REPORT

OF THE

TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES.

TREASURY OF THE UNITED STATES,

Washington, November 1, 1875. SIR: As required by law, I herewith submit the following statement of the condition of the Treasury of the United States at the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1875, accompanied by tables to fully exhibit the operation thereof during the year. By examination of the comparative statement of receipts and expenditures given in the appendix to this report, it will be seen that while there has been an increase of $7,597,708.68 in internal-revenue receipts for the fiscal year 1875 over those of 1874, there has been a decrease in receipts from customs of $5,936,111.34; from lands, $438,788.76, and from miscellaneous sources, $2.701,513.54; making a total net decrease of revenue for the fiscal year 1875 from that of 1874 amounting to $1,478,704.96; but, more than an offset to that decrease in revenue, the total net decrease in expenditures for the same period is $11,115,407.37, composed of the following items, viz: Decreased expenditures on account of interest on public debt, $4,026,270.64; on account of War Department, $1,193,281.24; on acCount of Navy Department, $9,434,961.15; total decreased expenditures, $14,654,513.03, less increased expenditures on account of Interior Department, $2,109,996.29, and on account of c'vil and miscellaneous, $1,429,109.37; being a net difference of $9,636,702.41 in favor of the fiscal year 1875 over that of 1874 in the matter of receipts and expendi tures together.

TREASURER'S QUARTERLY ACCOUNTS.

The account of receipts and expenditures rendered by the Treasurer of the United States to the Accounting-officers of the Treasury, and copies of which are to be laid before the Senate and House of Representatives, is to the end of the fiscal year 1875; making two years' statements instead of one, as ordinarily.

UNAVAILABLE MONEYS.

The amount of General Treasury moneys carried in the balances on the books of this Office, and which was unavailable on the 30th June, 1875, was $29,860,042.34, as shown by "Statement IV" in the appendix to this report; and the amount of Post-Office Department moneys carried in a similar way, and which was unavailable on the same date, was $40,078.06, as shown by "Statement III" in the appendix.

On page 178, Volume 5, United States Statutes at Large, chapter xxxv, it appears that an act was approved March 3, 1837, of which the follow. ing is the text of section 1:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper Accounting-officers of the Treasury be, and they are hereby, authorized to credit the account of the Treasurer of the United States with the amount of the unavailable funds, whether charged to John Campbell or his predecessors, and to transfer the amount to the debit of the banks and individuals, respectively, that may be indebted for the same.

In order to avoid the daily, weekly, quarterly, and yearly repetition of the statement of the amount of these unavailable moneys, and to clear the late Treasurer's accounts of these fictitious balances, it is respectfully recommended that an act be passed similar to that above. quoted; but to make such act sufficiently complete, so as to cover such unavailable items in the future, it is submitted that in all cases of deficit, default, or suspension of payment, from any cause whatsoever, whereby the moneys of the United States become unavailable, the Accounting. officers of the Treasury should be empowered, formally, to place upon record the facts in each and every case, charging the amount to the person who is in default, or whose assets are deficient or in suspension, and crediting the Treasurer of the United States in his General account.

DISBURSING-OFFICERS' BALANCES AND REPORTS.

By Statements VIII and IX, in the appendix to this report, it will be seen that over 60,000 "Lists of balances" and "Statements of public funds" have been received and examined by this Office during the fiscal year 1875; also, that of the 1,844 balances of accounts reported by Depositories, 389 were useless for the purpose of comparison, no reports having been received from disbursing-officers to that number, and that many other officers who have the disbursement of public funds render no reports whatever.

To fully serve the purpose for which the work of examination and comparison done by this Office was instituted, it would seem to be only proper for all disbursing-officers of the Government to render reports regularly and promptly; and, to make such reports effective, the statement rendered should give, 1st, the date and amount of each deposit made by the officer during the week; 2d, the date, amount, and payee of each check drawn during the week; and, 3d, the balance to his credit as shown by check-book, stub, or account. On the other hand, each depository should also report weekly, 1st, the amount deposited by or placed to the credit of every disbursing-officer; 2d, the amount of each disbursing-officer's checks paid; and, 3d, the balance to the credit of each disbursing-officer at the close of business on the last day of the week. This would not entail much additional labor upon any one branch of the service, but would enable every administrative Department and Bureau to know the amount of outstanding checks of each one of its disbursing-officers weekly, which is at present a quite uncertain element of accountability. If, in addition to this being made matter of legisla tive requirement, all accounts of official funds whatsoever were required to be reported weekly to some Accounting-officer, such system would not only serve the purpose for which it is intended, but tend to promote regularity and correctness in the keeping of all accounts of the Govern ment. The importance of this part of the fiscal business of the United States can be estimated from the fact that the amount expended by the several Departments through disbursing-officers is over two hundred and fifty million dollars annually. It is, therefore, respectfully submitted

and urged upon the attention of Congress that some legislative action be had, so that a full and complete systemization be made of this not unimportant branch of the service.

PAYMENT OF SPEAKER'S CERTIFICATES.

Payments of compensation and mileage to members of the House of Representatives are now made by the Treasurer of the United States upon the certificate of the Speaker (or the Clerk of the House when there is no Speaker) that the member named is entitled to payment. The certificates, receipted by the member, are presented at the Treas urer's Office by the Sergeant-at-Arms, who receives payment thereof as the agent of the members, keeping account with and disbursing to them as they may require. It thus happens frequently that the Sergeant-atArms has in his possession large sums belonging to members, and to their credit on his books.

The amount of the Treasury warrant issued each month to re-imburse the Treasurer for the payments of the month is charged to him upon the books of the Register, and he obtains credit to offset such charge upon filing with the Auditing-officer of the Department the Speaker's certificates, if they are found correct. But it has happened at various times that the Auditing-officer, having found errors in the computation of amounts due to members as expressed in the certificates, has not allowed credit for the full amount paid by the Treasurer, who has been put to considerable trouble to obtain repayment of the money so overpaid, and has not always succeeded in this. For instance, there are at this time held suspended against the late Treasurer, and to his debit on the books of the Register, a small amount, arising from overpayment to two members of the Thirty-ninth Congress, the term of which expired in 1867. This suspension has continued to this date, notwithstanding the amounts paid were the amounts certified by the Speaker to be due, and the act of Congress expressly declares that these certificates shall be conclusive upon all the Departments and officers of the Government, the First Comptroller holding that this requirement applies only to certificates drawn in conformity to law.

and it

The law requiring that these certificates be paid out of the public Treasury, and passed as public accounts, does not require that they shall be paid before being passed by the proper Auditing-officer; the Treasurer is to be held responsible for errors that he has no means of detecting, it may be necessary for his own pecuniary safety that he submit the certificates for the action of the Auditing-officers prior to their payment. But as this would cause some delay, and perhaps inconvenience to members, that might be avoided, it is respectfully recommended that one of the officers of the House of Representatives be designated as a disbursing-officer for the purpose of these payments, giving such bond as may be required by law. The Secretary of the Senate is, by the present law, charged with the disbursement of the compensation and mileage of Senators, and it is not seen that any objection exists to the same method of payment of members of the House of Representatives.

THE NATIONAL BANK REDEMPTION AGENCY.

The National Bank Redemption Agency, established by act of Congress approved June 20, 1874, has been in operation since a few days thereafter, and during the fiscal year there have been redeemed, assorted, and accounted for 17,842,310 notes, of the aggregate value of $130,322,945.

The expenses of the Agency have been as follows:

For these expenses an assessment has been made upon the banks for express charges in proportion to the amount in value of the notes redeemed, and for all other expenses and charges in proportion to the number of notes redeemed; this being considered the equitable method of making the assessment. The items going to make up these expenses and charges are set forth in detail upon the books of the Agency, and a concise statement thereof accompanied the assessment for the information of the banks. The full credit of the organization of the Agency and the success which has attended it in the past belong to my prede cessor, and he and the law are responsible for the expenses incurred. The assessment was made for the aggregate of the charges and expenses as found upon the books of the Agency on the 30th of June, 1875, the day of his retirement from office. Should the banks seriously object to any of the charges or expenses included in the assessment, it is for them to take such steps to recover the same as may seem best. Yet under the circumstances and difficulties attending the organization of the Agency, and which they have appreciated, few have made any complaint. If the Agency is to be continued, its practical operation in the past has suggested some changes in the law for its successful conduct in the future, alike in the interest of the public and the banks. It has been hitherto esteemed that a bank has fully discharged its promise and obligation when it has redeemed the same in lawful money at its own counter or other designated place of redemption. Under this law, the bank is also required to pay the cost of the transportation of its notes to Wash ington, together with all other expenses, direct or incidental, attending the redemption of the same, and practically of the return of the redeeming medium to the residence of the note-holder.

For the notes of 171 banks which have failed or gone into voluntary liquidation prior to the 30th of June last, and also of 171 other banks that are retiring all or part of their circulation, there have been depos ited in the Treasury legal-tender notes to the exact amount of circulation outstanding or to be retired. Such circulation is, by law, redeemable by the Treasury; yet, as a matter of fact, these notes, or nearly all of them, are presented to the Treasury through this Agency; and as these banks have no 5 per cent. fund to which to charge their pro rata share of the expense, the same can only be apportioned and assessed upon the banks still in full operation. There was on deposit in the Treasury on the 30th of June, 1875, $18,203,667.05 in legal-tender notes for the purpose of taking up the circulation of such banks, the Government getting the benefit of this deposit without interest or expense. And yet, under the law, the expense of retiring such circulation is taxed to the remaining banks, who have had no interest or benefit therefrom. This is manifestly unjust. As the profits of this banking system are diminishing