Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/124/236
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 10:07:21+00:00

Document:
'The only vouchers now remaining on file in the treasury department in support of this last item are two affidavits, one by the defendant and the other by Dr. Vaughan, the defendant's clerk and chief assistant, sworn to at Washington, during the pendency of this examination, showing payments to military officers for extra vigilance in guarding the cotton, protecting it against thieves and raids; copies of which are hereto annexed, marked 'Schedules C and D.' The number of bales assigned to the item of Dexter's bill does not conform to any particular lot of cotton, part of the 483 bales transferred to Stewart, but is substantially correct, as representing, upon an average of the net proceeds of the cotton, the amount of Dexter's bill. There was exhibited to the officers appointed by the secretary to examine his accounts some proofs of large expenditures of money, which, together with the payments to military officers, they held to be sufficient to justify them in passing this item. These expenses, aside from the payments to military officers, aggregated about $68,000, and the military payments about $29,000. These expenses, other than the military payments, were properly and necessarily incurred by the defendant in the discharge of his duty as assistant special agent in the care and protection of the cotton after its delivery by the contractors, and all these payments, including the military payments, were made necessary by the unsettled state of the country, the great accumulation of the cotton which the railroad company was unable to transport, the danger of theft and robbery, and the interference of other agents or persons claiming to be agents of the treasury department and of military officers. The military payments included $10,000 daid out for Colonel Young, which, however, was not proved to have been received by him, and which the defendant collected from the contractors. These military payments were all made in the bona fide belief that they were necessary to protect the interest of the United States in the cotton, to secure increased vigilance, or to prevent connivance with parties interfering with or attempting to interfere with the cotton.
'The result of the examination of the account in the office of the commissioner of customs was that the commissioner wrote to the defendant a letter dated the fifteenth March, 1866, as follows: 'Your property accounts as assistant special agent of the treasury at Columbus, Mississippi, from May 8, 1865, to March 15, 1866, have this day been examined in this office and passed, there being no difference.' Upon the receipt of this letter, the defendant wrote to the secretary, communicating to him the contents of the letter received from the commissioner of customs, and stating that he had presented to Mr. Parker written answer to the military charges, and that Mr. Parker expressed himself entirely satisfied, and that he would so report to the secretary; and requested an instruction to Mr. Draper, at New York, to pay him his commissions allowed under the regulations on the sales of such cotton as Mr. Draper had received of his collecting, when the secretary should receive a report from Mr. Parker. To this the secretary replied under the same date, March 15, 1866, as follows: 'I have received your letter of this date, advising me that the commissioner of customs had favorably reported on your property account, and that your explanation of charges made by certain militry officers against you has shown them to be without substantial foundation, and asking me to instruct the cotton agent at New York to pay you the commissions allowed by the regulations of August the 18th last, on the sales of such property of your collection as he has received. It affords me great pleasure to receive so gratifying a statement in regard to your affairs, and I have accordingly this day instructed the commissioner of customs to issue a requisition for your per diem compensation, at the rate of $6 per day, from the date of your appointment, and for such milege as you may be entitled to at the rate of ten cents per mile. At present no payments on account of commissions or percentage are made to any of the agents of the department, and I deem it inexpedient to make an exception to this rule in any case till sufficient time has elapsed to enable me to examine and understand the whole matter connected with the collection and forwarding of government cotton. Just now my time is too much occupied with other matters of vital importance to afford me an opportunity to give your case that consideration which justice to yourself, no less than to the department, requires.' On the same day, the secretary, by letter, instructed the commissioner of customs as follows: 'The compensation of Harrison Johnston, assistant special agent to this department, whose appointment is dated May 8, 1865, has been fixed at $6 per day, with an allowance to cover traveling expenses of 10 cents per mile for all distances actually traveled by him, and commissions on the cotton collected by him at the same rate as is allowed to other assistant agents, in accordance with general letter of instructions dated August 18, 1865. You are accordingly hereby authorized to issue a requisition in the usual form for his per diem allowance at that rate to date, and for such mileage as he may be entitled to. For the present no payments on commissions or percentage account are made to any agents.' On the sixteenth March, 1866, the defendant was directed by the secretary to answer certain charges made in in letters received by the department from General Agent Mellen, to which the defendant replied in a letter to the secretary on the same day, containing the following passage: 'I had the honor on yesterday to request you to instruct Mr. Draper to pay me my commissions, basing that request on the assurance that my answers to all charges were sati factory, and my property account correct, not knowing then of these letters from Mr. Mellen. I now beg leave to withdraw the request until you are fully satisfied of my every official act.' No further direct action was taken by the secretary with reference to these changes of General Agent Mellen, or the defendant's reply thereto.
'On the sixteenth of August, 1868, the first auditor addressed to the commissioner of customs a letter containing a detailed statement of the defendant's property account, stating that he had examined and adjusted the same, charging him with 30,610 bales collected, and crediting him with the cotton shipped to Draper, paid to contractors in kind, and various other items of credit, as in the previous account rendered by the defendant, and passed by the commissioner of customs, and included the following credits: '"By cotton sold to pay expenses, 55 bales.
'On the twenty-seventh of February, 1869, the commissioner of customs wrote the defendant as follows: 'Your account as assistant special agent of the treasury department at Columbus, Mississippi, on account of captured and abandoned property, for cotton received and disposed of, has been adjusted and closed on the books of the department."
Asst. Atty. Gen. Marvey, for plaintiff in error.
B. H. Briston and David Willcox, for defendant in error.
It is quite clear that, while the approval of the president was made essential to the validity of all rules and regulations in relation to captured and abandoned property, the entire administration of the system devised by congress for the collection of such property within the insurrectionary districts, and its sale thereafter, was committed to the secretary of the treasury. Upon him alone was imposed the responsibility, in the first instance, of making rules and regulations for the 'proper and economical execution' of the statutes in question, through agents whom he should designate. Congress was aware of the unsettled condition of that part of the country dominated by the military power of the insurrectionary government, and recognized the necessity of investing some one officer with full authority to decide what expenses were fairly chargeable against the proceeds of captured and abandoned property. Such authority was conferred upon the secretary of the treasury, subject to no other restriction than that the expenses charged upon the proceeds of sales be 'proper and necessary,' and be approved by him. But no rule was prescribed for his guidance in determining what expenses were to be regarded as of that character; for the reason, perhaps, that, as each collection and sale of captured and abandoned property must depend upon its special circumstances, it was not practicable to establish a rule that would control every case. As no expenses could be charged against the proceeds of any sale except upon the approval of the secretary of the treasury, and as his discretion must have been exercised with reference to the special facts of each case, his approval of an account of expenses in relation to the collection and sale of any particular lot of captured and abandoned property should be deemed conclusive evidence that such expenses were proper and necessary, unless it appeared that the allowance of such expenses was procured by fraud, or that the expenses were incurred in violation of some positive statute, or of public policy. It is impossible to suppose that congress intended that every such account, after being approved by the secretary, should be subject to review by some subordinate officer of the treasury, or even by the courts, and to be disallowed, merely because in the judgment of that officer, or of the courts, such expenses should not have been incurred.
While there is much force in this view of the case we do not deem it necessary to decide whether the accounts of defendant, in respect to the 483 bales of cotton, were required by the statute of 1864 to be audited by the first auditor, and transmitted to the first comptroller for his decision thereon. If the act of 1864 should be held to have required this, it would not follow that those officers could have disregarded the action of the secretary of the treasury in allowing the expenses in question. In auditing those accounts, they would have been bound to regard such action of the secretary as final. What was said in U. S. v. Jones, 18 How. 96, may be repeated here, as applicable to accounts which have been finally acted upon by a head of department, invested with authority in the premises. There the question was as to the right of accounting officers to review the action of the secretary of the navy in approving certain disbursements made by an officer of the navy in conformity with the orders of the secretary. This court said: 'The accounting officers of the treasury have not the burden of responsibility cast upon them of revising the judgments, correcting the supposed mistakes, or annulling the orders of heads of departments.' See McKnight v. U. S., 13 Ct. Cl. 298, 309.
But, waiving any decision as to the power of accounting officers under the act of 1864, it is sufficient for this case to say that the secretary of the treasury proceeded upon the ground that the defendant's accounts in reference to this cotton were property accounts, the settlement of which belonged to him exclusively, and that such settlement could be made by him personally, or through such of his subordinates as he might designate for that purpose. In Rice v. U. S., 21 Ct. Cl. 419, it was said by RICHARDSON, C. J., who was entirely familiar with the mode of conducting business in the treasury department, that 'while Mr. Chase was secretary of the treasury, and for some time afterwards, the money received from captured and abandoned property was merely deposited with the treasurer, and was not technically, in departmental language, 'covered into the treasury;' and so, according to the construction then given by the department, was not subject to the constitutional provision that 'no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.' Const. art. 1, § 9, par. 6. More than two and a half millions of it was paid out by Secretaries Chase, Fessenden, and McCulloch (Hodges' Case, 18 Ct. Cl. 704) without any appropriations therefor, when congress interposed, and passed the joint resolution of March 31, 1868. 15 St. 251.' By that joint resolution, it was provided that 'all moneys which have been received by any officer or employe of the government, or any department thereof, from sales of captured and abandoned property in the late insurrectionary districts, under or under color of the several acts of congress providing for the collection and sale of such property, and which have not already been actually covered into the treasury, shall immediately be paid into the treasury of the United States, together with any interest which has been received or accrued thereon.' The language of this resolution affords some evidence that congress was aware of the manner in which the several acts relating to captured and abandoned property had been executed, and did not intend to disturb what had been previously done under the practice prevailing in the treasury department.
In view of the foregoing facts the case comes fairly within the rule, often announced by this court, that the contemporaneous construction of a statute by those charged with its execution, especially when it has long prevailed, is entitled to great weight, and should not be disregarded or overturned except for cogent reasons, and unless it be clear that such construction is erroneous. Edwards v. Darby, 12 Wheat, 206, 210; U. S. v. Moore, 95 U. S. 760; Hahn v. U. S., 107 U. S. 402, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 494; U. S. v. Philbrick, 120 U. S. 52, 59, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 413.
The facts found being sufficient to support the judgment, it is affirmed.
RAVAUD K. HAWLEY v. L. EDGAR DILLER.
UNITED STATES, v. JOHN C. SWEET.
UNITED STATES, v. JOSEPH C. FINNELL.
ELIAS S. A. DE LIMA v. GEORGE R. BIDWELL.
BATES & GUILD CO., v. HENRY C. PAYNE, Postmaster General.
HENRY O. HOUGHTON, Trustee, v. HENRY C. PAYNE, Postmaster General.
UNITED STATES v. JACKSON et al.

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