me it appears that the shape of the wall of this slot and the removable means for normally blocking the openings into the guide grooves mentioned in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth claims were new ingredients and patentable; but neither of these elements is present in the Driggs-Tasker extractor. It is of course elementary patent law that to constitute an infringement of a combination claim every element of the combination must be present in the infringing patent. (Rowell v. Lindsay, 113 U. S. 97; Snow v. Lake Shore, etc., Ry. Co., 121 U. S. 617; Wollensak v. Sargent, 151 U. S. 221.) I am therefore of the opinion that a cartridge-case extractor manufactured in accordance with Letters-Patent No. 625326 would not be an infringement upon LettersPatent No. 599482. Very respectfully, Approved: J. A. FOWLER, Assistant Attorney-General. GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM. The SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. RECLAMATION SERVICE-FILING OF CONTRACTS. Contracts authorized by the Secretary of the Interior, which were entered into between an acting supervising engineer in the United States Reclamation Service and certain users of water furnished for irrigation purposes by the Reclamation Service, are within the purview of section 3744, Revised Statutes, and copies thereof should be filed in the returns office of the Department of the Interior by the officer making and signing the same. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR: I am in receipt of your letter of October 21, 1909, inclosing copies of a number of contracts entered into between an acting supervising engineer in the United States Reclamation Service, authorized by the Secretary of the Interior, and certain users of water furnished for irrigation purposes by the Reclamation Service in the Yuma Valley, Arizona. You call my attention to section 3744, Revised Statutes, and request an opinion whether such contracts are required by that section to be filed in the returns office in the Department of the Interior. Section 3744 is as follows: "It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Secretary of the Interior, to cause and require every contract made by them severally on behalf of the Government, or by their officers under them appointed to make such contracts, to be reduced to writing, and signed by the contracting parties with their names at the end thereof; a copy of which shall be filed by the officer making and signing the contract in the returns office of the Department of the Interior, as soon after the contract is made as possible, and within thirty days, together with all bids, offers, and proposals to him made by persons to obtain the same, and with a copy of any advertisement he may have published inviting bids, offers, or proposals for the same. All the copies and papers in relation to each contract shall be attached together by a ribbon and seal, and marked by numbers in regular order, according to the number of papers composing the whole return." This section is taken from the first section of "An act to prevent and punish fraud on the part of officers intrusted with making of contracts for the Government," approved June 2, 1862. (12 Stat. 411.) The other sections of that act, except section 4, which is now sections 512-514, Revised Statutes, are sections 3745, 3746, and 3747, Revised Statutes. This section 3744 may be taken in connection with section 3709, Revised Statutes. They both refer to contracts made after advertising for bids, offers, and proposals. Section 3709 is confined to purchase and contracts "for supplies and services, except for personal services," in any of the departments of the Government. Section 3744 is confined to contracts by the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Interior and their duly authorized subordinates; but embraces any contract made by these officers for any purpose. The provisions of section 3744 are explicit and mandatory. Two operations are required the one respecting the execution of the contract, the other the necessity and manner of recording the instrument. "It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Secretary of the Interior to cause and require every * * * to be reduced to writing and signed by the contracting parties with their names at the end thereof." Without these solemnities and formalities the contract is void. contract In Clark v. United States (95 U. S. 539 542) the court say: * It makes it unlawful for contracting officers to make contracts in any other way than by writing signed by the parties. This is equivalent to prohibiting any other mode of making contracts. Every man is supposed to know the law. A party who makes a contract with an officer without having it reduced to writing is knowingly accessory to a violation of duty on his part. Such a party aids in the violation of the law. We are of opinion, therefore, that the contract itself is affected, and must conform to the requirements of the statute until it passes from the observation and control of the party who enters into it." The clauses requiring the filing of copies in the returns office are likewise mandatory. While the failure to comply with this mandate will not invalidate the contract, because it had passed beyond the control of the party entering into it, yet the officer can not be excused for the neglect of the duty imposed upon him to file the copy. It may be urged that, because the statute requires that "a copy shall be filed by the officer making and signing the contract in the returns office of the Department of the Interior * * * together with all bids, and proposals to him made by persons to obtain the same, and with a copy of any advertisement he may have published inviting bids, offers, or proposals for the same," the contracts embraced in the act are those which are entered into after advertisement and proposals. This position is suggested in your letter. The contracts made with water users are not based upon advertisements and bids. Such a practice would be impossible. The terms upon which the parties are entitled to purchase the water are fixed and determinate. They are not the subject of competition in any way. But when these transactions are properly made the subject of contract, the contracts must be governed by existing law. Section 3744 says "every" contract must be filed in the Returns Office of the Interior, an apartment in which the Secretary of the Interior" shall cause to be filed the returns of contracts made by the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Interior." (Sec. 512, Rev. Stat.) In French v. Spencer (21 How. 228, 238), the court said: "The act of March 5, 1816, has no reference to, or necessary connection with, any other bounty-land act; it is plain on its face and single in its purpose. And, then, what is the rule? One that can not be departed from without assuming on part of the judicial tribunals legislative power. It is, that where the legislature makes a plain provision, without making any exception, the courts can make none. McIver v. Ragan, 2 Wheat. 25; Patton v. McClure, Martin & Yerger's, Tenn. 345, and cases cited; Cocke & Jack v. McGinniss, ib. 365; Smith v. Troup, 20 Johns. 33.)" There is no statute which excepts contracts made under the reclamation law. There is, then, no difficulty in the construction of the statute. "It is plain on its face." That those contracts were not in the contemplation of the statute of section 3744 when passed, does not limit its extent. As was said by Mr. Justice Brown in De Lima v. Bidwell (182 U.S. 1 197): "While a statute is presumed to speak from the time of its enactment, it embraces all such persons or things as subsequently fall within its scope, and ceases to apply to such as thereafter fall without its scope." The reclamation act of July 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 389), does provide for contracts to be let by the Secretary of the Interior for the construction of irrigation works. These contracts must be evidenced with the same formalities as those contracts made by that officer on behalf of the Government. So must the contract for the use of the water. And if these contracts must be brought within the requirement of the law as to being reduced to writing and signed by the parties, so they must be as to the equally mandatory provision requiring them to be filed in the returns office. The reclamation act requires that all moneys received from any source in an irrigation project shall be paid into the reclamation fund. All charges are determined with the view of returning to the reclamation fund the cost of construction of each project so that the moneys can be used for other irrigation works. It is certainly within the policy of the statute that all the contracts pertaining to irrigation projects should be recorded in the Interior Department in order that the condition of the projects and of the reclamation fund may be readily ascertained. I am of opinion that the contracts referred to in your letter are within the purview of section 3744 and that copies of the same should be filed, by the officer making and signing the same, in the returns office of the Department of the Interior. Very respectfully, GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM. The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. PHILIPPINE INTERNAL REVENUE STAMPS - FUNDS DERIVED FROM SALE. Funds derived from the sale of internal-revenue stamps in the Philippine Islands belong to the Philippine government, under the provisions of section 4 of the act of March 8, 1902 (32 Stat. 54), and should be paid into the Philippine treasury. This section remains in full force and effect, notwithstanding the provisions of section 5 of the tariff act of August 5, 1909 (36 Stat. 84, 85). Where there are two acts upon the same subject they must stand together if possible, but if they are repugnant in any of their provisions, the later act operates as a repeal of the earlier only so far as its provisions are repugnant to the provisions of the earlier act. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 6th instant, in which you request my opinion as to whether or not funds derived from the sale of internal-revenue stamps in the Philippine Islands belong to the Philippine government under the provisions of section |