First Comptroller. It is accordingly incumbent on him to know at all times the exact condition of the several appropriations. Ledger accounts are kept for this purpose, and each account is credited with the sum appropriated for the specific object of expenditure, and debited with each warrant issued by the Secretary and countersigned by the Comptroller. The balance constitutes the sum available. So that before the Comptroller attaches his countersign the warrants are compared with the ledger account of the particular appropriation by the clerks upon whom devolves the duty of receiving and examining the same.

508. In this office are filed all powers of attorney for the collection of interest on the public debt, and for the collection also of moneys due to public creditors from the Treasury Department; also all official bonds of United States consular officers, disbursing officers of the several executive departments, receivers of public moneys, surveyors and deputy surveyors-general of the land office, supervising and local inspectors of steamboats, collectors of internal revenue, stamp agents, Territorial officers, officers of the mint, and the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurers of the United States.

All contracts of the Treasury Department are also filed in this office.

This office, among other duties not before mentioned, gives its attention to the examination and decision of applications for the issuing of bonds and other securities in place of securities lost or destroyed, the process of which is described more particularly in section 419 herein, under the head of Loan and Currency Division, in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury. It also performs a considerable amount of business of a miscellaneous character, which cannot well be more particularly specified, requiring in its performance much careful labor and attention.

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CHAPTER VIII.
HAPTER

THE SECOND COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY.

509. The general duties of this officer, as prescribed by law, are as follow:

To examine all accounts settled by the Second, Third, and Fourth Auditors, and to certify the balances arising thereon to the heads of the departments in which the expenditures have been incurred.

To countersign all requisitions drawn by the Secretaries. of War and of the Navy which shall be warranted by law. To report to the Secretaries of War and of the Navy the official forms to be issued in the different offices for disbursing the public money in those departments, and the manner and form of keeping and stating the accounts of the persons employed therein.

To superintend the preservation of the public accounts subject to his revision. (R. S., § 273.)

510. He is authorized to prescribe rules to govern the payment of arrears of pay due to any petty officer, seaman, or other person not an officer, on board any vessel employed by the United States which has been sunk or destroyed, to the person designated by law to receive the same, in case of the death of such petty officer, seaman, or other person. (R. S., § 274.)

511. The Second Comptroller is authorized to detail one clerk to sign, in the place of the Comptroller, all certificates and papers issued under any provision of law relat

ing to bounties, the said officer to be held responsible for the official acts of such clerk. (R. S., § 275.)

512. In case of the loss or capture of a vessel belonging to the United States navy, the Second Comptroller, as one of the proper accounting officers, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy,'is authorized, in the settlement of the accounts of a paymaster of such vessel, to credit him with such portion of the amount of the provisions, clothing, small stores, and money with which he stands charged, as the said Comptroller shall be satisfied was inevitably lost by such capture or loss. (R. S., § 284.)

513. Every disbursement of public moneys or disposal of public stores made by a disbursing officer pursuant to an order of any commanding officer of the navy, may be allowed by the Second Comptroller, as one of the proper accounting officers, in the settlement of the accounts of the officer, upon satisfactory evidence of the issuance of such order and of the payment of money or disposal of stores in conformity therewith; for which order and the propriety of the disbursement the commanding officer aforesaid is to be held accountable. (R. S., § 285.)

514. The Second Comptroller, as one of the proper accounting officers, in settling the accounts of seamen and others not officers, borne on the books of any vessel of the navy which shall have been wrecked, or which shall have been unheard from so long that her wreck may be presumed, or which shall have been destroyed or lost with the rolls and papers necessary to a regular and exact settlement of such accounts, is authorized to fix a day when such wreck, destruction, or loss shall be deemed to have occurred. (R. S., § 286.)

515. He is required, in case of the loss of any vessel in the employ of the United States, by casualty or in action with the enemy, together with her papers necessary to the exact ascertainment of the several accounts of the same, to assume the last quarterly return of the paymaster as the

basis for the computation of the subsequent credits to those on board, to the date of such loss, if there be no official evidence to the contrary; or when such quarterly return has not been made, he may adjust such accounts on principles of equity and justice. (R. S., § 287.)

may

516. Also, in case of such loss, he allow and pay to each person not an officer employed on the vessel so sunk or destroyed, and whose personal effects have been lost, a sum not exceeding sixty dollars, as compensation for such loss; or in case of the death of such person, to the widow, child or children, father, mother, or brothers and sisters jointly, in that order of preference. (R. S., §§ 288, 289.)

517. The Second Comptroller is also authorized, with the approval of the Secretary of the Navy, to allow any officer of the navy or marine corps a sum not exceeding his sea pay for one month, as compensation for the loss of his personal effects, on any vessel in the employ of the United States which, since the 19th of April, 1861, has been sunk or destroyed without fault or negligence on the part of such officer. But a schedule and certificate must in all cases be required from the officer making the claim. (R. S., § 290.)

518. Whenever any officer employed to disburse public moneys, whose accounts are subject to the revision of the Second Comptroller, fails to render his accounts, or to pay over, in the manner and in the time required by law and the regulations of the department to which he is accountable, any sum of money remaining in his hands, it is the duty of the Second Comptroller to cause to be stated and certified the account of such delinquent officer to the Solicitor of the Treasury, for the issue of a warrant of distress, as provided by law, for the collection of the money. (R. S., § 3633.)

519. All moneys appropriated for the use of the War and Navy Departments are required to be drawn from the

Treasury, by warrants of the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the requisitions of the heads of those departments respectively, countersigned by the Second Comptroller of the Treasury, and registered by the proper Auditor. (R. S., § 3673.)

520. The accounts subject to final revision by the Second Comptroller may be summarized as follows:

Received from the Second Auditor.

1. Accounts of disbursing officers of the War Department, under the acts for collecting, organizing, and drilling volunteers.

2. Of army recruiting officers.

3. Of army paymasters, pay of the army, mileage to of ficers, and general expenses.

4. Special accounts settled by the Paymaster's Division. 5. Of disbursing officers of the Ordnance Department for the expenses of the ordnance service, for ordnance, ordnance stores, and for armories and arsenals.

6. Of agents of Indian affairs for current and contingent expenses of the Indian service, including annuities and installments under treaties.

7. Of disbursing officers of the Medical Department for medical and hospital supplies and medical services.

8. Of disbursements for contingent expenses of the War Department, and of receipts and disbursements for the Soldiers' Home.

Received from the Third Auditor.

9. Of disbursing officers of the Quartermaster's Department for the regular supplies and incidental expenses. 10. Of disbursing officers of the Subsistence Department. 11. Of disbursing officers of the Engineer Department for military surveys, construction of fortifications, and river and harbor surveys and improvements.

12. Of pension agents for payment of pensions.