I certify that the above statement is correct. Total disbursed during the year A. F. ROCKWELL, 231, 387 25 Captain and Assistant Quartermaster United States Army, in charge National Cemeteries. B. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR: In your communication to me of the 6th ultimo, after adverting to the recent failure of a bill before the legislature of Missouri, which provided for a cession to the United States of jurisdiction over certain lands in that State acquired and used by the former for the purpose of national cemeteries, you refer to an opinion given by Mr. Attorney-General Hoar, (13 Opin., 131,) in which he held that Congress cannot by its own act alone, and without the consent of the State, assert or exercise exclusive jurisdiction over lands acquired for the aforesaid purpose within the territorial limits of a State; and you remark that exactly what jurisdiction the United States possesses in cases where such consent is withheld is not stated by him. You then submit for my consideration the following question: "What jurisdiction over lands held for national cemeteries have the United States, where the purchases have been made or the lands appropriated without the consent of the State legislatures?" The answer I make to the above question is, that the United States have over lands thus held only such jurisdiction as they have over other parts of the State wherein they possess no proprietary interests; and that jurisdiction may in general terms be described as limited to those subjects which the Constitution has withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the State, or at least placed under the control of the National Government, and to which the legislative power of the latter extends. The mere ownership of the land under the circumstances mentioned does not put the United States in a different position, as regards the matter of jurisdiction over it, than they occupied previous to its acquisition; nor is the situation of the State, with respect to the same matter, in any degree altered thereby. Hence, so long as the State retains its jurisdiction over the premises, Congress cannot pass laws for the punishment of crimes committed thereon, such as murder, manslaughter, larceny, maiming, assault, &c., since, in that case, these subjects do not fall within the legislative power granted by the Constitution to the General Government, but appertain exclusively to that reserved to the States. It is only after the State has parted with its jurisdiction, which may be either by a formal cession thereof to the United States or simply by assenting to the acquisition of the land by the latter, that Congress becomes invested with authority thus to legislate. Accordingly, where that body has heretofore enacted laws punishing those crimes, their operation (excepting such as relate to crimes committed on the high seas) has been expressly limited to places or districts of country under the jurisdiction of the United States, (see Revised Statutes, sections 5339, 5341, 5348, 5356, 5385;) the power to enact such laws, so far as they apply to places or districts within the territorial limits of a State, being derived from that provision of the Constitution which vests in Congress authority to exercise "exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever," over "all places purchased by the consent of the legislatures of the States in which the same shall be situated," &c. Strictly speaking, where the United States own land situated within the limits of a State, but over which they have not acquired jurisdiction from the State, they cannot be said to have any local jurisdiction over the land whatever. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, VII.-General Orders No. 57, War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, May 10, 1875. [General Orders, No. 57.] WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, May 10, 1875. The following extracts from the Revised Statutes, and the following instructions relative to same, are published for the information and gov ernment of officers of the Quartermaster's Department: EXTRACTS. # 1. SEC. 3678. All sums appropriated for the various branches of expenditure in the public service shall be applied solely to the objects for which they are respectively made, and for no others. 2. SEC. 3679. No Department of the Government 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 for the future payment of money in excess of such appropriations. 3. SEC. 3709. All purchases and contracts for supplies or services, in any of the Departments of the Government, except for personal services, shall be made by advertising a sufficient time previously for proposals respecting the same, when the public exigencies do not require the immediate delivery of the articles, or performance of the service. When immediate delivery or performance is required by the public exigency, the articles or service required may be procured by open purchase or contract, at the places and in the manner in which such articles are usually bought and sold, or such services engaged between individuals. 4. SEC. 3710. Whenever proposals for supplies have been solicited, the parties responding to such solicitation shall be duly notified of the time and place of opening the bids, and be permitted to be present either in person or by attorney, and a record of each bid shall then and there be made. 5. SEC. 3711. It shall not be lawful for any officer or person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States in the District of Columbia to purchase anthracite or bituminous coal or wood for the public service except on condition that the same shall, before delivery, be inspected and weighed or measured by some competent person to be appointed by the head of the Department or chief of the branch of the service for which the purchase is made. The person so appointed shall, before entering upon the duty of inspector, weigher, and measurer, and to the satisfaction of the appointing officer, give bond, with not less than two sureties, in the penal sum of five thousand dollars, and with condition that each ton of coal weighed by him shall consist of two thousand two hundred and forty pounds, and that each cord of wood to be so measured shall be of the standard measure of one hundred and twenty-eight cubic feet. The inspector, weigher, and measurer so appointed shall be entitled to receive from the venders of fuel weighed and measured by him twenty cents for each ton of coal weighed, and nine cents for each cord of wood measured by him. Each load or parcel of wood or coal weighed and measured by him shall be accompanied by his certificate of the number of tons or pounds of coal and the number of cords or parts of cords of wood in each load or parcel. 6. SEC. 3713. It shall not be lawful for any accounting officer to pass or allow to the credit of any disbursing officer in the District of Columbia any money paid by him for purchase of anthracite or bituminous coal or for wood, unless the voucher therefor is accompanied by a certificate of the proper inspector, weigher, and measurer that the quantity paid for has been determined by such officer. 7. SEC. 3714. All purchases and contracts for supplies or services for the military and naval service shall be made by or under the direction of the chief officers of the Departments of War and of the Navy, respectively. 8. SEC. 3716. The Quartermaster's Department of the Army, in obtaining supplies for the military service, shall state in all advertisements for bids for contracts that a preference shall be given to articles of domestic production and manufacture, conditions of price and quality being equal, and that such preference shall be given to articles of American production and manufacture produced on the Pacific coast, to the extent of the consumption required by the public service there. In advertising for Army supplies the Quartermaster's Department shall require all articles which are to be used in the States and Territories of the Pacific coast to be delivered and inspected at points designated in those States and Territories; and the advertisements for such supplies shall be published in newspapers of the cities of San Francisco, in California, and Portland, in Oregon. 9. SEC. 3729. The Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Treasury may enter into contract, in open market, for bunting of American manufacture, as their respective services require, for a period not exceeding one year, and at a price not exceeding that at which an article of equal quality can be imported. 10. SEC. 3731. Every person who shall furnish supplies of any kind to the Army or Navy shall be required to mark and distingush the same with the name of the contractor furnishing such supplies, in such manner as the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy may, respectively, direct; and no supplies of any kind shall be received unless so marked and distinguished. 11. SEC. 3732. No contract or purchase on behalf of the United States shall be made, unless the same is authorized by law or is under an appropriation adequate to its ful fillment, except in the War and Navy Departments, for clothing, subsistence, forage, fuel, quarters, or transportation, which, however, shall not exceed the necessities of the current year. 12. SEC. 3735. It shall not be lawful for any of the Executive Departments to make contracts for stationery or other supplies for a longer term than one year from the time the contract is made. 13. SEC. 3736. No land shall be purchased on account of the United States, except under a law authorizing such purchase. 14. SEC. 3737. No contract or order, or any interest therein, shall be transferred by the party to whom such contract or order is given to any other party, and any such transfer shall cause the annulment of the contract or order transferred, so far as the United States are concerned. All rights of action, however, for any breach of such contract by the contracting parties, are reserved to the United States. 15. SEC. 3741. In every such contract or agreement to be made or entered into, or accepted by or on behalf of the United States, there shall be inserted an express condition that no member of Congress shall be admitted to any share or part of such contract or agreement, or to any benefit to arise thereupon. 16. SEC. 3742. Every officer who, on behalf of the United States, directly or indirectly makes or enters into any contract, bargain, or agreement in writing or otherwise, other than such as are hereinbefore excepted, with any member of Congress, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined three thousand dollars. 17. SEC. 3743. All contracts to be made, by virtue of any law, and requiring the advance of money, or in any manner connected with the settlement of public accounts, shall be deposited in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, within ninety days after their respective dates. 18. SEC. 3744. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Secretary of the Interior to cause and require every contract made by them severally on behalf of the Government, or by their officers under them appointed to make such contracts, to be reduced to writing, and signed by the contracting parties, with their names at the end thereof; a copy of which shall be filed by the officer making and signing the contract in the returns office of the Department of the Interior, as soon after the contract is made as possible, and within thirty days, together with all bids, offers, and proposals to him made by persons to obtain the same, and with a copy of any advertisement he may have published inviting bids, offers, or proposals for the same. All the copies and papers in relation to each contract shall be attached together by a ribbon and seal, and marked by numbers in regular order, according to the number of papers composing the whole return. 19. SEC. 3745. It shall be the further duty of the officer, before making his return, according to the preceding section, to affix to the same his affidavit in the following form, sworn to before some magistrate having authority to administer oaths: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that the copy of contract hereto annexed is an exact copy of a contract made by me personally with -; that I made the same fairly, without any benefit or advantage to myself, or allowing any such benefit or advantage corruptly to the said or any other person; and that the papers accompanying include all those relating to the said contract, as required by the statute in such case made and provided." 20. SEC. 3746. Every officer who makes any contract, and fails or neglects to make return of the same, according to the provisions of the two preceding sections, unless from unavoidable accident or causes not within his control, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred, and imprisoned not more than six months. 21. SEC. 3747. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Secretary of the Interior to furnish every officer appointed by them with authority to make contracts on behalf of the Government with a printed letter of instructions, setting forth the duties of such officer, under the two preceding sections, and also to furnish therewith forms, printed in blank, of contracts to be made, and the affidavit of returns required to be affixed thereto, so that all the instruments may be as nearly uniform as possible. INSTRUCTIONS. 22. SEC. 3709. General Orders No. 26, War Department, A. G. O., March 28, 1874, publishes "Revised Regulations of the War Department relative to advertising and job printing," and will continue to govern. Particular attention is invited to paragraph 4 of said regulations. Whenever the public exigencies will not permit advertising and contracting for supplies or services, other than personal services or services rendered by common carriers, it must be so certified upon the vouchers for payment for such supplies or services; and vouchers for the supplies must be accompanied by a copy of the order authorizing the purchase, or be approved by the proper commanding officer; the services so cer |