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for a limited period, or to sell at public sale, any unproductive lands, or other property of the United States acquired under judicial process or otherwise in the collection of debts. (R. S., § 3749.)

343. He is empowered to direct the Solicitor of the Treasury to cause a stipulation to be entered into for the discharge of any property owned or claimed by the United States, or in which the United States has an interest, from seizure or attachment in any judicial proceeding under the laws of any State, district, or Territory, for the security or satisfaction of any claim made against such property. (R. S., § 3753.)

344. The Secretary is empowered to make such contracts and provisions as he may deem for the interests of the Government for the preservation, sale, or collection of any property, or the proceeds thereof, which may have been wrecked, abandoned, or become derelict, being within the jurisdiction of the United States, and which ought to come to the United States, or for the recovery of any moneys, dues, and other interests lately in the possession of or due to the so-called Confederate States or its agents, and now belonging to the United States, which are now withheld or retained by any person or corporation; and in such contracts to allow just and reasonable compensation out of the moneys or property realized to any person giving information thereof, or who shall actually preserve, collect, surrender, or pay the same. (R. S., § 3755.)

345. The Secretary is authorized and directed to receive into the Treasury, on the same terms as the original bequest of James Smithson, such sums as the regents of the Smithsonian Institution may from time to time see fit to deposit, not exceeding, with the original bequest, the sum of one million dollars. (R. S., § 5591.)

346. He may defer operations on public buildings au

thorized by law but not commenced, or he may proceed with the same, as may in his opinion be best for the public interests.

347. He may set aside any selection that has been made of a site for a public building, when in his opinion such selection has not been made solely with reference to the interests and convenience of the public as well as the best interests of the Government.. (Act June 23, 1874.)

348. With this classification of the duties and functions of the Secretary of the Treasury as they are specified in the statutes, it will be in order to consider the organization of the Treasury Department and the duties performed by the several bureau officers thereof, as they are likewise specified in the law and carried out in actual practice.

349. The enumeration of the bureaus will include the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, the organization of which, as was before observed, bears special relation to the classification hereinbefore employed as embracing the duties of that officer.

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CHAPTER VI.

THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

350. The general supervision of the operations of this office devolves upon the two Assistant Secretaries and the Chief Clerk. The details of the business are mainly worked out by the different divisions of the office established by the appropriation act of March 3, 1875, which are eight in number. One of these is denominated in the act as the "Division of Warrants, Estimates, and Appropriations." The remaining are designated by the Secretary, in accordance with the character of the work assigned them.

351. The divisions thus constituting the office of the Secretary of the Treasury are as follow:

1. Warrants, Estimates, and Appropriations.

2. Public Moneys.

3. Customs.

04. Internal Revenue and Navigation.

5. Loans and Currency.

6. Revenue Marine.

7. Appointments.

8. Stationery and Printing.

To each of these divisions are assigned a head and an assistant, who are respectively named in the act as chiefs and assistant chiefs of divisions. There are also distributed by the Secretary to the same, according to the respective demand for clerical assistance, the clerks of the different classes authorized by law to be appointed in the Secretary's office, together with such temporary clerks as he may

appoint within the limits of the appropriation for that purpose.

352. There are two divisions, besides those heretofore named, the necessity for which has grown out of the duty devolving by statute upon the Secretary in connection with the measures required to be taken for the prevention and detection of fraud upon the revenue, and of the counterfeiting of the currency or securities of the United States, viz.:

The Division of Special Agents.

The Secret Service Division.

And there is another division, likewise anomalous in character, the duties of which are of a peculiar character, growing out of the seizure of cotton and other property during the war of 1861, viz.:

The Division of Captured and Abandoned Property.

353. In addition to these divisions, the following organizations recognized by law are attached to the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, and perform their duties under his general supervision, viz.:

The Light-house Board.

The Bureau of the Mint.

The Construction Branch of the Treasury.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Office of Supervising Surgeon-General of Marine Hospitals.

Bureau of Statistics.

Office of the Coast Survey.

354. We will now proceed to consider the duties of these several divisions and organizations in detail.

355. To the First Assistant Secretary is assigned the supervision of the work devolving upon the Warrant, Public Moneys, Loans and Currency, Revenue Marine, Appointment, and Stationery Divisions of the office. It is his duty

to direct the heads of these divisions in the mode of transacting the business of the same, and to require them to report directly to himself. He has also general charge of all miscellaneous and general business of the department not otherwise delegated, and which does not by law require the immediate supervision of the Secretary. He is also required to sign all letters and papers, as Assistant Secretary, pertaining to his assignment of duties, that do not by law require the signature of the Secretary. As a general rule, and unless otherwise ordered, he becomes the Acting Secretary in the absence of the head of the department. In that capacity he is for the time being the head of the department, and its representative in all meetings of the Cabinet.

356. To the Second Assistant is appointed the supervision of all the work assigned to the Customs, the Internal Revenue, and the Navigation Divisions of the office. He receives reports directly from the heads of those divisions, and advises them as to all matters pertaining to their respective business. He signs letters and papers prepared in those divisions which do not require the signature of the Secretary. His duties are mainly of a legal character; while those of the First Assistant pertain for the most part to the financial concerns of the department.

357. The Chief Clerk of the Treasury Department is by law the superintendent of the Treasury building. Besides the duties devolving upon him by law in the general supervision and distribution of the clerical work of the office, he has assigned to him, and constituting a separate division, all of the clerks of the office not connected with the several divisions before mentioned. This assignment constitutes several subdivisions, known as the records and files, the mail, the library, and the superintendent's branch. In the first of these, the voluminous correspondence of the

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