Comptroller General of the United States

“ If, as respondent maintains, this determination may be supplanted by a subsequent settlement by the Comptroller General, the subcontractors could never be certain that the departmental determination would mark the period of limitation, and suits begun within the statutory period measured from this determination might have to be discontinued and begun anew if the departmental head or disbursing officer should later refer the claim to the Comptroller General. ”

“ The office, as created, and from time to time enlarged, is a unique feature in our State government. There are Auditors in nearly all of the States of the Union; but the duties of Comptroller are far broader, comprehending largely the ordinary duties of a State Treasurer as well as many others. There had been Auditors in the Colony of New York from 1680 down to the time of its organization as an independent State, and that office was continued in the State until it was merged in the office of Comptroller. ”

“ This work was ably done by Edgar K. Apgar, who made an admirable report, and this report was the means of establishing a more thorough and systematic supervision of these institutions by the Comptroller's department. In his report, transmitted to the Legislature on the 1st of January, 1878, Mr. Olcott said: "Each of these institutions is now separate and distinct from its fellows, and each is governed by a local board of trustees. It is evident, therefore, that there is no general system governing all, but each is a law unto itself. ”

“ No higher qualities can be given to any official. Later in life the positions of Chancellor and Treasurer of the United States were offered to him but declined. During his term of office there was no substantial change or enlargement of the powers and duties of the office, aside from the power given to invest money belonging to the common school fund. ”

“ Because of this power, the contention is that the words, 'any agent appointed to examine the affairs of any such bank,' should be construed as embracing only the subordinate agents whom the Comptroller is authorized to appoint. But to so hold, we think, would do violence to the text of § 5209, and conflict with its context, and would, besides, frustrate the plain purpose which the section as a whole was intended to accomplish, especially if it be considered in the light of cognate provisions of the statute. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to place also the collection of the duties on imposts and tonnage under the superintendence of the said commissioner of the revenue, if, in his opinion, the public service will be promoted by transferring that duty from the comptroller to the said commissioner. ”

“ He was a ready debater but of impulsive temper, and at one time engaged in a personal rencounter with Colonel Young on the floor of the Senate chamber. His administration was unmarked by any peculiar enlargement of the official power, or by distinguished executive ability. That things run so smoothly that no attention is attracted is oftentimes strong evidence of a successful working machinery. By an act of the Legislature of 1851 the Comptroller was authorized to borrow three millions per year for [Pg 52] three years for the completion of the canal enlargement. ”

“ Republicans that he was the only man who, in the State election of 1820, could beat Governor Clinton for re-election. This unsettled balance, which had been standing for several years on the books of the Comptroller, was a serious obstacle to the execution of their plan. Accordingly, the Legislature of 1819 passed an act requiring the Comptroller to settle the residue of the accounts of Governor Tompkins, and in the settlement to allow him the same premium on the amount of money borrowed by him "on his own responsibility" as was allowed others for like service ”

“ The Constitutional Convention of 1821, in deference to strong public demand, had abolished that disgraceful anomaly, and by section 6 of article 4 had provided that "the Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, Attorney-General, Surveyor-General and Commissioner-General shall be appointed as follows: The Senate and Assembly shall each openly nominate one person for the said offices respectively; after which they shall meet again, and if they shall agree in their nominations the person so nominated shall be appointed to the office for which he shall be nominated. ”

“ Several employees have been in the department's service for six or eight years or more, and no department of the State government is better equipped with honest, faithful, public servants than is the Comptroller's office. ”

“ The Comptroller shall have the general superintendence of the fiscal affairs of the State; he shall digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of the public credit; prepare and report estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the State; superintend and enforce the collection of all taxes and revenue; adjust, settle and preserve all public accounts; decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts; grant, under regulations prescribed by law, all warrants for moneys to be paid out of the Treasury, in pursuance of appropriations by law ”

“ The first man elected by the people to the office was Millard Fillmore, of Buffalo, an able lawyer [Pg 46] and a Whig. He had been a Member of Assembly from Buffalo in 1829, 1830 and 1831, and a Member from his district to the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses. During his term as Comptroller he was nominated and elected Vice-President on the ticket with Zachary Taylor, and upon the latter's death, on July 9, 1850, he succeeded to the Presidency. ”

“ It repeated several provisions then in force, added others not material, and repealed 'so much of any former act as was thereby altered or supplied, and no more.' The second section enacted, that when accounts were finally settled, either by the comptroller-general and register-general, or, in case of their disagreement, by the governor, the comptroller and register were each to enter the same in suitable books, and upon such entry jointly to certify the balance, and the fund out of which it was payable, to the governor, who was to draw his warrant upon the treasurer for the amount. ”

“ The appointment of a comptroller and corporation counsel acceptable to the public, both being men of sterling integrity, and known ability, is merely a partial promise of reform. The new comptroller is a worthy successor to the deceased Waller, while the new corporation counsel takes his office, with a reputation for probity and legal acumen which are guaranties that neither will be used in an attack upon the people’s laws. ”

“ The cover or halftitle now bound in at the end of the above-mentioned House journal for the first legislative session bears notations made in the office of the Treasury Department's first comptroller, who exercised this particular responsibility. [118] One is a barely legible record in pencil: "Recd Oct 14/56 in letter of Sec Mason of Augt 26/56"; and another is in ink: "Finding enclosed to Sec Mason March 31/57." These notations refer to correspondence between the comptroller and the secretary of the Territory of Washington about remuneration for printing. ”

“ He was distinguished throughout his career as an upright and useful man, though he was sometimes accused of a little uncertainty in politics. He is said to have replied to a question from Judge Spencer as to how he managed to secure his elections from Queens county whatever party might be in the ascendant, that "If my troops will not follow me, I follow my troops."
The Comptroller's salary was fixed by the act at $3,000, and this was to include all clerk hire and ordinary expenses connected with the office. ”

“ The United States responded by subtracting the printing- bill from the Secretary’s suffering salary—and moreover remarked with dense gravity that he would find nothing in his “instructions” requiring him to purchase hay!
Nothing in this world is palled in such impenetrable obscurity as a U.S. Treasury Comptroller’s understanding. The very fires of the hereafter could get up nothing more than a fitful glimmer in it. ”

“ I think we do as well as we can considering the Pile of Business every Morning laid on our table. In order that the Affairs of the Treasury may be better attended than they possibly can be by Members of Congress who are obliged to give their Attendance in the House we have establishd a new Board to consist of a Treasurer Comptroller Auditor & two Chambers of Accots of three each. These officers are all chosen from without Doors. We are taking Measures for the Appretiation of the Currency. Every Adept in financiering is busily employd and I hope we shall before long agree in an effectual Plan. ”

“ The comptroller should be made an auditing officer charged with supervision as such over the various departments of the state and independent of the appointing power. The attorney-general should be made the head of a department of justice and the responsible legal adviser of the governor and of every state official. And the heads of all the great departments should be appointed by the governor with the approval and consent of the senate. No governor should be given the unrestrained power to appoint or to remove the heads of all departments. ”

“ He was also allowed to revise and readjust the accounts theretofore settled under the Corporation Tax Law. In 1890 he was made a member of the "Board for the Establishment of State Insane Asylum Districts and other purposes," together with the State Commission in Lunacy and President of the State Board of Charities. In 1891 an act was passed requiring all institutions receiving moneys from the State treasury for maintenance, in full or in part, to deposit their funds in some responsible bank or banking house, to be designated by the Comptroller. ”

“ Several committees of Congress have made reports charging that officials in some departments of Government have used the secrecy of executive privilege to hide what the committees called carelessness, mismanagement, fraud, and other alleged improprieties. Comptroller General Joseph Campbell has told the Congress that some executive departments have violated the law—the Budgeting and Accounting Act—in withholding reports from him in connection with waste, mismanagement and improprieties. ”

“ According to the specified number of personnel in this Regulation, the ministry of national Defense may regard the military needs to make adjustment of organization of the Bureau. Article 5 In order to fulfill the military services of budget accounting and statistics, the bureau may set up the specialized and executive agencies, whose organizations will be structured in accordance with the table of organization and equipment. Article 6 The Bureau is headed by a lieutenant general (the Comptroller General of MND) . Two assistant Comptroller Generals are under its command. ”

“ The Comptroller is directed to appoint suitable persons to make examination of the affairs of every banking association, who shall have power to make a thorough examination into all the affairs of the association, and in doing so to examine any of the officers or agents there of, and to make a full and detailed report of the condition to the Comptroller. ”