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Received JUL 29

WAR DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON CITY,
July 29, 1889.

CIRCULAR:

Such veterans of the Army of the James employed in the War Department as desire to attend the reunion to be held at Harper's Ferry July 30th instant, and whose services can be consistently spared, may be excused for that purpose.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

OFFICIAL COPY:

Αν

JOHN TWEEDALE,

Chief Clerk.

Chief Clerk.

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1889

WAR DEPARTMENT,

WASHINGTON CITY,
August 1, 1889.

CIRCULAR:

The following order of the President is published for the information of all concerned :

Under the provisions of section 179 of the Revised Statutes, Brigadier General Robert Macfeely, Commissary General of Subsistence United States Army, is hereby authorized and directed to perform the duties of Secretary of War during the temporary absence of the Secretary of War, to begin on the 1st day of August, A. D. 1889.

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CIRCULAR:

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WAR DEPARTMENT,

WASHINGTON CITY,

August 3, 1889.

The following decision of the Attorney General is published for the information and guidance of all concerned :

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL,

W. B. COOLEY, Esq.,

Washington, D. C., May 18, 1889.

Acting Chief Clerk, Post Office Department.

SIR: Replying to your favor of the 14th instant regarding the construction of sec. 1754, Revised Statutes of the United States, which reads as follows:

"Persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service by reason of disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty, shall be preferred for appointments to civil offices, provided they are found to possess the business capacity necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of such offices."

And further replying to your interrogatory whether "in such cases it is obligatory upon the department to select the applicant claiming preference under the statute in question? If so it would appear to be unnecessary, for the Civil Service Commission to certify three names, since the department would have no choice in the premises;" I respectfully submit that in construing the words of this act, which are "shall be preferred," such an imperative meaning is contained in the language used, that I am constrained to hold the terms equivalent to "must be preferred."

In ex parte Jordan, 94 U. S., 251, in construing almost similar statutory language, the court says:

"The language of the statute is 'shall be allowed,' which means 'must be allowed' when asked for by one who stands in such a relation to the cause that he can demand it."

The intendment of the law clearly is to favor persons honorably discharged from the "military or naval service provided they are found to possess the business capacity necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of such office."

This leaves the matter of capability and personal fitness for the place within the control of the department when the service is rendered.

To extend towards the language of the statute any other interpretation, would be to violate a right granted to the particular class referred to in such

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