The evening times., 1900-01-29

The answer Of the Secretary CT War TO
the Senate resolution adopted Thursday
relative to the collection and expenditure
Of the revenues Of Cuba. Porto Rico, and
the Philippine Archipelago by the military
authorities OF the United States is awaited
! with considerable interest
The Secretary is directed to send TO the
Senate copies OF ali Proelamations and or
ders that have been issued or made re-
| specting the collection Of customs, inter
mai and ether revenues in those Islands,
the rates and total amounts thereof, lists
of all persons engaged in the revenue
| service, "and how such customs. internal
| and other revenues have been and are be-
| ing disbursed, and whether the same or
! any portion thereof have been covered in
! to the Treasury of the United States.''
Information required by that portion OF
| the resolution quoted above will not be
the least Interesting feature OF Secretary
Roots answer. Ii is officially known that
some $50 Gee. .000 of revenues has been col
lected by the military authorities in those
| islands, and a natural desire is felt and
expressed to know how much has been ex-
! pended from this large sum, whether all
| the items of expenditure were just and
| proper. and where the balances remaining,
! if any. have been deposited.
Regarded as Trust Funds.
In a certain sense the collections consti-
! tute trust funds administered by the mill
! itary authorities in the several islands.
| and expended for the support of the re-
/ spectiye governments and the benefit of
! the inhabitants of the islands. In GER
J tain other sense the collections are re-
| garded as public funds of the United
States In either case it was Of prime i'm
portance that both the receipts and dis
bursements should be properly accounted
| for. and Congress so regarded it And yet
none Of these accounts, either OF receipts
! or expenditures. thus far have been pass
ed upon by the regular accounting officers
! of the Treasury Department or. as far as
I can be ascertained. by any other account
ing official in Washington.
The act making appropriations for the
legislative. executive. aud judicial eXpens-
es of the Government for the current fiscal
year increased the clerical force in the
Office OF the Auditor Of Treasury for the
War Department by eigthy-lye persons,
from April |. 1899. to March 81. 1900. on
account of Increased work incident TO TIE
war with Spain" The act also included
the following provisions:
For the temporary employment OF ad-
ditional clerks and messengers. in the dis
cretion Of the Secretary of the Treasury,
as may be required in the office of the
Auditor for the War Department for the
prompt and efficient auditing of the aC-
counts OF revenue collected and disbursed
by military authorities in the West India
islands occupied by the United States
forces. S25. GOO. to be available from and
after April l, 1899; provided that the Sec
retary of the Treasury shall, On the first
Monday in January. 1900. report to Con-
gress the number of persons employed and
the amount paid to each under this appro
priation."
This act was approved on February a.
1899 Prior to that. il December. 1898.
the President. by virtue of his authority as
CommandeF-in- chief CT the Army and Navy
OF the United States had ordered that
during the military occupation OF certain
Islands in the West Indies an officer o. e
army be assigned as collector OF customs
OF said islands, and that ali moneys coll
leCted for customs in the islands be de
posted with said collector. Ii was further
ordered
There shall be appointed an auditor
who shall be stationed at the chief port
whose duty shall be to examine all en-
tries Of merchandise, and If found correct !
to certify to them. Such auditor shall on
the first OF each month, make q full and
complete report. duly certified to, to the
Secretary Of War, Of all expenditures made !
thcrefrom, which shall be referred to the
Auditor Of the War Department fer audit" |
The Executive order.
The provisions and requirements of the |
Executive order OF December 1898. and the /
law of February q. 1S99, were clear and /
explicit. They required that the accounts /
should be properly made and certified, and 1
should be audited by the Auditor of the ,
War Department in Washington as the 9TH I
er accounts of that Department are audit
ed
Congress authorized the employment of
additional clerks 10 do the work and ap-
money to pay for their services,
and the Secretary of the Treasury was re-
quired 10 make on the first Monday of Jan
uary. 1890, a report showing the number
Of persons 50 employed and the amount
paid to each. The law enacted by Con-
gross has not been changed by thai body,
but the Executive order has been modified,
and the business seems to have been done
under the latter without reference to the
-equiremnts of the act OF Congress.
As a result of enquiries in the Treasury
Department some interesting and accurate.
f not strictly official, information on this
subject has been obtained. 1t appears that
n the winter or early spring of 1899 a
latch of accounts was received from Cuba
and i'm due course referred to the Auditor
IF the Treasury for the War Department.
On examination the accounts were found to
consist merely of a certified statement of
moneys received and expended by the Col
ector Of Customs at Havana and his depu-
les at the supports of entry wholly unsup-
ported by vouchers of any description
According to the statement large sums of
money had been received on account of
onnage and other port dues and customs
iuties and paid out for various purposes
Indicated. OF course the auditor was |
obliged to say that he could not audit an
ccount in such form, because there was
nothing to audit" and he
allied for the vouchers. Weeks passed
Without any reply. and then a second call
Or the vouchers was made.
Some time afterward ION May 9. 1921 Z
mother Executive order was obtained by
he Secretary of War, in regard to the
moneys received and disbursed by the in r
ular collectors of customs, which did not !
equire that the accounts should be audit |
d by the Auditor of the Treasury fCs the {
Var Department as provided by the act r
4 February "a, 1899, but provided that =
uch accounts should be audited by insu-
ar auditors appointed by the Secretary of V
Var. These auditors are stationed at Ha- S
ana Cuba: San Juan Porto Rico and | G