SOLICITOR GENERAL.

The Solicitor General assists the Attorney General in the execution of his duties and, by special provision of law, exercises all such duties in case of a vacancy in the office of the Attorney General, or his absence or disability.

Under the direction of the Attorney General, The Solicitor General has special charge of the business of and appears for and represents the Government in the Supreme Court of the United States.

When requested by the Attorney General, the Solicitor General prepares opinions rendered to the President and the heads of the executive departments, and may conduct and argue any case in which the United States is interested, in any court of the United States, or may attend to the interests of the Government in any State court or elsewhere, conferring with and directing the law officers of the Government throughout the country in the performance of their duties when occasion requires. (See secs. 347 and 349, R. S.)

ASSISTANT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.

The Assistant to the Attorney General has special charge of all suits and other matters arising under the Federal antitrust laws and performs such duties as may be required of him by the Attorney General.

In addition he has, under current assignments, charge of Alien Property Custodian matters and also investigations and prosecutions of alleged fraud in war contracts, as well as Shipping Board litigation (excepting admiralty). (Originally authorized under act of March 3, 1903, sec. 1, 32 Stat. 1062. Salary increased to $9,000 per annum by act of August 22, 1913, 38 Stat. 218.)

Mr. TINKHAM. In relation to Shipping Board and Alien Property Custodian matters, he only takes jurisdiction and action when those matters are referred to him by those establishments?

Mr. HOLLAND. Yes; when referred by the Alien Property Custodian and the Shipping Board. My note here also refers to "alleged frauds in war contracts." The war fraud contracts are, in fact, handled directly under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General, the detailed part of that work having been by him assigned to what we call our war transactions section, which is presided over by three judges to whom we refer as the advisory council. The advisory council, some member of which, I think, appeared before this committee at the last hearing, has general jurisdiction over war-fraud matters or war-contract matters. Some of them are alleged to be frauds and some are not.

They are all subject to the order of the Attorney General, and for this reason, if I may explain, it was contemplated originally that one attorney would be put in charge of that work of the War Transactions Section, but the Attorney General, being unable to get an outstanding attorney who would handle that matter as he thought it ought to be handled with the money available, after he rested under the delay incident to his efforts to secure such a man, finally, in order to get the matter started, said:

I will take personal charge of that myself, but, since I can not take personal charge of the details, I will put in three judges down there to act as a sort of court to pass on those matters, and they can bring any matters regarding which they are in doubt to me for my consideration.

Therefore, the Attorney General has been paying more especial attention to that business than to some other work in the department which is regularly assigned to the Assistant Attorneys General. While the statute provides that the Solicitor General shall be the Acting Attorney General in the absence or inability of the Attorney General to act, as a matter of detail in our department and as a matter of convenience, also, in the absence of the Attorney General, and by agreement between the Solicitor General and the Assistant to the Attorney General, that work has been divided.

General Beck, who is the Solicitor General, has not had time, because of his engagements in the Supreme Court, to pay attention to matters of detail requiring the action of the Acting Attorney General; so that, by an arrangement between him and Mr. Seymour, who is the assistant to the Attorney General, the Solicitor General signs as Acting Attorney General all opinions in matters in which technically must be signed by the Acting Attorney General, but some other matters of detail have been handled by Mr. Seymour as Acting Attorney General. That is by virtue of an agreement and understanding with the Attorney General. I make that statement because sometimes statements have appeared in the papers to the effect that Mr. Seymour was the Acting Attorney General, whereas the statute requires that the Solicitor General must be the Acting Attorney General. That is simply a mistake in the papers.

ASSISTANT ATTORNEYS GENERAL.

Now, we have the seven Assistant Attorneys General, all having the same rank, and they are heads of different departments. Mr. OLIVER. Suppose you name them.

Mr. HOLLAND. They are Assistant Attorneys General Lovett, Wells, Davis, Ottinger, Hoppin, Willebrandt, and Holland.

Mr. OLIVER. Will you give the divisions or sections that they represent, with a statement of the business allotted to each section? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. I will read the statement in the directory.

The several Assistant Attorneys General assist the Attorney General in the performance of his duties and when directed prepare legal opinions and under assignment by the Solicitor General assist in the argument of cases in the Supreme Court. In addition thereto each, under the organization of the department, has special duties, respectively, as follows:

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL.

The position of Administrative Assistant Attorney General is now occupied by Mr. Rush L. Holland.

The administrative assistant exercises, by order of the Attorney General, supervision over all of the major units of organization of the department, including the division of investigation, general agent, appointment clerk, disbursing clerk, superintendent of prisons, pardon attorney, and the chief clerk; and also general supervision, as above, over United States attorneys and marshals.

This office has charge of authorizations for appointments and the salaries pertaining thereto, when not otherwise fixed by law, also

promotions and demotions both in the department and the field, as well as all of the departmental administrative matters.

That is a very general statement, and if the committee should desire to make inquiry regarding any details of this office, I will be glad to explain further.

Mr. SHREVE. I believe there are no questions.

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.

Mr. HOLLAND. The next is the Assistant Attorney General in charge of claims against the United States, and that position is now occupied by Hon. Robert H. Lovett.

This assistant has charge generally of the defense of all claims against the United States in the court of claims and in the district courts. When assigned thereto by the Solicitor General, he is also charged with the preparation of briefs and arguments of such cases on appeal in the Supreme Court of the United States.

One of the most important branches of this work is the defense of claims against the Government involving the use by it of patented inventions, trade-marks, and copyrights, also interference proceedings in patent matters and claims arising under the settlement of war contracts.

I might add there that the patent division of the subdivision of our work over there is very important, and really amounts to a separate division unto itself. At this time it is in the hands of Mr. Harry K. Knight.

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF PUBLIC LAND MATTERS, PUBLIC LANDS DIVISION.

Mr. HOLLAND. The position of Assistant Attorney General in charge of public land matters is now occupied by Mr. Ira K. Wells, who, by the way, came into the Department of Justice the other day, succeeding Mr. Riter.

This assistant has charge of all suits and proceedings under the public land laws, including those instituted to set aside conveyances of allotted lands, cases involving water rights, reclamation and irrigation projects, oil lands, and forest reserves, boundary disputes, Indian litigation, and also condemnation proceedings instituted by the Government.

He also has charge of the examination of titles to lands acquired by the United States and titles and lands in litigation in the District of Columbia. (See act of July 6, 1914, 38 Stat. 497.)

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF ADMIRALTY, FINANCE,

ETC.

The position of Assistant Attorney General in charge of admiralty, finance, etc., is now occupied by Mr. Albert Ottinger.

This assistant has charge of litigation involving admiralty, finance, foreign relations, and insular affairs, including civil proceedings under the national-banking act, the Federal reserve act, the Federal farm loan act, and other like litigation.

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF CRIMINAL, MATTERS.

The Assistant Attorney General in charge of criminal matters is Mr. E. J. Davis.

This assistant has charge of criminal cases generally, including matters involving criminal practice and procedure, such as questions concerning indictments, grand juries, search warrants, passports, alien enemies, extradition, etc.; also cases involving crimes on the high seas, crimes arising under the national-banking act and under the naturalization laws, and generally directs district attorneys with respect to the conduct of criminal cases.

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF PROHIBITION, TAXATION, COMMERCE, ETC.

This position is now occupied by Assistant Attorney General Mabel W. Willebrandt.

This assistant is specifically charged with the general conduct of cases under the national prohibition act, and also those involving taxation, war-risk insurance, Federal employees' compensation, and civil pensions; also minor regulations of commerce, such as those regulating hours of service, safety appliances on railroads, quarantine acts, pure food, meat inspection, game bird, insecticide, and fungicide acts, etc.

This division also has pretty general control and direction of criminal matters arising under the Volstead Act, and here is an instance that demonstrates the importance of these different divisions working in close harmony, which they endeavor to do, because very frequently a matter will arise which will have some branches coming under one assistant and some other features coming under another assistant, which makes it necessary for them to confer and reach some joint conclusion as to the action to be taken.

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF CUSTOMS MATTERS.

The Assistant Attorney General in charge of customs matters is Mr. William W. Hoppin, whose headquarters are not in the Department of Justice here in Washington, but in the city of New York, where most of the work of that division lies.

This assistant has charge of protecting the interests of the Government in matters of reappraisement and classification of imported goods before the several boards of United States General Appraisers and the Court of Customs Appeals.

CHIEF CLERK AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT.

The position of chief clerk and administrative assistant is now held by Mr. G. E. Strong.

Under the Assistant Attorney General in charge of administrative matters, the chief clerk and administrative assistant has direct administrative control over the clerical and subclerical forces; responsibility for the enforcement of general departmental regulations; expenditures from contingent appropriations; the purchase

and distribution of departmental and field supplies; the preparation of the annual report of the Attorney General and other publications and requisitions upon the Public Printer. He also performs such legal and administrative functions as may be assigned.

Here, I would like to say that the present incumbent, Mr. Strong, is directly under me, and, being a lawyer, he devotes a good deal of time as my assistant in briefing matters and assisting in the preparation of opinions. He also assists in digesting reports, which we receive from time to time, or obtain through our bureau of investigation regarding the activities of marshals, deputy marshals, United States attorneys, etc.

GENERAL AGENT.

The position of general agent is now held by Mr. J. D. Harris.

The office of the general agent has charge under the direction of the administrative Assistant Attorney General, of the division of accounts, the field examiners, estimates, deficiencies, and all fiscal matters generally of the department and the courts.

Authorizations for the payment of departmental expenses as well as those of the courts, including office expenses and salaries of deputy marshals, deputy clerks, etc., are prepared in or authorized by the office of the general agent, which also has charge of the approval of leases of court rooms and offices, and the advancement of and accounting for judiciary funds.

This office supervises and directs the examination and investigation conducted by the field examiners of the offices and records of Federal courts, which involves the methods of keeping such records, the taxation of costs, the accounting for fees, judgments, fines, etc., as well as the accounting for funds of private litigants, and the conduct generally of court officials in connection with the discharge of official duties. The general agent is the budget officer of the Department of Justice and the estimates of appropriations and deficiencies are prepared under his direction for submission to the Budget Bureau. He has charge of the introduction of testimony before the Appropriations Committees of Congress with respect to the estimates of the department, and, with other officials of the department, appears before said committee in defense of said estimates.

The division of accounts, which is in charge of the general agent, operates under and by virtue of specific statutes. The division has charge, among other matters, of the preparation of pay rolls and the examination and audit of all accounts paid from appropriations for the department and the Federal courts, aggregating approximately $18,000,000 per annum.

There is compiled in the division of accounts the statistical information required by law showing the business transacted in the courts of the United States, including bankruptcy statistics and fiscal reports relating to expenditures for the department and the courts published in the annual report of the Attorney General.

Considered as a whole, the office of the general agent is the financial examining, auditing, and statistical unit of the Department of Justice and the United States courts.