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Treasury regulations, returning Chinese laborers....
Treaty of extradition with Great Britain, 1890, Article III (26
Stat., 1509)....

of Paris, 1898, Article V (30 Stat., 1756). Repatriation
of Spanish prisoners.

Article IX (30 Stat., 1759)..

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431

9

194

Articles IX and XI (30 Stat., 1759–1760).
Article XIII (30 Stat., 1760)

93

115

of Spain with France, 1862

101

of Spain with Italy, Articles XVII, XVIII, and XIX,
1867

101

with China, December 8, 1894, Article II (28 Stat., 1219)
Tutuila, island of, customs duties

545

629

Tybee Island Military Reservation, State jurisdiction, attach-
ment

254

U.

Underwood, Edward, extradition treaty of 1890 with Great
Britain (26 Stat., 1509).

Undervaluation

United States nd Haiti Telegraph and Cable Company
United States Commissioners, jurisdiction in Chinese exclusion

cases

United States delegates to the Pan-American Conference...
United States Mutual Investment Company of Lexington, Ky..
United States Senate, indirect confirmation of a promotion
United States Soldiers' Home, contract stipulations.

V.

Vacancy in Board of Commissioners of the Soldiers' Home.
Vessels, American registry, condemned prize......

Hawaiian vessel owned by China-

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377

425

40

533

512

30

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473

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Spanish war vessels wrecked in battle off the coast of
Cuba

76

W.

Walker, Rear-Admiral John G., president of Isthmian Canal

Commission..

War Department, correction of records, land titles in Washing-
ton, D. C....

exercise of war power in carrying private
messages over its wires in Cuba..................

War-revenue act of June 13, 1898. (Se Stamp tax.)

164


425

Warehouses, bonded, withdrawal of supplies for foreign war

vessels

Washington Hospital for Foundlings..

Washington, Mrs. Martha, Mount Vernon relics..
Wharfage charges on property of the United States
Witnesses, civilian, fees of, before courts-martial..
Words and phrases. (See Index-digest, p. 716.)
Wrecked Spanish vessels lying off coast of Cuba .

Y.

York, John, private, trial for homicide in Cuba

Z.

"Zucker tract," Fort Crook Military Reservation..

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392

OPINIONS

OF

HON. JOHN W. GRIGGS, OF NEW JERSEY.

APPOINTED JANUARY 25, 1898.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL-OPINION.

Except in matters of great importance, the Attorney-General will not express an opinion upon any question involving a payment to be made by or under the head of an executive department. That duty, by the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat., 208), is imposed upon the Comptroller of the Treasury, whose opinion is binding and conclusive.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

December 20, 1899.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, in which you ask my official opinion as to the propriety of a certain claim of J. M. Ceballos & Co. against your Department, arising out of a contract made between the Secretary of War and J. M. Ceballos & Co. on March 4, 1899, for the transportation of Spanish prisoners of war and others from the Philippines to Spain, in pursuance of certain paragraphs of the treaty of Paris.

* *

may

The act of July 31, 1894 (chap. 174, sec. 8), provides: "The head of any executive department apply for and the Comptroller of the Treasury shall render his decision upon any question involving a payment to be made by (him) or under (him), which decision, when rendered, shall govern the Auditor and the Comptroller of the Treasury in passing upon the account containing said disbursement."

It has been repeatedly held by my predecessors that, except in matters of great importance, all questions of the 19395-VOL 23-02-1

1

character described in the statute quoted, should be submitted to the Comptroller of the Treasury, and that it is no longer the function of the Attorney-General to answer them. (See 21 Opin., 178, 181, 188, 530.)

The question upon which you now desire my opinion is one that, under the above-quoted statute, should be answered by the Comptroller, and his decision thereon will be binding and conclusive. I respectfully suggest, therefore, that the question be submitted to him.

Very respectfully,

The SECRETARY OF WAR.

JOHN W. GRIGGS.

ATTORNEY GENERAL-OPINION.

The claim being one for the payment of money and actually pending before the Treasury Department, the Attorney-General deems it inexpedient to consider it. Under the act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat., 208), the question should be referred to the Comptroller of the Treasury for his decision.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

December 29, 1899.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th instant, transmitting certain papers filed in your Department in the nature of a claim of Amelia Mary Hyde, administratrix of the estate of Isaac P. Tice, deceased, against the United States, for meters supplied to the Government for ascertaining the quantity and strength of spirits subject to tax, and requesting my opinion as to whether the United States occupies the relation of trustee toward the claimant as to the money received for the meters and not paid over to the decedent by the Government.

The party at whose instance this request for my opinion is made is prosecuting in the regular way a claim for payment through the Treasury Department. The question submitted for my opinion is necessarily involved in the determination of the validity of the claim and arises out

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