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comptroller and auditor shall perform their duties at a place in a foreign country, the balances arising upon the settlement of accounts and claims of the Military Establishment shall be certified by the auditor to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants of the Treasury Department as now provided for the certification of balances by said auditor in Washington, and the balances so found due shall be final and conclusive upon all branches of the Government, except that any person whose account has been settled or the commanding officer of the Army abroad, or the comptroller may obtain a revision of such settlement by the comptroller upon application therefor within three months, the decision to be likewise final and conclusive and the differences arising upon such revision to be certified to and stated by the auditor as now provided by law. 12b, Id.

205d. Payment of certificates of balances by disbursing officer abroad instead of by warrant.-Certificates of balances due may be transmitted to and paid by the proper disbursing officer abroad instead of by warrant. Id.

205e. Reopening and review of any settlement within one year after close of war.-Any person whose account has been settled, or the Secretary of War, may obtain a reopening and review of any settlement made pursuant to this section upon application to the Comptroller of the Treasury in Washington within one year after the close of the war, and the action of the comptroller thereon shall be final and conclusive in the same manner as herein provided in the case of a balance found due by the auditor. Id.

205f. Preservation, etc., of accounts, vouchers, and files.-The comptroller and auditor shall preserve the accounts, and the vouchers and papers connected therewith, and the files of their offices in the foreign country and transmit them to Washington within six months after the close of the war and at such earlier time as may be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury as to any or all accounts, vouchers, papers, and files. 12c, Id.

205g. Appointment of assistant controller and assistant auditor; compensation. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to appoint an assistant comptroller and an assistant auditor and to fix their compensation, and to designate from among the persons to be employed hereunder one or more to act in the absence or disability of such assistant comptroller and assistant auditor. 12d, Id., 294.

205h. Agents, accountants, etc., number and compensation.-He shall also prescribe the number and maximum compensation to be paid. to agents, accountants, clerks, translators, interpreters, and other persons who may be employed in the work under this section by the comptroller and auditor. Id.

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2051. Powers of assistant comptroller and assistant auditor.-The assistant comptroller and assistant auditor shall have full power to perform in a foreign country all the duties with reference to the settlement there of the accounts of the Military Establishment that the comptroller and auditor now have at the seat of Government and in foreign countries under the provisions of this section, and shall perform such duties in accordance with the instructions received from and rules and regulations made by the comptroller and auditor. Id.

205j. Oath of office, subsistence, etc., of employees residing in foreign countries. Such persons as are cesiding in a foreign country when first employed hereunder shall not be required to take an oath of office or be required to be employed pursuant to the laws, rules, and regulations relating to the classified civil service, nor shall they be reimbursed for subsistence expenses at their post of duty or for expenses in traveling to or from the United States. Id.

205k. Examination of books, etc., of contracting, purchasing, and disbursing officers.-It shall be the duty of all contracting, purchasing, and disbursing officers to allow any representative of the comptroller or auditor to examine all books, records, and papers in any way connected with the receipt, disbursement, or disposal of public money, and to render such accounts and at such times as may be required by the comptroller. 12e, Id.

2051. Administrative examination of accounts settled abroad.-No administrative examination by the War Department shall be required of accounts rendered and settled abroad, and the time within which these accounts shall be rendered by disbursing officers shall be prescribed by the comptroller, who shall have power to waive any delinquency as to time or form in the rendition of these accounts. Id.

205m. Filing contracts of accounts settled abroad.-All contracts connected with accounts to be settled by the auditor abroad shall be filed in his office there. Id.

205n. Employees under section to be restored to former positions.Any person appointed or employed under the provisions of this section who at the time is in the service of the United States shall, upon termination of his services hereunder, be restored to the position held by him at the time of such employment. Sec. 12f, Id.

2050. Details of officers, etc., for duty outside District of Columbia. No provision of existing law shall be construed to prevent the payment of money appropriated for the salary of any Government officer or employee at the seat of Government who may be detailed to perform duty under this section outside the District of Columbia, and such details are hereby authorized. Id.

(See paragraph 30a, ante.)

205p. Appropriation for payment of expenses. For the payment of the expenses in carrying into effect this section, including traveling expenses, per diem of $4 in lieu of subsistence for officers and employees absent from Washington, rent, cablegrams and telegrams, printing, law books, books of reference, periodicals, stationery, office equipment and exchange thereof, supplies, and all other necessary expenses, there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, the sum of $300,000. of which not exceeding $25,000 may be expended at Washington for the purposes of this section, but no officer or employee shall receive for duty in Washington any compensation other than his regular salary. Sec. 12g, Id.

205q. Special disbursing agents of appropriation.—The Secretary of the Treasury may designate not more than two persons employed hereunder to act as special disbursing agents of the appropriation herein, to serve under the direction of the comptroller, and their accounts shall be rendered to and settled by the accounting officers of the Treasury in Washington. Sec. 12h, Id.

205r. Additional duties of employees.-All persons employed under this section shall perform such additional duties as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct. Id.

205s. Authority to administer oaths to American citizens.-The comptroller and the auditor, and such persons as may be authorized in writing by either of them, may administer oaths to American citizens in respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of either of said officers and certify the official character, when known, of any foreign officer whose jurat or certificate may be necessary on any paper to be filed with them. Sec. 12i, Id. 295.

205t. Sale of Army stores to employees.-Persons engaged in work abroad under the provisions of this section may purchase from Army stores for cash and at cost price for their own use such articles or stores as may be sold to officers and enlisted men. Sec. 12j, Id.

205u. Termination of effective force of section six months after close of war, etc.-The authority granted under this section shall terminate six months after the close of the war or at such earlier date as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct, and it shall be the duty of the comptroller and auditor to make such reports as the Secretary of the Treasury may require of the expenditures made and work done pursuant to this section, and such reports shall be transmitted to the Congress at such time as he may decide to be compatible with the public interest. Sec. 12k, Id.

205v. Limit on compensation of officers, employees, etc.-No officers, employees, or agents appointed or employed under this sec

tion shall receive more salary or compensation than like officers, employees, or agents of the Government now receive. Sec. 12l, Id.

205w. Date of termination of war between Germany and United States. For the purposes of this Act the date of the termination of the war between the United States and the Imperial German Government shall be fixed by proclamation of the President of the United States. Sec. 13, Id.

215a. Loyalty restriction repealed as to claims for service in Army prior to April 13, 1861.-Section thirty-four hundred and eighty of the Revised Statutes of the United States be, and the same is hereby, repealed so far as it affects payments for services in the Army of the United States prior to April thirteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one. Act of July 6, 1914 (38 Stat. 454), repealing Sec. 3480, R. S.

215b. Claims under exhausted or lapsed appropriations, examination of and report to Congress.-It shall be the duty of the several accounting officers of the Treasury to continue to receive, examine, and consider the justice and validity of all claims under appropriations the balances of which have been exhausted or carried to the surplus fund under the provisions of said section that may be brought before them within a period of five years. And the Secretary of the Treasury shall report the amount due each claimant, at the commencement of each session, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall lay the same before Congress for consideration. Sec. 4, Act of June 14, 1878 (20 Stat. 130).

215c. Same-Re-examination of rejected claims.-Nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the re-examination and payment of any claim or account which has been once examined and rejected, unless reopened in accordance with existing law. Id.

217a. Damage or loss of baggage of officers and enlisted men shipped under orders.-Recovered from United States in excess of amount paid by carrier.-The provisions of the Act of March third, cighteen hundred and eighty-five (Twenty-third Statutes, page three hundred and fifty), entitled "An Act to provide for the settlement of the claims of officers and enlisted men of the Army for loss of private property destroyed in the military service of the United States," shall hereafter extend to cover loss of or damage to the regulation allowance of baggage of officers and enlisted men sustained in shipment under orders, to the extent of such loss or damage over and above the amount recoverable from the carrier furnishing the transportation. Act of Mar. 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 1077).

1Section 5, act of June 20, 1874, paragraph 192, ante, or 18 Stat. 110.

2

The question was presented whether this provision applies to all property which may be shipped as change-of-station allowance of baggage (including, for example, civilian clothing of the claimant officer and wearing apparel of members of his family) or whether its application is limited to such articles

217b. Payment to officers for horses lost in battle, etc.-Any field, or staff, or other officer, mounted militiaman, volunteer, ranger, or cavalryman, engaged in the military service of the United States, who sustains damage without any fault or negligence on his part, while in the service, by the loss of a horse in battle, or by the loss of a horse wounded in battle, which dies of the wound, or which, being so wounded, is abandoned by order of his officer and lost, or who sustains damage by the loss of any horse by death or abandonment because of the unavoidable dangers of the sea, when on board a United States transport vessel, or because the United States fails to supply transportation for the horse, and the owner is compelled by the order of his commanding officer to embark and leave him, or in consequence of the United States failing to supply sufficient forage, or because the rider is dismounted and separated from his horse and ordered to do duty on foot at a station detached from his horse, or when the officer in the immediate command orders the horse turned out to graze in the woods, prairies, or commons, because the United

as might otherwise be certified to the auditor by the Secretary of War under the original law of 1885.

Held, that since the provisions of the act of 1885 are, by the act of March 4, 1915, extended to the loss or damage to private property in shipment, the limitations of the former act are extended, including the provision that "the liability of the Government under this act shall be limited to such articles of personal property as the Secretary of War, in his discretion, shall decide to be reasonable, useful, necessary, and proper for such officer or soldier while in quarters engaged in the public service in line of duty"; that it is only because of this limitation that the Secretary of War is required to make any certificate for the auditor in case of the loss of property of officers and enlisted men, and that therefore in the preparation of the certificates, in cases of loss of baggage, there should be listed only such articles as can be properly certified under the act of March 3, 1885. (War Dept. Bul. 34, June 8, 1917.)

The Auditor for the War Department disallowed the claim of a noncommissioned officer for the value of his household goods destroyed by fire June 30, 1916, at Seattle, Wash., while in shipment under orders, such disallowance being made for reasons stated as follows:

"As the property was not lost or destroyed by being shipped on an unseaworthy vessel, nor by reason of the claimant giving his attention to saving property belonging to the United States, no reimbursement can be made." Upon appeal,

Held, by the comptroller, that the claimant was entitled to reimbursement under the act of March 4, 1915, which extends the provisions of the act of March 3, 1885, to cover losses of private property sustained in shipment under orders in excess of that recoverable from the carrier. This legislation authorizes and directs the accounting officers of the Treasury to examine into, ascertain, and determine the value of the regulation allowance of baggage belonging to officers and enlisted men in the military service which has been lost or damaged in such service on or after March 4, 1915, in shipment under orders; and when such loss or damage was without fault or negligence on the part of the claimant, was not sustained in time of war or hostilities with Indians, and the claim for compensation is presented within two years from the occurrence of the loss or damage, the amount of such loss or damage so ascertained, in excess of the amount recoverable from the carrier, is payable by the United States. The liability of the Government is, by the terms of the act of 1885, "limited to such articles of personal property as the Secretary of War, in his discretion, shall decide to be reasonable, useful, necessary, and proper for such officer or soldier while in quarters, engaged in the public service, in the line of duty."

(Comp. Treas., Aug. 1, 1917, War Dept. Bul. 54, Sept. 26, 1917.)

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