exclusively to the business of the Government of the United States: Provided, That every such letter or package to entitle it to pass free shall bear over the words "Official business" an endorsement showing also the name of the department, and, if from a bureau or office, the names of the department and bureau or office, as the case may be, whence transmitted. Sec. 5, Act of Mar. 3, 1877 (19 Stat. 335). [These envelopes are for use in domestic correspondence only, and will not cover the transportation of letters to foreign countries, upon which postage stamps must be used. (See paragraphs 834-839, Army Regulations, 1913, as to the use of penalty envelopes.)] 253. Same. Whoever shall make use of any official envelope, label, or indorsement authorized by law, to avoid the payment of postage or registry fee on his private letter, packet, package, or other matter in the mail, shall be fined not more than three hundred dollars. Sec. 227, Act of Mar. 4, 1909, Criminal Code (35 Stat. 1134). 254. Departments to procure envelopes. For the purpose of carrying this act into effect, it shall be the duty of each of the Executive Departments of the United States to provide for itself and its subordinate offices the necessary envelopes; and in addition to the indorsement designating the department in which they are to be used. the penalty for the unlawful use of these envelopes shall be stated thereon. Sec. 6, Act of Mar. 3, 1877 (19 Stat. 336). 255. Extension of franking privilege.-The provisions of the fifth and sixth sections of the act entitled "An act establishing post routes, and for other purposes" approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, for the transmission of official mail matter, be, and they are hereby, extended to all officers of the United States Government, not including members of Congress, the envelopes of such matter in all cases to bear appropriate indorsements containing the proper designation of the office from which or officer from whom the same is transmitted, with a statement of the penalty for their misuse. And the provisions of said fifth and sixth sections are hereby likewise extended and made applicable to all official mail matter of the Smithsonian Institution. Sec. 3, Act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. 158). 256. Return penalty envelopes.-Any Department or officer authorized to use the penalty envelopes may inclose them with return address to any person or persons from or through whom official information is desired, the same to be used only to cover such official information, and indorsements relating thereto. Id. 257. Registration of mail, Executive Departments.-Any letter or packet to be registered by either of the Executive Departments, or bureaus thereof, or by the Agricultural Department, or by the Public Printer, may be registered without the payment of any registry fee; and any part paid letter or packet addressed to either of said depart ments or bureaus may be delivered free; but where there is good reason to believe the omission to prepay the full postage thereon was intentional, such letter or packet shall be returned to the sender: Provided further, That this act shall not extend or apply to pension agents or other officers who receive a fixed allowance as compensation for their services, including expenses of postages. And section thirtynine hundred and fifteen of the Revised Statutes of the United States, so far as the same relates to stamps and stamped envelopes for official purposes, is hereby repealed. Sec. 3, Act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. 158). 258. Examination of titles.-No public money shall be expended upon any site or land purchased by the United States for the purposes of erecting thereon any armory, arsenal, fort, fortification, navy-yard, custom-house, light-house, or other public building, of any kind whatever, until the written opinion of the Attorney-General shall be had in favor of the validity of the title, nor until the consent of the legislature of the State in which the land or site may be, to such purchase, has been given. The district attorneys of the United States, upon the application of the Attorney-General, shall furnish any assistance or information in their power in relation to the titles of the public property lying within their respective districts. And the Secretaries of the Departments, upon the application of the Attorney-General, shall procure any additional evidence of title which he may deem necessary, and which may not be in the possession of the officers of the Government, and the expense of procuring it shall be paid out of the appropriations made for the contingencies of the Departments respectively.1 Sec. 355, R. S. 259. Emergency purchases.-In case of emergency when, in the opinion of the President, the immediate erection of any temporary fort or fortification is deemed important and urgent, such temporary fort or fortification may be constructed upon the written consent of the owner of the land upon which such work is to be placed; and the requirements of section three hundred and fifty-five of the Revised Statutes shall not be applicable in such cases. Joint Res. No. 21, of Apr. 11, 1898 (30 Stat. 737). 260. Questions of law to be sent to the Attorney-General.-Whenever a question of law arises in the administration of the Department of War or the Department of the Navy, the cognizance of which is not given by statute to some other officer from whom the head of the Department may require advice, it shall be sent to the AttorneyGeneral, to be by him referred to the proper officer in his Department, or otherwise disposed of as he may deem proper. Sec. 357 R. S. 1 The Attorney-General in certifying the title of land purchased by the Government must look at the question as one of pure law, and can not relax the rules of law on account either of the desirableness of the object or the smallness of the value of the land. (VI Opin. Att. Gen., 432. See the chapters entitled the Public Lands and Contracts and Purchases. See, also, I Comp. Dec., 348.) 'The Attorney-General will only give official opinions on questions of law arising on facts which are authoritatively stated by a head of Department. (X Opin. Att. Gen., 267.) He has no authority to settle questions of fact, nor to give advice on questions of law, except for the assistance of the officer calling for his opinion on points stated. He takes the facts as they are stated to him and predicates his opinion on them. (III id., 309.) It is not the duty of the Attorney-General to give opinions on questions of fact, nor to review the proceedings of a court-martial in search of questions of law. (V id., 626.) The Attorney-General will not give a speculative opinion on an abstract question of law, which does not arise in any case presented for the action of an Executive Department. (XI id., 189.) Nor will he review the opinion of |