Charles Evans Hughes

“ That is, the Land Department has authority to make regulations which are not inconsistent with law, and are appropriate to the performance of its duties (Revised Statutes, §§ 161, 441, 453, 2478, Comp. Stat. 1913, §§ 235, 681, 699, 5120) , and when, by a valid regulation, the Department requires that an affidavit shall be made before an officer otherwise competent, that officer is authorized to administer the oath within the meaning of § 125. The false swearing is made a crime, not by the Department, but by Congress; the statute, not the Department, fixes the penalty. ”

“ The Criminal Code, § 125, provides: 'Whoever, having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, . . . shall wilfully, and contrary to such oath, state or subscribe any material matter which he does not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury. ”

“ We do not think that it is. Section 2290, it is true, does not provide that the affidavit of the applicant shall set forth whether there has been a previous entry. Neither does it provide that the applicant shall state that he is a citizen, or has filed his declaration of intention to become such Yet, under § 2289, he cannot make entry unless this qualification exists. We are concerned with positive requirements of the law, which are to be enforced by the Department. ”