other changes made in the salaries paid from lump funds, contained in Act March 4, 1907, c. 2907, 34 Stat. 1270, 1280, 1282, were repealed by Act March 4, 1911, c. 238, 36 Stat. 1264. The Commissioner was to direct and superintend the expenditure of all money appropriated to the Department, and render accounts thereof, by R. S. § 3677, which may be regarded as superseded by the organization of the Department as, an Executive Department, and the provisions of Act March 3, 1885, c. 338, § 2, as amended by Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313, post, § 837. Rev. St. § 3709, which required advertisements for proposals for supplies, etc., in any of the Departments, was not to apply in the Department of Agriculture when the amount involved did not exceed $50, by a provision of Act March 1, 1899, c. 325, post, § 6834. § 837. (Act March 3, 1885, c. 338, § 2, as amended, Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313.) Additional detailed statement of expenditure of appropriations. Hereafter in addition to the proper vouchers and accounts for the sums appropriated for the Department of Agriculture to be furnished to the accounting officers of the Treasury, the Secretary of Agriculture shall, at the commencement of each regular session, present to Congress a detailed statement of the expenditure of all appropriations for said department for the last preceding fiscal year. (23 Stat. 356, 39 Stat.) This provision was a part of section 2 of the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1886, cited above. It was amended by Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313, to read as set forth above. Said amendment consisted in the addition of the word "hereafter," at the beginning of the section, and the substitution, for the words "said Department" and "Commissioner of Agriculture" in the section as originally enacted, the words "Department of Agriculture" and "Secretary of Agriculture," as set forth above. The preceding portion of the section is set forth ante, § 797. The vouchers and accounts referred to in this provision, to be furnished to the accounting officers of the Treasury, were required by Act June 16, 1880, c. 252, § 2, 21 Stat. 296, which directed the Commissioner of Agriculture to account and report to such officers of the Treasury in the same manner as the heads of the executive departments. And the requirements relating to those departments were made applicable to the Department of Agriculture by the act making it an executive department, under a Secretary of Agriculture, Act Feb. 9, 1889, c. 122, ante, §§ 789-792. Provisions applicable to all the departments, forbidding additional compensation to clerks, were made by R. S. § 170, ante, § 253. Subsequent provisions similar to those of this section, in requiring the Secretary to submit to Congress classified and detailed estimates and reports of every subject of expenditure by the Department, were contained in Act March 4, 1907, c. 2907, 34 Stat. 1282, but were repealed, with other provisions of that act, by Act March 4, 1911, c. 238, 36 Stat. 1264. § 837a. (Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313.) Statement of expenditure from appropriations of amount paid for quarters. *: Rent of Buildings, Department of Agriculture: For rent of buildings and parts of buildings in the District of Columbia, for use of the various bureaus, divisions, and offices of the Department of Agriculture, * * Provided, That the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit annually to Congress in his estimates of appropriations a statement showing what proportion of this appropriation is paid for the quarters occupied by the various branches of the department. (39 Stat.) This was a provision of the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1917, cited above. § 838. (Act May 29, 1884, c. 60, § 11.) Report of persons employed, expenditures, and means adopted for suppression of contagious, etc., diseases among domestic animals. The Commissioner of Agriculture shall report annually to Congress, at the commencement of each session, a list of the names of all persons employed, an itemized statement of all expenditures under this act, and full particulars of the means adopted and car ried into effect for the suppression of contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases among domestic animals. (23 Stat. 33.) This section was part of the Animal Industry Act, cited above, section 1 of which is set forth under chapter C of this Title, post, § 850, and other sections post, §§ 8690-8697. See note to preceding section, as to the performance by the Secretary of Agriculture of the former duties of the Commissioner of Agriculture. § 838a. (Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313.) Detailed estimates for executive officers, clerks, and employés below the grade of clerk. The Secretary of Agriculture for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and eighteen, and annually thereafter, shall transmit to the Secretary of the Treasury for submission to Congress in the Book of Estimates detailed estimates for all executive officers, clerks, and employees below the grade of clerk, indicating the salary or compensation of each, necessary to be employed by the various bureaus, offices, and divisions of the Department of Agriculture, and shall include with such estimates a statement of all executive officers, clerks, and employees below the grade of clerk who may have been employed during the last completed fiscal year on any lump fund appropriation for the department and the salary or compensation of each. (39 Stat.) This was a provision of the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1917, cited above. § 838b. (Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313.) Statement of completed investigations. The Secretary of Agriculture is directed hereafter to submit to Congress annually a statement showing investigations and other services conducted by the Department of Agriculture which have been completed and which can be discontinued. (39 Stat.) This was a further provision of the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1917, cited above. § 839. (Act May 23, 1908, c. 192.) Report of payments for compensation or expenses to officers of any State, etc., in carrying into effect provisions of Pure Food and Drugs Act. For all expenses necessary to carry into effect the provisions of the Act of June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and six, entitled "An Act for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated, or misbranded, or poisonous, or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for other purposes," including rent and the employment of labor in the city of Washington and elsewhere; employing such assistants, clerks, and other persons as the Secretary of Agriculture may consider necessary for the purposes named * *: Provided, That hereafter any sum used for compensation of or payment of expenses to any officer or other person employed by any State, county, or municipal government, shall be reported to Congress in detail, on the first Monday of December of each year. (35 Stat. 261.) This was a provision accompanying appropriations for the Bureau of Chemistry in the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1909, cited above. The portion of this section omitted here stated the amount of the appropriation for the particular fiscal year. Act June 30, 1906, c. 3915, mentioned in this provision, was the Pure Food and Drugs Act, set forth post, §§ 8717-8728. § 839a. (Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313.) Statements of expenditures under acts relating to agricultural experiment stations and cooperative agricultural extension work between agricultural colleges. The Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe the form of the an nual financial statement required under the above Acts, ascertain whether the expenditures are in accordance with their provisions, coordinate the work of the Department of Agriculture with that of the State agricultural colleges and experiment stations in the lines authorized in said Acts, and make report thereon to Congress. (39 Stat.) This was a provision of the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1917, cited above. Sec. CHAPTER B The Weather Bureau The Weather Service, the duties of which, previous to July 1, 1891, were performed by the Signal Corps of the Army, was transferred to the Weather Bureau established in the Department of Agriculture by Act Oct. 1, 1890, c. 1266, 26 Stat. 653. This chapter includes the provisions of that act and subsequent acts relating to the Bureau so established. 840. Establishment of the Bureau. 843. Promotions in the service. 845. Traveling expenses of officers and Sec. 845a. Printing office for printing weather maps, bulletins, etc. 846. Making of appropriations and estimates for Bureau; development of Bureau in interests of agriculture. 847. Weather signals on mail cars, etc. 848. Sale of surplus maps or publications. 849. Destruction of old telegrams in Bureau. § 840. (Act Oct. 1, 1890, c. 1266, § 1.) Establishment of the Bu reau. The civilian duties now performed by the Signal Corps of the Army shall hereafter devolve upon a bureau to be known as the Weather Bureau, which, on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall be established in and attached to the Department of Agriculture, and the Signal Corps of the Army shall remain a part of the Military Establishment under the direction of the Secretary of War, and all estimates for its support shall be included with other estimates for the support of the Military Establishment. (26 Stat. 653.) This act was entitled "An act to increase the efficiency and reduce the expenses of the Signal Corps of the Army, and to transfer the Weather Service to the Department of Agriculture." This section and sections 3, 4, and 9 of the act, post, §§ 841, 842, 846, contain the provisions of the act of a permanent nature relating to the Bureau. Sections 5 and 10 of the act contained provisions for the transfer of part of the enlisted force and the civilian employés of the Signal Corps to the Weather Bureau, and for the division of property, moneys, etc., pertaining to the Signal Corps, between it and the Weather Bureau, which were temporary only, and are omitted. Other provisions of the act, relating to the Chief Signal Officer and the Signal Corps as part of the Military Establishment, are set forth or referred to post, under Title XIV, "The Army," c. 1, § 1867. The President is authorized to appoint as a member of the Advisory Committee of Aeronautics a representative of the Weather Bureau, by a provision in Act March 31, 1915, c. 83, post, under Title XVIIa, "The Council of National Defense and the Advisory Committee on Aeronautics." Notes of Decisions See note under § 1717. § 841. (Act Oct. 1, 1890, c. 1266, § 3.) Duties of Chief of Bureau. The Chief of the Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall have charge of the forecasting of weather, the issue of storm warnings, the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce, and navigation, the gauging and reporting of rivers, the maintenance and operation of seacoast telegraph lines and the collection and transmission of marine intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation, the reporting of temperature and rain-fall conditions for the cotton interests, the display of frost and cold-wave signals, the distribution of meteorological information in the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the taking of such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States, or as are essential for the proper execution of the foregoing duties. (26 Stat. 653.) See note to section 1 of this act, ante, § 840. The Bureau is to be specially developed and extended in the interests of agriculture, by a provision of section 9 of this act, post, § 846. Annual appropriations for the Signal Service under the War Department contained provisos that "the work of no other department, bureau, or commission authorized by law shall be duplicated by this bureau," Act Aug. 7, 1882, c. 433, 22 Stat. 318, Act July 7, 1884, c. 332, 23 Stat. 217, Act March 3, 1885, c. 360, 23 Stat. 505, which may be regarded as superseded by this section and section 2 of this act, post, § 1867. Provisions for the printing and distribution of the reports of the Secretary of Agriculture and of the Weather Bureau were made by the Printing and Binding Act of Jan. 12, 1895, c. 23, § 73, pars. 2, 4, post, §§ 7054, 7056. Notes of Decisions Moore v. H. Gaus & Sons Mfg. Co. (1892) 113 Mo. 98, 20 S. W. 975; Bretsch v. Plate (1903) 81 N. Y. Supp. 868, 82 App. Div. 399; Knott v. Raleigh & G. R. Co. (1887) 98 N. C. 73, 3 S. E. 735, 2 Am. St. Rep. 321; Nolt v. Crow (1903) 22 Pa. Super. Ct. 113; Anderson v. Hilker (1905) 80 Pac. 848, 38 Wash. 632. Records of Bureau as evidence.-See Evanston v. Gunn (1878) 99 U. S. 660, 665, 666, 25 L. Ed. 306; Mears v. New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. (1902) 52 Atl. 610, 75 Conn. 171, 56 L. R. A. 884, 96 Am. St. Rep. 192; Ball v. Flora (1905) 26 App. D. C. 394; Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co. v. Trayes (1885) 17 Ill. App. 136; Chicago & E. I. R. Co. v. Zapp (1903) 110 Ill. App. 553 (judgment affirmed [1904] 70 N. E. 623, 209 Ill. 339); City of Garrett v. Winterich (Ind. 1909) 87 N. E. 161 (rehearing denied [Ind. App. 1909] 88 N. E. 308); Huston v. City of Council Bluffs (1897) 69 N. W. 1130, 101 Iowa, 33, 36 L. R. A. 211; Commonwealth v. Dorr (1914) 103 N. E. 902, 216 Mass. 314; J. H. Worden Lumber & Shingle Co. v. Minneapolis, St. P. & S. S. M. Ry. Co. (Mich. 1911) 133 N. W. 949; § 842. (Act Oct. 1, 1890, c. 1266, § 4, as amended, Res. July 8, 1898, No. 57.) Appointment and compensation of Chief of Bureau; employés to be provided for annually. Official circulars.-Any publication in an official circular by the Bureau of the ground upon which an employé has been suspended or discharged will not support a cause of action for libel against the chief of the Bureau for making such publication, provided it was made in good faith, without malice, in the performance of official duty, and with the design only of promoting the public interests. (1896) 21 Op. Atty. Gen. 320. The Weather Bureau shall hereafter consist of one Chief of Weather Bureau and such civilian employees as Congress may annually provide for and as may be necessary to properly perform the duties devolving on said bureau by law, and the chief of said bureau shall receive an annual compensation of [four thousand five hundred dollars], and be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. (26 Stat. 653.) See note to section 1 of this act, ante, § 840. The words of this section inclosed in brackets, "four thousand five hundred dollars," stating the amount of the compensation of the Chief of the Bureau, were superseded by appropriations of an increased salary in subsequent years, amounting in recent years to $6,000, and by the provision, accompanying an appropriation of that amount for his salary for the fiscal year 1914, that every officer or employé of the Department whose compensation was specified therein should thereafter receive compensation at the rate so specified, ante, § 802. Said appropriation for the year 1914, also provided for an Assistant Chief of Bureau, $3,250, and for numerous other officers, clerks, and employés, at specified rates of compensation, to which they are entitled thereafter by said further provision of that Act, Act March 4, 1913, c. 145, 37 Stat. 829, 854. The provisions for the fiscal year 1917 were by Act Aug. 11, 1916, c. 313, 39 Stat. All laws or parts of laws inconsistent with rates of salaries or compensation appropriated by the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation acts are repealed, and the rates of salaries or compensation of officers or employés appropriated for in said acts are to constitute the rate of salary or compensation of such officers or employés, respectively, until otherwise fixed by an annual rate of appropriation or other law, by Act July 16, 1914, c. 141, § 6, post, § 3228a. The officers and employés of the United States whose salaries are appropriated for in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1916, Act March 4, 1915, c. 141, 38 Stat. 1049, are established and continued from year to year to the extent that they are appropriated for by Congress, by § 6 of said act, post, § 3228b. Unless otherwise specially authorized by law, no money appropriated by any act shall be available for payment to any person receiving more than one salary, when the combined amount of said salaries exceeds $2,000 per annum, with certain enumerated exceptions, by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 6, as amended by Act Aug. 29, 1915, c. 417, post, § 3230a. This section, as originally enacted, also contained a proviso, annexed to the provisions set forth here, "that the Chief Signal Officer may, in the discretion of the President, be detailed to take charge of said bureau, and in like manner other officers of the Army, not exceeding four, expert in the duties of the weather service, may be assigned to duty with the Weather Bureau, and while so serving shall receive the pay and allowances to which they are entitled by law." But "the laws authorizing the detail and assignment of the officers of the Army to duty in the Weather Bureau" were expressly repealed, by a proviso annexed to Res. July 8, 1898, No. 57, 30 Stat. 752. The Secretary of Agriculture was authorized to make promotions in the service, and to make changes or assignment to duty in the force of the Bureau, by provisions of Act Aug. 8, 1894, c. 238, and Act March 2, 1895, c. 169, set forth post, §§ 843, 844. Provisions for leaves of absence to employés of the Bureau, outside of the city of Washington, contained in the annual agricultural appropriation acts for several preceding years, were superseded by the provisions for such leaves to employés of the Department, outside said city, contained in Act May 23, 1908, c. 192, set forth ante, § 829. Notes of Decisions Change in rate of compensation.The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to reduce the compensation of any person transferred from the War Department so as to conform to the grading within the classified civil service. (1892) 20 Op. Atty. Gen. 395. Bureau on duty away from and outside of the city of Washington are not members of the classified civil service. (1892) 20 Op. Atty. Gen. 345. Manner of filling vacancies.-A vacancy in the office of Chief of the Weather Bureau can only be filled in the mode provided by this section. (1895) 21 Op. Atty. Gen. 189. Promotions in the service. Employment outside city of Washington. The employés of the Weather § 843. (Act Aug. 8, 1894, c. 238.) Expenses of the Weather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary is hereby authorized to make promotions in the service without prejudice to those transferred from the Signal Service of the War Department. (28 Stat. 273.) This was a provision accompanying an appropriation under the heading "General Expenses, Weather Bureau," in the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1895, cited above. Provisions in the same language were contained in the similar acts for the two years preceding this act. Notes of Decisions Increase in salary on promotion.The Secretary of Agriculture may appoint any person transferred to one of the $1,500 places specified in the Act of 1891, and may promote to the vacancy thus created any other person of the transferred class, although the salary of the person promoted becomes increased thereby. (1892) 20 Op. Atty. Gen. 395. Continuing compensation of persons transferred. The provisions of section 5 of the Act of 1890 (26 Stat. 653), continuing the compensation of the persons transferred as it should be June 30, 1891, was intended as a protection, rather than as a bar to their promotion. (1892) 20 Op. Atty. Gen. 395. |