CORRECTIONS.

In chapter 11, page 8, line 29-before "to him" insert than.

In same page, line 8 from bottom, for "houses and other property" road horses and other property. In the note, page 13, for "instruction" read instructions.

In table (D) warrants, page 28, line 6, for "conveying" read covering.

In note 24, page 31, for "the order" read in the order.

In addenda, page 37, line 13, for "to to give" read to give.

At page 70, line 14 from the bottom for "and adopted” read if adopted.

At page 236, line 6 from the bottom, for "Commissioner of Patents," read Commissioner of Pensions.

At page 248, line 14 from the top, for "constitutes," road constituting.

PREFACE.

THIS work being a "Supplement" to the Synopsis of Treasury Instructions for the administration of Revenue Laws from the commencement of the Government to the present time, consists of a detail of the operations of the Treasury Department and its Bureaus, in pursuance of those Instructions and the various Laws and Regulations relating thereto, in a series of Chapters, one appropriate to each office, and a preliminary one devoted to the historical outline and general organization of the entire Department.

In the prosecution of this work, the greatest care has been taken, not only to render the details complete, but so to classify and arrange them, as to exhibit a perspicuous development of their affinities and bearings in the consecutive order of their various fiscal relations, including a methodical description of the Books of Accounts, forms, and proceedings, of the Department and its Bureaus-the practical utility of which will probably be the more highly estimated from the fact that it supplies the want of any written detail of the kind, except some partial efforts imperfectly executed; and in many respects it will doubtless be regarded as approximating, if it does not accomplish, what seems to have been for a long time a desideratum with successive heads of the Department, and investigating committees of Congress after Congress, if I may be permitted to judge from the public documents I have had occasion to examine. And it is perhaps more particularly worthy of remark here, that the analytic and synthetic method by which the tabular illustrations of the "Organization and Operations of the Department and its Bureaus" have been produced, has so effectually brought those details into juxtaposition and contrast, according to their affinities and contrarieties, that, by thus dissipating the mist of distance, and subduing the oft recurring intricacies of isolated action on them, it has had the effect of exhibiting incongruities, anomalies, and even contradictions in practice, that greatly disparage that once beautiful SYSTEM OF FINANCE, which, with its inherent trait of well poised "checks and balances," has been wont to elicit universal admiration; but which, for want of a fixed and written exposé of all its GRAND DIVISIONS, and their accessories of detail, as a reference, a guide, and a stay against inconsiderate or heedless innovations, has been continually dilapidating or falling into confusion in sundry respects, instead of being progressively made more perfect in all. Should this compilation contribute to elucidate the organization and operations of the Department and Bureaus, and to arrest the deteriorations to which they would probably continue to be liable, it may be esteemed as having achieved a public benefit, independent of conducing, as it must inevitably do, to ameliorate the simplicity, method, and economy of the public business in the Departments generally-comprising as it does, a full and systematic recitation of facts deeply interesting to both Houses of Congress, to the Executive Departments, and to the public at large. For the want of such an exposé or something like it, the mystery attending the single subject of the settlement of claims against the Government, has given rise to innumerable agencies at the Seat of Government to prosecute those claims before Congress and the Departments, which necessarily must consume a vast amount of the equitable dues to claimants, to compensate and support these agencies, rendered indispensable

under existing circumstances. Were it probable, then, that claimants themselves would derive any facilities from this compilation, to their relief from this enormous tax on their just dues, by insuring prompt justice through legislative means, without the intervention of such expensive agencies, no man could fail to appreciate the good that would be attained in this comparatively smaller branch of public interest alone.

So far as the proposition to prepare an analytical edition of the laws of the United States, with the opinions of Attorneys General and the rules and regulations adopted by the Executive Departments, relative to the execution of the laws appertaining to each Department, is a parallel to the "synopsis" of which this is a "supplement," the following letter addressed to the heads of Departments in 1833, and their notes of approbation appended to it, may be considered as a corroboration in advance, of the action of the Secretary of the Treasury at a subsequent period, in authorizing the preparation of this work-which, it may be reasonably hoped, will be followed at no distant day, by the parallels of it in relation to the other Departments-but of which very little remains to be done in either, so differsive are the operations of the FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT as to have herein anticipated, in a great measure, the developments in regard to the rest.

"WASHINGTON, December 13th, 1833. 'To the Hon. LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of State; Hon. R. B. TANEY, Secretary of the Treasury; Hon. Lewis CASS, Secretaty of 'War; Hon. LEVI WOODBURY, Secretary of the Navy; Hon. Wм. T. BARRY, Postmaster General; Hon. B. F. BUTLER, Attorney General of the United States.

'GENTLEMEN: I beg leave, herewith, to submit to your consideration my proposals for publishing "An analytical edition of the laws of the United States." My object in so doing, is to solicit your approval of the enterprize, and to request the use of such documents in 'your offices as purport to be "the opinions of Attorneys General, and rules and regulations adopted by the executive departments, rela'tive to the execution of the laws referred to each department." You will perceive that these facilities are indispensable to the plan 'proposed; and I flatter myself that I shall be fortunate in your concurrence, and good opinion of the promising utility of the design. With high consideration, I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,

ROBERT MAYO."

"Any documents, of the description mentioned by Dr. Mayo, in this Department, shall be open to his inspection, for the purposes related by him.

WAR DEPARTMENT, December 14th, 1833.

I add at the request of Dr. Mayo, that the plan proposed is in my opinion a good one.

"I concur in the above opinion with the Secretary of War.

LEWIS CASS.
L. C."

LEVI WOODBURY."

"Any information desired by Dr. Mayo, to enable him to accomplish the purpose he has in view, will be cheerfully afforded at the *Post Office Department, as to all matters that it may be deemed proper to furnish him with, either by giving copies or allowing an in⚫spection of the particular matter sought for. W. T. BARRY."

"I approve the plan of Dr. Mayo's proposed compilation, and so far as my assent may be necessary or desirable, I give it very cheer. 'fully to the publication of such opinions of the Attorney General as may be furnished to Dr. Mayo by the departments to which they ⚫were transmitted. Having but recently come into the office, and not being as yet very familiar with its archives, I prefer to submit the propriety of the publication of any particular opinion which has emanated from it to the head of the department in whose custody it 'may be found, rather than to attempt myself, the making of a selection from the records in my office.

• December 20th, 1833.

B. F. BUTLER."

"I do not fully comprehend the nature of the documents referred to by Dr. Mayo. By rule of the Department, however, no 'person, excepting the officers employed, is allowed access to the archives; and where specific information is desired upon any subject it is usually furnished, in all proper cases, in answer to particular communications for that purpose.

L. McLANE."

Copies of any papers in this department proper to be furnished, and necessary to the execution of the proposed work, may be 'obtained by Dr. Mayo. R. B. TANEY."

Some misapprehensions having been entertained and expressed by a few honorable genflemen of high consideration in the government, which, with certain disparaging commentaries, having found their way into the public prints, both respecting the authority and the merits of this, and the principal work of which this is a "supplement," I have deemed it but a sheer piece of justice which self-respect and my duty to both the executive and legislative authority under which I have steadily and unwaveringly prosecuted my imperious duty in discharge of so delicate and reponsible a trust, here to introduce the following documentary letter and extracts, as part of the history of this elaborated work-confining myself to these only, as being merely sufficient to correct the misapprehensions alluded to. Although these documents may be properly regarded as somewhat more applicable to the principal work, than to the "supplement," yet, as this has endured its share of the obloquy mentioned, there can be no more suitable time or place for this brief history of the work, inasmuch as it may be sometime before the principal work can be printed, 'ere which, it will, through this channel, have worked out the vindication of the entire work. The letter No. [1] sufficiently explains the emergency under which it was written, in the temporay absence of the Secretary of the Treasury (the Hon. Walter Forward) from the seat of government. The 2d and 3d, the Secretary being in his place, sufficiently attest the part he had taken in initiating the work, though it had in the first instance been only verbal, which is too often the perishable form and evidence of the employment of inferior officers or persons under the government. This will be perfectly understood by those who have maligned the work or the employment, which I am sure they will, most of them, be pleased to see corrected; and I hope more need not be said on any other account or occasion.

Hon. GEORGE EVANS, Chairman Finance Committee,

Senate.

[1]

"COMPTROLLER's Office,

13th August, 1842.

SIR: When I entered upon the duties of this office, I found in progress, under the direction of my predecessor and by the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, the embodying and indexing of the circular instructions, addressed by the successive Secretaries and Comptrollers of the Treasury, to the various revenue and disbursing officers and agents of the government, chiefly devoted to official 'constructions of the revenue laws, and official regulations for their prompt and faithful execution. This work was paid for by order of the Secretary of the Treasury out of a contingent fund of the Department, which I have this day been notified by the acting Secretary 'is exhausted, or nearly so. I am therefore constrained under the exigency, in order to insure the completion of this object, to ask for 'an appropriation to be introduced in the House bill now before the Senate, or otherwise, as you may judge proper-"for indexing public documents connected with the First Comptroller's office, at the rate of $100 per month.

I feel confident that I cannot lay too much stress on the usefulness of the work, in this and the Secretary's office, and perhaps in future legislation, for the collection, safe-keeping, and disbursement of the revenue;-and I may be permitted to remark, that the lights of previous official constructions and decisions in cases identical or parallel with those which arise, should be justly estimated as valuable to the incumbents of executive Departments, as the precedents of judicial constructions and decisions are, to the incumbents of the Bench. And though it must have been very desirable and facile to have carefully preserved and indexed those documents progressively with their multiplication, from the commencement of the government; yet, it is apparent that their dilapidated condition and the 'complicated character which they have attained, render the tash undertaken, a very difficult and delicate one, whilst the importance of collecting, arranging, and indexing those archives, as official precedents, and authentic means of ready reference to any and every case ' of present doubt, to resolve whatever difficulties may arise under existing or future laws, is in no wise diminished. And finally-that without the work be completed, the past expenditure thereon, will be lost-as its usefulness must depend upon its being perfected. The purport of this communication would have been made to the appropriate committee of the House of Representatives, if I had ' received more timely information of the emergency. Respectfully, &c., J. W. McCULLOH, Comptroller of the Treasury." 'JAMES LARNED, Chief Clerk First Comptroller's Office,”

The forgoing letter is correctly copied from the records of this office.

[2]

Hon. WALTER FORWARD, Secretary of the Treasury.

"COMPTROLLER'S OEFICE, 18th February, 1843.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you the accompanying communication, which I have received from Dr. Mayo--with respect 'to the state and progress of the very necessary work, which you employed him to execute; in order that you may advise and request the ⚫ committee of ways and means, to provide for its completion, by inserting in the appropriation bill now before the House of Representa'tives, an appropriate item to compensate his services thereon.

"A correct copy from the records of this office,

Respectfully, &c.,

J. W. McCULLOH, Comptroller of the Treasury," JAMES LARNED, Chief Clerk First Comptroller's office."

[3]

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, February 20th, 1843.

Hon. MILLARD FILLMORE, Chairman Committee Ways and Means. SIR: I have the honor to enclose a letter from the Comptroller of the Treasury dated the 18th instant, enclosing explanations relative to the employment of Dr. Robert Mayo in his office, and beg leave to recommend the appropriation suggested, for compensating his services, may be made. I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant.

True copy from the records of this Department.

Test: [4]

W. FORWARD, Secretary of the Treasury. McC. YOUNG, Chief Clerk.

[Extract of a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Hon. A. H. Sevier.]

"TREASURY DEPARTMENT, February 13th, 1847. 'SIR: Your letter has been duly received, in which you say, that-"by a resolution of the Senate (dated the 26th February, '45,) a call was made on my predecessor for a 'Synopsis of Treasury Instructions for administering the Revenue Laws,' with an estimate of 'the arrear due for its preparation, which estimate was received too late to be inserted in any appropriation bill." You also say that—" resolution was lately offered by yourself, which now lays on the table of the Senate, proposing to call for the 'Supplement' of that work, purporting to illustrate the organization and operations of the Treasury Department and its Bureaus, in pursuance of those Laws ' and Instructions." And you then request me to state the amount of compensation due for the principal work, and that which has since 'accrued for the preparation of the supplement, which yet remains to be provided for, that you may have it in your power "to move its ⚫ insertion in some appropriation bill before it be too late, as happened at the last session." You further desire my opinion in relation to the merits of the work, and the disposition it may be desirable to make of it, in regard to printing," &c.

"The chapter illustrative of the organization and operations of the General Land Office, was not, at the date of your letter, completed, 'involving a vast amount of intricate investigation and labor. I now embrace the earliest convenience after the completion of that num'ber, to make you the answer desired.

"The principal purport of your letter may be briefly responded to as follows:

[Meaning the estimate for compensation for preparing the work, which is here omitted.]

"The work is one of great merit, and will be highly important in presenting, for the first time, the operations of the Treasury Department and decisions, now arranged and classified so as to be easily referred to. Heretofore these decisions were scattered through a • vast number of folio volumes, not separated from general correspondence and letters, and the labor required, as each question was pre'sented, to ascertain the former views of the department, was very great, and of constant occurrence.

"A compensation at $100 a month is not too great for a work of this kind, if well executed—and in view of its intrinsic value, 'from the opportunity I have had of surveying its contents, it may be pronounced a successful examination and arrangement of all the 'operations of the Treasury, from their very initiatives to their final results-developing the process in the minutest details, heretofore fully understood by very few, if any, because no where extant, embodied, arranged, or accessible as a whole. Such a work has been partially 'essayed heretofore, but has always proved abortive in the great essentials of detail, order, and classification here exhibited. "The arrangement, as regards the preparation of this work and the compensation for it, was made by one of my predecessors yet, 'I fully concur with them as regards its importance, and in recommending that it be ordered to be printed by the Senate. Hon. A. H. SEVIER, Most respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. Senate.

[5]

R. J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury."

(Extract of a letter from the Compiler to the Secretary of the Treasury, March, 1847.)

"SIR: Col. Sevier had not an opportunity to submit the proposition [to the Senate] to 'order the work to be printed,' or doubtless it would have been done. * So much do I take this matter of printing at heart, (for I labored more for the honor and reputation of the work, than for the compensation,) that I would cheerfully print it at my own expense, rather than it should not be done, or 'should run the risk of mutilation or injury in its present perishable form.

"Independent of these considerations, the utility of the work cannot be, but very partially, obtained from a single copy, the loss or 'mutilation of which would involve the entire sacrifice of a laborious and expensive effort, exacting every energy I could bring to bear upon the proper execution of it. Whereas, the multiplying of copies by the press, would presently enable not only every officer of the government to become conversant with whatever connects in any manner with his official duties, but would equally enable every citizen to acquire an insight into matters of his individual interest or general curiosity. And as to the authority, &c., it has been the ⚫ immemorial and unquestioned practice of the heads of Departments to compile and print even such portions of the laws and treaties as well as the instructions, regulations, opinions, decisions, and forms, deemed necessary to elucidate, and give uniformity to their 'operations, these being always regarded among the legitimate matters chargeable on their contingent fund." *

64

&c.

*In 1824, "The military laws of the United States" were "compiled and published under the authority of the Secretary of War," by Trueman Cross: Mr. Calhoun then Secretary of War. In 1826, "The laws of the United States in relation to the naval establishment and marine corps" were collected and published under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy: Mr. Southard then Secretary of the Navy. In 1830, at the instance of the Secretary of Treasury, a Digest of the treaties and statutes of the United States, relating to commerce, navigation, and revenue, with notes of the judicial decisions which illustrate them, was compiled and published by Thomas F. Gordon, Esq. :" Mr. Ingham then Secretary of the Treasury. In 1833, "The pension laws of the United States" were compiled and published by the authority of the Secretary of War: General Cass then Secretary of War. And in 1837, "The treaties between the United States and the several Indian tribes," were compiled and printed under the authority of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Mr. Poinsett then Secretary of War. And yet, a more frequent resort to such auxiliary lights and guides in the administra. tion of the departments, would doubtless be a convenience to their clerical corps, as well as beneficial to the community at large.