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count for the arms and accessories issued to it, and shall, when required by the Secretary of War, duly cause the return of said property in good order within 30 days to such arsenal or depot as the Secretary of War may designate to receive them."

The Act of May 29, 1934, provides:

"That the Secretary of War is authorized and directed to give to each post of the American Legion to which obsolete or condemned Army rifles, slings, or cartridge belts have been loaned under authority of the Act entitled 'An Act authorizing the Secretary of War to loan Army rifles to posts of the American Legion', approved February 10, 1920, as amended, any such equipment now held by such post, and to cancel and release all obligations to the United States incurred pursuant to such Act in connection with loans of such equipment to posts of the American Legion " [48 Stat. 815].

The language of this statute is clear and unambiguous. It directs the Secretary of War "to give" to American Legion Posts the property held by them and "to cancel and release all obligations to the United States" incurred by such posts in connection with loans of such property.

When property so held is given to a post by the Secretary of War as directed by the statute, no further action is required to satisfy the obligation of the post to return the property. Hence, unless the language of the statute "to cancel and release all obligations to the United States incurred pursuant to such Act in connection with loans of such equipment to posts of the American Legion" includes obligations arising by reason of failure or inability to return property because of loss thereof, it is superfluous. This language is broad enough to include such obligations, and applying the rule that each and every word of a statute is to be given effect if possible, it is my opinion that this statute has the effect of releasing and cancelling all claims existing prior to the passage of the act that have resulted from loss of property covered by a bond of an American Legion Post.

In view of the rule that the release of the principal operates to release the surety (Cage v. Cassidy, 23 How. 109;

National Surety Co. v. George E. Breece Lumber Co., 60 F. (2d) 847, 851), and since there is nothing in the statute to indicate that the Congress intended any different rule to apply in this case, it is my further opinion that the statute has the effect of cancelling and releasing all claims against surety companies such as those filed by the Government in the liquidation proceedings involving Lloyds Insurance Company of America.

'Respectfully,

J. CRAWFORD BIGGS,

To the SECRETARY OF WAR.

Acting Attorney General.

AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN FUNDS FOR THE PROMOTION OF HEALTH SERVICE IN RURAL AREAS

A proposed executive order allocates to the Secretary of the Treasury from the appropriation of $899,675,000 contained in the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935, $1,000,000 for use in enabling the Public Health Service to cooperate with and assist local state health officers in the establishment and promotion of adequate health service in rural areas.

Held, the proposed allocation is authorized under the said Emergency Appropriation Act for carrying out the purposes of the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
August 22, 1934.

SIR: I am herewith transmitting through the Secretary of State, as required by Executive Order No. 6247 of August 10, 1933, a revised draft of a proposed Executive Order submitted by the Acting Director of the Bureau of the Budget under date of August 17, 1934, allocating to the Secretary of the Treasury from the appropriation of $899,675,000 contained in the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935 (Public No. 412, 73d Congress [48 Stat. 1055]), approved June 19, 1934, the sum of $1,000,000 for use in enabling the Public Health Service to cooperate with and assist local state health authorities in the several states in the establishment, development, and maintenance of adequate health service in rural areas.

The Treasury Department first suggested that the allocation is authorized as a public works project under section 202 (c) of Title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act (ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, 201), which is as follows:

"The Administrator, under the direction of the President, shall prepare a comprehensive program of public works, which shall include among other things the following: (c) any projects of the character heretofore constructed or carried on either directly by public authority or with public aid to serve the interests of the general public."

Upon the informal suggestion of this Department that considerable doubt existed as to whether the proposed allocation is authorized under section 202 (c), the Treasury Department expressed the view that the allocation might be authorized from the same appropriation as a relief measure for carrying out the purposes of the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 (ch. 30, 48 Stat. 55).

The general purpose of that Act is broadly indicated in the first section thereof which is as follows:

"That the Congress hereby declares that the present economic depression has created a serious emergency, due to widespread unemployment and increasing inadequacy of State and local relief funds, resulting in the existing or threatened deprivation of a considerable number of families and individuals of the necessities of life, and making it imperative that the Federal Government cooperate more effectively with the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia in furnishing relief to their needy and distressed people." [Italics mine.]

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Section 4(b) of the Act authorizes the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator to make grants to the several states for the purposes set out in section 4 (a) which are: * to aid in meeting the costs of furnishing relief and work relief and in relieving the hardship and suffering caused by unemployment in the form of money, service, materials, and/or commodities to provide the necessities of life to persons in need as a result of the present emergency, and/or to their dependents, whether resident, transient, or homeless."

66* * *

The character of the service authorized by the proposed order is indicated by the following excerpt from the enclosed memorandum of August 21, 1934, submitted to this Department by the Surgeon General of the United States: Much of the activity of the county health units would be concerned with service to the poor ordinarily rendered by physicians. Such service would include the maintenance of diagnostic clinics, the administration of vaccines for the prevention of diphtheria, typhoid fever and the like, medical advice to indigent pregnant mothers, medical advice on the care of infants and the medical examination of school children. The work would be directed largely to protection of the health of persons unable to pay for medical service, and in this way would relieve distress by preventing disease which would require medical care beyond the means of the poor. In this way, the Federal government would be relieved of at least a part of the much heavier expense of rendering actual medical service to the indigent sick."

It thus appears that the contemplated service will provide necessities of life to persons in need as a result of the emergency, and also that it will tend to prevent conditions requiring further direct relief. The rendition of such service is, therefore, within the scope of the Federal Emergency Relief Act.

The fact that a regular appropriation exists for the same purpose as that of the proposed allocation does not affect the validity of the contemplated action. The test is whether the allocation is made for a purpose within the Federal Emergency Relief Act.

The appropriation of $899,675,000 made by the Emergency Appropriation Act to carry out the provisions of the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933, and certain other Acts, is to be allocated for such purposes by the President. The authority of the President to allocate the funds necessarily implies that allocations may be made to any persons or agencies whom he may, in his discretion, designate. Hence, it follows that the President is authorized to select the Secretary of the Treasury as an agent to administer relief funds appropriated by the Emergency Appropriation

Act. It is my opinion, therefore, that the President is authorized to make the proposed allocation.

The Acting Director of the Bureau of the Budget objects to those provisions of the order which authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint and fix the compensation of officers and employees without regard to the Civil Service laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. [46 Stat. 1003.] Since the appropriation in question is to be allocated in the discretion of the President for carrying out the purposes of the Federal Emergency Relief Act, etc., the President is fully empowered to confer such authority upon the Secretary of the Treasury.

The draft submitted by the Acting Director of the Bureau of the Budget has been revised so as to indicate that the proposed allocation is to be used in carrying out the purposes of the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933, rather than the National Industrial Recovery Act. The other changes made relate to matters of form only. As revised, the proposed order has my approval as to form and legality. Respectfully,

To the PRESIDENT.

J. CRAWFORD BIGGS,
Acting Attorney General.

CONSTRUCTION OF SUBSISTENCE HOMESTEADS WITH FUNDS APPROPRIATED THEREFOR BY THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY ACT

The Federal Subsistence Homesteads Corporation is authorized to expend money appropriated under section 208 of the National Industrial Recovery Act for the construction of subsistence homesteads without the consent of the state in which such construction is to take place.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
August 23, 1934.

SIR: I have the honor to comply with your request of August 20 for my opinion whether the Federal Subsistence Homesteads Corporation may expend money appropriated under Section 208 of the National Industrial Recovery Act for the construction of subsistence homesteads without the consent of the State wherein such construction is to take 144790°-37-vol. 38- -6

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