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CHINESE-Continued.

and the laws relating to the exclusion of Chinese and as such is entitled to readmission into this country. 485.

13. Same. The true theory is not that all Chinese persons may enter this country who are not forbidden, but that only those are entitled to enter who are expressly allowed to do so. Ib.

14. Same-Merchant who is also a Manufacturer.-The fact that a bona fide Chinese merchant is also a manufacturer makes him none the less a merchant within the meaning of the treaty and the laws referred to. Ib.

15. Returning Chinese Laborer-Certificate of Disability.—Article II of the convention with China of December 8, 1894 (28 Stat., 1219), abrogates that portion of section 7 of the act of September 13, 1888 (25 Stat., 476), which requires a returning Chinese laborer after an absence from the United States of more than one year and less than two to present with his return certificate a certificate of the consular representative of the United States at the port of departure for this country, showing that the holder has been unable to return sooner by reason of sickness, etc., and provides that this certificate of disability shall be issued by the Chinese consul at the port of departure from this country. 545. 16. Returning Chinese Laborer-Return Certificate.-A Chinese laborer holding a certificate of residence under the act of May 5, 1892 (27 Stat., 25), who, prior to his leaving this country, has made application under oath for a return certificate, but who has not filed such application with the collector of customs nor received a return certificate as required by the treaty of 1894 with China (28 Stat., 1210), and the act of September 13, 1888 (25 Stat., 478), is not entitled to reentry, although such application bears upon its face the stamp and signature of the Chinese inspector showing the departure of such laborer on a certain date. 619. 17. Same-Authority of the Treasury Department.-Nor has the Treasury Department authority to issue to such person a return certificate nune pro tune, although such person may have believed that he had done all that was incumbent upon him, and may have been misled by the action of the Government officer in affixing to such application his certificate of departure. Ib.

18. Right of Transit Through the United States.-The question of the right of transit of Chinese persons from a port of the United States to the territory of Mexico, or from a port of the United States directly by sea to a foreign port, being now before the courts, it would not be proper for the Attorney-General to express an opinion thereon.

CHINESE SECRETARY.

585.

Appointment-Confirmation.-The change of name from "Interpreter to legation to China" to "Chinese secretary" in the appropriation act for the diplomatic and consular service, approved April 4, 1900 (31 Stat., 60), did not create a new office,

CHINESE SECRETARY-Continued.

but is merely a new name for the same office, and an appoint-
ment to this position by the President does not require the
confirmation of the Senate. 136.

CIRCUIT JUDGES OF HAWAII. See HAWAII, 10–12.
CITIZENSHIP.

1. Porto Rico-Treaty of Paris.-The attitude of the executive and and legislative departments of the Government has been and is that the native inhabitants of Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands did not become citizens of the United States by virtue of the cession of those islands by Spain by means of the treaty of Paris, 1898.

370.

2. The Act for the Temporary Government of Porto Rico did not confer Federal citizenship upon the inhabitants of that island. Ib. 3. Spaniards in Cuba-Treaty of Paris.-Under Article IX of the treaty of Paris, 1898 (30 Stat., 1759), a Spaniard born in the Peninsula, who died in Cuba before the expiration of one year from the ratification of that treaty, was, in the contemplation of the treaty, a Spanish subject at the time of his death. 93. See also CHINESE, 3-8.

CIVIL SERVICE.

1. Civil-Service Rules Amendment-The Furnishing of Information.— It is within the power of the President so to modify the civilservice rules as to impose upon all officers and employees in the public service the duty of giving to the Civil Service Commission or its authorized representatives all proper and competent information in regard to all matters inquired of, and to subscribe to and make oath to such testimony before some officer authorized by law to administer oaths. 595.

2. Same. The imposition of such a duty upon every officer and employee in the public service is neither unreasonable nor unsuitable. It is clearly within the exercise of the Executive power, and its legality can not be doubted. Ib.

3. Reinstatement-Reduction of Force Specifically Required by Law.— The words "specifically required by law," found in section 2, Rule IX, of the civil-service rules, which provides that "Any person who has been separat、d from the service by reason of a reduction of force specifically required by law may be reinstated, etc.," mean that the reduction of force must have been specifically required, not that the removal of the particular individual must have been specifically required by law. 87. 4. Same. The third proviso of Rule IX of the civil-service rules, as amended May 29, 1899, which provides that any person who has been separated from the service by reason of a reduction of force specifically required by law may be reinstated without regard to the length of time he or she has been separated from the service, does not authorize the restoration thereto of a person who has been employed to do a particular service, to be

CIVIL SERVICE-Continued.

paid out of a specific appropriation, after the work which the person has been employed to perform has been completed and the appropriation therefor exhausted. 463.

5. Same. The reinstatement permitted by that rule is a reinstatement in the same department or office and to the same branch of the service. Ib.

6. Porto Rico-The Philippines.-There is nothing in the recent decisions of the Supreme Court (in the Insular cases) that would modify the view taken by the Attorney-General regarding the proposed amendment to the civil-service rules, that every applicant for examination for appointment to the executive civil service of the United States in Porto Rico must be a citizen of the United States or a citizen of Porto Rico; and that every applicant for appointment to said service in the Philippine Islands must be a citizen of the United States or a native inhabitant of said islands. 458.

CLAIMS.

1. Carnegie Steel Company-Armor Plate Royalty.-The Navy Department may rightfully withhold its approval of the voucher providing for the payment to the Carnegie Steel Company of the sum of $8,024.45, claimed as royalty for the use of the Harvey process in the manufacture of armor plate for naval vessels, under the contract of 1898, until the right of the Harvey Steel Company to demand and collect from the Government a royalty for the use of the same process is determined in the suit pending in the Court of Claims. 422. See also 495.

2. Dudley & Michener-Mauser Rifles.-The claim of Dudley & Michener for the payment of a sum of money as compensation for the cancellation by the War Department of a contract entered into between that Department and the claimants for furnishing the Government with Mauser rifles is one which, under the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat., 208), and the decisions of this Department, should be referred to the Comptroller of the Treasury for his opinion. 86.

3. French Spoliation Claims-Assignment. It is the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury under the act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat., 1191), making appropriation for the payment of certain French spoliation claims, to determine before payment whether or not these claims are "held by assignment or owned by any insurance company." That duty is not altered by reason of the receipt of certificates of the Court of Claims issued under the authority of that act. 179.

4. North American Company-Interest-Compromise.-The claim of the United States against the North American Company for interest, involving disputed questions of law and fact, is clearly one subject to compromise. 631.

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS. See CUSTOMS LAWS, 25, 26, 28. COLUMBIA INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. See BOARD OF CHARITIES FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

COMPROMISE.

1. Claims in favor of the United States, Reduced to Judgment, and Collectible. While the Secretary of the Treasury has no authority under section 3469, Revised Statutes, to compromise a claim in favor of the United States which has been reduced to judgment, affirmed by the highest court, and which is clearly collectible' that section confers upon him the authority to compromise all other claims in favor of the United States, except those arising under the postal laws. 631.

2. Secretary of the Treasury-Collectible Judgment.-The Secretary of the Treasury has no power, under section 3469, Revised Statutes, to compromise a final judgment in favor of the United States which is clearly collectible. That section only authorizes a compromise of a claim which is in some way doubtful. 18.

3. Suit for Internal Revenue Taxes Claimed to have been Illegally Collected. The Secretary of the Treasury has no power to compromise a suit brought against a collector of internal revenue for the recovery of taxes claimed to have been illegally collected. 507. 4. Power of the Secretary of the Treasury.-The power given the Secretary of the Treasury by section 3229, Revised Statutes, to compromise cases arising under the internal revenue laws, extends only to suits commenced by the Government to recover taxes; while the ampler power of compromise given him by section 3469, Revised Statutes, is limited to claims in favor of the United States. Ib.

5. Power of the Attorney-General.-Except as modified by the statutes herein cited, the power to determine whether a compromise should be made of pending litigation would seem to rest with the Attorney-General, such suits being necessarily under his control and subject to his direction. Ib.

COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY.

Organization of National Banks in Hawaii.-The Comptroller of the Currency is authorized to grant permission for the organization of national banks in Hawaii. 177.

COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY.

1. Opinion-Payment under an Executive Department.-It is neither advisable nor necessary for the Attorney-General to render a decision upon any question involving a payment to be made by or under the head of any executive department. Under section 8 of the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat., 162, 208), the Comptroller of the Treasury is charged with this duty, and his decision is made final as to all executive officers. 468.

2. Same. See pp. 1, 2, 86, 431, 586.

CONCESSIONS.

1. Spanish Railway Concessions in the Philippines. The provinces in the Philippine Islands through which a railroad was built in pursuance of a royal decree of April 9, 1885, and which in large measure received the benefit of said railroad, are equitably obligated to make some fair arrangement with the company es to the two-thirds of the guaranteed interest which the decree imposed upon the provinces. 181.

2. Same-Obligation of the United States.-This concession of Spain is regarded as a personal contract, binding on the parties who made it and equitably on the provinces affected thereby; but whatever obligation, if any, rests upon the United States in regard thereto, it is something different from the contract obligations, and may or may not coincide with its terms. Ib. 3. Same.-Congress will determine whether, based upon the reception of benefits from the railroad, the United States has incurred one-third or any such portion of the original indebtedness which, under the decree, was to be paid from the royal or peninsular funds in the Philippine treasury. Ib.

4. Same-Authority of the President.—As Congress has not yet determined the future permanent status of the islands, the President has authority to settle this preexisting accrued indebtedness, if he believes that the settlement can not justly and wisely be left to await action by the future government. Ib.

5. Same. In such case the President, or, with his consent, the military government, may apply the local revenues of the provinces through which this road extends to the discharge of their equitable liability, based upon so much of the concessionary agreement as has been already executed, the amount of which liability he has authority to determine in view of all the facts and circumstances. Ib.

6. Spanish Telegraph Concessions-Cuba-The Philippines.-The concessions secured from Spain by English telegraph companies in Cuba and the Philippines are not binding, as contracts, on the United States, Cuba, the Philippines, or other government replacing Spain; but as to the Philippine cables it does not follow from this fact that no obligation whatever exists. 195. 7. Same-Interisland Cables-Equitable Obligation.-There is an equitable obligation on the part of the four islands connected by cables, and on the part of the archipelago as a whole, with regard to the concession for interisland cables in the Philippines, which concession provides for an annual subsidy. Ib. 8. Same-Monopoly for a Certain Number of Years.—With regard to two other concessions for cables, from Bolinao to Manila and from Bolinao to Hongkong, which do not call for pecuniary subsidies, but for a monopoly during a certain number of years, the equitable obligation upon the islands concerned and upon the archipelago, though less obvious, exists. Io.

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