to the public which rendered it proper that they should give publicity to their ownership, financial control, and circulation. Evidently these considerations have no application to publications which do not seek to take advantage of the low rates granted to second-class mail matter, but are content to pay the compensatory rate required of thirdclass mail matter. I have the honor, therefore, to advise you that, in my opinion, paragraph 2, section 2, of the act of August 24, 1912, has no application to any other publications than those which are regularly entered as second-class mail matter. Respectfully, The POSTMASTER GENERAL. WILLIAM R. HARR, PORTO RICO-UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTEXPENSES. The expenses of the District Court of the United States for Porto Rico should be paid from the funds of the Government of Porto Rico. DEPARTMENT of Justice, November 8, 1912. SIR: I have the letter of the Acting Secretary of the 29th of October asking my opinion upon the question whether the expenses of the United States District Court for Porto Rico should be paid from funds of the United States or of the Government of Porto Rico. The act of April 12, 1900 (31 Stat. 77), to provide revenues and a civil government for Porto Rico, in section 34 provides that Porto Rico shall constitute a judicial district, to be called the district of Porto Rico, and authorizes the President to appoint a district judge, district attorney, and marshal for said district. The district court is to be called the District Court of the United States for Porto Rico, and was given the jurisdiction of both the district and circuit courts of the United States. Section 12 of this act provides: "That all expenses that may be incurred on account of the government of Porto Rico for salaries of officials and the conduct of their offices and departments, and all expenses and obligations contracted for the internal improvement or development of the island, not, however, including defenses, barracks, harbors, lighthouses, buoys, and other works undertaken by the United States, shall be paid by the treasurer of Porto Rico out of the revenues in his custody." Section 36 provides: * * "That the salaries of all officials of Porto Rico appointed as herein provided by the President shall also be paid out of the revenues of Porto Rico on the warrant of the auditor, countersigned by the governor." The section then fixes the salaries of all such officers, including the district judge, the district attorney, and marshal. The act of March 2, 1901 (31 Stat. 953), amending the foregoing act, provides in section 2— "That such fees and expenses as are payable by the United States, if earned or incurred in connection with a circuit or district court of the United States, shall be paid from the revenues of Porto Rico, if earned or incurred in connection with the district court of the United States for Porto Rico." This section also contains a proviso that payment of fees and expenses theretofore made in good faith by the United States marshal from funds advanced by the United States or by Porto Rico shall be allowed by the proper accounting officers in the settlement of his accounts. I think it conclusively appears from this legislation that it was the intention of Congress that all the expenses of the district court of the United States for the district of Porto Rico should be paid out of the revenues of Porto Rico. Section 259 of the Judicial Code, becoming effective January 1 last, provides that the judges of the district courts of the United States in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico shall each be allowed and paid his necessary expenses of travel and his reasonable expenses (not to exceed $10 a day) actually incurred for maintenance, consequent upon his attending court or transacting other official business in pursuance of law, at any place other than his official place of residence, said expenses to be paid by the marshal of the district upon the written certificate of the judge, but it does not provide that such expenses shall be paid by the United States. It is true that the sundry civil appropriation act of March 4, 1911 (36 Stat. 1363, 1427), appropriated for the payment of such expenses of the judges in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, but I am informed that no such payment was made by the United States on account of the expenses of the district judge in Porto Rico. The current appropriation act for this purpose (the act of Aug. 24, 1912, 37 Stat. 417, 466) makes no provision for any of the expenses of the district judge in Porto Rico. The mere appropriation during one year of a small portion of the expenses of the district court of Porto Rico does not operate to repeal the affirmative legislation that all the expenses of that court and its officers shall be paid by Porto Rico. I am, therefore, of the opinion that the act of April 12, 1900, as amended by the act of March 2, 1901, is still in force, and that the expenses of the United States district court for Porto Rico should be paid from the funds of the Government of Porto Rico. Respectfully, GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM. The SECRETARY OF WAR. INFORMATION RELATING TO NATIONAL BANKS FOR THE USE OF CONGRESS. The President may give to a committee of Congress information. in the possession of the Comptroller of the Currency relative to the operation of national banks, if in his opinion, it is proper to do so; but if, in his opinion, the interests of the Government require that this information shall be treated as confidential, he has the right to refuse to divulge it. If the President believes that this information should be obtained and considered by the Comptroller in the performance of his duties, he may direct him to procure it; and after it has been obtained for this legitimate purpose, he may, if he deems it proper, direct the Comptroller to furnish it to the committee of Congress. If, however, neither the President nor the Comptroller believes that such information is useful or necessary to the Comptroller in the performance of his duties, the President could not properly direct him to procure it. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, November 9, 1912. SIR: By letter of September 24, Mr. Samuel Untermyer, one of the counsel for the Committee on Banking and Currency of the House of Representatives, which is now inquiring into the so-called Money Trust, states that he and his associates have asked the Comptroller of the Currency to secure certain data for the committee, without which it would be impossible to conduct the inquiry as directed by House resolution 504, under which the committee is proceeding, and that the comptroller has declined to secure the data without direction from you. It appears from the letter that the committee first sought the data directly from the national banks themselves, but that their officers declined to furnish it, and that the committee now proposes to have the information obtained by the Comptroller of the Currency. Paragraph 5 of House resolution 504 provides: "The Comptroller of the Currency, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Commissioner of the Bureau of Corporations, and their respective assistants and subordinates, are hereby respectively directed to comply with all directions of the committee for assistance in its labors, to place at the service of the committee all the data and records of their respective departments, to procure for the committee from time to time such information as is subject to their control or inspection, and to allow the use of their assistants for the making of such investigations with respect to corporations under their respective jurisdictions as the committee or any subcommittee may from time to time. request." In his letter Mr. Untermyer states: "The committee desires to secure data showing (1) the character of the transactions in which certain of the leading national banks of the country have been engaging, such as the promotion and underwriting of securities on behalf of syndicates; (2) instances in which they have acted as what are known as 'issuing houses' for the sale of securities to the public; (3) transactions by the banks made directly or indirectly with their officers and directors, and with corporations in which such officers and directors were largely interested; (4) purchases and sales of bonds and shares of stock by the banks and speculations conducted by them or by corporations that are owned by them. "These are in a general way the heads of the topics with respect to which we are seeking data as a basis for the oral examination of witnesses. Our general purpose is to acquaint Congress with the character of the business in which the larger banks are engaging; to point out the public dangers, if any, accompanying the broad powers now possessed by the banks in the use of their funds; and to expose whatever abuses may be found to exist in the present system, with a view of constructive and corrective legislation. The committee purposes further to show the inadequacy of the present currency laws, the danger of panics to which they give rise, and the legislation required to correct this situation." You have referred this letter to me with a request to be advised as to your lawful powers to give the information ascertained through the Comptroller of the Currency. It would appear from the letter of Mr. Untermyer that but little, if any, of this information is now in the comptroller's possession, and that the comptroller, in order to furnish it, would be compelled to procure it by means of examinations of the banks. Two questions therefore arise in considering your request. 1. Whether you have the power to direct the comptroller to furnish to the House committee such information as is now in his possession? |