retary of the Treasury, and based upon the certificate of deposit or the report of deposits made by the depositary. Like the pay warrant, it is countersigned by the proper Comptroller, and registered by the Register of the Treas ury. This covering-in warrant is in the form following: 367. When thus covered in, the money cannot be taken from the Treasury except in consequence of an appropria tion by Congress. Any mistake in depositing, either by accident, by excessive amount, or erroneous payment, is, after this process, beyond the power of any officer of the Government to rectify. The money is absolutely in the Treasury, under a seal that can be broken only by act of Congress. It now goes into the general fund, and is charg. ed to the Treasurer of the United States, who is responsible for its safe-keeping. 368. These warrants, both the pay and the covering-in warrants, are in a great variety of forms, over seventy in number, having the same general expression, but characterized by some reference to the particular branch of the public service to which they respectively pertain. 369. As indicative of the amount of labor expended in the Division of Warrants, Estimates, and Appropriations, in this branch alone, it may be stated that the warrants issued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, numbered 34,401. 370. In addition to these appropriation accounts, and the preparation and issue of the warrants described, this division has charge of the preparation of the public-debt statement and of the daily statement of the financial condition of the Treasury. It also keeps the accounts of the sinking fund, the interest account with the various Pacific railroad companies, and prepares the tables relative to the finances to accompany the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury. 371. Upon this division the Secretary must rely for the accuracy of the accounts of the entire receipts and expenditures of the Government, and for an intelligent understanding at all times of the state of the public funds, of the ability of the Treasury to respond to the demands of the public credit, and, in a word, of the exact financial condition of the nation. retary of the Treasury, and based upon the certificate of deposit or the report of deposits made by the depositary. Like the pay warrant, it is countersigned by the proper Comptroller, and registered by the Register of the Treas ury. This covering-in warrant is in the form following: 367. When thus covered in, the money cannot be taken from the Treasury except in consequence of an appropria tion by Congress. Any mistake in depositing, either by accident, by excessive amount, or erroneous payment, is, after this process, beyond the power of any officer of the Government to rectify. The money is absolutely in the Treasury, under a seal that can be broken only by act of Congress. It now goes into the general fund, and is charg. ed to the Treasurer of the United States, who is responsible for its safe-keeping. 368. These warrants, both the pay and the covering-in warrants, are in a great variety of forms, over seventy in number, having the same general expression, but characterized by some reference to the particular branch of the public service to which they respectively pertain. 369. As indicative of the amount of labor expended in the Division of Warrants, Estimates, and Appropriations, in this branch alone, it may be stated that the warrants issued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, numbered 34,401. 370. In addition to these appropriation accounts, and the preparation and issue of the warrants described, this division has charge of the preparation of the public-debt statement and of the daily statement of the financial condition of the Treasury. It also keeps the accounts of the sinking fund, the interest account with the various Pacific railroad companies, and prepares the tables relative to the finances to accompany the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury. 371. Upon this division the Secretary must rely for the accuracy of the accounts of the entire receipts and expenditures of the Government, and for an intelligent understanding at all times of the state of the public funds, of the ability of the Treasury to respond to the demands of the public credit, and, in a word, of the exact financial condition of the nation. 372. The importance of this division, and the great responsibility attending the duties to be performed, is ap parent. Not only so, but it has received the deserved recognition in these respects of Congress, in the act provid ing for the reorganization of the Treasury Department, by distinguishing it from among the other divisions of the Secretary's office with a name and character of its own, and its chief with a salary exceeding that given to the other chiefs of divisions in that office. II. DIVISION OF PUBLIC MONEYS. 373. The act of Congress of August 6, 1846, laid the foundation of the present system of the safe-keeping and disbursement of the public moneys. For a period previous to that act, the public moneys were deposited with such of the State and Territorial banks as were selected for that purpose by the Secretary of the Treasury. Through the wise legislation contained in that act, they were thenceforth to be kept separately from the moneys of the banks, in the Treasury of the Government, constituted of the Treasurer, Assistant Treasurers, and public depositaries. This separ ation of the public funds from other moneys in circulation gave rise to the designation "Independent Treasury." It was not until the establishment of the national-bank system, in the year 1864, that public funds could be again deposited in banks. But this was authorized under a very different system as to accountability and security. These banks are the creatures of the General Government, with a circulation of equal security with the issues of the Government itself, because such circulation is based upon the deposit of United States bonds, and in reality upon the credit of the nation. Certain of them are designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as United States depositaries, upon the deposit likewise of Government bonds as security for the safe |