1257. Same-Nature and effect of certificates.-That said certificate shall set forth the condition of such officer's or agent's property returns, that it includes all charges made up to its date and not previously certified, that he has had a reasonable opportunity to be heard and has not been relieved of responsibility; the effect of such certificate, when received, shall be the same as if the facts therein set forth had been ascertained by the accounting officers of the Treasury Department in accounting. Sec. 2, id.

1258. Officer to have opportunity to relieve himself from liability.— That the manner of making property returns to or in any administrative bureau or department, or of ascertaining liability for property, under existing laws and regulations, shall not be affected by this act, except as provided in section one; but in all cases arising as to such property so intrusted the officer or agent shall have an opportunity to relieve himself from liability.1 Sec. 3, id.

1259. Regulations by heads of departments.-The heads of the several Departments are hereby empowered to make and enforce regulations to carry out the provisions of this act. All laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. Secs. 4 and 5, id.

12591. Public property under Quartermaster General, system of accountability for.-The Quartermaster-General, under the direction of the Secretary of War, shall prescribe and enforce a system of accountability for all quartermaster's supplies to the Army or to officers, seamen, and marines. And he shall account to the Secretary of War at least once in three months for all property and money that may pass through his hands, or the hands of his subordinate officers. Sec. 1139, R. S., as amended by Act of Feb. 27, 1877 (19 Stat. 242).

1260. Accounts of company commanders therefor-Affidavits to be considered in case of loss.-In settling the accounts of the commanding officer of a company for clothing and other military supplies, the affidavit of any such officer may be received to show the loss of vouchers or company books, or any matter or circumstance tending to prove that any apparent deficiency was occasioned by unavoidable accident or lost in actual service, without any fault on his part, or that the whole or any part of such clothing and supplies had been properly and legally used and appropriated; and such affidavit may be considered as evidence to establish the facts set forth, with or withto the Government, does not entitle the United States to recover the value thereof in a suit on his bond; and he may show these facts in defense. The technical failure to account would authorize a recovery of no more than nominal damages. (Id.)

1 Section 12 of the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat. 208), requiring certain quarterly accounts to be rendered within twenty days after the expiration of the quarter to which they relate, has no application to property returns, the rendition of which is regulated by the act of March 29, 1894. (3 Comp. Dec., 422.)

For regulations prepared and promulgated by the Secretary of War in execution of the above enactment, see paragraphs 693-703, Army Regulations of

out other evidence, as may seem to the Secretary of War just and proper under the circumstances of the case.1 Sec. 225, R. S.

1261. Disposition of damaged or unsuitable property.-The President may cause to be sold any military stores which, upon proper inspection or survey, appear to be damaged, or unsuitable for the public service. Such inspection or survey shall be made by officers designated by the Secretary of War, and the sales shall be made under regulations prescribed by him.2 Sec. 1241, R. S.

1262. Sale, barter, etc., of clothing, arms, etc., furnished to soldiers.— The clothes, arms, military outfits, and accouterments furnished by the United States to any soldier shall not be sold, bartered, exchanged, pledged, loaned, or given away; and no person, not a soldier or duly authorized officer of the United States, who has possession of any such clothes, arms, military outfits, or accouterments so furnished, and which have been the subjects of any such barter, exchange, pledge, loan, or gift, shall have any right, title, or interest therein, but the same may be seized and taken wherever found by any officer of the United States, civil or military, and shall thereupon be delivered to any quartermaster or other officer authorized to receive the same. The possession of any such clothes, arms, military outfits, or accouterments by any person not a soldier or officer of the United States shall be presumptive evidence of such a sale, barter, exchange, pledge, loan, or gift. Sec. 3748, R. S.

OFFENSES AGAINST PERSONAL PROPERTY.

1263. Embezzlement, stealing, etc.-Whoever shall embezzle, steal, or purloin any money, property, record, voucher, or valuable thing whatever, of the moneys, goods, chattels, records, or property of the United States, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Sec. 47, Act of Mar. 4, 1909, Criminal Code (35 Stat. 1097).

1 Sections 1303 and 1304, Revised Statutes, require that deficiency in or damage to any article of military supplies and repairs or damages to arms, etc., due to negligence shall be charged against the delinquent, and that the cost or value thereof shall be deducted from his pay. (See pars. 690 and 691, ante, under chapter entitled "The Quartermaster Corps.")

For regulations relative to damaged, lost, or destroyed military property, see paragraphs 682-692, Army Regulations of 1913.

For provisions respecting boards of survey, see paragraphs 710-726, id. "For statutes authorizing and regulating the disposition of obsolete and unserviceable ordnance and ordnance stores, see paragraphs 842-846, ante, under chapter entitled "The Ordnance Department."

66

Steamships in the transport service can not be disposed of without consent of Congress. (See par. 134, ante, under the chapter entitled The Department of War." See Dig. Opin. J. A. G. (1912), pp. 957–960.)

See Dig. Opin. J. A. G. (1912), pp. 960 and 961.

Sections 44 and 286 of the criminal code make it a criminal offense to injure or destroy the works or material of any submarine mine or torpedo, or to injure or destroy any vessel or material for building or repairing vessels, or any military stores or munitions of war. (See pars. 1315 and 1316, post.)

For offenses of officers and enlisted men against the personal property of the United States, see the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth Articles of War.

1264. Same. Whoever shall steal, embezzle, or knowingly apply to his own use, or unlawfully sell, convey, or dispose of, any ordnance, arms, ammunition, clothing, subsistence, stores, money, or other property of the United States, furnished or to be used for the military or naval service, shall be punished as prescribed in the preceeding section.1 Sec. 36, id., 1096.

1265. Robbery, larceny, etc.-Whoever shall rob another of any kind or description of personal property belonging to the United States, or shall feloniously take and carry away the same, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. Sec. 46, id., 1097.

1266. Receiving stolen property.-Whoever shall receive, conceal, or aid in concealing, or shall have or retain in his possession with intent to convert to his own use or gain, any money, property, record, voucher, or valuable thing whatever, of the moneys, goods, chattels, records, or property of the United States, which has theretofore been embezzled, stolen, or purloined by any other person, knowing the same to have been so embezzled, stolen, or purloined, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; and such person may be tried either before or after the conviction of the principal offender. Sec. 48, id., 1998.

1267. Aiding or abetting with intent to defraud any captor or claimant of property captured as a prize.-Whoever shall willfully do, or aid or advise in the doing, of any act relating to the bringing in, custody, preservation, sale, or other disposition of any property captured as prize, or relating to any documents or papers connected with the property, or to any deposition or other document or paper connected with the proceedings, with intent to defraud, delay, or injure the United States or any captor or claimant of such property, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Sec. 38, id., 1096.

REAL PROPERTY-PUBLIC LANDS.

1268. Lands reserved not subject to preemption.-The following classes of lands, unless otherwise specially provided for by law, shall not be subject to the rights of preemption, to wit:

*

First. Lands included in any reservation by any treaty, law, or proclamation of the President, for any purpose. 2258, R. S.

1

Sec.

1 Several courts have held this section unenforceable on account of the indefi nite nature of the penal clause. In view of those decisions the Attorney General has directed, by Circular No. 308 of 1912, that no more prosecutions shall be brought under this section.

*For knowingly purchasing or receiving in pledge from a soldier, sailor, or other person employed in the military service, arms, clothing, etc., see paragraph 220, The Treasury Department.

2

1269. Same-Not subject to reservation for town-sites. The provision of this chapter1 shall not apply to military or other reservations heretofore made by the United States, nor to reservations for light-houses, custom-houses, mints, or such other public purposes as the interests of the United States may require, whether held under reservations through the Land Office by title derived from the Crown of Spain or otherwise. Sec. 2393, R. S.

1270. Soldiers' homesteads.-Every private soldier and officer who has served in the Army of the United States during the recent rebellion for ninety days, and who was honorably discharged and has remained loyal to the Government, including the troops mustered into the service of the United States by virtue of the third section of an act approved February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and sixtytwo, and every seaman, marine, and officer who has served in the Navy of the United States or in the Marine Corps during the rebellion for ninety days, and who was honorably discharged and has remained loyal to the Government, and every private soldier and officer who has served in the Army of the United States during the Spanish war, or who has served, is serving, or shall have served in

'Chapter 8, Revised Statutes, relating to the reservation and survey of town sites on the public lands.

Military reservations.-No specific statutory authority exists empowering the President to reserve public lands; but the right to reserve such lands for public uses is recognized by the courts. (14 Dec. Int. Dept., 426, 607, 628; Wolsey v. Chapman, 101 U. S., 755, 768; Walcott v. Des Moines Co., 5 Wall., 681.) Such reservation may be effected by proclamation or by Executive order. (13 Dec. Int. Dept., 426.)

Mineral lands belonging to the public domain, which are reserved from sale under section 2318 of the Revised Statutes, may be reserved for military or other purposes by the President. Where such lands are included in a military reservation, they are not open to exploration and purchase under section 2319 of the Revised Statutes. It is otherwise where a right has once attached to mineral land, under the laws relating thereto, in favor of the locator of a mining claim. Here the land, during the existence of such right, is not subject to reservation by the President; and if it be subsequently reserved, the locator may nevertheless perfect his title. (17 Opin. Att. Gen., 230.)

When public land subject to homestead settlement has been duly entered under the homestead law, it thenceforth ceases to be at the disposal of the Government so long as the entry of the settler subsists. Hence it can not, while such entry stands, be set apart by the President for a military reservation. (Id., 160.)

Where a part of the public domain has once been reserved by the President for military or other public purposes, and subsequently the land so reserved becomes unnecessary for such purposes, it can not be restored to the public domain without authority from Congress. (Id., 168; 16 id., 123.)

By Article VI, section 2, of the Constitution, "all treaties made under the authority of the United States" are declared to be "the supreme law of the land"; and Indian reservations "have generally been made through the exercise of the treaty-making power, and in fulfillment of treaty obligations. (14 id., 182.) That land can not be reserved or occupied for military purposes to the prejudice of a title previously vested in an individual or a corporation, see, futher, 9 id., 339; 13 id., 469.

See Land Dec. Int. Dept., 6 id., 18. 317; 13 id., 426, 607, 628, 30 id., 276; 8 Fed. Rep., 883; 12 id., 449; 92 U. S., 733: 101 id., 768; 5 Wallace, 681.

For further discussion of this subject of the reservation of public lands, see Dig. Opin. J. A. G. (1912), pp. 922-924, and cases therein cited.

the said Army during the suppression of the insurrection in the Philippines for ninety days, and who was or shall be honorably discharged; and every seaman, marine, and officer who has served in the Navy of the United States or in the Marine Corps during the Spanish war, or who has served, is serving, or shall have served in the said forces during the suppression of the insurrection in the Philippines for ninety days, and who was or shall be honorably discharged, shall, on compliance with the provisions of this chapter, as hereinafter modified, be entitled to enter upon and receive patents for a quantity of public lands not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, or one quarter section, to be taken in compact form, according to legal subdivisions, including the alternate reserved sections of public lands along the line of any railroad or other public work not otherwise reserved or appropriated, and other lands subject to entry under the homestead laws of the United States; but such homestead settler shall be allowed six months after locating his homestead and filing his declaratory statement within which to make his entry and commence his settlement and improvement. Sec. 2304, R. S., as amended by Act of Mar. 1, 1901 (31 Stat. 847).

1271. Same-Deduction for military service from time required to perfect title. The time which the homestead settler has served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, or if discharged on account of wounds received or disability incurred in the line of duty, then the term of enlistment shall be deducted from the time heretofore required to perfect title, without reference to the length of time he may have served; but no patent shall issue to any homestead settler who has not resided upon, improved, and cultivated his homestead for a period of at least one year after he shall have commenced his improvements: Provided, That in every case in which a settler on the public land of the United States under the homestead laws died while actually engaged in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States as private soldier, officer, seaman, or marine, during the war with Spain or the Philippine insurrection, his widow, if unmarried, or in case of her death or marriage, then his minor orphan children or his or their legal representatives, may proceed forthwith to make final proof upon the land so held by the deceased soldier and settler, and that the death of such soldier while so engaged in the service of the United States shall, in the administration of the homestead laws, be construed to be equivalent to a performance of all requirements as to residence and cultivation for the full period of five years, and shall entitle his widow, if unmarried, or in case of her death or marriage, then his minor orphan children or his or their legal representatives, to make final proof upon and receive. Government patent for said land; and that upon proof produced to