I regard such compensation as very disproportionate to the vale of the services of the commissioners, who are merely examining and bailing or committing magistrates; and I think some legislation by Congress limiting the amount that may be retained by them of the fees and emoluments of their offices earned during a year, and requiring the balance of the same to be turned into the Treasury of the United States, is necessary, just, and proper, and would have a salutary effect-what such limit shall be I leave to your wise discretion to suggest to Congress. This matter is here mentioned for your consideration, because I am very sure the amount of the annual compensation earned by these officers is not fully understood outside of the narrow circle of the accounting officers and the commissioners themselves. * RENEWAL OF FORMER RECOMMENDATIONS. Except the recommendation relating to "increase and changes in clerical force" of this office, I respectfully call attention to, and renew, those made in my last annual report, the propriety of which seems to me to be confirmed by my observation and experience during the past year. I beg to commend the officers and employés of this bureau for the efficiency and diligence with which they have in the main discharged their duties. It became necessary to dispense with the services of but very few during the past year, and in no case without cause appearing which would have been deemed sufficient by any reliable business house in this country. With the additional force provided by the last appropriation act I see my way very clear to dispose of all the back work, some far in arrears, and to have the clerks engaged entirely on the current business of the office. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Hon. DANIEL MANNING, Secretary of the Treasury. M. J. DURHAM, REPORT OF SECOND COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, SECOND COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, SIR: Pursuant to the request contained in your letter of August 24, to report to the Secretary of the Treasury the transactions of this office during the past fiscal year, and the present condition of the public busi ness intrusted to my charge, I have the honor to report that the fol lowing is a summary statement of the work performed in the Office of the Second Comptroller for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, in tab. ular form, with a comparative statement showing the work of like character done in the preceding fiscal year: * INSURANCE AND CHARTER PARTY CLAIMS. January 16, 1886, the Secretary of the Treasury transmitted to this office for examination, under section 191 of the Revised Statutes, 330 claims, amounting to $349,408.39, which had been previously adjusted by the accounting officers and reported to Congress at its Forty-eighth session for an appropriation, which had not been made. These claims were re-examined and claims to the amount of $197,627.12 were rejected. The rejected claims included a class amounting to $94,873.61, which involved the liability of the Government to pay insurance companies for losses incurred within the risk of their policies by the destruction of steamboats employed in the military service during the war of the rebellion. They also included a class, aggregating $73,000, which involved the liability of the Government to pay the owners of vessels employed under charter-parties during the war compensation for the time during which the vessels were laid up for repairs, which the owners had covenanted to make. These cases were important not only because of the amount directly involved, but as precedents controlling the determination of many other claims of like character against the United States involving large amounts. A detailed statement of the claims, with the reasons in full for their rejection, will be found in Treasury Department Document No. 834, Executive Document No. 210, Forty-ninth Congress, first session. WAR RENT-CLAIMS. An examination has also been made of the entire subject of the liability of the United States for the use and occupation of real estate at the theater of war by the military forces during the late rebellion in the case of the claim of the Christian Church at Paducah, Ky., for use of their church property for hospital purposes in 1862, and the conclusion reached that the accounting officers have no jurisdiction to examine and adjust claims of this character, except in cases where there had been a previous express agreement, or what was tantamount thereto, between the owner of the property and an authorized agent of the Government, upon the faith of which the possession of the property was surrendered to the military authorities. The decision involves claims to the amount of more than one-half million of dollars now pending before the accounting officers, and which will be disposed of in accordance therewith. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. An examination has also been made of the question whether there is any statutory limitation of time barring the presentation of claims under an appropriation which has been exhausted or covered into the Treasury pursuant to the provisions of the act of June 20, 1874 (18 St., 110), in the case of the claim of William B. Moses & Son, and it has been held that where the sole authority for the creation of a claim, or the incurring of an expenditure, is an appropriation by Congress for that purpose, and the appropriation has been exhausted, or has been covered into the Treasury under the provisions of the act of 1874, the accounting officers have no jurisdiction, unless the appropriation is one of the several classes excepted from the operation of the act of 1874, or unless the claim was one which had been filed within five years after the passage of the act of June 14, 1878 (20 St., 130). This decision is now applied in the practice of the office, and will result in the exclusion of a large class of stale demands, the consideration of which has heretofore obstructed the proper work of the office. SIGNAL SERVICE ACCOUNTS. A special examination and revision has also been made, in connec tion with the Third Auditor, of the disbursements of the Signal Service from September 1, 1880, until July 1, 1886, embracing expenditures to the amount of $1,865,333.04, which resulted in the suspension and disallowance of items therein aggregating $1,081,669.51. NEW RULES. By the concurrent action of the Second, Third, and Fourth Auditors and the Second Comptroller, a set of rules regulating the practice in matters common to their offices was adopted with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury November 10, 1885, which have tended to harmonize the practice and facilitate the transaction of public business before these accounting officers. OFFICE LIBRARY. The law library of the office has been rearranged and recatalogued. It comprises 1,456 volumes, 463 of which are in the room of the Second Comptroller, and the remainder distributed through the rooms of the chiefs of division. It is mainly well-selected and made up of standard elementary works, digests, and Federal reports. The sets of circuit and district court reports are broken and incomplete and should be filled up. OFFICE APPROPRIATIONS. The appropriations for the salaries of the officers and employés for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, aggregated $118,100, of which $3,918 remained unexpended at the close of the year. The appropriations for the same purpose for the current fiscal year (1887) amount to $105,820. The estimate of like appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, are $95,020. Very respectfully, To Hon. DANIEL MANNING, I. H. MAYNARD, Comptroller. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, Washington City, D. C., October 12, 1886. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith, for your information, a statement of the business of this office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886: There was paid into the Treasury from sources, the accounts relating to which are settled in this office: And there was paid out of the Treasury on the following accounts: Expenses of collecting the revenue from customs.. Excess of deposits. Debentures Construction and maintenance of lights.. Construction, &c., of public buildings. Construction and maintenance of revenue-cutters Marine Hospital Service.. Expenses of regulating immigration..... Salaries and expenses, shipping service ... Salaries and expenses of agents at seal fisheries in Alaska Quarantine stations for neat cattle.. Detection and prevention of frauds upon the customs revenue Refunding duties on lumber destroyed, Oswego Unclaimed merchandise Extra pay to officers and men who served in the Mexican war (revenue marine) Debentures and other charges.... Refunding penalties or charges erroneously exacted. Refunding moneys erroneously received and covered into the Treasury. Aggregate $6,427, 612 67 3,289,561 45 8,073, 852 05 2,073, 358 91 1,735, 121 13 905, 142 33 880,735 26 466,799 27 162,962 67 53,325 40 24,500 22 22,937 49 18, 103 57 15,332 67 11, 537 71 1,930 21 1,017 63 577 65 332 28 258 76 247 03 ... 24, 165, 246 36 I inclose herewith statements of transactions in bonded goods, as shown by the adjusted accounts; of property brought into the United States for temporary purposes, under section 2507 Revised Statutes, and in relation to unclaimed merchandise entered and sold. In conclusion I beg leave to call your attention to the recommendations made in my last report. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, The Hon. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. B.-STATEMENT of TRANSACTIONS under SECTION 2507, REVISED STATUTES, and DECISION 4314, November 20, 1879, of ENTRY of HORSES, WAGONS, HARNESS, MACHINERY, &c., BROUGHT INTO THE UNITED STATES for TEMPORÁRY PURPOSES, for the year ending June 30, 1886. C.-STATEMENT of DUTIES COLLECTED on UNCLAIMED GOODS ENTERED and AMOUNT of NET PROCEEDS of UNCLAIMED GOODS SOLD, year ending June 30, 1586. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith the annual report of this Bureau for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886. Attention is called to the following Exhibits of the business transacted in this office during the year: Miscellaneous receipts.. 17 1, 108, 103 83 Money's retained from Pacific railroad companies for accrued interest on bonds. Mints and assay offices 48 102, 873, 177 75 Water rents, Hot Springs, Ark. 6 Accounts of the collector of taxes for the District of Columbia for taxes colected by him and deposited.. 12 Total. 4,834 5,912 50 1,606, 704 89 898, 990, 191 10 |