United States enacted during the biennium, together with a supplemental digest of the more important legislation of the period. Sec. 1, act of Feb. 10, 1927 (44 Stat. 1066); U. S. C. 2: 164. * Provided, That so much of the Act approved February 10, 1927, as requires the Librarian to biennially report to Congress an index and digest of State legislation is repealed, and the Librarian of Congress is directed to have such indexes and digests printed and bound for official distribution only. Sec. 1, act of Feb. 28, 1929 (45 Stat. 1398), making appropriations for the legislative branch of the Government; U. S. C. 2: 164. CHAPTER 35 SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT Purchase or procurement: Supervision of General provision, 1925. Quartermaster and subsistence sup- Ordnance and ordnance stores, 1927. Advertising requirements General provision, 1929. Military supplies not exceeding $500 in Military supplies purchased from Indians, 1932. Medical supplies, 1933. Ordnance and ordnance stores involv ing secret process, 1934. Quartermaster supplies, 1935. Exceptional subsistence supplies, 1936. Through General Supply Committee, for executive deposits, 1937. instruction prescribed by Secretary To Indians, subsistence supplies, 1958. General provision, 1959. Ammunition for target practice, 1960. Automatic pistols in place of revolvers, 1961. Forage and supplies for animals, 1962. To the National Museum, 1965. To Organized Reserves, 1967. Condemned or obsolete ordnance or Tents, restricted, 1969. To rifle clubs, ordnance and ordnance stores, 1970. To Soldiers' Home, obsolete ordnance and ordnance stores, 1971. To municipal corporations Condemned or obsolete ordnance and ordnance stores, 1972. To States Captured war material, 1973. Tractors for highway construction, 1974. To Veterans' Bureau, medical supplies, 1975. Sale: To American National Red CrossOrdnance and ordnance stores, 1976. Medical supplies, 1977. To civilian employees Medical supplies, 1978. To Citizens' Military Training Camps, 1981. To designers, ordnance and ordnance stores, 1982. To Soldiers' Home, medical supplies. 1983. Uniform, accouterments, and equipment, 1997. To officers of the National Guard, uniform, accouterments, and equipment, 1998. To officers and enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps Ordnance and ordnance stores, 1999. To officers and enlisted men of the Coast Guard, quartermaster supplies, 2002. To members of the Lighthouse Service, quartermaster and subsistence supplies, 2003. To officers of the Public Health Service, quartermaster supplies, 2004. To patriotic organizations; ordnance and ordnance stores, 2005. To posts and camps, blank ammunition, From Post Office Department, distinctive equipment, 2030. From Government Printing Office, Inks glues, and other supplies, 2031. From Leavenworth Penitentiary, shoes, brooms, and brushes, 2032. From narcotic farms, supplies massfactured, 2033. From District of Columbia Reformatory. industrial and farm products, 2034 Transfer within the War Department: River and harbor supplies, 2035. Ordnance and ordnance stores, 2036. Subsistence supplies, 2037. Supplies for the Military Academy, 2038. Storage of explosives, 2039. Title to military supplies and equipment furnished soldiers, 2040. 1925. Purchase or procurement, supervision; general provision. All purchases and contracts for supplies or services for the military and naval service shall be made by or under the direction of the chief officers of the Departments of War and of the Navy, respectively. And all agents or contractors for supplies or service as aforesaid shall render their accounts for settlement to the accountant of the proper department for which such supplies or services are required, subject, nevertheless, to the inspection and revision of the officers of the Treasury in the manner before prescribed. R. S. 3714, as amended by act of Feb. 27, 1877 (19 Stat. 249); U. S. C. 10: 1191. Hereafter, in addition to such other duties as may be assigned him by the Secretary of War, the Assistant Secretary of War, under the direction of the Secretary of War, shall be charged with supervision of the procurement of all military supplies and other business of the War Department pertaining thereto and the assurance of adequate provision for the mobilization of matériel and industrial organizations essential to war-time needs. Under the direction of the Secretary of War chiefs of branches of the Army charged with the procurement of supplies for the Army shall report direct to the Assistant Secretary of War regarding all matters of procurement. Sec. 5a, added to act of June 3, 1916, by sec. 5, act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 764); U. S. C. 10: 1193. Notes of Decisions Until approved by the Secretary of War, a contract by a surgeon and medical purveyor in a military department with parties for furnishing ice for the Government hospitals was invalid. Parish v. U. S. (1869), 8 Wall. 489, 490. The President's power is limited by the legislation of Congress, and, that legislation existing, the discharge of the duty devolving on the Secretary necessarily requires him to enter into numerous contracts for the public service; and the power to suspend work contracted for, whether in the construction, armament, or equipment of vessels of war, when from any cause the public interest requires such suspension, must necessarily rest with him. When contracts are suspended by him he is authorized to agree on the compensation for their partial performance, and when a settlement in such case is made on a full knowledge of all the facts, without concealment, misrepresentation, or fraud, it must be equally binding on the Government as on the contractor. U. S. v. Corliss Steam Engine Co. (1875), 91 U. S. 321, 322, 323. The Secretary of the Navy may direct or consent to a change in a contract for the construction of a dry dock for the United States, which he was authorized by law to construct, although such contract provides that changes can only be made upon written order of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, as, under R. S. 420, the duties of the bureaus of the Navy Department are performed under his control, and their orders are considered as emanating from him, and have "full force and effect as such." U. S. v. Barlow (1902), 184 U. S. 123, affirming (1900), 35 Ct. Cl. 514. en Where the Secretary of the Navy in the exercise of inherent power vested in him by virtue of his office and the statute relating thereto modified, extended, or larged a contract, his action involved an obligation to pay any sums that might have 'been expended in making the modification. U. S. v. Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. (1910), 178 Fed. 194. The Quartermaster General can not arbitrarily change the terms of a written contract, nor order a retroactive reduction of the charter rate of a vessel, without the consent of the contracting parties. But where he issues such an order of reduction, in a case where he has the right to discharge the vessel at any time, and the owners permit the Quartermaster's Department to remain under the false impres sion that they acquiesced in the redue tion, they are estopped from claiming the original charter rate, both before and after notice. And they are so estopped, although they sell their vessel immediately after notice of reduction. Clyde c. U. S. (1869), 5 Ct. Cl. 134, citing and approving Pratt's Case (1867), 3 Ct. Cl. 105, and Emery and Blake's Case (1868). 4 Ct CL 401; Thorne v. U. S. (1869), 5 Ct. Cl. 242. An officer of Volunteers neither mustered into the United States service nor specially empowered to make contracts for subsisting his troops can not bind the United States by express contract; nor are vouchers given by him evidence to bind the Government. Kirkham & Brown v. U. S. (1868), 4 Ct Cl. 223, Where a party applies to a public officer for his vessel's discharge from the military service because of a reduction on her charter rate, the demand must be clear. positive, and unequivocal. If it is argumentative merely, so that the officer is misled and does not discharge the vessel, the owner will be deemed to have left her in the service at the reduced rate. Cobb r. U. S. (1869), 5 Ct. Cl. 176. Where in a contract for the furnishing of flour to the Army it was stipulated that the commanding officer of the post should reject all or any part of the flour tendered. when pronounced by the inspectors as net being in accordance with the contract, it was held that the decision of the officer commanding the post was subject to review by the War Department. (1850) 9 Op Atty. Gen. 389. The lowest bidder who complies with the requirements as to security, etc., is en titled to an award of the contract for cer tain supplies for the Navy, but the Secretary of the Navy is charged with the dury of ascertaining the facts in this regard. and his decision is not reversible by any court. (1894) 21 Op. Atty. Gen. 56. The Secretary of War has authority to refrain from compelling full performance of a contract for the delivery of 300,000 pairs of men's gloves, to be made in Ger many, where, after a partial performance of the contract, an act of Congress increased the duty on the gloves 120 per cent. He should not, however, relieve the contractor with regard to gloves delivered or which should have been delivered prior to the tak ing effect of that act. The Attorney Gen eral does not concur in the view that executive officers are limited in matters of this kind wholly to considerations affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government. (1909) 28 Op. Atty. Gen. 121. The Secretary of the Navy may insert in the contracts for vessels constructed under |