Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States

SEAMEN-Continued.

by reason of their passage, to leave the ship and make entry
into this country.
Ib.

3. Deserting Seamen-Alien Immigrants.—Aliens who become seamen for the purpose of securing an entrance into this country free from the barriers of the immigration statutes are none the less alien immigrants, and may be deported if within the prohibited classes. Ib.

4. An “alien seamen" is one who, in pursuit of and as a necessary incident to his calling, temporarily enters this country and is awaiting his departure; while an “alien immigrant" is one who enters the country with the intention of remaining in it. Ib. 5. Seamen Born in the Philippines not Citizens of the United States.Seamen born in the Philippine Islands, being persons whose civil and political status is, by the treaty of peace with Spain (30 Stat., 1759), declared to be a matter for future determination by Congress, are not citizens of the United States within the meaning of any statute concerning seamen, or any other statute or law of the United States. 400.

6. Same-Cuban Seamen.-The same thing is true, in a more obvious way, and with greater force, of Cuban seamen. Ib.

7. Porto Rican Seamen are American Seamen.-A Porto Rican engaged in the occupation of a seaman in the American merchant marine, including that of Porto Rico, is an American seamen within the meaning of the statutes relating to relief by consuls, in view of the provisions of sections 9 and 14 of the act of April 12, 1900 (31 Stat., 79), providing a civil government for Porto Rico. Ib. 8. Relief of American Seamen-Who are Entitled. All persons shipped in the United States on an American vessel have been, according to the practice of the Government, treated as entitled to relief under the laws relating to seamen. Ib.

9. Same.-A place at which vessels of the United States receive their character as such, and where American shipping commissioners ship the crews of such vessels, is to be regarded as a place such that a person domiciled there and engaging in the occupation of a seaman on vessels of that character, is an American seaman within the intent of the provisions for the relief and protection, in foreign countries, of American seamen. Ib.

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

1. Collection of Cherokee Indian Tax on Hay.-Under section 16 of the act of June 20, 1898 (30 Stat., 495), the Secretary of the Interior has authority to collect the tribal tax imposed by the laws of the Cherokee Nation of Indians upon the exportation of prairie hay from that nation. 528.

2. Prohibition of Hunting Upon Forest Reserves.-The Secretary of the Interior can not, without express authority of law, prescribe rules and regulations by which the national forest reserves may be made refuges for game, or by which the hunting, killing, or capture of game thereon may be forbidden. 589.

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR-Continued.

3. Same. Neither the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 11, 34), nor the act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat., 1095), nor any other provision of law confers upon the Secretary of the Interior this power. Ib. See also BOARD OF CHARITIES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

1. Armor Plate Royalty-Harvey Process.-The Secretary of the Navy should withhold his approval of the claim of the Carnegie Steel Company until the question of the right of the Harvey Company to collect royalty from the Government has been judicially determined in a suit pending in the Court of Claims. 495. 2. Same. The claim of the Bethlehem Steel Company for reimbursement for royalty paid, being based upon a contract similar to that of the Carnegie Company, the Secretary should likewise withhold his approval of the claim of the Bethlehem Company. Ib.

3. Same.-See 422.

4. Determination of the Relative Rank of Naval Officers.-The Secretary of the Navy, by virtue of his general power under the President to make rules and regulations for the government of the Navy, may determine, with the force and effect of law, the relative rank of naval officers. Usually this is better done by general rules than by decisions in particular cases, but it may be done either way. 156.

SECRETARY OF STATE.

Passports. The provisions of sections 4075 and 4076, Revised Statutes, which confer upon the Secretary of State the authority to issue passports to citizens of the United States, are not in terms mandatory, and that officer may, in his discretion, either grant or withhold a passport as the public interests may require. 509.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

1. Burial Expenses of Deceased Pensioner.-The word "person" as used in the act of March 2, 1895 (28 Stat., 964), includes a municipal corporation, and authorizes the payment by the Secretary of the Treasury, from the accrued pension of a deceased pensioner, of such sum as may be necessary to reimburse a municipal corporation for the expenses it incurred during the last sickness and for the burial of a deceased pensioner who died not leaving sufficent assets to meet such expenses. 428. 2. Compromise of Claim Reduced to Judgment.-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.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY-Continued.

3. Same-Disputed Questions of Law and Fact.-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. Ib.

4. Compromise of 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.

5. Compromise of Suit for Taxes 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.

6. Same What Suits He May Compromise. The power given the Secretary 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. 7. Same-What Suits the Attorney-General May Compromise.-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.

8. Detention and Examination of Alien Immigrants or Seamen.-It is within the power of the Secretary of the Treasury to detain and examine all seamen of a given vessel if, in his judgment, the execution of the immigration statutes requires it and to take such precaution as may be reasonably necessary to prevent any alien immigrant, whether he be a sailor or not, from entering this country in the sense that all immigrants enter it. 521. 9. Forfeiture of Counterfeit Coin-Return of Bullion Therein Contained.— Section 4 of the act of February 10, 1891 (26 Stat., 742), which authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to seize and forfeit all counterfeits of the coin of the United States, does not authorize the Secretary to return to the person from whom such coin was taken the counterfeit or the value of the bullion it contained. 458.

10. Same. Under that section the Treasury Department has authority to seize counterfeit coin, to decide that it is counterfeit, to determine that it was unlawfully in possession of the party from whom taken, and to forfeit it; and, after forfeiture, to direct in what manner it shall be disposed of. No judicial condemnation is necessary. Ib.

19395-VOL 23-02-45

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY-Continued.

11. French Spoliation Claims-Payment-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. 12. Importations of Foreign Books Copyrighted in the United States. -The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and it is his duty, under sections 4956 and 4958, Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1106), to refuse entry to importations of a book printed in the original French from type not set within the United States nor from plates made therefrom, where the copyright for the United States was secured by the Paris publisher and afterwards by him assigned to an American house. A dramatic composition may be a book. 353. 13. Medals of Honor-Perils of the Sea-Shipwreck.-The act of January 21, 1897 (29 Stat., 494), which was passed for the purpose of giving a more liberal construction to the acts of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat., 127), and of June 18, 1878 (20 Stat., 165), provides that the several acts heretofore passed “shall be construed so as to empower the Secretary of the Treasury to bestow such medals upon persons making signal exertion 'n rescuing and succoring the shipwrecked, and saving persons from drowning in the waters over which the United States has jurisdiction, whether the said persons making such exertion were or were not members of a life-saving crew, or whether or not such exertions were made in the vicinity of a life-saving station." These acts are in pari materia, and may be read as one act. 78. 14. Same. The act of 1897 empowers the Secretary of the Treasury to bestow medals of honor upon all persons who, in his opinion, have endangered their lives in saving or attempting to save human life, whenever, wherever, and in whatever way it may be imperiled by the sea. Ib.

15. Refund Duties Erroneously Collected.-Where a customs entry was made in June, 1900, and additional duties levied and collected thereon were remitted by the Secretary of the Treasury on the ground of a manifest clerical error, but at the time of the remission such duty had been paid into the Treasury, Held, That under section 24 of the customs administrative act of June 10, 1890 (26 Stat., 140), the Secretary of the Treasury has authority to refund out of an appropriation for that purpose the additional duties which accrued by reason of a manifest clerical error upon an entry within a year from the time of their payment. The authority to refund in such case is a necessary consequence of the authority to remit. 442.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY-Continued.

16. Remission of Fines.-The act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1084), confers no authority upon the Secretary of the Treasury to remit fines imposed on a vessel or her master for allowing the escape of alien immigrants whose deportation has been ordered. 271. 17. Same. Neither is the power of remission in such cases conferred by section 5294, Revised Statutes, as amended March 2, 1896 (30 Stat., 39). Ib.

18. Same-Return of Deposit.-The Secretary has authority to return a deposit to cover a fine which might be due, but which turns out not to have been incurred. Such return would not be a remission of a fine or penalty, but the restitution of an amount to which the Government was never justly entitled. Ib. 19. Remission of Penalty.-The Secretary of the Treasury has authority, under section 5293, Revised Statutes, to remit the penalty imposed on a national bank for its failure to make a timely return of its liability for the special tax levied under section 2 of the act of June 13, 1898 (30 Stat., 448). 398.

20. Same. The words "any revenue laws," found in that section, authorize the remission of a penalty under the internal-revenue laws as well as under the customs-revenue laws. Ib.

21. Spanish War Vessels Wrecked in Battle off the Coast of Cuba.-The Spanish vessels wrecked in battle by the naval vessels of the United States during the war with Spain, and now lying along the coast of Cuba, are the property of the United States. 76. 22. Same-Disposition. That island being now temporarily within the jurisdiction of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury, under section 3755, Revised Statutes, has power to make such provision for the sale or other disposition of such wrecked vessels as he may deem necessary.

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Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States: Advising ...