of, and the salaries to be paid to the persons therein, Act March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 2, post, § 352.

The Secretary of Agriculture receives the same salary as is paid to the secretary of each of the Executive Departments, by section 3 of the act making that Department an Executive Department, Act Feb. 9, 1889, c. 122, § 3, post, § 791.

The Secretary of Commerce was to receive a salary of $8,000 per annum, by section 1 of the act establishing the Department of Commerce, Act Feb. 14, 1903, c. 552, § 1, post, § 853.

But the compensation of the heads of Executive Departments who are members of the President's cabinet, on and after March 4, 1907, was increased to $12,000 per annum by Act Feb. 26, 1907, c. 1635, § 4, ante, § 36.

Said section 4 of Act Feb. 26, 1907, c. 1635, in so far as it related to the annual compensation of the Secretary of State, was repealed, and his annual compensation was again made $8,000, by Act Feb. 17, 1909, c. 137, § 1, post, § 285, and Act March 4, 1909, c. 297, § 1, post, § 287. But the appropriations for the Secretary of State for the fiscal year 1912 and subsequent years were $12,000. The provision for the fiscal year 1914 was by Act March 4, 1913, c. 142, § 1, 37 Stat. 750.

The Secretary of Labor receives a salary of $12,000 per annum, by section 1 of the act establishing the Department of Labor, Act March 4, 1913, c. 141, § 1, post, § 932.

§ 235. (R. S. § 161.) Departmental regulations.

The head of each Department is authorized to prescribe regulations, not inconsistent with law, for the government of his Department, the conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it.

Act July 27, 1789, c. 4, 1 Stat. 28. Act Sept. 15, 1789, c. 14, 1 Stat. 68. Act Aug. 7, 1789, c. 7, 1 Stat. 49. Act Sept. 2, 1789, c. 12, 1 Stat. 65. Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, 17 Stat. 283. Act April 30, 1798, c. 35, 1 Stat. 553. Act June 22, 1870, c. 150, § 8, 16 Stat. 163. Act March 3, 1849, c. 108, 9 Stat. 395.

Provisions authorizing each head of a Department to alter the distribution of clerks among the various bureaus and offices, and to reduce the force employed, were made by R. S. § 166, post, § 244, and Act Aug. 15, 1876, c. 287, § 3, post, § 245.

Heads of Departments were required to make and enforce regulations to carry out the provisions of Act March 29, 1894, c. 49, relating to the making of returns of public property, by section 4 of that act, post, § 442.

Heads of Departments were also required to make regulations to secure an administrative examination of accounts, before transmission to the Auditors of the Treasury, as provided by the Dockery Act of July 31, 1894, c. 174, § 12, post, § 428, and for the execution of other requirements of that act, by section 22 of the act, post, § 437.

Appropriations to enable the President, by the employment of accountants and experts from official and private life, to more effectively inquire into the methods of transacting the public business of the Government in the executive departments and other executive government establishments, with the view of inaugurating new or changing old methods of transacting such public business so as to attain greater efficiency and economy therein, and to ascertain and recommend to Congress what changes in law may be necessary to carry into effect such results of his inquiry as can not be carried into effect by executive action alone, were made by the sundry civil appropriation acts for recent fiscal years. The provision for the fiscal year 1913 was by Act Aug. 24, 1912, c. 355, § 1, 37 Stat. 417.

§ 236. (R. S. § 162.) Hours of business.

From the first day of October until the first day of April, in each year, all the Bureaus and offices in the State, War, Treasury, Navy, and Post-Office Departments, and in the General Land-Office, shall

be open for the transaction of the public business at least eight hours in each day; and from the first day of April until the first day of October, in each year, at least ten hours in each day; except Sundays and days declared public holidays by law.

Act July 4, 1836, c. 352, § 12, 5 Stat. 112.

Subsequent provisions making it the duty of the heads of the several Executive Departments to require of all clerks and other employés not less than seven hours of labor each day, except Sundays and public holidays, contained in Act March 3, 1883, c. 128, § 4, 22 Stat. 563, were re-enacted in Act March 3, 1893, c. 211, § 5, which was amended by Act March 15, 1898, c. 68, § 7, to read as set forth post, § 238.

§ 237. (Act March 3, 1893, c. 211, § 4.) Closing Department on decease of ex-official forbidden.

Hereafter the Executive Departments of the Government shall not be closed as a mark to the memory of any deceased ex-official of the United States. (27 Stat. 715.)

This section was part of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1894, cited above.

The draping of any public building in mourning was forbidden by section 3 of this act, post, § 6939.

§ 238. (Act March 3, 1893, c. 211, § 5, as amended, Act March 15, 1898, c. 68, § 7.) Hours of labor and leaves of absence of clerks and other employés; monthly reports as to condition of business; bringing up arrears; quarterly reports as to condition of business.

Hereafter it shall be the duty of the heads of the several Executive Departments, in the interest of the public service, to require of all clerks and other employees, of whatever grade or class, in their respective Departments, not less than seven hours of labor each day, except Sundays and days declared public holidays by law or Executive order: Provided, That the heads of the Departments may, by special order, stating the reason, further extend the hours of any clerk or employee in their Departments, respectively; but in case. of an extension it shall be without additional compensation: Provided further, That the head of any Department may grant thirty days' annual leave with pay in any one year to each clerk or employee: And provided further, That where some member of the immediate family of a clerk or employee is afflicted with a contagious disease and requires the care and attendance of such employee, or where his or her presence in the Department would jeopardize the health of fellow-clerks, and in exceptional and meritorious cases, where a clerk or employee is personally ill, and where to limit the annual leave to thirty days in any one calendar year would work peculiar hardship, it may be extended, in the discretion of the head. of the Department, with pay, not exceeding thirty days in any one case or in any one calendar year.

This section shall not be construed to mean that so long as a clerk or employee is borne upon the rolls of the Department in excess of the time herein provided for or granted that he or she shall be entitled to pay during the period of such excessive absence, but that the pay shall stop upon the expiration of the granted leave.

Hereafter it shall be the duty of the head of each Executive De

partment to require monthly reports to be made to him as to the condition of the public business in the several bureaus or offices of his Department at Washington; and in each case where such reports disclose that the public business is in arrears, the head of the Department in which such arrears exist shall require, as provided herein, an extension of the hours of service to such clerks or employees as may be necessary to bring up such arrears of public business. Hereafter it shall be the duty of the head of each Executive Department, or other Government establishment at the seat of government, not under an Executive Department, to make at the expiration of each quarter of the fiscal year a written report to the President as to the condition of the public business in his Executive Department or Government establishment, and whether any branch thereof is in arrears. (27 Stat. 715. 30 Stat. 316.)

Provisions relating to hours of labor, etc., contained in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act of March 3, 1883, c. 128, § 4, 22 Stat. 563, were incorporated, in substance, in the similar appropriation act of 1893, cited above, which was amended to read as above set forth by the appropriation act of March 15, 1898, c. 68, § 7. The amendment by said act of 1898 consisted in restricting the power given by the previous acts to heads of Departments, "to extend or limit the hours of service," to authority to extend the hours only; in reducing the sick leave from the 60 days previously authorized to 30 days; and in adding provisions requiring reports as to the condition of business, and for bringing up arrears of business.

This section is not to be construed to prevent the granting of annual leave of absence to a clerk or employé who has had during the year leave on account of sickness, by a provision of Act July 7, 1898, c. 571, § 1, post, § 239.

The 30 days' annual leave is exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays, by a provision of Act Feb. 24, 1899, c. 187, § 4, post, § 240.

Provisions as to holidays and leaves of absence to officers and to clerks and other employés in the public service or in particular branches thereof other than the Executive Departments were made by Res. Jan. 6, 1885, No. 5, Res. Feb. 23, 1887, No. 6, Act June 28, 1894, c. 118, Act March 1, 1889, c. 324, § 49, Act Feb. 1, 1901, c. 190, post, §§ 3244-3248, and other acts referred to in the notes to those sections.

Previous provisions for monthly reports by chief clerks as to defects in arrangement or dispatch of business, and for amendment of such defects, were made by R. S. §§ 174, 175, post, §§ 256, 257.

Subsequent provisions making it the duty of each head of an Executive Department, etc., to submit to Congress in the annual Book of Estimates a statement as to the condition of business in his Department, etc., showing particulars as to arrears, etc., were made by Act March 2, 1895, c. 177, § 7, post, § 6680.

It was also made the duty of the heads of Executive Departments to report to Congress each year in the annual estimates the number and salaries of employés who are below a fair standard of efficiency, by a provision of Act July 11, 1890, c. 667, § 2, post, § 6679.

In connection with an appropriation for the Civil Service Commission for the establishment of a system of efficiency ratings, the Commission was required to investigate and report to the President as to the administrative needs of the service relating to personnel in the several Executive Departments, etc., by a provision of Act March 4, 1913, c. 142, § 1, post, § 3286.

§ 239. (Act July 7, 1898, c. 571, § 1.) Annual leave of absence, notwithstanding leave on account of sickness.

Nothing contained in section seven of the Act making appropriations for legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, ap

proved March fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be construed to prevent the head of any Executive Department from granting thirty days' annual leave with pay in any one year to a clerk or employee, notwithstanding such clerk or employee may have had during such year not exceeding thirty days' leave with pay on account of sickness as provided in said section seven. (30 Stat. 653.) This was a provision of the deficiency appropriation act for the fiscal year 1898, cited above.

Act March 15, 1898, c. 68, § 7, mentioned in this provision, amended Act March 3, 1893, c. 211, § 5, to read as said section is set forth ante, § 238.

§ 240. (Act Feb. 24, 1899, c. 187, § 4.) Annual leave of absence, exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays.

The thirty days' annual leave of absence with pay in any one year to clerks and employés in the several Executive Departments authorized by existing law shall be exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays. (30 Stat. 890.)

This was a proviso added to section 4 of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1900, cited above.

§ 241. (Act Feb. 24, 1899, c. 187, § 1.) Recording clocks not to be used.

No money appropriated by this Act shall be used for expense of repairing recording clocks used for recording time of clerks or other employees in any of the Executive Departments at Washington, nor shall there hereafter be used in any of the Executive Departments at Washington any such recording clocks. (30 Stat. 864.)

This was a provision of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1900, cited above.

A previous provision that no recording clocks should be purchased for use in any of the Executive Departments at Washington, D. C., except from moneys specifically appropriated therefor, contained in Act July 7, 1898, c. 571, § 1, 30 Stat. 655, was superseded by this provision.

§ 242. (R. S. § 163.) Classification of Department clerks. The clerks in the Departments shall be arranged in four classes, distinguished as the first, second, third, and fourth classes.

Act March 3, 1853, c. 97, § 3, 10 Stat. 209. Act March 3, 1855, c. 175, § 4, 10 Stat. 669.

Provisions authorizing each head of a Department to alter the distribution of clerks among the various bureaus and offices, and to reduce the force employed, were made by R. S. § 166, post, § 244, and Act Aug. 15, 1876, c. 287, § 3, post, § 245.

Provisions for classification of other clerks and employés in the civil service were made by the Civil Service Act of Jan. 16, 1883, c. 27, § 6, post, § 3277.

(R. S. § 164. Superseded.)

This section provided that no clerk should be appointed in any Department in either of the four classes above designated, until he had been examined and found qualified by a board of three examiners, to be constituted as prescribed therein. Although not expressly repealed, it was practically superseded by the provisions for examinations, for the same purposes, of the Civil Service Act of Jan. 16, 1883, c. 27, post, §§ 3271-3282.

A system of efficiency ratings for the classified service in the several Executive Departments was required to be established by the Civil Service Commission, and all promotions, demotions, or dismissals were to be governed by provisions of the civil service rules, by Act Aug. 23, 1912, c. 350, § 4, post, § 3275.

§ 243. (R. S. § 165.) Clerkships open to women.

Women may, in the discretion of the head of any Department, be appointed to any of the clerkships therein authorized by law, upon the same requisites and conditions, and with the same compensations, as are prescribed for men.

Act July 12, 1870, c. 251, § 2, 16 Stat. 230, 250.

§ 244. (R. S. § 166, as amended, Act May 28, 1896, c. 252, § 3.) Distribution of clerks.

Each head of a Department may, from time to time, alter the distribution among the various bureaus and offices of his Department, of the clerks and other employees allowed by law, except such clerks or employees as may be required by law to be exclusively engaged upon some specific work, as he may find it necessary and proper to do, but all details hereunder shall be made by written order of the head of the Department, and in no case be for a period of time exceeding one hundred and twenty days. Provided, That details so made may, on expiration, be renewed from time to time by written order of the head of the Department, in each particular case, for periods of not exceeding one hundred and twenty days. All details heretofore made are hereby revoked, but may be renewed as provided herein.

Act March 3, 1853, c. 97, § 3, 10 Stat. 211. Act May 28, 1896, c. 252, § 3, 29 Stat. 179.

This section, as enacted in the Revised Statutes, authorized each head of a Department to alter the distribution, among the bureaus and offices of his Department, of the clerks allowed by law, "as he may find it necessary and proper to do." It was amended by Act May 28, 1896, c. 252, § 3, cited above, to read as set forth here.

The section, as it stood before the amendment of 1896, was not repealed or modified by Act Aug. 5, 1882, c. 389, § 4, post, § 249, which restricted employment of officers, clerks, etc., in the Departments to those specifically appropriated for each year.

§ 245. (Act Aug. 15, 1876, c. 287, § 3.) Diminution of number of clerks of higher, and increase of number of clerks of lower grades; preference, in making reduction of force, of discharged soldiers and sailors, etc.

Whenever, in the judgment of the head of any department, the duties assigned to a clerk of one class can be as well performed by a clerk of a lower class or by a female clerk, it shall be lawful for him to diminish the number of clerks of the higher grade and increase the number of the clerks of the lower grade within the limit of the total appropriation for such clerical service: Provided, That in making any reduction of force in any of the executive departments, the head of such department shall retain those persons who may be equally qualified who have been honorably discharged from the military or naval service of the United States and the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors. (19 Stat. 169.)

This section was part of the sundry civil appropriation act for the fiscal year 1877, cited above.

§ 246. (R. S. § 167.) Salaries of persons employed in the Departments.

The annual salaries of clerks and employés in the Departments,