In the matter of the right of special agents engaged, nnder the aot of March
3, 1883 (22 Stat., 623), in preventing timber depredations, to be allowed
for sleep^g-car fare as part of " transportation " expenses 696

Ordway's :

In the matter of the right of the person employed to prepare a general index
for the Journals of Congress, to receive compensation for preparing an
index to the Congressional Record 529

Conger's Appeal :

In the matter of the right of the postmaster at Washington City to an
annual salary of ^,000, commencing vrith the approval of the act of
Harch 3, 1883 (22 Stat., 600) 696

Btar-Route Attorneys :

In the matter of the authority to pay, from an appropriation for the service
of a current fiscal year, an allowance made to an attorney retained to
assist a district attorney, for continuous service In part rendered dur-
ing a previous fiscal year 541

Rb-opbnino Decision :

In the matter of re-opening a decision of the First Comptroller rejecting a
claim, for the purpose of referring it for the opinion of the Court of
Claims, nnder the act of March 3, 1888 (22 Stat., 485, sec. 2) 544

Tax-Sals :

In the matter of the authority of the Commissioners of the District of Co-
lumbia, or the collector of taxes therein, to employ an auctioneer to
make tax-sales 546

llississippi Central Railroad Company's:

III the matter of the authority to pay claims against the United States ac-
crued in 1861 for mail-transportation services, from the unexpended
balances of deficiency postal appropriations carried to the surplus ftind
under the act of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat., 110^ Bec.5) 553

SCHELL'S:

In the matter of charging interest on a final Judgment for the payment of
which the United Staty is liable, and of opening such Judgment, by
consent, after the term at which it was rendered has ended 578

Swamp- Land-Fee :

In the matter of the right of registers and receivers of district land-oflices

to fees for the selection of swamp-lauds for any State 580

IQusction-Proclamation :

In the matter of the authority of the accounting officers of the Treasury
Department to decide upon the validity of the proclamation of the gov-
ernor of a State ordering a special election for a Representative in Con-
gress 584

Jordan's (a Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 274):

In the matter of repayment of internal-revenue income-tax to certain ciU-

zens of Tennessee 686

Heigs*s:

In the matter of the right of a retired Army officer, who is designated by
act of Congress and by the Secretary of the Interior to perform duties
in connection with the erection of a public building, to receive addi-
tional compensation for such services 66^



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Table of Cases and Suljects in their respective Order, xvii

Marshal's Expense :

In the matter of the right of a marshal to be paid the maximnm expenses
of two dollars a day while his deputy is employed in endeayoring to
make an arrest on a eriminal charge, when this sum is the total snm
expended for a whole day, and the deputy during a portion of the day
is attending examinations before a commissioner of the circuit court. 638
Georgia :

Jnie, 354-387. Addition to 641

Connoi-ly's :

Anie^ 45, 46. Addition to ..-.• 642

U — ^I> 83



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INTRODUCTION



This is the fourth in the series of volumes of the Decisions of the First
Comptroller in the Department of the Treasury. The absolute necessity
for decisions in the printed form now presented was stated with great
ability, force, and clearness by the Hon. James Guthrie, Secretary of the
Treasury, in his annual report of December 3, 1855, in which he says :

"The decisions in the • • • Comptrollers^ oflSces are not pre-
served in printed reports as a guide and in restraint of themselves
and their successors, in analogous cases, but exist in tradition, or a
sort of Treasury common law in the memory of experts in the several
offices. It is true that some of the Comptrollers have kept a record of
their decisious in cases of difficulty, and these have served as precedents
io like eases, and cases involving like principles. The decisions of • • •
the Comptrollers, if they existed in printi*d reports, would give more
noiformity to the action of the Treasury. The Auditors and their ac-
coontants, and the Comptrollers and their accountants, are left to these
unreported decisions, the traditious of the Treasury law, and their own
sense of what is ri^ht in the particular case. It is, therefore, not sur-
prising that uniform action has not been had in the accounting offices
of the Treasury, and that the departures from uniformity have been
greater than those which usually take place in the decisions of courts
of law and equity. Moreover, in the extension of the business of ac-
counting, the examination of the accounts stated in the first instance by
the Auditor, and then by the Comptroller, on appeal, has, in many
cases, been omitted, the Auditor and Comptroller signing their names
on the faith of the account stated by their respective accountants; thus
opening the door, and increasing the chances of departure from correct
principles in the action of the Departments. • • • It would certainly be
desirable to have such stated account accompanied by a succinct written
report, referring to the law and the evidence, under which the debits
and credits have been allowed and disallowed, and each stated account
and report examined and adjudged, first by the Auditor, and then by
the Comptroller, and the principles of accounting at the Treasury, as
established by law, fully and fairly carried out. • • •

• • ♦ "To constitute a good Auditor and a good Comptroller, re-
quires legal ability of a high order^ a special IcnowUdge of our fiscal and
disbursement laws and regulations, coupled with unahating industry, un-
bending integrity, and piomptitude of decision; and scarcely less can
be required of the accountants in their offices. The Auditors and Comp-
trollers, and the accountants under them, constitute the safeguard of the
National Treasury, and have to iciihstand the whole army of claimants
and their interested clamor. It is submitted, with their increased busi-
ness and the change in the value of money, that the Auditors and
Comptrollers do not receive an adequate compensation for the high qual.

XIX



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XX Introduction.

ifications they ought to possess, and the onerous duties they have to dis-
charge. • • •

(( The system of accounting at the Treasury is easy of comprebeusion,
and as well calculated to prevent frauds, correct errors, and secure a
proper execution of the laws, as any that could be devised, and might
be extended to all the operations of the Government, without incon-
venience, and to the greater security of the National Treasury and Na-
tional domain. There would seem to be no just reason why the fixed
salaries of all the officers of Government should be passed upon by an
Auditor and then by a Comptroller, before a warrant can be issued for
payment; and that the Commissioner of Pensions and the Commissioner
of Public Lauds should have the right to pass upon the evidence, and
grant pensions out of the Treasury, and bounty land warrants for so
much of the public domain, without subjecting their action upon the
evidence and the law to the examination and revision of a Comptroller.
It may be tliat this want of revision has been the cause of many of the
frauds practiced in obtaining pensions and bounty lauds. It is believed
that the action of two Departments should be required, as in the Treas-
ury, in all cases where the National Treasury or public domain is to be
reached or to be affected, and that no accounts, however created, should
escape the usual and customary examination and re examination."

In a report made to the United States Senate in 1834 the Hon.
Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury, said:

<< It is manifest that no effectual check can ever exist in any case where
the same officer authorizes the expenditure and audits or controls the
audit of accounts." (Senate Documents No. 6, page 5 — ^2d session, 23d
Cong. ; 1 Lawrence, Compt. Dec, 2d ed., App., Ch. xii, 525.)

The revision by a Comptroller of all accounts examined and adjusted
by Auditors is certainly a great safeguard in the system of accounting.
The accounts examined and settled by the [Sixth] Auditor of the Treas-
ury for the Post-Office Department are not subject to such revision, ex-
cept on appeal (Rev. Stat., 270) ; in which respect the accounting sys-
tem of the Treasury Department for the Post-Office Department is
anomalous (McKuight^s case, 13 Ct. CI., 303). If these accounts had
been subject to such revision, in the usual mode,* it may well be doubted
whether payments of large amounts of money wliich were made for a
time under the so-called " star-route contracts," upon the construction
given, however honestly, to the statute regulating 'Hncreased^ and
^' expedited^ mail service, could ever have been made. Even subse-
quently to the act of April 7, 1880 (21 Stat., 71), the authority to allow
vast sums of money for expedited service was maintained by the Post-
Offlce Department, but was denied by the present Sixth Auditor, whose
decision was affirmed when the question finally came before the First
Comptroller on appeal. (Star-route case, 2 Lawrence, Compt. Dec.,
440.)

* At the first session of the Forty -seventh Conurebs the Hon. Stanton J. Peelle in-
troduced a biU on this subject (see 13 Cong. Record, part 6, page 6376— >Tuly 22,
1^82) ; and at the first session of the Forty-eighth Congress the Hon. N. P. Hill, on
April 18, 188-i, introduced a bill ''to provide for the deposit in the Treasury of the
receipts of the money-order system, and for the payment of its expenses out of appro-
priations.''



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Introduction. xxr

In a ^^ report on foreign and domestic postal accounting," made Jan-
uary 22, 1884, to the [Sixth] Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-
Office Department, by James T. Smith, chief of a division in that office^
there is much valuable information. The report states that:

"In the German service the district nocount is rendered directly to
the court of account at Pot^jdam, near the Emperor. This body, I was
informed, finally adjusts all Government accounts, and is independent
of all other executive departments. In the Swiss service the account
is audited by the Post-Office Department and reviewed by an indepeud-
eDt finance officer. In the French administration the district accouuc
is also audited, in the first instance, by the department, and finally re-
viewed by a court account. This body is comi)osed of a first president,
four iiresidents, a procurer-general, and eighteen first councilors, with
a clerical staff and corps of clerks. In the English service all accounts
are rendered to and adjusted by the receiver and accountant-gen-
eral, an officer of the Post-Office Department. They are afterwards
scanned by the auditor and comptroller-general, sometimes styled in
official papers the parliamentary critic, who may review and criticise an
account, but cannot reverse a departmental decision. Failing to adjust
difference, he submits the correspondence to Parliament with the an-
nual exhibit of revenues and expenditures.

" It will be observed that in each system of accounting it is a settled
principle that no department should finally review its own accounts.
^Necessarily, the office accounts of the body making the final review
mast be audited by itself. The second officer of the English audit and
comptrol office, who is not, therefore, responsible for the disbursements,
is charged with this duty, but this exception to the rule is not over-
looked, as a special and rigid scrutiny is given to these accounts by the
parliamentary committee on accounts.

" The somewhat novel position in which your office stands to two
great Executive Departments may be here referred to.

."The Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department [in the
United States] exercises the functions of both Auditor and Comptroller,*
his decisions being final, unless an appeal is taken thereirom to the
First Comptroller by the Postmaster-General or a person dissatisfied
with the settlement of an account, within twelve months. * The Auditor
is to receive all accounts arising in the Post-Office Department, or relat-
ing thereto, with the vouchers necessary to the correct adjustment
thereof, and audit and settle the same, and certify the balances to the
Postmaster-General, keeping and preserving all accounts after settle-
ment. He shall collect all debts due the Department, and may com-
promise, remit, &c., fines, penalties, &c., with the written consent of the
Postmaster-General. He shall make a quarterly report of the receipts
and expenditures of the Post-Office Department to the Secretary of the
Treasury, and shall make to Am or the Postmaster- General such e^ddi-
tional reports as tither may require.' He shall report to the Postmaster-
General, when required, tUe manner and form of keeping and stating
the accounts of the Department, and perform such other duties in rela-
tion to the financial concerns of the [Post-Office] Department as may be
assigned to him by the Secretary.' Says Attorney-General Cushing in
the Golmesnil case (Opinions, vol. vii, page 444) : ' Ishe [the Auditor] not
the officer in many respects both of the Postmaster-General and of the
Secretary of the Treasury ! Surely, as it seems to me by the general
tenor and by provision after provision of the act to change organization
of the Post- Office Department;' and, on page 445, 'the Auditor is, there-



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xxn Introduction,

fore, the officer of both the Treasury and the Post-Office Department,
having privity ot* official relation with both.'

<<As an officer of the Post-Office Department, in the performance of
the duties devolved upon hira by law and by the Postmaster-General,
the Auditor takes equal rank in the Post-Office Department with the
heads of other Bureaus thereof, subordinate to none. The duty of audit-
ing accounts cannot be shared with other officers of the Department.
It must remain with the Auditor as a whole until it is transferred as a
whole. To enable him to perform this duty faithfully and certify bal-
ances, and notify the Postmaster-General of delinquencies as early a«
the interests of the service require, all accounts and vouchers should
reach his office by the most direct channel, and all correspondence
thereon up to the date of his final action should be under his direction.
•The condition of the accounts of the Department and the reasons for
the creation of this office are fully set Ibrth by Postmaster-General
Kendall, in his annual report for 1835."

On the subject of the present system of postal accounting the report

says :

*' Forty-eight thousand postmasters now render a<5Counts current quar-
terly to this office. These accounts embrace ordinary revenues and all
disbursements for office expenses proper. Each account is examined by
the examining division, and reviewed and registered by the registering
division. From the registers the balance is carried to a general account
kept on the ledgers of the bookkeeping division, and also, more in de-
tail, on the stating division. The surplus quarterly revenue is sent long
distances, at the postmasters' risk, to a postal depository, there being
but ninety- six for the whole country. On the receipt of the certificate
of deposit the postmaster mails it to the Third Assistant Postmaster-
General, in whose office it is examined and registered. When it finally
reaches this office it is compared with the weekly account rendered by
postnl depositories, and, if found to agree therewith is posted to the gen-
eral account. Quarterly accounts of disbursements to letter-carriers,
^postal railway clerks, mail-messengers, special carriers, and for weigh-
ing the mails, and for temporary mail service are also rendered, these
being audited on separate desks of the pay division. From the regis-
ters made up on these desks the items are posted and stated to the gen-
eral account. Miscellaneous payments, not included in the account cur-
rent, may be audited on either the examining, registering, stating, pay,
or collecting divisions, this last division having charge of the general
correspondence for the collection of debts and the final closing of post-
masters' and contractors' accounts. Miscellaneous items reach the gen-
eral account through the journals of the bookkeeping division. In the
adjustment of a quarterly account, correspondence may arise on each
desk dealing with an item thereof, the result being confusing to a post-
master, who regards his account as a unit.

To obtain a supply of stamps, a postmaster makes requisition on the
Third Assistant Postmaster-General. If approved, after comparisou
with the record of sales, the stamp agency at the place of manufacture
is ordered to issue. When the stamps reach the postmaster, who may
be thousands of miles from the agency, he returns a receipt to the Third
Assistant Postmaster-General. This is checked with the record of
orders and sent to this office, where it is again checked with a duplicate
record made up from the voluminous records of the Third Assistant's
stamp division. The examining clerk is then prepared to receive and
examine the postmaster's quarterly account current."



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IntroducHan. xxm

The report then diacasses <^ proposed changes in the method of sap-
ply and acconntrngy" and, among other things, says :

<'A collector of internal-re venae renders two accoants, each complete
in itself— a revenue accoant, the total of which mast be deposited, and
a disbarsing acconnt, in which warrants received are charged and dis-
barsements credited, each acconnt being settled independently of the
other. There are so many items to the postal appropriation, a separate
accoant being kept with each, that with the internal-re venae system of
separate accoants I estimate there woald be reqaired over 1,<H)0,000 postal
warrants annaally. The total namber of warrants passed by the First
Comptroller last year did not exceed 80,000.

" If a Seventh Anditor, for the money-order bnsiness, and a Comptroller
of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department, to finally review all
postal accoants, shoald be created, or the control of all Government ac-
counts be cat oat of the Treasury Department and devolved upon an
independent coort of accoant, as in the French and Oerman service, or
a Congressional critic or aaditor and comptroller-general be oreated,
snch as is foaud in the English administration, the method of accoont-
ing I propose would easily adjust itself to such change. This office
would have its auditing and reviewing divisions for all classes of postal
accounts. If the comptroUins: should go elsewhere, the reviewing divi-
sions could be transferred without confusion or serious delay in acyust-
ments — an important consideration when so many current accounts are
involved. In snch an event the account would necessarily be consoli-
dated, with all vouchers attached — the form I propose. If your juris-
diction remains as now, the proposed organization will be more efficient
and economical than the present one."*

* The following letter of the ahle and efficient [Sixth] Auditor of the Treasury for
the Poet-Office Department is deemed appropriate here :

Office of the Auditor of the Treasubt

FOR THE Post-office Department,

Washington, D. C, May 8, 1884.
Sir: In answer to ^our inquiry as to '' whether it is advisable to apply the Treas-
ury system of adjusting accounts to the accounts of the Post-Office Department/' I
have the honor to inform you that I favor the policy of having all accounts reviewed
by a OomptroUer after passing an Auditor, whenever they shall be reduced to the
lowest practicable number. At the present time four-fifths of the accounts of post-
masters are such that they could be dispensed with, by causing the money-order
offices to disburse such payments as become necessary and furnish such stamps as may
be required at the smaller offices.

This office now follows the Treasury system, so far as its limited clerical force wiU
allow. All postmasters* accounts are i>assed upon by two separate divisions, and
other accounts which pass but one division, are overlooked a second time by different
clerks. The aim is to review every account as a check against fraud and to correct
errors.

The above statement in regard to postmasters* accounts applies with equal force to
accounts for the transportation of the mails. Mail and special mail messengers could
be paid by the postmasters at money-order offices, ana their receipts handled as
vouchers in the quarterly returns of such postmasters, instead of as at present, being
settled by statement of account and paid by warrant. There is legislation to effect
this change pending at this time. Whenever these changes, with a few others, are
made, it will become more practicable and necessary that all accounts should pass the
review of a Comptroller.

Respectfully,

J. n. ELA,

Auditor.
Hon. William Lawrence,

Fint Comptroller, Treasury Department.



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xxiy Introduction.

The necessity of establishing a system of revision of the audit of
postal accounts, in accordance with the laws and regulations which con-
trol the adjustment of all other accounts, is conceded. It does not fol-
low, however, that an additional or Third Comptroller is needed ; and
it is very evident that the creation of one is neither necessary nor ad-
visable. Whatever increase of clerical force will be required can be
made as well in the oflSce of First Comptroller, already established, as
in one especially created for this work ; and all questions of law which
may arise in the adjustment of postal accounts can be decided by the
First Comptroller, who is already charged with a duty of revision on
appeal.

An increase of Comptrollers is very objectionable, because, if made^
there would then be no uniformity in the construction of statutes or in the
principles of law which the several Comptrollers might adopt. A single
Comptroller-General, having the final determination of all questions of
law which can arise in all branches of the a<3C0unting system, is the
only agency by which entire uniformity in the adjustment of public ac-
counts can be secured.

Besides discussing the proposed scheme of revision, Mr. Smith, in his
report, refers to the necessity of making such changes in the method of
accounting to the Auditor by postmasters as will reduce the number of
accounts to be separately adjusted ; and, in connection with this sub-
ject, he estimates that, if the system which regulates the accounting
of internal-revenue officers were adopted for postmasters, there would
be required *< over one million postal warrants annually." This proves
that the accounting by postmasters must be different from the account-
ing by collectors of internal-revenue, but does not prove that there can
be no change from the present system ; indeed, the report shows that a
change is possible, and suggests a plan which is worthy of mature con-
sideration.

However, under any system, whatever number of warrants are re-
quired can be granted, and be countersigned by the First Comptroller as
readily as by any other officer ; and hence this point has no direct
bearing on the question whether a Third Comptroller should be created —
at least none in favor of the creation of such office.

Inquiry has occasionally been made concerning (1) the extent of the
jurisdiction exercised by the Comptroller, and (2) the value of his printed
decisions as authority.

The extent of the jurisdiction exercised by the Comptrollers, and the
amounts of money involved therein^ may be learned from the operations
of the Treasury Department. A single decision of the First Comptroller
has determined liabilities, past and prospective, amounting to many
millions of dollars (Pacific Railroad case, post^ 214).*

* In the annual report of the First Comptroller of November 15, 1883, it is said
that—

''The accoants of the several [Pacific] railroad companies have not been kept la
the Treasury Department in a form to show separately by years, or in the aggregate,



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Introduction,



XXV



To this connection it may be stated that accounts were examined and
adjusted by the accoanting officers of the Treasury Department, and