operator. It is not anticipated that the pay of towing locomotive operators will be affected.

"We desire that the Comptroller General review our opinion that the establishment of this new class of position is not contrary to the Thomas amendment."

The reference in the above-quoted radiogram is to your decision of August 25, 1934 (A-54762), on page 7, of which is a quotation from the letter of the governor, dated May 29, 1934, in which the following statement is made in regard to lock operators:

The lock operators are recruited from the ranks of electricians, machinists, and other skilled craftsmen, and work part of the time at their respective trades and part of the time as operators of the electric towing locomotives used on the locks. Sunday and holiday service is required of these employees and they are given relief days off when their services can be spared. There is no known comparable work performed by Government employees in the United States and for many years their monthly rates of pay have been established with direct relation to the hourly rate of pay authorized for electricians in the service of the canal. The monthly rates of pay for towing locomotive operators have been adjusted concurrently with changes made in the electrician's hourly rate of pay." The work of locks overhaul requires the services of a considerable number of skilled mechanics during the next dry season beginning about the 15th of December. It is evidently desired to use on this work a number of the skilled mechanics who are now working part time on maintenance work and part time as operators of towing locomotives.

Your decision is requested as to whether there is any legal objection to the creation of a new rating of motorman for towing work only which does not require the performance of skilled maintenance work now performed by towing locomotive operators.

A prompt reply to this letter is desired so that it may be communicated to the Governor by radio in sufficient time to enable him to take the necessary action before the dry season commences.

Section 23 of the act of March 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 522), provides as follows:

The weekly compensation, minus any general percentage reduction which may be prescribed by act of Congress, for the several trades and occupations, which is set by wage boards or other wage-fixing authorities, shall be reestablished and maintained at rates not lower than necessary to restore the full weekly earnings of such employees in accordance with the full-time weekly earnings under the respective wage schedules in effect on June 1, 1932: Provided, That the regular hours of labor shall not be more than forty per week: and all overtime shall be compensated for at the rate of not less than time and one-half.

The adjustment of wages on a 40-hour-week basis required by this statute relates only to schedules of wages actually in effect on June 1, 1932. and there is nothing in the statute prohibiting the creation of a new class of position, the establishment of which is otherwise authorized by law, with a salary rate or schedule of rates not in force on June 1, 1932. Of course, if the duties of the new position are such as to bring them within the terms of the 40-hour-week provision, the salary rate or schedule of rates should bear the proper relationship to other classes of positions paid on a 40-hour-week basis.

Accordingly, there would appear to be nothing in the 40-hour-week statutory provision to preclude the establishment of the new class of position of motorman for towing work as proposed.

(A-52724)

COMPENSATION-ADMINISTRATIVE PROMOTION-AGRICULTURAL

ADJUSTMENT ADMINISTRATION

Presidential approval under the terms of section 7 of the act of March 3, 1933, 47 Stat. 1515, and section 203 of the Economy Act, has relation only to original appointments or promotions to a vacant position in a higher grade with a higher rate of compensation, and has no bearing on administrative promotions within the salary range of a grade.

Comptroller General McCarl to the Secretary of Agriculture, November 12, 1934:

Consideration has been given to your letter of November 2, 1934, as follows:

Your decision to this Department of August 31, 1934 (A-52724), has raised several questions in regard to certain personnel employed in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, for example, Mr. J. C. Howell was appointed temporarily on October 11, 1933, at a salary of $5,200 per annum as an expert (E. O. 19) and has been carried on our rolls since that date at the same salary by extensions of temporary appointments. On August 4, 1934, his position was allocated by the Civil Service Commission in grade CAF-12, and on August 31, 1934, presidential approval was had for an indefinite period at $5,200 per annum. It is, therefore, requested that you advise this Office:

(1) Will the effective date of reduction in salary to the minimum for the grade to which the position was allocated be July 1, 1934, or the first day of the current pay period of allocation, the actual date of allocation being August 4, 1934?

(2) Can Mr. Howell's salary be adjusted to $5,200 beginning the date of presidential approval, August 31, 1934, or the first day of the current pay period in which presidential approval was had, that is, August 16, 1934, after his reduction to the minimum ($1,600), of the grade for the temporary period of service? As there are several such cases pending in the Department at the present time, an early reply will be greatly appreciated.

In the decision of August 31, 1934, 14 Comp. Gen. 180, it was held as follows (quoting from the syllabus):

For periods on and after July 1, 1934, credit will be allowed for salary payments to the personnel of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration subject to the Classification Act as amended, only at the minimum salary rate of the grade in which the position has been allocated by the Civil Service Commission, if the positions are in the District of Columbia, and only at the minimum salary rate of the grade in which the position has been administratively placed or allocated, if the positions are in the field, unless there be a showing that personnel funds are available on an annual basis for the difference between the minimum rate and the higher rate in the grade in which paid on the basis of an administrative promotion.

Temporary employees subject to the Classification Act as amended are authorized to be paid only at the minimum salary rate of the grade in which their temporary positions have been properly placed or allocated, whether in the departmental or field service, and their promotion above the minimum salary rate of the grade is not authorized.

Under the rules thus stated, and in accordance with the established procedure under which the effective date of allocations or reallocations for pay purposes is the beginning of the pay period current when notice is received in the administrative office of the action taken by the Civil Service Commission, $4,600 per annum, the minimum salary rate of grade C. A. F. 12, was properly payable in this case for the period beginning August 1, 1934.

There is no authority of law for payment of the rate of $5,200 per annum, the next to the highest salary rate in grade C. A. F. 12, on the basis of Presidential approval alone, which has relation only to original appointments or promotions to a vacant position in a higher grade with a higher rate of compensation. See section 7 of the act of March 3, 1933, 47 Stat. 1515, and section 203 of the Economy Act. In other words, Presidential approval has no bearing on administrative promotions within the salary range of a grade. Consequently, on the facts appearing, credit may not be allowed for salary payments to this employee at a rate in excess of $4,600 for any period after July 31, 1934. See section 24 of the act of March 28, 1934, 48 Stat. 523, amending section 7 of the act of March 3, 1933, 47 Stat. 1515, and 13 Comp. Gen. 419, interpreting the same. The questions presented are answered accordingly.

(A-58297)

CHECKS-LIABILITY OF INDORSERS AS TO LEGENDS

66

The legend as unremarried widow" on a compensation check issued to the widow of a World War veteran under the terms of section 201(2) of the World War Veterans' Act, as amended by the act of March 4, 1925, 43 Stat. 1306, providing that such payments shall continue only until the remarriage of the widow, charges the bank cashing the check with knowledge of the statutory I'mitation, and renders it liable to the United States on its contract of indorsement and attendant warranties in event of payment by the bank to the payee after her remarriage.

Comptroller General McCarl to the Treasurer of the United States, November 12, 1934:

Consideration has been given to your letter of September 27, 1934, AWS-C, requesting decision whether reclamation proceedings should be pressed with respect to seven Veterans' Administration checks, each in the amount of $30, which were drawn to the order of Mrs. Violet Rickard, as unremarried widow of Joseph Rickard, and negotiated by her subsequent to her remarriage which occurred on May 19, 1931.

The checks in question cover death compensation granted to the payee over the period May 1, 1931, to November 30, 1931, as the unremarried widow of Joseph Rickard, XC-316369, pursuant to section 201(a) of the World War Veterans' Act, as amended, 43 Stat. 1305, the amount of each check ($30) being that allowed for a widow with no child.

Based upon evidence showing that the payee had remarried on May 19 1931, which act terminated her rights to receive death compensation, and that the checks had been negotiated by her subsequent to this date, you were authorized in letter of this Office, dated November 7, 1933, to reclaim the full amount of the checks and deposit same to the credit of the appropriations against which the checks were charged.

In your letter you report that the payee has refunded in several installments the total sum of $50 and that you are encountering difficulty in effecting recovery from the endorsing banks. It appears that reclamation proceedings on the checks are being resisted by the cashing banks in the State of California on the ground that the negotiableinstruments law of that State, so far as here applicable, provides in effect that the maker of a negotiable instrument admits the existence. of the payee and his then capacity to indorse, in view of which it is contended that in issuing the checks here in question, the United States warranted that the payee was then unremarried and, therefore, had capacity to endorse.

The Congress of the United States has never enacted legislation adopting the so-called "uniform negotiable-instrument law" as the law of the United States Government. Therefore, while the Government in transacting its business has followed generally the underlying principles of what is known as the " uniform negotiable-instrument law," the Federal Government has not subjected itself to the statutes in any particular State (14 Comp. Gen. 212). Having in view the fact that the Government is not always immediately notified of a person's remarriage in a case of this kind, it readily becomes apparent that there frequently arise cases where checks may be drawn to a woman as unremarried widow of a particular veteran when the payee may in fact be remarried but no evidence thereof is before the Department at the time of the issuance of the check. Hence, it is at once apparent that the Government may not undertake in all events to warrant the existence of the payee in the manner imposed by the State negotiable-instrument law heretofore referred to, and in this connection, it may be stated proper notice is given the bank by the check being made payable "as unremarried widow."

Section 201 (2) of the World War Veterans' Act, as amended, 43 Stat. 1306, provides that:

The payment of compensation to a widow shall continue until her death or remarriage

*

*

In considering the effect of this statute in relation to a cashing bank's liability on a check drawn to the order of a particular person "as unremarried widow" of a certain veteran, the following was stated in my decision to Hon. Clark W. Thompson, House of Representatives, dated January 4, 1934, A-47977:

* The Crockett State Bank of Crockett, Texas, was charged with knowledge of this public law terminating the right of a widow to compensation upon her remarriage. It is to be remembered that the legend on the checks "As unremarried widow of John Henry Catron" is more than mere descriptio personae. It connotes the legal status of the payee's title to the check. In other words, it is the equivalent of saying that the payee has title to the check so long as she is the unremarried widow of the veteran, but not otherwise. Having in mind the vast number of checks mailed monthly by the Veterans' Administration in cases such as here, it readily becomes apparent that it is impossible for the Veterans' Administration to determine in each case before

issuing the checks whether the marital status of a widow has changed since the date of the last payment. By operation of the legal warranty of title to the checks it may be said in cases such as here that the facts which disentitle a person to receive money on checks presented to a bank for payment are presumed to be within the knowledge of the cashing bank and not of the Government. It therefore seems to be the view of administrative officers concerned that it is not unreasonable to require a bank to which such checks are presented for cashing, to make inquiry with respect to whether the person presenting the check has title thereto before accepting such checks and, particularly, before presenting them to the Treasurer of the United States for payment. See in this connection United States v. National Exchange Bank of Providence, 214 U. S. 302.

Therefore, since each of the checks here contained information on its face that it was drawn to cover compensation, that payment thereon was due the payee "As unremarried widow of John Henry Catron ", and that the cashing bank was chargeable with knowledge of the public law terminating a widow's right to compensation upon her remarriage, I am constrained to hold that the cashing bank is liable on its contract of indorsement and the attendant warranties with respect to the subject checks, and that reclamation of the proceeds thereof, as directed in my letter to the Treasurer of the United States, dated April 14, 1933, A-47977, as modified in my letter to him of even date, should be effected.

What was stated in the quoted portion of my decision, supra, is for application here. Reclamation, therefore, of the amount of the involved checks should be pressed-the amount of $50 thus far recovered from the payee, together with the sum of $17.42 of the May 1931 check, the amount to which the payee was entitled at the time of her remarriage (18/31 of $30), to be taken into consideration in the adjustment of the account upon termination of the reclamation proceedings.

(A-58472)

CONTRACTS-FOREIGN PRODUCTS

Under section 2 of title III, act of March 3, 1933 (47 Stat. 1520), payments for other than domestic products purchased under contracts may not be allowed as a charge against appropriated moneys unless and until it be shown that the head of the department or establishment concerned has determined (1) that the purchase of domestic articles in the particular instance would be inconsistent with the public interest, or (2) that the cost of such domestic articles would be unreasonable, or (3) that the articles or the materials from which they are manufactured are not mined, produced, or manufactured, as the case may be, in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory quality. Comptroller General McCarl to the Secretary of the Treasury, November 12, 1934:

There is before this Office for consideration contracts covering items listed in the General Schedule of Supplies, as follows:

T ps-171, H. Boker & Company, Inc., New York, N. Y. (items 41-N-60 to 69, Needles, crewel).

T ps-175, The Fuchs & Lang Manufacturing Company, New York, N. Y. (items 41-N-100 to 41-N-125, Needles, engravers, and item 41-S-920, Scrapers, stone engravers).

T ps-189, Shrimpton Needle Company, East Orange, N. J. (items 41-N-85 to 89, Needles, darning, and items 41-N-336 to 356, Needles, sewing).

T ps-478, George F. Muth & Company, Washington, D. C. (items 18-I-515-d, 18-1-515-h-3 and 4, 18-1-518-i, 18-1-545, 18-I-550-d and e, and 18-I-1115-A, Drawing instruments).