Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1852-02-12
SPEECH OF HON. G.. W. J JONES,
OF TENNEssEE,

!. OF TENNESSEE,
; DeLEere IN the u. s. Houseg Re1
t rdsentatives, Jan. Ia, 1852, on. ii
i Secretary Of the Interior S estimate
e OF defaenaes,
B O a yesterday, when this questio
was before the House. moved t
lay that report upon the table, be
caus e, it had come here, as | believe
:, ther !, and as l now believe, contrar,
: 10 the law, and in violation of tn
unifb fbrm practice and custom of th
Gov ernment. and Departments there
df To show that ] was not mistaken
now propose to investigate tina
que ktion for short time, to see hov
these estimates for appropriation.
should come before the House O
Representatives. By the act estab.
fishing the Treasury Department ap'
proved September 2, 1889, it is pro.
vided by the second section: "That
lit shall be the duty of the Secretary
of the Treasury to digest and pre-
pare plans for the improvement and
rhanag cement of the revenue, and for
| the s upport of public credit; to pre-
pare 4 nd report estimates Of the pub
lie reY Yenues, and the pub ublie expendi-
It hres. ?
He re is the first act passed by the
Congress Of the Z hited States, estab-
Fishing the Treasury Departm ent.-
1T is made the duty Of the Secretary
Of the Treasury to prepare his esti-
hates of revenue and estimates of
Expenditure. There is no distinction
made in them. 1t does not speak
Of one or another Department of this
Government preparing and reporting
estimates of the public revenue and
expenditures. We find that another
act, supplementary to an actentitled
fan act to establish the Treasury
Department. approved May 1o,
1880, provides that 'iIt shall be the
duty of the Secretary of the Treasury
tp digest, prepare, and lay before.
Congress, at the commencement of
fVery session, i eport on the sub
.jfct of finances, Cd ntaining estimates
GI the public reveh ue and public ex-
Benditures, and plan MS for improving or
Increasing the revenues from time to
time, for the purpose of giving in
formation to Congress in adopting
modes Of raising the money requisite
to meet the public expenditu res.
Here is again the SECOND act passed
upon this subject in May, 1900, de-
claring it to be the duty of the Sec
rktary of the Treasury to report di-
rectly to Congress upon the revenue
ahd estimates Of expenditure neces-
shry to be made; and upon relec-
ton, it will be seen, ! think, that it
was founded if wisdom and sound
policy. Suppose that each and eve
ry one of the Departments shall
make their own estimates, and sub
NIT them to Congress, eithe II direct
y or through the President, how
Will the Secretary Of the Treasury ar
rive at anything like correctIknow-
ledge of the amount Of revenue ne
qessary to be raised in order to meet
the expenditq qres Of the Government?
If the Secret ary Of War is to make
bis estimates and submit them to
Congress, and the Secretary Of the
interior and Of the Navy are to come
here separately, what will the Seere-
Iarr/of the Treasury base his esti-,
mates upon as to the amount of rev.
snue necessary to meet the expendi-
+ures of the Government? But when
hey submit their estimates to him
% be transmitted to the Congress of
he United States, he has before him
he amount which will be required
lie then makes his estimate of the
evenue to be received by the Gov
rnment for the year, If there ap- I
ears from his estimates of the rev. ]
nue. to be received that there is a
urplus, he reports the fact. Ifthere !
hould appear to be a deficiency in his !
stimates of revenues to be received, Z
henit is his duty to suggest plans I
nd recommend the means by which le
be revenue shall be increased; or if {
e cannot present any plans satisfac- /
,ry to himself which will raise the
ecessary amount Of re venue, then it :
ecomes his duty to recommend loan, f
nd to what amount. | believe eit h
as the uniform practice, from the s
It of 1900 down to 1916, for the a
ecretary of the Treas ury TO report t