1403. All moneys paid to Collectors, as unascertained Duties, or as Duties paid under protest, are required to be deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, to be kept, or drawn and repaid, in due form, by order of the Secretary of the Treasury, cording to the 2d section of the Appropriation act of the 3d March, 1839, setting apart the same as a fund to meet those protests: C's cir. 13th March, 1839; V. 3, p. 709. (76.) 1404. Any balance of such fund aforesaid, appropriated to repay Duties overpaid, or paid under protest, as may remain in the hands of Collectors at the end of a quarter, must be deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States: C's cir. 9th May, 1839; V. 3, p. 733. 1405. When transfers are to be made of public moneys from one Bank to another, the Treasurer will issue a "Transfer Draft" upon the Bank in which the fund may then be at his credit, in favor of the Bank to which they are to be transferred, for the amount required, stating that it is to be placed to his credit in such Bank. This Draft will be recorded by the Register of the Treasury, who will authenticate the record by his signature upon the Draft; and then, finally, it will receive the sanction or approval of the Secretary of the Treasury: S's cir. 1st October, 1833; V. 2, p. 322. 1406. ("No deduction whatever is to be made from the moneys placed to the credit of the Treasurer, (in public depositories, strictly or virtually such,) except in one of these two modes:" that is, by Warrant" of the Secretary on the Treasurer, (ordered by the endorsement of the latter to be paid,) and by "Transfer Draft" of the Treasurer, (approved by the endorsement of the Secretary): S's cir. 1st October, 1833; V. 2, p. 322.) (77.) (76.) For the regulations for the disposition of this fund, see Disbursement of Protested Duties, next Chapter, Section 3, letter (a.) (77.) For a full explanation of Deposites, Transfers, and Disbursements, see note at No. 1414, Section 1, next Chapter. CHAPTER VII. OF THE SYSTEM OF DISBURSEMENTS OF THE REVENUE BY THE TREASURER AND OTHER OFFICERS WHETHER OF MONEYS ACTUALLY DEPOSITED IN THE TREASURY TO THE CREDIT OF THE TREASURER, OR OF MONEYS CONSTRUCTIVELY IN THE TREASURY, OR OF MONEYS NEVER PRETENDED TO HAVE BEEN IN THE TREASURY. SECTION 1.-General instructions respecting the disbursement of public moneys by Treasury Warrants and Drafts-with incidental Instructions respecting Deposites and Transfers of public moneys; also, certain anomalies respecting Disbursements, and irregularities of Disbursing Agents. SECTION 2. Of the Disbursements of moneys never pretended to have been in the Treasury, or deposited to the credit of the Treasurer: (a) of the refunding of Tonnage duties and Light money; and the refunding of Impost duties in general, and reductions thereof, equivalent to refunding. (b) Of Drawbacks of duties, or Debentures for the payment of Drawbacks—with returns of abstracts thereof to the Treasury. (c) of Disbursements on account of Bounties on Fish exported, and on account of the Tonnage of Fishing vessels, with the entries therefor, and returns of abstracts thereof to the Treasury. (d) of Disbursements on account of Revenue boats and cutters; on account of Light-houses; sick and disabled Seamen; expenses of suits for Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures; expenses relating to spirits, wines, and teas; public stores; measuring goods for drawback; and expense of drayage, cooperage, &c. (e) Of Disbursements on account of salaries, fees, emoluments, and contingent expenses of Custom-house officers; and returns of abstracts thereof to the Treasury. SECTION 3. Of the Disbursements of moneys actually deposited in the Treasury, or of moneys constructively in the Treasury : (a) of the refunding of duties paid under Protest-the same having been deposited in the Treasury, to the credit of the Treasurer, as a separate fund, to be refunded by appropriation on certain contingencies. (b) Of Disbursements on account of the salaries, fees, and emoluments of District Attorneys, Marshals, Clerks, and Jurors, &c. ; on account of Judges of United States Courts; of Governors and Secretaries of Territories, Members and Officers of Territorial Legislatures; and of all others who receive their pay direct from the Treasurer. (c) Of Disbursements on account of Military Pensions, whilst they were wholly or in part under the direction of the Treasury Department. DISBURSEMENTS BY TREASURY WAR SECTION 1. General Instructions respecting the Disbursement of public moneys by Treasury Warrants and Drafts with incidental Instructions respecting the Deposite and Transfer of public moneys; also, of certain anomalies respecting Disbursements, and of irregularities of Disbursing Agents. 1407. Collectors are instructed in relation to Treasury Warrants, which will be drawn RANTS: On payment, on them by the Secretary of the Treasury in favor of the Treasurer of the United States, Warrant to be re- countersigned by the Comptroller; which Warrants, being endorsed by the Treasurer, will ury, with receipt of (on being paid by the Collector to the bearer thereof, and said bearer having given his receipt in duplicate) be transmitted by the Collector to the Treasury, with one of said receipts endorsed thereon, the other receipt being retained in the office of the Collector: C's cir. 1st December, 1789; V. 1, p. 7. payee : -BY TREASURER'S 1408. The Secretary of the Treasury gives instructions to Collectors how to proceed in DRAFTS, to be covered returning to him the Treasurer's Drafts on them, after having been paid by them, viz: by Warrant: TREASURER'S DRAFTS, to be covered That those Drafts, with a receipt endorsed on them, be transmitted as soon as they are paid-Br -to 1409. All Treasurer's Drafts, in future, when paid by a Collector, are to be cancelled to be cancelled by a by punching a hole through the Treasurer's signature: S's cir. 21st September, 1791; V. hole through Treasu1, p. 97. rer's signature: 1410. The Instructions of the 30th March, 1790, and the 21st September, 1791, respect- -neglected: ing the prompt return of cancelled Treasury Drafts, in consequence of a neglect to comply with them, are again repeated: S's cir. 21st February, 1792; V. 1, p. 106. 1411. The Instructions of the 21st September, 1791, respecting the cancellation of the continued neglect. Treasurer's Drafts, in consequence of continued neglect by Collectors to comply with them, are again enjoined on them: S's cir. 4th June, 1792; V. 1, p. 109. Drafts to Commis carried. 1412. (The Secretary of the Treasury gives notice that a letter addressed to the Commissioner of Loans for New Hampshire, containing bills of exchange (or Treasurer's sioner of Loans misDrafts) to the amount of $5,000, had miscarried by mail: S's cir. 15th September, 1792; V. 1, p. 127.) 1413. (The House of Representatives having directed the Treasury Department to prepare a complete list or statement of all the Receipts and Expenditures of the United States to the close of the present year, the information is communicated to Collectors: C's cir. 24th December, 1792; V. 1, p. 37.) 1414. Certain State Banks in North Carolina (six in number) are designated to Collectors by the Secretary, according to agreement with the United States Bank, as Depositories (78) of public moneys, saying "Herewith you will receive a list of the Banks in the State of North Carolina, which have been designated as the DEPOSITORIES of the public Receipts and Expenditures to end of 1792 a statement of, called for. Agency of State Banks resorted to, with the concurrence of the United States Bank, as Depositories of public moneys. (78.) Such is the reciprocal connection and dependance between Deposites, Disbursements, and Transfers of public moneys, according to the practical operations of the Treasury, that it is of great importance so to concentrate the principal Instructions in relation thereto, as to furnish, as nearly as possible, a fair mirror of those operations from time to time, in order to attain some general idea of the same as a connected system-thus enabling one to supply the deficiencies arising from lost Instructions (or omissions possibly in some instances to embody the practice, or innovations thereon) by plain inferences from those which exist. By adverting to the Comptroller's circular of 1st December, 1789, (No. 1407,) it will be perceived, from the fact of the Secretary's Warrants being drawn on Collectors in favor of the Treasurer, that the Collectors were the virtual Depositaries at that early day, and agents of the Treasury for the disbursement of the moneys they received. Whether the amounts of a portion of those Warrants were broken and divided by Drafts of the Treasurer in partial instances, previous to the issue of what is called a "covering Warrant" in such instances, until the instructions of the Secretary of the 30th March, 1790, (No. 1408); or the whole of the Warrants anterior to the latter date were exempt from the nimble tender of Treasurer's Drafts in detail to make their aggregate amount, docs not appear from the previous Instructions. But certainly as early as said Instructions of March, 1790, (No. 1408.) Treasurer's Drafts for disbursement (not for transfer) were introduced, as a convenience, to disburse small sums from the funds in Collector's hands, and “covering Warrants" of the Secretary on said Collectors were simultaneously introduced, to cover the amounts of such Treasurer's Drafts, at periods not stated, but probably at the end of each quarter. Nor does it appear when the system of making Deposites of public moneys in Bank by Collectors actually commenced, there being no intimation in existing Instructions of such Deposites having been ordered until the Secretary's circular of the 1st May, 1817, (No. 1414); but the fair presumption from that circular is, that those Deposites were made mainly in the United States Bank during the first charter as Banks resorted to, with the concurrence Agency of State revenue agreeably to an arrangement made between the Treasury and the Bank of the concurrence United States; and, in pursuance of said agreement, I request that you will immediately Bank, as Depositories take the measures necessary for depositing in one of the banks so designated, which may be of public moneys. of the United States Instructions to Depositories, respecting public moneys: (being the most convenient to your District, as well the public moneys now in your hands, as all others which may hereafter be received by you, reserving only so much as may be absolutely necessary for the current expenditures of your office. You will observe, however, that whenever a Branch of the United States Bank may be found more convenient to your District than either of the Banks alluded to, you will in that case give it the preference over all others. I will only add, that in all payments into Bank you will, as heretofore, take duplicate receipts (otherwise called Certificates of Deposite) from the Cashier, one of which is to be transmitted to this office": S's cir. 1st May, 1817; V. 2, p. 74. 1415. On the occasion of apprizing the Banks, employed as public Depositories, of the the deposite, transfer, appointment of John Campbell, Esq., as Treasurer of the United States, and instructing and disbursement of them as to the mode of closing the accounts of his predecessor and opening accounts with the precursor to the the new Treasurer, the Secretary further instructs the said Depositories respecting the Denew Deposite system in State Banks, adopt- posites of public moneys, the disbursement of the same by Warrants, or the transfer thereof the Deposites from by Transfer Drafts, saying “All public moneys received on or subsequently to the 1st of June will be placed to the credit of Mr. Campbell, as Treasurer. They will be drawn for by him in the following manner, and in no other: 1. The Secretary of the Treasury will issue his WARRANT upon the Treasurer, directing the payment; which Warrant will be countersigned by the Comptroller of the Treasury, and recorded by the Register, who will ed on the removal of the United States Bank in 1833.) well as the second, and partially in the State Banks, as shown by that circular; and also that the nimble Treasurer's Drafts for small sums were resorted to as a convenience throughout, from the time they were introduced in March, 1790, to be summed up in a covering Warrant at suitable periods, until the Secretary's circular of 28th May, 1829, (No. 1415,) which clearly changed this practice, saying to Depositories that Warrants and Transfer Drafts are the only two modes in which the amounts of their Deposites to the credit of the Treasurer can be reduced. And as Transfer Drafts are not disbursements, their amount still going to the credit of the Treasurer in some other Depository, the disbursement in detail by Treasurer's Drafts, followed by covering Warrants in gross, must have ceased at the issuing of said circular of May, 1829. And this palpable inference is equally sustained by the Instructions of the Secretary of the 1st October, 1833, (No. 1417,) which is but a reprint of the chief part of that of May, 1829, to revive or enforce their observance. But the said inference is afterwards rendered more than problematical by the Secretary's circular of the 17th May, 1837, (No. 1420,) which, in so many words, in consequence of the Deposite system in State Banks, revives the issue of Treasury Drafts in small sums, and is a positive evidence that those Drafts had been abolished or suspended. And a new practice was then adopted, as appears by the same circular, of retaining the Warrants in the Treasurer's office as his vouchers, under the authority of which he thus disbursed by small Drafts in corresponding detail; which practice would seem well calculated to dispense with the revival of "covering Warrants" not mentioned in that circular, and which obviously were thereby rendered unnecessary, as the Warrants now preceding the issue of the Drafts strictly conform to the requirements of the law; whereas the covering Warrants* suppose previous disbursements in detail, by Drafts or otherwise, without the previous authority of Warrant, relying upon the subsequent sanction of a covering Warrant for the aggregate amount of those Drafts. By the by, (without going into particulars to show the embarrassing consequences of the explosion of the State Banking agency, brought about by the unfortunate action of the Government in effecting their destruction, indirectly indeed, and without intention, by blows directed and dealt out upon their antagonistical regulator, the United States Bank,) it cannot but be manifest that a great multiplication and confusion of business in the Department must have arisen from this cause alone, by which the agency, formerly transacted by the United States Bank with so much satisfaction and benefit, at length fell into the hands of individual public officers in all parts of the Union, which multiplied the debits and credits on the books of the Treasury of more than 400 small Drafts in some instances, and not far short of that in a great many others, in order to disburse or transmit in convenient sums the amount of a single Warrant, which used to be done with the single Warrant alone, through the agency of the United States Bank-to say nothing of the disastrous consequences of the insecurity and irresponsibility, in most instances, of such individual agency, tempting the weak to make improvident adventures, and affording opportunities to the dishonest to commit enormous peculations, all equally calamitous and overwhelming to the innocent families of their sureties, and demoralizing to the community that becomes familiar with such transactions. * The Warrants alluded to here, and in note (77) ante, which were formerly in use for covering moneys disbursed by Receivers and Collectors in payment of Drafts, will not be confounded with Warrants for covering moneys deposited to the credit of the Treasurer. authenticate the record by his signature; and, upon a suitable part of the Warrant, the Treasurer will give his order, directed to the proper Bank, for the payment of the money. 2. When transfers are to be made of public funds from one Bank to another, the Treasurer will issue a Transfer DrafT upon the Bank in which the funds may be at his credit, in favor of the Bank to which they are to be transferred, for the amount required, stating that it is to be placed to his credit in such Bank. This Draft will be recorded by the Register, who will authenticate the record by his signature upon the Draft; and [then] it finally receives the written sanction of the Secretary of the Treasury. No deduction whatever is to be made from the moneys placed to the credit of the Treasurer, except in these two modes. "On the payment of any Warrant or [Transfer] Draft, the party to whom it is paid will receipt it. The Bank will note on it the day of payment, will charge it on the same day to the Treasurer, and will transmit it to him with the return of his account in which it is charged. In charging these payments, it will be proper to enter each Warrant or Draft [meaning Transfer Draft] separately, and to state the number and kind of the Warrant, (whether Treasury, War, &c.,) the date, the name of the party in whose favor it was drawn, and the amount." To the above, the Secretary adds "I take this occasion to call the attention of the Banks to some other matters connected with the Treasury accounts. "It is necessary to state in the returns, in regard to each sum which may be deposited to the credit of the Treasurer, the name of the person by whom deposited, his office, (if he be a public officer or agent,) and in what manner or from what sources the money has accrued to the United States-whether from Customs, Internal Duties, Direct Taxes, sales of Publie Lands, &c., &c., &c.; and if it be a repayment, to state on what account the money repaid was originally advanced. This information may, in almost every case, be obtained from the party who makes the Deposite; and, as the Department is often subjected to great inconvenience for the want of it, the officers of the Banks are requested to be particular in obtaining it, and in stating it in the entry of the Deposite. "It is also necessary that those Banks which transmit weekly returns of the Treasurer's account, close them with the conclusion of Saturday's business. When the quarter of the year terminates on any other day of the week, it is requisite that the returns should close on the last day of the quarter, leaving for an additional return the transactions from that time to the close of the week; so that neither the receip's nor payments of different quarters should be included in one return. Punctuality in transmitting the returns is indispensable. "To produce uniformity in the manner of making the returns of the Treasurer's ac counts, a form is herewith transmitted; for the purpose of binding, it is requested that they be made on paper of nearly the same size. "A form of the monthly statements of the deposites of public officers and agents is also transmitted, with the same view," &c.: S's cir. 28th May, 1829; V. 2, p. 212. Instructions to Depositories, respecting the deposite, transfer, and disbursement of public moneys, &c. Certain accounts for settlement, to be ad dressed to 1st Auditor, properly vouched, heretofore misdirect 1416. (The erroneous practice which has subsisted to this day of officers of the Government [meaning those only whose accounts are audited by the 1st Auditor and revised by the 1st Comptroller] rendering their accounts of receipts and disbursements to the Comptroller's office, instead of the 1st Auditor's, for settlement, is required to be corrected, by ed. addressing all their accounts for settlement to the 1st Auditor: C's cir. 1st March, 1830; V. 3, p. 49.) |