and all such claims hereafter arising be presented within two years from the occurrence of the loss or destruction.-Act. of Mar. 3, 1885 (23 Stat., 350).

NO REDUCTION THEREFROM FOR ATTORNEYS' FEES.

58. In the settlement of claims of officers, soldiers, sailors and marines, or their representatives, and all other claims for pay and allowances within the jurisdiction of the Auditor for the War Department or the Auditor for the Navy Department, presented and filed hereafter in which it is the present practice to make deductions of attorney's fees from the amount found due, no deductions of fees for attorneys or agents shall hereafter be made, but the draft, check, or warrant for the full amount found due shall be delivered to the payee in person or sent to his bona fide post-office address (residence or place of business).-Act of June 6, 1900 (31 Stat., 637).

HOW EXAMINED WHERE THERE HAS NOT BEEN AN ADMINISTRATIVE
EXAMINATION.

59. Sec. 14. In the case of claims presented to an auditor which have not had an administrative examination, the auditor shall cause them to be examined by two of his subordinates independently of each other.-Act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat., 210).

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60. Any person accepting payment under a settlement by an auditor shall be thereby precluded from obtaining a revision of such settlement as to any items upon which payment is accepted; any person whose accounts may have been settled * * * may, within a year, obtain a revision of the said account by the Comptroller of the Treasury, whose decision upon such revision shall be final and conclusive upon the executive branch of the Government.-Sec. 8, ibid.

ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTIONS BY AUDITORS TO BE REFERRED TO COMPTROLLER FOR APPROVAL, MODIFICATION, OR DISAPPROVAL.

61. All decisions by auditors making an original construction or modifying an existing construction of statutes shall be forthwith reported to the Comptroller of the Treasury, and items in any account affected by such decisions shall be suspended and payment thereof withheld until the Comptroller of the Treasury shall approve, dis approve, or modify such decisions and certify his actions to the auditor. All decisions made by the Comptroller of the Treasury under this act shall be forthwith transmitted to the auditor or auditors whose duties are affected thereby.-Sec. 8, ibid.

SETTLEMENT BY TREASURY DEPARTMENT OF CERTAIN CLAIMS OF STATES AND

TERRITORIES.

62. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay to the governor of any State or Territory, or to his duly authorized agents, the reasonable costs, charges, and expenses that have been incurred by him in aiding the United States to raise the Volunteer Army in the existing War with Spain, by subsisting, clothing, supplying, equipping, paying, and transporting men of his State or Territory who were afterwards accepted into the Volunteer Army of the United States: Provided, That the transportation paid for shall be only the transportation of such men from the place of their enrollment for service in the Volunteer Army of the United States to the place of their acceptance into the same by the United States mustering officer, and that the names of the men transported shall appear on the muster rolls of the Volunteer Army of the United States: And provided further, That such claims shall be settled upon proper vouchers, to be filed and passed upon by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury: And provided further. That. in cases where the money to pay said costs, charges, and expenses has been, or may

hereafter be, borrowed by the governors or their respective States or Territories, and interest is paid, or may hereafter be paid, on the same, by the governors or their States or Territories, from the time it was or may be so borrowed to the time of its refundment by the United States, or thereafter, such interest shall not be refunded by the United States; nor shall any interest be paid the governors or their States or Territories on the amounts paid out by them, nor any other amount refunded or paid than is in this act expressly mentioned.—Act of July 8, 1898 (30 Stat., 730).

63. That the act entitled "An act to reimburse the governors of States and Territories for expenses incurred by them in aiding the United States to raise and organize and supply and equip the Volunteer Army of the United States in the existing War with Spain." approved July eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, be so amended that the Secretary of the Treasury shall be, and is hereby, authorized to allow, in the settlement of the claims of the governors of States and Territories for reimbursement under the provisions of the said act, expenses incurred after as well as before July eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight: Provided, That no reimbursement shall be made for service of members of the National Guard, or Organized Militia, or Naval Reserves of any State or Territory who were not accepted into the Volunteer Army of the United States, and no reimbursement shall be allowed for payments made to any person in excess of the pay and allowances authorized by the laws of the State or Territory for the grade in which he was accepted into the Volunteer Army of the United States. That the compensation allowed by the laws of the States and Territories to officers and men of the National Guard, or militia, or Naval Reserves of said States and Territories shall be allowed to the States and Territories, or the governors of the States and Territories, as pay for such officers and men of said National Guard, or militia, or Naval Reserves as appeared and remained at the place of muster, and who were afterwards received into the service of the United States for the period between the date of assembly at the rendezvous and the date they were mustered into the United States service.-Act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat., 1356).

RATES OF PAY.

64. In all States and Territories where no laws exist for the payment of the officers and men of the National Guard, or militia, or Naval Reserves there shall be allowed to said States and Territories, or the governors of said States and Territories, for the officers the same pay as allowed officers in the Regular Army holding the same rank, and for the men, one dollar per day, for such officers and men as appeared and remained at the place of muster and were afterwards received into the service of the United States for the period between the date of assembly at the rendezvous and the date they were mustered into the service of the United States: Provided further, That for all officers and men of the National Guard, or militia, or Naval Reserves of the States and Territories, who appeared at the rendezvous for muster, and were rejected by the medical examiner or mustering officer, pay shall be allowed for the same to the States and Territories or the governors of States and Territories, at the several rates as fixed as aforesaid from the date of assembly to the date of their rejection: Provided further, That where States and Territories have not paid amounts to the officers and men or any part thereof, the pay allowed them by this act, the same shall be paid by the States and Territories direct to the officers and men, and no money allowed by this act for officers and men shall be covered into the treasury of the State or Territory.— Ibid.

TRANSPORTATION TO STATE RENDEZVOUS.

65. Under the appropriation made by said act the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to reimburse the governor of any State or Territory for reasonable expenses incurred by him for the actual transportation of the members of Organ

ized Militia, or National Guard, or Naval Reserves of his State from the place of company, battalion, or regimental rendezvous to the State rendezvous, or place designated for examination and acceptance of the members of such organzation into the Volunteer Army of the United States, and the actual transportation from such State rendezvous, or such place designated for examination and acceptance, to their respective company, battalion, or regimental rendezvous of such men as were rejected by the medical examiner or mustering officer: Provided, That no reimbursement shall be made for the transportation of any man who did not present himself for enrollment in the Volunteer Army of the United States as provided by law: And provided further, That the provisions of this section shall apply also to payments made by the governor of any State or Territory for the actual transportation of individual volunteers who presented themselves for enrollment in the Volunteer Army of the United States and who were rejected by the medical examiner or mustering officer. Sec. 2, ibid.

SUBSISTENCE.

66. Nothing in said act of July eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be so construed as to prohihit the reimbursement of the governor of any State or Territory for reasonable expenses incurred for the subsistence of the members of any organization of the Organized Militia or National Guard, or Naval Reserves of his State or Territory after having been called out by the governor on or after April twentyfifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight: Provided, That such organizations shall afterwards have been accepted into the Volunteer Army of the United States.Sec. 3, ibid.

UNSETTLED ACCOUNTS, EXPENSES, ETC.

67. The expenses incurred by the governors of States in carrying out the provisions of this act shall be paid to them, notwithstanding any unsettled accounts, claims, or indebtedness of the United States against their States, and without prejudice to such unsettled accounts: Provided, That when such unsettled account is caused by a default in payment of principal or interest on any bonds or stock issued or guaranteed by any State, the ownership of which is vested in the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to institute any act or proceeding which he may consider advisable against such State or its representatives to secure the payment of the principal and interest of said bonds or stocks: And provided further, That where the governor of any State or Territory, or any officer of the Army detailed as mustering officer of volunteers, or any commander of a company or companies, or troop or troops, or battery, or battalion, or regiment, or brigade, has purchased or authorized the purchase of supplies or equipments, or incurred any necessary expense for the comfort of the men in camp or rendezvous, and said supplies were used and equipments were subsequently taken into the United States service by said volunteers, and no receipts given to such military officer, the certificate to that effect of the governor of the State or Territory to which the volunteers belonged shall be held sufficient to authorize the settlement and payment of such account on investigation, if the Treasury Department shall be satisfied of the fact of such purchase of such equipment and supplies, or that such necessary expenses were incurred and such use of such supplies, or such taking of such equipments into the United States service, and the voucher or vouchers of said officers be produced by said governor.-Sec. 4, ibid.

TRANSPORTATION OF TROOPS, ETC.

68. That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and is hereby, authorized to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the just and proper account or claim of any railroad, transportation company, or person for transportation of men or troops from place of enrollment to point of rendezvous, furnished at the

request of the Quartermaster General of the Army or his agents, or at the request of any United States mustering officer or other officer authorized by the Secretary of War to enroll, muster, or mobilize volunteers for the War with Spain; and also to pay such just and proper accounts as may be presented for transportation back from point of rendezvous to place of enrollment of men who volunteered and were rejected by the medical examiner or mustering officer: Provided, That the amount allowed and paid for such transportation shall not be in excess of the rates charged for transporting troops of the United States under like circumstances. All claims under the provision of this act must be filed in the office of the Auditor for the War Department, and must be supported by proper vouchers or other conclusive evidence of interest.-Sec. 5, ibid.

LIMITATION ON CLAIMS.

69. All claims for reimbursement under this act or the act of July eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be presented in itemized form to the Treasury Department on or before January first, nineteen hundred and two, or be forever barred.— Sec. 6, ibid.

NOTES.-1. Upon the question of compromise of claims against the United States, where adjustment is before executive officials, see cases of Sweeney v. U. S., 17 Wall., 75, 77; Mason v. U. S., id., 67.

2. The filing of claims under authority of several of the acts of Congress are now barred by time limitation. Under sections 300A and 300B, Revised Statutes, the Quartermaster General and Commissary General were authorized to pass upon the merits of certain claims of loyal citizens for property furnished to the Army during the War of the Rebellion. This jurisdiction was withdrawn by the acts of March 3, 1883 (22 Stat., 457 and 485). Sections 3482 to 3487, Revised Statutes, provided for the reimbursement of officers and men for horses and other private property lost in the military service. The scope was changed by several subsequent acts, and finally became inoperative as to general claims on August 13, 1889, and as to horses lost during the rebellion on August 13, 1891. The time for filing claims under the act of June 6, 1900, with reference to private property taken and used in the military service within the limits of the United States during the Spanish War, was limited to January 1, 1901. By section 3489, Revised Statutes, it is provided that no claims against the United States for collecting, drilling, or organizing volunteers for the War of the Rebellion shall be paid unless presented before June 30, 1874, nor for horses lost prior to January 1, 1872, unless presented before June 30, 1874. Under the act of February 27, 1902, the Quartermaster General was authorized to investigate claims for horses, etc., taken from Confederates in violation of the terms of surrender, but the limitation of time for filing such claims as finally extended by the joint resolution of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 883), was June 25, 1912.

SET-OFF.

70. When any final judgment recovered against the United States or other claim duly allowed by legal authority, shall be presented to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment, and the plaintiff or claimant therein shall be indebted to the United States in any manner, whether as principal or surety, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to withhold payment of an amount of such judgment or claim equal to the debt thus due to the United States; and if such plaintiff or claimant assents to such set-off, and discharges his judgment or an amount thereof equal to said debt or claim, the Secretary shall execute a discharge of the debt due from the plaintiff to the United States. But if such plaintiff, or claimant, denies his indebtedness to the United States, or refuses to consent to the set-off, then the Secretary shall withhold payment of such further amount of such judgment, or claim, as in his opinion will be sufficient to cover all legal charges and costs in prosecuting the debt of the United States to final judgment. And if such debt is not already in suit, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to cause legal proceedings to be immediately commenced to enforce the same, and to cause the same to be prosecuted to final judgment with all reasonable dispatch. And if in such action judgment shall be rendered against the United States, or the amount recovered for debt and costs shall be less than the amounts so withheld, as before provided, the balance shall then be paid over to such plaintiff by such Secretary, with six per cent interest thereon for the time it has been withheld from the plaintiff.— Act of Mar. 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 481). ·

PRIORITY OF UNITED STATES.

71. Whenever any person indebted to the United States is insolvent, or whenever the estate of any deceased debtor, in the hands of the executors or administrators, is insufficient to pay all the debts due from the deceased, the debts due to the United States shall be first satisfied; and the priority hereby established shall extend as well to cases in which a debtor, not having sufficient property to pay all his debts, makes a voluntary assignment thereof, or in which the estate and effects of an absconding, concealed, or absent debtor are attached by process of law, as to cases in which an act of bankruptcy is committed.-Sec. 3466, R. S.

LIABILITY OF EXECUTORS. ETC.

72. Every executor, administrator, or assignee, or other person, who pays any debt due by the person or estate from whom or for which he acts, before he satisfies and pays the debts due to the United States from such person or estate, shall become answerable in his own person and estate for the debts so due to the United States, or for so much thereof as may remain due and unpaid.-Sec. 3467, R. S.

1 PRIORITY OF SURETIES.

73. Whenever the principal in any bond given to the United States is insolvent, or whenever, such principal being deceased, his estate and effects which come to the hands of the executor, administrator, or assignee are insufficient for the payment of his debts, and, in either of such cases, any surety on the bond, or the executor, administrator, or assignee of surety pays to the United States the money due upon such bond, such surety, his executor, administrator, or assignee shall have the like priority for the recovery and receipt of the moneys out of the estate and effects of such insolvent or deceased principal as is secured to the United States, and may bring and maintain a suit upon the bond, in law or equity, in his own name, for the recovery of all moneys paid thereon.-Sec. 3468, R. S.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY TO REPORT ALLOWANCES TO CONGRESS.

74. The Secretary of the Treasury shall, at the commencement of each session of Congress, report the amount due each claimant whose claim has been allowed in whole or in part to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the presiding officer of the Senate, who shall lay the same before their respective Houses for consideration.— Act of July 7, 1884 (23 Stat., 254).

75. Hereafter the Secretary of War is authorized to consider, ascertain, adjust, and determine the amounts due on all claims for damages to and loss of private property when the amount of the claim does not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars, occasioned by heavy gun fire and target practice of troops, and for damages to vessels, wharves, and other private property, found to be due to maneuvers or other military operations for which the Government is responsible, and report the amounts so ascertained and determined to be due the claimants to Congress at each session thereof through the Treasury Department for payment as legal claims out of appropriations that may be made by Congress therefor.-Act of Aug. 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 586).

JURISDICTION OF DISTRICT COURTS.

76. Sec. 24, par. 20. Concurrent with the Court of Claims, of all claims not exceeding ten thousand dollars founded upon the Constitution of the United States or any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of any executive department, or upon any contract, express or implied, with the Government of the United States, or for damages, liquidated or unliquidated, in cases not sounding in tort, in respect to which claims the