[34] Private bills are delivered to the clerk instead of to the speaker. The distinction between a public bill and a private bill is that the former deals with matters of general interest to the public, while the latter deals with matters of interest to a single individual or a small class. An example of a public bill is one regulating commerce; an example of a private bill is one granting a pension to a particular individual, or settling a claim of a person against the government. A distinction is also made between a bill and a resolution. A bill deals with matters of a more fundamental and permanent character, while a resolution deals with matters of a more temporary and transient nature. Resolutions are of two kinds: joint and concurrent. A joint resolution is passed like a bill and requires the approval of the President but is cast in slightly different form and is used for making small appropriations, the creation of commissions, proposal of amendments to the Constitution, resolutions to admit new states, ordering of printing, and the like. A concurrent resolution is used for expressing the opinion of Congress on some question of interest to that body alone and is not submitted to the President for his approval.
[35] But in 1916 a Democratic Congress laid a protective tariff on imported dyestuffs to encourage a home industry.
[36] The senate, however, has the right to propose amendments. Thus the tariff bill of 1894 was amended by the senate in nearly a thousand particulars. Again, the tariff bill of 1909 was so altered by the senate that it was in many respects a new bill, and the differences between the two houses were settled by a conference committee.
[37] If the importer for any reason does not desire to remove his goods immediately and pay the duty thereon, he may store them in a government warehouse by giving a bond for double the amount of their value. He may then withdraw them at any time within a year upon the payment of the duties. If they are reëxported the payment of duties is not required.
[38] Later mints were established at Denver, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Assay offices for refining and determining the purity of bullion have been established at New York, St. Louis, Deadwood, Helena, Boise, Carson City, Salt Lake, Seattle, and Charlotte, North Carolina. To give strength and hardness to gold and silver coins an alloy of copper equal to one tenth of their weight is added.
[39] In addition to the gold and silver coins mentioned above are the five cent piece (nickel) and the one cent piece (copper).
[40] At the present time all gold coins and the silver dollar are legal tender for all sums. The smaller coins, however, are legal tender for small sums only, the amount ranging from twenty-five cents in the case of the nickel and copper pieces to $10 in the case of the silver coins.
[41] The gold reserve is a sum of money set aside for the purpose of redeeming the old "greenbacks" or United States notes. An effort has always been made to keep the amount above $100,000,000.
[42] According to the report of the commissioner general of immigration, 1,218,480 immigrants arrived in the United States during the year 1914. Of those who applied for admission into the country, more than 33,000 were turned back. In 1916 the number of arrivals dropped to 366,748; in 1920 it was 430,000.
[43] Under the commerce power. Congress has also enacted the white slave law, and an act restricting the killing of birds that migrate from one state to another.