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\i KPOllT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND AUDITOR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TREASUKY iW TFIK CONFEDERATE STATES, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HONORABLE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 
 
 EXHIBITING THE 
 
 OPERATIONS OF IIIS OFFICE FROM ITS CREA- 
 TION TO THE 31sT OF DECEMBER, 1861, 
 INCLUSIVE, ITS PRESENT CON- 
 DITION, &c., kc. 
 
 MADE JANUARY 8th, 1862. 
 
 RICHMOND: 
 
 TVI.EFJ, WI.SE, ALLEfJRE ANlt S^lrTH, PKS. 
 
 1 8 6 2. 
 
11 E P R T 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND AUDITOR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TREASURY OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HONORABLE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 
 
 EXHIBITING THE 
 
 OPERATIONS OF HIS OFFICE FROM ITS CREA- 
 TION TO THE 31sT OF DECEMBER, 1861, 
 INCLUSIVE, ITS PRESENT CON- 
 DITION, &o., &c. 
 
 MADE JANUARY 8th, 1862. 
 
 R I C H iM N D : 
 
 TYLER, WISE, ALLEGRE AND SMITH, PRS. 
 18G2. 
 
 % 
 
^ 'J 
 
 REPOllT. 
 
 Treasury Department, ^ 
 
 Second Auditor's Office, > 
 
 January 8th, 1S62. ) 
 
 Hon. C. G. Memminger, 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury .* 
 
 Sir : On the 2d ultimo I had the honor to receive your 
 comraunicntion of the same (hite, asking of me " A report of 
 the condition of this office, the number of accounts and 
 claims that have been settled, designating the description 
 and the amount, the number of accounts and claims on hand 
 for settlement, the number of accounts and claims unsettled, 
 as well as the general condition of the office." Subsequently, 
 at my request, you consented that I might delay the required 
 report, so that it might include the operations of the office 
 to the 31st December, 1861, the end of the year. I have 
 accordingly the honor to submit the following : 
 
 Before proceeding to describe the condition of the office, 
 as above indicated, I think it material to give you a history 
 of its creation, my own appointment as Second Auditor and 
 its subsequent organization. This office, as you are aware, 
 was established by act No. 79, entitled " An Act to appoint 
 a Second Auditor of the Treasury, approved March 15th, 
 186 1 ," who is therein charged with the auditing of all accounts 
 for the War Department, and under the authority of another 
 act, No. 238, approved August 3()th, 1861, the Second Audi- 
 tor was designated by you " to audit the accounts of the res- 
 pective States against the Confederacy," in addition to all 
 those of the War Department. 
 
 On the 27th of March I received from President Davis 
 my commission as Second Auditor, and on the same day took 
 the oath of office as required by law. Finding no accom- 
 modations for opening and organizing the office, and learning 
 upon consultation with the several military bureaux, the 
 
channels through which, according to custom, they would 
 be rendered to the Treasury, that neitlier accounts of mili- 
 tar\ disbursing officers, nor claims could be received tor audit 
 within two or tliree weeks thereafter, with your consent and 
 that of the Secretary of War, I made a visit to Washington 
 City for the purpose of obtaining such books, forms and pre- 
 cedents of the old Government as might prove highly useful 
 in our new one. I must say, however, that I met with very 
 little success, for it being well known that I had been an 
 officer of the former for five and twenty years, which posi- 
 tion I had voluntarily abandoned for service in the latter, all 
 access to the means of information I desired was sternly 
 denied me by the officials and employees of Mr. Lincoln. I 
 returned and entered upon my duties about the loth of April. 
 A few days thereafter you sent to the office one clerk, Mr. 
 Nash, of South Carolina, and shortly after you appointed 
 the present able and experienced book-keeper, Albert Ellery, 
 Esq., who bad previously served with great credit to himself 
 in the same capacity in the Third Auditor's office in Wash- 
 ington. I then proceeded to organize by opening a set of 
 books and procuring, with some difficulty and delay, the 
 other necessary record books, with desks, stationery, &c., 
 and upon a small scale, it is true, commenced the oj)Oi'ation3 
 of the olhce, with three clerks, (Mr. Dalton, of Ahibama, 
 having been added,) but without either chief clerk or mes- 
 senger. This Avas the only force avc had during the stay of 
 the Government at Montgomery, which was until about the 
 2oth of ^lay, when we commenced our removal to Richmond. 
 On our arrival at the latter place, about the 1st of June, I 
 found no accommodations for the office whatever, and our 
 books and furniture did not all arrive until about two weeks 
 after. In the meantime heavy railroad claims for transpor- 
 tation and others, with accounts of disbursing officers, were 
 coming in, and very inconveniently, though the best the 
 circumstances would admit of, the labors of the office were 
 resumed on the second lloor of the Custom Iluuse Building, 
 where we remained until about the 21st of August, wlien we 
 removed to our present accommodations in the fourth story 
 of the Mechanics Institute, where we, at present, occupy 
 the large room of the Virginia Historical Society and two 
 small ones adjoining. 
 
 On the 29th of June, you appointed my chief clerk, Sam'l 
 S. Rind, Esq., who, for eight years previous to the 2()th of 
 April last, (when he resigned,) held the same position in the 
 
Third Auditor's office in Washington, Your appointment 
 of clerks was then made in the following order: June 1 0th, 
 1 ; July 16th, 1 ; September 2d, 6th, 9th and 18th, 6 ; Oc- 
 tober 1st, 5th, 15th, 17th, 18th and 28th, 6; November 5th, 
 6th and 28th, 3 ; December 2d, 13th and 31st, 3; and on 
 January 1st, 1862, 2, which, including Messrs. Ellery, 
 Nash and Dalton, previously mentioned, and exclusive of 
 the chief clerk, makes 25, and deducting Mr. Dalton, who 
 has been transferred to another office, leaves 24 in all. One 
 of these, INIr. Bowden, of North Carolina, appointe<l on the 
 1st instant, has now appeared and qualified. On the 28th 
 of August you appointed John T. Booth messenger, at a 
 salary of 3tl() dollars per annum. 
 
 I herewith enclose you a complete list of the persons com- 
 posing the office, showing the nativity of each and the State 
 from whicli each was appointed. 
 
 The ]\lilitary Bureaux through which the regular army 
 and volunteer accounts are rendered to this office for settle- 
 ment are : 
 
 1st. That of the Quartermaster General who is, ex officio, 
 Paymaster General. 
 
 2d. The Commissary General. 
 
 3d. The (Colonel of Ordnance. 
 
 4th, The Major of Engineers. 
 
 5th. Surgeon General. 
 
 6th. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
 
 And lastl}^ but first in difficulty and importance, and re- 
 quiring more varied talent and experience than any one of the 
 rest — 7th. The numerous individual claims of every imagi- 
 nable feature growing out of all the rest of the above, 
 besides all the claims of the several Confederate States under 
 the special act of Congress before alluded to. 
 
 For the various branches of the military and Indian ser- 
 vice above described, from the beginning of the Confederate 
 Government to the present time, the Congress have appro- 
 priated, which has been charged upon the books of this 
 office, the enormous sum, in the aggregate, of $170,163,486 
 24 cents. 
 
 Well knowing that the nccounts and claims represented, 
 and to be representeji by these appropriations, hitherto un- 
 precedented in the history of the continent, could not possi- 
 bly be successfully managed by any auditor, however able, 
 without the most perfect organizaton and system in every- 
 thing, and profiting by past experience in the accounts of the 
 
6 
 
 ^Icxican war with the United States, when I had the honor 
 of being mainly instrumental in having adopted a ^;imilar 
 course, which as long as it was vigorously and f.iitli fully 
 carried out was eminently successful. I have, accn-dingly 
 organized the Office into Divisions corresponding with the 
 distinct classes of the public business confided to its charge, 
 as follows : 
 
 1st. The Chief Clerk.— Sam'l S. Rind, Esq. 
 2nd. The Chief Book-keeper. — Albert Ellery, Esq., and 
 Wm. P. Lawton, assistant. 
 
 3rd. Division of Claims. — James W. Hampton, Esq., 
 Chief, and B. E. Portiau.x, Charles A. Rose, George 
 Freaner, Edward M. Clark, John Calvert, and John Kern, 
 Jr., assistants. 
 
 4th. Division of the Quartermaster's Department. — A. T, 
 McCallum, Esq., Chief, and Richard L. Brown, F. L. Brock- 
 ett, C. S. Keech, and C. D. Mclndoe, assistants. 
 
 5th. Division of the Commissary's Department. — Thomas 
 C. Daniel, Esq., Chief, and David A. Cardwell and Tliomas 
 Edwards, assistants. 
 
 6th. Division of the Pay Department. — John J. Wright, 
 Esq., Chief, and John McCormick and M. P. Andrews, as- 
 sistants. 
 
 7th. Keeper of the Requisition Records of Remittances 
 to Disbursing Officers and for Payment of Adjudicated 
 Claims. — James TI. Nash, Esq. 
 
 8th. Keeper of the Register of all accounts and claims, 
 letters and receipts, of every kind. — Robert Gnximo. 
 
 9th. Keeper and Recorder of all reports and letters to be 
 recorded. — John A. Belvin, Jr., Esq. 
 
 As yet, I have not been able to establish a Division for 
 the Ordnance Engineer and Medical Departments and for 
 expenditures on account of the Indian service, which from 
 the comparative smallness of the a[)propriations for these 
 branches of the service, I shall form into but one as soon as 
 the necessary force of competent accountants is provided. 
 At present the accounts rendered by these Bureaux, arc scat- 
 tered for settlement among all tlic otlier accounting divisions. 
 With this organization, all working harmoniously and ener- 
 getically as I have no doubt they will — intelligent, well dis- 
 ciplined, and under the immediate authority and direction of 
 the Auditor, there can be no question that the office will be 
 fully e([ual to all the purposes of its establishment, and able 
 promptly to meet any demands that may be made upon it. 
 
7 
 
 and can be expanded to any extent, or contracted as the public 
 interests may require. 
 
 The answers to your enquiries will be found in the follow- 
 ing, taken from the reports of the various divisions of the 
 office: 
 
 FROM THE CHIEF BOOK-KEEPER, 
 
 It appears that, as before remarked, that since the begin- 
 ning of the Confederate Government to the 31st of Decem- 
 ber last, there has been appropiated for military purposes, 
 and for the Indian service the sum of $170,163,468 24 
 Amount of re-payments 149,496 77 
 
 170,312,965 01 
 Amount drawn 1 00,680,729 43 
 
 Balance 69,632,235 58 
 
 Aggregate amount of drafts on the Treasury by requisition 
 during the period from 23rd February to 31st December, 
 1861, inclusive $100,680,729 43 
 
 Drafts by requisition, charged to perso- 
 nal accounts 198,941,165 70 
 
 Drafts by requisition for 
 
 the payment of claims 1,739,563 73 
 
 100,680,729 43 
 
 Re-Payments : 
 
 Amount of counter-re- 
 quisitions by transfers $133,794 09 
 
 Amount of counter-re- "^ 
 
 quisitions by deposits 
 
 in the Treasury 15,702 68 
 
 149,496 77 
 
 The aggregate amount of accounts settled during the pe- 
 riod from 23rd February to 31st December, 1861, inclusive, 
 and comprised in 528 reports was $2,440,919 76, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Accounts settled out of ad- 
 vances made and charged 
 to officers and agents.. . . $701,356 03 
 Acc'ts settled and charged to 
 
 the approp'tions, (claims) 1,739,563 73 
 
 $2,440,919 76 
 
8 
 
 He also reports that 421 accounts have been opened. 
 This officer also keeps the appropriation books. 
 
 For the advances and remittances to disbursing officers, 
 of course, regular accounts have been opened upon the book- 
 keepers' ledgers, and each officer or agent charged Avith the 
 amount of public funds he may have received, either from 
 the Treasury direct, or from other disbursing officers, and 
 the accounts are accurately kept until finally closed. They 
 now number 42 1 , and to some officers there have been ad- 
 vanced the very large sums of from over seven to eight mil- 
 lions of dollars -within the last eight months. The number 
 of regular bonded disbursing officers, quartermasters, com- 
 missaries, assistant quartermasters, commissaries and agents 
 is now 456. There is also a number of officers of the army, 
 engineers ordnance and medical departments who are disburs- 
 ing military funds Avithout ever having given any bonds, and 
 to some of these, large suras of money have been advanced 
 direct from the Treasury, in one or two instances of over 
 2,(I()0,()(M) of dollars. Besides these, there are numbers of 
 acting assistant quartermasters and commissaries and agents 
 who receive and make disbursement of public money, and 
 receive and issue public stores and property who do not, nor 
 are they required to give bond, as their services as such, are 
 of a temporary character, and cease with the occasions which 
 require them. All disbursing officers, whether of money or 
 property, or both, are b}'^ law, required to render their accounts 
 quarter yearly for settlement at the Treasury, from which 
 their number, magnitude and complication may be easily in- 
 ferred, and it is of the greatest possible importance to the 
 public interests that the force of this office should be suf- 
 ficient to settle the accounts of such officers, within the suc- 
 ceeding quarter to which they are rendered, that delinquen- 
 cies and errors may be promptly discovered and corrected, 
 and every officer held to the strict accountability contem- 
 plated 1)y law. 
 
 As immediately connected with the book-keeper, I shall 
 next notice the keeper of the requisition books and records. 
 These show that 2,209 requisitions have been issued by the 
 Secretary of War, signed by him and the Comptroller, and 
 signed l)y myself, and registered and charged upon the books 
 of this office. Upon each has been issued warrants signed 
 by you and the Comptroller and drafts signed by the 
 Treasurer and Register. To each requisition for the 
 remittance of money, there has been written a letter of ad- 
 
vice to the^party to whom the remitt<anee was made, number- 
 ing altogether 1,786, all by the Requisition Clerk, Mr. Nash. 
 
 From the Chief of the Division of Claims : 
 
 The business of this division is the examination and set- 
 tlement of State daiins and miscellaneous private claims 
 growing out of the war. 
 
 Of the State claims the first received was that of South 
 Carolina, which State has presented accounts and vouchers 
 under the Act of March 11th, 1861, amounting to $1,398,- 
 803 17, on which there has been allowed and paid the sum 
 of $654,774 95, there has been suspended and disallowed, 
 of the vouchers acted on $137,993 94, (including vouchers 
 withdrawn by the State), and there remain in this office, not 
 reported to the Comptroller, $606,0311 68. Of this last 
 sum it may be remarked that the vouchers have nearly all 
 received the usual examination, but have remained suspend- 
 ed, because they were mostly for the purchase of property 
 unaccounted for, and for other reasons heretofore given. 
 
 From the State of INIississippi, a claim was presented in 
 August last for expenditures growing out of the war, 
 amounting to $350,515 80. An immediate partial settle- 
 ment and payment were earnestly urged ; and in anticipa- 
 tion of provision lieing made by Congress such a settlement 
 was made to the amount of $74,499 48, which was paid the 
 State, and additional payments of $7,408 05 and $10,257 
 85 have been since made on the same claim, amounting in 
 all to $92,165 38. 
 
 From the State of Tennessee, a claim was presented in 
 October, amounting to $580,346 71. This was for supplies 
 and munitions of war, fully shown to have been turned over 
 to the Confederate States, and there was no difficulty in 
 making an award for the full amount claimed, which Avas paid 
 to the State. 
 
 From the State of North Carolina, a similar claim was 
 recently presented, amounting to $54,463 59, which, upon 
 the same grounds as the preceding, was allowed and paid the 
 State. 
 
 From the State of Louisiana, a claim was, on the 7th of 
 November, presented expressly under the Act of August 
 30th, (No. 258,) amounting to $760,529 25; the accounts 
 and vouchers in which, have been fully examined ; but a 
 settlement has not been made, as Congress has not authorized 
 the payment of claims under said Act. 
 
10 
 
 As with regard to South Carolina, so with Mississippi 
 and Loui.>?iana, the major portion of the accounts of said 
 States remaining in this office unsettled, (but which have 
 nearly all passed through the usual course of examination) 
 are for the purchase of supplies, which are not shown to have 
 been applied to the public service. 
 
 RECAPITULATION OF STATE CLAIMS. 
 
 Amount clainu-d. Allowed and paid. 
 
 South Carolina $1,398,803 17 $654,774 95 
 
 Mississippi 350,515 80 92,1G5 38 
 
 Tennessee 580,346 71 580,346 71 
 
 North Carolina 54,463 59 54,463 59 
 
 Louisiana 760,529 25 
 
 Of private claims of a miscellaneous character, growing 
 eut of the war, there have been presented, from the organ- 
 ization of the Government to 1st January, 1862, 325, 
 Of these there have been settled and allowed 276, amounting 
 to §356,862 78, a small part of this sum, though allowed, 
 had not been paid on 31st December, 1861 ; reported to the 
 Comptroller and not yet returned, 11, amounting to 
 $15,969 94; suspended awaiting further proofs 14, 
 $5,537 62 ; returned to Heads of Military Bureau, with 
 report as to their merits, 3, $4,005 00 ; rejected as inadmis- 
 sible 4, $2,278 75; and remaining on file unexamined 17, 
 amounting to $17,870 01. This division, also, has charge 
 of the settlement of claims for the arrears of pay, &c., due 
 deceased soldiers, and so numerous and pressing have they 
 recently become, as to retiuire the constant labor of three 
 clerks. Already 270 claims of this description have been 
 presented, but in consequence of the delay and difficulty in 
 obtaining the service of deceased soldiers from the muster 
 rolls, very few of which have yet been received at this 
 office, only 100 of the 270 have been disposed of, amounting 
 to $4,954 81, leaving 170 yet unsettled. 
 From the Chief of the Division of the Qurtermaster's 
 Department is shown that 309 accounts have been re- 
 ceived, involving an expenditure of $2,825,409 75 
 
 And that of this number 82 have been set- 
 tled for an expenditure of. . $355,387 55 
 And that 10 have been adjusted 
 and referred to the Comp- 
 troller for his decision 
 
 amounting to , 387,017 88 
 
 $748,405 43 
 
11 
 
 Leaving 217 accounts unsettled^ representing 
 
 expenditure amounting to the sum of . . . . $2,077,004 32" 
 
 From the Commissary's Division : 
 
 Upon this lu-anch of the service there has been received of 
 money accounts, accompanied by returns of receipts and 
 issues of provisions and Commissaries stores 49, amount- 
 ing to !$1 ,229,998 48 
 
 Of these 34 have been settled, amounting to. 327,795 45 
 
 Leaving 15 on hand unsettled $902,203 03 
 
 The number of provision returns received of receipts and 
 
 issues unaccompanied by money accounts 
 
 is... 241 
 
 Of these there have been settled 70 
 
 Leaving unsettled 171 
 
 From the Pay Division : 
 
 To this division only 10 accounts have been yet rendered, 
 
 claiming an expenditure of $386,330 96 
 
 There have been settled 6, 
 
 amountiong to $ 18,173 03 
 
 And there have been reported 
 
 to the Comptroller, and not 
 
 yet returned to this ofiBce, 2 
 
 amounting to 121,206 48 
 
 139,379 51 
 
 Remaining unsettled 2 accounts amounting to $246,951 45 
 
 This division has also had in hand the only account yet 
 received on account of expenditures of the Indian service, 
 that of General Albert Pike : 
 
 There were advanced to him for this purpose $20,000 {){)■ 
 And his accounts have been settled showing 
 
 an expenditure of 19,429 60 
 
 Balance in his hands on settlement $570 40' 
 
 The keeper of the register of accounts, claims, letters, 
 receipts, &c., reports that there have been received and re- 
 
It 
 
 gistered of such, 1,525, besides a great number of other 
 papers not necessary to go upon the register. lie keeps 
 three several register records. 
 
 The recorder of letters and reports states thrxt his books 
 show, that of these there have been recorded 964. Besides 
 these nearly as many letters of enquiry have been written 
 and signed by me, which I have not thought necessary to 
 have recorded, 
 
 RECAPITULATION : 
 
 Book-keeper — Amount of appropriations, $17(), 163,468 24 
 Amount of repayments. .. 149,496 77 
 
 Total $170,312,965 01 
 
 Amount drawn out to wit : 
 
 By requisitions and 
 placed in the 
 hands of disburs- 
 ing officers $ 98,941,165 70 
 
 By ditto in payment 
 
 of claims 1,739,563 73 
 
 SKiO, 630,729 43 
 
 Remaining in the 
 
 Treasury $69,632,235 58 
 
 Division of Claims: 
 
 Number of claims received 
 
 60 t, amounting to $3,547,182 62 
 
 Number of claims settled 
 
 376, amounting to 1,739,563 73 
 
 Remaining unsettled 224, 
 
 amount $1,807,618 89 
 
 In the above arc included 270 claims for arrears of pay 
 due deceased soldiers of the Confederate service, 100 of 
 which have been allowed and paid. 
 
 Accounts of the Quartermaster's Department : 
 
 No. settled 92 $ 748,405 43 
 
 No. unsettled 217 2,077,004 32 
 
 $2,825,409 75 
 
13 
 
 « 
 
 Amount brought over $2,825,409 75 
 
 Ditto Commissary Department : 
 
 No. settled 34 $ 327,795 45 
 
 No. unsettled 15 9(12,203 03 
 
 1,229,998 48 
 
 No. settled 70 (property). .. 
 
 No. unsettled 171 
 
 Ditto Pay Department : 
 
 No. settled 8 $ 139,379 51 
 
 No. unsettled 2 246,951 45 
 
 386,330 96 
 
 Indian Service : 
 
 No. settled 1 $ 20,000 00 
 
 20,000 00 
 
 Totals : 
 
 205— $1,235,580 39 405— $3,226,158 80 
 
 $4,461,739 19 
 
 The numhcr of accounts, receipts, kc, received, has al- 
 ready been stated as reported by the Keeper of the Regis- 
 ter. 
 Letters and reports written and recorded about 3,000 
 
 I have thus. Sir, laid before you an exhibit of the opera- 
 tions of the Second Auditor's Office, from the date I had 
 the honor to take charge of it, to the end of the past year, 
 its present condition, inferentially its wants in regard to the 
 force necessary to meet them, and the enormous demands 
 now being made, and which must be made upon its labors, 
 intelligence and fidelity. With milita y appropriations upon 
 its books, already amounting to more than one hundred and 
 seventy millions of dollars, being about seventeen times 
 greater than all the other appropriations for the support 
 of the Government put together, with disbursing 
 officers numerous enough for a small army, with 
 claims the number and extent of which cannot be 
 anticipated, and with numerous other matters, Avhich 
 cannot appear in this Report, but which as impera- 
 tively demand attention and time as anything else, this 
 office has now a force of only 24 men — a force so totally in- 
 adequate and disproportioned as only to be mentioned to 
 carry conviction to every one of its utter inability, no mat- 
 ter how industrious and laborious, promptly to dispatch all 
 
14 
 
 the business in its various branches and ramifications that 
 may be brought before it. 
 
 1, therefore, in full view of all the circumstances in which 
 the office is placed, and of the public interests, earnestly 
 suggest that the force of the office be at once filled up as 
 follows : 
 
 Book keep.^rs 2 
 
 L)ivision of Claims 8 — 10 
 
 Division of the Quartermasters' Depjirtment 12 
 " " Subsistence " 10 
 
 ** " Ordnance, Engineer, Medical 
 
 and Indian Departments 5 
 
 Requisitions 1 
 
 Register 1 
 
 Recorder 1 
 
 50 
 
 Fifty industrious, intelligent and energetic men, in my 
 judgment, are not one more than will be absolutely required. 
 The immense and increasing number of reports, letters. &c., 
 requiring the examination and signature of the Auditor, 
 will soon render it almost ))hysically impossible for him to 
 accomplish it, if he attends to that alone. I, therefore, re- 
 commend the almost absolute necessity of the appointment 
 of an Assistant Chief Clerk, under far more pressing cir- 
 cumstances, precisely as was provided for the Third Audi- 
 tor's office in Washington, by the following Act of tlie Con- 
 gress of the United States, to wit: Civil and diplomatic 
 appropriation Act for the year ending June 30, 1852, ap- 
 proved March 3d, 1851 : Cbapter 32, section 4: And be it 
 further enacted, &c. Tbat to assist the Third Auditor in 
 more effectually carrying out the provisions of the Bounty 
 Land Act, and ot/ier presshig business in his office, the Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to 
 appoint an Assistant Chief Clerk, to be chosen from the ex- 
 perienced accountants already in said office, who, with the 
 present Chief Clerk, shall have authority to sign and attest 
 such official business as said Auditor shall apj)rove and di- 
 rect. See L. & B. laws, U. S., vol. 6, page 618. 
 
 The salary I recommend to be fourteen hundred dollars 
 per annum. 
 
IS 
 
 In furnishing the office, both my Chief Clerk and myself, 
 have, from the beginning, endeavored to practice and enforce 
 the strictest economy. Waste of every kind we have stead- 
 ily discountenanced, and, as far as possible, prevented. The 
 desks are of the plainest description, consistent with the 
 purposes intended, being ordinary pine, costing about twen- 
 tj'^-two dollars each. My own table cost less than any in 
 the office, being only nineteen dollars. 
 
 I cannot close this report, without calling your attention 
 to the present salaries of the office. INIy Chief Clerk, Avith 
 the largest experience, and of, by far, as previously shown, 
 the heaviest office under the Government, and with corres- 
 pondingly arduous duties to perform, receives fourteen hun- 
 dred 'loVars less than any other Avhatsoever, as a reference to 
 the Department proper, including the Post Office, and the 
 other civil bureaux will show. I will not deal in compari- 
 sons, as was the common practice of the corrupt and 
 wretched Government, we have so happily abandoned, but 
 choose, rather, the more manly course of putting the claims 
 of my Chief Clerk and others, that I shall presently men- 
 tion, upon their own merits solely and alone. Without any 
 reference, therefore, to others, governed by the strictest 
 principles of economy, and the fiiiancial wants and sacrifices 
 of the Confederacy, I earnestly recommend that the salary 
 of my Chief Clerk may be placed at sixteen hundred dollars, 
 which is four hundred dollars less than he was paid as Chief 
 Clerk of the Third Auditor's office in Washington. 
 
 For the same reasons, I also recommend a salary of four- 
 teen hundred dollars for each of the Chiefs of the following 
 Divisions, to wit : 
 
 The Chief Book keeper, 
 " "■ of the Division of Claims, 
 
 " " " " of the Q'rmaster's Department, 
 
 " " " " of the Commissary's " 
 
 " of the Pay 
 
 " " " '* of the Ordnance, Engineer, 
 
 &c., Department. 
 
 Young John T. Booth has most faithfully, in all respects, 
 to the satisfaction of myself and the whole office, performed 
 the duties of Messenger, and I, therefore, recommend tliat 
 his salary be increased from 3U0 to 500 dollars, the same 
 that is paid to the Messengers of all the rest of the bureaux. 
 
16 
 
 I bc"', also, to be allowed a negro laborer, to do the very la- 
 borious dutv of bringing fuel up to the fourth story of the 
 building we occupy, and other drudgeries, now indispensa- 
 ble from the increased and increasing size of the office. 
 I am, with great respect. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. II. S. TAYLOR, 
 
 Auditor. 
 
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