694. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.-Constitution, Art. IV, sec. 3.

695. Every officer commanding a troop, battery, or company is charged with the arms, accouterments, ammunition, clothing, or other military stores belonging to his command, and is accountable to his colonel in case of their being lost, spoiled, or damaged otherwise than by unavoidable accident or on actual service.-Tenth article of war. Sec. 1342, R. S.

696. Sec. 1. That instead of forwarding to the accounting officers of the Treasury Department returns of public property intrusted to the possession of officers or agents, the Quartermaster General, the Commissary General of Subsistence, the Surgeon General, the Chief of Engineers, the Chief of Ordnance, the Chief Signal Officer, the Paymaster General of the Navy, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, or other like chief officers in any department, by, through, or under whom stores, supplies, and other public property are received for distribution, or whose duty it is to receive or examine returns of such property, shall certify to the proper accounting officer of the Treasury Department for debiting on the proper account any charge against any officer or agent intrusted with public property, arising from any loss, accruing by his fault, to the Government as to the property so intrusted to him.-Act of Mar. 29, 1894 (28 Stat., 47).

697. Sec. 2. That said certificate shall set forth the condition of such officer's or agent's property returns, that it includes all charges made up to its date and not previously certified, that he has had a reasonable opportunity to be heard and has not been relieved of responsibility; the effect of such certificate, when received, shall be the same as if the facts therein set forth had been ascertained by the accounting officers of the Treasury Department in accounting.—Ibid.

693. Sec. 3. That the manner of making property returns to or in any administrative bureau or department, or of ascertaining liability for property, under existing laws and regulations, shall not be affected by this act, except as provided in section one; but in all cases arising as to such property so intrusted the officer or agent shall have an opportunity to relieve himself from liability.—Ibid.

699. Secs. 4 and 5. The heads of the several departments are hereby empowered to make and enforce regulations to carry out the provisions of this act. All laws cr parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.-Ibid. NOTE.-By G. O. No. 22, headquarters of the Army, July 6, 1894, the following regulations are promulgated under this act:

By direction of the Secretary of Var, and in conformity with the above act (quoted in the order), the following is published for the information and guidance of all concerned:

(I) All returns of stores or supplies will be rendered as required by regulations or orders, and will be forwarded within twenty days after the expiration of the accounting periods to the chief of the bureau to which the property pertains. Abstracts of purchases will be forwarded with the money accounts.

(II) As soon as possible after the receipt of the return by the proper chief of bureau it will be examined in his office, and the officer making the return will be notified of all errors and irregularities found therein and granted three months to correct them. Suspensions or disallowances will not be made on account of slight informalities which do not affect the validity of the voucher, but the officer's attention may be called to them. henever the errors have been corrected, or compensation has been made for deficient articles, and the action of the bureau chief is sustained or modified by the Secretary of ar, the return will be regarded as settled and the officer who rendered the return will be notified accordingly.

(III) If the necessary corrections in the return be not made within the prescribed time, the facts will be reported to the Secretary of ar. hen it has been determined that the money value of the property for which an officer has failed to account shall be refunded to the United States, the facts will be certified to the proper accounting officer of the Treasury by the chief of bureau.

The provisions of the above act and regulations are applicable to all property returns rendered for any period of accountability subsequent to March 31, 1894. Paragraphs 1327, 1328, 1329, 1330, 1332, and section 7, paragraph 1431 A. R., 1889, are hereby revoked.

DISCHARGED OFFICERS.

700. Sec. 2. Officers who at any time were accountable or responsible for public property shall be required, before final payment is made to them on discharge from the service, to obtain certificates of nonindebtedness to the United States from only such of the bureaus of the War Department to which the property for which they were accountable or responsible pertains, and the certificate from the Chief of the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants, Treasury Department, and such certificates, accompanied by the affidavits of officers of nonaccountability or nonresponsibility to other bureaus of the War Department, certified to by the commanding officer of the regiment or independent organization, shall warrant their final payment: Provided, That officers who have not been responsible at any time for public property shall be required to make affidavit of that fact, certified to by their commanding officers, which shall be accepted as sufficient evidence to warrant their final payment on their discharge from the service: Provided further, That mustering officers are empowered to administer oaths in all matters pertaining to the muster out of volunteers.-Act of Jan. 12, 1899 (30 Stat., 784).

ENLISTED MEN.

701. The clothes, arms, military outfits, and accouterments furnished by the United States to any soldier shall not be sold, bartered, exchanged, pledged, loaned, or given away; and no person not a soldier, or duly authorized officer of the United States, who has possession of any such clothes, arms, military outfits, or accouterments, so furnished, and which have been the subjects of any such sale, barter, exchange, pledge, loan, or gift, shall have any right, title, or interest therein; but the same may be seized and taken wherever found by any officer of the United States, civil or military, and shall thereupon be delivered to any quartermaster, or other officer authorized to receive the same. The possession of any such clothes, arms, military outfits, or accouterments by any person not a soldier or officer of the United States shall be presumptive evidence of such a sale, barter, exchange, pledge, loan, or gift. Sec. 3748, R. S.

702. Any scldier who sells or through neglect loses or spoils his horse, arms, clothing, or accouterments shall be punished as a court-martial may adjudge, subject to such limitation as may be prescribed by the President by virtue of the power vested in him. Seventeenth article of war. Act of July 27, 1892 (27 Stat., 277).

703. The clothing, arms, military outfits, and accouterments furnished by the United States to any soldier shall not be sold, bartered, exchanged, pledged, loaned, or given away; and the possession of any such property by any person not a soldier or officer of the United States shall be prima-facie evidence of such sale, barter, exchange, pledge, loan, or gift. Such property may be seized and taken from any person, not a soldier or officer of the United States, by any officer, civil or military, of the United States, and shall, thereupon, be delivered to any quartermaster or other officer authorized to receive the same.-Sec. 1242, R. S.

THE MILITIA.

704. Sec. 4. Whenever any property furnished to any State or Territory, or the District of Columbia, as herein before provided, has been lost or destroyed, or has become unserviceable or unsuitable from use in service, or from any other cause, it shall be examined by a disinterested surveying officer of the organized militia, to be appointed by the governor of the State or Territory, or the commanding general of the National Guard of the District of Columbia, to whom the property has been issued, and his report shall be forwarded by said governor or commanding general direct to the Secretary of War, and if it shall appear to the Secretary of War from the record

of survey that the property has been lost or destroyed through unavoidable causes, he is hereby authorized to relieve the State from further accountability therefor; if it shall appear that the loss or destruction of property was due to carelessness or neglect or that its loss could have been avoided by the exercise of reasonable care, the money value thereof shall be charged against the allotment to the States under section sixteen hundred and sixty-one of the Revised Statutes as amended. If the articles so surveyed are found to be unserviceable or unsuitable, the Secretary of War shall direct what disposition, by sale or otherwise, shall be made of them, except unserviceable clothing which shall be destroyed, and if sold the proceeds of such sale shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States.-Act of June 22, 1906 (34 Stat., 450).

705. That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized to permit volunteer regiments, on being mustered out of the service of the United States, to retain all their regimental colors. Said colors shall be turned over to the State authorities to which said regiments belong, and the regimental quartermaster in making his returns may, in lieu of said colors and in full release therefor, file with the proper official of the War Department a receipt from the quartermaster general of said State that said colors have been delivered to said State authorities.-Act of Feb. 25, 1899 (30 Stat., 890).

OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC PROPERTY.

706. Any person who shall embezzle, steal, or purloin any money, property, record, voucher, or valuable thing whatever, of the moneys, goods, chattels, records, or property of the United States, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and on conviction thereof before the district or circuit court of the United States in the district wherein said offense may have been committed, or into which he shall carry or have in possession of said property so embezzled, stolen, or purloined, shall be punished therefor by imprisonment at hard labor in the penitentiary not exceeding five years, or by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court before which he shall be convicted.-Act of Mar. 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 479).

707. Any officer who, willfully or through neglect, suffers to be lost, spoiled, or damaged any military stores belonging to the United States, shall make good the loss or damage, and be dismissed from the service.-Fifteenth article of war.

708. Sec. 48. Whoever shall receive, conceal, or aid in concealing, or shall have or retain in his possession with intent to convert to his own use or gain, any money, property, record, voucher, or valuable thing whatever, of the moneys, goods, chattels, records, or property of the United States, which has theretofore been embezzled, stolen, or purloined by any other person, knowing the same to have been so embezzled, stolen, or purloined, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; and such person may be tried either before or after the conviction of the principal offender.-Act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1098).

709. Sec. 46. Whoever shall rob another of any kind or description of personal property belonging to the United States, or shall feloniously take and carry away the same, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.-Act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1097).

710. Sec. 36. Whoever shall steal, embezzle, or knowingly apply to his own use, or unlawfully sell, convey, or dispose of any ordnance, arms, ammunition, clothing, subsistence stores, money, or other property of the United States, furnished or to be used for the military or naval service, shall be punished as prescribed in the preceding section.-Act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1096).

711. Sec. 38. Whoever shall willfully do, or aid or advise in the doing, of any act relating to the bringing in, custody, preservation, sale, or other disposition of any property captured as prize, or relating to any documents or papers connected with the property, or to any disposition or other document or paper connected with the proceedings, with intent to defraud, delay, or injure the United States or any captor or claimant of such property, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.-Act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1096).

712. Sec. 286. Whoever shall maliciously set fire to, burn, or attempt to burn, or by any means destroy or injure, or attempt to destroy or injure, any arsenal, armory, magazine, ropewalk, ship house, warehouse, blockhouse, or barrack, or any storehouse, barn or stable, not parcel of a dwelling house, or any other building not mentioned in the section last preceding, or any vessel built, building, or undergoing repair, or any lighthouse, or beacon, or any machinery, timber, cables, rigging, or other materials or appliances for building, repairing, or fitting out vessels, or any pile of wood, boards, or other lumber, or any military, naval, or victualing stores, arms, or other munitions of war, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than twenty years.—Act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1144).

SALE OF PUBLIC PROPERTY.

713. The President may cause to be sold any military stores which, upon proper inspection or survey, appear to be damaged or unsuitable for the public service. Such inspection or survey shall be made by officers designated by the Secretary of War, and the sales shall be made under regulations prescribed by him.-Sec. 1241, R. S.

714. Sec. 5. Hereafter the Secretary of the Treasury shall require, and it shall be the duty of the head of each executive department or other Government establishment to furnish him, within thirty days after the close of each fiscal year, a statement of all money arising from proceeds of public property of any kind or from any source other than the postal service, received by said head of department or other Government establishment during the previous fiscal year for or on account of the public service, or in any other manner in the discharge of his official duties other than as salary or compensation, which was not paid into the General Treasury of the United States, together with a detailed account of all payments, if any, made from such funds during such year. All such statements, together with a similar statement applying to the Treasury Department, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to Congress at the beginning of each regular session.—Act of June 30, 1906 (34 Stat., 763).

PUBLIC PUBLICATIONS-DISTRIBUTION OF.

715. Sec. 8. That no money appropriated by this or any other act shall be used after the first day of October, nineteen hundred and twelve, for services in any executive department or other Government establishment at Washington, District of Columbia, in the work of addressing, wrapping, mailing, or otherwise dispatching any publication for public distribution, except maps, weather reports, and weather cards issued by an executive department or other Government establishment at Washington, District of Columbia, or for the purchase of material or supplies to be used in such work; and on and after October first, nineteen hundred and twelve, it shall be the duty of the Public Printer to perform such work at the Government Printing Office. Prior to October first, nineteen hundred and twelve, each executive department and other Government establishment at Washington, District of Columbia, shall transfer to the Public Printer such machines, equipment, and materials as are used in addressing, wrapping, mailing, or otherwise dispatching publications;

and each head of such executive department and other Government establishment at Washington, District of Columbia, shall furnish from time to time to the Public Printer mailing lists, in convenient form, and changes therein, or franked slips, for use in the public distribution of publications issued by such department or establishment; and the Public Printer shall furnish copies of any publication only in accordance with the provisions of law or the instruction of the head of the department or establishment issuing the publication. The employment of all persons in the several executive departments and other Government establishments at Washington, District of Columbia, wholly in connection with the duties herein transferred to the Public Printer, or whose services can be dispensed with or devolved upon another because of such transfer, shall cease and determine on or before the first day of October, nineteen hundred and twelve, and their salaries or compensation shall lapse for the remainder of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen and be covered into the Treasury. A detailed statement of all machines, equipment, and material transferred to the Government Printing Office by operation of this provision and of all employments discontinued shall be submitted to Congress at its next session by the head of each executive department and other Government establishments at Washington, District of Columbia, in the annual estimates of appropriations: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed as applying to orders, instructions, directions, notices, or circulars of information, printed for and issued by any of the executive departments or other Government establishments or to the distribution of public documents by Senators or Members of the House of Representatives or to the folding rooms and documents rooms of the Senate or House of Representatives.-Act of Aug. 23, 1912 (37 Stat., 414).

PUBLIC RECORDS.

DESTRUCTION, FORGERY, ETC., OF.

716. Sec. 128. Whoever shall willfully and unlawfully conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate, or destroy, or attempt to conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate, or destroy, or, with intent to conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate, or steal, shall take or carry away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.Act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1111).

717. Sec. 129. Whoever, having the custody of any record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing specified in the preceding section, shall willfully and unlawfully conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate, falsify, or destroy any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or thing, shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall moreover forfeit his office and be forever afterwards disqualified from holding any office under the Government of the United States.-Act of Mar. 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1112).

718. Sec. 28. Whoever shall falsely make, alter, forge, or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, altered, forged, or counterfeited, or willingly aid, or assist in the false making, altering, forging, or counterfeiting, any bond, bid, proposal, contract, guaranty, security, official bond, public record, affidavit, or other writing for the purpose of defrauding the United States; or shall utter or publish as true, or cause to be uttered or published as true, any such false, forged, altered, or counterfeited bond, bid, proposal, contract, guaranty, security, official bond, public record, affidavit, or other writing, for the purpose of defrauding the United States, knowing the came to be false, forged, altered, or counterfeited; or shall transmit to, or present