Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-11
CAPITAL AUTOGRAPHS.
OFFICIALS IN WASHINGTON WHOSE
 ONLY LAW IS THEIR WILL.

A Striking Example Is tho First Comp
 trolIer of the Currency. Whose Decisions Cannot Even Bc Vetoed by the President,
 Who Hns the Power of Removal. Among the most remarkable features of this government by the people is the extraordinary authority vested in cerSain subordinate officials at Washington. For instance. no man in the United States wields such power in money mat ters as the first comptroller of the cur rency. He is entirely independent of the secretary of the treasury. and even the president has no means of coercing him, as tho following story shows: When Grant was in the White House, First Comptroller Taylor refused to countersign warrant for the payment of a big claim out of the funds of the treasury The president summoned him and said:
 "You must sign
 II will not. Mir. President" replied the recalcitrant official.
 "Then will compel you to do so," said General Grant.
 You have not the power" rejoined the comptroller coolly and respectfully.
 We will see about that" said the ! president. II will consult the attorney 1 general"
 | The attorney general, on being cons suited, stated that the comptroller was ! right-he could not be forced to coun- | tersign the warrant. Next day the pres ident summoned Mir. Taylor and said: Il find that I cannot compel you to | countersign the warrant. However, | can get another first comptroller"
 Very well. Mir. President" replied | the officer. You can have my resigna- l ton, but not my signature.
 i In fact, the only way in which the i president can override decision of this 1 powerful official is by dismissing him i and appointing another man. All of the accounts of the government, except those which relate tO customs and the post office department, are settled by war rants countersigned by the first comp troller. Without his sigma lure the pay ments cannot be made.
 There are two autocrats in the post office department. One of them is the assistant attorney general. Ii is his function to decide whether matter of- | fered for mailing is imlnoralor not. He acts as censor for tho people. Whenever postmaster in any city is doubtful re- garling the morality of a publication that is sought to be mailed. he forwards a copy of the suspected work to the third assistant postmaster general, by whom it Is referred to the assistant attorney 1 general.
 Very likely the latter may be too busy to investigate the subject personally. in which case he turns it over to one of his clerks, who peruses it and marks any passage which he considers indecent. Thus the law lord has simply to glance over the selected tidbits of impropricty and pass on them. The assistant attor- nrv general also determines what mail matter shall bc considered fraudulent and be excluded as such from the post.
 The third assistant postmaster general is himself an autocrat. He has authority to exercise his own discretion i'll depriv- ing periodical publications of the ad- vantage of second class postal rates Publications intended for advertising purposes primarily are not allowed those rates. On account of the "kreutzer Sonata" a whole series Of books, of which it was one, was shut out of the mails
 Publishers commonly get out vol umcS in series, because in this shape they go second class as Icriodical publi- cations 70 long as they arc issued at least four times . year. Tho decision against that work did not actually cx- clude it from the post, because it could be and was sent at first class rates, sealed, so that nobody could lawfully open the package and find out what was inside.
 The autoCrat of tho department of agriculture is the chief of the bureau of animal industry. He has authority to | kill any animal he may choose anywhere in the United States. When one of his inspectors reports that such and such cattle are afflicted with an infectious disease, he orders them purchased and slaughtered. The value of the beasts is hy the owner and tho other by the bu- reau. If they cannot agree. they ap, point third person to decide. In case a man refused to have his live stock thus disposed of, the police and United States murshals would be summoned.
 The payment adjudicated is made by check. Tho chief of the bureaus author
 ity ill such matters is absolute over tho
 territories and District of Columbia
 For operations ill any state he must have the consent of tho governor but the gov
 crnor'S consent cannot be withheld be , cause he is in a position to Coercc the state. If he chooses, he can quarantine :, the state. preventing all animals iron , going into or coming out for an indefi
 mite Teriod.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat