customs revenue; nor shall any sum be paid to any agent authorized to be employed for mileage or any other expenses except such as are actually incurred in the discharge of his official duty. (R. S. 2651; Aug. 15, 1876.)

The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, whenever he shall think it advantageous to the public service, to abolish or suspend the office of comptroller of customs, or any other subordinate office, in any collection district of the United States, except in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah, Portland in Maine, and San Francisco, and to assign the duties of the office or any other subordinate office so abolished or suspended to a deputy collector or inspector of the customs; and so much of all fines, penalties, and forfeitures as would otherwise inure to either of such naval officers shall, after the discontinuance of their offices, respectively, be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and there credited to the fund for defraying the expenses of collecting the revenue from customs. (R. S. 2653.)

Alaska Seal Agents.

The Secretary of Commerce shall have authority to appoint such additional officers, agents, and employees as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act and the laws of the United States relating to the seal fisheries of Alaska, to prescribe their duties and to fix their compensation; he shall likewise have authority to purchase from the present lessee of the right to take seals on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, at a fair valuation to be agreed upon, the warehouses, salt houses, boats, launches, lighters, horses, mules, wagons, and other property of the said lessee on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, including the dwellings of the natives of said islands; he shall likewise have authority to establish and maintain depots for provisions and supplies on the Pribilof Islands and to provide for the transportation of such provisions and supplies from the mainland of the United States to the said islands by the charter of private vessels or by the use of public vessels of the United States which may be placed at his disposal by the President; and he shall likewise have authority to furnish food, shelter, fuel, clothing, and other necessaries of life to the native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islands and to provide for their comfort, maintenance, education, and protection. (Apr. 21, 1910, sec. 9.)

The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to appoint one agent and three assistant agents, who shall be charged with the management of the seal fisheries in Alaska, and the performance of such other duties as may be assigned to them by the Secretary of Commerce. (R. S. 1973; Feb. 14, 1903, sec. 7.)

Such agents shall never be interested, directly or indirectly, in any lease of the right to take seals, nor in any proceeds or profits thereof, either as owner, agent, partner, or otherwise. (R. S. 1975.)

Such agents are empowered to administer oaths in all cases relating to the service of the United States, and to take testimony in Alaska for the use of the Government in any matter concerning the public revenues. (R. S. 1976.)

For the purpose of better guarding against frauds upon the revenue on foreign merchandise transported between the ports of the Atlantic and those of the Pacific overland through any foreign ter

ritory, the Secretary of the Treasury may appoint special sworn agents as inspectors of the customs, to reside in such foreign territory where such merchandise may be landed or embarked, with power to superintend the landing or shipping of all merchandise, pass.ng coastwise between the ports of the United States on the Pacific and the Atlantic. It shall be their duty, under such regulations and instructions as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, to guard against the perpetration of frauds upon the revenue. The compensation paid to such inspectors shall not in the aggregate exceed five thousand dollars per annum. (R. S. 2999; Feb. 14, 1903, sec. 10.)

Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The President is authorized to cause a survey to be taken of the coasts of the United States, in which shall be designated the islands and shoals, w th the roads or places of anchorage, within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States; and also the respective courses and distances between the principal capes or headlands, together with such other matters as he may deem proper for completing an accurate chart of every part of the coasts. 4681.)

(R. S.

The President may also cause such examination and observations to be made with respect to Saint Georges Bank, and to any other bank, or shoal, and the soundings and currents, although beyond the distance of twenty leagues from the shore to the Gulf Stream, as he may deem especially subservient to the commercial interests of the United States. (R. S. 4682.)

The President is authorized, for any of the purposes of surveying the coast of the United States, to cause to be employed such of the public vessels in actual service as he deems it expedient to employ, and to give such instructions for regulating their conduct as he deems proper, according to the tenor of this Title [ R. S. 4681-4691]. (R. S. 4686.)

Officers of the Army and Navy shall, as far as practicable, be employed in the work of surveying the coast of the United States, whenever and in the manner required by the department hav.ng charge thereof. (R. S. 4687.)

The Secretary of Commerce may make such allowances to the officers and men of the Army and Navy, while employed on Coast Survey Service, for subsistence, in addition to their compensation, as he may deem necessary, not exceeding the sum authorized by the Treasury regulation of the eleventh day of May, eighteen hundred and forty-four. (R. S. 4688; Feb. 14, 1903, sec. 4.)

The Coast Survey report shall be submitted to Congress during the month of December in each year, and shall be accompanied by a general chart of the whole coasts of the United States, on as large a scale as convenient and practicable, showing, as near as practicable, the configuration of the coasts, and showing, by lines, the probable limits of the Gulf Stream, and showing, by lines, the probable limit to which the soundings off the coast will extend, and showing, by the use of colors and explanations, the exact portions of our coasts, of which complete charts have been published by the Coast Survey; also, showing such other parts of the coasts of which the triangulation, the topography, and the soundings have

been completed, but not published, and, also, such parts of the coasts of which the triangulation and topography, or the triangulation only, have been completed. (R. S. 4690.)

United States Commissioners.

The terms of office of all commissioners of the circuit courts heretofore appointed shall expire on the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven; and such office shall on that day cease to exist, and said commissioners shall then deposit all the records and other official papers appertaining to their offices in the office of the clerk of the circuit court by which they were appointed. All proceedings pending, returnable, unexecuted, or unfinished at said date before any such commissioner shall be continued and disposed of according to law by such commissioner appointed as herein provided, as may be designated by the district court for that purpose. It shall be the duty of the district court of each judicial district to appoint such number of persons, to be known as United States commissioners, at such places in the district as may be designated by the district court, which United States commissioners shall have the same powers and perform the same duties as are now imposed upon commissioners of the circuit courts. The appointment of such United States commissioners shall be entered of record in the district courts, and notice thereof at once given by the clerk to the Attorney General. That such United States commissioners shall hold their offices, respectively, for the term of four years, but they shall be at any time subject to removal by the district court; and no person shall at any time be a clerk or deputy clerk of a United States court and a United States commissioner without the approval of the Attorney General: Provided, That all Acts and parts of Acts applicable to commissioners of the circuit courts, except as to appointment and fees, shall be applicable to United States commissioners appointed under this Act. Warrants of arrest for violations of internal revenue laws may be issued by United States commissioners upon the sworn complaint of a United States district attorney, assistant United States district attorney, collector or deputy collector of internal revenue, or revenue agent or private citizen, but no such warrant of arrest shall be issued upon the sworn complaint of a private citizen unless first approved in writing by a United States district attorney. That United States commissioners and all clerks of United States courts are hereby authorized to administer oaths. (May 28, 1896, sec. 19.)

Unauthorized Services.

No executive department or other Government establishment of the United States shall expend, in any one fiscal year, any sum in excess of appropriations made by Congress for that fiscal year, or involve the Government in any contract or other obligation for the future payment of money in excess of such appropriations unless such contract or obligation is authorized by law. Nor shall any department or any officer of the Government accept voluntary service. for the Government or employ personal service in excess of that authorized by law, except in cases of sudden emergency involving the loss of human life or the destruction of property. All appropria

tions made for contingent expenses or other general purposes, except appropriations made in fulfillment of contract obligations expressly authorized by law, or for objects required or authorized by law without reference to the amounts annually appropriated therefor, shall, on or before the beginning of each fiscal year, be so apportioned by monthly or other allotments as to prevent expenditures in one portion of the year which may necessitate deficiency or additional appropriations to complete the service of the fiscal year for which said appropriations are made; and all such apportionments shall be adhered to and shall not be waived or modified except upon the happening of some extraordinary emergency or unusual circumstance which could not be anticipated at the time of making such apportionment, but this provision shall not apply to the contingent appropriations of the Senate or House of Representatives; and in case said apportionments are waived or modified as herein provided, the same shall be waived or modified in writing by the head of such executive department or other Government establishment having control of the expenditure, and the reasons therefor shall be fully set forth in each particular case and communicated to Congress in connection with estimates for any additional appropriations required on account thereof. Any person violating any provision of this section shall be summarily removed from office and may also be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not less than one month. (R. S. 3679; Mar. 3, 1905, sec. 4; Feb. 27, 1906, sec. 3.)

Waterways Commission.

That a commission, to be known as the Waterways Commission, consisting of seven members to be appointed by the President of the United States, at least one of whom shall be chosen from the active or retired list of the Engineer Corps of the Army, at least one of whom shall be an expert hydraulic engineer from civil life, and the remaining five of whom may each be selected either from civil life or the public service, is hereby created and authorized, under such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe, and subject to the approval of the heads of the several executive departments concerned, to bring into coordination and cooperation the engineering, scientific, and constructive services, bureaus, boards, and commissions of the several governmental departments of the United States and commissions created by Congress that relate to study, development, or control of waterways and water resources and subjects related thereto, or to the development and regulation of interstate and foreign commerce, with a view to uniting such services in investigating, with respect to all watersheds in the United States, questions relating to the development, improvement, regulation, and control of navigation as a part of interstate and foreign commerce, including therein the related questions of irrigation, drainage, forestry, arid and swamp land reclamation, clarification of streams, regulation of flow, control of floods, utilization of water power, prevention of soil erosion and waste, storage, and conservation of water for agricultural, industrial, municipal, and domestic uses, cooperation of railways and waterways, and promotion of terminal and transfer facilities, to secure the necessary data, and to formulate and report to Congress, as early as prac ticable, a comprehensive plan or plans for the development of water

ways and the water resources of the United States for the purposes of navigation and for every useful purpose, and recommendations for the modification or discontinuance of any project herein or heretofore adopted. Any member appointed from the retired list shall receive the same pay and allowances as he would if on the active list, and no member selected from the public service shall receive additional compensation for services on said commission, and members selected from civil life shall receive compensation of $7,500 per annum.

In all matters done, or to be done, under this section relating to any of the subjects, investigations, or questions to be considered hereunder, and in formulating plans, and in the preparation of a report or reports, as herein provided, consideration shall be given to all matters which are to be undertaken, either independently by the United States or by cooperation between the United States and the several States, political subdivisions thereof, municipalities, communities, corporations, and individuals within the jurisdiction, powers, and rights of each, respectively, and with a view to assigning to the United States such portion of such development, promotion, regulation, and control as may be undertaken by the United States, and to the States, political subdivisions thereof, municipalities, communities, corporations, and individuals such portions as belong to their respective jurisdictions, rights, and interests.

The commission is authorized to employ, or retain, and fix the compensation for the services of such engineers, transportation experts, experts in water development and utilization, and constructors of eminence as it may deem necessary to make such investigations and to carry out the purposes of this section. And in order to defray the expenses made necessary by the provisions of this section there is hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as Congress may hereafter determine, to be paid out upon warrants drawn on the Secretary of the Treasury by the chairman of said commission.

The commission shall have power to make every expenditure requisite for and incident to its authorized work, and to employ in the District of Columbia and in the field such clerical, legal, engineering, artistic, and expert services as it may deem advisable, including the payment of per diem in lieu of subsistence for employees engaged in field work or traveling on official business, rent of offices in the District of Columbia and in the field and the purchase of books, maps, and office equipment. (Aug. 8, 1917, sec. 18.)