533. The balances of accounts stated by the proper Auditor and certified to the head of the department by the Commissioner of Customs cannot be changed or modified by the head of a department, but are by law conclusive upon the executive branch of the Government, subject to revision only by Congress or the proper courts. (R. S., § 191.)

534. The general duties of the Commissioner are those of an accounting officer, and are analogous to those of the First or Second Comptroller. Substantially he is the Third Comptroller of the Treasury, although not so known.

535. He is provided with a deputy, who has the general supervision of the business of the office, under the immediate direction of the Commissioner, and of the mode of conducting it. This deputy acts in the place of the Commissioner in the absence or sickness of the latter.

536. The office of the Commissioner is further provided by law with two chiefs of divisions and a force of twenty-eight clerks of the several classes. (Act June 19, 1878.)

537. The office is, however, operated in four divisions, designated as follows:

1. Customs Division.

2. Warehouse and Bond Division.

3. Book-keeper's Division.

4. Miscellaneous Division.

I. THE CUSTOMS DIVISION.

538. To this division are assigned for examination the accounts and returns of the customs officers of the numerous ports of entry and collection districts. These accounts are first received by the First Auditor, in whose office they are examined and adjusted, and then transmitted, together with the certificate of the Auditor, to the Commissioner of

Customs for revision. In this division that revision takes place. The character of these accounts is set forth somewhat in detail hereinafter, under the head of the First Auditor, in the description of the duties of the Customs Division of his office. In the revision by the Customs Division of the office of the Commissioner of Customs of the adjustment made by the First Auditor, the examination of returns, abstracts, and vouchers with these accounts is or should be in nowise relaxed because of the previous examination by another officer. The same careful, patient, and laborious scrutiny as to the regularity and proper form of the entries, as to the correctness of the calculations of duties, as to the regularity and integrity of the vouchers, the propriety of expenditures, &c., is required as though this was to be the first and only adjustment of the account. Upon completion of an account it goes to the Commissioner, either with an indication that the finding of the First Auditor is approved, or that certain corrections stated are to be made in the final balance. The certificate then placed upon the Auditor's statement by the Commissioner is substantially this: "I admit and certify the above balance of dollars, this

day of 18-." After the proper entries are made in the Bookkeeper's Division to the account of the officer whose account has been stated, the settlement is sent to the files of the office of the Register of the Treasury.

II. THE WAREHOUSE AND BOND DIVISION.

539. The accounts under this head will be hereafter described in detail in the description of the duties devolving upon a division of the same name in the office of the First Auditor. These are accounts of the collectors of customs or of officers acting as such; but they represent the accountability of these officers for duties on the bonds

given for goods going into warehouse on importation which do not at the time pay duties.

It may be remarked briefly, in this place, in explanation of this, that importers who do not desire to pay duties immediately on importation, or who may design to transport the goods to some interior or other port in the country, or who may be required by exigencies of trade or otherwise to reëxport the merchandise out of the country, are entitled by law to make an entry for warehouse, whereby the goods remain, under the custody of the customs officers, for a limited time, subject to withdrawal by the importer or owner. To obtain this benefit he must first execute a bond to the United States, as additional security for the duties and charges, if the goods shall be withdrawn for consump tion within one year from date of importation, and ten per cent. additional if withdrawn after one and within three years, unless within three years the goods shall be withdrawn for export beyond the limits of the United States; in which case they are not subject to duty. Upon making such export entry a bond is also required, with a penalty conditioned upon the landing abroad in good faith of the goods withdrawn, and the production of the required evidence thereof. Upon the giving of such a bond the former warehouse bond is cancelled.

540. The importer may also, at the time of importation or while the goods are in warehouse, at any time within the three years withdraw the same for transportation and deliver to a customs officer at another port in the United States, by also giving a bond, called a transportation bond, conditioned for such transportation and, delivery within a certain limited time, or failing in such delivery, for the payment of the duties due on the goods, and an additional duty of one hundred per centum. Upon the execution of

this bond, and the withdrawal of the merchandise, the former warehouse bond is likewise cancelled,

541. Upon an entry of goods for warehouse, the collector is required to charge his bond and warehouse account with the duties due as liquidated on the entry. He is entitled to credit himself with the duties when the goods are withdrawn for consumption; or if they have been withdrawn for export or for transportation, when he receives the required evidence of delivery abroad or at the interior port, according to the stipulation of the bond; or if there is a breach of the bond in these particulars, when he delivers the bond to the United States attorney for suit. The collector is also entitled to credit for allowances and deficiencies.

542. It is with these particulars that the Warehouse and Bond Division of the office of the Commissioner of Customs, as likewise of the First Auditor's office, has to deal.

543. This recital will explain the nature of the accounts of this particular class as distinct from those known as the customs accounts for receipts of duties, settled in the Customs Divisions of these two offices respectively.

III. THE BOOK-KEEPER'S DIVISION.

544. In this division an account is kept with each customs officer whose accounts are subject to final revision by the Commissioner of Customs. A record is also kept containing an itemized statement of differences between the collector and the accounting officers of the Treasury.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS DIVISION.

545. This division has charge of the records and files of the office. It receives notes and files official bonds of customs officers, oaths of office, and returns of moneys re

ceived and paid. It also examines, for payment, accounts presented by United States attorneys, marshals, and clerks of courts for services and fees in customs cases, which are payable out of the appropriation to defray the expense of collecting the revenue from customs.

546. This division also settles accounts for refunds of duties paid into the Treasury and shown to be in excess of the amount required by law. These refunds are generally based upon the authority of section 989 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that when a recovery is had in any suit against a collector or other officer of the reve nue for any act done by him, or for money exacted and paid by him into the Treasury, in the performance of his official duty, and the court certifies that there was probable cause for the act done by the collector or other officer, or that he acted under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury or other proper officer of the Government, no execution shall issue against such collector or other officer, but the amount so recovered shall, upon final judgment, be provided for and paid out of the proper appropriation from the Treasury.