Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, the funds of "the Provident Association of Clerks" shall be appropriated and paid to the families of deceased members, at the following rates, to wit: To the families of such member as may die at any time during the first five years of their membership, the amount of the subscription which shall have been paid in by such members respectively, with the addition thereto of fifty per centum of the amount so paid in by them; to the families of members dying at any time during the next five years, an additional sum of seven dollars and a half for every quarter of each of said succeeding years; to the families of members dying at any time during the next succeeding ten years, an additional sum of six dollars and twenty-five cents for every quarter of each of said succeeding years; to the families of members dying at any time during the next succeeding five years, an additional sum of five dollars for every quarter of each of said succeeding years; to the families of members dying at any time during the next succeeding ten years, an additional sum of six dollars and twenty-five cents for every quarter of each of said succeeding years; and to the families of members dying at any time after the thirty-fifth year, an additional sum of twelve dollars and fifty cents for every quarter of each of said succeeding years; so that, at the end of the fifth, tenth, twentieth, twenty-fifth, thirty-fifth, and fortieth years provided for his family out of the funds of the association the sums of seventy-five, two hundred and twenty-five, four hundred and seventy-five, five hundred and seventy-five, eight hundred and twenty-five, and one thousand and seventy-five dollars respectively.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, with the consent of three fourths of all the contributing members, the foregoing rates may, at any time, be increased or diminished, and subsequently altered, as may be deemed warranted or required by the then existing funds of the association: Provided, That any and every such act of alteration, duly attested by the presiding and recording officers of the association, and under its seal, shall be filed within ten days after the adoption thereof, in the office of clerk of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia for the county of Washington, whose duty it is hereby made to receive and record the same in his office.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That any member of the association who has been, or may hereafter be, removed from office, may at any time hereafter, and after such removal, discontinue his quarterly payments to the funds of the association, and instead of thereby forfeiting his previous payments, as provided in the original act of incorporation of said association, by such discontinuance, there shall be paid to the family of such member, at his death, such an amount of the said funds as they would have been entitled to had his death occurred at the time he discontinued his payments.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for a member of said association who has a wife and children to designate his widow as entitled to receive the whole benefit of his membership; if no widow, his children, or such of them as he may designate; and if no child or children, then such person or persons as he may designate, (or adopt,) by giving notice in writing to the president and board of officers of the name or names of such person or persons.

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Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much of the original act of incorporation, and of the act of the third of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-five, amendatory thereof, as is inconsistent with the provisions of the act, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

Approved, March 2, 1849.