708. Grade of storekeeper.

*. Provided, That when a vacancy shall occur through death, retirement, or other separation from active service in the office of storekeeper, in the Quartermaster's Department and Ordnance Department, respectively, now provided for by law, said offices shall cease to exist. Sec. 1, act of Feb. 2, 1901 (31 Stat. 748).

The above statute replaces a similar restriction which was contained in sec. 2 of the act of Mar. 3, 1875 (18 Stat. 339).

See also notes to 1627, post.

709. Grade of military storekeeper revived. The President of the United States, in his discretion be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint Charles P. Daly, chief clerk, office of the Quartermaster Corps, United States Army, a military storekeeper in the Quartermaster Corps, United States Army, with the rank, pay, and allowances of a captain, mounted; and the grade of military storekeeper is hereby revived in the Army of the United States for this purpose only. Act of Aug. 29, 1916 (39 Stat. 626).

By 2261, post, "the present military storekeeper" is given the rank, pay, and allowances of a major, but by 2282, post, the military storekeeper is not to be placed on the promotion list.

710. Vacant.

711. Quartermaster sergeants.-Provided, That hereafter the Secretary of War is authorized to appoint such number of quartermaster sergeants, Quartermaster Corps, not to exceed the number provided for by law, as he may deem necessary for the interest of the service, said quartermaster sergeants to be selected from the most competent noncommissioned officers of the Army, who shall have served therein at least five years, three years of such service haying been rendered as noncommissioned officers, and whose character and educa tion shall fit them to take charge of public property and to act as clerks and assistants to the proper officers of the Army in charge of public property. Act of Mar. 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 1066), making appropriations for the support of the Army.

The act of Mar. 4, 1915, above, superseded a similar provision of act Apr. 27, 1914 (38 Stat. 354).

Eighty post quartermaster sergeants were provided for by act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. 109), 25 were added by the act of July 8, 1898 (30 Stat. 728), and 150 provided for by sec. 16, act of Feb. 2, 1901 (31 Stat. 751). These were to be known as quartermaster sergeants, according to sec. 3, act of Aug. 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 592).

The act of Apr. 23, 1904 (33 Stat. 261), provided for 200 post commissary sergeants, whose title was changed to quartermaster sergeants by sec. 3, act of Aug. 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 592).

Sec. 9, act of June 3, 1916 (39 Stat. 170), provided that the master electricians authorized by law for the Quartermaster Corps should thereafter be known as quartermaster sergeants, senior grade, and included in the number of such sergeants authorized by that section. That section was stricken out by sec. 9, act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 766). But see 1671, post.

*

*

Act of June

712. Prizes for bakers and cooks.-* for providing prizes to be established by the Secretary of War for enlisted men of the Army who graduate from the Army schools for bakers and cooks, the total amount of such prizes at the various schools not to exceed $900 per annum; 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 957), making appropriations for the support of the Army. 713. Civilian employees replaced by enlisted men.-That as soon as practicable after the creation of a Quartermaster Corps in the Army not to exceed four thousand civilian employees of that corps, receiving a mouthly compensation of not less than thirty dollars nor more than one hundred and seventy-five dollars each, not including civil engineers, superintendents of construction, inspectors of clothing, clothing examiners, inspectors of supplies, inspectors

of animals, chemists, veterinarians, freight and passenger rate clerks, civil service employees, and employees of the classified service, employees of the Army transport service and harbor-boat service, and such other employees as may be required for technical work, shall be replaced permanently by not to exceed an equal number of enlisted men of said corps, and all enlisted men of the line of the Army detailed on extra duty in the Quartermaster Corps or as bakers or assistant bakers shall be replaced permanently by not to exceed two thousand enlisted men of said corps; Sec. 4, act of Aug. 24, 1912

(37 Stat. 593).

714. Pay of civilians.

*

*

Provided further, That the number of and total sum paid for civilian employees in the Quartermaster Corps shall be limited to the actual requirements of the service, and that no employee therein shall receive a salary of more than $150 per month, except upon the approval of the Secretary of War. Act of July 8, 1918 (40 Stat. 829), making appropriations for the support of the Army.

For additional employees in the office of the Quartermaster General, $543,140: Provided, That no person shall be employed hereunder at a rate of compensation exceeding $1,800 per annum except one at $4,000, two at $3,000 each, two at $2,400 each, one at $2,250, and five at $2,000 each. Act of Mar. 3, 1921 (41 Stat. 1278), making appropriations for legislative, executive, and judicial expenses: Office of Quartermaster General.

In addition to the sum of $250,000 heretofore authorized, the sum of $90,000 of appropriations available during the fiscal year 1921 for the "Disposition of remains of officers, soldiers, and civilian employees, War Department," may be expended for personal services in the Cemeterial Division, Office of the Quartermaster General, for compiling, recording, preparing, and transmitting data incident to bringing home and disposition of remains from abroad. Act of Mar. 1, 1921 (41 Stat. 1164), making appropriations to supply deficiencies: Office of Quartermaster General.

The sum of $180,000 of appropriations available during the fiscal year 1922 for the "Disposition of remains of officers, soldiers, and civilian employees, War Department," may be expended for personal services in the Cemeterial Division, office of the Quartermaster General, for compiling, recording, preparing and transmitting data incident to bringing home and disposition of remains from abroad: Provided, That no person shall be employed under this allotment at a rate of compensation exceeding $1,800 per annum except one person at $2,000. Act of Mar. 3, 1921 (41 Stat. 1278), making appropriations for legislative, executive, and judicial expenses: Office of Quartermaster General.

Appropriations for the pay of civilian employees in the office of the Quartermaster General are made annually in sundry civil expenses acts.

for expenses

of escorts to officers

715. Hire of civilians.-* or agents of the Quartermaster Corps to trains where military escorts can not be furnished; hire of laborers in the Quartermaster Corps, including the care of officers' mounts when the same are furnished by the Government, and the hire of interpreters, spies, or guides for the Army; compensation of clerks and other employees of the Quartermaster Corps and Finance Service, and clerks, foremen, watchmen, and organist for the United States disciplinary barracks, * Act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 959), making appropriations for the support of the Army: Quartermaster Corps, Incidental expenses. Similar provisions appear in previous appropriation acts.

*

716. Selection of superintendents of national cemeteries.-The superintendents of the national cemeteries shall be selected from meritorious and trustworthy soldiers, either commissioned officers or enlisted men of the Volunteer or Regular Army, who have been honorably mustered out or discharged from the service of the United States, and who may have been disabled for active field service in the line of duty. R. S. 4874.

717. Pay of superintendents of national cemeteries.-The superintendents of the national cemeteries shall receive for their compensation from sixty dollars to seventy-five dollars a month each, according to the extent and importance of the cemeteries to which they may be respectively assigned, to be determined by the Secretary of War, except the superintendent of the Arlington, Virginia, Cemetery, whose compensation may be one hundred dollars per month, at the discretion of the Secretary of War; and they shall also be furnished with quarters and fuel at the several cemeteries. R. S. 4875, as amended by act of July 30, 1912 (37 Stat. 240).

For pay of seventy-six superintendents of national cemeteries, including not to exceed $1,500 for the superintendent at Mexico City, $63,720.

For pay of superintendent of Antietam battle field, said superintendent to perform his duties under the direction of the Quartermaster Corps and to be selected and appointed by the Secretary of War, at his discretion, the person selected and appointed to this position to be an honorably discharged Union soldier, $1,500. Act of Mar. 4, 1921 (41 Stat. 1385–1386), making appropriations for sundry civil expenses: Quartermaster Corps.

718. Supervision of the Chief of Staff.

Provided further, That

the Quartermaster Corps shall be subject to the supervision of the Chief of Staff to the extent the departments hereby consolidated into said corps have heretofore been subject to such supervision under the terms of the existing law: * * Sec. 3, act of Aug. 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 593), making appropriations for the support of the Army.

The Quartermaster Gen

719. Duties of the Quartermaster Corps.-* * eral, under the authority of the Secretary of War, shall be charged with the purchase and procurement for the Army of all supplies of standard manufacture and of all supplies common to two or more branches but not with the purchase or the procurement of special or technical articles to be used or issued exclusively by other supply departments; with the direction of all work pertaining to the construction, maintenance, and repair of buildings, structures, and utilities other than fortifications connected with the Army; with the storage and issue of supplies; with the operation of utilities; with the acquisition of all real estate and the issue of licenses in connection with Government reservations; with the transportation of the Army by land and water, including the transportation of troops and supplies by mechanical or animal means; with the furnishing of means of transportation of all classes and kinds required by the Army; and with such other duties not otherwise assigned by law as the Secretary of War may prescribe: *Sec. 9, act of June 3, 1916 (39 Stat. 170),

as amended by sec. 9, act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 766).

The above appears to supersede R. S. 1133 :

"It shall be the duty of the officers of the Quartermaster's Department, under the direction of the Secretary of War, to purchase and distribute to the Army all military stores and supplies, requisite for its use, which other corps are not directed by law to provide; to furnish means of transportation for the Army, its military stores and supplies, and to provide for and pay all incidental expenses of the military service which other corps are not directed to provide for and pay."

So much of R. S. 1133 and of sec. 9, act of June 3, 1916 (39 Stat. 170), as restricted the purchase and distribution of military stores and supplies to officers of the Quartermaster Corps was suspended "for the period of the present war" by Ch. VII, act of July 9, 1918 (40 Stat. 881), which provision also appears to be superseded by the above section.

The Quartermaster General and his officers were required to receive and transport property turned over to them by the officers or agents of any Government survey for the National Museum, or for the civil or naval departments of the Government, in Washington or elsewhere, by a further provision of act July 5, 1884, post, 1212.

Notes of Decisions.

Civilian purchasing agents.-A com. manding general can not appoint a civilian purchasing agent of the Government, nor invest him with discretion to make express contracts, nor transfer to him the responsi

bility which the law imposes on quartermasters; neither has such agent power to bind the Government by express contract. Reeside v. U. S. (1866), 2 Ct. Cl. 1.

720. Duties of regimental, battalion and squadron quartermasters.Provided further, That whenever the Secretary of War shall decide that it is necessary and practicable, regimental, battalion, and squadron quartermasters and commissaries shall be required to perform any duties that junior officers of the Quartermaster Corps may properly be required to perform, and regimental and battalion quartermaster and commissary sergeants shall be required to perform any duties that noncommissioned officers or pay clerks of the Quartermaster Corps may properly be required to perform, but such regimental, battalion and squadron quartermasters and commissaries shall not be required to receipt for any money or property which does not pertain to their respective regiments, battalions, or squadrons, and they shall not be separated from the organization to which they belong: Sec. 3, act of Aug. 24, 1912 (37

*

Stat. 592-593), making appropriations for the support of the Army.

No further appointments of pay clerks were to be made by a further provision of act Mar. 2, 1913 (37 Stat. 708). But see 497, ante.

* *

721. Receipting for money or property by regimental, battalion and squadron quartermasters.—* Provided further, That regimental, battalion, and squadron quartermasters and commissaries shall hereafter be required to perform the duties of officers of the Quartermaster Corps, including the receipting for any money or property pertaining to said corps, when no officer of the Quartermaster Corps is present for such duties, and nothing contained in the Army appropriation Act approved August twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twelve, shall hereafter be held or construed so as to prevent competent authority from requiring any officers of the Army to act temporarily as quartermasters wherever there shall be no officers of the Quartermaster Corps and no regimental, battalion, or squadron quartermasters or commissaries present for such duty. Act of Mar. 2, 1913 (37 Stat. 706), making appropriations for the support of the Army.

722. Vacant.

723. Agents of disbursing officers, Quartermaster Corps.-Hereafter, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of War, officers of the Quartermaster Corps accountable for public moneys may intrust such moneys to other officers for the purpose of having them make disbursements as their agents, and the officers to whom the moneys are intrusted, as well as the officers who intrust it to them, shall be held pecuniarily responsible therefor to the United States. Act of May 12, 1917 (40 Stat. 50), making appropriations for the support of the Army,

But see 497, ante.

CHAPTER 20.

PUBLIC PROPERTY.