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CHAPTER II.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

OF THE ORIGIN, ORGANIZATION, FUNCTIONS, AND OPERATIONS OF THE SECRETARY'S OFFICE PROPER.

Summary of the Laws, &c.

[For a summary of the laws originating and organizing the Treasury Department, see the "Outline of Organization," &c., in the preceding Chapter, which need not be repeated here. ]

Summary of the Secretary's powers and functions.

We have seen in the "Outline of Organization" above referred to, that by the 1st section of the act of the 2d September, 1789, entitled "an act to establish the Treasury Department," the office of Secretary of the Treasury, as head of that Department, was permanently established, together with those of the Comptroller of the Treasury, Auditor, Treasurer, and Register of the Treasury.

By the 2d section of the said act, the functions of the Secretary of the Treasury were defined (in part) to be, "to digest and prepare PLANS for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of the public credit--to prepare and report ESTIMATES of the public revenue and of the public expenditures-to superintend the COLLECTION of the revenue [and, by induction from the 4th section of said act, the Secretary is required to issue warrants on collectors or receivers, countersigned by the Comptroller and registered by the Register, to bring the revenue into the Treasury or public depositories to the credit of the Treasurer, and not otherwise, on which warrants the Treasurer's receipts are to be endorsed]-to decide on the FORMS of keeping and stating accounts, and making out returns-and to grant, under limitations herein established, or hereafter provided, all Warrants, countersigned by the Comptroller and registered by the Register, for moneys to be issued from the Treasury in pursuance of appropriations by law;-to execute such services relative to the SALE OF LANDS belonging to the United States, as may be by law required of him :-to make report, and give information to either branch of the Legislature, in person or in writing (as he may be required) respecting all MATTERS referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office-and generally to perform all such services relative to the FINANCES as he shall be directed to perform." (The act of the 10th May, 1800, supplementary to the above mentioned act of '89, though somewhat more explicit in terms, adds nothing to its requirements of, or delegations of power and authority to the Secretary of the Treasury, but shows the determation of the legislature, that the requirement and authority repeated in it should not be misinterpreted. The whole of the act is expressed in a single sentence, thus: "It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest, prepare, and lay before Congress, at the commencement of every session, a report on the subject of Finance, containing ESTIMATES of the public revenue, and public expenditures, and PLANS for improving and increasing the revenue, from time to time, for the purpose of giving information to Congress in adopting modes of raising the money requisite to meet the public expenditures.")

By the 2d section of the act of the 8th May, 1792, amendatory to the aforementioned act of '89, the authority therein given to the Secretary "to grant all warrants for moneys to be disbursed by the Treasurer," was modified in relation to appropriations for the expenditures of the War Department, so as to require those disbursements to be made by the Treasurer pursuant to Warrants from the Secretary of War, countersigned by the Accountant for that Department, created by the 1st section of said act, and the accounts of said expenditures to be settled by said Accountant. And, by the 6th section of the same act, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to direct the superintendence of the COLLECTION of the duties on Imports and Tonnage, as he shall judge best; (in pursuance of which authority he conferred that "superintendence" on the Comptroller of the Treasury, as appears by his circular of the 20th October, 1792, in which, however, he makes reservations as to the disposition of the MONEYS thus accruing, that authority not being transferrable by the act; and directs the several weekly, monthly, and other returns, in regard to receipts, disbursements, bonds, deposites, and other money operations of Collectors and others to be made directly to himself, for information, and to remain under his special direction.) By the same 6th section of said act, which created the office of "Commissioner of the Revenue," the charge of superintending the COLLECTION of the other revenues (meaning the Internal Duties and Direct Taxes) was conferred on said Commissioner (which office was afterward abolished, renewed, and abolished again, with the fluctuating emergencies of Direct Taxation.) Also, the 9th section of that act requires that the forms of all public accounts

whatever, shall be prescribed by the Treasury Department, (that is, under the direction and approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury, a repetition only, of authority already conferred by the former act.)

The 2d section of the act of the 16th July, 1798, also modifies the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to draw all warrants on the Treasurer, so far as relates to appropriations for the expenditures of the Navy Department, by requiring those disbursements to be made pursuant to warrants from the Secretary of the Navy, countersigned by the Accountant for that Department, created by the 1st section of the same act, and the accounts of said expenditures to be settled by said Accountant. But by the 1st, 2d, and 3d sections of the act of the 3d of March, 1817, "providing for the prompt settlement of Public Accounts," the Accountants of the War and Navy Departments were abolished; and, after declaring that (in one year thereafter) "all claims or demands whatever, by the United States or against them, and all accounts whatever, in which the United States are concerned, either as debtors or as creditors, shall be settled and adjusted in the TREASURY DEpartment," were substituted or replaced, by the creation of the 2d, 3d, and 4th Auditors in the Treasury Department, for the settlement of the Accounts of expenditures made by the War and Navy Departments; and, by the 13th section of the said act, the Secretary of the Treasury is required to cause all accounts of expenditures of public money to be settled within the year, with exceptions on account of distance, in which cases the settlements shall be at such periods as the Secretary, with the consent of the President, shall establish. Also, by the 2d and 3d sections of the act of the 7th May, 1822, the authority of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy to draw warrants on the Treasurer was rescinded, and the former authority, appropriate to the Secretary of the Treasury, to draw warrants on the Treasurer for all moneys to be issued from the Treasury under appropriations of law, was reinstated. But,

By the 9th section of the act of the 2d July, 1836, entitled "an act to change the organization of the Post Office Department, and to provide more effectually for the settlement of the accounts thereof," by which an Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department was created, the Postmaster General (instead of the Secretary of the Treasury) is authorized to grant or issue all warrants, countersigned by said Auditor, for moneys accruing on account of the Post Office, to be paid or deposited to the credit of the Treasurer, or disbursed by him, as agent of the Post Office Department.

So that the functions of the Secretary of the Treasury, whether those described and delegated to him in general terms by the act of 1789, to be exercised from time to time at his discretion as occasion may require, or others more specifically described and enumerated, but no more explicitly delegated to him by the same act, have neither been abridged, since the passage of that act (except temporarily in relation to the issuing of warrants on the Treasurer to meet the "requisitions" of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, including the temporary settlement of the accounts of their disbursements by Accountants in those Departments-and permanently encroached upon in relation to the issuing of warrants for receiving and disbursing the revenue accruing on account of the Post Office Department)-nor have they been extended, in any manner, since that act, (which made them plenary in every sense of the term, as inherent attributes of the head of the financial Department)if we may justly regard the various subsequent enactments and resolutions, relating to the disposition of the public lands and accounting therefor, and calling on the Secretary to make certain reports, statements, and estimates, to negotiate loans or borrow money, issue certificates of stock, and makes transfers of stock and of public deposites, to issue Treasury notes, and Land scrip, &c., &c., as only within the legitimate routine, expressed by that fundamental law, of performing all such services relative to the FINANCES as he shall be directed [specifically by Congress] to perform."

Besides the foregoing Summary, there are certain other matters, which (perhaps because they are viewed as incidentals to the financial operations) have been thrust upon the Secretary's office proper, by special enactments, but which may be considered as anomalous accessions to his office, the analogous cases thereto being generally pertinent to some of his auxiliary bureaus, or to the bureaus of other Departments. For example, the act of the 3d March, 1823, to carry into effect the 9th article of the treaty with Spain of 22d of February, 1819, ceding Florida to the United States, provides that the Judges of the Superior Courts of Florida shall receive and adjust all claims arising within their respective jurisdictions, agreeably to said 9th article of the Treaty; and that every case which the said Judges decide favorably to the claimant, shall be reported by them to the Secretary of the Treasury, who, on being satisfied that the same is just and equitable, shall pay the amount thereof out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, thus making the Secretary of the Treasury an accounting officer. Whereas, these, if pursuing the course of analogous cases, would be reported directly to the Third Auditor, as acting commissioner of claims in the cases of loss or destruction of houses and other property in the military service of the United States, and would follow them through the hands of the First Auditor to the First Comptroller. The practice, however, of the Secretary, is, not to investigate the equity of the cases himself, but to refer them direct to the First Auditor, who reports his finding thereon to the First Comptroller; this being the mode by which the Secretary is satisfied of the equity of the claims, by restoring them to the analogous routine of accounting, taking a somewhat shorter route, however, in omitting the preliminary action of the Third Auditor, as Commissioner of Claims. But surely the Secretary might, consistently with the law, decide upon them himself, and allow them or reject them, without calling in the official action of the accounting officers. In like manner,

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