The Portland daily press., 1877-10-17
NAVAL DEFICIENCIES.
Their Amount and Cause ms Explained
by the Secretary of the Navy.


WASHINGTON, Oct 16-The following is a
statement of the defcieI cies for whicd appro-
DrIatlonS are asked for by the Secretary of the
Navy: Pay OF navy amount due Selgman
Bros. of London for miscellaneous claims aris-
ing upon arrears Of pay, &C.. naval hospital
fund; pay OF marine corps. Other deficiencies
exist for sums due for construction and repairs
arising out of contracts with individuals for
clothing, steam, machinery, sc. These will be
communicated at the approaching regular SEES
sion Secretary OF the Navy states that the diff
culties attending the administration of the f.
nances of his office have grown out of the d-
version OF appropriations from the special OBJ
jects to which they have been applied by law
and their expenditure for other ard different
objects for which approximations bavs been
insufficient. This has been occasioned BY the
fact that Congress has frequently appropriated
less than the wants of the service demanded
This was especially the case last year. The
Secretary continues:
1t has been supposed necessary sometimes to
borrow temporarily from one fund to aid an
other, but it does not seem any such iustifica-
ton can exist 10 cases where the borrowing is
designed to make up deficient appropriations
for special purposes Such course he thinks
would be maniiestly attended with the conse-
quence that it would enable the Secretary to
substitute his own official discretion for the re-
quirements of the law, and as there would be
no legal limit to this discretion, deficiencies
would exist or not, according to his pleasure
but prefers to administer the affairs of the de-
partment in strict obedience to the will of Con-
gress. Thus deemiDg at the commencement of
his service he has not allowed portion of the
appropriations for the present fiscal wear to be
expended before the year commenced. His OBJ
ject primarily was to secure system of ad-
ministration by means of which the annual
appropriations of the department can be more
easily and accurately ascertained and the caus-
es of deficiency be more certainly and salts
factOrlV known If ia the rioht md ant uoE
Congress to direct such results to be accom-
plished as in its opinion public necessities and
interests may require.
The Secretary states that he found it neces-
sary to omit the pay of officers and men of the
navy for the last quarter of the last fiscal year.
as the appropriations made by Congress were
insufficient to make the payment without
drawing upon the appropriations for the pres
ent fiscal year in advance. So he regarded it
the better course to treat the deficiency as be-
longing to the last fiscal year, to avoid any de-
ficiency for the present year unless it shall
arise necessarily out of the omission to make
necessary appropriations. The present def
cheney in the fund for the pay of the navy has
continued from year to year back to the late
war. L. is not therefore chargesble to any one
year, but has been occaSone6 both by INSULT
Gent estimates and insufficient appropriations
the latter having been for eight of the nine
last years considerably less than the estimates.
After entering into a lengthy discussion o.
the manner in which the money for the pay of
officers and men has been borrowed from one
fluid or another, the Secretary states that the
amount annually due the officers and enlisted
men of the navy is settled by the statute and
the department has no control over it, and has
no such discretion as will enable it to econo.
mize in the annual expenditure even if desira-
BILE to do so. Considering all the embarrass-
ments of the situation and to place this fund in
the position desired so that the annual appro
priations thereby caused would be
advisedIy made by Congress Withholding the
payments for April. May and June last was
absolutely unavoidable unless portion of the
appropriation for the present fiscal year had
been applied to that purpose. If this had not
been done the deficiency would have been
chageable to the present year where it does not
properly belong, instead of the last year where
it does belong. There is now due on this ac-
count 81 446 68S .16, for which it is necessary to
ask an appropriation by Congress. Th+re is
also due for the same quarter the sum of $311,-
953 SO advanced for the foreign service by the
financial agents of the government in London
exclusive of the sum shown on the pay rolls.
There is also due to the officers on account of
ar Garage and difference OF pay $3.50 900, which
added to the regoing makes 81 1856 SO due
for the paw of the navy aud necessary to be ap-
propriated for that purpose. There is now due
to the hospital fund $50,000 winch, in conse-
quence of the relation between this and the pay
fund, should be added to the fores DING, maxi
ing total deficiency 81 1858, 641.69
The pay OF the officers and enlisted men in
the marine corps was deficient at the close of
the last fiscal year $45 2l9.5S, for which an ap-
preparation is necessary. This makes the total
deficiency asked for by the Secretary $2,003,
86127.
This appropriation it is believed, will enable
the department to acail itself more satisfactory
ly of the advantages arising from more prompt
settlements of the accounts of paymasters 10
making up its annual estimates of expenditures
and thereby enable Congress to ascertain with
GurnG
for the navy 1t is also believed it will secure
greater economy in the expen dilures.