pay them. It is recommended, however, that the attention of the clerks of the district courts be called to this matter, in order that in future cases an oath conforming to that prescribed in section 1757 be taken, in order to set the matter beyond all controversy. Respectfully, yours, Mr. HENRY RECHTIN, R. B. BOWLER, Comptroller. Disbursing Clerk, Department of Justice. IN RE APPEAL OF GEORGE F. SHARITT, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS. A typewriter purchased by a clerk of a court from the emoluments of his office is the property of the United States, and when sold the proceeds must be covered into the Treasury under section 3618, Revised Statutes. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, March 6, 1896. Mr. George F. Sharitt, the clerk of the circuit court for the district of Kansas, appeals from the settlement by the Auditor of his emolument account for the calendar year 1894. It appears from an examination of the account that Mr. Sharitt claimed credit for $95, the amount paid to J. F. Myers, of Topeka, for the purchase of a typewriter; that the cost of the typewriter, with a cabinet, was $130, and that he received a credit of $35 on account of an old typewriter exchanged for the new one, leaving the net amount paid $95. In the settlement of his account the Auditor did not allow him the full credit of $95, but of $60 only, claiming that the difference of $35, being the amount derived from the sale of the old machine should have been, under the provisions of section 3618, Revised Statutes, covered into the Treasury as a miscellaneous receipt on account of Government property sold. The old machine was originally bought by Mr. Sharitt from the surplus emoluments of his office in 1889, and it is admitted by him that the old machine and the new machine were both the property of the United States. The Attorney-General authorized Mr. Sharitt to spend but $100 in the purchase of a new machine. Section 839 of the Revised Statutes provides: * * * to retain of the for his personal "No clerk of a district court, or clerk of a circuit court, shall be allowed by the Attorney-General * fees and emoluments of his office compensation, over and above his necessary office expenses, including necessary clerk hire, a sum exceeding three thousand five hundred dollars a year for any such district clerk or for any such circuit clerk, or exceeding that rate for any time less than a year." Section 843 provides: * "The allowances for personal compensation of district attorneys, clerks, and marshals, for each calendar year, shall be made from the fees and emoluments of that year, and not othervise." It seems entirely clear that the necessary expenses of the clerk's office are required, by section 839, to be first paid from the emoluments of the office, and that after paying such expenses the clerk is entitled to retain from the emoluments of the office in each calendar year a sum not exceeding $3,500. The typewriter originally purchased in 1889 was clearly the property of the United States, as in fact admitted by Mr. Sharitt, because payment therefor was made from the emoluments of the clerk's office, which are derived from fees received from individuals as well as from the United States, and not from the personal compensation of the clerk, which is derived from the same fees and emoluments, but only after the expenses of the office have been first paid. Section 3618 provides that— * shall "All proceeds of sales of old material, condemned stores, supplies, or other public property of any kind, * be deposited and covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, on account of 'proceeds of Government property.'" The transaction between Mr. Sharitt and Mr. Myers in which on the purchase of the new machine Mr. Sharitt received a credit of $35 for the old machine in fact amounted to two distinct transactions-the one a purchase of a new machine for $130, and the other the sale of the old machine at an agreed price of $35. Under such circumstances it is quite clear that he should have received a credit of $130 in the settlement of his emolument account but for the limitation placed upon the purchase, of $100, by the Attorney-General, and should have paid into the Treasury on account of "proceeds of Government property " the $35 obtained for the old machine. (15 Opin. A. G., 322). Since the Auditor's settlement of Mr. Sharitt's emolument account the Attorney-General has approved his action in pur chasing a typewriter and cabinet for $130. Therefore Mr. Sharitt's account will, on the present revision, be adjusted so as to allow him a credit of $130 for the new machine, and he will be required to cover into the Treasury as a miscellaneous receipt, on account of "proceeds of Government property,” the $35 credit obtained by him for the old machine. R. B. BOWLER, IN RE APPEAL OF MAJ. JAMES C. POST, ENGINEER THIRTEENTH LIGHT-HOUSE DISTRICT. 1. The Light-House Board is the head of the Light-House Establishment, and the written order of the Board for the purchase of articles from the contingent fund is the order of the head of the Department within the meaning of section 3683, Revised Statutes. 2. The appropriation for repairs, etc., of light-houses, and incidental expenses connected therewith, is not a contingent fund within the meaning of section 3683, Revised Statutes (2 Comp. Dec., 42). TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, March 6, 1896. Maj. James C. Post, the engineer of the Thirteenth lighthouse district, appeals from the settlement by the Auditor for the Treasury Department of his account for the quarter ending June 30, 1895, for repairs and incidental expenses of lighthouses. In that settlement the Auditor made the following disallowance: "Voucher No. 26, subscription for daily newspaper, amount ing to $3.25. Voucher No. 1, third quarter, 1895, amounting to $3.25, suspended in previous settlement. This entire amount is hereby disallowed as an improper expenditure, and you are referred to a decision of the Comptroller of the Treasury of the date of June 22, 1895, in which he affirmed the action of this office in disallowing a similar claim in the office of the United States mint at Denver." It appears that Major Post was authorized in writing by the Light-House Board, in a letter dated July 11, 1894, to make a "subscription to Daily Oregonian for fiscal year ending June 30, 1895, $13." In the decision of the Comptroller, upon which the action of the Auditor was based, it was held that section 3683, Revised Statutes, prohibiting the use of the contingent fund appropriated "to any Department, bureau, or office," except for articles which the head of the Department should, by written order, direct to be procured, extended to all Departments, bureaus, and offices wherever situated, and therefore that a newspaper not ordered by the head of the Treasury Department could not be paid for from the appropriation for the contingent expenses of the mint at Denver (1 Comp. Dec., 566). The Light-House Board is a somewhat peculiar establishment. It is composed of officers of the Navy and the Engineer Corps of the Army, and of civilians of high scientific attainments (sec. 4653, Rev. Stat.), the Secretary of the Treasury being ex officio president of the Board (sec. 4654). It is "attached to the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, and under his superintendence" discharges all its duties (sec. 4658). It is authorized, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to prescribe regulations "for securing an efficient, uniform, and economical administration of the LightHouse Establishment" (sec. 4669). Among the regulations prescribed is the following: "Cases involving the expenditure of money, on any account not specified in these regulations and instructions, must be submitted to the Board for authority to incur the liability." (Paragraph 162, Regulations of 1880.) From this review of the statutes relating to the Light House Board, it seems clear that the Board is not, properly speaking, either a bureau or office of the Treasury Department, but is in the nature of an independent establishment attached to that Department, and that the Secretary of the Treasury, although the ex officio president of the Board, under whose superintendence the actions of the Board are placed, is not the head of the Department within the meaning of section 3683, Revised Statutes, whose order is required in making purchases payable from the contingent fund of the Light-House Board. The Board itself, in my opinion, is such head, and, as the Board authorized this particular expenditure in writing before it was incurred, section 3683 has been complied with. Besides, it appears that the authority to subscribe for the newspaper was given because the use of such paper was necessary in connec tion with the work under Major Post's charge, which related solely to matters payable from the appropriation "Repairs and incidental expenses of light-houses," which reads as follows: "For repairing, rebuilding, and improving light-houses and buildings; for improvements to grounds connected therewith; for establishing and repairing pier-head and other beacon lights; for illuminating apparatus and machinery to replace that already in use; and for incidental expenses relating to these various objects, four hundred and ninety thousand dollars." The expense of this newspaper was therefore a proper charge against this appropriation as an incidental expense relating to the objects for which the appropriation was made. This appropriation seems to be in no sense a contingent fund within the meaning of section 3683, Revised Statutes, as explained in decision of July 20, 1895 (ante, p. 42). Under the circumstances the expense of the newspaper would have been chargeable to this appropriation, even if it had not contained the words "incidental expenses relating to these various objects." The action of the Auditor in disallowing the item is therefore overruled, and it will be allowed upon the present revision. R. B. BOWLER, IN RE APPEAL OF G. W. LEVI, UNITED STATES MARSHAL FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA. A deputy marshal who represents the marshal in court and earns for him the per diem fee of $5 can not be allowed payment for services as a bailiff at the same time. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, March 6, 1896. Mr. G. W. Levi, United States marshal for the western district of Virginia, appeals from the settlement by the Auditor for the State and other Departments of his account for "Pay of bailiffs, etc., United States courts," for the quarter ending June 30, 1895. The Auditor made the following disallowance: "J. W. Pepper claims payment as bailiff for April 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27. These dates he represented the marshal in |