office. Upon the promotion of an officer he is to be paid from the date of such promotion.

ART. 211. Allotments of pay for the use of families or relatives of officers and men may be made from the monthly pay of the officer or man desiring the same, and for such time only as he may be stationed apart from his family on public duty, in the discretion of the Department.

ART. 212. In case of the death of an officer or other person in the Revenue-Cutter Service, or of any person having claims against the United States on account of said service, payments, when duly authorized, are only to be made to the legal representative of the party. Νο departure from this rule will be sanctioned unless authorized specially by the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom a report of the case, with the reasons for dispensing with legal forms, must first be transmitted by the collector or disbursing officer.

ART. 213. Proposals for annual supplies for the use of the service shall be received by the collector, when so ordered by the Department, who shall open and examine the same at the time specified in the advertisements, all bidders or others so desiring being present. Each bid or proposal shall be read aloud by the collector, and a full record made of the same.

ART. 214. Members of Congress or persons employed

by or in the service of the United States, shall not be R. S.. 3739, allowed to be concerned, directly or indirectly, in any 3740, 3741, 3742. contracts for furnishing provisions, supplies, or outfits,

or for supplying or furnishing any article for use on board revenue vessels or boats.

ART. 215. All disbursements made by collectors on account of the pay of officers, the wages of seamen, rations, and other supplies or repairs shall be charged to the appropriation to defray the expenses of the Revenue-Cutter Service, and they will each month render accounts therefor, according to the law and regulations, accompanied by an abstract and the proper vouchers.

ART. 216. When a revenue-cutter officer is placed on board a merchant vessel going into port, he is entitled to receive suitable accommodation until the arrival of such vessel in port, when he will be relieved by the inspecting officer detailed by the the collector.

ART. 217. Property belonging to the Revenue-Cutter Service shall not be disposed of at private sale, but when authority has been obtained from the Secretary of the Treasury to dispose of such property, it will be sold at public sale, after due notice.

R. S., 3622.

CHAPTER IV.

MARINE HOSPITAL AND QUARANTINE SERVICE.

BENEFICIARIES.

ARTICLE 218. The persons entitled to the benefits of the Marine-Hospital Service are those employed on board in the care, preservation, or navigation of any registered, enrolled, or licensed vessel of the United States, or in the service on board of those engaged in such care, preservaation, or navigation. Officers and crews of the LightHouse Establishment, officers and crews of the RevenueCutter Service, seamen employed on the vessels of the Mississippi River Commission, seamen employed on vessels of the Engineer Corps of the Army, officers and seamen employed on vessels of the Coast and Geodetic Survey who are not enlisted men from the Navy, and keepers and crews of the United States Life-Saving Service are entitled to the facilities of the hospitals and relief stations, under special rules hereinafter prescribed.

ART. 219. Seamen employed on yachts are entitled to treatment, provided the said yachts are enrolled, licensed, or registered as vessels of the United States.

ART. 220. No person employed in or connected with the navigation, management, or use of canal boats engaged in the coasting trade shall, by reason thereof, be entitled to any benefit or relief from the marine-hospital fund.

ART. 221. In case of doubt as to the fact of registration, enrollment, or license of a vessel, the officer to whom application for relief is made shall request information of the collector of customs at the port as to the character of vessel on which the seaman is employed, and the said collector of customs shall furnish such information, if practicable.

ART. 222. Seamen taken from wrecked vessels of the United States are entitled to the benefits of the MarineHospital Service if sick or disabled, and will be furnished care and treatment without reference to the length of time they have been employed.

ART. 223. Seamen employed on merchant vessels of the United States returned to the United States from foreign ports by United States consular officers, including Cuba, if sick or disabled at the time of their arrival in a port of the United States, shall be entitled to the benefits of the Marine-Hospital Service, without reference to length of

service.

ART. 224. A sick or disabled seaman, in order to obtain the benefits of the Marine-Hospital Service, must apply in person, or by proxy if too sick or disabled so to do, at the office of the Marine-Hospital Service, to an officer of that Service, or to the proper customs officer acting as the agent of the Marine-Hospital Service at stations where no Marine-Hospital officer is on duty, and must furnish satisfactory evidence that he is entitled to relief under the regulations.

ART. 225. Masters' certificates and discharges from United States shipping commissioners, made out and signed in proper form, showing that the applicant for relief has been employed for sixty days of continuous service "in a registered, enrolled, or licensed vessel of the United States," a part of which must have been during the sixty days immediately preceding his application for relief, shall entitle him to treatment. The phrase "sixty days' continuous service" shall not be held to exclude seamen whose papers show brief intermission between short services that aggregate the required sixty days.

ART. 226. The certificate of the owner or accredited commercial agent of a vessel as to the facts of the employment of any seaman on said vessel may be accepted as evidence in lieu of the master's certificate in cases where the latter is not procurable.

ART. 227. Masters of documented vessels of the United States shall, on demand, furnish any seaman who has been employed on such vessel a certificate (Form 1914) of the length of time said seaman has been so employed, giving the dates of such employment. This certificate will be filed in the marine-hospital office, or office of the customs officer, when application is made for relief, whether the relief is furnished or the claim rejected.

ART. 228. In case the master of any vessel shall fail or refuse to furnish a master's certificate to any seaman who may have been employed on board said vessel within sixty days, the collector of customs shall cause said master, if he be in port, to appear at the marine-hospital office and produce the ship's books.

ART. 229. Any master of a vessel or other person who shall furnish a false certificate of service, with intent to procure the admission of a seaman into any marine hospital, shall be immediately reported to the nearest United States attorney for prosecution.

ART. 230. When an interval has occurred in the applicant's seafaring service by reason of the closure of navigation on account of ice or low water, such interval shall not be considered as excluding him from relief unless the sickness or injury for which he applies for relief be the the direct result of employment on shore.

ART. 231. During the season when navigation is closed at any port by reason of ice or low water, seamen applying for relief at such ports shall be entitled to same, provided they present the documentary evidence required in article 225, which must show that the applicants were employed within sixty days immediately preceding the said closure of navigation, and it must be satisfactorily shown that the disease or injury was not the result of employment on shore, nor the result of vicious habits.

ART. 232. The time during which a seaman has been under treatment in hospital as a patient of the MarineHospital Service shall not be reckoned as absence from vessel in respect to debarring him from further relief.

ART. 233. Whenever an applicant for relief presents himself at the marine-hospital office or the custom-house without a master's certificate or shipping commissioner's discharge and it is impracticable to obtain such certificate on account of the absence of the vessel or its master from the port, the affidavit of the applicant as to the facts of his last employment, stating names of vessels and dates of service, may be accepted as evidence in support of his claim for the benefits of the Marine-Hospital Service.

ART. 234. When the period of the seaman's service as shown by his certificate on last vessel is less than sixty days, his affidavit as to previous service may be accepted if supported by satisfactory evidence.

ART. 235. In cases of doubt, reasonable effort shall be made to verify the genuineness of masters' certificates and shipping commissioners' discharges, and of the signatures to the same. Due care shall also be exercised to identify the persons presenting masters' certificates to protect the fund against imposition.

ART. 236. When a reasonable doubt exists whether the applicant is entitled to relief under the regulations, the application, accompanied by a statement of the facts, shall be immediately referred to the Supervising Surgeon

General for decision, and when the seaman is in such condition that immediate medical or surgical attendance is necessary, he will be placed under treatment pending the decision, and the action in the case taken by the officer shall be reported at the same time.

ART. 237. When a seaman applies for relief after an absence of sixty days or more from his last vessel, and it satisfactorily appears that such absence was due to sickness or injury acquired in the line of duty, and that it was impracticable for him to apply to the proper officer for treatment, a statement of the facts, together with a copy of the application and other papers in support of same, shall be forwarded to the Supervising SurgeonGeneral for decision.

ART. 238. Any seaman who is able to write will be expected to sign his name upon the face of the master's certificate issued to him before said certificate is signed by the master of the vessel, and the officer receiving such certificate shall require the applicant to verify the signature in his presence.

ART. 239. When patients are admitted for hospital treatment pending the decision of the Supervising Surgeon-General, the usual permits will be issued, dated the day on which relief commenced, and numbered consecutively with current permits, and the date of the authorization of the Department will be indorsed on the permit if relief is authorized. If relief is not authorized, the applicant shall be discharged, and the disapproval indorsed upon the papers.

ART. 240. When a seaman who has received continuous treatment at the out-patient office for a period of two months applies for further treatment, he must, to entitle him to treatment, furnish a new certificate of service showing that he is still following his vocation as seaman.

ART. 241. The expenses of caring for sick and disabled seamen incurred during a voyage will not be paid by the Marine-Hospital Service.

ART. 242. The expenses for the care and treatment of seamen suffering from contagious diseases, entitled to the benefits of the Marine-Hospital Service, who, in accordance with the State or municipal health laws and regulations, are taken to quarantine or other hospitals under charge of the local health authorities, will not be paid from the marine-hospital fund unless such seamen were admitted at the time by the request of an officer of the Service.

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