# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/16th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 52

Chap. LII.—An Act in addition to the several acts for the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments.
Act of March 2, 1809, ch. 28. Unexpended moneys to be carried to the surplus fund. Balances of moneys drawn, after the object has been effected, to be repaid to the treasury, &c.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause to be carried to the account of the surplus fund, any moneys appropriated for the Department of War, or of the Navy, which may remain unexpended in the treasury, or in the hands of the treasurer, as agent for those departments, whenever he shall be informed, by the secretaries of those departments, that the object for which the appropriation was made has been effected. And it shall be the duty of the Secretaries of War and Navy Departments, to cause any balance of moneys drawn out of the treasury, which shall remain unexpended, after the object for which the appropriation was made shall be effected, to be repaid to the treasury of the United States; and such moneys, when so repaid, shall be carried to the surplus fund.
Secretaries of War and Navy to lay before Congress, annually, a statement of appropriations, &c. Secretaries to estimate the probable demands, and the balance to be deducted, &c. Accounts to be annually rendered. Unexpended moneys in the hands of the treasurer, as agent of War and Navy Departments, for more than two years, &c. to be carried to the surplus fund. Proviso.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, to lay before Congress, on the first day of February, of each year, a statement of the appropriations of the preceding year, for their departments respectively, showing the amount appropriated under each specific head of appropriation, the amount expended under each, and the balance remaining unexpended, either in the treasury, or in the treasurer’s hands, as agent of the War or Navy Departments, on the thirty-first December preceding: And it shall be further the duty of the Secretaries aforesaid, to estimate the probable demands which may remain on each appropriation, and the balance shall be deducted from the estimates of their departments, respectively, for the service of the current year; and accounts shall also be annually rendered, in manner and form as aforesaid, exhibiting the sums expended out of the estimates aforesaid, and the balance, if any, which may remain on ​hand, together with such information, connected with the same, as shall be deemed proper. And whenever any moneys, appropriated to the Department of War, or of the Navy, shall remain unexpended in the hands of the treasurer, as agent of either of those departments, for more than two years after the expiration of the calendar year in which the act of appropriation shall have been passed, or to which it refers, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of such department to inform the Secretary of the Treasury of the fact, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall thereupon cause such moneys to be carried to the account of the surplus fund: Provided, That when an act making an appropriation, shall assign a longer duration for the completion of its object, no transfer of any unexpended balance, to the account of the surplus fund, shall be made until the expiration of the time fixed in such act.
Expenditures for services, &c. under the War Department, and balances to be returned and carried to the surplus fund.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That in the settlement of the accounts of the War Department, for services or supplies accruing prior to the first of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, the expenditures shall be charged to arrearages, and the balances of public money hereafter recovered out of advances made in the War Department, for services or supplies prior to the date aforesaid, shall be returned to the treasury, and, by the Secretary of the Treasury, be carried to the surplus fund.
Appropriations for the service of one year not to be transferred to another branch of expenditure in a different year, under act of 3d March, 1809. Act of 3d March, 1809, ch. 28, amended. Branches of expenditure in the War Department.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That nothing contained in the act of March third, one thousand eight hundred and nine, entitled “An act further to amend the several acts for the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments,” shall be so construed, as to allow any appropriation whatever for the service of one year to be transferred to another branch of expenditure in a different year, not shall any appropriations be deemed subject to be transferred, under the provisions of the above-mentioned act, after they shall have been placed in the hands of the treasurer, as agent of the War and Navy Departments.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the above-mentioned act of the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and nine, shall be, and the same is hereby, so amended, that the President shall be authorized to direct a portion of the moneys appropriated for any one of the following branches of expenditure in the military department, viz: For the subsistence of the army, for forage, for the medical and hospital department, for the quartermaster’s department; to be applied to any other of the above-mentioned branches of expenditure in the same department: And that the President shall be also further authorized, to direct a portion of the moneys appropriated for any of the followingBranches of expenditure in the Navy Department. branches of expenditure in the Naval Department, viz: For provisions, for medicine and hospital stores, for repairs of vessels, for clothing; to be applied to any other of the above-mentioned branches of expenditure in the same department: and that no transfers of appropriation, from or to other branches of expenditure, shall be hereafter made.
No contracts to be made except under authority of a law, or an adequate appropriation. Exceptions.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no contract shall hereafter be made by the Secretary of State, or of the Treasury, or of the Department of War, or of the Navy, except under a law authorizing the same, or under an appropriation adequate to its fulfilment; and excepting also, contracts for the subsistence and clothing of the army or navy, and contracts by the quartermaster’s department, which may be made by the Secretaries of those departments.
No land to be purchased for the United States except under authority of a law. Secretary of the Treasury to annex to annual estimates, a statement of appropriations for the service of the year, &c.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That no land shall be purchased on account of the United States, except under a law authorizing such purchase.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to annex to the annual estimates of the appropriations required for the public service, a statement of the appropriations for the service of the year which may have been made by former acts; and, also, a statement of the sums remaining in the ​treasury, or in the hands of the treasurer, as agent of the War and Navy Departments, from the appropriations of former years, estimating the amount of those sums which will not be required to defray expenses incurred in a previous year, and showing the whole amount which will be subject to the disposition of the executive government in the year to which the estimates apply.
The 2d section of the appropriation act for military arrearages of the 16th Feb. ch. 10, repealed.Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the second section of the act, entitled “An act making appropriations for the payment of the arrearages which have been incurred for the support of the military establishment previous to the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen,” passed on the sixteenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, be, and is hereby, repealed.
Approved, May 1, 1820.