Evening star., 1895-02-26
bonds for Public Officers.

To the Editor of The Evening Star:
In The Star of yesterday was published
an extract from the report of the Dockery
commission in favor of system of bonds
for public officers. Therein 1t was stated
that there is no provision made for the
examination of bonds at any regular in
tervals to determine whether the amount
is sufficient or the sureties solvent, except
In one instance-that of the paymasters of
the army the law requiring that they be
renewed each four years or oftener by the
order of the President" There is an exist
ing statute governing bonds of the dis
bursting officers of the several executive
departments Section 116, Revised Stat
utes, provides that "the disbursing clerks
authorized by law in the several depart
ments shall be appointed by the heads Of
the respective departments from clerks Of
the fourth class, and shall each give a
bond to the United States for the faithful
discharge of the duties Of his office accord
rected by the Secretary of the Treasury
and with suretieS to the satisfaction of the
solicitor of the treasury, and shall, from
time to time, review, strengthen and in
crease his official bond, as the Secretary
of the Treasury may direct" Thus, it will
be seen that this class of bonded officers
are required to give a good and sufficient
bond, with ample security, and it is made
the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury
and the solicitor of that department from
time to time to exsmine such bonds to as
certain whether or not the United States
Is amply protected. 1t Is true that many
of these bonds are ten or fifteen years old
1t is also equally true that in most cases
the sureties on said bonds are alive and in
better condition financially than when they
bonded. Considering the vast sums of
money disbursed by these officers in this
city, amounting to at least $50,OO0OO0 an
nually, the loss, If any occurs, to the
United States Is Infinitely small. While 1t
is a daily occurrence to read of defaulting
bank officers and others in private f1nan-
cial institutions and corporations it Is q
raR thing indeed that you hear of United
States paymaster or disbursing officer prov
ing faithless to the trust reposed in him.
Only two or three in the last fifteen years
have defaulted, and in each case if the
United States had performed its duty by
promptly adjusting the defaulting officers
accounts said defalcation might not have
occurred. In these instances, however
the total defalcation amounted to no more
than what the average defaulting bank
official gets away with at one swoop 1t
Is only year since that Congress enacted
a law granting authority to security and
trust corporations to furnish security or
bonds for United States officials. Now the
bonded officers to renew their bonds every
four years, thus compelling the payment
out of the already meager salary of the
bonded officer of periodical commission
for the security so furnished. 1t seems to
me that some provision of law should be
made whereby the paymaster, disbursing
officer or other bonded officer should not
be called upon to pay the cost of securing
such bond from his salary. Such expense
should be paid by the departments from
their contingent funds. 1t Is now the Gus
tom of all banks and other moneyed insti-
tutions to pay from their treasury the cost
of bonding their officers.
DISBURSING OFFICER.