superintendence shall discharge all administrative duties relating to the construction, illumination, inspection, and superintendence of lighthouses, light-vessels, beacons, buoys, sea-marks, and their appendages, and embracing the security of foundations of works already existing, procuring illuminating and other apparatus, supplies, and materials of all kinds for building, and for rebuilding when necessary, and keeping in good repair the lighthouses, light-vessels, beacons, and buoys of the United States; and shall have the charge and custody of all the archives, books, documents, drawings, models, returns, apparatus, and other things appertaining to the Lighthouse Establishment. R. S., 4665. The Lighthouse Board shall cause to be prepared by the Duties of Board. engineer secretary of the Board, or by such officer of engineers of the Army as may be detailed for that service, all plans, drawings, specifications, and estimates of cost, of all illuminating and other apparatus, and of construction and repair of towers, buildings, etc., connected with the Lighthouse Establishment, and no bid or contract shall be accepted or entered into, except upon the decision of the Board, at a regular or special meeting, and through their properly authorized officers. R. S., 4659. The Lighthouse Board shall furnish, upon the requisition Estimates. of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, all the estimates of expense which the several branches of the lighthouse service may require, and such other information as may be required, to be laid before Congress at the commencement of each session. R. S., 4669. The Lighthouse Board, with the approval of the Secre- Regulations. tary of Commerce and Labor, shall prescribe, and from time to time may alter or amend, and cause to be distributed, such regulations as they deem proper for securing an efficient, uniform, and economical administration of the Lighthouse Establishment. The Lighthouse Board shall arrange the Ocean, Gulf, Lake and River coasts of the United States into lighthouse districts, not exceeding sixteen in number. The jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Board, created by the act entitled "An act making appropriations for lighthouses, light-boats, buoys, and so forth, and providing for the erection and establishment of the same, and for other purposes," approved August thirty-first, eighteen hundred and fiftytwo, is hereby extended over the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri rivers, for the establishment of such beaconlights, day-beacons, and buoys as may be necessary for the use of vessels navigating those streams; and for this purpose the said Board is hereby required to divide the designated rivers into one or two additional lighthouse districts, to be in all respects similar to the already existing light-house districts; and is hereby authorized to lease the necessary ground for all such lights and beacons as are used to point out changeable channels, and which in consequence can not be made permanent. Light-house districts. Stat. 148) in place Jurisdiction over rivers. (18 Stat, 220.) Jurisdiction extended. Inspectors. Duties of engi neers. R. S., 4664. No additional salary allowed. R. S., 4679. counts. [The jurisdiction of the Light-House Board was extended over the Red River, Louisiana, by the act approved March 3, 1881; over the Savannah, Georgia, St. Johns, Florida, Cape Fear, North Carolina, and Hudson rivers, by the act approved March 3, 1885; over the Columbia and Willamette rivers, Oregon, by the act approved August 4, 1886; over the East River, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Elk River, Maryland, Chicot Pass, and to mark navigable channel along Grand Lake, Louisiana, Tennessee River and Great Kanawha River, and Puget Sound, Washington, by the act approved March 3, 1887; over the Connecticut and Illinois rivers, Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, California, by the act approved October 2, 1888; over the Raritan River, New Jersey, and Indian River, Florida, by the act approved March 2, 1889; over the Thames River, Connecticut, by the act approved March 3, 1891; over the channels in St. Louis and Superior bays, Lake Superior, by the act approved August 5, 1892; over the York River, Virginia, by the act approved August 18, 1894.] An officer of the Army or Navy shall be assigned to each district as a lighthouse inspector, subject to the orders of the Lighthouse Board; and shall receive for such service. the same pay and emoluments that he would be entitled to by law for the performance of duty in the regular line of his profession, and no other, except the legal allowance per mile, when traveling under orders connected with his duties. The President shall cause to be detailed from the Engineer Corps of the Army, from time to time, such officers as may be necessary to superintend the construction and renovation of lighthouses. [R. S., 4672, providing for the assignment of collectors of customs as superintendents of lighthouses by the Secretary of the Treasury, is no longer given effect.] No additional salary shall be allowed to any civil, military, or naval officer on account of his being employed on the Lighthouse Board, or being in any manner attached to the lighthouse service." ACCOUNTS AND RETURNS Quarterly ac- The Secretary of the Treasury, in a letter to the Commissioner of Customs, dated April 17, 1863, grants the a EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, D. C., November 12, 1880. It is ordered that the duty of paying salaries to keepers of lighthouses shall be and is transferred from collectors of customs to lighthouse inspectors, who shall hereafter perform all the duties which have been heretofore performed by collectors of customs in paying said salaries, and that needful advances of moneys appropriated for the purpose may be made to make such payments, no compensation to be allowed for making such payments. R. B. HAYES. request of the chairman of the Lighthouse Board that accounts for lighthouse disbursements may be rendered quarterly.] The expense of maintaining the vessels of the Lighthouse Establishment may be paid from any surplus of the appropriation for the works, general or special, on which the respective vessels are, for the time being, employed; and the cost of repairs to such vessels may be paid from the appropriation under which they respectively were employed when they were injured or became deteriorated to such an extent as to render the repairs necessary; or, if such appropriation be exhausted, then from the appropriation under which they are respectively to be next employed. Vessels, ex pense of. Mar. 3, 1879. by engineer offi It shall be the duty of the engineer superintending the Disbursement construction of a fortification, or engaged about the execu-cers. tion of any other public work, to disburse the moneys ap- R S., 1153. plicable to the same; but no compensation shall be allowed him for such disbursement. APPROPRIATIONS Hereafter there shall be submitted in the annual Book of Estimates, under each item of appropriation under the head of "Light-House Establishment," notes showing the number of persons employed and rate of compensation paid to each from each of said appropriations during the fiscal year next preceding the fiscal year for which estimates are submitted. Estimates. June 28, 1902. (2 Stat., 433.) propriations. (18 Stat., 110.) From and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred Duration of apand seventy-four, and of each year thereafter, the SecretaryJune 20, 1874. of the Treasury shall cause all unexpended balances of appropriations which shall have remained upon the books of the Treasury for two fiscal years to be carried to the surplus fund and covered into the Treasury: Provided, That this provision shall not apply to priations for * * * lighthouses; * approbut the appropriations named in this proviso shall continue available until otherwise ordered by Congress." All moneys heretofore appropriated for the construction Duration of apof public buildings and now remaining to the credit of the Propriations, same on the books of the Treasury Department, or which (18 Stat. 275) in June 23, 1874. place of R. S.,3685. Decision of Extract from decision of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, dated July 17, 1874: "By the proviso to section 5 of the appropriation Comptroller. act of June 20, 1874, appropriations for 'lighthouses,' including former appropriations, which, by operation of previous laws, were not yet subject to be carried to the surplus fund, 'continue available until otherwise ordered by Congress.' I do not understand this provision as extending to all appropriations for the Board, but only to those for construction and repairs.' Partial рауments for work on vessels. May 5, 1894. may hereafter be appropriated for such buildings, shall remain available until the completion of the work for which they are, or may be, appropriated; and upon the final completion of each or any of said buildings, and the payment of all outstanding liabilities therefor, the balance or balances remaining shall be immediately covered into the Treasury." The Secretary of Commerce and Labor be, and he hereby is, authorized to make partial payments, from time to time, (28 Stat., 582.) upon existing contracts and all contracts hereafter made for the construction of vessels for the Department of Commerce and Labor, but not in excess of seventy-five per cent of the amount of the value of the work already done; and that the contracts hereafter made shall provide for a lien upon such vessels for all advances so made: Provided, That nothing in this joint resolution shall be construed to hereafter authorize any partial payments, except on contracts stipulating for the same and then only in accordance with such contract stipulation. All money applied by contract. CONTRACTS It shall be the duty of the Lighthouse Board to apply the money appropriated, other than for surveys, as far as (23 Stat., 198.) can be without detriment to the interests of the Government, by contract. July 7, 1884. Materials to be procured by con tracts. R. S., 4666. Public advertisement quired. R. S., 4667. re Payments not to exceed value or service. All materials for the construction and repair of lighthouses, light-vessels, beacons, buoys, and so forth, shall be procured by public contracts, under such regulations as the Board may from time to time adopt, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and all works of construction, renovation, and repair shall be made by the orders of the Board, under the immediate superintendence of their engineer secretary, or of such engineer of the Army as may be detailed for that service. No contract for the erection of any lighthouse shall be made except after public advertisement for proposals in such form and manner as to secure general notice thereof, and the same shall only be made with the lowest bidder therefor, upon security deemed sufficient in the judgment of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. No advance of public money shall be made in any case of previous labor whatever. And in all cases of contracts for the performance of any service, or the delivery of articles of any description, for the use of the United States, payment shall not exceed the value of the service rendered, or of R. S., 3648. a The Secretary of the Treasury states, in a letter to the Lighthouse Board, dated July 16, 1874, that this act "is held by the Department to apply to public buildings under the supervision of the Lighthouse Establishment." the articles delivered previously to such payment. It shall, however, be lawful, under the special direction of the President, to make such advances to the disbursing officers of the government as may be necessary to the faithful and prompt discharge of their respective duties, and to the fulfillment of the public engagements." The President may also direct such advances as he may deem necessary and proper, to persons in the military and naval service employed on distant stations, where the discharge of the pay and emoluments to which they may be entitled can not be regularly effected. service shall be No member of the Lighthouse Board, inspector, light No person in keeper, or other person in any manner connected with the interested. lighthouse service, shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any contract for labor, materials, or supplies for the lighthouse service, or in any patent, plan, or mode of construction or illumination, or in any article of supply for the lighthouse service. Secretary to regulate salaries R. S., 4673. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor is authorized to regulate the salaries of the respective keepers of light- of keepers. houses in such manner as he deems just and proper, but the whole sum allowed for such salaries shall not exceed an average of six hundred dollars to each keeper. Treatment of rine hospitals. (23 Stat., 57.) em Sections 4585, 4586, and 4587 of the Revised Statutes, lighthouse and all other acts and parts of acts providing for the assess-ployees in mament and collection of a hospital tax for seamen, are hereby June 26, 1884. repealed, and the expense of maintaining the [Public Health and] Marine Hospital Service shall hereafter be borne by the United States out of the receipts for duties on tonnage provided for by this act; and so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby appropriated for that purpose.' LAND R. S., 4660. The Lighthouse Board is authorized, whenever an appro- Purchase priation has been or may be made by Congress for a new lighthouse, the proper site for which does not belong to the United States, to purchase the necessary land, provided the purchase-money be paid from the amount appropriated for Such lighthouse. @ Under date of June 15, 1877, the President directed that needful advances of moneys appropriated for the Lighthouse Establishment be made to officers of the Army and Navy acting as engineers or inspectors in that service. (Filed in office of First Comptroller, No. 9468, B. 18.) * * It is provided by Treasury Department Circular No. 77, 1875, dated June 23, 1875, that "Sick and disabled seamen employed on vessels of * the Lighthouse Service will be admitted to the benefits of the Marine Hospital Service upon application of their respective commanding officers." of |