Duke University Libraries 
 
 Report of the S 
 Conf Pam #290 
 
 DTTDEEDSbX 
 
Aisi <>iar*e?>^ 
 
 HOUSE OF ilEPilESENTATIVES, May 2fi, I8G 1.— Laid on the 
 tabic and ordered to be printed. 
 
 [By Mr. SiN<;LKft)N, from Special Coniuiittcc.] 
 
 IIEPOKT 
 
 OK Tilt; 
 
 SPECIAL COMMITTEE, 
 
 (Ju the Paijment of Glawii>. 
 
 The undersignod, a majority of the members of the S[)ecial Com- 
 mittee, to whom Avas referred the letter of the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, in responds to certain resolutions adopted by the House, and 
 who were charged with the duty of enquiring into the matter con- 
 tained in said resolutions, beg leave to submit the following report : 
 
 The committee addressed a letter to the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury; which, with his answer and accompanying papers, are laid be- 
 fore the House. 
 
 It will be seen by examination of the 5th section of the currency 
 act of 17th February, 1864, that no authority exists for paying out 
 of the Treasury, the old issue of treasury notes, after the first day 
 of April last; and this construction has been very properly given to 
 this section by the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury, however, takes this further view 
 of said section, that where a requisition has been made by the Secre- 
 tary of War, say for one hundred thousand dollars, and upon that 
 requisition a warrant has issued from the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 upon the Treasurer, who keeps the funds of the.Government, and the 
 one hundred thousand dollars had been passed to the credit of the 
 disbursing officer pf the War Department, before the first day of 
 April last, and checks had been given by said disbursing officer upon 
 that amount, that then these checks are payable in the old issue. 
 
The undersigned think this a just and proper construction of the 
 act ; for although the funds thus subject to the check or checks of 
 the disbursing officer, are still in the vaults of the Treasury, yet they 
 are only held as upon deposit, and when checks are drawn upon them, 
 they are payable in the only kind of currency in the Treasury at the 
 time of the requisition warrant, and passing said funds to the credit 
 of the disbursing officer. Any other view of the subject would ena- 
 ble parties who had contracted with the Government, and received 
 checks for payment before the first day of April last, to evade the in- 
 tent and meaning of said act, by refusing to present said checks for 
 payment before said 1st day of April, thus compelling their pay- 
 ment in the new issue after that time. 
 
 To all such creditors, notice was given, by order of the Secretary 
 of War, published in the leading journals of the Confederate States, 
 that these checks or demands must be presented before the 1st day of 
 April last, and that they would only be paid in the old issue. In a 
 few cases, where parties of this character failed or refused to present 
 their demands, before the first day of April, as notified, they have 
 been required to take the old issue, which was set apart for their pay- 
 ment* and in no other cases. 
 
 The undersigned, therefore, believe that the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury has been guilty of no misfeasance or malfeasance in office, in 
 respect to the matters contained in said resolution, but that he has 
 carried out the true intent and meaning of said 5th section of the 
 currency act of February 17th, 1864. All of which is respectfully 
 submitted. 
 
 0. R. SINGLETON, > -, , . ^ 
 
 RO JOHNSTON \ -"^^'^'^"^^^ ^f (Committee. 
 

 MINORITY REPORT. 
 
 .J 
 
 4 
 
 The undersigned, dissenting from the views of the majority of the 
 Special Committee, submits the following report : 
 
 The act of Congress of February 17, *'to reduce the currency and 
 to authorize a new issue of note<' and bonds," section 5, declares, 
 •' that after llie first day of April next, all autliority heretofore given 
 to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue treasury notes shall be, and 
 the same is hereby revoked," and provides that " the Secretary of the 
 Treasury may, after that time, issue new treasury notes." 
 
 The letter of the Secretary of the Treasury to the committee, now 
 communicated to the House, concedes a construction of the law which 
 forbids the payment from the Treasury, after that day, in any other 
 than the new and untaxed notes. This inhibition, however, he insists 
 is not applicable to notes used in payment of checks drawn by dis- 
 bursing officers of the Government previous to the first day of April, 
 and this class of claims, whenever presented, are to be paid in the 
 old issue. The funds reserved to meet these are considered as de- 
 posits merely, and not in the Treasury, and consequently when paid 
 out are not ''issued''^ within the meaning of the act. He has given 
 instructions to this effect, which are still in force. This view of tho 
 case is sustained by the majority of the comraittc"'. 
 
 The undersigned, not concurring in this construction of the law, 
 briefly presents the grounds of his dissent : 
 
 Treasury notes are qualified contracts, on the part of the Confede- 
 rate States, for the payment of monc} to the holder, consummated 
 by their delivery. AVhile in the hands of ofiicers of the Treasury 
 Department and undelivered, they are wholly inoperative and involve 
 no obligation. 
 
 They are "mwed" when they leave the Treasury, pass into private 
 hands, and are no longer under the control of the Government, its 
 officers or agents. They are then delivered and become valid and 
 binding as public engagements. It is immaterial through the hands 
 of how many different officers of the Government thoy may be trans- 
 mitted — arid whatever entiie^-» in books or instruments of writing may 
 be required to protect the public interest and ensure a just accounta- 
 bility among these officers, so long as the notes are in the official 
 custody and under the official control of any of them, and.subject to 
 the authority of the head of the Department, they are " in the Treas- 
 vry,^^ and, when paid out to claimants, are " issued.''^ This is admit- 
 ted in the order for the return of all unexpended amounts in the hands 
 of disbursing officers, in order that notes of the new issue might be 
 substituted in their place. 
 
 The correctness of the view taken by the undersigned will appear 
 from several considerations ; 
 
1st, If Dotcs reserved for such payments are destroyed, the loss 
 does not fall on the disbursing officer, nor the holder of his check, 
 ■who is his assignee for that amount, but upon the Government. 
 
 2d. In case of an insufficient supply of treasury notes to meet 
 these claims, or its reduction from any cause below the credit, the 
 deficiency must be made up from the resources of the Treasury, and, 
 if necessary, by the preparation and execution of other notes, and 
 this can be done only under the authority of the act. 
 
 3d. The notes, up to the moment of being paid out, remain in ex- 
 clusive custody and under the sole contrt)l of officers of the Govern- 
 ment, directly responsible to its head. 
 
 4th. The order. for the return of balances in the bauds of disbursing 
 officers and other public agents, on the first day of April, admits that 
 they have not been issued, and after that day cannot rightfully be issued. 
 
 5th. The currency act taxes such notes as were outstanding on the 
 1st day of April, in the hands of those 4o whom they belong, and not 
 such as were then in the hands of officers of the Government, for dis- 
 bursement.^ The instruction -of the Secretary taxes the latter, or 
 ■which is the same thing, taxes a certain class of claims on the Gov- 
 ernment, neither of which finds any warrant in the law. 
 
 The undersigned, therefore, is of opinion that checks of disbursing 
 officers, drawn before the first day of April, like all other forms of 
 claim upon the Confederata States, can be legally paid only in the 
 new issue of treasury notes. 
 
 W. N. IT. SMITH. 
 
Treasury Department, C. S. A., ) 
 
 Bichmmid, May 10, 1864. \ , 
 
 Hon. T. S. Bocock: 
 
 Sir: I have had the honor to receive the following resolutions from 
 the House of Representatives : 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to 
 inform tlie House — 
 
 ^' FIn.f, Whether any demands a«^ainst the (government, ascertained 
 or accruing previous to the first day of April last, and presented for 
 payment since, have been paid in treasury notes of the old issue, 
 rated at the amount specified on their face ; or — 
 
 "Second, In treasury notes of the new issue on condition of the 
 abatement of one-third of the claim, and the acceptance of two-third^ 
 in satisfaction thereof; 
 
 " Third, And if so, under whose and what orders, and by what 
 authority of law, such payments have been made, and such notes of 
 the old emission been re- issued since said date, 
 
 " Fourth, And if any such orders have been given, whether the 
 same have been made applicable to claims made by the States, as well 
 as to those due individuals." 
 
 I respectfully inform the House that I have no knowledge or infor- 
 mation as to any such payments or arrangements as are mentioned in 
 the resolution. 
 
 C. G, MEMMINGER, 
 Secretary ^' tlie Treasury. 
 
 Treasury Department, ) 
 
 RuJimond, May 19, 1804. \ 
 
 Hon. W. N. H. Smith, 
 
 Chairman Committee Honse of liepresentatives : 
 
 Sir : I h^ave the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
 17th instant, transmitting copy of resolution of the Honse of Repre- 
 sentatives, under which a Special Committee has been appointed to 
 obtain information as to matters contained in a resolution of the House 
 already answeied by this Department; and asking information upon 
 certain specific points now presented. 
 
 These specific enquiries enable the Secretary to see what was the 
 purpose of the first enquiry ; and a little explanation of the forms of 
 business will show the reason why no satisfactory information upon ' 
 the points presented can be had at the Treasury Department. 
 
 Payments at the Treasury are made in two modes : First, upon 
 
claims regularly audi teil and passed; and, secondly,, upon requisitions 
 made by the diftereut departments in favor of disbursing ofiicers. The 
 first class are audited and paid as demands upon the Treasury, The 
 second class are paid in the following manner. The Secretary of War, 
 for example, makes a requisition for one hundred thousand dollars, to 
 be placed in the" hands of a quartermaster. Upon this requisition, a 
 treasury warrant is issued, and upon the receipt of the quartermaster, 
 the treasurer hands to him or passes to his credit the amount, and 
 charges him with the same. The money has thus passed out of the 
 Treasury and stands to his credit as a deposit, subject to his check. 
 He checks for it at pleasure, and the Treasury office has nO knowledge 
 or information as to the demands for account of Avhich the check is 
 drawn. In accounting afterwards with the Auditor, the quartermas- 
 ter discharges himself by pro(^luction of vouchers for demands paid, 
 but no reference is had to the checks which may have been used to 
 pay the same. Thus, it will appear that if a requisition were carried 
 to the credit of a disbursing officer prior to the 1st April, a check on 
 that credit necessarily called for payment in the funds' then standing 
 at his credit. To enable the disbursing officer to use the currency, it 
 became necessary that he should return the old currency into the 
 Treasury and procure another requisition for new. So long, however, 
 as the officer drew checks on the old balance, they would be paid in 
 the funds which that balance represented ; and the Treasury Depart- 
 ment could not know what demands were paid by these checks, or 
 whether any specific arrangement or abatement had been agreed upon 
 between the creditor and the disbursing officer. 
 
 With this explanation, I proceed to answer the enf(uiries contained 
 in your note : 
 
 1. In answer to the first enquiry, I would respectfully state that the 
 printed paper, herewith submitted, bearing date 23d February, 1864, 
 sets forth the general regulations for carrying into eftect the act to 
 reduce the currency. No specific instruction is contained therein as 
 to demands against the Treasury, due before and presented after the 
 1st April last. It was thought that the 5th section of the act Avas suf- 
 ficiently distinct to forbid any payment after 1st April in old notes. 
 A few cases came up in which depositaries enquired whether interest 
 coupons, payable before 1st April, and presented after lat April,- 
 should be paid in old or new issues, and they were instructed to pay in 
 new issues. A copy of a telegram to the Assistant Treasurer at 
 Charleston, dated 26 th April, is herewith submitted. 
 
 2. In answer to the second enquiry, I would respectfully refer to 
 the explanation above made. The regulations of 9th March and 19th 
 April, were issued in conformity with these views, and with the ex- 
 planatory note of the officer of the Treasury, (all of whiih are here- 
 with submitted,) will give all the information in possession of the 
 Department. 
 
 3. The third enquiry does not discriminate between payments made 
 by disbursing officers and those made at the Treasury. As to the 
 former, information can only be had from the Department to which 
 those officers belong, The Treasury (as already explained,) have no 
 
information on the subject. All demands paid at the Treasury sub- 
 sequent to the 1st April, have been paid in new issue, except in 
 the single case of checks, drawn by disbursing officers on balances 
 standing at their credit on 1st April, and not returned into the Treas- 
 ury. 
 
 1. The fourth enquiry is fully answered in the answer to the 3d. 
 
 5. So with the oth. 
 
 6. In concluding, the Secretary would respectfully state, that, in his 
 view of the law, no old currency can be issued after the 1st April, 
 and as far as he knows, none has been. Whether disbursing officers 
 may or may not have acted under mistaken views of the law, he 
 cannot say. So far as the Treasury officers are concerned, upon no- 
 tice of any such mistake, he would promptly correct it. He fully re- 
 cognizes the right of Congress to enquire into and correct all such 
 errors or abuses, and would most readily make any further enquiries 
 to ascertain and correct any which may be pointed out in any officer 
 of his Department. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obeeient servant, 
 
 C. G. MEMMINGER, 
 
 Secretary of Treasury. 
 
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