further duties as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. (28 Stat. 208.)

This provision was part of section 10 of the Dockery Act, cited above. See notes above.

Notes of Decisions

Liability of United States for erroneous opinion given by register.-The government is not responsible for an erroneous opinion concerning the right of

an administrator to transfer a United States bond given by the Register of the Treasury. German Bank of Memphis v. U. S. (1891) 26 Ct. Cl. 198.

§ 487. (R. S. § 314.) Assistant Register.

There shall be in the office of the Register of the Treasury an Assistant Register, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall be entitled to a salary of [two thousand dollars] a year.

Act Feb. 20, 1863, c. 44, § 1, 12 Stat. 656. Act March 14, 1864, c. 30, § 7, 13 Stat. 28.

The office of Assistant Register was continued with a salary of $2,500, superseding the words of this section inclosed in brackets, "two thousand dollars," on the reorganization of the Department by Act March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 2, ante, § 352. The appropriation for the Assistant Register for the fiscal year 1917 was for $2,500, by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 1, 39 Stat.

Besides the Assistant Register, a Deputy Register was authorized by said Act March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 2, but that office was abolished by a provision of Act Aug. 15, 1876, c. 287, § 1, ante, § 355.

See notes to § 485, ante.

§ 488. (R. S. § 315.) Duties of Assistant Register.

The Assistant Register shall perform such duties as may be devolved on him by the Register, and, in the absence of the Register, shall act in his stead; and any official record, certificate, or other document, excepting warrants, bonds, and drafts, signed by the Assistant Register, shall have the same effect as if signed by the Register.

Act Feb. 20, 1863, c. 44, § 2, 12 Stat. 656.

§ 489. (Res. Dec. 13, 1892, No. 1.) Appointment temporarily of Acting Assistant Register.

During the absence of the Register of the Treasury, and while the Assistant Register is discharging, under the law, the duties of Register during his said absence, the Secretary of the Treasury may, by appointment under his hand and seal, delegate authority to any Chief of Division or clerk in the office of Register to act as Assistant Register during the said absence of the Register. (27 Stat. 752.)

This was a resolution, entitled "Joint resolution relating to the discharge of certain official duties in the Office of Register of the Treasury."

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Commissioner of Customs

(R. S. §§ 316-318. Omitted, superseded and transferred.)

This chapter of the Revised Statutes included sections 316-318. R. S. § 316 authorized the office, and sections 317 and 318 prescribed the duties of the Commissioner of Customs. The office was abolished and its duties were transferred to the Comptroller of the Treasury by section 4 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 402, in connection with other changes in the organization of the Department and the officers therein, and in the system of accounting, made by said section and other sections of that act, and R. S. § 316, is therefore omitted. R. S. § 317, as amended by Act Feb. 23, 1877, c. 69, § 1, is given in the notes to said section 4 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 402, its provisions having been superseded by those of that section and of sections 5 and 8 of that act,

ante, §§ 408, 425. R. S. § 318, requiring the Commissioner to report certain official forms for use in the collection of Customs, may be regarded as applicable to the Comptroller, and is set forth ante, § 409.

§ 490. (R. S. § 319.) Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

There shall be in the Department of the Treasury a Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall be entitled to a salary of six thousand dollars a year.

Act July 1, 1862, c. 119, § 1, 12 Stat. 432. Act June 30, 1864, c. 173, § 1, 13 Stat. 223.

The Office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue was continued, with the same salary, in the reorganization of the Department by Act March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 2, ante, § 352.

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 specified exceptions, by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 6, as amended by Act Aug. 29, 1916, c. 417, post, § 3230a.

Notes of

Tenure of office.-Act July 1, 1862, creating the office of assessor of internal revenue, does not prescribe the tenure thereof, and the incumbent is deemed to hold such only during the pleasure of the appointing power. U. S. v.

Decisions

Avery (C. C. 1867) Fed. Cas. No. 14,481.

Cited without definite application, Boske v. Comingore (1899) 20 Sup. Ct. 701, 705, 177 U. S. 459, 44 L. Ed. 846.

§ 491. (R. S. § 320.) Chief Clerk.

The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is authorized to designate one of the heads of division as chief clerk of the Bureau without additional compensation.

Act Dec. 24, 1872, c. 13, § 9, 17 Stat. 403.

Recent appropriation acts have increased the salary of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to $6,500 a year. The appropriation for the fiscal year 1917 was by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 1, 39 Stat.

§ 492. (R. S. § 321.) Duties of Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall have general superintendence of the assessment and collection of all duties and taxes now or hereafter imposed by any law providing internal revenue; and shall prepare and distribute all the instructions, regulations, directions, forms, blanks, stamps, and other matters pertaining to the assessment and

collection of internal revenue; and shall provide hydrometers, and proper and sufficient adhesive stamps and stamps or dies for expressing and denoting the several stamp duties, or, in the case of percentage duties, the amount thereof; and alter and renew or replace such stamps from time to time, as occasion may require. He may also contract for or procure the printing of requisite forms, decisions and regulations, but the printing of such forms, decisions and regulations shall be done at the Public Printing-Office, unless the Public Printer shall be unable to perform the work: Provided, That the Commissioner of Internal Revenue may, under such regulations as may be established by the Secretary of the Treasury, after due public notice, receive bids and make contracts for supplying stationery, blank-books and blanks to the collectors in the several collection-districts; and the said Commissioner shall estimate in detail by collection-districts the expense of assessing and the expense of the collection of internal revenue.

Act June 30, 1864, c. 173, § 1, 13 Stat. 223.

The Commissioner was required to submit to Congress estimates of expenses of assessing and of the collection of internal revenue, by R. S. § 3671, post, § 6741.

In the recent sundry civil appropriation acts, the annual appropriation "for detecting and bringing to trial and punishment persons guilty of violating the internal revenue laws," etc., contains a provision, renewed from year to year, that "the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall make a detailed statement to Congress once in each year as to how he has expended this sum, and also a detailed statement of all miscellaneous expenditures in the Bureau of Internal Revenue for which appropriation is made in this act." The provision for the fiscal year 1914 was by Act June 23, 1913, c. 3, § 1, 38 Stat. 20.

Notes of

Power of commissioner to limit duties of internal revenue officers, etc.-This section, while relating generally to "matters pertaining to the assessment and collection of internal revenue," does not authorize a limitation of the duties of internal revenue officers and agents in special matters otherwise provided by law. (1908) 26 Op. Atty. Gen. 518.

The Commissioner of Internal Revenue has no authority to define and limit the official duties of deputy collectors and internal revenue agents by providing that, while it shall be a part of their official duties to appear before United States commissioners and federal grand juries in cases involving frauds against the revenue laws, up to the time when the parties charged are bound over to or held by a grand jury, after a prima facie case has been made out and the accused has been so bound over or held, such attendance shall not part of their official duties, and

be a

they should respond, in such cases, as a rule, only to a regular subpoena and attend simply as witnesses." Such limitation of the duty of those officers would be in violation of the provisions of R. S. § 3163, post, § 5883, which make it the duty of all such officers to the prevention, detection, and

aid

in

punishment of any frauds in relation to the collection of internal revenue taxes.

Id.

Decisions

Internal Revenue, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, a regulation prohibiting collectors from producing the records of their office or furnishing copies thereof, for the use of third persons, or for use as evidence in behalf of litigants in any court, is valid and binding; and a state court has no authority to require a collector to violate it, or to punish him for contempt because of his refusal to produce such records or to testify to their contents. Boske v. Comingore (1900) 20 Sup. Ct. 701, 177 U. S. 459, 44 L. Ed. 846 (affirming In re Comingore [D. C. 1899] 96 Fed. 552); In re Huttman (D. C. 1895) 70 Fed. 699, 702; In re Weeks (D. C. 1897) 82 Fed. 729, 730; In re Lamberton (D. C. 1903) 124 Fed. 446, 449; Stegall v. Thurman (D. C. 1910) 175 Fed. 813, 816. But see In re Hirsch (C. C. 1896) 74 Fed. 928 (affirmed 87 Fed. 1005, 31 C. C. A. 350). Where, pursuant to this section and R. S. § 3165. post, § 5885, a regulation required collectors of taxes on distilled spirits to examine distiller's sureties and to require them to "justify" on a prescribed form, an oath taken by a surety with reference to his qualifications before a deputy collector was an oath taken in a case in which "a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered," within R. S. § 5392, incorporated in Cr. Code, § 125, post, § 10295, defining perjury. U. S. v. Hardison (D. C. 1905) 135 Fed. 419, 420.

Awards by commissioner.-When the commissioner of internal revenue makes

(241)

an award in reference to subject-matter of which he has jurisdiction, such award, if unimpeached, is binding. Dugan v. U. S. (1899) 34 Ct. Cl. 458.

Cited without definite application, Armour v. Roberts (C. C. 1907) 151 Fed. 846, 852; (1881) 17 Op. Atty. Gen. 111, 113; (1899) 22 Op. Atty. Gen. 568, 570.

§ 493. (R. S. § 322.) Deputy Commissioner of Internal Revenue. There shall be in the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue a Deputy Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall be entitled to a salary of three thousand five hundred dollars a year.

Act March 3, 1863, c. 74, § 19, 12 Stat. 725. Act June 30, 1864, c. 173, § 3, 13 Stat. 224. Act July 13, 1866, c. 184, § 64, 14 Stat. 170.

R. S. § 235, also provided for "two Deputy Commissioners" at $3,000 a year each, "to be employed under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury." Subsequent provisions, including the annual appropriations, relating to these Deputy Commissioners, are collected or referred to in the note to Act March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 2, ante, § 352. For many years previous to 1900 the appropriations were for but one Deputy Commissioner, $3,200. But in recent years, the appropriations were for a Deputy Commissioner, $4,000, and a Deputy Commissioner $3,600. The provision for the fiscal year 1917 was by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 1, 39 Stat.

The appointment of one additional Deputy Commissioner, two heads of divisions, and such other clerks, etc., as may be necessary, was authorized, in connection with other provisions to carry into effect section II, relating to income tax, of the Underwood Tariff Act of 1913, Act Oct. 3, 1913, c. 16, by a provision of said section II, subdivision N, ante, § 364.

A Solicitor of Internal Revenue, in the Department of Justice, was provided for by R. S. § 349, post, § 521.

The appointment in the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, by the Secretary of the Treasury, of an analytical chemist and a microscopist, and the employment by the Commissioner of chemists and microscopists, were authorized by the act defining butter and imposing a tax upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation of oleomargarine, Act Aug. 2, 1886, c. 840, § 14, post, § 6226. In subsequent years appropriations were made for chemists and assistant chemists. The provision for the fiscal year 1917 was by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 1, 39 Stat.

§ 494. (R. S. § 323.) Duties of Deputy Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

The Deputy Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall be charged with such duties in the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, or by law, and shall act as Commissioner of Internal Revenue in case of the absence of that officer.

Act March 3, 1863, c. 74, § 19, 12 Stat. 725. Act June 30, 1864, c. 173, § 3, 13 Stat. 224. Act July 13, 1866, c. 184, § 64, 14 Stat. 170. See notes to § 493, ante.

§ 495. (R. S. § 324, as amended, Act Dec. 23, 1913, c. 6, § 10.) Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency.

There shall be in the Department of the Treasury a Bureau. charged with the execution of all laws passed by Congress relating

to the issue and regulation of a national currency secured by United States bonds and, under the general supervision of the Federal Reserve Board, of all Federal Reserve notes, the chief officer of which Bureau shall be called the Comptroller of the Currency and shall perform his duties under the general directions of the Secretary of the Treasury.

Act June 3, 1864, c. 106, § 1, 13 Stat. 99. Act Dec. 23, 1913, c. 6, § 10, 38 Stat. 261.

This section, as enacted in the Revised Statutes, did not contain the words "and, under the general supervision of the Federal Reserve Board, of all Federal Reserve notes." They were inserted by amendment by section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act, last cited above.

The Comptroller of the Currency is ineligible, during his time in office and for two years thereafter, to hold any office, etc., in any bank which is a member of a Federal Reserve Bank, by a provision of the Federal Reserve Act of Dec. 23, 1913, c. 6, § 10, post, § 9793. He is also prohibited, while acting as a member of the Federal Reserve Bank, from being an officer or director of any bank, etc., and from holding stock in any bank, etc., by a further provision of said section, post, § 9793.

The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Comptroller of the Currency were constituted "the Reserve Bank Organization Committee," and the duties and powers of said Committee were defined, by said Federal Reserve Act of Dec. 23, 1913, c. 6, § 2, post, § 9786. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency were made members ex officio of the Federal Reserve Board created by section 10 of that act, post, § 9793, and the powers of said board were defined by section 11 of the act, § 9794. And the powers of the Comptroller of the Currency in regard to examinations of national banks were defined by amendment of R. S. § 5240, by section 21 of said Federal Reserve Act, post, § 9832.

Notes of Decisions

Appointments of receivers of national banks by Comptroller of the Currency as acts of Secretary of the Treasury.Appointments of receivers of national banks, made by the Comptroller of the Currency as provided by law, are to be presumed to be made with the concurrence or approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, and are made by the head of a department, within the mean

ing of Const. art. 2, § 2. Price v. Abbott (C. C. 1883) 17 Fed. 506, 507; Frelinghuysen v. Baldwin (D. C. 1882) 12 Fed. 395, 396.

Effect of decisions of courts.-The Comptroller of the Currency must take notice of and be governed by the decisions of the courts. Williams v. Frank Levy, Inc. (City Ct. 1915) 152 N. Y. S. 454.

§ 496. (R. S. § 325.) Comptroller of the Currency.

The Comptroller of the Currency shall be appointed by the President, on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall hold his office for the term of five years unless sooner removed by the President, upon reasons to be communicated by him to the Senate; and he shall be entitled to a salary of five thousand dollars a year.

Act June 3, 1864, c. 106, § 1, 13 Stat. 99.

The office of Comptroller of the Currency was continued, at the same salary, on the reorganization of the Department by Act March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 2, ante, § 352.

The Comptroller of the Currency, as ex officio member of the Federal Reserve Board, is to receive an additional salary of $7,000 annually for his services as a member of said Board, by a provision of the Federal Reserve Act of Dec. 23, 1913, c. 6, § 10, post, § 9793.

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 tthe 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