are chargeable with the knowledge of the existence of such_regulations." (XXII Dec. of Comp. of Treas., 103; decision of Aug. 23, 1915.) It is hereby ordered that from June 15 to September 15 of each year until further notice, four hours, exclusive of time for luncheon, shall constitute a day's work on Saturdays for all clerks and other employees of the Federal Government, wherever employed; and all Executive or other orders in conflict herewith, except the Executive order of April 4, 1908, relating to certain naval stations, are hereby revoked. Provided, however, that this order shall not apply to any bureau or office of the Government, or to any of the clerks or other employees thereof, that may for special public reasons be excepted therefrom by the head of the department having supervision or control of such bureau or office, or where the same would be inconsistent with the provisions of existing law. (Executive order of June 9, 1914.) SECTION 1. That the service and employment of all Hours of labor. laborers and mechanics who are now or may hereafter be employed by the Government of the United States, by the District of Columbia, or by any contractor or subcontractor upon any of the public works of the United States or of the District of Columbia, is hereby limited and restricted to eight hours in any one calendar day, and it shall be unlawful for any officer of the United States Government or of the District of Columbia or any such contractor or subcontractor whose duty it shall be to employ, direct, or control services of such laborers or mechanics to require or permit any such laborer or mechanic to work more than eight hours in any calendar day except in case of extraordinary emergency. In a recent case in the district of Massachusetts Judge Dodge defined the phrase "in case of extraordinary emergency" as follows: "An extraordinary emergency, such as is contemplated by the act, is the sudden, unexpected happening of something not of the usual, customary, or regular kind, demanding prompt action to avert imminent danger to life, limb, health, or property. The possibility of danger is not enough. Limit to eight hours for laborers and mechanics on Government work. The peril must be certain, unusual, imminent, and actual in order to constitute an extraordinary emergency such as the statute contemplates.' Judge Dodge also ruled that probable pecuniary loss to the contractor, unless due to an extraordinary emergency, as defined above, is only an ordinary business risk. (Circular letter, Oct. 31, 1906, from Attorney General to United States attorneys.) lation by officer or contractor. SEC. 2. That any officer or agent of the Government of Penalty for viothe United States or of the District of Columbia, or any contractor or subcontractor whose duty it shall be to employ, direct, or control any laborer or mechanic employed upon any of the public works of the United States or of the District of Columbia who shall intentionally violate any provision of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each and every such offense shall upon conviction be punished by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court having jurisdiction thereof. Stat., 340, Aug. 1, 1892.) 142329°-19- 4 (27 President's authority to pre concerning appointment. STATUTES AFFECTING THE CLASSIFIED SERVICE.1 DIRECTORY STATUTES.2 SEC. 1753. The President is authorized to prescribe scribe regulations such regulations for the admission of persons into the civil service of the United States as may best promote the efficiency thereof, and ascertain the fitness of each candidate in respect to age, health, character, knowledge, and ability for the branch of service into which he seeks to enter; and for this purpose he may employ suitable persons to conduct such inquiries, and may prescribe their duties, and establish regulations for the conduct of persons who may receive appointments in the civil service. (R. S., act of Mar. 3, 1871.) Departmental regulations. SEC. 161. The head of each department is authorized to prescribe regulations not inconsistent with law, for the government of his department, the conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it. (R. S., act of Aug. 15, 1876.) "The regulation of a department of the Government is not, of course, to control the construction of an act of Congress when its meaning is plain, but when there has been a long acquiescence in a regulation, and by it rights of parties for many years have been determined and adjusted, it is not to be disregarded without Clerkships open to women. the most cogent and persuasive reasons. (Upon this general subject see also Opinions of Attorneys General: 10 Op., 469; 11 Op., 109; 15 Öp., 94; 22 Op., 167; and 22 Op., 266.) 3 3 SEC. 165. Women may, in the discretion of the head of any department, be appointed to any of the clerkships therein authorized by law, upon the same requisites and conditions, and with the same compensation, as are prescribed for men. (R. S., act of July 12, 1870.) "No married woman will be appointed to a classified position in the Postal Service, or will any woman occupying a classified position in the Postal Service be reappointed to such position when she shall marry, unless her husband is in the 1 For statutes permitting appointments without reference to the civil-service act, see p. 83. These statutes either authorize or direct certain ways of conducting the public business which falls within the purview of the civil-service act and rules, and depend upon administrative discipline for their enforcement. The general subject of the legal force of regulations is treated at length in "Remarks on the Army Regulations and Executive Regulations in General," by G. Norman Lieber, Judge Advocate General, United States Army (1898). in That in making any reduction of force in any of the Preference reduction of executive departments, the head of such department force. shall retain those persons who may be equally qualified who have been honorably discharged from the military or naval service of the United States, and the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors. (19 Stat. L., 169, act of Aug. 15, 1876.) SEC. 166. Each head of a department may from time to time alter the distribution among the various bureaus and offices of his department of the clerks allowed by law as he may find it necessary and proper to do. (R. S., act of Mar. 3, 1853.) 66* * * The matter of qualification as between the persons then employed in the service was an administrative function which the courts could neither supervise nor inquire into after the exercise of the discretion of the proper official in dispensing with the services of those adjudged to be least qualified under the law which required a reduction in the force. (Medkirk v. U. S., 44 Ct. Cls., 469; affirmed 45 Ct. Cls., 395; Keim v. U. S., 177 U. S., 290.) Restoration diers, sailors, and "That the period of time during which soldiers, sailors, and extension of and marines, both enlisted and drafted men, who, prior eligibility of sol to entering the service of their country, had a civil-service marines. status, and whose names appear upon the eligible list of the Civil Service Commission, shall not be counted against them in the determination of their eligibility for appointment under the law, rules, and regulations of the Civil Service Commission now in effect, and at the time of demobilization their civil-service status shall be the same as when they entered the service." 40 Stat. L., 1224.) Upon receipt of request from a soldier, sailor, or marine for restoration of eligibility, accompanied by his discharge, a photostat copy, or certified copy of the same, or other satisfactory evidence of the date of enlistment and discharge, his name will be restored, effective on the day succeeding the date of his discharge, provided he was discharged subsequent to March 1, 1919. In case he is discharged prior to March 1, 1919, his name will be restored, effective on that date. (Act of Mar. 1, 1919, The extended eligibility will be for the period remaining of the year of eligibility or extension thereof unless this would be longer than the period of military service, in which case eligibility shall be extended only for the period of such service. Restoration and extension of eligibility of persons in the military or naval service who have been released from active duty but not honorably discharged from the service.-Joseph H. Cooper, an eligible on the register for the Boston post office (who states that he was offered appointment after he had enlisted in the Navy), was released from active duty in the Navy on July 25, 1919, but has not been discharged from the service. Not having his honorable discharge, Mr. Cooper would not be eligible for preference. The act of March 1, 1919, preserving to soldiers, etc., the rights of eligibility which they had at the time of entering the military or naval service provides for restoration of their civil-service status at the time of "demobilization". Eligibility in cases such as that of Mr. Cooper will be restored and extended, the date of release from active duty to be regarded as the date of demobilization. (Minute of commission, Oct. 22, 1919.) Any such eligibles whose names were certified, or were within reach but not certified because it was known that they had entered the military service, or were within reach for consideration on a register from which formal certification is not made, will be given preference and their names will be placed ahead of the names of eligibles obtained from subsequent examinations who may have higher ratings, their names to be certified or considered in the order of their ratings on the special register thus established. Reinstatement mandatory. No certification or consideration charged against an eligible during the period he was in the military service, or within thirty days prior thereto, shall be counted against the eligible, unless an appointing officer objects to further consideration of the eligible, stating that he had received the full number of certifications or considerations required or permitted by the rules. If an eligible was charged with three certifications or considerations exclusive of those not counted under paragraph 3, his name may be restored and he may be selected from the last certificate or nomination in connection with which he was charged. This action will take care of cases of eligibles who were not selected because they were within the draft age. (Minute of commission, March 10, 1919, as amended March 15, 1919, and May 2, 1919.) As the act of March 1, 1919, does not state definitely that it applies only since the declaration of war, an eligible who entered the military service prior to the declaration of war will be regarded as entitled to the same extension of origibility as those who entered such service after the declaration. (Minute of commission, May 19, 1919.) * * * That all former Government employees who have been drafted or enlisted in the military service of the United States in the war with Germany shall be reinstated on application to their former positions, if they have received an honorable discharge and are qualified to perform the duties of the position. (Act of February 25, 1919, 40 Stat. L., 1164.) In an opinion rendered April 14, 1919, the Attorney General held That the provision cited applies alike to former employees in any department of the Government-not to the War Department alone. That the term "military service" was used in its broad sense and applies to the entire military establishment, which includes the Navy and Marine Corps as well as the Army; that the provision therefore applies to former employees who entered the naval service or Marine Corps. That the provision applies only to those who were drafted or who enlisted in the military service, embracing all who were drafted or enlisted as privates although they may have subsequently been commissioned as officers; that it includes also those who enlisted for the purpose of entering officers' training camps and were afterward commissioned-but does not include those who were commissioned from civil life and without having previously enlisted for any purpose. That the provision does not apply to every person who may have been at any time in the past a Government employee, but applies "only to those who were drafted while in the employ of the Government or who left Government employment for the purpose of enlisting." Since the foregoing opinion was rendered the following law was enacted: "All former Government employees who have entered the military or naval service of the United States in the war with the German Government shall be reinstated on application to their former positions if they have received an honorable discharge and are qualified to perform the duties of the position." (Naval appropriation act, July 11, 1919.) Persons who were commissioned from civil life without having previously enlisted for any purpose are entitled to mandatory reinstatement under this later provision. military service of his country, should suffer as regards his civil service status, by reason of his response to that call. It was further held that upon reinstatement Mr. Toyer will occupy the same civil service status that he occupied at the time he entered the military servicethat is, his appointment will continue only as long as shall be necessary to make a permanent appointment through certification of eligibles, and he must be removed within thirty days after the receipt by the appointing officer of the Commission's certificate, unless the Commission either authorizes his retention or he can, within that time, qualify himself for permanent appointment. Section 9 of the civil-service act does not apply to mandatory reinstatements under the act of Feb. 25, 1919. It does apply, however, to reinstatements under Civil Service Rule IX. (Op. Atty. Gen., Apr. 11, 1919.) In an opinion of April 11, 1919, the Attorney General held that Louis L. Toyer, who was appointed temporarily as an assistant messenger at $720 per annum, in the Office of the Surgeon General, on April 17, 1918, in the absence of eligibles, and who entered the military service May 14, 1918, and was honorably discharged, was entitled to be reinstated in the department, in view of the provision contained in the act of February 25, 1919. The Attorney General stated that Mr. Toyer is no doubt a former Government employee, within the meaning of the act, that, therefore, he may be reinstated if he is in fact qualified to perform the duties of his former position, and that it is immaterial that he never had a permanent civil service status, as Congress clearly intended that no former Government employee, who had been called to the Provided, That the act entitled "An act to provide for Preference in the Fourteenth and subsequent decennial censuses," approved March 3, 1919, so far as it relates to preference in employment of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines, be amended to read as follows: "That hereafter in making appointments to clerical and other positions in the executive branch of the Government in the District of Columbia or elsewhere preference shall be given to honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines, and widows of such, and to the wives of injured soldiers, sailors, and marines who themselves are not qualified, but whose wives are qualified to hold such positions." (Third Deficiency Appropriation Act, approved July 11, 1919.) This statute has the effect of repealing section 1754, Revised Statutes, which granted preference to persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service on account of wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty, as such provision is no longer necessary. It also supersedes section 6 of the census act of March 3, 1919, which provided for preference to honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines in connection with appointments in the departments and independent establishments at Washington only. Persons entitled to preference under this act will be released from all age limitations, will be required to make an average percentage of only 65 per cent to be eligible, will be appointed without regard to the States of their residence, although they must prove residence and appointments. be charged to the apportionment, and will have their names placed in the order of their ratings above those of all competitors who did not have military serv ice. Claim for such preference may be made by persons examined prior to the passage of the act whose names are still borne on eligible registers, as well as by those examined after the passage of the act. The person upon whose service the claim for preference is based must have been a soldier, sailor, or marine. His discharge from the military or naval service must have been honorable. The provision is not limited to veterans of the war with Germany; it applies to all former soldiers, sailors, and marines, including commissioned officers, Army field clerks, persons who served in the Student Army Training Corps, enlisted |