Chapter 5.
646 words·~3 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-20/chapter-5-1058459·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 5.— An act to correct an error of enrollment in bill making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and for other purposes. Dec. 16, 1878.1878, ch. 359,*Ante*, 230. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Appropriation. That the sum of twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated to pay for clerk hire, engineering, marshal’s fees, Hot Springs Commission.*Appointment*.salaries, and other expenses of the Hot Springs Commission; and the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint with the advice and consent of the Senate, three discreet, competent, and disinterested persons, who shall constitute a board of commissioners, *Term of office*.any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, who shall hold their offices for the period of one year from the date of their appointment, and shall have the, same powers and authority in all respects as was provided for the commissioners appointed under the act of Congress approved March 1877, ch. 108,[19 Stat., 377](/us/stat/19/377).third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, entitled “An act hi relation to the Hot Springs reservation in the State of Arkansas”; which act is hereby revived and continued in full force for the purpose of enabling said board of commissioners to take possession of all records, papers, and proofs, and to determine the claims presented to the board of Commissioners appointed under said act, whose term of office has expired, and to do and perform all other acts and duties authorized by said act. *Arlington Hotel grounds*.And the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to lease to the present proprietors of the Arlington Hotel or their assigns the grounds, not exceeding one acre, now occupied by them, for a period of ten years, unless otherwise provided by law, at an annual rental of one thousand *Bath-houses*.dollars.
And he is further directed to lease the Bathhouses of a permanent nature now upon the Hot Springs reservation to the owners of the same, and lease to any person or persons upon such terms as may be agreed on, sites for the building of other Bathhouses for the term of five years, unless otherwise provided by law, under such rules and regulations *Tax*as he may prescribe; and the tax imposed shall not exceed fifteen dollars per tub per annum, including land rent: *Provided,* That said leases shall in no way prejudice any legal right that any person or persons may have acquired under the act hereby revived and continued, *Limit to bathtubs*.to any improvements on said ground: *And provided further,* That to prevent monopoly, no bathhouse-or hotel shall be supplied with more than enough water for forty bathtubs of the usual size, unless there shall be more than enough hot-water to supply all other demands for the same, in which case no single establishment shall be allowed more *Free baths*.than forty bathtubs of the usual size: *And provided further,* That the superintendent shall provide and maintain a sufficient number of free baths for the use of the indigent, and the expense thereof shall be defrayed out of the rentals hereinbefore provided for. *Fractions of lots*.In cases where fractions of lots are made by straightening, widening or laying out streets, the commissioners shall have power to determine the disposal of the same, giving the preference to the owners of abutting *Conditions of titles*.lots: *Provided,* That all titles given or to be given by the United States shall explicitly exclude the right to the purchaser of the land, his heirs or assigns, from ever boring thereon for hot water; and the Hot Springs, with the reservation and mountain are hereby dedicated to the United States, and shall remain forever free from sale or alienation.
Approved, December 16, 1878.