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States, directing him to pay to the person named the amount specified, to be charged to the appropriation named in the margin. * This is examined by one of the Assistant Secretaries * * * and is signed either by the Secretary, or, certain cases by special appointment of the Secretary, by one of the assistants.

in

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It then goes to the First Comptroller, who countersigns the same; it being his duty "to countersign all warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury which shall be warranted by law." It is next sent to the Register, who, after recording and certifying to the same, transmits it to the Treasurer.

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The Treasurer thereupon draws a draft, payable to the Treasurer in Washington, or elsewhere by an assistant treasurer or designated depositary, to the order of the person named in the warrant, signs the same, transmits it to the Register for record and certification by him, and on its return delivers it to the party to whom it is made payable, or his attorneys, or to whomever he may order, unless the Secretary of the Treasury, by a memorandum on the warrant, otherwise directs. The Treasurer relies wholly upon the warrant as it reaches him under the signature of the Secretary or an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and he strictly follows its directions as his authority and justification.

Then, and not until then, is the settlement consummated and payment authorized. * * *

Accounts of the Navy Department are settled in the same manner, except that they go to the Fourth Auditor * and the requisition is drawn by the Secretary

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of the Navy. So are the accounts relating to Indian affairs and to agents of lead and other mines, except that they go to the Second Auditor, and accounts relating to pensions of the Army, which go to the Third Auditor, and those relating to pensions of the Navy, which go to the Fourth Auditor, * and all require requisitions

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from the Secretary of the Interior instead of other heads of departments; but they are passed upon by the Second Comptroller, and in all other respects are subject to the same departmental processes as stated with reference to claims on the War Department.

As to the settlement of the accounts of other departments, there is some variation in the course of business from that which we have stated.

The First Auditor receives and examines all accounts accruing in the Treasury Department; accounts of salaries in the Patent Office; of judges, marshals, clerks, and other officers of courts; of the officer in charge of the public buildings and grounds in the District of Columbia; of the Congressional Printer; of expenditures for the Department of Agriculture; for public buildings and for prisoners convicted by United States courts, and certifies the balances and transmits the same with the vouchers, those relating to the customs to the Commissioner of Customs, and all others to the First Comptroller. * ** The Fifth Auditor receives and examines all accounts relative to the State Department, all accounts of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and those relating to the contingent expenses of the Patent Office and the Post Office Department, and accounts of the census, and certifies the balances to the First Comptroller. *

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The Commissioner of the General Land Office also certifies the balances found by him, as an auditor, to the First Comptroller. *

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and a copy of the cer

The Commissioner of Customs examines the accounts thus transmitted to him, and certifies the balances arising thereon to the Register, and there his duty ends. The First Comptroller in like manner certifies the balances arising on the accounts thus transmitted to him directly to the Register, * * * by whom the accounts, vouchers, and certificates are filed and preserved tificate in each case sent to the Secretary of the department in which the expenditure has been incurred (except when it is the Treasury Department), who indorses thereon a request to the Secretary of the Treasury to "please cause a warrant to be issued in accordance with the certified copy of settlement," and forwards the same

to the Secretary of the Treasury, in the warrant division of whose office it is then filed as a basis for drawing a warrant.

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When the expenditure has been incurred in the Treasury Department, the Register transmits to the Secretary of the Treasury copies of the certificates of balances adjusted * * and they are sent to the warrant division, and warrants issue, and other proceedings are had precisely as in accounts which pass the Second Comptroller, as before explained.

There are kept in the warrant division of the office of the Secretary of the Treasury and in the offices of the Register and First Comptroller separate appropriation accounts, in which are credited the amounts appropriated by Congress to each specific object, the Secretary issuing appropriation warrants to the Register and Comptroller therefor. These accounts, in each of those three offices, are charged with all warrants from time to time drawn against them respectively. * And the Second, Third,

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and Fourth Auditors, performing the duties of register for the War, Navy, and the Interior Departments, in whole or in part, also keep like appropriation accounts for those departments. * Thus the different officers of the Treasury Department have checks upon each other in the drawing of money from the public funds.

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The Post Office Department accounts are kept, audited, controlled, and paid in an anomalous manner, as compared with all other Government accounts. All the revenues deposited in the Treasury on account of that department stand to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States for the service of the Post Office Department, and there is no comptroller of accounts as a separate officer. Accounts are examined by the Sixth Auditor, who performs not only the duties ordinarily belonging to an auditor, but also those of a register and a comptroller. * When he certifies a balance due, a warrant therefor is drawn on the Treasurer for the amount, signed by the Postmaster General and countersigned by the Sixth Auditor. It is then transmitted to the Treasurer, who records the same, directs, by an order on the face thereof, its payment out of the Treasury, and returns to the Postmaster General.

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This is not only a warrant, but is a draft also, payable to the order of the creditor, and is delivered to him for collection, and upon that warrant and draft payment is made, the funds of that department not being subject to the warrant of the Secretary of the Treasury, as are other public moneys in the Treasury.

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If the Postmaster General, or any person whose account has been settled by the Sixth Auditor, is dissatisfied with the settlement, he may, within 12 months, appeal to the First Comptroller, whose decision shall be conclusive.

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Such is the method of the final settlement of all accounts in the Treasury, omitting much detail which occurs in carrying on the general course of business.

The Joint Commission of Congress, appointed in 1893 to inquire into and examine the laws organizing the executive departments and to report whether greater efficiency and economy could be secured, said:

From the original status, with one auditor and one comptroller, the system had developed into a system of five auditors, acting under three independent comptrollers, one great department bureau (the General Land Office) settling its own accounts directly with a comptroller without the intervention of an auditor; and a Sixth Auditor who acted independently of a comptroller, except upon appeal. * * * The delays resulting from a triplicate system of examination were so great that the auditors became practically "dead letters" in the administration of the accounting branch, and the Government was of necessity compelled to rely largely upon the administrative departments to exercise oversight and secure a proper expenditure of the public money.

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The commission's investigation and report culminated in the present system of accounting, consisting of one Comptroller and six Auditors, the name of each auditor indicating the class of accounts under his jurisdiction.

In contemplation of law the Auditors receive claims and accounts through the administrative officers. The latter approve or disapprove in whole or in part and add evidence or comment thereon for the information of the Auditors.

The Auditors receive and examine the accounts and vouchers and certify their findings, which certificates are final and conclusive on the executive departments, subject, however, to appeals to the Comptroller of the Treasury by the claimant, the heads of the departments or other establishments not under a department, and subject further to the power of the Secretary of the Treasury to direct a reexamination of the accounts. Says one authority:

The Auditor audits the account. It then passes from the hands of the bookkeeping division to the Secretary of the Treasury, and through the Comptroller's Office to the Treasurer, and then comes back to the Auditor with the amount and date of payment noted.

In the main, the procedure is comparable to the procedure of the judicial branch of the Government. The Auditors acting as courts of general jurisdiction pass judgments upon the accounts and claims before them. The Comptroller is the court of appeals to which the / Auditors' decisions may be carried at any time within a year. decision of the Comptroller is final and conclusive upon the executive departments.

The

This a very general outline of the scope of the accounting system. There are one or two innovations to be noted.

The first five Auditors certify their findings to the division of bookkeeping and warrants. The Auditor for the Post Office Department certifies his findings to the Postmaster General for accounts of the postal revenue and expenditures therefrom, and to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants for other accounts. Again, the law requires postmasters to send their money-order accounts direct to the Auditor for the Post Office Department, thus preventing any administrative examination. There are other duties required of the Auditor for the Post Office Department which are not required of the other Auditors. Those duties will be referred to later.

The intent of the act of July 31, 1894, was to lessen the number of accounting officers, to place greater responsibility upon the Auditors, and to hold them responsible for the settlement of accounts and claims and for the advances of money to disbursing officers and others.

The main duty of the Comptroller is to determine finally the construction of statutes.

Under the new régime the duties of the officers named are as follows:

COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY.-The Comptroller of the Treasury, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, prescribes the forms of keeping and rendering all public accounts except those relating to postal revenues and the expenditures therefrom. He is charged with the duty of revising accounts upon appeal from settlements made by the Auditors. Upon the application of disbursing officers, the head of any executive department, or other independent establishment not under any of the executive departments, the Comptroller is required to render his advance decision upon any question involving a payment to be made by them or under them, which decision, when rendered, governs the Auditor and the Comptroller in the settlement of the account involving the payment inquired about. He is required to approve, disapprove, or modify all decisions by Auditors making an original construction or modifying an existing construction of statutes, and certify his action to the Auditor whose duties are affected thereby. Under his direction the several Auditors superintend the recovery of all debts finally certified by them, respectively, to be due the United States, except those arising under the Post Office Department. He superintends the preservation by the Auditors of all accounts which have been finally adjusted by them, together with the vouchers and certificates relating to the same. He is required, on his own motion, when in the interests of the Government, to revise any account settled by any Auditor. In any case where, in his opinion, the interests of the Government require he may direct any of the Auditors forthwith to audit and settle any particular account pending before the said Auditor for settlement. It is his duty to countersign all warrants authorized by law to be signed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

AUDITOR FOR THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.-The Auditor for the Treasury Department receives and examines all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Secretary of the Treasury and all bureaus and offices under his direction; all accounts relating to the customs service, the public debt, internal revenue, Treasurer and assistant treasurers, mints and assay offices, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Revenue-Cutter Service, Life-Saving Service, Public Health and MarineHospital Service, public buildings, secret service, and all other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Treasury, and certifies the balances arising thereon.

AUDITOR FOR THE WAR DEPARTMENT.-The Auditor for the War Department audits and settles all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Secretary of War, and all bureaus and offices under his direction; all accounts relating to the military establishment, armories and arsenals, national cemeteries, fortifications, public buildings and grounds under the Chief of Engineers, rivers and harbors, the Military Academy, the Isthmian Canal Commission, and to all other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of War.

AUDITOR FOR THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.-The Auditor for the Interior Department audits and settles all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Secretary of the Interior, and of all bureaus and offices under his direction; all accounts relating to the protection, survey, and sale of public lands and the reclamation of arid public lands, the Geological Survey, Army and Navy pensions, Indian affairs, Howard University, the Government Hospital for the Insane, the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, the Patent Office, the Capitol and Grounds, the Hot Springs Reservation, the reimbursement from accrued pensions of the last sickness and burial of pensioners under the act of March 2, 1895, and all other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior.

AUDITOR FOR THE NAVY DEPARTMENT.-The Auditor for the Navy Department examines and settles all accounts of the Navy Department, including the office of the

Secretary of the Navy, and all offices and bureaus under his direction, certifying the balances arising thereon to the Secretary of the Treasury and sending a copy of each certificate to the Secretary of the Navy.

AUDITOR FOR THE STATE AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS.-The Auditor for the State and other Departments receives, examines, and certifies the balances arising thereon to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants; all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the offices of the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and of all bureaus and offices under their direction; all accounts relating to all other business within the jurisdiction of the Departments of State, Justice, Agriculture, and Commerce and Labor; all accounts relating to the Diplomatic and Consular Service, the judiciary, United States courts, judgments of the United States courts, and Court of Claims relating to accounts settled in his office, executive office, Civil Service Commission, Interstate Commerce Commission, District of Columbia, Court of Claims, Smithsonian Institution, Territorial governments, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Public Printer, Library of Congress, Botanic Garden, and accounts of all boards, commissions, and establishments of the Government not within the jurisdiction of any of the executive departments.

AUDITOR FOR THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.-The Auditor for the Post Office Department audits and settles all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Postmaster General and of all bureaus and offices under his direction, all postal and money order accounts of postmasters, all accounts relating to the transportation of the mails, and to all other business within the jurisdiction of the Post Office Department, and certifies the balance arising thereon to the Postmaster General for accounts of postal revenue and expenditures therefrom, and to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants for other accounts, and sends forthwith copies of the certificates in the latter cases to the Postmaster General.

"The further duties of this Auditor shall continue as now defined by law, except as the same are modified by the provisions of this act." (28 Stat., 207.)

The chief "further duties" are:

To close the accounts of the Post Office Department quarterly and submit reports to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the Postmaster General, quarterly and annual reports.

To register, charge, and countersign Post Office Department warrants.

To perform such other duties in relation to the financial concerns of the Post Office Department as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of the Treasury.

To superintend the collection of all debts due the Post Office Department and penalties and forfeitures imposed for violation of postal laws and to forward certified papers to Department of Justice.

To receive from postmasters money-order accounts and to keep said accounts separately.

To compromise judgments for debts due the Post Office Department and accounts for fines, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities incurred.

To administer oaths in the settlement of accounts.

To receive duplicate copies of contracts in mail service.

To receive notices of Postmaster General's orders originating claims; notices of appointments, deaths, or removals of postmasters; notices of readjustments of postmasters' salaries; establishment and discontinuance of post offices, and official bonds of former postmasters.

To receive from United States marshals returns of proceedings on execution in postal

cases.

To certify quarterly returns of postmasters and any papers pertaining to the accounts in his office, transcripts of money-order accounts, statements of accounts of post