"If any officer charged with the disbursement of the public moneys accepts, receives, or transmits to the Treasury Department to be allowed in his favor any receipt or voucher from a creditor of the United States without having paid to such creditor in such funds as the officer received for disbursement, or in such funds as he may be authorized by law to take in exchange, the full amount specified in such receipt or voucher, every such act is an act of conversion by such officer to his own use of the amount specified in such receipt or voucher."

The above three sections are general statutes that apply to and regulate the method of proof, and create new rules of evidence that apply to Sections 87, 88, 89, 90 and 91, above quoted.

§ 139. Banker, Etc., Receiving Deposit from Disbursing Officer.-Section 96 of the new Code is in the following words:

"Sec. 96. Every banker, broker, or other person not an authorized depositary of public moneys, who shall knowingly receive from any disbursing officer, or collector of internal revenue, or other agent of the United States, any public money on deposit, or by way of loan or accommodation, with or without interest, or otherwise than in payment of a debt against the United States, or shall use, transfer, convert, appropriate, or apply any portion of the public money for any purpose not prescribed by law; and every president, cashier, teller, director, or other officer of any bank or banking association who shall violate any provision of this section is guilty of embezzlement of the public money so deposited, loaned, transferred, used, converted, appropriated, or applied, and shall be fined not more than the amount embezzled, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both." See Cook County National Bank vs. United States, 107 U. S., 445, 27 Law Ed., page 537, which discusses, in a general way, the priority right of the United States as against insolvents. See also 15 Opinions of Attorney General, 288.

Under the authority of United States vs. Green et al, 146 Federal, 778, old Section 5497, all the terms of which are included in the statute under discussion, extended the crime of embezzlement of public money to every person who used, transferred, converted, appropriated, or applied any portion of the same for any purpose not prescribed by law.

§ 140. Embezzlement by Internal Revenue Officers, Etc.-Section 97 of the new Code is in the following words:

"Sec. 97. Any officer connected with, or employed in, the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, and any assistant of such officer, who shall embezzle or wrongfully convert to his own use any money or other property of the United States, and any officer of the United States, or any assistant of such officer, who shall embezzle or wrongfully convert to his own use any money or property which may have come into his possession or under his control in the execution of such office or employment, or under color or claim of authority as such officer or assistant, whether the same shall be the money or property of the United States or of some other person or party, shall, where the offense is not otherwise punishable by some statute of the United States, be fined not more than the value of the money and property thus embezzled or converted, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

This section contains a part of what was originally in Section 5497 of the old Statutes, as does Section 96, above considered. By the specific terms of the section, an embezzlement may be properly laid thereunder, even though the money or property so embezzled is not the money or property of the United States, provided that such money or property came into the possession or control of the United States officer by reason of his office, or under color thereof, or under claim of authority; as, for instance, one paying to a Deputy Collector a partial payment or installment payment on a license not yet issued, or giving to a rural route carrier money to purchase a money-order, which remains the property of the intended purchaser. All these, and many other offenses, would be punishable under this statute.

§ 141. Officer Contracting Beyond Specific Appropriation.-Section 98 of the new Code, which practically re-enacts old Section 5503, and the substance of the amendment thereto, is in the following words:

"Sec. 98. Whoever, being an officer of the United States, shall knowingly contract for the erection, repair, or furnishing of any public building, or for any public improvement, to pay a larger amount than the specific sum appropriated for such purpose, shall be fined not more than two thusand dollars and imprisoned not more than two years."

§ 142. Officer of United States Court Failing to Deposit Moneys, Etc.-Section 99 of the new Code, which

substantially re-enacts old Section 5504, is in the following words:

"Sec. 99. Whoever, being a clerk or other officer of a court of the United States, shall fail forthwith to deposit any money belonging in the registry of the court of the court, or hereafter paid into court or received by the officers thereof, with the Treasurer, assistant treasurer, or a designated depositary of the United States, in the name and to the credit of such court, or shall retain or convert to his own use or to the use of another any such money, is guilty of embezzlement, and shall be fined not more than the amount embezzled, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; but nothing herein shall be held to prevent the delivery of any such money upon security, according to agreement of parties, under the direction of the court."

Some civil cases that merely mention old Section 5504 are the following: Henry vs. Sowles, 28 Federal, 481; United States vs. Bixby, 10 Bis., 238.

§ 143. Receiving Loan or Deposit from Officer of Court. Section 100 of the new Code, which takes the place of the old Statute 5505, reads as follows:

"Sec. 100. Whoever shall knowingly receive from a clerk or other officer of a court of the United States, as a deposit loan, or otherwise, any money belonging in the registry of such court, is guilty of embezzlement, and shall be punished as prescribed in the preceding section."

144. Failure to Make Returns or Reports.-Section 101 of the new Code, which re-enacts old Section 1780, is in the following words:

"Sec. 101. Every officer who neglects or refuses to make any return or report which he is required to make at stated times by any Act of Congress or regulation of the Department of the Treasury, other than his accounts, within the time prescribed by such act or regulation, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars.'

§ 145. Aiding in Trading in Obscene Literature, Etc.-Old Section 1785, which is to be regulated by the decisions under the old Section 3893 and its amendments, which have heretofore been treated under postal crimes and offenses, is replaced by Section 102 of the new Code, in the following words:

"Sec. 102. Whoever, being an officer, agent, or employee of the Government of the United States shall knowingly aid or abet any person engaged in violating any provision of law prohibiting importing, advertising, dealing in, exhibiting, or sending or receiving by mail, obscene or indecent publications or representations, or means for preventing conception or producing abortion, or other article of indecent or immoral use or tendency, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

§ 146. Collecting and Disbursing Officers Forbidden to Trade in Public Funds.-Old Sections 1788 and 1789 are re-enacted into new Section 103 in the following words:

"Sec. 103. Whoever, being an officer of the United States concerned in the collection or the disbursement of the revenues thereof, shall carry on any trade or business in the funds or debts of the United States, or of any State, or any public property of either, shall be fined not more than three thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, and be removed from office, and thereafter be incapable of holding any office under the United States."

§ 147. Judges, Clerks, Deputies, Marshals, and Attorneys, and their Deputies Forbidden to Purchase Witness Fees, Etc.-The statute contained in the 29 Statute at Large, 595, is re-enacted into new Section 104, in the following words:

"Sec. 104. Whoever, being a judge, clerk, or deputy clerk of any court of the United States, or of any Territory thereof, or a United States district attorney, assistant attorney, marshal, deputy marshal, commissioner, or other person holding any office, or employment, or position of trust or profit under the Government of the United States, shall, either directly or indirectly, purchase at less than the full face value thereof, any claim against the United States for the fee, mileage, or expenses of any witness, juror, deputy marshal, or any other officer of the court whatsoever, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars.'

§ 148. Falsely Certifying, Etc., as to Record of Deeds. Section 105 of the new Code, creates a new offense, in the following words:

"Sec. 105. Whoever, being an officer or other person authorized by any law of the United States to record a conveyance of real property, or any other instrument which by law may be recorded, shall knowingly certify falsely that such

conveyance or instrument has or has not been recorded, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both."

§ 149.

Other False Certificates.-Section 106 of the new Code creates a new offense in the following words:

"Sec. 106. Whoever, being a public officer or other person authorized by any law of the United States to make or give a certificate or other writing, shall knowingly make and deliver as true such a certificate or writing, containing any statement which he knows to be false, in a case where the punishment thereof is not elsewhere expressly provided by law, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."

150. Inspector of Steamboats Receiving Illegal Fees. Section 5482 of the old Statutes is re-enacted in Section 107 of the new Statutes in the following words:

"Every inspector of steamboats who, upon any pretense, receives any fee or reward for his services, except what is allowed to him by law, shall forfeit his office, and be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both."

§ 151. Pension Agent Taking Fee, Etc.-Section 108, which displaces old Section 5487, reads as follows:

"Every pension agent, or other person employed or appointed by him, who takes, receives, or demands any fee or reward from any pensioner for any service in connection with the payment of his pension, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars."

In the cases of United States vs. Kessel, 62 Federal, page 57, and United States vs. Van Leuven, 2 Federal, 62, successful prosecutions were laid by the Government against members of the Board of Examining Surgeons for receiving and asking outside compensation and gratuity for services rendered and to be rendered, respecting certain certificates from the Board of Surgeons. An indictment in the first case, which charged that the defendant, a member of a Board of Surgeons, did unlawfully ask "a gratuity, the nature of which is unknown," with intent to have his official action influenced, was held to be bad, in that it failed to sufficiently inform the defendant of what he was to meet. These two decisions held that a member of a Board of Examining Surgeons, appointed by the Commissioner of Pensions, though