settled by the very exhaustive opinion of Attorney-General Crittenden, in 5 Opinions, 630, wherein he held to the doctrine of his predecessor, (Reverdy Johnson, page 87 of same volume,) "that the decision of a head of a department directing payment of a particular claim is binding upon all the subordinate officers by whom the same is to be audited and passed."

This was, however, under a different state of the law from that which now exists. The provision of the Revised Statutes in section 191, before cited, which was compiled from section 1, act of March 30, 1868, would seem to settle any doubt, and to declare, in as clear and explicit language as can be framed, a rule of practice directly the opposite of the doctrine before laid down by these officers. Although under that statute the head of a department may not alter or modify a balance found by the accounting officers, he may still withhold his warrant or requisition, and certify to the Comptroller any facts in his judgment affecting the correctness of such balance. Thus, the question as to the restraint which the head of the department may exercise upon the accounting officer, would seem to be still an open one, and not free from doubt. Of course this restraint operates only in favor of the United States. He is, nevertheless, still powerless to direct a credit to an officer's account, or the finding of an amount due against the judgment and action of the accounting officer. (See 5 Nott & Hun., p. 55.)

40. The head of each department is required to report annually to Congress, in detail, the manner in which the contingent fund for his department and the bureaus and offices thereof has been expended, giving the names of persons to whom payments have been made therefrom, the quantity and price of anything furnished, the nature of any service rendered and paid for, the time employed, and the

particular occasion or cause that rendered such service necessary, and the amount of former appropriations on hand, either in the Treasury or in the hands of disbursing officers or agents. It is his duty to require of such officers the return of precise and analytical statements of and receipts for moneys expended by them during the next preceding year, and to communicate the results of such returns to Congress. (R. S., § 193.)

41. He is required also to make an annual report to Congress of the names of clerks and employees of his department, stating the time that each was actually êmployed and the sums paid to each; also whether they have been usefully employed, and whether the services of any can be dispensed with without detriment to the public service; also whether the removal of any and the appointment of others in their places are required for the better dispatch of business. He is required also, as soon as practicable after the last day in September in each year in which a new Congress is to assemble, to cause to be filed in the Department of the Interior a full and complete list of all officers, agents, clerks, and employees employed in his department, with all statistics peculiar to his department required to enable the Secretary of the Interior to prepare the Biennial Register. (R. S., §§ 194, 198.)

42. The head of each department, with the exception of the Department of Justice, is required to furnish to the Congressional Printer copies of the documents usually accompanying his Department Annual Report on or before the first day of November in each year, and a copy of his annual report on or before the third Monday of November in each year. (R. S., § 196.)

43. In case of a proposed expenditure of public money upon any land purchased for the purpose of erecting thereon any armory, arsenal, fort, fortification, navy-yard, custom

house, light-house, or other public building, the respective heads of the departments interested are directed by law to procure, upon application of the Attorney-General, whose opinion as to the validity of the title is required to be given, any additional evidence of title which he may deem necessary, and which may not be in the possession of the officers of the Government; the expense of procuring it to be paid out of the contingent fund of the departments respectively. (R. S., § 355.)

44. The head of any executive department may require the opinion of the Attorney-General on any questions of law arising in the administration of his department. (R. S., § 356.)

45. Copies of any books, records, papers, or documents in any of the executive departments, authenticated under the seals of such departments respectively, are entitled to be admitted in evidence equally with the originals thereof. (R. S., § 882.)

46. Whenever any claim is made against an executive department involving disputed facts or controverted questions of law, and the amount in controversy exceeds three thousand dollars; or where the decision will affect a class or furnish a precedent for future action in the adjustment of a class of cases, without regard to the sum involved in a particular case; or when any authority, right, privilege, or exemption is claimed or denied under the Constitution, the head of such department may cause such claim, with all the vouchers, papers, proofs, and documents pertaining thereto, to be transmitted to the Court of Claims. And the law requires that the same shall be there proceeded in as if originally commenced by the voluntary action of the claimant; provided that no case shall be referred by the head of a department, unless it belongs to one of the several classes of cases which, by reason of the subject-matter and

character, the said court might, under existing laws, take jurisdiction of on such voluntary action of the claimant. (R. S., 1063. See Delaware River S. B. Co. v. United States, 5 Nott & Hun., p. 55.)

47. The head of a department may refuse and omit to comply with any call of the Court of Claims for information or papers, when in his opinion a compliance would be injurious to the public interests. (R. S., § 1076.)

48. The head of any department may employ special agents charged with the disbursement of public moneys, who are required to give bond subject to his approval. (R. S., § 3614.)

49. The heads of departments, in communicating estimates of expenditures and appropriations to Congress or to any committee thereof, are required to specify as nearly as may be convenient the sources from which such estimates are derived, and the calculations upon which they are founded; and they are required to discriminate between such estimates as are conjectural in their character, and such as are framed upon actual information and applications from disbursing officers. They are required also to give references to any law or treaty by which the proposed expenditures are respectively authorized, specifying the date of each, and the page of the statutes and the section thereof in which the authority is to be found. In such estimates they are required to include such sums as may seem to them necessary for printing and binding, to be executed under the direction of the Congressional Printer. When in such estimates an appropriation is asked for the erection of a public building, or for the construction of any public work requiring a plan before the same may be completed, such estimates must be accompa nied by a full plan, and by detailed estimates of the cost of the whole work. All subsequent estimates must state

the original estimated cost, the aggregate theretofore ap propriated, the amount actually expended on the work, as well as the amount asked for the current year for which the appropriation is proposed to be made. They are required also to accompany their estimates by minute and full explanations of the reasons for a variance materially in amount from the appropriations ordinarily made for the object named, or for the introduction of new items and objects of expenditure. They are required also to designate, besides the amount required to be appropriated for the next fiscal year, the amount of the outstanding appropriation, if any, which will probably be required for each particular item of expenditure. (R. S., §§ 3660, 3661, 3663, 3664, 3665.) All annual estimates are required to be submitted to Congress through the Secretary of the Treasury, and to be included in that officer's book of estimates. (R. S., § 3669.)

50. The departments are respectively prohibited by law from expending in any one fiscal year any sum in excess of appropriations made by Congress for that year, and from involving the Government in any contract for the future. payment of money in excess of such appropriations. And all sums appropriated are required to be applied solely to the objects for which the appropriations are made, and to no other purpose. (R. S., §§ 3678, 3679.)

41. All purchases of and contracts for supplies or services in any of the departments, except contracts for personal services, are required to be made after advertising a sufficient time previously for proposals respecting the same, when the public exigency does not require the immediate delivery of the articles or performance of the service; in which case they may be obtained by open purchase or contract at the places and in the manner in which such articles are usually bought and sold, or such services are engaged, as between individuals. (R. S., § 3709.)