DEPARTMENT DUTIES.

THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

SECRETARY OF STATE.

The Secretary of State is charged, under the direction of the President, with the duties appertaining to correspondence with the public ministers and the consuls of the United States, and with the representatives of foreign powers accredited to the United States; and to negotiations of whatever character relating to the foreign affairs of the United States. He is also the medium of correspondence between the President and the chief executives of the several States of the United States; he has the custody of the Great Seal of the United States, and countersigns and affixes such seal to all executive proclamations, to various commissions, and to warrants for the extradition of fugitives from justice. He is regarded as the first in rank among the members of the Cabinet. He is also the custodian of the treaties made with foreign States, and of the laws of the United States. He grants and issues passports, and exequaturs to foreign consuls in the United States are issued through his office. He publishes the laws and resolutions of Congress, amendments to the Constitution, and proclamations declaring the admission of new States into the Union. He is also charged with certain annual reports to Congress relating to commercial information received from diplomatic and consular officers of the United States.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE.

The Assistant Secretary of State becomes the Acting Secretary of State in the absence of the Secretary. Under the organization of the Department the Assistant Secretary, Second Assistant Secretary, and Third Assistant Secretary are charged with the immediate supervision of all correspondence with the diplomatic and consular officers, and are intrusted with the preparation of the correspondence upon any questions arising in the course of the public business that may be assigned to them by the Secretary.

CHIEF CLERK.

The Chief Clerk has the general supervision of the clerks and employees and of the business of the Department.

DIPLOMATIC BUREAU.

Diplomatic correspondence and miscellaneous correspondence relating thereto.

CONSULAR BUREAU.

Consular correspondence and miscellaneous correspondence relating thereto.

BUREAU OF INDEXES AND ARCHIVES.

Opening, preparing, indexing, and registering all correspondence to and from the Department; the preservation of the archives.

BUREAU OF ACCOUNTS.

Custody and disbursement of appropriations under direction of the Department: charged with custody of indemnity funds and bonds; care of the property of the Department.

BUREAU OF ROLLS AND LIBRARY.

Custody of the rolls, treaties, etc.; promulgation of the laws, etc.; care and superintendence of the library and public documents; care of the Revolutionary archives, and of papers relating to international commissions.

BUREAU OF FOREIGN COMMERCE.

66

Edits and publishes the monthly consular reports, special consular reports, and the annual report laid before Congress entitled Commercial Relations of the United States."

BUREAU OF APPOINTMENTS.

Matters relating to appointments; the preparation of commissions, exequaturs, and warrants of extradition; custody of the Great Seal, of applications and recommendations for office, etc.

THE BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS.

The Bureau of the American Republics was established under the recommendation of the International American Conference in 1890 for the prompt collection and distribution of commercial information concerning the American Republics. It publishes translations of the tariffs of the countries of Latin America reduced to the United States equivalents; also handbooks of these countries, a monthly bulletin containing the latest information respecting their resources, commerce, and general features, and The Commercial Directory of the American Republics, an international publication. Replies are also furnished to inquiries in relation to the commercial and other affairs of the countries, and items of news giving recent laws of general interest, development of railways, agriculture, mines, manufactures, shipping, etc., are given to the press. The Bureau is sustained by contributions from the several American Republics in proportion to their population.

SUPERINTENDENT OF BUILDING.

The superintendent of the State, War, and Navy Department building is the executive officer of the commission created by Congress, consisting of the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy, for the government of this building. He has charge of care, preservation, repairing, warming, ventilating, lighting, and cleaning of the building, grounds, and approaches, and disburses the special appropriations for this purpose; he has charge of all the employees of the building proper, and appoints them by direction of the Secretaries.

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

The Secretary of the Treasury is charged by law with the management of the national finances. He prepares plans for the improvement of the revenue and for the support of the public credit; superintends the collection of the revenue, and prescribes the forms of keeping and rendering public accounts and of making returns; grants warrants for all moneys drawn from the Treasury in pursuance of appropriations made by law, and for the payment of moneys into the Treasury; and annually submits to Congress estimates of the probable revenues and disbursements of the Government. He also controls the construction of public buildings; the coinage and printing of money; the collection of statistics; the administration of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Life-Saving, Light-House, Revenue-Cutter, Steamboat-Inspection, and Marine-Hospital branches of the public service, and furnishes generally such information as may be required by either branch of Congress on all matters pertaining to the foregoing.

The routine work of the Secretary's office is transacted in the offices of the Supervising Architect, Director of the Mint, Director of Engraving and Printing, Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service, General Superintendent of the Life-Saving Service, Supervising Inspector-General of Steamboats, Bureau of Statistics, Light-House Board, and in the following divisions: Bookkeeping and Warrants; Appointments; Customs; Public Moneys; Loans and Currency; Revenue-Cutter; Stationery, Printing, and Blanks; Mails and Files; Special Agents, and Miscellaneous.

ASSISTANT SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY.

To Assistant Secretary Spaulding is assigned the general direction and supervision of all matters pertaining to the Customs Service, and all matters relating to the public business assigned to the following bureaus, offices, and divisions: The Bureau of Navigation; the Office of the Supervising Inspector-General, Steamboat-Inspection Service; the Office of the Supervising Surgeon-General, Marine-Hospital Service; the Office of the Life-Saving Service; the Division of Customs; the Division of Special Agents, and the Division of Revenue-Cutter Service.

To Assistant Secretary Vanderlip is assigned the general direction and supervision of all matters relating to the public business assigned to the following bureau, office, and divisions: The Office of the Director of the Mint; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; the Secret Service Division; the Division of Public Moneys; the Division of Loans and Currency; the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants, and the Division of Stationery, Printing, and Blanks; all official communications relating to or making appointments, removals, or changes in compensation of the personnel of the Department and services under its control in the District of Columbia.

To Assistant Secretary Taylor is assigned the general direction and supervision of all matters relating to the public business assigned to the following bureaus, offices, and divisions: The Bureau of Immigration; the Bureau of Statistics; the Office of the Coast and Geodetic Survey; the Office of the Light-House Board; the Office of the Supervising Architect; the Office of the Chief Clerk and Superintendent; the Miscellaneous Division, and the Division of Mails and Files.

CHIEF CLERK.

The Chief Clerk supervises, under the immediate direction of the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries, the duties of the clerks and employees connected with the Department; the superintendence of all buildings occupied by the Department in Washington, D. C.; the transmission of the mails; the care of all horses, wagons, and carriages employed; the direction of engineers, machinists, firemen, or laborers; the expenditure of the appropriations for contingent expenses of the Treasury Departinent; for furniture and repairs of same; fuel, lights, water, and miscellaneous items, and the assignment of custodians' force for buildings under the control of the Department; the distribution of the mail; the custody of the records and files and library of the Secretary's office; the answering of calls from Congress and elsewhere for copies of papers, records, etc.; supervision of all the official correspondence of the Secretary's office, so far as to see that it is expressed in correct and official form; the enforcement of the general regulations of the Department, and the charge of all business of the Secretary's office not assigned.

SUPERVISING ARCHITECT, TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

The duties of the Supervising Architect are of a technical character and are complex and varied. They embrace, subject, however, in all cases, to the direction and approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, matters pertaining to the selection of sites for public buildings; securing necessary State cession of jurisdiction; the preparation of estimates, drawings, etc., for approval by the cabinet officers, as required by law, preliminary to the erection of court-houses, custom-houses, post-offices, marine hospitals, etc.; securing, under what is known as the Tarsney Act, competitive designs, and completing all arrangements thereunder; arranging all details incident to the Government entering into contracts for construction, etc. He is also charged with the duty of maintaining and keeping in repair all buildings under the control of the Treasury Department not in the District of Columbia; maintaining and keeping in a proper state of efficiency and capacity all heating apparatus and hoisting systems in these buildings, including those in the District of Columbia; and control of the supply of vaults, safes, etc., for all public buildings.

The Supervising Architect frequently has occasion to respond to requests from other Departments in matters requiring architectural or engineering skill.

COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY.

The act of July 31, 1894, reorganizing the accounting offices of the Treasury, abolished the offices of Second Comptroller of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Customs, and provided that hereafter the First Comptroller shall be known as the Comptroller of the Treasury. The Comptroller is not charged with the duty of revising accounts, except upon appeal from the settlements made by the Auditors, an appeal to be taken within one year by either the claimant, the head of the Department interested, or by the Comptroller himself. Upon the request of a disbursing officer or the head of a Department, the Comptroller is required to give his decision upon the validity of a payment to be made, which decision, when rendered, shall govern the Auditors and the Comptroller in the settlement of the account involving the payment. He is required to approve, disapprove, or modify all decisions of the Auditors making an original construction or modifying an existing construction of statutes, and to certify his action to the Auditor. He transmits all decisions made by him forthwith to the Auditor or Auditors whose duties are affected thereby. By the regulations of the Department the Comptroller passes upon the sufficiency of authorities to indorse drafts and receive and receipt for money from the Government, upon the evidence presented in applications for duplicates of lost or destroyed United States

bonds, drafts, checks, etc. The forms of keeping and rendering all public accounts (except those relating to the postal service), the recovery of debts certified by the Auditors to be due to the United States, and the preservation, with their vouchers and certificates, of accounts finally adjusted, are under the direction of the Comptroller. Upon revision of accounts, appealed from the several Auditors to the Comptroller, his decision upon such revision is final and conclusive upon the executive branch of the Government.

AUDITOR FOR THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

The Auditor for the Treasury Department receives and examines all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Secretary of the Treasury and all bureaus and offices under his direction. All accounts relating to the Customs Service, the public debt, internal revenue, Treasurer and assistant treasurers, mints and assay offices, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Revenue-Cutter Service, Life-Saving Service, Light-House Board, Marine Hospital, public buildings, Steamboat-Inspection Service, Immigration Service, Bureau of Navigation, Secret Service, Alaskan fur-seal fisheries, and all other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Treasury, and certifies the balances arising thereon to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants.

The subordinate divisions of his office are-

Customs Division.-Receipts and expenditures of the customs service, including fines, emoluments, forfeitures, debentures, drawbacks, and warehouse and bond accounts received from custom-houses.

Internal Revenue Division.-Accounts of collectors of internal revenue, including salaries, contingent expenses, and compensation of storekeepers.

Public Debt Division.-Redemption of the public debt, including principal, premium, and interest, the payment of interest, redemption of certificates of deposit, notes destroyed.

Miscellaneous Division.—Accounts of mint and assay offices, construction, repair, and preservation of public buildings; Treasurer of the United States, for general receipts and expenditures; Bureau of Engraving and Printing; Coast and Geodetic Survey; Revenue-Cutter Service; Life-Saving Service; Light-House Board; MarineHospital Service, and all other miscellaneous accounts coming to this office.

AUDITOR FOR THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

The Auditor for the War Department receives and examines all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the offices of the Secretary of War and all bureaus and offices under his direction; all accounts relating to the military establishment, armories and arsenals, national cemeteries, fortifications, public buildings and grounds under the Chief of Engineers, rivers and harbors, the Military Academy, and to all other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of War, and certifies the balances arising thereon to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants, and sends a copy of each certificate to the Secretary of War.

The work is distributed among six divisions, as follows: Records Division, Civil Claims Division, Military Claims Division, Quartermaster's Division, Paymaster's Division, and Law Board.

AUDITOR FOR THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.

The Auditor for the Interior Department is required to examine and settle all claims and accounts for receipts or expenditures of public moneys arising in the Department of the Interior or in any of the offices or bureaus under the jurisdiction of that Department. He is also charged with the supervision and the exercise of a large discretion with respect to all advances of public moneys to the various disbursing officers under the Interior Department. The work incidental to the performance of these duties is distributed among the following three divisions:

Land, Files, and Miscellaneous Division. - Accounts of receivers of public moneys as such and as special disbursing agents; of United States surveyors-general and deputy surveyors; of the disbursing clerk of the Interior Department and of the disbursing officers of the Geological Survey, Howard University, Government Hospital for the Insane, and Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb; of the Commissioner of Patents, and of all receiving and disbursing officers of the Department of the Interior, exclusive of those in the Pension and Indian service.

Army and Navy Pension Division.-Accounts of United States pension agents on account of disbursements made under appropriations for army and navy pensions, salaries of pension agents, and all expenses of pension agencies; accounts under the several pension appropriations; claims for reimbursement from accrued pensions

of expenses of last sickness and burial of pensioners under act of March 2, 1895; investigates pension checks in cases where the payees have died without indorsing them and makes recommendation to the Secretary of the Treasury regarding their payment; keeps and corrects from day to day pension rolls embracing the names of all pensioners of the United States.

Indian Division.-Accounts of United States Indian agents, special agents, inspectors, general superintendent of schools, superintendents of schools, supervisors of Indian schools, allotting agents, disbursing officers' special commissions, examiners of surveys, secretary of board of Indian commissioners, superintendents of Indian warehouses, receiving and shipping clerks, and other accounts of a miscellaneous nature relating to the Indian service, including the cost and transportation of goods and supplies.

AUDITOR FOR THE NAVY DEPARTMENT.

The Auditor for the Navy Department examines and settles all accounts of the Navy Department, including the office of the Secretary of the Navy, and all offices and bureaus under his direction, certifying the balances arising thereon to the Secretary of the Treasury and sending a copy of each certificate to the Secretary of the Navy. Paymasters' Accounts Division.-Adjusts accounts of pay officers of the Navy at navy-yards and stations and on vessels, accounts of the paymaster and quartermaster of the Marine Corps, and claims of subsidized railroads, and keeps individual accounts of seamen's deposits of savings.

Requisition and Prize Money Division.-Records requisitions and notes them for approval, keeps ledger accounts of navy appropriations, adjusts the account of General Account of Advances, examines monthly returns of all pay officers of the Navy, reports delinquent pay officers, settles prize-money claims, furnishes the Pension Office and Navy Department with service records of officers, seamen, and marines, and has charge of the mail, records, and files of the office. The Miscellaneous Claim Section adjusts claims for arrears of pay, bounty, etc., arising in the Navy and Marine Corps.

Navy Pay and Allotment Division.-Adjusts accounts of purchasing pay officers of the Navy, of naval attachés at United States legations in Europe, of the Navy Department's fiscal agent in London, of agents at coaling stations, and of the disbursing officer of the Navy Department, and keeps individual accounts of allotments of officers and men of the Navy.

AUDITOR FOR THE STATE AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS.

The Auditor for the State and other Departments receives, examines, and certifies the balances arising thereon to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the offices of the Secretary of State. the Attorney-General, and the Secretary of Agriculture, and of all bureaus and offices under their direction; all accounts relating to all other business within the jurisdiction of the Departments of State, Justice, and Agriculture; all accounts relating to the Diplomatic and Consular Service, the judiciary, United States courts, judgments of the United States courts, and Court of Claims, Executive Office, Civil Service Commission, Interstate Commerce Commission, Department of Labor, District of Columbia, Fish Commission, Court of Claims and its judgments, Smithsonian Institution, Territorial governments, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Public Printer, Library of Congress, Botanic Garden, and accounts of all boards, commissions, and establishments of the Government not within the jurisdiction of any of the Executive Departments. He also examines and approves or disapproves all requisitions for advances of money made by all persons authorized to do so in any of the above-named Departments, commissions, or establishments.

AUDITOR FOR THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

The Auditor for the Post-Office Department receives, examines, and adjusts all accounts relating to the postal service, or arising within the jurisdiction of the PostOffice Department. He is in a sense auditor, comptroller, and register. His decisions on all settlements are final, unless an appeal to the Comptroller be taken within one year. He certifies balances due direct to the Postmaster-General instead of to the Treasury Department, as in the case of the other Auditors. He countersigns and registers the warrants upon the Treasury issued in liquidation of settlements; superintends the collecting of debts due the United States for the service of the PostOffice Department and all penalties imposed; directs suits and all legal proceedings in civil actions, and takes all legal measures to enforce the payment of money due the United States for the service of the Post-Office Department, and for this purpose