result of its obtaining and collecting this judgment would be to reduce by just so much the income applicable to the payment of a dividend to itself as stockholder, the proceeding would, if we again leave out of sight its merely technical details, amount to the Government's getting under one name what would be otherwise payable to it under another name; or, in other words, would again leave it, for all practical purposes, in precisely the same situation which it previously occupied.

The Government's only really effective remedy, therefore, would seem to be, in the exercise of its rights as stockholder, to replace by others those officers of the corporation who had refused to pay the annual stipend, and it would seem to follow that, since ability to do this depends entirely on ownership of the capital stock, if in the discretion of that branch of the Government controlling the action of the United States as a stockholder it is to the public interest that this stipend should not be paid, no legal means exist by which the payment can be effectively enforced. It is needless to say that it is in the power of the Congress to direct that this $250,000 shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States as the successor to the rights of New Grenada, Colombia, and Panama; it is no less clearly within the power of the Congress to provide that this shall not be done. In the absence of any action by the Congress on the subject, it would be appropriate for the Treasury to expect and request this annual payment, but, if the payment should not voluntarily be made, I can perceive no truly effective method by which it could be enforced. Very respectfully,

CHARLES J. BONAPARTE.

The SECRETARY OF WAR.

APPROPRIATIONS-NAVAL HOSPITAL AT NORFOLK, VA.— NAVAL HOSPITAL FUND.

The appropriations contained in the acts of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat. 553, 568), and May 13, 1908 (35 Stat. 127, 144), for the renovation of the present Naval Hospital buildings at Norfolk, Va., and the erection of new wards, to cost not to exceed $200,000, can not

be supplemented from the naval hospital fund in order to defray a portion of the cost of installing a heating and ventilating system into such building.

The authority of the Secretary of the Navy under section 4810, Revised Statutes, to procure at suitable places proper sites for navy hospitals and to cause necessary buildings to be erected thereon, is not limited to the establishment of hospitals at places where none existed.

The general rule of law is that when Congress makes a specific appropriation for any particular purpose, this is construed as meaning that no more shall be expended for that purpose than is thus appropriated; and if a general appropriation applicable to the same purpose, together with other purposes of the like class, would otherwise be available to meet the same expenditure, the specific appropriation operates pro tanto as a repeal or suppression of the general appropriation, and renders its use for the specific purpose illegal.

There is, however, no such analogy between the several statutes authorizing the commissioners of the navy hospitals, and later, the Secretary of the Navy, to procure sites and erect necessary buildings for navy hospitals, payable from the unexpended balances of the navy hospital fund, and the specific provisions contained in the acts of 1906 (34 Stat. 568) and 1908 (35 Stat. 144) in regard to the naval hospital buildings at Norfolk, Va., as would justify the application of the rule of construction above referred to. Ordinarily, however, appropriations for particular purposes included within the powers of the former commissioners of navy hospitals would constitute legislation in pari materia with the laws defining those powers and transferring them to the Secretary of the Navy and both would, if possible, be construed together. In the absence of words expressing a contrary intention, an appropriation by Congress for the construction of a naval hospital or its equipment would not prohibit the expenditure of money from the naval hospital fund for the enlargement of such hospital or providing it with improved appliances; but the acts under consideration indicate a contrary intention.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
July 28, 1908.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of July 15. In this you state:

"The act making appropriations for the naval service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, approved June 29, 1906, contains, under the heading Public works under Bureau of Medicine and Surgery,' a provision as follows (34 Stat. 553, 568): Naval hospital, Norfolk, Virginia: For the renovation of the present hospital buildings and the erection of new wards, to cost not to exceed two hundred

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thousand dollars. The naval appropriation act for the current fiscal year, approved May 13, 1908 (35 Stat. 127, 144), contains under the same heading the further provision: Naval hospital, Norfolk, Virginia: For the renovation of the present hospital buildings and for the erection of new wards, to cost not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars, as authorized by the act of Congress approved June twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and six, one hundred thousand dollars.'

"In August, 1907, a contract was entered into with a construction company for renovating the present naval hospital buildings at Norfolk and for erecting new wards, at a cost of $186,500, and work thereunder is still progressing. It is now found necessary to install in the building the equipment for a heating and ventilating system, not called for by the original contract. This additional work is estimated to cost $42,627, and as the amount appropriated by Congress is insufficient, by about $29,000, for the purpose, it is desired to defray this expense, if it can properly be done, from the naval hospital fund."

You thereupon ask my opinion—

as to whether, Congress having made appropriations for the work in the language above quoted, and the amount so appropriated having proved inadequate, the naval hospital fund may legally be drawn upon to defray the cost of the additional work above mentioned, either wholly or to the extent that such cost, in addition to the original contract price, exceeds the amount appropriated."

The legislation regulating the use of the naval hospital fund appears to be the following:

By the act of July 16, 1798 (1 Stat. 605), the Congress provided for the relief of sick and disabled seamen of the merchant marine.

By the act of March 2, 1799 (1 Stat. 729), the Secretary of the Navy was directed to deduct 20 cents per month from the pay of officers and enlisted men of the Navy, and the money so collected to be applied to the same purpose as the money collected under authority of the act of July 16, 1798. By this act the officers and enlisted men of the

Navy and Marine Corps were enabled to receive the same benefits as disabled seamen of the merchant marine, and from the same fund.

Then followed an act establishing navy hospitals, approved February 26, 1811 (2 Stat. 650), which is as follows:

"SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the money hereafter collected by virtue of the act, entitled 'An act in addition to an act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen,' shall be paid to the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of War, for the time being, who are hereby appointed a board of commissioners, by the name and style of Commissioners of Navy Hospitals, which, together with the sum of fifty thousand dollars hereby appropriated out of the unexpended balance of the marinehospital fund, to be paid to the commissioners aforesaid, shall constitute a fund for navy hospitals.

"SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all fines imposed on Navy officers, seamen and marines, shall be paid to the commissioners of navy hospitals.

"SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners of navy hospitals be and they are hereby authorized and required to procure at a suitable place or places proper sites for navy hospitals, and if the necessary buildings are not procured with the site, to cause such to be erected, having due regard to economy, and giving preference to such plans as with most convenience and least cost. will admit of subsequent additions, as the funds will permit and circumstances require; and the commissioners are required at one of the establishments, to provide a permanent asylum for disabled and decrepit navy officers, seamen and marines.

“SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Navy be authorized and required to prepare the necessary rules and regulations for the government of the institution, and report the same to the next session of Congress.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That when any navy officer, seaman or marine, shall be admitted into a navy

hospital, that the institution shall be allowed one ration per day during his continuance therein, to be deducted from the account of the United States with such officer, seaman or marine; and in like manner, when any officer, seaman or marine, entitled to a pension, shall be admitted into a navy hospital, such pension during his continuance therein shall be paid to the commissioners of the navy hospitals and deducted from the account of such pensioner."

By the act of July 10, 1832 (4 Stat. 572), the powers conferred upon the "commissioners of navy hospitals" were transferred to the Secretary of the Navy, who was made the sole trustee of the naval-hospital fund.

The sources of revenue of said hospital fund, in addition to specific appropriations, are provided in the following acts: March 2, 1799, sec. 2 (1 Stat. 729); February 26, 1811 (2 Stat. 650); July 10, 1832 (4 Stat. 572); March 3, 1855 (10 Stat. 670); July 2, 1890, sec. 5 (26 Stat. 213); March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1027); June 7, 1900 (31 Stat. 697).

The existing law is substantially embodied in section 4810, Revised Statutes of the United States, which is as follows:

"The Secretary of the Navy shall procure at suitable places proper sites for navy hospitals, and if the necessary buildings are not procured with the site shall cause such to be erected, having due regard to economy, and giving preference to such plans as with most convenience and least cost will admit of subsequent additions, when the funds permit and circumstances require; and shall provide, at one of the establishments, a permanent asylum for disabled and decrepit navy officers, seamen, and marines."

Throughout these acts it is apparent that the fund thus provided is for the purpose of these hospitals, the procurement of sites and buildings, and the furnishing, equipping, and maintenance of the hospitals in question; and the general fund is as available and appropriate for any one of these purposes as for any other, due regard being had for the relative needs of each. The general rule of law is that, when the Congress makes a specific appropriation for any particular purpose, this is construed as meaning that no more shall be expended for that purpose than is