seem not. (See Rev. Stat., 1782.) So, it would seem, there may be some cases, at least, where the duty required of a State officer would be utterly inconsistent with the duty of a Member of Congress-cases in which the same person could not take the oath faithfully to perform at the same time the duties of each office. Questions of such incompatibility, it is evident, must generally be decided upon the facts of each case, and the laws prescribing the duties of officers. The questions submitted for an opinion are answered accordingly. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, First Comptroller's Office, August 25, 1883. Positions and service on such boards or committees, and professorships in colleges, are not regarded as "offices" within the contemplation of the Executive order, but as employments or service in which all good citizens may be engaged without incompatibility, and in many cases without necessary interference with any position which they may hold under the Federal Government. Officers of the Federal Government may, therefore, engage in such service, provided the attention required by such employment does not interfere with the regular and efficient discharge of the duties of their office under the Federal Government. The head of the Department, under whom the Federal office is held will, in all cases, be the sole judge whether or not the employment does thus interfere. The question has also been asked with regard to officers of the State militia. Congress having exercised the power conferred by the Constitution to provide for organizing the militia, which is liable to be called forth to be employed in the service of the United States, and is thus, in some sense, under the control of the General Government, and is moreover of the greatest value to the public, the Executive order of 17th January is not considered as prohibiting Federal officers from being officers of the militia in the States and Territories. It has been asked whether the order prohibits persons holding office under the Federal Government being members of local or municipal fire departments; also, whether it applies to mechanics employed by the day in the armories, arsenals, and navy-yards, &c., of the United States. Unpaid service in local or municipal tire departments is not regarded as an office within the intent of the Executive order, and may be performed by Federal officers, provided it does not interfere with the regular and efficient discharge of the duties of the Federal office, of which the head of the Department under which the office is held will, in each case, be the judge. Employment by the day as mechanics or laborers in the armories, arsenals, navyyards, &c., does not constitute an office of any kind, and those thus employed are not within the contemplation of the Executive order. Master-workinen and others who hold appointments from the Government, or from any Department, whether for a fixed time or at the pleasure of the appointing power, are embraced within the operation of the order. By order of the President. [Neither of the foregoing orders has been rescinded.] HAMILTON FISH, EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, June 22, 1877. SIR: I desire to call your attention to the following paragraph in a letter addressed by me to the Secretary of the Treasury, on the conduct to be observed by officers of the General Government in relation to the elections: "No officer should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns. Their right to vote and to express their views on public questions, either orally or through the press, is not denied, provided it does not interfere with the discharge of their official duties. No assessment for political purposes, on officers or subordinates, should be allowed.” This rule is applicable to every Department of the civil service. It should be understood by every officer of the General Government that he is expected to conform his conduct to its requirements. Very respectfully, To the R. B. HAYES. [No evidence has been found that the foregoing has been formally modified.] IN THE MATTER OF THE RIGHT OF A CHIEF SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS TO COMPENSATION FOR COPIES RETAINED IN HIS OFFICE, AND FOR SEALS TO CERTIFICATES OF SUCH COPIES, OF THE EVIDENCE, ETC., WHICH, BY SECTION 2020 OF THE REVISED STATUTES, HE IS REQUIRED TO MAKE AND TO FILE WITH THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.-COPY CASE. 1. Section 2031 of the Revised Statutes specifies every service of chief supervisors of elections as such, for which compensation is paid by the United States. 2. The powers of chief supervisors are conferred, and their duties prescribed by sections 2020 and 2026 of the Revised Statutes. 3. No provision is made for payment of compensation to any chief, supervisor, for copies to be retained in his office of "the evidence by him taken; information by him obtained, and reports to him made," in pursuance of section 2020 of the Revised Statutes, nor is any such supervisor required to make, for his own use, or to keep in his office, any such copies. 4. A chief supervisor is only a custodian of such "evidence," "information," and "reports," until transmitted by him to the "Clerk of the House of Representatives," after which transmission this latter officer becomes the permanent custodian thereof, as well as of every "statement, record, return, or examination" authorized to be filed with such clerk. 5. A chief supervisor, while having the lawful, though temporary, custody of such records, has a common-law authority, to certify copies thereof, when required, for any lawful purpose, by any public officer or private person interested therein. 6. Section 2031 of the Revised Statutes recognizes this common-law authority by prescribing the compensation to be paid such chief supervisor, "for any copy" of "any report, statement, record, return, of any paper on file" in his office. examination or 7. Inasmuch as a chief supervisor is not authorized by law to make copies of records to be retained in his office, he cannot be paid for making such copies, nor for certifying the same, nor for affixing his seal to such certificates. N. W. Trimble, chief supervisor of elections for the southern district of Alabama, in his account for services in connection with the election of November 7, 1882, charges the United States as follows: 1. Arranging and transmitting to Congress [Clerk of the House of Representatives] evidence taken, information obtained, and reports made under section 2020, Revised Statutes, 522 folios, at 15 cents. $78 30 2. Retained copies for reference of the same in chief supervisor's office, 522 folios. at 15 cents.. 78 30 3. Certified copies of 162 papers on file, to retain in chief supervisor's office, 4. One hundred and sixty-two seals to certificates, at 20 cents 72.90 32 40 80 40 Amount... 342 30 The Revised Statutes contain the following sections: SEC. 2018. To the end that each candidate for the office of Representative or Delegate in Congress may obtain the benefit of every vote for him cast, the supervisors of election are, and each of them is, required to personally scrutinize, count, and canvass each ballot in their election district or voting precinct cast, whatever may be the indorsement on the ballot, or in whatever box it may have been placed or be found; to make and forward to the officer who, in accordance with the provisions of section two thousand and twenty-five, has been designated as the chief supervisor of the judicial district in which the city or town wherein they may serve, acts, such certificates and returns of all such ballots as such officer may direct and require, and to attach to the reg istry-list, and any and all copies thereof and to any certificate, statement, or return, whether the same, or any part or portion thereof, be required by any law of the United States, or of any State, territorial, or municipal law, any statement touching the truth or accuracy of the registry, or the truth or fairness of the election and canvass, which the supervisors of the election, or either of them, may desire to make or attach, or which should properly and honestly be made or attached, in order that the facts may become known. SEC. 2020. When in any election district or voting precinct in any city or town, for which there have been appointed supervisors of elec tion for any election at which a Representative or Delegate in Congress is voted for, the supervisors of election are not allowed to exercise and discharge, fully and freely, and without bribery, solicitation, interference, hinderance, molestation, violence, or threats thereof, on the part of any person, all the duties, obligations, and powers conferred upoù them by law, the supervisors of election shall make prompt report, under oath, within ten days after the day of election to the officer who, in accordance with the provisions of section two thousand and twenty-five, has been designated as the chief supervisor of the judicial district in which the city or town wherein they served, acts, of the manner and means by which they were not so allowed to fully and freely exercise and discharge the duties and obligations required and imposed herein. And upon receiving any such report, the chief supervisor, acting both in such capacity and officially as a commissioner of the circuit court [1], shall forthwith examine into all the facts; and he shall have power to subpœna and compel the attendance before him of any witness, and to administer oaths and take testimony in respect to the charges made; [2] and, prior to the assembling of the Congress for which any such Representative or Delegate was voted for, he shall file with the Clerk of the House of Representatives all the evidence by him taken, all information by him obtained, and all reports to him made. (See Rev. Stat., secs. 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2028, 2029, 3689, 5521, 5522; Allen's case, 2 Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 2d ed., 217.) SEC. 2025. The circuit courts of the United States for each judicial circuit shall name and appoint, on or before the first day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-one, and thereafter as vacancies may from any cause arise, from among the circuit court commissioners for each judicial district in each judicial circuit, one of such officers, who shall be known for the duties required of him under this Title as the chief supervisor of elections of the judicial district for which he is a commissioner, and shall, so long as faithful and capable, discharge the duties in this Title imposed. SEC. 2026. The chief supervisor shall [1] prepare and furnish all necessary books, forms, blanks, and instructions for the use and direction of the supervisors of election in the several cities and towns in their respective districts; [2] he shall receive the applications of all parties for appointment to such positions; [3] upon the opening, as contemplated in section two thousand and twelve, of the circuit court for the judicial circuit in which the commissioner so designated acts, he shall present such applications to the judge thereof, and furnish information to him in respect to the appointment by the court of such supervisors of election; [4] he shall require of the supervisors of election, when necessary, lists of the persons who may register and vote, or either, in their respective election districts or voting precincts, and cause the names of those upon any such list whose right to register or vote is honestly doubted to be verified by proper inquiry and examination at the respective places by them assigned as their residences; [5] and he shall receive, preserve, and file all oaths of office of supervisors of election, and of all special deputy marshals appointed under the provisions of this Title, and all certificates, returns, reports, and records of every kind and nature contemplated or made requisite by the PROVISIONS HEREOF, save where otherwise herein specially directed. (See sec. 627.) SEC. 2027. All United States marshals and commissioners who in any judicial district perform any duties under the preceding provisions relating to, concerning, or affecting the election of Representatives or Delegates in the Congress of the United States, from time to time, and, with all due diligence, shall forward to the chief supervisor in and for their judicial district, all complaints, examinations, and records pertaining thereto, and all oaths of office by them administered to any supervisor of election or special deputy marshal, in order that the same may be properly preserved and filed. (See Rev. Stat., sec. 1014.) SEC. 2031. There shall be allowed and paid to the chief supervisor, for his services as such officer, the following compensation, apart from and in excess of all fees allowed by law for the performance of any duty as circuit court commissioner: [1] For filing and caring for every return, report, record, document, or other paper required to be filed by him under any of the preceding provisions, ten cents; [2] for affixing a seal to any paper, record, report, or instrument, twenty cents; [3] for entering and indexing the records of his office, fifteen cents per folio; and [4] for arranging and transmitting to Congress, as provided for in section two thousand and twenty, any report, statement, record, return, or examination, for each folio, fifteen cents; and [5] for any copy thereof, or of any paper on file, a like sum. And there shall be allowed and paid to each supervisor of election, and each special deputy marshal who is appointed and performs his duty under the preceding provisions, compensation at the rate of five dollars per day for each day he is actually on duty, not exceeding ten days; but no compensation shall be allowed, in any case, to supervisors of election, except to those appointed in cities or towns of twenty thousand or more inhabitants. And the fees of the chief supervisors shall be paid at the Treasury of the United States, such accounts to be made out, verified, examined, and certified as in the case of accounts of commissioners, save that the examination or certificate required may be made by either the circuit or district judge. C. C. Lancaster, for the claimant, submitted a brief, in which he says: "As to the second charge, 'retained copies for reference': section 2031 of the Revised Statutes authorizes compensation for arranging and transmitting to Congress' certain papers, aud for any copy thereof, or of any paper on file.' This requires the chief supervisor to make 'copies' for his own protection, and to complete the records of his office. The provision as to copies is without meaning unless so construed. Congress did not intend the supervisor to part with the original records of his office without retaining copies. The same reasoning is applicable to the third charge for copies of papers on file.”” DECISION BY WILLIAM LAWRENCE, First Comptroller. The first charge of $78.30 made by the chief supervisor is authorized by sections 2020 and 2031 of the Revised Statutes. The second, third and fourth charges are made without any authority of law. Section 2031 makes all the provision which is made for the compen sation of chief supervisors. It includes the allowance to be made for every service which is required of such supervisors, and it specifies, in five distinct classes, the services for which compensation is to be made, and the rate or amount to be paid. No compensation can be paid by the United States except for the services therein designated. This section having specifically and carefully prescribed the services for which compensation is to be made, not only does not authorize any other compensation, but by necessary inference denies the right of the chief supervisor to any compensation for any other service, if any, which he may or can perform. The purpose, and as to the chief supervisor, the sole purpose of this section, is to prescribe compensation. In terms it does not prescribe any duty or confer any power. The duties and powers of chief supervisors are prescribed in other sections of the statute, the meaning of which may be construed in the light, and by the aid of this section. But beyond its effect in thus aiding the construction of other sections, it does not relate to, or affect the powers or duties of chief supervisors. These are prescribed generally and in specific detail as to classes in sections 2020 and 2026. Keeping in view these distinct purposes of the sections mentioned, as to compensation in section 2031, and as to duties and powers in sections 2020 and 2026, it is clear that no duty is imposed on a chief supervisor to retain in his office, or to certify copies to be so retained, of papers, &c., which seetion 2020 requires him to "file with the Clerk of the House of Representatives." It seems to be supposed that there is a necessity for him to retain such copies. But a necessity, fancied or real, cannot make or supply a statute. Perhaps it may aid in the construction of a manifestly ambiguous statute, but there is no ambiguity here. Nor is there any apparent necessity for retaining such copies. If the design of the statute had been to make the chief supervisor a permanent custodian of the records in question, a provision expressly requiring him to retain the originals, or inferentially, as, for example, by requiring him to transmit certified copies to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, would have been made. But Congress did not see any such necessity, and, consequently, did not provide for it. On the contrary, the statute |