from the opening to the close of navigation, except such stations as, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, are not necessary to be manned during the full period specified; and the crews shall reside at the stations during said periods. Sec. 6. Crews may be employed at any of the life-saving or May 4, 1882. life-boat stations on the Pacific coast during such portion of the year as the general superintendent may deem neces sary. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to make all necessary regulations for the government of the life-saving service not inconsistent with law. 446. Revenue-Cutter Service. The Secretary of the Treasury shall detail a captain of July 31, 1894. the Revenue-Cutter Service who shall be chief of the division of Revenue-Cutter Service, and a chief engineer, who shall be engineer in chief of said Service, but no additional pay or emoluments shall be allowed on account of such detail. The master of any revenue-cutter shall make a weekly R. S., 2761. return to the collector, or other officer of the district under whose direction it is placed, of the transactions of the cutter, specifying the vessels that have been boarded, their names and descriptions, the names of the masters, from what port or place they last sailed, whether laden or in ballast, to what nation belonging, and whether they have the necessary manifests of their cargoes on board, and generally all such matters as it may be necessary for the officers of the customs to know. The officers of revenue-cutters shall perform, in addi- R. S., 2762. tion to the duties hereinbefore prescribed, such other du ties for the collection and security of the revenue as from time to time shall be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, not contrary to law. 447. Light-House Board. The President shall appoint two officers of the Navy, of R. S., 4653. high rank, two officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Army, and two civilians of high scientific attainments, whose services may be at the disposal of the President, together with an officer of the Navy and an officer of engineers of the Army, as secretaries, who shall constitute the Light House Board. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall be exofficio president of the Light-House Board. The Light-House Board shall be attached to the office of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and under his superintendence shall discharge all administrative duties relating to the construction, illumination, inspection, and superintendence of light-houses, light-vessels, beacons, R. S., 4654. R. S., 4658. R. S., 4661. R. S., 4662. R. S., 4668. R. S., 4670. July 26, 1886. June 23, 1874. R. S., 4671. buoys, sea-marks, and their appendages, and embracing the security of foundations of works already existing, procuring illuminating and other apparatus, supplies, and materials of all kinds for building, and for rebuilding when necessary, and keeping in good repair the lighthouses, light-vessels, beacons, and buoys of the United States; and shall have the charge and custody of all the archives, books, documents, drawings, models, returns, apparatus, and other things appertaining to the LightHouse Establishment. No light-house, beacon, public piers, or landmark, shall be built or erected on any site until cession of jurisdiction over the same has been made to the United States. A cession by a State of jurisdiction over a place selected as the site of a light-house, or other structure or work of the Light-House Establishment, shall be deemed sufficient within the preceding section, notwithstanding it contains a reservation that process issued under authority of such State may continue to be served within such place. And notwithstanding any such cession of jurisdiction contains no such reservation, all process may be served and executed within the place ceded, in the same manner as if no cession had been made. Whenever any of the light-vessels occupying positions which are adapted to the erection of light-houses upon pile-foundations require to be rebuilt, or require such extensive repairs as to render the substitution of such lighthouse advisable and practicable, such permanent structures may be erected in place of any such light-vessels; but the expense arising from all such changes and erections shall be defrayed from the general annual appropriations for repairs, and so forth, of light-vessels, except when a special appropriation is made for such change. The Light-House Board shall arrange the ocean, gulf, lake, and river coasts of the United States into lighthouse districts, not exceeding sixteen in number. Any law or regulation prohibiting the employment in the light-houses of the United States of persons more than forty-five years of age is hereby repealed. The jurisdiction of the Light-House Board is hereby extended over the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers for the establishment of such beacon lights, day beacons, and buoys as may be necessary for the use of vessels navigating those streams; and for this purpose the said board is hereby required to divide the designated rivers into one or two additional light-house districts, to be in all respects similar to the already existing light-house districts; and is hereby authorized to lease the necessary ground for all such lights and beacons as are used to point out changeable channels and which in consequence can not be made permanent. An officer of the Army or Navy shall be assigned to each district as a light house inspector, subject to the orders of the Light-House Board; and shall receive for such service the same pay and emoluments that he would be entitled to by law for the performance of duty in the regular line of his profession, and no other, except the legal allowance per mile, when traveling under orders connected with his duties. Feb. 14, 1903. Sec. 4. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall assign to R. S., 4672. any of the collectors of the customs the superintendence of such light-houses, beacons, light-ships, and buoys, as he deems best. Feb. 14, 1903. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor is authorized to R. S., 4673. regulate the salaries of the respective keepers of lighthouses in such manner as he deems just and proper, but the whole sum allowed for such salaries shall not exceed an average of six hundred dollars to each keeper. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor may, upon the recommendation of the Light-House Board, discontinue from time to time such lights as may from any cause become useless or unnecessary. And he may, upon the like recommendation, from time to time re-establish any lights which have been thus discontinued, whenever he believes such re-establishment to be required by public convenience or the necessities of trade or commerce. R. S. 4674. Feb. 14, 1903. No member of the Light-House Board, inspector, light- R. S., 4680. keeper, or other person in any manner connected with the light-house service, shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any contract for labor, materials, or supplies for the light house service, or in any patent, plan, or mode of construction or illumination, or in any article of supply for the light-house service. After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and seven, it shall be unlawful for any person, company, corporation, or municipality not under the control of the Light-House Board, to establish, erect, or maintain in the navigable waters of the United States any light as an aid to navigation, or any other aid to navigation similar to any of those maintained by the United States under the control and direction of the Light-House Board, without first obtaining permission so to do from the Light-House Board, in accordance with rules and regulations to be established by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; and any person violating the provisions of this section or any of the rules and regulations established by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor in accordance herewith shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be subject to a fine not exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars for each offense, and each day during which such violation shall continue shall be considered as a new offense. 448. Treasury agents. June 20, 1906. Sec. 3. R. S., 2649. The Secretary of the Treasury may appoint one super- Aug. 15, 1876. vising special agent, who shall receive in addition to the Mar. 3, 1891. necessary traveling expenses actually incurred by him, a Feb. 14, 1903. R. S., 2651. Aug. 15, 1876. R. S., 2652. R. S., 2653. R. S., 1973. Feb. 14, 1903. compensation of ten dollars per day; eighteen special agents, who shall each receive in addition to the necessary traveling expenses actually incurred by him, a compensation to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury, not to exceed eight dollars per day; and nine special agents, who shall each receive in addition to the necessary traveling expenses actually incurred by him, a compensation to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury not to exceed six dollars per day, for the purpose of making the examinations of the books, papers, and accounts of collectors and other officers of the customs, and to be employed generally, under the direction of the Secretary, in the prevention and detection of frauds on the customs revenue; and the expense thereof shall be charged to the "appropriation to defray the expense of collecting the revenue from customs.' The Secretary of the Treasury may, from time to time, make such regulations not inconsistent with law, for the government of the special agents, as he deems expedient, and may rescind or alter regulations so made. But no special agent, in addition to those authorized by the two preceding sections [sec. 2649 as amended], shall be appointed or employed upon any business relating to the customs revenue; nor shall any sum be paid to any agent authorized to be employed for mileage or any other expenses except such as are actually incurred in the discharge of his official duty. It shall be the duty of all officers of the customs to execute and carry into effect all instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury relative to the execution of the revenue laws; and in case any difficulty shall arise as to the true construction or meaning of any part of the revenue laws, the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury shall be conclusive and binding upon all officers of the customs. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, whenever he shall think it advantageous to the public service, to abolish or suspend the office of naval officer, or any other subordinate office, in any collection-district of the United States, except in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Savannah, Portland in Maine, and San Francisco, and to assign the duties of the office or any other subordinate office so abolished or suspended to a deputy collector or inspector of the customs; and so much of all fines, penalties, and forfeitures as would otherwise inure to either of such naval officers shall, after the discontinuance of their offices, respectively, be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and there credited to the fund for defraying the expenses of collecting the revenue from customs. 449. Alaska seal agents. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor is authorized to appoint one agent and three assistant agents, who shall be charged with the management of the seal fisheries in Alaska, and the performance of such other duties as may be assigned to them by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Such agents shall never be interested, directly or indi- R. S., 1975. rectly, in any lease of the right to take seals, nor in any proceeds or profits thereof, either as owner, agent, partner, or otherwise. Such agents are empowered to administer oaths in all R. S., 1976. cases relating to the service of the United States, and to take testimony in Alaska for the use of the Government in any matter concerning the public revenues. For the purpose of better guarding against frauds upon R. S., 2999. the revenue on foreign merchandise transported between the ports of the Atlantic and those of the Pacific overland through any foreign territory, the Secretary of the Treasury may appoint special sworn agents as inspectors of the customs, to reside in such foreign territory where such merchandise may be landed or embarked, with power to Feb. 14, 1903. superintend the landing or shipping of all merchandise, Sec. 10. passing coastwise between the ports of the United States on the Pacific and the Atlantic. It shall be their duty, under such regulations and instructions as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, to guard against the perpetration of frauds upon the revenue. The compensation paid to such inspectors shall not in the aggregate exceed five thousand dollars per annum. 450. Coast and Geodetic Survey. The President is authorized to cause a survey to be R. S., 4681. taken of the coasts of the United States, in which shall be designated the islands and shoals, with the roads or places of anchorage, within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States; and also the respective courses and distances between the principal capes or headlands, together with such other matters as he may deem proper for completing an accurate chart of every part of the coasts. The President may also cause such examinations and R. S., 4682. observations to be made with respect to Saint George's Bank, and to any other bank, or shoal, and the soundings and currents, although beyond the distance of twenty leagues from the shore to the Gulf Stream, as he may deem especially subservient to the commercial interests of the United States. The President is authorized, for any of the purposes of R. S., 4686. surveying the coast of the United States, to cause to be employed such of the public vessels in actual service as he deems it expedient to employ, and to give such instructions for regulating their conduct as he deems proper, according to the tenor of this Title [R. S., 4681-4691]. |