and Canada, so far as relates to the establishment of bonded routes and mode of transportation. X. THE SECRET SERVICE DIVISION. 441. This division is under the charge of an officer designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as Chief of the Secret Service. The division itself, as well as the chief, is the creature of regulation of the department, the authority for its establishment being implied from the act of Congress appropriating for the current fiscal year a sum of money for the "expenses in detecting and bringing to trial and punishment persons engaged in counterfeiting Treasury notes, bonds, national-bank notes, and other securities of the United States, and the coinage thereof, and for detecting other frauds upon the Government, to be disbursed under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury." 442. The division thus established, although connected with the Treasury Department, and immediately with the Secretary's office, has been placed by the Secretary under the general direction of the Solicitor of the Treasury. 443. The principal duties of the chief and his subordinates are to detect and to bring to trial persons engaged in counterfeiting the coin, currency, and securities of the United States, and those engaged in passing or dealing in the same; but they are also engaged in the detection of other frauds on the Government. This division, as well as the preceding and the one named immediately hereafter, has no specific authority of law as an organization of the Secretary's office, and is not presided over, as in the case of the other divisions, by a chief whose appointment as such is provided for. The designation of the division and the detail of the head thereof, as well as its organization, spring from the general authority of the Secretary to prescribe rules for the government of his de partment and for the distribution of business therein. (R. S., § 161.) XI. DIVISION OF CAPTURED AND ABANDONED PROPERTY. This division grew originally out of the administration by the Secretary of the Treasury of the acts of Congress restricting and regulating commercial intercourse with parts of the country the inhabitants of which were, or were de clared to be, in a state of insurrection. Under these laws, trade regulations had to be established to meet the exigencies existing at the time of their enactment, arising out of the then existing rebellion of the year 1861 and subse quent years; captured and abandoned property had to be taken care of and accounted for; permits to trade were required to be issued within the terms of the laws; the purchase and disposition of the products of insurrectionary sections of the country had to be provided for under special laws applicable; and the vast business, intricate and delicate to the greatest degree, had to be taken care of under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury. This involved the appointment and supervision of general and special agents, having special territorial jurisdiction, whose duties required the issue of permits; the regulation, under instructions from head-quarters, of trade; the seizure or receipt of property captured by the army or found abandoned; the safe-keeping and transportation of the same; its sale or other disposition; the rendition of proper accounts of the same or of its proceeds, and the decision of questions arising out of ownership, or controversies between claimants. In the administration of this business there has been a vast accumulation of papers, correspondence, and records, all of which are now in charge of the present Division of Captured and Abandoned Property, in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury. It is the duty of this division to preserve these files and records in a methodical manner, and to furnish information therefrom as it may be required by Congress, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney-General, the Court of Claims, Claim Commissions, or to meet any other legal and proper demand. Considerable labor is required in the examination of the records pertaining to the seizure, detention, and sale of cotton by the United States, through its agents, during the war of the rebellion and subsequently; which examination and the information to be obtained are required by the Court of Claims, by rules issued upon the head of the department, to answer pending cases brought by claimants against the United States in that tribunal. This division has referred to it, for adjudication, claims made under the fifth section of the act of May 18, 1872, (Stats. 17, p. 134,) by lawful owners or their legal representatives, of cotton seized after the 30th of June, 1865, by the agents of the Government, unlawfully and in violation of instructions, the net proceeds of which were actually paid into the Treasury of the United States. The operation of this section is limited, by its provisions, to claims filed in the Treasury Department within six months after the passage of the act. Although no claims are now filed or received under this provision, yet there are numerous claims yet unadjudicated, involving continuous and laborious employment of the head of this division and his assistants. This division also examines and refers for payment final judgments of the Court of Claims in favor of claimants, it being provided, by section 1089 of the Revised Statutes, that such judgments shall be paid out of any general appropriation made by law for the satisfaction of private claims, on presentation to the Secretary of the Treasury of a copy of such judgment, properly certified by the clerk of the court and signed by the presiding judge. These claims or judgments are payable out of appropriations made by Congress annually, with the exception of those arising out of "captured and abandoned property." These last are payable only out of the proceeds of such property covered in the Treasury, and are provided for by what are known as the permanent appropriations, according to section 3689 of the Revised Statutes. This division also determines questions of set-off against such judgments, of debts due the United States, as provided by the act of March 3, 1875. (Stats. 18, p. 481.) That act provides that when any final judgment recovered against the United States, or other claim allowed by legal authority, shall be presented to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment, and the plaintiff or claimant shall be indebted to the United States, it shall be that officer's duty to withhold payment of an amount of such judgment or claim equal to the amount due the United States. But if the plaintiff or claimant denies his indebtedness or refuses to consent to the set-off, the Secretary is required to withhold payment of the amount, and an additional sum to cover charges and costs, and to cause legal proceedings to be immediately commenced, and to cause the same to be prosecuted to final judgment with all reasonable dispatch. If judgment in such action shall be against the United States, or the amount recovered shall be less than that withheld, the balance must be paid over to the plaintiff or claimant, with six per cent. interest from the time it has been withheld from him. This division gives its attention also to business growing out of the joint resolution of Congress approved June 21, 1870, (Stats. 16, p. 380,) which authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make contract and provision for the preservation, sale, or collection of any property, or the pro ceeds thereof, which may have been wrecked, abandoned, or become derelict, being within the jurisdiction of the United States, and which ought to come to the United States, or for any moneys, dues, and other interests formerly in the possession of or due to the so-called Confederate States or their agents, withheld or retained by any person, corporation, or municipality whatever. In contracts which the Secretary may so make, he is authorized to allow such. compensation to any person giving information thereof, or who shall actually preserve, collect, surrender, or pay over such moneys, dues, &c., as he may deem just and reasonable, all such compensation and the charges and expenses to be paid only from moneys realized from the property collected under the specific agreement. XII. DISBURSING CLERK. 444. Attached to the office of the Secretary of the Treasury also are two disbursing clerks, who hold positions substantially analogous to those held by heads of divisions. Their respective duties are distributed as follows: One is charged with the payment of salaries and compensation of the officers and employees in the followingnamed offices: Office of the Secretary of the Treasury. Office of the Second Auditor. Office of the Supervising Architect. Office of the Supervising Surgeon - General of Marine Hospitals. Office of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels. Division of Loans in the office of the First Auditor. The payment of the salaries and compensation of temporary clerks in the department. |