis.superintendent of each, duly certified by its board of trustees.
The basis of such distribution shall be the total number of pupils in all the public institutions for the education of the blind, to be authenticated in such manner and as often as the trustees of the said American Printing House shall require ; and each institution shall receive, in books and apparatus, that portion of the total income of said bonds held by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States in trust for the education of the blind, as is shown by the ratio between the number of pupils in th at institution for the education of the blind and the total number of pupils in all the public institutions for the education of the blind, which ratio shall be computed upon the first Monday in January of each year.
Second. Buildings. No part of the income from said bonds shall be expended in the erection or leasing of buildings. FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 186, 187. 1879. 469 Third. No profit shall be put on any books or tangible apparatus forProfits. the instraction of the blind manufactured or furnished by the trustees of said American Printing House for the Blind, located in Louisville, Kentucky : and the price put upon each article so manufactured or furnished shall only be its actual cost.
Fourth. The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States shall haveWithholding income. the authority to withhold the income arising from said bonds thus set apart for the education of the blind of the United States whenever he shall receive satisfactory proof that the trustees of said American Printing House for the Blind, located in Louisville, Kentucky, are not using the income from these bonds for the benefit of the blind in the public institutions for the education of the Blind in the United States.
Fifth. Before any money be paid to the treasurer of the AmericanBond of treasurer. Printing House for the Blind by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the treasurer of the American Printing House for the Blind shall execute a bond, with two approved sureties, to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, conditioned that the interest so received shall be expended according to this law and all amendments thereto, which shall be held by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and shall be renewed every two years.
Sixth. The superintendents of the various public institutions for theEx-officio trustees. education of the blind in the United States shall each, ex officio, be a member of the board of trustees of the American Printing House for the Blind, located in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. Sec. 4. That the trustees of said American Printing House for theAnnual report. Blind shall annually make to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States a report of the items of their expenditure of the income of said bonds during the year preceding their report, and shall annually furnishVouchers. him with a voucher from each public institution for the education of the blind, showing that the amount of books and tangible apparatus due has been received.
Sec. 5. That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.In force. Approved, March 3, 1879.