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territory belonging to the United States, the

consul or vice-consul whose duty it becomes to take possession of the effects of such deceased person under the laws of the United States shall file with the clerk of said court a sworn inventory of such effects, and shall as additional effects come from time to time into his possession immediately file a supplemental inventory or inventories of the same. He shall also file with the clerk of said court within said sixty days a schedule under oath of the debts of said decedent, so far as known, and a schedule or statement of all additional debts thereafter discovered. Such consul or vice-consul shall pay no claims against the estate without the written approval of the judge of said court, nor shall he make sale of any of the assets of said estate without first reporting the same to said judge and obtaining a written approval of said sale, and he shall likewise within ten days after any such sale report the fact of such sale to said court, and the amount derived therefrom.

Appeals shall lie from all final judgments or decrees of said court to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and thence appeals and writs of error may be taken from the judgments or decrees of the said Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States in the same class of cases as those in which appeals and writs of error are permitted to judgments of said Court of Appeals in cases coming from district and circuit courts of the United States. Sald appeals or writs of error shall be regulated by the procedure governing appeals within the United States from the district courts to the circuit courts of appeal, and from the circuit courts of appeal to the Supreme Cour of the United States, respectively, so far as the same shall be applicable; and said courts are hereby empowered to hear and determine appeals and writs of error so taken.

The jurisdiction of said United States Court, both original and on appeal, in civil and criminal matters, and also the jurisdiction of the consular courts in China, shall in all cases be exercised in conformity with said treaties and the laws of the civil and criminal matters, and also the jurisdiction of the consular courts in China, and all judgments and decisions of said consular courts, and all decisions, judgments and decrees of said United States Court, shall be enforced in accordance with sald treaties and laws. But in all such cases when such laws are deficient in the pro-. visions necessary to give jurisdiction or to furnish suitable remedies, the common law and the law as established by the decisions of the courts of the United States shall be applied by said court in its decisions and shall govern the same subject to the terms of any treaties between the United States and China.

The procedure of the said court shall be in accordance, so far as practicable, with the existing procedure prescribed for consular courts in China in accordance with the Revised Statutes of the United States: Provided, however, that the judge of the said United States Court for China shall have authority from time to time to modify and supplement said rules of procedure. The provisions of Sections 4,106 and 4,107 of the Revised Statutes of the United States allowing consuls in certain cases to summon associates shall have no application to said court.

There shall be a district attorney, a marshal and a clerk of said court, with authority possessed by the corresponding officers of the district courts in the United States as far as may be consistent with the conditions of the laws of the United States and said treaties. The judge of said court and the district attorney, who shall be lawyers of good standing and experience, marshal and clerk shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall receive as salary, respectively, the sums of $8,000 per annum for said judge, $4.000 per annum for said district attorney, $3,000 per annum for said marshal, and $3,000 per annum for said clerk.

The tenure of office of the judge of said court shall be ten years, unless sooner removed by the President for cause; the tenure of office of the other officials of the court shall be at the pleasure of the President.

Among the other acts and joint resolutions passed were the following: Authorizing the Secretary of War to deliver to the Southern Historical Society certain unidentified battle flags; accepting the recession by the state of CaliMiscellaneous, fornía of the Yosemite Valley grant and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove, and including the same, together with fractional sections five and six, township five south, range twenty-two east, Mount Diablo meridian, California, within the metes and bounds of the Yosemite National Park, and changing the boundaries thereof; providing for the purchase of metal and the coinage of minor colns, and the distribution and redemption of said coins; for the acknowledgment of deeds and other instruments in Guam, Samoa and the Canal Zone to affect lands in the District of Columbia and other territories; to incorporate the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution; incorporating the Archæological Institute of America; providing for the manner of selecting and impanelling juries in the United States courts in the territory of New Mexico: extending the tribal existence and government of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians in the Indian Territory; to incorporate the National Educational Association of the United States; to provide means for the sale of internal revenue stamps in the island of Porto Rico; to incorporate the Great Council of the United States of the Improved Order of Red Men; to regulate enlistments and punishments in the United States Revenue Cutter Service; to provide for the final disposition of the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes; to provide for the removal of derelicts and other floating dan gers to navigation; incorporating the Lake Erie and Ohio River Ship Canal; directing the Interstate Commerce Commission to investigate and report on block signal systems and appliances for the automatic control of railway trains; to increase the efficiency of the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Department; to empower the Secretary of War, under certain restrictions, to authorize the construction, extension

and maintenance of wharves, piers and other structures on lands underlying harbor areas and navigable streams and bodies of water in or surrounding Porto Rico and the islands adjacent thereto; to incorporate the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; forbidding the importation, exportation or carriage in interstate commerce of falsely or spuriously stamped articles of merchandise made of gold or silver or their alloys, and for other purposes; to appoint an additional judge for the Southern District of New York; further amending the trade mark laws; to amend Section 1 of the act approved March 3, 1905, providing for an additional Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona, and for other purposes; to increase the efficiency of the militia and promote rifle practice; granting to the state of California 5 per centum of the net proceeds of the cash sales of public lands in said state; to protect birds and their eggs in game and bird preserves; for the division of the lands and funds of the Osage Indians in Oklahoma Territory, and for other purposes: to prohibit shanghaiing in the United States; authorizing the striking of 200 additional medals to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin; creating the Mesa Verde National Park; to amend existing laws relating to the fortification of pure sweet wines; providing for the withdrawal from public entry of lands needed for town site purposes in connection with irrigation projects under the reclamation act of June 17, 1902, and for other purposes; providing for the erection of a monu ment on Kings Mountain battle ground commemorative of the great victory gained there during the War of the American Revolution on October 7, 1780, by the American forces; for the erection of a monument to the memory of Commodore John Barry; for the erection of a monument to the memory of John Paul Jones; in regard to a monumental column to commemorate the battle of Princeton, and appropriating $30,000 therefor; to open for settlement 505,000 acres of land in the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indian reservations, in Oklahoma Territory; defining the qualifications of jurors for service in the United States District Court in Porto Rico; to prohibit allens from fishing in the waters of Alaska; for the protection and regulation of the fisheries of Alaska; to amend an act entitled "An act to revise and amend the tariff laws of the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes,' ," approved March 3, 1905; providing for the election of a Delegate to the House of Representatives from Alaska; for the preservation of American antiquities; to provide for the entry of agricultural lands within forest reserves; providing for the subdivision of lands entered under the Reclamation act, and for other purposes; to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to loan temporarily to the Philippine government a vessel of the United States Navy for use in connection with nautical schools of the Philippine Islands; to regulate the construction of bridges over navigable waters; extending the thanks of Congress to General Horace Porter; to provide for an increased annual appropriation for agricultural experiment stations and regulating the expenditure thereof; to prevent the unlawful wearing of the badge or insignia of the Grand Army of the Republic or other soldier organizations; directing the selection of a site for the erection of a bronze statue in Wshington, D. C., in honor of the late Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; to provide for the appropriate marking of the graves of the soldiers and sailors of the Confederate army and navy who died in Northern prisons and were buried near the prisons where they died; authorizing the commencement and conduct of legal proceedings under the direction of the Attorney General.

TREATIES WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

The Senate ratified on December 13, 1905, a supplementary extradition treaty with Great Britain; on February 28, 1906, a copyright conventior. with Japan; on March 4, 1906, a convention with Rumania for the reciprocal protection of trade-marks; on March 20, 1906, a treaty of extradition with San Marino; on April 26, 1906, a convention with Great Britain providing for the survey of the Alaskan-Canadian boundary; on June 22, 1906, a supplementary extradition treaty with Japan, and on June 26, 1906, a convention with Mexico providing for the equitable distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande for irrigation purposes.

On May 29, 1906, a sanitary convention was ratified, signed on Oct. 14, 1905, by representatives of the United States, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

Under the provisions of the third section of the Dingley Tariff act President Roosevelt put into effect by proclamation on January 2, 1906, an agreement with Switzerland granting these special tariff rates on Swiss products:

Upon argols, or crude tartar, or wine lees, crude, 5 per centum ad valorem. Upon brandies, or other spirits manufactured or distilled from grain or other materials, $1 75 per proof gallon.

Upon still wines and vermouth, in casks. 35 cents per gallon; in bottles or jugs, per case of one dozen bottles or jugs, containing each not more than one quart and more than one pint, $1.25 per case, and any excess beyond these quantities found in such bottles or jugs shall be subject to a duty of 4 cents per pint or fractional part thereof, but no separate or additional duty shall be assessed upon the bottles or jugs. Upon paintings in oil or water colors, pastels, pen and ink drawings and statuary. 15 per centum ad valorem.

On

In return Switzerland admits all American products at the lower conventional tariff rates granted to countries having reciprocal agreements with the republic. February 28 a similar agreement with Germany for the year from March 1, 1906, to March 1, 1907. was announced by proclamation, Germany granting American products the benefit of her conventional tariff. On August 29, 1906, a similar agreement with Spain went into effect, Spain contracting to give the United States the treatment in her custom houses accorded to the most favored nation (Portugal excepted).

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APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1905, 1906 AND 1907.

Estimates,

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Law, 1904-'05. $5,902,040 00 77,070,300 88

Diplomatic,

con

sular

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1Dist. of Columbia.

11,299,264 00)

10,138,692 16

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Fortification

8,953,112 90

5,053,993 00

6,747,893 00

7,518,192 00

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9,447,961 40 28,558,258 22

Military Academy.

1,707,304 17

Navy

121,565,718 82

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Pension

141,345,500 00

140,245,500 00)

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*Postoffice

193,210,070 00

191,695,998 75]

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1One-half of the amounts for the District of Columbia payable by the United States, except amounts for the Water Department (estimated for 1907 at $164,166), which are payable from the revenues of the Water Department. Includes all expenses of the Postal Service payable from postal revenues aud out of the Treasury. No amount is estimated for rivers and harbors for 1907 except the sum of $14,000,000 to meet contracts authorized by law for river and harbor improvements included in the sundry civil estimates for 1907. 4No River and Harbor act was passed for 1907. 5 In addition to this amount, the sum of $10,514,132 is appropriated in the Sundry Civil act to carry out contracts authorized by law for river and harbor improvements for 1906. "This amount includes $14,000,000 to meet contracts authorized by law for river and harbor improvements for 1907. This amount includes $17,318,976.14 to carry out contracts authorized by law for river and harbor improvements and $25,456,415,08 for construction of the Isthmian Canal for 1997. This amount includes $10,544,132 to carry out contracts authorized by law for river and harbor improvements for 1906. This amount is approximated. 10This amount includes $10,250,000 under the Oklahoma and New Mexico act, and $10,321,600 for new public buildings, and is approximated. addition to this amount the sum of $25,456,415.08 is appropriated in the Sundry Civil act and $5,990,786 in the Urgent Deficiency act, making the total appropriations passed at this session for the Isthmian Canal $42,447, 201.08. 12This is the amount submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury in the annual estimates for the fiscal year 1907, the exact amount appropriated not being ascertainable until two years after the close of the fiscal year, This amount includes estimated amount of $57,000,000 to meet sinking fund obligations for 1907, and $22,000,000 estimated redemptions of national bank notes in 1907 out of deposits by banks for that purpose. 13 This sum includes approimately $31,000,000 not included in formal estimates from the departments to Congress. 14 In addition to this amount, the sum of $7,872,200 is appropriated in the Sundry Civil act to carry out contracts authorized by law for river and harbor improvements for 1905. 15This amount includes $7,872,200 to carry out contracts authorized by law for river and harbor improvements for 1905.

11 In

CIVIL SERVICE LAWS.

The term "Civil Service Act" refers to an act of Congress "to regulate and improve the Civil Service of the United States," approved January 16, 1883, which gave the power to the President to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three persons, not more than two of whom shall be adherents of the same party, as a commission, with authority to prescribe regulations in pursuance of and for the execution of the provisions of the rules and of the Civil Service Act. The act requires that the rules shall provide among other things for open competitive examinations for testing fitness of applicants for the public service, the filling of classifed positions by selections from among those passing with highest grades, an apportionment of appointments in the departments at Washington among the States and Territories, a period of probation before absolute appointment, and the prohibition of the use of official authority to coerce the political action of any person or body. The act also provides for investigations touching the enforcement of the rules promulgated, and forbids, under penalty of fine or imprisonment, or both, the solicitation by any person in the service of the United States of contributions to be used for political purposes from persons in such service, or the collection of such contributions by any person in a government building.

The terms used in the regulations are: "Classified Service," referring to all that part of the executive Civil Service of the United States included within the provisions of the act; "Grade," referring to a group of employes or positions in the classified service arranged upon a basis of duties performed without regard to salaries received; "Class," referring to a group of employes or positions in any grade arranged upon the basis of salaries received, and "Excepted Position," referring to any position within the provisions of the Civil Service Act, but excepted from the requirement of competitive examination or registration for appointment thereto.

The Executive Civil Service in 1908 embraced about 326,000 positions, with a payroll of about $200,000,000. One hundred and eighty-four thousand one hundred and seventy-eight positions are subject to competitive examination under the civil service act and rules. Of the holders of positions not subject to competition nearly 70,000 are postmasters, 4,500 pension examining surgeons, about 3.000 Indians in minor posltions in the Indian service, and about 7,000 nominees subject to confirmation by the Senate. Examinations are also now prescribed for the consular service under a board in the State Department outside the civil service rules,

Examinations are held in every State and Territory at least twice a year. They relate as nearly as possible to the duties to be performed and, wherever prac

Admissions

and Removals.

per cent.

ticable, include practical tests. No one is certified for appointment whose standing in any examination is less than 70 per cent, except soldiers and sailors having preference under Section 1,754 of the Revised Statutes, who need obtain but 65 A certificate is given to each person examined, stating whether he or she passed or failed to pass. Upon requisition of an appointing officer the commission certifies the names of three eligibles for the position desired to be filled, and from the eligibles thus certified selections are made. Provision is also made in the rules for the filling of positions by promotion, reduction, reinstatement or transfer. During the fiscal year 1905-06 117,277 persons were examined, of whom 91,345 passed and 39,050 were appointed.

Persons discharged from the military or naval service by reason of disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty who receive a rating of at least 65 are certified first for appointment. All others are required to obtain

a rating of 70 or more to become eligible. The rule barring reinstatement after a separation of one year does not apply to any person honorably discharged after service in the Civil War or the war with Spain, or his widow, or an army nurse of

either war.

The revision of the rules promulgated by President Roosevelt on March 20, 1903, contains this limitation on the power of removal: "No person shall be removed from a competitive position, except for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the public service, and for reasons given in writing, and the person whose removal is sought shall have notice and be furnished a copy thereof, and be allowed a reasonable time for personally answering the same in writing; but no examination of witnesses nor any trial or hearing shall be required except in the discretion of the officer making the removal. Copy of such reasons. notice and answer, and of the order of removal, shall be made a part of the records of the proper department or office, as shall also the reasons for any change in rank or compensation, and the commission shall upon request be furnished with copies or the originals thereof."

On October 17, 1905, President Roosevelt issued an order modifying the conditions of removal as follows: "When the President or head of an executive department is satisfied that an officer or employe in the classified service is inefficient or incapable, and that the public service will be materially improved by his removal, such removal will be made without hearing; but the cause of removal shall be stated When misconduct is committed in the view and presence of in writing and filed. the President or head of executive department, removal may be made summarily and without notice."

The rules also forbid any person in the executive Civil Service "to use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or affecting the result thereof." They provide that no discrimination shall be exercised, threatened or promised by any person in the executive Civil Service against or in favor of an applicant, eligible or employe in the classified service because of his political or

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religious opinions or affiliations. Persons who served in the military or naval service of the United States and were discharged by reason of disabilities resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty have under the rules a certain preference. They are released from all maximum age limitation, are eligible for appointment at a grade of 65 (while all others are obliged to obtain a grade of 70), and are certified to appointing officers before non-veterans. By two executive orders, one of July 3, 1902, and the other of March 26, 1903, President Roosevelt directed that appointments of all unclassified laborers in departments in Washington be made in accordance with registration tests for fitness, and extended those tests to laborers and workmen in the government employment in such other large cities as might be agreed on by heads of departments and the Civil Service Commission.

In addition to the home service, the commission holds examinations for positions in the Isthmus of Panama Canal zone, in the Philippines, Porto Rico and Hawaii. Besides examinations for positions in the classified service, the commission also holds examinations for entrance to the Naval Academy, the municipal government of the District of Columbia, including the office of the Recorder of Deeds, and for laborers in the departments at Washington and in the large cities of the country. Appointments of unclassified laborers in the departments at Washington and in the large cities under executive order are required to be made in accordance with regulations restricting appointment to applicants who are rated highest in physical condition. The system, however, is outside the Civil Service act and rules.

In pursuance of an act of Congress approved April 12, 1900, the civil authority of the United States succeeded the military in Porto Rico. Inasmuch as the ex

In Porto Rico and Hawali.

ecutive officers and employes under this act became a part of the executive Civil Service of the United States, they were held to come within the operations of the Civil Service act and rules. There are approximately 301 federal positions, of which 152 are subject to competitive educational examination, 81 subject to competitive registration, 20 are excepted and 48 are not subject to classification. In Hawaii the same classes of positions are embraced within the classified Civil Service as are included in that service in other Territories.

On September 19, 1900, the United States Philippine Commission passed an "act for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest Civil Service in the Philippine Islands." The act provides for a Civil SerIn the Philippines. vice Board of three persons, which is authorized to prepare rules for appointments and promotions according to merit and by competitive examination as far as practicable. The act applies with few exceptions to all appointments of civilians to positions under the civil government, and vacancies in the highest positions must be filled by promotion. On November 30, 1900, the President issued an order directing the United States Civil Service Commission to render such assistance as may be practicable to the Philippine Civil Service Board. In accordance with this order the commission examined 1,174 persons for the Philippine service during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, and 534 during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903 These examinations were for positions requiring professional, technical, scientific or special clerical ability, as natives are appointed to all positions for which they are competent. The revised Civil Service rules provide that those who enter the Philippine Service are eligible for transfer to the home service after three years' employment in the Philippines.

POSTAL LAWS-GENERAL POSTAL INFORMATION.

Classes of Domestic Mail Matter.-Domestic mail is divided into four classes, as follows:

First Class-Letters, postal cards, private mailing cards and matter wholly or partly in writing, whether sealed or unsealed (except manuscript copy accompanying proof sheets or corrected proof sheets of the same), and all matter sealed or otherwise closed against inspection. Rates of postage-Two cents per ounce or fraction thereof. Postal cards, one cent each. "Post Cards" with written messages, conforming approximately to government postal cards in quality and weight and to the regulations prescribed by the Postmaster General, one cent each. On "drop" letters, two cents per ounce or fraction thereof, when mailed at letter carrier offices, or when mailed at offices which are not letter carrier offices, if rural free delivery has been established and the persons addressed can be served by rural carrier. The only drop letters entitled to the one cent drop letter rate of postage are those deposited in post offices where neither letter carrier nor rural delivery service has been established and those deposited in postoffices where rural delivery service has been established, and the persons addressed cannot be served by rural carrier, because they reside beyond the limits of the rural delivery service.

Second Class-Newspapers and publications issued at stated intervals as often as four times a year, bearing a date of issue and numbered consecutively, issued from a known office of publication, and formed of printed paper sheets, without board, cloth, leather or other substantial binding. Such publications must be originated and published for the dissemination of information of a public character, or devoted to literature, the sciences, art, or some special industry. They must have a legitimate list of subscribers equal to 50 per cent of the number of copies regularly issued and circulated, and must not be designed primarily for advertising purposes, or for free circulation, or at nominal rates, or have the characteristics of books. Rate of postage-For publishers and news agents, one cent a pound or fraction thereof. For others than publishers and news agents, one cent for each four ounces or fraction thereof.

Third class-Books, periodicals and matter wholly in print (not included in second class), proof sheets, corrected proof sheets and manuscript copy accompanying the

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