such records (under the company seal, if there be one), showing that the signer is properly vested with authority to receive and receipt for money due the company. If payment in currency or by check to bearer is made to an individual or a copartnership doing business under a company title, the receipt must be signed with the company name, followed by the autograph signature of the individual proprietor or of one of the members of the firm with the words "proprietor" or proprietors" appended thereto.

one of the

If payment in currency or by check to bearer is made to a copartnership doing business as such, the receipt must be signed with the usual firm signature by one of the members of the firm, who will be required to append his own signature as "one of the firm."

If payment in currency or by check to bearer is made to an individual creditor, the receipt must be signed by him in person.

647. If payment is made by check to order of any company (incorporated or unincorporated) or firm or individual by name, and the fact that the check has been so drawn is stated on the voucher, giving its number, date, amount, and United States depository on which drawn, the receipt to the voucher may be signed by an officer, attorney, or agent of the company, or by an attorney or agent of the firm or individual, stating the capacity in which he signs, without filing with the voucher evidence of his authority to sign. The disbursing officer in all such cases will deliver the check to such person only as he is satisfied is authorized by the principal to receipt the voucher and receive the check.

648. Receipts for small sums for occasional service paid to corporations, such as railroad, telegraph, turnpike, transfer, express, steamboat, hotel, newspaper, and ice companies, may be signed by the local agent in charge of the business of the company at the place where the service is rendered or where it begins or terminates, and the certificate of the officer making payment that the person to whom payment was thus made was then the local agent of the company in charge of its business at the place designated will be sufficient evidence of the agent's authority to receive and receipt for the money paid..

649. When an account is presented by an individual who is not known to the disbursing officer, the latter will require him to be identified.

650. The signature to the receipt and the name of the person or business firm as entered at the head of an account must be literally alike.

651. When a signature is not written by the hand of the party it must be witnessed by a disinterested party, a commissioned officer when practicable.

652. In final statements, receipts for money, and papers of like character, money amounts will, in all cases, be written out in full and also expressed by figures in parentheses. This requirement does not apply to pay rolls of military organizations and pay rolls of other descriptions.

653. Fees of civil officers for administering oaths in matters of military administration (where the services of judge-advocates of departments, or of courts-martial, or trial officers of summary courts were not obtainable) will be paid from the appropriation applicable to the subject-matter of the oaths, and in case there be no appropriation applicable thereto the fees will be paid by the Quartermaster's Department. 654. Disbursing officers will not issue vouchers for unpaid accounts as due bills against the United States, but a certified statement of personal services and of wages due may be given to a discharged employee who for want of funds was not paid at time of discharge.

655. When applicable, the following rules for the computation of time in payment of services will be observed:

The annual compensation of officers, agents, and employees of the United States for services rendered shall be divided into 12 equal installments, one of which shall be the pay for each calendar month's service rendered by the same person without

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regard to the actual number of days in said month, and in making payment for a fractional part of a month one-thirtieth of one such installment, or of a monthly compensation, shall be the rate to be paid for each day.

In making payments for a fractional part of a month where service has been performed therein by two or more persons holding the same office or place, one-thirtieth of one month's installment of annual compensation or of any monthly compensation shall be the rate to be paid for each day of service, except for the 31st day of any month, for which nothing can be paid, provided the full salary is taken up in making payments for service accruing before the 31st.

To illustrate: A person serving during the whole of a thirty-one-day month will receive the full monthly salary, and no more, or the one-twelfth of an annual salary, and no more.

A person serving during the whole of February, a twenty-eight-day month, shall likewise receive the full monthly salary, or the one-twelfth of the annual salary. A person appointed on the 31st day of a month will receive no salary or compensation for said day's service, if the full salary has been earned by his predecessors. A person serving from the 1st to and including the 15th day of February will receive the fifteen-thirtieths of a month's salary.

A person succeeding him on the 16th day of February and holding until and including the 28th day of February will receive thirteen-thirtieths of a month's salary, and in leap year fourteen-thirtieths, if he serves on the 29th.

In employment by the month the monthly compensation shall be treated the same as one of the twelve installments where the rate of payment is annual.

In computing the wages of persons employed at a per diem allowance, payment will be made for the actual number of days employed, and the day on which service begins and the day on which it ends will be allowed in the computation.

When services are rendered from one given date to another, the account will state clearly whether both dates are included.

For commutation of subsistence at a per diem rate, payment will be made for the actual number of days.

656. Disbursing officers, except those serving in the Philippine Islands, will not settle with heirs, executors, or administrators except by authority of the proper bureau of the War Department, and upon accounts that have been duly audited and certified by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury.

In the Philippine Islands disbursing officers may settle direct with executors or administrators upon accounts accruing in those islands, which are accompanied by the duly attested copies of the decrees appointing said executors or administrators, in conformity with the civil laws of the archipelago governing such matters. The settlement thus made by any disbursing officer is, however, subject to review by the accounting officers of the Treasury when his accounts shall come before them for adjustment.

PECUNIARY RESPONSIBILITY OF OFFICERS.

657. An officer will have credit for an expenditure of money made in obedience to the order of his commanding officer. Every order issued by any military authority which may cause an expenditure of money in a staff department will be given in writing. One copy thereof will be forwarded by the officer receiving it to the head of his department, and the other will be filed by the disbursing officer with his voucher for the disbursement. If the expenditure be disallowed, it will be charged to the officer who ordered it.

658. If a payment made on the certificate of an officer as to the facts is afterwards disallowed for error of fact in the certificate, it will pass to the credit of the disbursing officer and be charged to the officer who gave the certificate; but the disbursing officer can not protect himself in an erroneous payment made without due care by charging lack of care against the officer who gave the certificate.

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ADMINISTRATIVE EXAMINATION OF MONEY ACCOUNTS.

659. The chief of a bureau to which accounts pertain will cause each account current, with its accompanying papers, to be examined and transmitted to the Treasury Department, with his decision indorsed thereon, within sixty days from the date on which such account was received at his office. He will bring to the notice of the Secretary of War all matters of account that require or merit it. When a suspension or disallowance is made, the bureau will notify the officer that he may have an opportunity to submit explanations or take an appeal to the Secretary of War.

660. In case of discovered error or disallowance in an account upon its examination by the proper authority, the officer responsible will, upon notification thereof, unless able to furnish evidence to correct or remove the same, make the proper correction in his next account current, and refer therein to the particular voucher in which the error occurred or the disallowance was made.

ARTICLE LIV.

PUBLIC PROPERTY ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

661. Accountability and responsibility devolve upon any person to whom public property is intrusted and who is required to make returns therefor. Responsibility without accountability devolves upon one to whom such property is intrusted, but who is not required to make returns therefor. Thus, with respect to quartermaster's supplies intrusted to a company or detachment commander, responsibility but not accountability attaches.

662. The officer in permanent or temporary command of a post or station is responsible for the security of all public property of the command, whether in use or in store, and, although for purposes of periodical accountability to the War Department it may all have been officially receipted for by subordinate officers, the commanding officer is nevertheless responsible and pecuniarily liable with them for the strict observance of the regulations in regard to its preservation, use, and issue. He will take care that all storehouses are properly guarded, that only reliable agents are employed, and only trustworthy enlisted men are detailed for duty in them or in connection with property.

663. If an officer in charge of the public property of a command (not properly pertaining to a company or detachment) is, by order, leave of absence, or any other cause separated from it, the commanding officer, or an officer designated by him, will receipt and account for it.

664. If it becomes necessary to remove all officers from the charge of public property, the commanding officer will take measures to secure it and report the circumstances to the proper authority.

665. A company or detachment commander is responsible for all public property pertaining to his company or detachment, and will not transfer his accountability therefor to a successor during periods of absence of less than a month unless so ordered by competent authority; when such absence exceeds a month, the question of responsibility is settled by the proper authority.

666. The officer in temporary or permanent command of a company or detachment is responsible for all public property used by or in possession of the command, whether he receipts for it or not.

667. The property responsibility of a company commander can not be transferred to enlisted men. It is his duty to attend personally to its security, and to superintend issues himself or cause them to be superintended by a commissioned officer.

668. An officer will not when it can be avoided be detailed for duty which will separate him from public property for which he is accountable.

669. A transfer of public property involves a change of possession and account

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THE PUBLIC PROPERTY.

ability. In ordinary cases of transfer the transferring officer will furnish the receiving officer with invoices in duplicate, accurately enumerating the property, and the latter will return duplicate receipts. In cases in which complete transfer of property occurs, instead of exchanging separate invoices and receipts, as above provided, the receiving officer may make direct entry on the final return (both original and duplicate) of his predecessor that all the property thereon enumerated as on hand and transferred to successor was received by him. The transferring officer may make similar entry on the return of his successor, stating that all the stores there taken up as received from such predecessor were actually turned over by him.

670. When an officer to whom stores have been forwarded believes them to have miscarried he will promptly inform the issuing and forwarding officers.

671. If an officer to whom public property has been transferred fails to receipt for it within a reasonable time, the invoicing officer will report the facts to the commanding officer of the former for action. Copies of all papers relating to the transaction will be filed with his returns.

672. Upon the receipt of public property by an officer he will make careful examination to ascertain its quality and condition, but will not break original packages until issues are to be made, unless he has reason to believe the contents defective. Should he discover defect or shortage, he will apply for a survey to determine it and fix the responsibility. Should he consider the property unfit for use, he will submit inventories in triplicate and request the action of an inspector. The same rule will be observed in regard to packages when first opened for issue, and for property damaged or missing while in store.

673. When packages of supplies are opened for the first time, whether because of apparent defect or for issue, the officer responsible or some other commissioned officer will be present and verify the contents by actual weight, count, or measurement, as circumstances may require, and in case of deficiency or damage will make written report of the facts to the post commander. If only the officer responsible be present and make the report, he will secure the sworn statements in writing of one or more civilians or enlisted men regarding the condition of the property when examined. Should a survey be ordered, the post commander will refer to the surveying officer the report made by the examining officer, together with the sworn statements. At arsenals and depots, where there are persons whose special duty it is to receive and issue public stores, the reports herein required may be made by them instead of officers of the Army.

674. The giving or taking of receipts in blank for public property is prohibited. 675. Supplies procured by one bureau will not be furnished to another except by special authority of the Secretary of War, except in the Philippines Division, where the authority of the division commander is sufficient. When furnished and restored in kind they will be delivered at the post from which received, or at such other post as department commanders or chiefs of bureaus concerned may determine. If the transaction is between two bureaus of the War Department, payment will be made at the contract or invoice price of the stores. When between a bureau of the War Department and any other Executive Department, the amount to be paid will include the contract or invoice price and cost of transportation, and in case of subsistence stores, ten per cent additional to cover wastage in transit.

676. In no case will means of transportation or other property of any branch of the military service be taken as a part of the outfit of surveying or exploring expeditions for which Congress has made appropriations, without the express authority of the Secretary of War.

677. When it is impracticable for an officer to personally superintend his issues— as may be the case with one charged with disbursements, or the care of depots-he should choose with great caution the agent to whom he intrusts the duty.

678. The keys of storerooms or chests will not be intrusted to enlisted men or

PUBLIC PROPERTY-PROPERTY DAMAGED, LOST, ETC. 103

civilians without great vigilance on the part of the accountable officer and a resort to every reasonable precaution, including frequent personal inspections, to prevent loss or damage.

679. An officer in charge of public property in use or in store will endeavor by timely repairs to keep it in serviceable condition. For this purpose the necessary means will be allowed on requisition, and property in store so repaired will be issued. 680. All movable public property will, if practicable, be conspicuously branded "U.S." before being used.

681. Public property will not be used nor will labor hired for the Government be employed for any private purpose whatsoever, except as authorized in these regulations.

682. Unserviceable property is, with reference to its disposition, divided into classes as follows:

1. Property worn out in the service and which has no salable value.

2. Property worn out by fair wear and tear in the service which presumably has some salable value.

3. Property which has been rendered unserviceable from causes other than fair wear and tear in the service.

Property of the first class may be submitted to a surveying officer and disposed of as indicated in paragraph 720, or, if worn out by fair wear and tear in the service, to an inspector without prior action of a surveying officer.

Property of the second class will be submitted to an inspector without prior action of a surveying officer.

Property of the third class must be submitted to a surveying officer, and unless destroyed under paragraph 720 will subsequently be submitted to an inspector, and the inventory and inspection reports must be accompanied by the report of the surveying officer.

683. Empty barrels, boxes, crates, and other packages, together with metal turnings, scrap metals, ground bone, and other waste products which accumulate at arsenals, depots, and military posts, which are unsuitable for the public service, will be disposed of in the manner prescribed for property condemned and ordered sold in paragraph 684. At arsenals and depots where such accumulations have considerable money value proposals will be invited for specific lots and quantities, or for the accumulations of definite periods, as the head of the department to which the property pertains may deem best suited to the public interest.

684. Military stores and public property condemned and ordered sold will be disposed of for cash at auction, or to the highest bidder on sealed proposals, on due public notice, and in such market as the public interests may require. The officer making the sale will suspend it when in his opinion better prices can be obtained, except in the case of condemned animals, the disposition of which is provided for in paragraph 1079. The auctioneer's certified detailed account of the sale, and the vouchers for the expenses attending it, will be reported on the proper forms to the chief of the bureau to which the property pertained, and a copy of the auctioneer's detailed account of the sale will be furnished the Inspector-General.

685. Public property which has been condemned, or the issue price of which has been reduced as the result of a survey or inspection, will not be purchased by an officer who was responsible therefor at the time of condemnation or reduction of price, nor by an officer who bore any part in such condemnation or reduction.

PROPERTY DAMAGED, LOST, DESTROYED, ETC.-REWARDS.

686. Causes of damage to, and of loss and destruction of, military property are classified as follows:

1. Unavoidable causes, being those over which the responsible officers have no control, occurring (a) in the ordinary course of service, or (b) as incident to an active campaign.