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salary or compensation in addition to the salary or compensation they are entitled to as such army or navy oflicers: Provided, That in the districts which include the Mississippi River and its tributaries the President may designate army engineers to perform the duties of and act as inspectors. The President may detail officers of the Engineer Corps of the United States Army for consultation or to superintend the construction or repair of any aid to navigation authorized by Congress.

No light-house, beacon, public piers, or landmark, R. S., 4661. shall be built or erected on any site until cession of jurisdiction over the same has been made to the United States.

A cession by a State of jurisdiction over a place selected R. S., 4662. as the site of a light-house, or other structure or work June 17, 1910. of the Light-House Service, shall be deemed sufficient. within the preceding section, notwithstanding it contains a reservation that process issued under authority of such State may continue to be served within such place. And notwithstanding any such cession of jurisdiction contains no such reservation, all process may be served and executed within the place ceded, in the same manner as if no cession had been made.

Whenever any of the light-vessels occupying positions R S., 4668. which are adapted to the erection of light-houses upon pile-foundations require to be rebuilt, or require such extensive repairs as to render the substitution of such lighthouse advisable and practicable, such permanent structures may be erected in place of any such light-vessels; but the expense arising from all such changes and erections shall be defrayed from the general annual appropriations for repairs, and so forth, of light-vessels, except when a special appropriation is made for such change.

The Secretary of Commerce shall assign to any of the R. S., 4672. collectors of the customs the superintendence of such Feb. 14, 1903 light-houses, beacons, light-ships, and buoys, as he deems Sec. 4.

best.

The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to regulate R. S., 4673, the salaries of the respective keepers of light-houses in Feb. 14, 1903 such manner as he deems just and proper, but the whole Sec. 4. sum allowed for such salaries shall not exceed an average

of six hundred dollars to each keeper.

The Secretary of Commerce may, upon the recommen- R. S., 4674. dation of the Commissioner of Light-Houses, discontinue Feb. 14, 1903. from time to time such lights as may from any cause be- Sec. 4. come useless or unnecessary. And he may, upon the like June 17, 1910. recommendation, from time to time re-establish any lights which have been thus discontinued, whenever he believes such re-establishment to be required by public convenience or the necessities of trade or commerce.

Sec. 6.

No inspector, light-keeper, or other person in any R. S., 4680. manner connected with the light-house service, shall be June 17, 1910.

June 20, 1906.
Sec. 3.

Sec. 6.

interested, either directly or indirectly, in any contract for labor, materials, or supplies for the light house service, or in any patent, plan, or mode of construction or illumination, or in any article of supply for the lighthouse service.

After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and June 17, 1910. seven, it shall be unlawful for any person, company, corporation, or municipality not under the control of the Commissioner of Light-Houses, to establish, erect, or maintain in the navigable waters of the United States any light as an aid to navigation, or any other aid to navigation similar to any of those maintained by the United States under the control and direction of the Commissioner of Light-Houses, without first obtaining permission so to do from the Commissioner of LightHouses, in accordance with rules and regulations to be established by the Secretary of Commerce; and any person violating the provisions of this section or any of the rules and regulations established by the Secretary of Commerce in accordance herewith shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be subject to a fine not exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars for each offense, and each day during which such violation shall continue shall be considered as a new offense.

R. S., 2649.
Aug. 15, 1876.

472. Treasury agents.

The Secretary of the Treasury may appoint one superMar. 3, 1891. vising special agent, who shall receive in addition to the necessary traveling expenses actually incurred by him, a compensation of ten dollars per day; eighteen special agents, who shall each receive in addition to the necessary traveling expenses actually incurred by him, a compensation to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury, not to exceed eight dollars per day; and nine special agents, who shall each receive in addition to the necessary traveling expenses actually incurred by him, a compensation to Feb. 14, 1903. be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury not to exceed six dollars per day, for the purpose of making the examinations of the books, papers, and accounts of collectors and other officers of the customs, and to be employed generally, under the direction of the Secretary, in the prevention and detection of frauds on the customs revenue; and the expenses thereof shall be charged to the "appropriation to defray the expense of collecting the revenue from customs."

Secs. 4, 10.

R. S., 2651.

The Secretary of the Treasury may, from time to time, Aug. 15, 1876. make such regulations not inconsistent with law, for the government of the special agents, as he deems expedient, and may rescind or alter regulations so made. But no special agent, in addition to those authorized by the two preceding sections [sec. 2649 as amended], shall be appointed or employed upon any business relating to the customs revenue; nor shall any sum be paid to any agent authorized to be employed for mileage or any other ex

penses except such as are actually incurred in the discharge of his official duty.

It shall be the duty of all officers of the customs to exe- R. S., 2652. cute and carry into effect all instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury relative to the execution of the revenue laws; and in case any difficulty shall arise as to the true construction or meaning of any part of the revenue laws, the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury shall be conclusive and binding upon all officers of the customs.

The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, R. S., 2653. whenever he shall think it advantageous to the public service, to abolish or suspend the office of naval officer, or any other subordinate office, in any collection-district of the United States, except in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah, Portland in Maine, and San Francisco, and to assign the duties of the office or any other subordinate office so abolished or suspended to a deputy collector or inspector of the customs; and so much of all fines, penalties, and forfeitures as would otherwise inure to either of such naval officers shall, after the discontinuance of their offices, respectively, be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and there credited to the fund for defraying the expenses of collecting the revenue from customs.

473. Alaska seal agents.

Sec. 9.

The Secretary of Commerce shall have authority to Apr. 21, 1910. appoint such additional officers, agents, and employees as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act and the laws of the United States relating to the seal fisheries of Alaska, to prescribe their duties and to fix their compensation; he shall likewise have authority to purchase from the present lessee of the right to take seals on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, at a fair valuation to be agreed upon, the warehouses, salt houses, boats, launches, lighters, horses, mules, wagons, and other property of the said lessee on the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, including the dwellings of the natives of said islands; he shall likewise have authority to establish and maintain depots for provisions and supplies on the Pribilof Islands and to provide for the transportation of such provisions and supplies from the mainland of the United States to the said islands by the charter of private vessels or by the use of public vessels of the United States which may be placed at his disposal by the President; and he shall likewise have authority to furnish food, shelter, fuel, clothing, and other necessaries of life to the native inhabitants of the Pribilof Islands and to provide for their comfort, maintenance, education, and protection.

Sec. 7.

The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to appoint R. S., 1973. one agent and three assistant agents, who shall be charged Feb. 14, 1903. with the management of the seal fisheries in Alaska, and the performance of such other duties as may be assigned. to them by the Secretary of Commerce.

R. S., 1975.

R. S., 1976.

R. S., 2999.

Feb. 14, 1903.
Sec. 10.

R. S., 4681.

R. S., 4682.

R. S., 4686.

Such agents shall never be interested, directly or indirectly, in any lease of the right to take seals, nor in any proceeds or profits thereof, either as owner, agent, partner, or otherwise.

Such agents are empowered to administer oaths in all cases relating to the service of the United States, and to take testimony in Alaska for the use of the Government in any matter concerning the public revenues.

For the purpose of better guarding against frauds upon the revenue on foreign merchandise transported between the ports of the Atlantic and those of the Pacific overland through any foreign territory, the Secretary of the Treasury may appoint special sworn agents as inspectors of the customs, to reside in such foreign territory where such merchandise may be landed or embarked, with power to superintend the landing or shipping of all merchandise, passing coastwise between the ports of the United States on the Pacific and the Atlantic. It shall be their duty, under such regulations and instructions as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, to guard against the per-' petration of frauds upon the revenue. The compensation paid to such inspectors shall not in the aggregate exceed five thousand dollars per annum.

474. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The President is authorized to cause a survey to be taken of the coasts of the United States, in which shall be designated the islands and shoals, with the roads or places of anchorage, within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States; and also the respective courses and distances between the principal capes or headlands, together with such other matters as he may deem proper for completing an accurate chart of every part of the coasts.

The President may also cause such examinations and observations to be made with respect to Saint George's Bank, and to any other bank, or shoal, and the soundings and currents, although beyond the distance of twenty leagues from the shore to the Gulf Stream, as he may deem especially subservient to the commercial interests of the United States.

The President is authorized, for any of the purposes of surveying the coast of the United States, to cause to be employed such of the public vessels in actual service as he deems it expedient to employ, and to give such instructions for regulating their conduct as he deems proper, according to the tenor of this Title [R. S., 4681–4691].

Officers of the Army and Navy shall, as far as practica- R. S., 4687. ble, be employed in the work of surveying the coast of the United States, whenever and in the manner required by the Department having charge thereof.

Sec. 4.

The Secretary of Commerce may make such allowances R. S., 4688. to the officers and men of the Army and Navy, while em- Feb. 14, 1903. ployed on Coast Survey service, for subsistence, in addition to their compensation, as he may deem necessary, not exceeding the sum authorized by the Treasury regulation of the eleventh day of May, eighteen hundred and forty

four.

The salary of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey R. S., 4689. shall be six thousand dollars a year.

The Coast Survey report shall be submitted to Congress R. S., 4690. during the month of December in each year, and shall be accompanied by a general chart of the whole coasts of the United States, on as large a scale as convenient and practicable, showing, as near as practicable, the configuration of the coasts, and showing, by lines, the probable limits of the Gulf Stream, and showing, by lines, the probable limit to which the soundings off the coast will extend, and showing, by the use of colors and explanations, the exact portions of our coasts, of which complete charts have been published by the Coast Survey; also, showing such other parts of the coasts of which the triangulation, the topography, and the soundings have been completed, but not published, and, also, such parts of the coasts of which the triangulation and topography, or the triangulation only, have been completed.

475. District court commissioners.

The terms of office of all commissioners of the circuit May 28, 1896. courts heretofore appointed shall expire on the thirtieth Sec. 19. day of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven; and such office shall on that day cease to exist, and said commissioners shall then deposit all the records and other official papers appertaining to their offices in the office of the clerk of the circuit court by which they were appointed. All proceedings pending, returnable, unexecuted, or unfinished at said date before any such commissioner shall be continued and disposed of according to law by such commissioner appointed as herein provided, as may be designated by the district court for that purpose. It shall be the duty of the district court of each judicial district to appoint such number of persons, to be known as United States commissioners, at such places in the district as may be designated by the district court, which United States commissioners shall have the same powers and perform the same duties as are now imposed upon commissioners of the circuit courts. The appointment of such United States commissioners shall be entered of record in the district courts, and notice thereof

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