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PRINTING AND BINDING OF CONGRESSIONAL DOCUMENTS.

COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C., January 5, 1907.

The committee met this day at 9.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Charles E. Littlefield in the chair.

Present: Messrs. Littlefield, Samuel, and Flood.

The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, inasmuch as this is the first time that this committee has met for the purpose of doing any work, unless there is objection I think it may be well enough to have stated, as part of the record, the provisions of the law, the only provisions of the law that have reached my attention or been called to my attention, in relation to the reports of the Department of Agriculture in connection with their expenditures. They are as follows: In 1878 the Statutes at Large, volume 20, page 203, contain this paragraph:

The Commissioner of Agriculture shall present a detailed statement of the manner of the expenditure of this sum, to accompany his estimates to be presented at the next regular session of Congress.

And on March 3, 1885, chapter 338, Statutes at Large, it was provided:

And in addition to the proper vouchers and accounts for the sums appropriated for the said Department to be furnished for the accounting officers of the Treasury the Commissioner of Agriculture shall, at the commencement of each regular session, present to Congress a detailed statement of the expenditure of all appropriations for said Department for the last fiscal year. In this connection also it may be well to have the rule of the House under which this committee acts appear in the record, and that is as follows:

RULE XI.

POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES.

All proposed legislation shall be referred to the committees named in the preceding rule, as follows, viz: Subjects relating,

42. The examination of the accounts and expenditures of the several Departments of the Government and the manner of keeping the same; the economy, justness, and correctness of such expenditures; their conformity with appropriation laws; the proper application of public moneys; the security of the Government against unjust and extravagant demands; retrenchment; the enforcement of the payment of moneys due to the United States; the economy and accountability of public officers; the abolishment of useless offices; the reduction

or increase of the pay of officers, shall all be subjects within the jurisdiction of the nine standing committees on the public expenditures in the several Departments, as follows:

43. In the Department of State: to the Committee on Expenditures in the State Department;

44. In the Treasury Department: to the Committee on Expenditures in the Treasury Department;

45. In the War Department: to the Committee on Expenditures in the War Department;

46. In the Navy Department: to the Committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department;

47. In the Post-Office Department: to the Committee on Expenditures in the Post-Office Department;

48. In the Interior Department: to the Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department;

49. In the Department of Justice: to the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice;

50. In the Department of Agriculture: to the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture;

51. On Public Buildings: to the Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings.

In addition to this rule this committee thought it wise to have a special additional resolution on the part of the House, which may well appear here:

Whereas no examination of the expenditures in the Department of Agriculture has been made by the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture for a number of years and such an examination is now necessary in the interest of the public service; and

Whereas said examination can not be had by said committee unless authority therefor be conferred upon said committee: Therefore,

Resolved, That the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture is hereby authorized to examine, so far as the Department of Agriculture is concerned, all of the matters referred to in paragraph 42 of Rule XI of the House of Representatives, and for that purpose it may send for persons and papers; and said committee is authorized to employ a competent stenographer while conducting said examination and to sit during the sessions of the House, and to report the result of its examination with any recommendations to the House.

Any expenses incurred hereunder to be paid from the contingent fund of the House on the certificate of the chairman of the committee and approval of the Committee on Accounts.

Learning that under the legislation hereinbefore quoted the Secretary of Agriculture had been making reports to each regular session of Congress, and learning also that as a rule these reports had been published as public documents, I have made inquiries of the Public Printer for the purpose of ascertaining what the expense of such publications has been from time to time. In reply I have received. from him a letter under date of May 11, 1906, giving the cost of printing and publication up to and including House Document No. 448 of the Fifty-ninth Congress, which letter may become a part of the record:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE,
OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC PRINTER,
Washington, D. C., May 11, 1906.

SIR: In compliance with your verbal request, I have the honor to give below the estimated cost of printing 1,850 copies each of the documents named by you:

House Miscellaneous Document No. 154, Forty-ninth Congress, first session

$357.05

House Miscellaneous Document No. 20, Forty-ninth Congress, second session___

349.50

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