New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-09-02
THE PAY DEPARTMENT.

THE PAY DEPARTMENT..
Nothing is easier than to make q general
attack upon Departments of the Government
when we hear Of the misfortunes or peccadilioes
of some Of their subordinates. We know that
many officers in the service Of the Government
have been guilty Of crimes; but we also know
that, when those crimes were detected, the per-
petrators were severely punished. In managing
business so immense as our war, where so
much money changed hands, and where the
natural checks Of the Auditing and Controllers
Bureaus were suspended by the operations OF
war; many mistakes were made, and the oppor-
tunities for fraud were limited only by the
conscience Of the officers in trust. At the same
time, the Government is always earnest in de-
tecting crime and prompt in furnishing 1t.
A department that seems to us to have been
unusually well managed is the Pay Department.
The opportunities for fraud are greater in this
branch Of the Government business than any
other, for tie reason that the Paymasters have
immense sums of money constantly IN their
keeping. and their disbursements are ftiul
and large The Government holds each officer
to strict accountability. The Paymaster is
compelled TO file bond, on entering office, sui
fcient TO cover almost any amount intrusted to
him His accounts pass through the Auditors and
Controllers Office, and every penny overpaid
must come out Of his salary or his bondsmen.
This care on the part Of the War Department,
together with the prudence that is always used
in selecting men for the Pay masters corps, has
made that branch Of the Government unusually
free from fraud. The case in the Richmond
Department is exceptional. What occurred
there might not occur in any other portion oil
the country. The law makes it the duty OF the
Pavmasters to deposit their money in the Ma
tional Banks; but wherever Sub-TreasEry
Office is in operation they use that as place OF
deposit. Soldiers when discharged, are paid IN
checks on this Sub-Treasury aud the checks
cashed. In Richmond, We find the Paymlsters
using their money in what Wall-st would call a
Financial operation" The crime does not appear
TO be the payment of soldiers in Seven-thirties,
but entering into collision with banks, brokers,
suffers and others, TO have those Sevel-thirties
cashed at discount when they were really at
par. Another fault was the making it obliga-
tory upon the soldier to take these bonds. The
Instructions from the head of the Department
were that the Paymasters should assist the sale
of the loan among the soldiers but should not
take any part in the sale, nor receive any profit,
nor refuse any soldier the option OF taking
money if he preferred it. This was the course
pursued in Washington, Harrisburg, Philadel-
phia. Elmira and New-York, and elsewhere
where bonds were sold a, oil. In Richmond,
the Paymastcrs seem to have disobeyed instruc-
tor by taking the thing into their own hands,
and becoming claim agents and brokers, instead
of obeying orders and mindng their own bust
ness
This statement will show how unjust II is to
blame department of the Government for the
faults of a few greedy subordinates. 1t will
be seen that, during the sale of the great loan.
the Paw Department, while aiding it in every
way, took care not to allow its agents to be-
come brokers. The distribution of that loan
among the soldiers did a great deal Of good,
and it was kindness on the part of the agents
of the National Banks and the loan agents when
they gave the soldier this means of putting his
money out of the reach of thieves and prosti-
tutes, where it was safely invested, and where
its value increases from day to day. We regret,
for the sake of the Pay Department, that any of
| its agents should have abused this kindness for
the purpose Of personal gain, as seems to have
| been the case in Richmond.