ORGANIZATION OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. The Treasury Department was established by the act of Congress approved September 2, 1789. The officers provided for were a Secretary of the Treasury, to be deemed head of the Department, a Comptroller, an Auditor, a Treasurer, a Register, and an Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, to be appointed by him. The other officers named were to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Department so created was capable of indefinite expansion, to meet the growth of the country and of its business; and, preserving its organization, there are now two assistants to the Secretary, two Comptrollers, a Commissioner of Customs, a Comptroller of the Currency, a Commissioner of Internal Revenue, six Auditors, a Treasurer, a Register, and a Superintendent of the Coast Survey, each of whom is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Comptrollers, the Commissioner of Customs, the Auditors, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Register, have each a deputy, and the Treasurer an assistant, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. There are also a Supervising Architect of the Department; a chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and a chief of the Bureau of Statistics, who are appointed by the Secretary. The duties of the Secretary and other officers of the Department remain much the same as at first, though in some instances enlarged, and in others divided between the old and new officers; and, in some others where new duties have been prescribed, new offices have been created, as in the cases of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue; and in yet other instances transfers have been made to other Departments, but the general organization retains its original form. By the act of 1789 it was made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit, to prepare and report estimates of the public revenue and the public expenditures; to superintend the collection of the revenue; to decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts and making returns, and to grant, under the limitations established or to be provided, all warrants for moneys to be issued from the Treasury, in pursuance of appropriations by law; 1 to execute such services relative to the sale of the lands belonging to the United States as might be by law required of him; to make report and give information to either branch of the legislature, in person or in writing (as he might be required), respecting all matters referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office; and, generally, to perform all such services relative to the finances as he should be directed to perform. The duties of the Secretary have been, in many things, increased at various times, and in many instances during and since the late war, especially in relation to the issue and redemption of United States securities and notes. The Assistant Secretaries discharge such duties as may be required of them by the Secretary; and one of them, designated by the President, acts as Secretary in the absence of that officer; and one of them, appointed for that purpose by the Secretary, signs warrants for the payment of money into the Treasury, and warrants for the payment of accounts settled and allowed by the accounting officers of the Department. The act of 1789 made it the duty of the Comptroller to superintend the adjustment and preservation of the public accounts; to examine all accounts settled by the Auditor, and certify the balances arising thereon to the Register; to countersign all warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury which should be warranted by law; to report to the Secretary the official forms of all papers to be issued in the different offices for collecting the public revenue, and the manner and form of keeping and stating the accounts of the several persons employed therein; and also to provide for the regular and punctual payment of all moneys which might be collected, and direct prosecations for all delinquencies of officers of the revenue, and for debts that were or should be due to the United States. The powers and duties of the Comptroller-now the First Comptroller-remain the same, except in relation to portions transferred to the Second Comptroller and the Commissioner of Customs. The duties of the Treasurer were to receive and keep the moneys of the United States, and to disburse the same upon warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the Comptroller, and recorded by the Register, and not otherwise. He was required to render accounts quarterly, and at all times to submit to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller, or either of them, the inspection of the moneys on hand; and various acts directed specifically and more in detail the manner in which the duties of the office should be discharged. It was made the duty of the Auditor to receive all public accounts, and, after examination, to certify the balance and transmit the accounts with the vouchers and certificate to the Comptroller for his decision. The Register was required to keep all accounts of the public money, and of all debts due to or from the United States, to receive from the |