The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume], November 23, 1892, Page 2, Image 2

About The advocate and Topeka tribune. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1892-1894

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s
THE! AXTirQQA8E3i
Die! States Treasury Mis Expfl
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
April S3, 1380. Ordered to be printed. December 17, 1880.--Ordered to be reprinted.
21s. Davis, of West Virginia, from the Select Committee to Investigate the Finance
Reports, Books and Accounts of the Treasury Department, submitted the fol
lowing report :
(No. a. Continued from lost week.)
CHANGES AND ALTERATIONS IN THE PUBLIC DEBT 8TATEMENT.
k The changes and alterations as to the public debt statement inquired into ap
pear by comparison of the finance reports for 1870 and 1371, respectively. On this
point Mr. Register Scofield testifies (see page 2 of the testimony) :
By the Chairman :
Q. I hand you the finance report for 1870 and call your attention to page 276,
and also the finance report of 1871 and call your attention to page 3C8, and ask
whether those tabulated statements of the public debt were made in the register's
office? A. They purport to have been so made, and I have no doubt they were.
Q And were officially reported to congress? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do they agree as to the amount of the public debt? A. They do not for
some of the years. From 1833 down to 1870, inclusive. I believe, they differ. The
tables themselves will show the differences. Prior to 1833 they agree.
Q. Dj all the years differ between 1833 and 1870? A. 1 think they do.
Q. Can you state why the tables made by the register in 1870 and 1871 differ so
largely with each other? A. In 1870 a tabulated statement of the public debt was
made in the secretary's office, as well as in the register's. For the yeara 1833 to
1870, inclusive, these two tables disagreed very widely in the amount of the debt.
They were bound in the same volume, and attention was attracted to the differ
ences. The register, in his report of 1871, adopted, by direction of Mr. Saville, chief
clerk, the statement made in the secretary's office for the disagreeing years. And
thus occur the disagreements in the register's statements for 1870 and 1871.
In this way the statements of the public debt for each year from 1833 to 1870,
both inclusive, as reported officially by the register and secretary of the treasury,
in those various years, and embodied in the finance reports submitted to congress
and published by its authority, do not agree with the statements of the public debt
for the tame years as reported since 1871, in the same official manner. These differ
ences involve many millions of dollars and extend over a period of thirty-seven
yean. The great changes in these statements were made, not by the then incum
bent of the office of register ofhis own volition, but under the written direction of
an officer of the treasury representing and speaking for the head of that depart
ment. Mr. Scofield (see testimony, pages 3 and 4) was asked the following questions
and made answer, viz :
Q. When does your fiscal year close? A. June 30, now.
a
When do vou make this statement to congress? A. It is usually made in
vzzover, i ininu. . .
Q. Four or five months intervene between the time the fiscal year oldseand th?
tkae when these statements are made? A. Yes. ,
Assistant Register Titcomb agrees with and corroborates this statement (see
testimony, pages 19 and 20).
By the Chairman :
Q. When does the fisoal year of the government end? A. It ends on the 30th
day of June.
Q. When are the reports made to congress? A. The report is made upon the
reassembling of congress at its next session following the close of the fiscal year.
Q. How many months are there between the close of the fiscal year and the
completing of the reports to congress? A. About five months.
Q. Do you know whether the secretary's finance report for the present year is
vet in orint? A. It is in print' I hardly think it is out of the hands of the binder,
as I have not received any copy, but I have no doubt you can get one if you desire
it, without waiting for its being bound.
Q There are five months, in round numbers, between the closing of the fiscal
year and the reporting to congress of any account. Are those five months generally
vied for the purpose of getting up the accounts and seeing whether there are
errors, andeettinsr in statements? A. The accounts are not settled and allowed un
til some time after the close of the fiscal year. That time is spent in the settlement
of the accounts to a considerable extent The register is required by the secretary
to have his reports ready by the first of November lor the printer. There the in
terval is only four months.
Also former chief of warrant division, Major Power (see testimony, page 72) :
Q. When are your reports made to congress? A. The secretary's reports are
placed before congress at toe nrst ot tne session, tne nrst jvionaay in uecemoer.
Q. When does vour fiscal year end? A. On the 30th of June.
Q. How many months are there between the end of the fiscal year and the sub
mission of the report to congress; A. lave months.
Mr, Saville, in his testimony, page 218, confirms the above, and says sixty days
tdltit the fiscal year closes is time enough to have all the moneys deposited covered in.
The fiscal year ending on the 30th of J une, and the reports of the fiscal opera
tions of government not being made to congress till about the first of December, an
interval of several months is available, during which time the accounts outstand
In? at the olose of the fiscal year may come in and be adjusted, and it is under
stood that this interval has been made use of for the purpose of bringing together
the various accounts; and surely, when the condition of the treasury at the close of
a fisoal year has been reported to congress at its ensuing session in December, the
reports thus made, after abundant opportunity to insure their absolute correct
nets, should not be altered.
REGPSTER ORDERED TO MAKE THE CHANGES.
The circumstances under which the changes in the publio debt statement, be
tors referred to, were made, are thus Btated by Mr. Register Scofield (see testimony,
jacaB):
Q. You speak ot an order from the secretary to the then register, who, I be
Ejv was Mr. Allison, to make the changes you have referred to in this debt state
oaoi Will you give the committee that order? A. Yes, sir; this is the original
exctr, and I will hand you a copy.
Q. Itiad us the original. A. I wilL
"Treasttkt Department,
'November 24, 1871.
"Sib: I have to request that the statement of the publio debt on the 1st day of
January in each of the years from 1791 to 1842, inclusive, and at various dates in
subsequent y- are, to July 1, 1870, as printed on page 276 of the fioance report for
1870, may be omitted from your tables in the forthcoming reports or else that it be
corrected to conform to table H on page xrv of the same report for the same year.
"This request is made in consequence of a letter from the assistant secretary
of the treasury, now in London, who complains that these different tables are fre
quently referred to in England, and the discrepancies between them conbtantly
and unfavorably commented upon.
"The table found on page xxv is. I believe, as nearly correct as the examina
tion of the accounts up to the present time will enable it to be made, though I am
under the impression there will be some than gee necessary in order to make it ab
solutely reliable. Very respectfully, J. H. Saville,
" Hon. John Allison, Chief Clerk.
Register of the Treasury."
This letter is endorsed "Secretary of the Treasury: chief clerk: 24,171. Asks
statement of the publio debt may be made to correspond with statement made in
secretary's office. Memorandum. As published for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1871, the statement is the same as the secretary's."
I believe that endorsement is in Mr. Allison's handwriting. , Now, if you will
take the report made by the secretary's office in 1871, and that made by the register
in 1871, in accordance with that order, you will find that they are alike, and they
have continued from that time to this to be alike or very nearly alike. I think
there is a few hundred dollars discrepancy this year, and was last year.
Q. That is, the register's report to congress afler 1870 was made in accord
ance with directions from the secretary's office? A. Yes, sir; I understand that the
register made no changes in his books, but adopted the report made by the secre
tary down to that date.
Assistant Register Titcomb thus speaks of the matter (see testimony, page 13):
'
Q. Were the changes made by the register willingly, or do you know whether
they were under protest? A. The changes, as they affected the statements of
former years, were, as I understand, protested against. I hardly know that I should
state that there was a protest. It was, in the judgment of the late register, unnec
essary to make the changes. I know that Mr. Allison expressed the opinion offi
cially to the secretary that, in his judgment, it was not advisable to make any
change in regard to the statements of former years under former administrations.
By Mr. Allison :
O. Was this official advice of the register to the secretary in'writinsr. do vou re
member, or was it simply an oral or verbal statement to you? A. It was a verbal
statement
Q. In your presence? A. Yes, sir.
Maj. J. T. Power, who was in the register's office from 1809 to 1875, and is now
chief clerk of the treasury department, and formerly was chief of the division of
warrants, estimates and appropriations, gives this account of the same matter (see
testimony, page 65) :
O. Do vou know whether a letter was sent from the secretary's office to the
register in 1870 directing the register to change or alter the public debt statement?
A. I remember such a letter. It came to the register and was by him handed to
me, and I passed it to the chief ot the division in charge of the statements referred
to in the letter. i )
J?: P ytt know whether the register thought it or not a proper thing to do to
carry out the instructions or the letter r A. The register ocjociea very strongly to
the change suggested in tne letter, and my recollection is that he presented nis od-
jections to the secretary.
O. Jn person or wntingr A. in person.
Q. Do you recollect the result of the objections? A. I only know what Mr.
Allison, the register, stated as the result at the time.
Q. Now tell us what Mr. Allison stated to you at the time as having taken
place between him and the becretary. A. My recollection is that about this time
the subject ot the change in the manner of stating these accounts was before the
department, and whether immediately before or after the receipt of this order Mr.
Allison communicated to me the fact that he had had an interview with the secre
tary, and had given his views that these changes should not be made.
Mr. Dawes. I object to any statement by the witness of what Mr. Allison told
him as having transpired between Mr. Allison and the secretary.
The letter of November 24, 1871, produced by Register Scofield, is an official
order of the secretary of the treasury, through the chief clerk, to Register Allison,
to make certain changes or else omit from his next official report to congress the
tabular statement ot the publio debt which had been regularly made by the regis
ter and officially reported to congress annually by him from the very foundation ot
the government The then register, Mr. John Allison, obeyed the order of the sec
retary, as is established by the citations already made from the testimony of Messrs.
Scofield, Titcomb and Power.
During the examination of Register Scofield, the following questions were asked
and answers given (see testimony, page 9) :
By Mr. Beck :
Q. The constitution of the United States, in the 7th clause of section 9, article
1, provides that "no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of
appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts
and expenditures of all publio money shall be ttublished from time to time ;" and
section 313 of the revised statutes of the United States makes it the duty of the
register "to keep all accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the publio money,
and of all debts due to or from the United States." Now, please state by what
authority, if any, the secretary or his chief clerk, or anybody else, could direct the
register either to change his report or conform them to any view that the secretary
or an) one else might have as to the proper mode of keeping and publishing them.
A. I suppose the secretary has authority to prescribe the manner in which the ac
counts shall be kept, but I do not suppose that any secretary has any right to Alter
the books ot the treasury, and I have always understood that that was never done.
Q. Admitting that the secretary had the right to prescribe rules for the future
action of the register, had be any sort of authority to give orders as to how past
events should be stated, or past records changed after they had been published and
submitted to congress under the constitutional requirement? A. I think that
would be a question which your committee ought to answer in your report.
By the Chairman :
Q. Are you cot as register the official book keeper of the government, and final
custodian of all warrants and vouohers, whatever may have been paid for any ex
penditure or receipt of the government? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Can any money be reoeived into or paid out of the treasury without a war
rant going through your office? A. Moneys are received into the treasary by war
rants aadpaid out on warranto, whita by the act of 1789, Rt. Stat, Sea SOS, must