§ 443. (Act July 31, 1894, c. 174, § 4.) Auditors to superintend recovery of debts to the United States certified by them. The Auditors, under the direction of the Comptroller of the Treasury, shall superintend the recovery of all debts finally certified by them, respectively, to be due to the United States. (28 Stat. 206.)

This provision was part of section 4 of the Dockery act, cited above. Preceding provisions of the section, relating to the Comptroller and the Auditors, are set forth ante, §§ 402, 404, 412, 413.

A previous provision that the Auditor for the Post-Office Department should superintend the collection of all debts due that Department was made by R. S. § 292, post, § 458.

§ 444. (Act March 2, 1895, c. 177, § 1.)

Delegation of duties of

deputy auditor in case of his absence or sickness. Hereafter in case of the absence or sickness of any deputy auditor of the Treasury Department, the Secretary of the Treasury may, by an appointment under his hand and official seal, delegate to any officer, not below the grade of a fourth-class clerk, in the office of said auditor, the authority to perform the duties of deputy auditor until such absence or sickness shall cease. (28 Stat. 777.)

This was a provision of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1896, cited above.

The position of deputy auditor was abolished, and its duties and powers were to be exercised by another officer in each of the Auditors' offices, by a provision of Act March 4, 1911, c. 237, § 1, ante, § 374.

§ 445. (Act March 4, 1909, c. 297, § 1.) Employees may be designated to countersign warrants and drafts in name of Auditor for Post-Office Department. Hereafter the Secretary of the Treasury may from time to time designate any employees in the office of the Auditor for the PostOffice Department above the grade of class one to countersign warrants and drafts in the name of the auditor and such warrants and drafts, when so countersigned, shall be of the same validity as if countersigned by the Auditor for the Post-Office Department. (35 Stat. 866.)

This was a proviso annexed to the appropriation for the office of Auditor for the Post-Office Department in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1910, cited above.

§ 446. (R. S. § 278.) Settlement of accounts of Army officers. The Second Auditor shall audit and settle the accounts of line officers of the Army, to the extent of the pay due them for their services as such, notwithstanding the inability of any such line officer to account for property intrusted to his possession, or to make his monthly reports or returns, if such Auditor shall be satisfied by the affidavit of the officer or otherwise that the inability was caused by the officer's having been a prisoner in the hands of the enemy, or by any accident or casualty of war.

Res. March 29, 1867, No. 22, 15 Stat. 25.

The designation of the Second Auditor was changed to Auditor for the War Department by Act July 31, 1894, c. 174, § 3, ante, § 417, and his duties were prescribed by section 7 of that act, ante, § 420.

Subsequent provisions relating to property returns by officers of lost property were made by Act March 29, 1894, c. 49, ante, §§ 439-442.

§ 447. (R. S. § 279.) Signing bounty certificates, etc.

The Second Auditor may detail one clerk to sign, in the place of the Auditor, all certificates and papers issued under any provisions of law relating to bounties; but the Auditor shall be responsible for the official acts of such clerk.

Act March 19, 1868, c. 31, § 4, 15 Stat. 44.

See note to R. S. § 278, ante, § 446, as to change of designation and duties of Second Auditor.

R. S.

$275, which contained a similar provision relating to the Second Comptroller, was repealed by Act July 31, 1894, c. 174, § 7, 28 Stat. 207, the duties of that office having been transferred to the Comptroller by section 4 of that act, ante, § 402. But the provisions of both sections are practically obsolete.

§ 448. (R. S. § 280.) Settlement of advance bounties paid by pay

masters.

Any moneys paid by a paymaster in the Army to an enlisted man as an advance bounty shall be allowed in the settlement of the accounts of the paymaster, notwithstanding the discharge of such enlisted man before serving the time required by law to entitle him to payment of such moneys.

Act March 3, 1863, c. 78, § 6, 12 Stat. 743.

The provisions of this section and of R. S. § 281, post, § 447, relating only to accounts growing out of the civil war, and not being applicable to existing conditions, are practically obsolete.

§ 449. (R. S. § 281.) Settlement of overpayments by paymasters. The proper accounting officers are authorized, in the settlement of the accounts of the paymasters of the Army, to allow such credits for overpayments made in good faith on public account, since the fourteenth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and before sixteenth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, as appear to them, by such vouchers and testimony as they shall require, to be just.

shall

Act March 16, 1868, c. 29, 15 Stat. 42.

See note to preceding section.

§ 450. (Act July 16, 1892, c. 196, § 1.) Claims for arrears of pay and bounty already paid.

Hereafter nothing in section two hundred and seventy-seven of the Revised Statutes shall be construed as to prevent the Second Auditor of the Treasury from disallowing claims for arrears of pay and bounty in cases where it appears from the records and files of his office that payment in full has already been made to the soldier himself, or to his widow or legal heirs: Provided, That if any person whose claim may be disallowed be dissatisfied with the action of the Auditor, he may, within six months, appeal to the Second Comptroller; otherwise the Auditor's action shall be deemed final and conclusive and be subject to revision only by Congress or the proper courts. (27 Stat. 194.)

This was a provision of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1893, cited above.

R. S. § 277, mentioned in this provision, is set forth ante, § 419.

The designation of the Second Auditor was changed to Auditor for the War

Department by section 3 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 417, and his duties as such were prescribed by section 7 of that act, ante, § 420.

The office of Second Comptroller was abolished, and its duties were transferred to the office of Comptroller, by section 4 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 402.

§ 451. (Act March 4, 1907, c. 2918, § 1.)

Claims for arrears of

pay or for bounty of volunteers, etc. Back pay and bounty: For payment of amounts for arrears of pay of two and three year volunteers, for bounty to volunteers and their widows and legal heirs, for bounty under the Act of July twentyeight, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and for amounts for commutation of rations to prisoners of war in rebel States, and to soldiers on furlough, that may be certified to be due by the accounting officers of the Treasury during the fiscal year nineteen hundred and eight, two hundred thousand dollars: Provided, That in all cases hereafter so certified the said accounting officers shall, in stating balances, follow the decisions of the United States Supreme Court or of the Court of Claims of the United States after the time for appeal has expired, if no appeal be taken, without regard to former settlements or adjudications by their predecessors. (34 Stat. 1356.)

This was a provision of the sundry civil appropriation act for the fiscal year 1908, cited above.

§ 452. (R. S. § 282.) Evidence of honorable discharge to be returned to officers and enlisted men.

In all cases where it has become necessary for any officer or enlisted man of the Army to file his evidence of honorable discharge from the military service of the United States, to secure the settlement of his accounts, the accounting officer with whom it has been. filed shall, upon application by said officer or enlisted man, deliver to him such evidence of honorable discharge; but his accounts shall first be duly settled, and the fact, date, and amount of such settlement shall be clearly written across the face of such evidence of honorable discharge, and attested by the signature of the accounting officer before it is delivered.

Res. May 4, 1870, No. 42, 16 Stat. 374.

Provisions for the issue of a duplicate of a lost certificate of discharge were contained in R. S. § 224, ante, § 323.

§ 453. (Act June 6, 1900, c. 791.) Payment of claims for pay and allowances without deduction of attorneys' fees.

In the settlement of claims of officers, soldiers, sailors, and marines, or their representatives, and all other claims for pay and allowances within the jurisdiction of the Auditor for the War Department or the Auditor for the Navy Department, presented and filed hereafter in which it is the present practice to make deductions of attorneys' fees from the amount found due, no deductions of fees for attorneys or agents shall hereafter be made, but the draft, check, or warrant for the full amount found due shall be delivered to the payee in person or sent to his bona fide post-office address (residence or place of business). (31 Stat. 637.)

This was a proviso annexed to an appropriation for arrears of pay, bounty, etc., in the sundry civil appropriation act for the fiscal year 1901, cited above. Agents or attorneys were forbidden to demand or accept any fee for services

in connection with claims for arrears of pay, etc., of any officer or enlisted man of the Regular or Volunteer Armies, during the Civil War, by a provision of Act Dec. 22, 1911, c. 6, post, § 2204.

§ 454. (R. S. § 283.) Manner of keeping accounts of Departments of War and the Navy.

The Auditors charged with the examination of the accounts of the Departments of War and of the Navy, shall keep all accounts. of the receipts and expenditures of the public money in regard to those Departments, and of all debts due to the United States on money s advanced relative to those Departments; shall receive from the Second Comptroller the accounts which shall have been finally adjusted, and shall preserve such accounts, with their vouchers and certificates, and record all requisitions drawn by the Secretaries of epartments, the examination of the accounts of which has been assigned to them. They shall annually, on the first Monday in November, severally report to the Secretary of the Treasury the application of the money appropriated for the Department of War and the Department of the Navy, and they shall make such reports on the business assigned to them as the Secretaries of those Departments may deem necessary and require.

those D

Act March 3, 1817, c. 45, §§ 5, 6, 3 Stat. 367.

So much of this section as required these accounts to be kept by the Auditors was repealed by section 10 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 356, which established the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants, and provided for keeping on the books of that division, all accounts of receipts and expenditures of public money except those relating to postal revenues and expenditures therefrom.

The office of Second Comptroller, mentioned in this section, was abolished, and its duties were transferred to the office of Comptroller, by section 4 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 402.

§ 455. (R. S. § 284, as amended Act Feb. 18, 1875, c. 80, § 1.) Settlement of accounts of paymasters of lost or captured public vessels.

In

every case of the loss or capture of a vessel belonging to the Navy of the United States, the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, are authorized, in the settlement of the accounts of the 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 on the books of the Fourth Auditor of the Treasury, as

the y

of a

shall be satisfied was inevitably lost by such capture or loss. public vessel; and such purser shall be fully exonerated by credit from all liability on account of the provisions, clothing, small stores, and money so proved to have been captured or lost.

such

Act March 3, 1847, c. 48, § 6, 9 Stat. 173. Act Feb. 18, 1875, c. 80, § 1, 18 Stat. 317.

The amendment of this section by Act Feb. 18, 1875, c. 80, § 1, cited above, Consisted in the insertion of the word "paymaster," instead of "purser," conta ined in the first clause of the section as originally enacted.

The designation of the Fourth Auditor was changed to Auditor for the avy Department, by section 3 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 417, and his duties as such were prescribed by section 7 of that act, ante, § 420.

N

§ 456. (R. S. § 285.) Disbursements, etc., by order of commanding officer of Navy.

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, shall be allowed by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, in the settlement of the accounts of the officer, upon satisfactory evidence of the making of such order, and of the payment of money or disposal of stores in conformity with it; and the commanding officer by whose order such disbursement or disposal was made, shall be held accountable for the same. Res. March 3, 1849, No. 17, § 2, 9 Stat. 419.

(R. S. §§ 286-290. Transferred to Title XV, c. 8.)

These sections, provided for settlement of accounts of petty officers, seamen, etc., on vessels lost, etc., and for compensation to officers, seamen, etc., for personal effects on vessels sunk or otherwise destroyed. They are placed, with Act March 2, 1895, c. 190, relating to the same subject, under Title XV, "The Navy," c. 8, post, §§ 2865-2869.

§ 457. (R. S. § 291.) foreign nations.

Settlement of expenses of intercourse with

Whenever any sum of money has been or shall be issued, from the Treasury, for the purposes of intercourse or treaty with foreign nations, in pursuance of any law, the President is authorized to cause the same to be duly settled annually with the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, by causing the same to be accounted for, specifically, if the expenditure may, in his judgment, be made public; and by making or causing the Secretary of State to make a certificate of the amount of such expenditure as he may think it advisable not to specify; and every such certificate shall be deemed a sufficient voucher for the sum therein expressed to have been expended.

Act Feb. 9, 1793, c. 4, § 2, 1 Stat. 300.

Appropriations, to be expended under direction of the President, pursuant to the requirement of this section, to meet the expenses of the execution of the neutrality act, and to meet emergencies in the diplomatic and consular service, and to extend the commercial and other interests of the United States, are made in the annual diplomatic and consular appropriation acts. The provision for the fiscal year 1914 was by Act Feb. 28, 1913, c. 86, 37 Stat. 691.

§ 458. (R. S. § 292.) Department.

Collection of debts, etc., due the Post-Office

He

The Sixth Auditor shall superintend the collection of all debts due the Post-Office Department, and all penalties and forfeitures imposed for any violation of the postal laws, and take all such other measures as may be authorized by law to enforce the payment of such debts and the recovery of such penalties and forfeitures. shall also superintend the collection of all penalties and forfeitures arising under other statutes, where such penalties and forfeitures. are the consequence of unlawful acts affecting the revenues or property of the Post-Office Department.

Act June 8, 1872, c. 335, § 21, 17 Stat. 287.

The designation of the Sixth Auditor was changed to Auditor for the PostOffice Department by Act March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 2, ante, § 352, and section 3 of the Dockery Act, ante, § 417, and certain duties of the office were