TROLLER. Per Annum. been invested, with a view to a check on | FORCE IN THE OFFICE OF THE FIRST COMPfrauds by the double examination of claims, first by an Auditor, then by the Comptroller, this office receives for revision all accounts stated by the Fifth Auditor and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and all accounts stated by the First Auditor, except those 6 relating to customs, and, in cases of ap-4 peal, the post-office accounts. First Comptroller.......... 66 66 .$5000 2700 2100 1800 1600 66 1400 ................................... 1200 .................................... 66 1000 66 2 66 The accounts thus received for exami-6 nation and decision from the First Audi-1 assistant messenger. 3 laborers, each... tor pertain to the Judiciary, the United States Treasurer, the Loans and Public Debt, the salaries of the Civil List, the construction and repair of Public Buildings, the Contingent expenses of Congress and the Departments, the Paper and Public Printing, the Territories, the District of Columbia, the Mint, Steamboat Inspectors, Express accounts, etc. From the Fifth Auditor, the Diplomatic and Consular accounts, the Internal Revenue accounts, the Census accounts. From the General Land Office, accounts of Surveyors, and Receivers of public moneys. This great variety of accounts, as classified and reported with serial numbers, constitute eight distinct series of accounts. These accounts, with accompanying reports thereon, are all examined, corrected, certified, and recorded in this office, and then referred to the office of the Register of the Treasury. The records of this office, as kept by the warrant clerks, furnish the key to the condition of the Treasury, including the receipts and expenditures, the funds and appropriations. MANNER OF CONDUCTING THE BUS SECOND COMPTROLLER OF THE DUTIES, BUSINESS, ETC. The Second Comptroller's Office was established by act of Congress of March 3, 1817, and to it was assigned the revision of all accounts passed upon by the Second, Third, and Fourth Auditors respectively, and the countersigning of all warrants drawn by the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments. The original act also provided that the Second Comptroller should prescribe the official forms to be issued in the different offices of these two Departments for the disbursement of the public money, and the manner and form of keeping and stating accounts. Upon the establishment of the Interior Department, March 3, 1849, there was added to the Second Comptroller's duties the revision of all Indian and Pension accounts, and, consequently, the countersigning of all requisitions issued by the Secretary of the Interior pertaining to these classes of accounts. INESS IN THE OFFICE OF THE FIRST custodian of all bonds of the disbursing The Second Comptroller's Office is the COMPTROLLER. No short statement can give the modus operandi of the work of this office. The duties are too manifold, and the details are too multifarious to be embraced in any brief article. To the Comptroller the clerks look for the construction of the law; and the clerical duties and labors of the office are distributed among the several divisions of the office, each being charged with its appropriate work. officers of the War and Navy Departments, and the Indian and Pension Offices, as well as the originals of all contracts made by these Departments and Offices for the furnishing of all supplies, doing any work, and the transportation of any goods or materials. The clerical force of the office is divided into divisions, to each of which is assigned the special duty of revising some particular class of accounts. These divisions are: This office embraces the following di- Army Paymaster's Division, which revisions, namely: Judicial Accounts, For-ceives direct from the Second Auditor all eign Intercourse, Internal Revenue, and accounts of Army Paymasters; bounties Book-keepers' Division. to soldiers; back pay due deceased officers and soldiers; disbursing officers of National Home for Disabled Volunteers; Quartermaster's Division, which receives from the Third Auditor all accounts of the disbursing officers of the Quartermaster, Subsistence, and Engineer Departments of the Army. Indian Division, which receives from the Second Auditor all accounts of Superintendents, Agents, Inspectors of the Indian Department, and all contractors for furnishing supplies or transportation of supplies for that Department. Miscellaneous Division, which receives from the Third Auditor claims arising for horses lost during the war; supplies of all kinds furnished the Army or taken by the Army; steamboats chartered or impressed; claims allowed by the Court of Claims and Southern Claims Commission. Army Pension Division, which receives from the Third Auditor all the accounts of Army Pension Agents. agrees with the report made by the Auditor thereon, places his initials upon the report, and it is then sent to the Comptroller for signature, and returned to the Auditor with all the papers. The papers are then filed, with the exception of the report (which bears the signatures of the Auditor and Comptroller) showing the official balance either for or against the United States. In cases of settlements showing a balance due from the United States, the report is transmitted to the head of the Department under which the allowance properly belongs, for the issue of his requisition upon the Secretary of the Treasury for the issue of his warrant for the money. When in the revision of an account this office fails to agree with the finding of the Auditor, the question is submitted to the Comptroller in person, and if he sustains the objections, the account, with all the papers, is returned to the Auditor with the objections. In most instances the Auditor corrects his report to correspond with the ruling of the Comptroller, but if he adheres to his first finding, as is sometimes the case, the account is returned with such a statement, when this office may yield or find a balance in accordance with its own views, which finding is binding upon all the Departments and the Auditor. FORCE IN The Office of Second Comptroller. Second Comptroller...... Per Annum. ..$5000 2700 2100 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 900 The book-keepers' room, where all the requisitions issued by the War and Navy Departments, and those issued by the Secretary of the Interior relating to Pensions and Indians, are registered and posted under each head of appropriation. The manner of doing the business of this office is the same in all the divisions. The accounts and claims are received 3 from the Auditors' Offices and sent direct 9 66 to the Chief of the proper division, where 1 assistant messenger............................................................... 720 they are at once registered alphabetically 3 laborers, each.... and chronologically. These accounts and claims are next examined in turn by the clerks of the division, in the same manner as if they had not been before examined. Each mathematical calculation is gone over, and every expenditure is carefully scrutinized as to its legality and the appropriation out of which it should be paid. In all cases of expenditure under contract, the contracts are examined in connection with the accounts. Upon the completion of the revision of an account or claim, it is submitted to the Chief of Division, who, if the revision 66 .... 66 8 66 66 66 66 660 COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY. The Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency was established by the act of February 25, 1863, which act was superseded by that of June 3, 1864. Its chief officer is denominated the Comptroller of the Currency, and he is under the general direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. A deputy is provided for by law, who possesses the powers and performs the duties attached by law to the office of the Comptroller during a vacancy in such office, or The Comptroller is charged with the execution of all laws respecting the issue and regulation of a National currency. secured by United States bonds. Secure and fire-proof vaults are provided in the Treasury Department, in which the Comptroller must deposit and safely keep all the plates not necessarily in the possession of engravers or printers. A National banking association may be formed by any number of persons not less than five, who must execute articles of association, specifying in general terms the object for which the association is formed. The articles may contain any other provisions, not inconsistent with law, for the conduct of the affairs of the banks, and must be signed by all the persons so uniting, and be forwarded to the Comptroller of the Currency, to be filed in his office. They must also make an organization certificate, which shall specify, 1st. The name assumed by the association, which name is subject to the approval of the Comptroller. 2d. The place where its operations of discount and deposit are to be carried on. 3d. The amount of its capital stock, and the number of shares into which the same is divided. 4th. The names and residences of the shareholders, and the number of shares held by each. sons, with a less capital than $200,000; except that in any place having less than 6000 inhabitants banks may, with the special approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, be organized with not less than $50,000 capital. No increase or reduction of the authorized capital of an association can be made without the approval of the Comptroller of the Currency being first obtained, and no increase is valid until the whole amount is actually paid in and certified to under oath. Fifty per centum of the capital stock must be paid in before commencing business, and the remainder in monthly instalments of ten per centum each. They must also transfer and deposit with the Treasurer of the United States registered bonds, in an amount not less than $30,000, nor less than one-third of the capital stock paid in. But by a late act the maximum amount of bonds required for any bank is $50,000. One of the provisions in the grant of powers to National banking associations is that the National banks may loan money upon personal security only,that is, real estate may not be taken by them, directly or indirectly, as original security for any loan; the effect of which is to make them commercial institutions, and to discourage the loaning of money upon securities not readily convertible. Mortgages on real estate may be taken, or real estate be conveyed to them, by way of security for or in satisfaction of debts previously contracted in good faith; or they may purchase the same at sales under judgments, decrees, or mortgages held by them. But all possession by them of such real estate, whether under mortgage, by purchase, or otherwise, is limited to five years. It is the duty of the Comptroller of 5th. A declaration that said certificate the Currency to examine and asceris made to enable them to avail them-tain whether all provisions of law have selves of the advantages of the National been complied with, before issuing his bank act. authority to the same to commence business. This certificate must be acknowledged before a judge of a court of record, or a notary public, and be transmitted to the Comptroller of the Currency, whose duty it is to record and carefully preserve it in his office. A National banking association has succession by the name designated in its organization certificate for a period of twenty years, unless sooner dissolved. No association can be organized with a less capital than $100,000, nor in cities where the population exceeds 50,000 per Transfers of bonds by banking associations are made to the Treasurer of the United States in trust, and no transfer or assignment by the Treasurer of such bonds is valid unless countersigned by the Comptroller. The Comptroller must keep in his office a book in which is entered the name of every association from whose accounts transfers of bonds are made by the Treasurer, and the name of the person to whom the transfer is made. value of transferred bonds is entered The par therein; and it is the duty of the Comp-outstanding on November 1, 1879, was troller, immediately upon countersigning $335,841,388 (of legal tender notes $346,and entering the same, to advise by mail the association for whose account such transfer was made of the kind and numerical designation of the bonds and the amount thereof. The Comptroller must countersign and enter in a book every transfer or assignment of any bonds held by the Treasurer, presented for his signature, and at all times, during office hours, he is entitled to access to the books of the Treasurer for the purpose of verifying the correct ness of the transfer or assignment, and he may also have access to the bonds on deposit with the Treasurer, to ascertain their amount and condition. Upon the transfer and delivery of any United States bonds to the Treasurer, the association depositing the same is entitled to receive from the Comptroller circulating notes equal to ninety per centum of the current market value of the bonds so delivered, but not exceeding ninety per centum of the amount of said bonds at par value thereof, if bearing interest at a rate of not less than five per centum per annum. The amount of circulating notes which may be issued to any association must not, however, exceed the following proportion: To each association whose capital does not exceed $500,000, ninety per centum of such capital; to those whose capital exceeds $500,000, but not $1,000000, eighty per centum of such capital; and to those whose capital exceeds $3,000,000, sixty per centum of such capital. The Comptroller must, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, cause plates and dies to be engraved, and to have printed therefrom, and numbered, such quantity of circulating notes, in blank, of the various denominations, as will be required to supply the associations entitled to receive the same. When the promise to pay such notes on demand is signed by the President, or Vice-President, and Cashier of the association, it is authorized to issue and circulate the same as money. These notes are issued in the denominations of (dollars) ones, twos, fives, tens, twenties, fifties, one hundreds, five hundreds, and one thousands; but since the resumption of specie payments no notes of the denomination of ones and twos have been issued, the law providing that after specie payments are resumed no notes of a less denomination than five dollars shall be furnished. The amount of National bank notes 681,016). The officers of National banks are required to make returns under oath to the Treasurer of the United States, and to pay to him in semi-annual instalments an annual duty of one per cent. upon the average amount of their circulating notes, one-half of one per cent. upon the average amount of their deposits, and a like rate upon the average amount of their capital stock beyond the amount invested in United States bonds. This duty is in lieu of all other Government taxes. The payment to the United States of the duties named does not, however, relieve the National banks from any liability to taxation by other than Government authority, as it is expressly provided that nothing in the act shall prevent the shares of these associations from being taxed by States, as is other similar property, or shall exempt their real property from State, county, or municipal taxation, to the same extent as other real property. The United States tax paid by them amounts to nearly seven millions annually, and is equal to two per centum upon the total amount of National bank circulation. A system of redemption of the circulating notes of the National banks is provided, whereby not only may they be readily converted into lawful money, but the mass of the circulation may be kept clean through the retirement of such portion as becomes worn or mutilated, and the issue of new notes by the Comptroller in their stead. This redemption is accomplished and compelled by requiring, first, that each National bank shall redeem its circulating notes at its own counter, at par, in lawful money on demand; second, that the notes of all closed banks shall be redeemed by the Treasurer; third, that all worn, mutilated, or defaced National bank notes which are received by any assistant treasurer or designated depositary of the United States shall be forwarded to the Treasurer for redemption; and, fourth, by providing that when the notes of any associations, assorted or unassorted, are presented in sums of $1000, or any multiple thereof, to the Treasurer, they shall be redeemed by that officer. The Government is indemnified for all redemptions made by it, either by the bonds which it holds, as in the case of insolvent banks, or by a deposit of lawful money which is required to be previously made by all other banks. If a National bank fails to pay its circulating notes, the Comptroller is authorized to sell its bonds and provide for the payment. The Government is indemnified against any possible loss from its guaranty of the payment of such circulating notes, by having reserved to it by law a paramount lien upon all the assets of any association which defaults in the redemption of its notes, to make good any deficiency arising from the sale of its bonds. The Comptroller may appoint a receiver to close the affairs of any defaulting association. In addition to the means for acquiring a knowledge of the condition of the banks furnished by the reports already mentioned, the law provides for their examination periodically by disinterested persons to be appointed by the Comptroller. These persons visit the banks, inspect their books of account, securities, and assets and liabilities generally, have power to examine their officers and directors under oath, and inquire into all matters necessary to a full understanding The destruction of all mutilated notes of their actual, existing condition, and and of notes of closed banks, redeemed then make immediate and full report in by the Treasurer, is regulated by instruc-writing of the results of such examinations of the Secretary, given in pursu- tion. This feature of the law is an inance of law. All notes destroyed are previously counted by separate agents or representatives of the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the banks which issued the notes; they are effectually mutilated by clipping and punching, to prevent their possible circulation should they by any remote chance pass out of the possession of the Treasury before destruction; they are, in the presence of each of the agents mentioned, placed in a triple-locked macerating machine, where they are immediately ground into pulp; and their destruction is certified to by all the agents, both upon proper books in the Treasury Department and in certificates sent to the banks of issue. Every association must make to the Comptroller of the Currency not less than five reports in each year, exhibiting in detail the resources and liabilities of the association on any past day by him specified. The separate report of each association must be published in a newspaper in the place where the association is established, or, if there is no newspaper in the place, then in the nearest one thereto. Upon notice of failure of any association to redeem its circulating notes, the Comptroller, with the concurrence of the Secretary of the Treasury, may appoint a special agent, and direct him to proceed to examine as to the failure, and make report to the Comptroller; and if it be true that the association has refused to pay its circulating notes, he shall within 30 days declare the United States bonds and securities pledged by such association forfeited to the United States, and the notes shall then be paid in lawful money of the United States at the Treasury. valuable one, operating not only as a restraint against irregular practices by any banks so disposed, but as a means of detecting them and preventing their recurrence. These examinations may be as frequent as is thought necessary, and their expense is borne by the banks themselves. National Bank Examiners are allowed compensation as follows: Those appointed to examine banks located in the redemption-cities, namely, Albany, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Louisville, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Richmond, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Washington, or in any one of the States of Oregon, California, and Nevada, or in the Territories, such compensation as may be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury upon the recommendation of the Comptroller of the Currency. Those appointed to examine any other National bank: For examining National banks having a capital less than $100,000, $20; those having a capital of $100,000 and less than $300,000, $25; those having a capital of $300,000 and less than $400,000, $35; those having a capital of $400,000 and less than $500,000, $40; those having a capital of $500,000 and less than $600,000, $50; those having a capital of $600,000 and over, $75. On November 1, 1879, there were 2050 associations in operation, with a capital of more than $455,000,000, and with deposits amounting to more than $713,000,000. It is the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency to make the following reports to Congress annually: First. A summary of the condition of |