, 1870-09-09
THE uEEXPEEpED BALANCES.

c,:::-'.e>',-rcrS OF the pentfentta-y, ELMER
WAsEBU1N and CASrAR BCIZ.
TIE uFEXPEEDED BALANCES.
The First Comptroller of the Treasury
Department: has demonstrated is6tncSs for
H.. ;.nrarant trust reposed in him. Heis
charged with the qna.i-jndicial deternlina-
tioa If TIE Legality Of expenditures made
under certain branches Of the public scr
vice, Tie hns recently decided that certain
proposed expenditures were illesal, and
TIA. lie will not approve the accounts.
T..ts have been great efforts made to drive
him fye:a tha. decision hut, so far, he has
r.-n!nicIv maintained his ground. and by 50
t'"ing has Incrited the appreciation Of the
whole people Il is refreshing to know
taat t3:ere il one public officer who does
not lvii''ve that the sole function OF gov
er'l,nent is to spend public money, with or
witheut authority OF law.
Tn" difficulty has arisen from an effort
of Congress to abolish an abnse of long
standing At each session of Congress It
is made the duty of each Secretary to lay
before Tie two Honses Of Congress nd csi-
mate of the amount necessary to carry
an his department for the next
dscal year. In making up this esti-
mate. the practice has been TO have
each chief of bureau, or division Of the
department. farnisha separate estimate, and
the Secretary. consolidating these. sends the
result 10 Congress as his estimate in the
aggregate. The practice has also been for
each of these bureaus to ask So m in cx-
cess of what is actually needed. When
Congress therefore, rnnkes the approp1ia-
ti"n for eacd division OF the service, there
},as hcer alwavs surplus at the command
os tar chief, to be by him expended OF not,
I'll his discretion. In the course of time,
the>" ::nexrenaed balances, carried forward
every year 10 the credit of the respective
bureaus, have been found OF great conveu-
i.t'cc in many ways They have been,
practically, contingent fund at the service
nf the chief. to be expended at his discre-
tim. Out OF this money he conld employ
extra clerks, buy furniture. or do any other
official act which might occnr to him, or
which ~ou!d please any personal or politi-
cal friend laving Influence or position.
Tie fac, that oveT-estimates, aud, consc-
qnently. o-er-aprrorriations, have been
made every year. viii explain that the az
t,rcga;e Of these nnexpeuded balances had,
lns. year. reached many millions of dol
lars, The money was in the Treasury, but
wns held as appropriated and to the credit
OF the respective bureans
In 1>i'S. Congress cut down the aparo-
pristions for the Nary Department extern
sircly. It refused TO make the appropria-
tions asked for construction and various
other things estimated for. But the Naval
Bureaus we're in no way embarrassed; and,
in the face of the refusal of Congress to
make the appropriations, they used tho nc
cumulased balances Of previous approprin-
t'ons for various purposes, amounting to
nearly four millions of dollars. md c1pend,
ed it for the very work which Congress had
refused to sanction
This monstrous abuse brought the whole
subject before Congress at the late session,
and the result was, that all the balances o1
r1e1ious appropriations unexpended on The
:so:h Of June, 1870, were icgislated baei
into the Treasury. There was, of course
any amount Of weeping md gnashing oi
teeth The free, and nearly irresponsible,
TIRE of millions OF public funds, annually.
vas destroyed. and a number of individuals
WHO had come to look upon tho expendi
ture Of these funds as vested right, wert
disguised. and hare been enleavor
ing TO establish the principle that
when Congress acts ''ignorantly,- and IL
the ''detriEent of public interests, by
refusing 10 vote money that pnblic officers
might e1l~nd, it IS the duty of the latte,
to eo ahead with tho expenditure. and lool
+" II fixture Congress to cover mp the
u>nrpation.
Itis in the case Of this clnss OF expendi
tnres that the trouble has arisen in ths
Treasury Department. Certain individu
els who have the handling and the e1peu
diture Of public money, particularly upo,
puhlic works. have fuund themselves re
stricted to the amounts appropriated TO
this fiscal year; and that the excessive
sums they had deceived Congress hereto
fore into apprnpriating. instead of being +
their credit, hare gone lack into the Treas
nry. These gentlemen have been nj
willing to submit to whnt they regard a
M interference with their vested rights
Mr.. Comptroller Taylor examined th
law. and decided that it turne
all une1pended bslauces of prerior
appropriations into the Treasury, and tha
unler the constitution, no money could l.
drawn from the Trcasur vitlout nntbo
i,y of law. Attorney General Akcro,o
agreed with the COMPTROLLER in his CO,
struction of the Law. Whareupon. II
co:ps Of erpende.s of 1,ublic money r
so.ted to 4 Mr.. Talbot, a subordinate
The Law Department OF the povernmeu
and obsained from him dscisiou TINT ii
money might he used. To .this, COM
troller Taylor replies, that his duties a,
Judicial, while those Of the Attorney &c,
crnl are advisory; that Mr. Talbot ;s p,
even Attorney General; and TINT bc. II
Comptroller, intends TO do his sworn du+,
and will not approve any c4,end;tura
any part of this money ordered baet int
The Treasury by the act of Congress-. y
hope the Comptroller will stand fir,
There is no palmer or more emphatic n,
hi,ition in the constitution than that ~
noucy shall he drawn from the Trcasu,
l.ut ;u cousoouence of anurpnr1atio,
,rpi3a hr 1Hrr = Tn admit {haA 0nr nf43 -
sln1l e,perd money not appsop,iatea. a,
i,nk tn f,,,ure C.,nf,rcssez tn lera1iza n