13. Of disbursements for the relief of destitute freedmen

and refugees.

Received from the Fourth Auditor.

14. Of disbursing officers of the marine corps.

15. Of the paymasters of the navy proper.

16. Of the paymasters of the navy at the navy-yards.

17. Of paymasters of the navy acting as navy agents and disbursing officers.

18. Of navy pension agents for the payment of pensions to the invalids of the navy and marine corps.

521. The claims finally revised and settled by the Second Comptroller are of the following classes:

From the Second Auditor.

1. Soldiers' pay and bounty.

From the Third Auditor.

2. Lost property, under the act of March 3, 1849; quartermaster and commissary stores, under act of July 4, 1864.

3. Awards of Southern Claims Commission.

4. Oregon and Washington Territory Indian war claims. 5. State claims for equipping, subsisting, &c., volunteers. 6. Miscellaneous.

From the Fourth Auditor.

7. Sailors' pay and bounty.

8. Prize-money.

9. Prize lists.

522. The Second Comptroller receives and files official bonds of War and Navy disbursing officers, pension agents, superintendents of Indian affairs and Indian agents; also all contracts involving the expenditure of moneys for the army and navy service, and contracts for supplies and transportation relating to the Indian service.

523. The immediate subordinate to this officer is the Deputy Comptroller, whose duties are of a general supervisory character, involving such as may be assigned him by

his superior. In the absence or sickness of the latter he becomes Acting Second Comptroller.

524. The office of the Second Comptroller is further organized by law with five chiefs of divisions and fifty clerks of the several classes.

525. The divisions formed in the office for the transaction of its business are six in number, viz.:

1. The Division of Army Accounts.—Embracing all accounts of army paymasters, soldiers' back pay and bounty claims, medical and ordnance accounts, and accounts for receipts and disbursements in support of National Homes for volunteer soldiers. These accounts are all received from the Second Auditor's office.

2. The Division of Naval Accounts.-Embracing all accounts audited by the Fourth Auditor; such as those of paymasters at sea and at the navy-yards and stations, and storekeepers at foreign stations; financial agent at London; back pay of officers and enlisted men of the navy; bounty and travelling expenses; accounts of navy pension agents; of paymaster and quartermaster marine corps; claims for maritime prize-money.

3. The Quartermaster's Division.—Embracing the accounts of quartermasters and commissaries of the army, engineers in charge of river and harbor improvements, and accounts of the Signal Service. These come from the office of the Third Auditor.

4. The Indian Division.-Embracing the accounts of the Indian service; such as Indian agents' accounts; also those for expenditures of the service and for transportation of supplies; also accounts of contractors furnishing supplies, and the account of the Secretary of the Interior as trustee of the Indian trust fund. These accounts are received from the Second Auditor.

5. The Division of Army Pensions.-Embracing all ac

counts of pension agents for the payment of army pensions, received from the Third Auditor of the Treasury.

6. The Division of Miscellaneous Claims.-In charge of the revision of claims arising under the acts of 1849, 1864, and 1867, for steamboats and property taken for the use of the army; claims for impressed property, for the rent and occupation of property, and war claims arising under special acts of Congress.

526. These several subjects come before the Second Comptroller only for revision and final decision, the several accounts having been first carefully examined and adjusted in the offices of the respective Auditors charged with their supervision. These Auditors transmit with the papers a statement of account in detail, an explanation of the differences existing between the accounting officer and the person whose account has undergone examination, together with a certificate of the balance admitted by the Auditor. Upon this certificate, after the revision has been carefully made in the proper division of the Second Comptroller's office, that officer places his certificate in approval of the Auditor's finding, or exhibiting the balance which the Comptroller decides to be the proper one.

527. The decisions and rulings of this office, over two thousand in number, from an early period down to June 8, 1869, are embraced in an admirable compilation or digest, published, by authority, at the Government printing-office. This digest furnishes a complete code of well-considered rules for the guidance of accounting, disbursing, and all officers of the department who are concerned in the settlement of public accounts.

CHAPTER IX.

THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS.

528. Provision was first made by law for this officer by the act of March 3, 1849. (Stats. 9, p. 396.) At this time there were two officers, already described as First and Second Comptrollers, the former of which was charged, as part of his duties, with those transferred by that act to and now performed by the Commissioner of Customs.

529. It is required by law of this officer that he shall examine all accounts settled by the First Auditor relating to the receipts from customs, including accounts of collectors and other officers of the customs, and certify the balances arising thereon to the Register of the Treasury. (R. S., § 317.)

530. He is required to report to the Secretary of the Treasury official forms to be used in the different offices for collecting the public receipts from customs, and the manner and form of keeping and stating the accounts of the persons employed therein. (R. S., § 318.)

531. All bonds required by law to be given by collectors, naval officers, surveyors of customs, or other officers of customs, require the approval of the Commissioner of Customs, and are to be filed in his office. (R. S., § 2620.)

532. The Commissioner of Customs is required annually to lay before Congress an abstract of the accounts transmitted to him, as provided by law, by collectors of customs, naval officers, and surveyors of customs, of all fees and official emoluments received by those officers, together with all expenditures, specifying expenditures for rent, fuel, stationery, and clerk hire. (R. S., § 2639.)

533. The balances of accounts stated by the proper Auditor and certified to the head of the department by the Commissioner of Customs cannot be changed or modified by the head of a department, but are by law conclusive upon the executive branch of the Government, subject to revision only by Congress or the proper courts. (R. S., § 191.)

534. The general duties of the Commissioner are those of an accounting officer, and are analogous to those of the First or Second Comptroller. Substantially he is the Third Comptroller of the Treasury, although not so known.

535. He is provided with a deputy, who has the general supervision of the business of the office, under the immediate direction of the Commissioner, and of the mode of conducting it. This deputy acts in the place of the Commissioner in the absence or sickness of the latter.

536. The office of the Commissioner is further provided by law with two chiefs of divisions and a force of twenty-eight clerks of the several classes. (Act June 19, 1878.)

537. The office is, however, operated in four divisions, designated as follows:

1. Customs Division.

2. Warehouse and Bond Division.

3. Book-keeper's Division.

4. Miscellaneous Division.

I. THE CUSTOMS DIVISION.

538. To this division are assigned for examination the accounts and returns of the customs officers of the numerous ports of entry and collection districts. These accounts are first received by the First Auditor, in whose office they are examined and adjusted, and then transmitted, together with the certificate of the Auditor, to the Commissioner of