1 RENTAL OF BUILDINGS FOR PUBLIC USE. 129 state, first, the time, cause, and nature of the accident and injury and the probable duration of the injury resulting therefrom; second, whether the accident arose out of or in the course of the injured person's employment; third, whether the accident was due to negligence or misconduct on the part of the employee injured; fourth, any other matters required by such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may prescribe. The head of each department or independent office shall have power, however, to charge a special official with the duty of making such reports.— Ibid. 744. Sec. 4. That in the case of any accident which shall result in death, the persons entitled to compensation under this act or their legal representatives shall, within minety days after such death, file with the Secretary of Commerce and Labor an affidavit setting forth their relationship to the deceased and the ground of their claim for compensation under the provisions of this act. This shall be accompanied by the certificate of the attending physician setting forth the fact and cause of death, or the monproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily accounted for. In the case of incapacity for work lasting more than fifteen days, the injured party desiring to take the benefit of this act shall, within a reasonable period after the expiration of such time, file with his official superior, to be forwarded through regular official channels to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, an affidavit setting forth the grounds of his claim for compensation, to be accompanied by a certificate of the attending physician as to the cause and nature of the injury and probable duration of the incapacity, or the nonproduction of the certificate shall be satisfactorily accounted for. If the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall find from the report and affidavit or other evidence produced by the claimant or his or her legal representatives, or from such additional investigation as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may direct, that a claim for compensation is established under this act, the compensation to be paid shall be determined as provided under this act and approved for payment by the Secretary af Commerce and Labor.-Ibid. 745. Sec. 5. That the employee shall, whenever and as often as required by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, at least once in six months, submit to medical examination, to be provided and paid for under the direction of the Secretary, and if such employee refuses to submit to or obstructs such examination his or her right to compensation shall be lost for the period covered by the continuance of such refusal or obstruction.-Ibid. 746. Sec. 6. That payments under this act are only to be made to the beneficiaries ar their legal representatives other than assignees, and shall not be subject to the claims of creditors.-Ibid. 747. Sec. 7. That the United States shall not exempt itself from liability under this act by any contract, agreement, rule, or regulation, and any such contract, agreement, rule, or regulation shall be pro tanto void.-Ibid. 748. Sec. 8. That all acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith or providing a different scale of compensation or otherwise regulating its payment are hereby repealed.— Ibid. RENTAL OF BUILDINGS FOR PUBLIC USE. 749. Where buildings are rented for public use in the District of Columbia, the executive departments are authorized, whenever it shall be advantageous to the public interest, to rent others in their stead: Provided, That no increase in the number of buildings now in use, nor in the amounts paid for rents, shall result therefrom.-Act of Aug. 5, 1882 (22, Stat., 241)). 38924-14 750. Hereafter no contract shall be made for the rent of any building, or part of any building, to be used for the purposes of the Government in the District of Columbia, until an appropriation therefor shall have been made in terms by Congress, and that this clause be regarded as notice to all contractors or lessors of any such building or any part of building.-Act of Mar. 3, 1877 (19 Stat., 370). 751. It shall be the duty of the heads of the several executive departments to submit to Congress each year, in the annual estimates of appropriations, a statement of the number of buildings rented by their respective departments, the purpose for which rented, and the annual rental of each.—Act of Mar. 3, 1883 (22 Stat., 552). 752. That hereafter it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to cause to be prepared and submitted to Congress each year in the annual Book of Estimates of appropriations, a statement of the buildings rented within the District of Columbia for the use of the Government, the purpose for which rented, and the annual rental of each.— Act of July 16, 1892 (27 Stat., 199). QUARTERMASTER CORPS. THE QUARTERMASTER GENERAL OF THE ARMY. 753. Each head of a department, chief of a bureau, or other superior officer shall, upon receiving each monthly report of his chief clerk, rendered in pursuance to the preceding section, examine the facts stated therein, and take such measures, in the exercise of the powers conferred upon him by law, as may be necessary and proper to amend any existing defects in the arrangement or dispatch of business disclosed by such report. Sec. 175, R. S. 754. It shall be the duty of the head of each executive department or other Government establishment in the city of Washington to submit to the first regular session of the Fifty-fourth Congress, and annually thereafter, in the Annual Book of Estimates, a statement as to the condition of business in his department or other Government establishment, showing whether any part of the same is in arrears, and if so, in what divisions of the respective bureaus and offices of his department or other Government establishment such arrears exist, the extent thereof, and the reasons therefor, and also a statement of the number and compensation of employees appropriated for in one bureau or office who have been detailed to another bureau or office for a period exceeding one year.-Act of Mar. 2, 1895 (28 Stat., 808). 755. That hereafter it shall be the duty of the heads of the several executive departments of the Government to report to Congress each year in the annual estimates the number of employees in each bureau and office and the salaries of each who are below a fair standard of efficiency.—Act of July 11, 1890 (26 Stats., 268). 756. The head of each department is authorized to prescribe regulations, not inconsistent with law, for the government of his department, the conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it.-Sec. 161, R. S. 757. Hereafter the title of the Chief of the Quartermaster Corps shall be Quartermaster General of the Army.-Act of Apr. 27, 1914. CREATION OF THE QUARTERMASTER CORPS. 758. Sec. 3. That the office establishments of the Quartermaster General, the Commissary General, and the Paymaster General of the Army are hereby consolidated and shall hereafter constitute a single bureau of the War Department, which shall be known as the Quartermaster Corps, and of which the Chief of the Quartermaster Corps created by this act shall be the head. The Quartermaster's, Subsistence, and Pay Departments of the Army are hereby consolidated into and shall hereafter be known as the Quartermaster Corps of the Army. The officers of said departments shall hereafter be known as officers of said corps and by the titles of the rank held by them therein, and, except as hereinafter specifically provided to the contrary, the provisions of sections twenty-six and twenty-seven of the act of Congress approved February second, nineteen hundred and one, entitled "An act to increase the efficiency of the permanent military establishment of the United States," are hereby extended so as to apply to the Quartermaster Corps in the manner and to the extent to which they now apply to the Quartermaster's, Subsistence, and Pay Departments, and the provision of said sections of said act relative to chiefs of staff corps and departments shall, so far as they are applicable, apply to all offices and officers of the Quartermaster Corps with rank above that of colonel. The officers now holding commissions as officers of the said departments shall hereafter have the same tenure of commission in the Quartermaster Corps, and as officers of said corps shall have rank of the same grades and dates as that now held by them, and, for the purpose of filling vacancies among them, shall constitute one list, on which they shall be arranged according to rank. So long as any officers shall remain on said list any vacancy occurring therein shall be filled, if possible, from among such officers, by selection if the vacancy occurs in a grade above that of colonel, and, if the vacancy occurs in a grade not above that of colonel, by the promotion of an officer who would have been · entitled to promotion to that particular vacancy if the consolidation of departments hereby prescribed had never occurred: Provided, That on and after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and seventeen, any vacancies occurring among officers of the Quartermaster Corps with rank above that of colonel may, in the discretion of the President, be filled by selection from among officers who shall have served by detail in said corps for not less than four years: Provided further, That not to exceed six officers holding commissions with the rank of captain in the Quartermaster Corps and who have lost in relative rank through irregularities of promotion and the operation of separate promotion within the three departments hereby consolidated may, in the discretion of the President and subject to examination for promotion as prescribed by law, be advanced to the grade of major in the Quartermaster Corps, and any officer who shall be advanced to said grade under the terms of this proviso shall be temporarily an additional officer of said grade but only until a vacancy shall occur for him on the list of officers of said grade as hereafter limited; and no officer shall be detailed to fill any vacancy on the list of majors of the Quartermaster Corps until after all additional officers authorized by the proviso shall have been absorbed. The noncommissioned officers now known as post quartermaster sergeants and post commissary sergeants shall hereafter be known as quartermaster sergeants; the Army paymasters' clerks shall be known as pay clerks, and each of said noncommissioned officers and pay clerks shall continue to have the pay, allowances, rights, and privileges now allowed him by law: Provided further, That no details to fill vacancies in the grade of colonel in the Quartermaster Corps shall be made until the number of officers of that grade shall have been reduced by three, and thereafter the number of officers in that grade shall not exceed twelve; and no details to fill vacancies in the grade of lieutenant colonel in the Quartermaster Corps shall be made until the number of officers of that grade shall have been reduced by three, and thereafter the number of officers of that grade shall not exceed eighteen; and no details to fill vacancies in the grade of major in the Quartermaster Corps shall be made until the number of officers of that grade shall have been reduced by nine, and thereafter the number of officers in said grade shall not exceed forty-eight; and no details to fill vacancies in the grade of captain in the Quartermaster Corps shall be made until after the number of officers of that grade shall be reduced by twenty-nine, and thereafter the number of officers of said grade shall not exceed one hundred and two; and whenever the separation of a line officer of any grade and arm from the Quartermaster Corps shall create therein a vacancy that under the terms of this proviso can not be filled by detail such separation shall operate to make a permanent reduction of one in the total number of officers of said grade and arm in the line of the Army as soon as such reduction can be made without depriving any officer of his commission: Provided further, That whenever the Secretary of War shall decide that it is necessary and practicable, regimental, battalion, and squadron quartermasters and commissaries shall be required to perform any duties that junior officers of the Quartermaster Corps may properly be required to perform, and regimental and battalion quartermaster and commissary sergeants shall be required to perform any duties that noncommissioned officers or pay clerks of the Quartermaster Corps may properly be required to perform, but such regimental, battalion, and squadron quartermasters and commissaries shall not be required to receipt for any money or property which does not pertain to their respective regiments, battalions, or squadrons, and they shall not be separated from the organization to which they belong: Provided further, That such duty or duties as are now required by law to be performed by any officer or officers of the Quartermaster's, Subsistence, or Pay Departments shall hereafter be performed by such officer or officers of the Quartermaster Corps as the Secretary of War may designate for the purpose: Provided further, That there shall be a Chief of the Quartermaster Corps, who shall have the rank of major general while so serving, and who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among the officers of said corps and in accordance with the requirements of section twenty-six of the act of Congress approved February second, nineteen hundred and one, hereinbefore cited: Provided further, That when the first vacancy in the grade of brigadier general in the Quartermaster Corps, except a vacancy caused by the expiration of a limited term of appointment, shall hereafter occur that vacancy shall not be filled, but the office in which the vacancy occurs shall immediately cease and determine: Provided further, That the Quartermaster Corps shall be subject to the supervision of the Chief of Staff to the extent the departments hereby consolidated into said corps have heretofore been subject to such supervision under the terms of the existing law: And provided further, That for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this section the President is hereby authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Chief of the Quartermaster Corps herein provided for immediately upon the passage of this act, and it shall be the duty of the said chief, under the direction of the President and the Secretary of War, to put into effect the provisions of this section not less than sixty days after the passage of this act.-Act of Aug. 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 591). ENLISTED MEN OF THE QUARTERMASTER CORPS. 759. Sec. 4. That as soon as practicable after the creation of a Quartermaster Corps in the Army not to exceed four thousand civilian employees of that corps, receiving a monthly compensation of not less than thirty dollars nor more than one hundred and seventy-five dollars each, not including civil engineers, superintendents of construction, inspectors of clothing, clothing examiners, inspectors of supplies, inspectors of animals, chemists, veterinarians, freight and passenger rate clerks, civilservice employees, and employees of the classified service, employees of the Army transport service and harbor-boat service, and such other employees as may be required for technical work, shall be replaced permanently by not to exceed an equal number of enlisted men of said corps, and all enlisted men of the line of the Army detailed on extra duty in the Quartermaster Corps or as bakers or assistant bakers shall be replaced permanently by not to exceed two thousand enlisted men of said corps; and for the purposes of this act the enlistment in the military service of not to exceed six thousand men, who shall be attached permanently to the Quartermaster Corps and who shall not be counted as a part of the enlisted force provided by law, is hereby authorized: Provided, That the enlisted force of the Quartermaster Corps shall consist of not to exceed fifteen master electricians, six hundred sergeants (first-class), one thousand and five sergeants, six hundred and fifty corporals, two thousand and five hundred privates (first-class), one thousand one hundred and ninety privates, and forty-five cooks, all of whom shall receive the same pay and allowances as enlisted men of corresponding grades in the Signal Corps of the Army, and shall be assigned to such duties pertaining to the Quartermaster Corps as the Secretary of War may prescribe: Provided further, That the Secretary of War may fix the limits of age within which civilian employees who are actually employed by the Government when this act takes effect and who are to be replaced by enlisted men under the terms of this act may enlist in the Quartermaster Corps: Provided further, That nothing in this section shall be held or construed so as to prevent the employment of the class of civilian employees excepted from the previsions of this act or the continued employment of civilians included in the act until such latter employees have been replaced by enlisted men of the Quartermaster Corps.-Act of Aug. 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 593). 760. That the Secretary of War is authorized to appoint such number of quartermaster sergeants, Quartermaster Corps, not to exceed the number provided for by law, as he may deem necessary for the interests of the service, said quartermaster sergeants to be selected from the most competent noncommissioned officers of the Army, who shall have served therein at least five years, three years of such service having been rendered as noncommissioned officers, and whose character and education shall fit them to take charge of public property and to act as clerks and assistants to the proper officers of the Army in charge of public property.-Act of Apr. 27, 1914. 761. That the enlisted force of the Quartermaster Corps shall consist of not to exceed fifteen master electricians, six hundred sergeants (first class), nine hundred and seventyfive sergeants, six hundred and twenty-five corporals, two thousand five hundred privates (first class), one thousand one hundred and ninety privates, and ninety-five cooks, all of whom shall receive the same pay and allowances as enlisted men of corresponding grades in the Signal Corps of the Army, and shall be assigned to such duties pertaining to the Quartermaster Corps as the Secretary of War may prescribe.—Act of Apr. 27, 1914. TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH SERVICE. 762. Sec. 7. That no money appropriated by this or any other act shall be expended for telephone service installed in any private residence or private apartment or for tolls or other charges for telephone service from private residences or private apartments, except for long-distance telephone tolls required strictly for the public business, and so shown by vouchers duly sworn to and approved by the head of the department, division, bureau, or office in which the official using such telephone or incurring the expense of such tolls shall be employed.-Act of Aug. 23, 1912 (37 Stat., 414). 763. Telegrams between the several departments of the Government and their officers and agents, in their transmission over the lines of any telegraph company to which has been given the right of way, timber, or station lands from the public domain shall have priority over all other business, at such rates as the Postmaster General shall annually fix. And no part of any appropriation for the several Departments of the Government shall be paid to any company which neglects or refuses to transmit such elegrams in accordance with the provisions of this section.-Sec. 5266, R. S. TEMPORARY VACANCIES-CHIEFS OF BUREAUS, ATTORNEY-GENERAL, ETC. 764. In case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the chief of any bureau, or of any officer thereof, whose appointment is not vested in the head of the department, the assistant or deputy of such chief or of such officer, or if there be none, then the |