Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-10-26
The Navy.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16.

Tbc folIov,,or Ia tho sto+amant Of tho do
6ciancies for whicb annronriations are asked
hU the Socratory of ther Nayye Pay 81 Noyv
aIo,Tnt mn Snn seIigmon Pr0s rHndnn n,is,'
caIIonaous claims orising nnon arrears of'
yo,, oto naval bosy;t53 f,ind nov of tho
Marine Corns other de6ciencies epvcInsiveIv
for constr,ictior and renairs ar,sing ont n |
controcts With indiyi6,5aIs FOR ciothing
steam nacb;nerv timber etc These win bn
c0mmnnicatad 81 tbo onnroocbins rngnIor
session Tho Secretary States that the dim
cnities ATTENDING the sdministration of the
finances of his Office have crown ont of the
diversion of the appropriations from the
special objects to which they have been ap-
piled by law, and their expenditures for
other and different objects for which appro-
priations have been insufficient This
has been occasioned by the fact that
Congress has frequently appropriated less
than the wants of the service demanded
This was esDecially the case last wear The
Secretary continues that it has been sup
posed necessary sometimes to borrow, tenn
Dorariiv from one fund to aid another, but
il does not seem that any such Justification
can exist in cases where the borrowing is de-
signed to make up deficient appropriations
for sDecial Durposes Such a COURSE he
thinks, would be manifestly attended with
the consequence that it would enable the
Secretary to substitute his own official dis
erection for the requirements of law, and
there would be no legal limit to this discre-
ton. Deficiencies would exist or not, ac-
cording TO his pleasure He is unwilling To
assume this responsibility, but prefers
to administer the affairs of the department
in strict obedience to the will of Congress.
Thus deeming, at the commencement Of his
service, he states that he has not allowed any
portion of the appropriations for the present
| fiscal year to be expended before the
wear commenced. His object primarily was
to secure a system of administration by
| means of which the annual appropriations
of the Department can be more easily and ac-
curately ascertained, and the causes of a de-
| 6cency be more certainly and satisfactorily
| known. The Secretary does not think it
right that the Department shall seek to ac-
complish results not contemplated or di-
| rected by Congress. The Department is a
creature OF law, and exists only at the will
\ and pleasure OF law The Secretary is re-
sponsible for not doing what the law directs
| to be done, but is not responsible for failing
| to accomplish what the law does not direct
| The Secretary states that acting on this prin-
| ciple he found it necessary to omit the pay
| of the officers and men of the navy for the
| last quarter of the last fiscal year, as the ap-
preparation made by Congress was INSULT
cient and it was not possible TO make pay
ment without drawing upon the appropria-
ton for the present fiscal year in advance. So
| he his regarded it as a better course to treat
| the deficiency as belonging to the last fiscal
year, to avoid any deficiency for the present
| wear, unless III snail arise from necessity out
| of omission to make the necessary appropri-
alton. This result cannot be fully accom-
plished without the aid and action of Com
! gress, to be so rendered as to enable the
business properly chargeable to the last
fiscal year to be closed up As far az possible
by the payment of the existing Indebtedness
to the officers and men Of the navy, so that
the Department will be enabled TO confine all
appropriations for the present fiscal year to
the objects and within the amounts fixed by
law. IL thereby some of the branches of the
service suffer temporarily, and some objects
remain unaccomplished, 1t is better they
should remain so until additional apprOpria.
tions are made than that the Department
should exercise the discretionary power of
creating deficiencies. The present deficiency
in the fund for the pay of the navy has con
tinued from year to year back to the late war
Il is not, therefore, chargeable TO any one
year, but has been caused both by insufficient
estimates and insufficient appropriations, the
latter having been for eight or nine years
considerably less than the estimates. This