office is recorded, and the numerous papers and letters received and finally acted upon are appropriately filed. The second subdivision opens all the packages, letters, and communications received each day; makes a faithful index of the same, by the name of the writer, the subject-matter, and the number, showing the date of receipt and the disposition of the same. It also distributes this matter to the several divisions of the office having charge of the subject of business, or otherwise refers any portion of it to the proper bureau of the department which should have been, it may be, its original destination. The superintendent's branch, last mentioned, has charge of the furniture in the various rooms of the building, the assignment of the rooms therein, the cleaning and taking care of the same, as well as the entire charge of the building, the heating apparatus, and the purchase and distribution of all furniture, fuel, and supplies required. It keeps the account required by law to be kept of the contingent fund of the department appropriated for these purposes, and it prepares the report of expenditures thereof, for submission by the Secretary to Congress. Under the supervision of the Chief Clerk, also, is all the official correspondence of the Secretary's office, so far as to see that the language is correctly expressed and in official form; also the enforcement of the general regulations of the department.

358. With this summary, we proceed to the working divisions of the office, the heads of which, together with the Assistant Secretaries and the Chief Clerk, may be appropriately denominated the staff of the Secretary of the Treasury. From some of the divisions emanate the decis ions of the department upon numerous questions of great importance and of vital interest to the commercial and industrial concerns of the people, the product of the careful and deliberate consideration of well-trained minds joined

to a long experience in the details of departmental business and practice.

I. THE DIVISION OF WARRANTS, ESTIMATES, AND

APPROPRIATIONS.

359. This division is perhaps the most responsible of the organizations forming the Secretary's office, inasmuch as, under the immediate supervision of the Secretary, it directs the disposition of all public moneys, with the exception of post-office funds, received in or paid out of the Treasury. Not a dollar can be drawn from the Treasury for the support of the army or the navy, or of the extended civil service of the country, for the payment of public creditors, or to meet the other vast expenditures of the Government, excepting those required to carry on the post-office system; not a dollar can be received into the Treasury from the vast sources of its revenue, that is not required to be provided for by warrants originating in, passed, issued, and entered of record in this division.

According to a provision of the Constitution of the United States, "no money can be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law." These appropriations for the ordinary or necessary expenses of the Government are based upon estimates which, as hereinbefore stated, the Secretary of the Treasury is required to submit annually to Congress, at the commencement of each regular session of that body.

360. It is the duty of this division to compile these estimates, in conformity with the laws already referred to in treating of the duties of the Secretary of the Treasury, viz., those contained in sections 3660 to 3672 of the Revised Statutes. This compilation is made annually, in the form of a printed book, entitled "Estimates of Appropriations Required for the Service of the Fiscal Year," &c.

It comprises a work of nearly three hundred closely-printed pages of quarto form, and involves each year very considerable skill, care, and labor in its preparation. Besides the specific object of appropriation and the sums required by law or the exigency of the service to be appropriated, it contains the date of the act of Congress or treaty providing for the expenditure, a reference to the place in the statutes where the act or treaty may be found, and a statement of the amount appropriated to the specific object for the previous fiscal year. Whenever there is a variance between the estimate for any particular object and the amount appropriated to that object for the preceding fiscal year, or when new items are introduced, a brief note of explana tion of the reasons therefor is appended. It contains also a statement showing the unexpended balances of appropriations for the preceding fiscal year, the expenditures for the quarter ending September 30 of the current fiscal year, the estimated amounts that may be required to complete the service of the current year or of prior years, or that may be carried to the surplus fund. It also contains a statement of the proceeds of the sale of old material, condemned stores, supplies, or other Government property covered into the Treasury during the preceding fiscal year as miscellaneous receipts, as required by section 3618 of the Revised Statutes. This compilation is made up from data obtained from the statements of the several heads of departments, who are required to submit the same to Congress through the Secretary of the Treasury, and from the laws denoting the objects of expenditure to be provided for.

361. Besides the preparation of these estimates, it is no small part of the labor of this division to open an account with each head of appropriation made by Congress, as soon as the appropriation becomes available. The accounts on

the books of this division with the different appropriations exceed six thousand in number. The general account shows and is credited with all moneys, from whatever source of revenue, received in the Treasury for each fiscal year; and this account is debited with the aggregate of appropri ations for each year. It is credited with the surplus of appropriations, and the balance shows the sum available in the Treasury for further appropriation by Congress. Each - object of appropriation has its individual account, which is debited with the aggregates of warrants issued for the pay. ment or disbursement of the moneys appropriated for such object; also with the sums carried to the surplus fund; and it is credited with the amount appropriated to the object by Congress for the given fiscal year. There is also a general account of the Treasurer of the United States, in which that officer is charged with all moneys received and covered in the Treasury, and credited with all warrants for the pay. ment of money out of the sum appropriated, when such warrants are paid. When there is a balance of an appropriation at the end of the period during which it is available, that balance is taken up by a "surplus-fund warrant," and the amount of such warrant is charged to the particular appropriation account, and credited in the general account, as before stated. There is also an account entitled "unavailables," which represents so much of the receipts in the Treasury which have been lost by accident, robbery, or the defalcation of depositaries. As the Treasurer has been charged with all sums covered in the Treasury which have been deposited with the numerous Assistant Treasurers and depositaries, and as he is not personally responsible for losses occasioned by or through those officers, it is but proper that he should be credited with these losses. Accordingly, in this account these lost or unavailable funds are charged, and when this is done the Treasurer's account

is credited with the amount. If thereafter any sum is collected on this account, the Treasurer's account is charged with it as again available in the Treasury, and a corresponding credit is carried to the account of "unavailables."

362. In order that the several accounts may be opened with the appropriations, this division in the first place originates what is called an "appropriation warrant," which is issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, upon information furnished by that division in the preparation of the blank for his signature. This warrant bears the signature of the Secretary, also the seal of his department, and is addressed to the two Comptrollers of the Treasury and to the Register of the Treasury. It recites the act of Congress making the appropriations, and gives the titles of the different appropriation accounts. By it the Register is required to cause the amounts to be carried to the debit of the general account of appropriations, and the Comptrollers, as well as the Register, are directed to credit each appropriation with the sum appropriated. The original of this warrant remains on file in the office of the Register, and the duplicate is sent by the Register to the proper Comptroller, whose duty it is to forward it to the department and Auditor interested in the appropriations. The correctness of the books and accounts of the proper departments and auditing officers depends on a knowledge thus obtained of the amounts and titles of appropriations now officially rendered subject to their requisition or action. After a record of the duplicate in the department to which the appropri ations pertain, as also in the office of the Auditor of the Treasury charged by law with the settlement of accounts founded on such appropriations, it is returned to the Comptroller, to remain on his files..