STREET-CAR FARE. An officer or employee who is required, in the performance of his duties, to go from place to place within the limits of his official station is not to be regarded as in a travel status so as to be entitled to reimbursement for actual personal expenses. But if an expense is necessarily incurred at said station for car fare incident to the accomplishment of a work specifically appropriated for, reimbursement therefor from the appropriation for such work is authorized. Decision by Comptroller Downey, February 6, 1914: Mason M. Patrick, lieutenant colonel, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, applied January 28, 1914, for a revision of the action of the Auditor for the War Department in disallowing by settlement No. 29611, dated January 9, 1914, credit for payments made by him to Edgar C. Cannon, inspector, as reimbursement for amounts expended for street-car fare at Pittsburgh, Pa., during the months of January and February, 1913, aggregating $2.25. (Voucher 16, February, 1913, and voucher 7, March, 1913.) * * The auditor disallowed these items for reasons stated as follows: "It is clearly shown * ** * that the expense of street-car fares was incurred by Mr. Cannon for the transportation of himself, from place to place, in and around Pittsburgh, and, * the decision of July 10, 1911, contemplates the allowance of these expenses only when such trips or journeys are made for the transportation of Government property, or the carrying of official papers. With reference to these payments Lieut. Col. Patrick, Engineer officer in charge of the improvement work in St. Mary's River, Mich., said: "For this office and for use at the new lock now building at Sault Ste. Marie there are being manufactured at Pittsburgh, Pa., many items of machinery, electrical apparatus, etc., under contract with the J. & J. B. Milholland Co. of that city. "To insure compliance with the approved plans, these parts, as made, must be inspected by a competent inspector. Owing to the variety of the parts, the contractors have found it necessary to have them fabricated in a number of different places in and near Pittsburgh. "Instead of placing an inspector of my own force there, it has been much more economical to have the inspection made by a suitable man already employed by the Pittsburgh United States Engineer office whose services could be spared during the time necessary for this work, which he did in addition to his regular duties. "In order to do this inspecting it was necessary, of course, for the inspector to go to the places of manufacture as often as needed to keep track of the work and to insure its being done in accord with the plans and specifications. "The street-car fares were incurred for travel to and from these manufacturing plants on official business and in accordance with his directions. This travel was necessary in the public service, in fact there was no other way except by street car in which the employee could reach the places to which he was sent without undue loss of time. 66* * *. In order to insure compliance with the specifications covering the articles being manufactured and that the United States would secure machinery suitable for its purposes, the inspector was directed to visit the various manufacturing plants as often as was necessary. So distant were many of the places from the office and from each other that it was physically impossible for this inspector to carry out his instructions without having himself transported from place to place, and this was thoroughly understood by me when his instructions were issued. To have directed or permitted the inspector to make these visits to these plants without incurring expenses for street-car transportation would have resulted in loss of time, delays at the plants while waiting his arrival, interruptions in the process of manufacture, or else necessitated the employment of additional inspectors and greatly added expense." The appropriation from which the payments in question were made is found in the act of August 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 417, 446), and reads: "Improving Saint Marys River, Michigan: For continuing improvement at the falls by the construction of a new lock, with a separate canal, $1,500,000." That the expenses incurred for street-car fares at Pittsburgh were necessary and incident to the work for which this appropriation was made there would appear to be no doubt, in view of Col. Patrick's statements herein quoted. And as there is no other appropriation more specifically providing for the payment of such expenses they are a legal and proper charge against this appropriation unless payment for such expenses is prohibited by law. These expenses were made necessary by, and incurred solely in, the performance of a public duty, and they were not personal expenses of the inspector as are subsistence, lodgings, wearing apparel, etc. Hence their payment is not prohibited by section 1765, Revised Statutes, nor by any other law of which I am aware. This inspector was not in a travel status, within the ordinary acceptation of that term, when these expenses were incurred, and their payment is authorized not as reimbursement for his actual expenses but because they were expenses necessarily incurred in connection with the improvement work for which the appropriation in question was made. This decision is not regarded as in conflict with former decisions of this office to the effect that appropriations for traveling expenses, or for the contingent, incidental, or miscellaneous expenses of a department, bureau, or office are not available for payment of street-car fares for the transportation of officers or employees from place to place within the limits of their official stations. SPACE IN DEPOTS FOR MAIL IN TRANSIT. The Postmaster General has authority to require that necessary accommodations for handling and storing mail in depots be furnished by a railway company under its general contract for carrying the mails, notwithstanding its protest thereto, and to impose a fine for failure to furnish said accommodations. Decision by Comptroller Downey, February 6, 1914: The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. applied January 17, 1914, for a revision of the action of the Auditor for the Post Office Department in disallowing $425 by settlement No. 412, dated September 11, 1913. The said disallowance was the amount of two fines of $212.50 each, imposed on the company for failure to furnish suitable quarters for transfer clerk in its station at Albuquerque, N. Mex., under an order of the Postmaster General, as follows: "After correspondence, beginning in October, 1912, with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co., with a view to having it fulfill its obligation to furnish suitable quarters for the transfer clerk, Railway Mail Service, in its station at Albuquerque, N. Mex., without result, the company was informed on July 11, 1913, that unless the desired quarters were provided by July 15, 1913, the department would impose suitable penalties. On July 16, the company having indicated that the matter would be held in abeyance, it was informed that a fine of $25 would be imposed for each day from July 15, 1913, until the quarters were furnished. "It appears proper to divide the fine equally between the two routes of the company entering Albuquerque, Nos. 165006 and 167030. A report has been received showing that the quarters had not been provided up to July 31, 1913. Therefore, for the period July 15 to July 31, 1913, inclusive, 17 days: "Route 165006, fine $212.50. "Route 167030, fine $212.50." The said amounts were deducted from the amounts otherwise due for the service of the company on the routes indicated for the month of August, 1913. This service was performed by the company under the usual quadrennial contract which the Post Office Department enters into with the mail-carrying railroads of the country. This form of agreement, commonly known as the distance circular, which was signed by the company's duly authorized official as the contract effective during the quadrennial period July 1, 1910, to June 30, 1914, contained the following agreement clause, common to all such forms: "The company named below agrees to accept and perform mail service upon the conditions prescribed by law and the regulations of the department applicable to railroad mail service." This company, however, in returning the said form to the Post Office Department, expressly protested— แ * * against furnishing rooms at stations for use of the Post Office Department employees for distribution of mail, without payment or rental therefor." The company contends that 66 * * * the duties of the transfer clerks to sort and reconsign the incoming and outgoing mail at Albuquerque were clearly post office functions, constituting no part of the act of transporting the mails, and capable of performance only after the act of transportation was completed by the company. The furnishing of space and accommodations for the performance of these duties was no more a part of the act of transportation, the obligation to do which rested upon the company, than the performance of the duties themselves. * * "That compensation of the company under the acts of March 3, 1873 (17 Stat., 558), March 3, 1905 (33 Stat., 1088), and March 2, 1907 (34 Stat., 1212), was based solely and entirely upon the average daily weight of mails carried over the routes in question, showing that the company's compensation was for the service of actually transporting the mails and not for the reasonable rental of a room in the company's station to be devoted to post-office purposes having no direct relation to such actual transportation." The company further contends that the regulation of the Post Office Department requiring railroad companies to provide rooms for handling and storing the mails and without specific charge therefor is not sustained by any law of the United States, and therefore not a valid regulation. The company also contends that even if the contract of the company requires the furnishing of space and accommodations required by the Post Office Department, the failure to furnish the same amounts only to a breach of contract for which only actual damages can be recovered, it being a well-settled rule that punitive or exemplary damages can not be recovered therefor, and that the actual rental value of the space and accommodations which the company refused to furnish should be the basis or measure of damages, and that because the transfer clerks have been withdrawn from the company's station to the local post office, where the mail formerly sorted in the station is now sorted and reconsigned, shows no actual loss to the department. The company therefore submits that: "(A) It was under no obligation to furnish the space and accommodations required by the Post Office Department; "(B) That the department had no authority to impose a penalty or fine upon it for failing to furnish such space and accommodations, but could at most deduct only the actual loss sustained by the department; and "(C) That the facts show that the department has suffered no loss at all as a result of the company's asserted default and hence nothing could lawfully be deducted from the company's compensation." The Second Assistant Postmaster General, in a letter dated January 26, 1914, addressed to the Auditor for the Post Office Department, made the following report: "For a number of years the claimant company has been carrying the mails on its railroad between La Junta, Colo., and Albuquerque, N. Mex., and between Albuquerque, N. Mex., and El Paso, Tex., known as mail routes No. 165006 and No. 167030, respectively. The service on railroad routes is required to be performed by the carriers under the terms of the Postal Laws and Regulations applicable to railroad mail service. The sections of the Postal Laws and Regulations relevant to this case are as follows: "SEC. 1186. * * * "2. Railroad companies, at stations where transfer clerks are employed, will provide suitable and sufficient rooms for handling and storing the mails, and without specific charge there for. These rooms will be lighted, heated, furnished, supplied with ice water, and kept in order by the railroad company. "3. The specific requirements of the service as to due frequency and speed, space required on trains or at stations, fixtures, furniture, etc., will at all times be determined by the Post Office Department and made known through the General Superintendent of Railway Mail Service. "SEC. 1332. The Postmaster General may make deductions from the pay of contractors for failures to perform service according to contract, and impose fines upon them for other delinquencies. He may deduct the price of the trip in all cases where the trip is not performed, and not exceeding three times the price if the failure be occasioned by the fault of the contractor or carrier. "SEC. 1336. In addition to the foregoing general causes, fines will be imposed for the following delinquencies in the different classes of service, to wit: * * * * "(e) Failure to furnish proper accommodations for the handling, storage, and, if necessary, the distribution of mails in depots.' "These sections are from the Postal Laws and Regulations, edition of 1902. In the edition of 1913 they are numbered 1341, 1486, and 1490. On "A transfer clerk has been employed at the station of the claimant at Albuquerque, N. Mex., for a number of years, and the company provided therein suitable and sufficient rooms for handling and storing the mails as required by the foregoing regulation. September 21, 1912, the part of the station in which was located the room used by the transfer clerk was destroyed by fire. Following the fire these clerks were temporarily quartered in the space occupied by the express company. On October 17 the transfer clerks were excluded from the station and the agent of the company refused to provide a place for their accommodation. Correspondence between field officers of this service and the manager of mail traffic of the company having failed to secure satisfactory informa |