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PROPERTY DAMAGED, LOST, ETC. -REWARDS.

2. Avoidable causes, being those due to carelessness, willfulness, or neglect. 687. Officers responsible for property will be charged for any damage to or loss or destruction of the same, and the money value deducted from their monthly pay, unless they show, to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War, by their own affidavits or certificates, or by one or more depositions, that the damage, loss, or destruction was occasioned by unavoidable causes and without fault or neglect on their part.

688. The proper officers to administer oaths in the administration of the affairs of the Army (except when otherwise specially provided) are judge-advocates of departments, judge-advocates of courts-martial, the trial officers of summary courts, and in the cases of investigations, the officer detailed to conduct the investigation, or the recorder, and if there be none, the presiding officer of any board appointed for such purpose. When none of these are within reach and available, recourse must be had to a notary public or other civil officer competent to administer oaths for general purposes.

689. If an article of public property be lost or damaged by the neglect or fault of any officer or soldier, he shall pay the value thereof, or the cost of repairs, at such rates as may be determined by a survey of the property.

690. The amount charged against an enlisted man on the pay rolls on account of loss or damage of, or repairs to, Government property shall not exceed the value of the article or cost of repairs; and such charge will only be made on conclusive proof, and never without a survey, if the soldier demand it. He will be informed at the time of signing the pay rolls that his signature will be regarded as an acknowledgment of the justice of the charge.

691. When a deserter carries away public property, or when such property is lost through his desertion, its value will be determined by a survey and charged against him on the next pay rolls, as prescribed in paragraph 114 of these regulations.

692. If articles of public property are embezzled, or lost or damaged through neglect, by a civilian employee, the value or damage as ascertained (and by a survey if necessary) shall be charged to him and set against any pay or money due him.

693. Whenever information is received that animals or other property belonging to the military service of the United States are unlawfully in the possession of any person not in the military service, the quartermaster or other proper officer will promptly cause proceedings to be instituted and diligently prosecuted before the civil authorities for the recovery of the property; and, if the same has been stolen, for the arrest, trial, conviction, and due punishment of the offender and his accomplices.

694. Upon satisfactory information that such United States property, unlawfully in the possession of any parties, is likely to be taken away, concealed, or otherwise disposed of before the necessary proceedings can be had in the civil tribunals for its recovery, the post or detachment commander will at once cause the same to be seized, and will hold it subject to any legal proceedings that may be instituted by other parties. Persons caught in the act of stealing public property will be summarily arrested by the troops and turned over to the civil authorities for trial.

695. When public property has been lost or stolen and the officer responsible therefor has failed to get possession of it by the ordinary means, the post commander may authorize the quartermaster to offer a reward for its recovery, such reward not to exceed one-fifth of the value of the property lost or stolen, and in no case shall it exceed $50. If the property has been stolen, the reward shall include payment for such information as the claimant possesses in regard to the larceny and recovery of the property as may lead to a conviction of the guilty party.

696. The expenses necessarily incurred by any action under the three preceding paragraphs, with the exception of attorney's fees, will be paid by the Quartermaster's Department, upon proper vouchers approved by the department commander. Officers will promptly report their action to department headquarters.

PROPERTY ACCOUNTABILITY PROPERTY RETURNS. 105

PROPERTY ACCOUNTABILITY.

697. All public property, whether paid for or not, must be accounted for on the proper returns. All public property unaccounted for when discovered by an accountable officer will be taken up and the usual returns rendered therefor. When discovered by officers not accountable for that class of property, or by enlisted men or civilian employees, they shall report the same as soon as practicable to an officer so accountable, who will take it up and account for it. In the absence of such an accountable officer the senior officer, enlisted man, or civilian employee present will take charge of such property and report it to the commander of the department wherein it may be located with a view to its proper disposition.

698. An officer accountable for the public property of two or more companies will account for that pertaining to each, except quartermaster supplies, on a separate return.

699. Accountability for public property will not be transferred to enlisted men, except to sergeants of the post noncommissioned staff at ungarrisoned posts and sergeants of the Signal Corps or enlisted men acting as such.

700. Vouchers for issues or expenditures of property not authorized by regulations will be accompanied by copies of the orders directing the issues or expenditures. 701. An officer will have credit for an expenditure of property made in obedience to the order of his commanding officer. If the expenditure is disallowed, it will be charged to the officer who ordered it.

702. Public property expended, lost, or destroyed in the military service must be accounted for by affidavit, or the certificate of a commissioned officer, or other satisfactory evidence.

703. When an enlisted man has, by a court-martial, been convicted of losing or damaging public property, the officer accountable for the property will send with his property return a certified copy of so much of the court-martial order as refers to the case, giving number, date, and place of issue of the order, and stating on the face of said copy the rolls on which the charges are made.

704. Should an officer or agent of the Government charged with public property fail to render the prescribed returns thereof within a reasonable time, a settlement of his accounts will be made by the proper bureau of the War Department, and the money value of the property with which he is charged will be reported against him for stoppage.

705. All returns of stores or supplies will be rendered as required by regulations or orders. Those of subsistence stores and subsistence property will be forwarded within ten days after the expiration of the accounting periods, and those of other classes of stores and property within twenty days, to the chiefs of bureaus to which they pertain.

ADMINISTRATIVE EXAMINATION OF PROPERTY RETURNS.

706. As soon as possible after the receipt of a return by the proper chief of bureau, it will be examined in his office, and the officer making the return will be notified of all errors and irregularities found therein and granted three months to correct them. Suspensions or disallowances will not be made on account of slight informalities which do not affect the validity of a voucher, but the officer's attention may be called to them. Whenever the errors have been corrected or compensation has been made for deficient articles, and the action of the bureau chief is sustained or modified by the Secretary of War, the return will be regarded as settled, and the officer who rendered it will be notified accordingly.

707. If the necessary corrections in the return be not made within the prescribed time, the facts will be reported to the Secretary of War. When it has been determined that the money value of the property for which an officer has failed to account shall be refunded to the United States, the facts will be certified to the Auditor for the War Department by the proper chief of bureau.

106

LANDS AND BUILDINGS- -SURVEYS ON PROPERTY.

ARTICLE LV.

LANDS, BUILDINGS, AND IMPROVEMENTS.

708. Land shall not be purchased for the United States except under an act of Congress authorizing the purchase, nor shall public money be expended for the erection of armories, arsenals, forts, fortifications, or permanent buildings of any description thereon, until the written opinion of the Attorney-General shall have been obtained announcing the validity of the title thereof in the Government, nor, if the land be within any State, until jurisdiction over it shall have been ceded to the United States by the legislature of the State, or such cession of jurisdiction shall have been expressly waived by Congress.

709. All papers relating to the Washington Aqueduct and public buildings and grounds in the District of Columbia will be filed in the office of the Chief of Engineers. All other deeds and papers pertaining to the title or sale of, and any lease, grant, license, or easement of, upon, or over any military reservation or other lands under the jurisdiction of the War Department will be filed in the office of the JudgeAdvocate-General. When any such papers come into the possession of any bureau, they shall within five days thereafter be transferred to the office of the JudgeAdvocate-General.

710. Permanent military buildings will be constructed only under special authority granted by an act of Congress, unless the work or labor connected therewith is performed by troops, and in such case the authority of Congress must first be obtained if the estimated cost of the building or structure exceeds $20,000.

711. Permanent barracks, quarters, or other buildings, or piers or wharves, will not be erected or constructed except by the order of the Secretary of War, and in accordance with plans approved by him; nor will any material alterations be made in public buildings unless like authority is first obtained; nor will any expenditures exceeding $500 be made upon any building or grounds at any post, fort, arsenal, or depot without the approval of the Secretary of War and upon detailed estimates submitted to him.

712. A copy of the plat of the lands at each post, fort, arsenal, and depot, furnished from the proper bureau, will be carefully preserved in the office of the commanding officer.

ARTICLE LVI.

SURVEYS ON PROPERTY.

713. Public property which has been damaged, except by fair wear and tear, or is unsuitable for the service, before being submitted to an inspector for condemnation, will be surveyed by a disinterested officer, preferably the summary court officer. 714. The surveying officer will be designated by the commanding officer of the regiment, separate battalion, post, or station. Such officer may, however, be appointed by the commanding officer of a territorial division or department, an army corps, division, or brigade. If none but the commanding officer and interested officers be present for duty, then the commanding officer will survey the property. When only the responsible or interested officer is present, he will not appoint himself surveying officer, but will furnish the next higher commander his certificate of facts and circumstances, supported by the sworn testimony of witnesses, or by the affidavits of enlisted men or others who are cognizant thereof. Should the case thus presented not be considered satisfactory, or in a case in which only interested officers with opposing interests are present for duty at the post or station, the next higher commander may make the necessary investigation. In cases where the property in question has been previously acted upon, the officer making the investigation will be so informed and the previous reports will be considered.

SURVEYS ON PROPERTY.

107

715. The surveying officer must fully investigate matters submitted to him. He will call for all evidence attainable, and will not limit his inquiries to proofs or statements presented by parties in interest. He will rigidly scrutinize the evidence, especially in cases of alleged theft or embezzlement, and will not recommend the relief of officers or soldiers from responsibility unless fully satisfied that those charged with the care of property have performed their whole duty in regard to it. He should hear in person or by deposition all persons concerned in the subject-matter before him. In no case, however, will his report take the place of the evidence required in paragraph 687.

716. The party responsible for the property to be surveyed will in all cases furnish the original certificates or affidavits, or the testimony of the witnesses upon which he relies to relieve him from responsibility and the number of duly attested copies of such affidavits and certificates required to accompany the report.

717. Any officer of the Army detailed to conduct an investigation, and the recorder, and, if there be none, the presiding officer of any military board appointed for such purpose, shall have authority to administer an oath to any witness attending to testify or depose in the course of such investigation.

718. The surveying officer can not condemn public property. His action is purely advisory. He will ascertain and report facts, submitting opinions and making recommendations upon questions of responsibility which may arise through accident, mistake, or neglect. For example, he investigates and determines questions involving the character, amount, and cause of damage or deficiency which public property may have sustained in transit, store, or use, and which is not the result of ordinary wear and tear of the service, and reports the investigation made, his opinions thereon, and fixes responsibility for such damage or deficiency upon the proper party. He makes inventories of property ordered to be abandoned when the articles have not been enumerated in the orders for abandonment. He recommends the prices at which damaged clothing may be issued and the proportion in which supplies shall be issued in consequence of damage or deterioration that renders them, at the usual rate, unequal to the regulation allowance, fixing in each instance responsibility for actual condition. He verifies the discrepancy between invoices and the actual quantity or description of property transferred from one officer to another, fixes definitely amounts received for which the receiving officer must receipt, and ascertains, as far as possible, where and how the discrepancy has occurred.

719. The report will be prepared in triplicate and will then be submitted to the convening authority for approval or disapproval. Separate reports will be made for each staff department concerned.

720. On the approved recommendation of a surveying officer, public animals may be killed to prevent contagion or terminate suffering; clothing infected with contagious disease, stores that have become so deteriorated as to endanger health or injure other stores, and unserviceable stores of no salable value may be destroyed. This paragraph will be limited, in its application to ordnance stores, to such as form part of the equipment of cavalry and infantry and to articles of similar character and cost, small arms excepted.

A certificate of the witnessing officer that the property has been destroyed as authorized will be appended to the report.

721. When the value of the property submitted for survey or the loss or damage to be inquired into does not exceed $500, and the interested officer does not request the department commander's action, the report will be considered complete, for submission as a property voucher, upon the approval of the appointing authority. One copy will then be forwarded to department headquarters and the others delivered to the officer accountable.

722. Should the report be disapproved by the appointing authority, or should the value of the property submitted for survey or the loss or damage to be inquired

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SURVEYS ON PROPERTY,

into exceed $500, or, whatever the amount involved, should the officer pecuniarily interested request it, the report in triplicate will be forwarded to the next higher commander for review, and with his action is complete. One copy will then be filed at department headquarters and the others sent to the accountable officer. But all reports of surveys of property, whatever their nature or the amounts involved, are subject on call to the approval or disapproval of the next higher commander, or such other action on his part as the merits of the case or the interests of the Government may in his opinion require.

723. The reports of a survey which recommend the relief of officers and enlisted men from responsibility should not be approved unless full and careful investigation and convincing proof to sustain the findings appear.

724. When the approved report of a surveying officer holds common carriers or persons not in the military service of the United States responsible for the loss of or damage to public property or stores, the chief of that branch of the staff to which the stores or property pertain in the territorial department in which the loss or damage occurred will at once take steps to make collection from the parties so held. If the loss occurred during transit, collection will be made through the Quartermaster's Department; if there were deficiencies in the original packages when purchased and delivered, collection will be made through the purchasing officer. The chief of bureau will be notified at once of the steps taken toward making collection, and, when the money is refunded, report will be made showing how and when accounted for. If, in any instance, collection can not be made, that fact, together with reasons therefor, will be likewise reported to the chief of bureau.

725. Properly approved reports of surveys of property may be submitted as vouchers to property returns. They are not to be considered as conclusive until accepted by the Secretary of War. Until then they are to be regarded simply as the opinions and recommendations of disinterested officers, to aid in the settlement of questions of accountability between the Government and the individuals concerned. If, on examination in the proper bureau, they exhibit serious errors or defects either of investigation or of finding, they will not be accepted as sufficient vouchers, and the officer submitting them will be duly notified, that he may have opportunity to make explanations or appeal to the Secretary of War.

726. At posts or stations not under the control of department commanders commanding officers will be governed by these regulations in appointing surveying officers and acting upon their reports, but in cases referred to in paragraph 722 will forward the papers to the chiefs of bureaus to which the property pertains.

727. Whenever a report of a survey recommends a stoppage against an enlisted man and the recommendation is approved, the appointing authority will cause a copy of the report to be furnished to the company commander who will charge the amount on the next pay rolls of the company.

728. If an inspection of property follows the report of a survey thereon, one copy of the proceedings will accompany the inventory and inspection report which is transmitted for approval, and will afterwards be returned to be used as a voucher to the officer's returns, and another, with the inventory and inspection report, will be filed by the officer with his retained papers.

729. Compensation may be made under the provisions of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1885, for private property of officers or enlisted men lost or destroyed in the military service under any of the following circumstances:

1. Without fault or negligence on the part of the claimant, and on account of some exigency or necessity of the military service.

2. Where the private property so lost or destroyed was shipped on board an unseaworthy vessel by order of an officer authorized to give such order or direct such shipment.

3. Where it appears that the loss or destruction of the private property of the