icals, stationery, hardware; cost of special instruction of officers detailed as instructors; extra-duty pay to soldiers necessarily employed for periods not less than ten days as artificers on work in addition to and not strictly in line with their military duties, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, draftsmen, printers, lithographers, photographers, engine drivers, telegraph operators, teamsters, wheelwrights, masons, machinists, painters, overseers, laborers; office furniture and fixtures, machinery, and unforeseen expenses, $10,000.

For purchase of engines, generators, motors, machines, measuring instruments, special apparatus and materials for the division of the enlisted specialists, $7,000.

For purchase of special apparatus and materials and for experimental purposes for the department of artillery and land defense, $3,000.

For purchase of engines, generators, motors, machines, measuring instruments, special apparatus and materials for the department of engineering and mine defense, $5,500.

For purchase and binding of professional books of recent date treating of military and scientific subjects for library and for use of school, $2,500. Act of Mar. 2, 1913 (37 Stat. 705).

*

*

1186. The Mounted Service School. That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to establish upon the military reservation at Fort Riley, a permanent school of instruction for drill and practice for the cavalry and light artillery service of the Army of the United States, and which shall be the depot to which all recruits for such service shall be sent; and for the purpose of construction of such quarters, barracks, and stables as may be required to carry into effect the purposes of this act the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.1 Act. of Jan. 29, 1887 (24 Stat. 372).

1187. Leaves of absence of instructors at service schools. The provisions of section thirteen hundred and thirty, Revised Statutes, authorizing leaves of absence to certain officers of the Military Academy, during the period of the suspension of the ordinary academic studies, without deduction from pay and allowances, be, and are hereby, extended to include officers on duty exclusively as instructors at the service schools on approval of the officer in charge of said schools. Act of Mar. 23, 1910 (36 Stat. 244).

'The Cavalry and Light Artillery School was established in pursuance of the act of January 29, 1887, by General Orders, No. 17, Adjutant-General's Office, of March 14, 1892. See also in connection with this school the acts of October 2, 1888 (25 Stat. 534), and March 2, 1889 (id., 966). This school has been superseded by the "Mounted Service School at Fort Riley, Kans.," and provision has been made therefor under that title beginning with the act of March 3, 1909 (35 Stat. 733). (See par. 1183, ante.)

1188. Prizes for graduates from Army schools for bakers and cooks. For providing prizes to be established by the Secretary of War for enlisted men of the Army who graduate from the Army schools for bakers and cooks, the total amount of such prizes at the various schools not to exceed nine hundred dollars per annum, dollars. Act of Mar. 2, 1907 (34 Stat. 1166).

'A similar provision has occurred in the several annual Army appropriation acts since this enactment.

1189. Contracts under direction of Secretary of War.-All purchases and contracts for supplies or services for the military and naval service shall be made by or under the direction of the chief officers of the Departments of War and of the Navy, respectively.2

1

1The United States in its political capacity may, within the sphere of the constitutional powers confided to it, and through the instrumentality of the departments to which those powers are intrusted, enter into contracts not prohibited by law and appropriate to the just exercise of these powers; no legislative authorization is required, such power being incident to the general right of sovereignty. (Dugan v. U. S., 3 Wheaton, 172; U. S. v. Tingey, 5 Peters, 114; U. S. v. Bradley, 10 id., 343; U. S. v. Linn, 15 id., 290; Cotton v. U. S., 11 Howard, 229; Fowler v. U, S., 3 Ct. Cls., 43; Allen v. U. S., id., 91.)

2

Under this statute the Secretary of War is the source of all authority to make contracts or purchases in all branches of the military establishment. "Whether he makes the contracts himself, or confers the authority upon others, it is his duty to see that they are properly and faithfully executed; and if he becomes satisfied that contracts which he has made himself are being fraudulently executed, or those made by others were made in disregard of the rights of the Government, or with the intent to defraud it, or are being unfaithfully executed, it is his duty to interpose, arrest the execution, and adopt effectual measures to protect the Government against the dishonesty of subordinates." (U. S. v. Adams, 7 Wall., 463, 477; Parish v. U. S., 8 Wall., 489.)

The head of an Executive Department may, when not prejudicial to the interests of the Government, or for its benefit, alter or modify the terms of a contract made under his direction, but his subordinates may not take such action without express authority from him. (2 Comp. Dec., 182.)

The laws governing the purchase of supplies for the Army are equally applicable whether the purchases are made from funds received from the sale of stores or from the regular appropriations available therefor. (3 Dig. 2d Comp. Dec., 287.)

The Secretary of War has authority to extend the time for the execution of a contract made on behalf of his department when the interests of the Government are not thereby prejudiced, and particularly when its noncompletion within the time limited is not due to the negligence of the contractor. (2 Comp. Dec., 242; Solomon v. U. S., 19 Wall., 17; U. S. v. Corliss Steam Engine Co., 91 U. S.. 321; XVIII Opin. Att. Gen., 101; 2 Comp. Dec., 635.)

Approval of contract by superior authority.-Where a contract in terms "is subject to the approval of the Quartermaster General," approval is a condition precedent to the legal effect of the agreement. (Darragh v U. S., 33 Ct. Cls., 377; Monroe & Richardson v. U. S., 35 id., 199; Cathell v. U. S., 46 id., 368; Monroe v. U. S., 184 U. S., 524.) The refusal of the Qartermaster General to approve a contract after work has been begun by the contractor is not a rescission. The contractor who begins work before approval does so at his own risk; and if he is paid for the work done, he can not recover profits as if there had been a breach. (Id.) Such approval need not be in writing. (Speed's Case, 8 Wallace, 77.)

Government contracts, by whom made, binding force, etc.-Where a public agent acts in the line of his duty and by legal authority, his contracts made