This Department was originally organized under an act of Congress, approved 2 Sept. 1789, which provided that "there shall be a department of treasury, to consist of the following officers:-a secretary of the treasury, to be head of the department, a comptroller, an auditor, a treasurer, a register, and an assistant to the secretary." From that small beginning, in 1789, has grown the present vast establishment. It is the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to digest and prepare plans for the improvement, increase, and management of the revenue, and for the support of public credit; to prepare and report estimates of the public revenue and the public expenditures; to superintend the collection of the revenue; to prescribe the forms of all public accounts; to grant warrants for moneys paid out of the Treasury in pursuance of appropriations by law; and, generally, to perform all such services relative to finance as he shall be directed to perform. Under this definition of his duties in the organic act, and under various laws enacted since, the Secretary of the Treasury has charge of all public moneys COLLECTED, and the supervision of all public moneys DISBURSED; he has charge of all operations connected with borrowing money on the credit of the United States; of the management and discharge of the PUBLIC DEBT; of the collection of the CUSTOMS and EXCISE duties and DIRECT TAXES; of all matters relating to COMMERCE and NAVIGATION; of the MINTS and the coinage of money; of the preparation, authentication, and issue of BONDS, NOTES, SECURITIES, or other evidences of debt due by the United States; and of reports on the condition of the BANKS. In addition to the foregoing purely fiscal affairs, the Secretary is charged with the general super TREASURY DEPARTMENT. vision of the survey of the coast, of the light-house establishment, of the marine hospitals, and of the construction of certain public buildings. Under the Secretary, whose duties are already defined, the distribution of duties among the accounting and finance affairs of the Department is as follows: The First Comptroller prescribes the mode of keeping and rendering accounts for the civil and diplomatic service, as well as the public lands; revises said accounts, after they are reported by the First and Fifth Auditors, to determine whether the disbursements are made according to law, and certifies the balances thereon; he passes upon and countersigns all requisitions for money for the civil and diplomatic and public land service, and countersigns all warrants on the Treasury made by the Secretary. The Second Comptroller prescribes the mode of keeping and rendering the accounts of the Army and Navy Departments, and the Indian and Pension Bureaus; revises said accounts, after they are reported by the Second, Third, and Fourth Auditors, to determine if the disbursements are made according to law, and certifies the balances thereon; and he passes upon, and countersigns, all requisitions on the Treasury for money for the War, Navy, Indian, and Pension service. The Commissioner of the Customs prescribes the mode of keeping and rendering the accounts of the customs revenue and disbursements, and for the building and repairing custom-houses, &c., and revises and certifies the balances arising thereon. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue superin tends the collection of the excise and other internal taxes, prescribes the mode of keeping and rendering account of the revenues and disbursements connected therewith, decides upon the interpretation of the provisions of the tax law, approves or disapproves of the appointment of deputy collectors and assistant assessors, and pronounces upon the sufficiency of the bonds of the collectors and their deputies. The First Auditor receives and adjusts the accounts of the customs revenue and disbursements, appropriations and expenditures on account of the civil list and under private acts of Congress, and reports the balances to the Commissioner of the Customs and the First Comptroller, respectively, for their decision thereon. The Second Auditor receives and adjusts all accounts relating to the pay, clothing, and recruiting of the army, as well as the armories, arsenals, and ordnance, and all accounts relating to the Indian Department, and reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for his decision thereon. The Third Auditor receives and adjusts all accounts for subsistence of the army, fortifications, military academy, military roads, and the quartermaster's department, pension claims arising from military services previous to 1816, and for horses and other property lost in the military service, and reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for his decision thereon. The Fourth Auditor adjusts all accounts for the service of the Navy Department, and reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for his decision thereon. The Fifth Auditor adjusts all accounts for diplomatic and similar services performed under the direction of the State Department, and reports the balances to the First Comptroller for his decision thereon. The Sixth Auditor adjusts all accounts arising from the service of the Post-Office Department. His decisions are final, unless an appeal be taken in twelve months to the First Comptroller. He superintends the collection of all debts due the Post-Office Department, and all penalties imposed on postmasters and mail-contractors for failing to do their duty; he directs suits and legal proceedings, civil and criminal, and takes legal measures to enforce the prompt payment of moneys due to the department, instructing attorneys, marshals, and clerks relative thereto; and receives returns from each term of the United States courts of the condition and progress of such suits and legal proceedings; has charge of all lands and other property assigned to the United States in payment of debts due the Post-Office Department, and has power to sell and dispose of the same for the benefit of the United States. The Treasurer receives and keeps the moneys of the United States in his own office and that of the depositories, and pays out the same upon warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the First Comptroller, and upon warrants drawn by the Postmaster-General, and countersigned by the Sixth Auditor, and recorded by the Register. He also holds public moneys advanced by warrant to disbursing officers, and pays out the same upon their checks. The Register keeps the accounts of public receipts and expenditures; receives the returns and makes out the official statement of commerce and navigation of the United States; and receives from the First Comptroller and Commissioner of Customs all accounts and vouchers decided by them, and is charged by law with their safe-keeping. The Solicitor superintends all civil suits commenced by the United States (except those arising in the Post-Office Department), and instructs the United States attorneys, marshals, and clerks in all matters relating to them and their results. He receives returns from each term of the United States courts, showing the progress and condition of such suits; has superintendence of the collection of outstanding direct and internal duties; has charge of all lands and other property assigned, set off, or conveyed to the United States in payment of debts, all trusts created for use of the United States in payment of debts, power to sell and dispose of lands so assigned, &c., and power to release lands when payment is made in money. United States Coast Survey.-The Coast Survey Office is charged with the superintendence of the survey of the Coast of the United States, and its Superintendent is the Superintendent of Weights and Measures. ESTIMATED RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1864. $69,059,642 167,617 1,485,104 37,640,788 3,046,615 776,682,362 REVENUE, RECEIPTS, AND EXPENDITURES FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1863. Customs between the United States and British possessions bounding on Washington Territory.... Prosecution of work, including pay of commissioner, per first article of reciprocity treaty with Great Britain $13,795 19 8,000 00 Carrying into effect the convention 2,000 00 181,086,635 Expenses of executing the neu- From which deduct repayments on Total foreign intercourse....... 2,496 46 $1,231,854 98 441 92 $1,231,413 06 571,714 87 3,366 89 83,740 61 26,354 22 8,498 28 9,035 34 993,406 35 1,782,456 99 632,507 27 3,238,936 67 Constructing burglar-proof vaults for the assistant treasurer at New York, and fire-proof file-cases for the collector at New York, and for incidental expenses of a change of location of their offices..... Continuation of the treasury building........ General Post-Office extension.... Building post-offices, court-houses, &c Compensation of prize-commissioners, and other expenses connected therewith, under act of July 17, 1862....... Salaries of commissioners in insurrectionary districts in the United States, clerks, &c...... Compensation to H. K. Brown and others for thirteen months' services as art commissioners..... Detection and bringing to trial persons engaged in counterfeiting the coin, &c. of the United States...... Release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia..... Expenses, commissions, &c. to carry into effect acts for a national loan. Allowance or drawback on articles on which internal duties or tax has been paid...... Expenses of collecting the revenue from customs.... Expenses of taking census in Territory of Colorado.... Suppression of the slave-trade........ Colonization of persons of African descent residing in the District of Columbia.... United States Capitol extension...... New dome of United States Capitol. Completing the Washington aqueduct...... 9,000 00 Lighting the Capitol, President's House, &c... $129,977 03 3,262 68 31,939 41 28,420 00 288,500 00 103,859 21 92,000 00 Alterations and repairs of buildings in Washington, improvement of grounds, &c...... 59,369 51 25,354 00 Salaries, &c. of the Metropolitan Police 98,000 00 60,077 17 Penitentiary in the District of Columbia... 12,919 93 Repayments to importers...... Debentures on drawbacks, bounties, 13,093 76 2,262,770 59 Patent fund... 200,977 31 or allowances... Debentures and other charges...... Refunding duties on arms imported by States.... 6,000 00 7,027 24 Relief of sundry individuals.... 36,862 38 11,703 00 Some work of art to be executed by Hiram Powers..... Refunding duties under the act ex 5,000 00 tending the warehouse system...... Additional compensation to collectors, naval officers, &c..... 4,837 80 4,118 03 Salaries of special examiners of drugs 4,537 33 Support and maintenance of lighthouses, &c... Under the direction of the Interior Department. Building light-houses, &c..... 10,996 01 Pensions, military. 908,232 16 Life-boats, compensation of keepers of stations, &c.... Pensions, naval. 167,597 39 12,151 10 Total Navy Department....... $63,211,105 27 Total expenditures, exclusive of the public debt.... $689,980,148 97 Actual expenditures for the year. $714,709,995 97 PUBLIC DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES. TABLE showing the titles of the several Loans of the United States, and the Amounts of each outstanding, March 4, 1861, and September 30, 1863; also the Length of Time each Loan has to run, and the dates of the several Acts authorizing the Loans. tion of articles subject to tax, by each description of persons required to take out license, by the banks, railroad companies, &c., and by each description of stamps. They also show the proportion in which each STATE contributes Internal Revenue to the National Treasury. Our statements are arranged in the following order : In the several subjoined statements the pub-tributed to the National Treasury by each descriplisher and editor of the "National Almanac" have the satisfaction of placing before the public the first official information showing the operation of the Internal Revenue Laws. At the time when these sheets are sent to press, there are no published returns on the subject. These statements are of the highest interest and importance, exhibiting as they do the amount of revenue con |