ernment reservations by such licensees without legislative objection from Congress and without the adoption of any legislative rule upon the subject, implies the tacit assent of Congress of this custom. At the same time, I deem it proper to call your attention to the fact that this custom can not be maintained upon any ground except benefit to the public interests, either directly or indirectly. It can not be used as a basis for granting, under the guise of a temporary license, a substantially permanent right to maintain a railroad." (22 Op. 245.) While the opinions just cited were confined to the question of granting a license to a private person for the use of Government reservations, yet I think the present case should be considered as governed by the same principles, since the proposal is to permit the use of the property of the United States Government by persons or agencies other than its own departments. There remains the question of your power to transfer to another department the control of the lands in Porto Rico no longer needed for the purposes of your own department and desired by the other. And this question, of course, is concerned as well-referring now to the act of 1910 and to the first part of this opinion-with those parts of the stations adjacent to the city of San Juan and reserved under the act of 1902, as with other parts; for if any part is needed for any department of the United States it should not be released, and indeed may not be released, since the act of 1910 even within its geographical scope authorizes a conveyance only in case the property is no longer needed for purposes of the United States. That such power exists is the conclusion of two recent opinions. The opinion of November 3, 1904, by Solicitor General Hoyt, approved by Attorney General Moody, holding that the Secretary of the Navy had authority to transfer to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for the extension of a lighthouse reservation the control of certain land at San Juan reserved by Executive order for naval purposes, is precisely in point here. (25 Op. 269.) In an opinion of April 29, 1910, this was approved, and I advised you that the President has authority to transfer to the War Department for military purposes the use and control of lands in the Philippine Islands reserved by Executive order for naval purposes. (28 Op. 262.) Mutatis mutandis, everything there said is entirely pertinent and controlling here; for the legislation of Congress relating to public lands in Porto Rico is from the viewpoint of the present problem in nowise to be distinguished from that relating to the public lands in the Philippines. And I adhere to that opinion. (See also 16 Op. 124.) I advise you, therefore, that any part or parts of the naval stations in Porto Rico no longer needed for the purposes of your department may be transferred to the control of the War Department or of any other department, either by formal Executive order or by arrangement between yourself and the head of the other department, since, as pointed out before, this would be in effect the act of the President. I return the papers submitted with your letter. GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM. The SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. COPYRIGHT LAW-DATE IN PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION. Under section 8 of the copyright act of March 4, 1909 (35 Stat. 1077), the President is required to determine by proclamation the existence of the reciprocal conditions upon which alien authors and composers may acquire the general privileges under said act, and the date when the reciprocal condition was actually met by the laws of any foreign state or nation is the one which should be inserted in the proclamation. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, July 24, 1911. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 15th instant, inclosing certain communications from the Librarian of Congress and the Register of Copyrights. From these it appears that the Cuban secretary of state, on May 29, 1911, informed the American minister at Habana that the legislation of Cuba "at present conceded" 89760°-VOL 29-13-14 to citizens of the United States similar rights to those accorded under section 1 (e) of the copyright law of March 4, 1909 (35 Stat. 1075), and requested for the citizens of Cuba the reciprocal benefits given by that section. You ask my views as to the proper date to be inserted in the proclamation of the President to be made as provided by section 8 of the act. The date when the reciprocal condition was actually met by the laws of Cuba is the one which should be inserted in the proclamation. (See my letter to you of May 6, 1911, 29 Opinions 64.) From the information contained in the letters transmitted to me, it does not affirmatively appear that this reciprocal condition existed prior to May 29, 1911. This is the date, then, to appear in the proclamation, unless you have or can obtain information showing that such condition actually existed at an earlier day, in which event such earlier date is the one to be stated in the proclamation. Respectfully, GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM. The SECRETARY OF STATE. STATUS OF DEPUTY PUBLIC PRINTER AND CHIEF CLERK OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. The Deputy Public Printer of the Government Printing Office is the proper person to perform the duties and exercise the powers prescribed by sections 20 and 36 of the act of January 12, 1895 (28 Stat. 603, 606), and the chief clerk is confined to those duties and powers which ordinarily belong to that office, as such. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st ultimo inclosing a letter from Senator Smoot and requesting an opinion upon the questions propounded in that letter. Senator Smoot's letter refers to a doubt as to whether, under the law, the Deputy Public Printer or the chief clerk should act on the boards of inspection and condemnation at the Government Printing Office or perform the duties of the Public Printer in the absence of the latter and requests an opinion as to the legal status of these officials. The answer to Senator Smoot's inquiry depends upon the proper construction of the act of January 12, 1895, 28 Stat. 601; of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act passed February 26, 1907, 34 Stat. 935; and of the sundry civil appropriation act passed March 4, 1911, 36 Stat. 1363. The act of January 12, 1895, is entitled "An act providing for the publication, printing and binding, and the distribution of public documents." It is a comprehensive statute, passed after a thorough investigation by a joint committee of the House and Senate. After providing for the creation of a joint committee on printing and of a Public Printer and after defining the duties of this official section 20 provides as follows: "The chief clerk, the foreman of printing, and a person designated by the Joint Committee on Printing, shall constitute a board to examine and report in writing on all paper delivered under contract, or by purchase or otherwise, at the Government Printing Office. The chief clerk, foreman of binding, and a person designated by the Joint Committee on Printing shall constitute a board to examine and report in writing on all material, except paper, for the use of the bindery. The chief clerk, the foreman of printing, and a person designated by the Joint Committee on Printing shall constitute a board of condemnation, who, upon the call of the Public Printer, shall determine the condition of presses and other machinery and material used in the Government Printing Office, with a view to condemnation." Section 36 of said act provides: "In case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the Public Printer the chief clerk of the Government Printing Office shall perform the duties of the Public Printer until a successor is appointed or such absence or sickness shall cease;" * * * * * Section 44 of said act provides: "There shall be appointed by the Public Printer a chief clerk, who shall be a practical printer and versed in the art of book-binding, whose salary shall be two thousand four hundred dollars per annum;" * * * * * The Joint Committee on Public Printing and the Public Printer had both been in existence under statutory authority for several years prior to the act of January 12, 1895, but previous to the passage of that act there had been no provision, by general law, for the boards provided for in section 20 nor had there been any provision for a chief clerk, although such an officer had been in existence under appropriation acts from at least July 8, 1889. The legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill passed February 26, 1907, 34 Stat. 935, at page 943 has the following provision: "GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.-Office of the Public Printer: Public Printer, five thousand five hundred dollars; Deputy Public Printer, three thousand six hundred dollars; private secretary, two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars; * * * * * "The office of Deputy Public Printer shall be filled by the selection and appointment by the Public Printer of a person skilled as a practical printer and versed in the art of bookbinding, and who shall perform the duties heretofore required of the chief clerk, have supervision of the buildings occupied by the Government Printing Office and perform such other duties as may be required of him by the Public Printer." No provision whatsoever is made in this act for a chief clerk of the Government Printing Office. And it may be noted that the qualifications required of the Deputy Public Printer are practically the same qualifications required of the chief clerk by section 44 of the act of January 12, 1895. And it may be further noted that there is added in this appropriation act a "private secretary," who had not been provided for previously. |