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moval, death, resignation, or inability | the office of President or Vice-Presi

of both the President and Vice-President of the United States, the Secretary of State; or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Treasury; or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of War; or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the AttorneyGeneral; or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the PostmasterGeneral; or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Navy; or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Interior shall act as President until the disability of the President or Vice-President is removed, or a President shall be elected. Provided that whenever the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States shall devolve upon any of the persons named, if Congress be not then in session, or if it would not meet, in accordance with law, within twenty days thereafter, it shall be the duty of the person upon whom said powers and duties shall devolve to issue a proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary session, giving twenty days' notice of the time of meeting. The officers described must have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to their respective offices, and must be eligible to the office of President under the Constitution, and not under impeachment by the House of Representatives of the United States at the time the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon them respectively. The only evidence of a refusal to accept, or of a resignation of

dent, is an instrument in writing declaring the same, and subscribed by the person refusing to accept or resigning, as the case may be, and delivered into the office of the Secretary of State.

OFFICE AND COMPENSATION.

The term of four years for which a President and Vice-President are elected in all cases commences on the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which the votes of the electors have been given. The President receives in full for his services during his term the sum of $50,000 a- -year, payable monthly, and is entitled to the use of the furniture and other effects belonging to the United States, and kept in the executive mansion. The Vice-President receives in full for his services during his term the sum of $8000 a-year, payable monthly.

The President is authorised to appoint or employ in his official household (1) one private secretary-salary, $3250; (2) one assistant private secretary salary $2250; (3) two executive clerks-salary, $2000 each; (4) one steward of the President's household salary, $2000; (5) one messenger-salary, $1200. The steward, under the direction of the Presi dent, has the charge and custody of, and is responsible for the plate, furniture, and other public property in the President's mansion, and discharges such other duties as the President assigns him. The steward, before entering upon the duties of his office, has to give a bond to the United States for the faithful discharge of his trust. This bond must be in such sum as the Secretary of the Interior deems sufficient, and must be approved by him.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS.

The head of each department is authorised to prescribe regulations not inconsistent with law for the government of his department, the conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it. From the 1st day of October until the 1st day of April in each year, all the bureaux and offices in the State, War, Treasury, Navy, and PostOffice departments, and in the General Land Office, are open for the transaction of the public business at least eight hours in each day; and from the 1st day of April until the 1st day of October in each year, at least ten hours in each day, except Sundays and days declared holidays by law.

The clerks in the departments are arranged in four classes, distinguished as the first, second, third, and fourth classes. No clerk is appointed until he has been examined and found qualified by a board of three examiners, consisting of the chief of the bureau or office into which the clerk is to be appointed and two other clerks selected by the head of the department. Women may, in the discretion of the head of any department, be appointed to any of the clerkships, upon the same requisites and conditions and with the same compensations as are prescribed for men. Each head of a department may from time to time alter the distribution among the various bureaux and offices of his department of the clerks allowed by law, as he may find it necessary and proper to do; and he may employ in his department such number of clerks of the several classes, and such messengers, assistant messengers, copyists, watch

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men, labourers, and other employees, and at such rates of compensation respectively as may be appropriated for by Congress from year to year. Each chief clerk in the several departments and bureaux and other offices connected with the departments, supervises, under the direction of his immediate superior, the duties of the other clerks therein, and sees that they are faithfully performed; and he reports monthly to his superior officer any existing defect he is aware of in the arrangement or despatch of business. Disbursing clerks give bonds to the United States for the faithful discharge of their duties according to law, in such amount as is directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and with sureties to the satisfaction of the Solicitor of the Treasury. In case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the head of any department, the first or sole assistant thereof, unless otherwise directed by the President, performs the duties of such head until a successor is appointed or such absence or sickness ceases; and in case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the chief of any bureau or of any office thereof, whose appointment is not vested in the head of the department, the assistant or deputy, or, if there is none, then the chief clerk of such bureau, unless otherwise directed by the President, performs the duties of the chief or other officer until a successor is appointed, or the absence or sickness ceases. In any of said cases, except the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the Attorney-General, the President may in his discretion authorise and direct the head of any other department whose appointment is vested in the President, by and with the advice and consent of the

Senate, to perform the duties of the vacant office until a successor is appointed, or the sickness or absence of the incumbent ceases. A vacancy occasioned by death or resignation must not be temporarily filled for a longer period than ten days, and only during a recess of the Senate can a temporary appointment, designation, or assignment of one officer to perform the duties of another be made. An officer or clerk of any department lawfully detailed to investigate frauds, or attempts to defraud on the Government, or any irregularity or misconduct of an officer or agent of the United States, has authority to administer an oath to witnesses. Any head of a department or bureau in which a claim against the United States is properly pending, may apply to any judge or clerk of any court of the United States, in any state, district, or territory, to issue a subpoena for a witness being within the jurisdiction of such court, and if any witness, after being duly served with such subpœna, neglects or refuses to appear, or appearing refuses to testify, the judge of the district may proceed upon proper process to enforce obedience to the subpoena, or to punish the disobedience in like manner as any court of the United States may do in case of process of subpoena ad testificandum issued by such court. The Attorney-General furnishes all necessary and proper professional service in attending examinations or making investigations, upon notification from the head of a department or bureau, and being given all the necessary facts.

In all suits brought against the United States in the Court of Claims, founded upon any contract, agreement, or transaction with any department or any bureau, officer, or agent of a department, or when the matter or thing on which the claim is based has been passed

upon and decided by any department, bureau, or officer authorised to adjust it, the Attorney-General transmits to such department, bureau, or officer a printed copy of the petition filed by the claimant, with a request that he be furnished with all facts, circumstances, and evidence touching the claim, and thereupon such department, bureau, or officer, without delay, and within a reasonable time, furnishes him with a full statement in writing of all such facts, information, and proofs.

It is not lawful for any person appointed after the 1st day of June 1872, as an officer, clerk, or employee in any of the departments, to act as counsel, attorney, or agent for prosecuting any claim against the United States which was pending in either of said departments while he was such officer, clerk, or employee, nor in any manner, nor by any means, to aid in the prosecution of any such claim within two years next after he has ceased to be such officer, clerk, or employee. The balances from time to time stated by the auditor, and certified to the heads of departments by the Commissioner of Customs, or the comptrollers of the Treasury, upon the settlement of public accounts, are not to be changed or modified by the heads of departments, but are conclusive upon the executive branch of the Government, and are subject to revision only by Congress or the proper courts. The head of the proper department, before signing a warrant for any balance certified to him by a comptroller, may, however, submit to such comptroller any facts in his judgment affecting the correctness of such balance, but the decision of the comptroller thereon is final and conclusive. The amount expended in any one year for newspapers for any department, except the department of State, including all the bureaux and offices connected

therewith, is not to exceed $100, and all newspapers purchased with the public money for the use of either of the departments must be preserved as files for such department.

The head of each department makes at the commencement of each regular session, except when a different time is expressly prescribed by law, the various annual reports required to be submitted to Congress, and among these are-1st, A detailed statement of the manner in which the contingent fund for his department, and for the bureaux and offices therein, has been expended, giving the names of every person to whom any portion thereof has been paid; and if for anything furnished, the quantity and price; and if for any service rendered, the nature of such service, and the time employed, and the particular occasion and cause, in brief, that rendered such service necessary; and the amount of all former appropriations in each case on hand, either in the Treasury or in the hands of any disbursing officer or agent. And he is to require of the disbursing officers acting under his direction and authority the return of precise and analytical statements and receipts for all the moneys which may have been from time to time during the next preceding year expended by them, and communicate the results of such returns and the sums total annually to Congress.

2. A statement giving the names of the clerks and other persons that have been employed in his department and the offices thereof, showing the time each was actually employed, the sums paid to each, also whether they have been usefully employed, whether the services of any of them can be dispensed with without detri

ment to the public service, and whether the removal of any individuals and the appointment of others in their stead is required for the better despatch of business.

The head of each department, except the Department of Justice, furnishes to the public printer copies of the documents usually accompanying his annual report on or before the first day of November in each year, and a copy of his annual report on or before the third Monday in November in each year.

The Secretaries of State, Treasury, Interior, War, Navy, the PostmasterGeneral, the Attorney-General, and Commissioner of Agriculture keep in proper books a complete inventory of all the property belonging to the United States, in the buildings, rooms, offices, and grounds occupied by them respectively and under their charge, adding thereto from time to time an account of such property as may be procured subsequently to the taking of such inventory, as well as an account of the sale or other disposition of any of such property (except supplies of stationery and fuel in the public offices, and books, pamphlets, and papers in the Library of Congress).

The head of each department, as soon as practicable after the last day in September in each year in which a new Congress is to assemble, causes to be filed in the Department of the Interior a full and complete list of all officers, agents, clerks, and employees employed in his department, or in any of the offices or bureaux connected therewith. He includes in this list all the statistics peculiar to his department, required to enable the Secretary of the Interior to prepare the Biennial Register.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

At the seat of the United States Government-to wit, in Washington, District of Columbia-there is an executive department known as the Department of State, and the Secretary of State is the head of it, with three assistant secretaries of state appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Secretary of State may prescribe duties for the assistant secretaries, the solicitor not interfering with his duties as an officer of the Department of Justice, and the clerks of bureaux, as well as for all the other employees in the department, and may make changes and transfers therein, when in his judgment it becomes necessary. The duties of the Secretary of State are those from time to time enjoined on or intrusted to him by the President relative to correspondence, commissions, or instructions to or with public ministers or consuls from the United States, or to negotiations with public ministers from foreign states or princes, or to memorials or other applications from foreign public ministers or other foreigners, or to such other matters respecting foreign affairs as the President of the United States assigns to the department, and he conducts the business of the department in such manner as the President directs. He has the custody and charge of the seal of the United States, and of the seal of the Department of State, and of all the books, records, papers, furniture, fixtures, and other property remaining in or appertaining to the department. Whenever a bill, order, resolution, or vote of the Senate and House of Representatives, having been approved by the President, or not having been returned by him with his objections, becomes a law or takes effect, it is

forthwith received by the Secretary of State from the President; and whenever a bill, order, resolution, or vote is returned by the President with his objections, and on being reconsidered is agreed to be passed, and is approved by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, and thereby becomes a law or takes effect, it is received by the Secretary of State from the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House of Representatives, in whichsoever House it has last been so approved, and he carefully preserves the originals. Whenever official notice is received at the Department of State that any amendment proposed to the Constitution of the United States has been adopted according to the provisions of the Constitution, the Secretary of State forthwith causes the amendment to be published in the newspapers authorised to promulgate the laws, with his certificate specifying the states by which the same has been adopted, and that the same has become valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution of the United States. The Secretary of State procures from time to time such of the statutes of the several states as are not in his office. He lays before Congress, within ten days after the commencement of each regular session, a statement containing an abstract of all the returns made to him pursuant to law by the collectors of the different ports, of the seamen registered by them, together with an account of such impressments and detentions as appear by the protests of the masters to have taken place. He lays annually before Congress (1) a statement, in a compendious form, of all such changes and modifications in the commercial systems of other nations, whether by treaties, duties on im

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