PHILADELPHIA, [PA.],
21st May, 1852.
DEAR SIR: Although I
have not the pleasure of your personal acquaintance, I cannot refrain from
expressing the gratification I feel at the prospect of a reform in the
settlement of Disbursing Officers' Accounts; which I infer from the recent
Debates in the Senate upon this subject and from your remarks.
I have been a
Disbursing officer of the army for about 25 years; most of which in the
Q[uarte]r Master's Dep[artmen]t; and I call upon you, therefore, my dear Sir,
from an intimate and practical experience, that the evils you are desirous of
correcting, do not wholly or even chiefly lie in the direction you have been
led to believe. The whole system requires re-modeling and reforming; and until
that is thoroughly done, by proper legislation, neither Congress, the
President, or the Disbursing Officers, can ever know correctly the Expenditures
of the Government under any head of appropriation or balance their a [ccount]s.
Officers of the Army
generally render their accounts with much promptness to the Treasury; but it is
impossible, under the present system, for the Auditors and Comptrollers to be
equally prompt in their settlement of them; and while the law is sufficiently
stringent upon the neglects or omissions of the Disbursing officers, it takes
no notice of the delays and omissions at the Treasury. I have, myself, had
ac[count]s there, waiting settlement, for nearly three years; and frequently
for one and two years at a time; much to my annoyance and regret. The death of
the Disbursing officer, under such circumstances, is always attended with
serious consequences to his family, and Bondsmen; for after such long delays,
it is often impossible, and always difficult for his Executors and friends to
get a settlement, by removing the objections of the Auditors by proper
explanations, which the officer alone could do.
In France they have
the proper system for settling military accounts. An Auditor, called
"Commissary of ac[count]s" always accompanies the Head Quarters of an
Army, in the field; and the accounts and vouchers of all the Disbursing
officers are promptly audited on the spot, under the eye of the Com[man]d[in]g
Gen[erall. The Disbursing officer can, then, meet the enemy next day, with no
pecuniary cases upon his mind. Not so with us; why lie, I have been all day
engaged in chasing Indians, in Florida (and we caught some of them too) with
$90,000 worth of "Mr. Haguer's Poetry," suspended vouchers of mine,
in my saddle Bags; and then Vouchers, (all of which were suspended for mere
informality, requiring, perhaps, evidence on some of them that Mr. A. B., or
Book keeper and Clerk in the House of Messrs. C. D., was legally authorised to
sign a receipt and receive money for the firm) had actually accrued two or
three years previous, upon the frontiers of Missouri Arkansas and Louisiana—more
than a 1,000 miles distant. Judge, then, my dear Sir, with what feelings I
entered the swamps in pursuit of the enemy the following day! Here was $90,000
we suspended, in the settlement of my ac[count]s at the Treasury; and without
long explanations, which I alone could give, would never be passed to my
credit. In a moment that power might be taken forever from me; and with a
beggared family, and ruined Bondsmen, and perhaps, even a tarnished reputation,
my military career would thus have ended most ingloriously. In the name of
Humanity and Justice then let this State of things cease and determine. Enquire
into this matter, and you will find many such cases as I have here suffered.
I have, myself,
disburned Williams of the public money; but, from the causes I have stated,
always with fear and trembling for the settlement, which I knew would be so
long postponed. Unless yourself and other gentlemen examine one of our long
complex Quarter Master's ac[count]s, you can have little knowledge of the
difficulties in the way of their prompt settlement under the present system.
I hope, most
earnestly, that a Committee of Congress will be appointed to examine
thoroughly, and report upon the present mode of settling ac[count]s at the
Treasury. Let the facts appear, that the public may know where the fault lies.
If a Disbursing Officer has neglected or violated his duty, in any respect, let
his name appear, and he be brought to trial. But I fancy the fault, mainly,
will be traced to a vicious system, and incompetent Clerks in the Treasury
Department. Young gentlemen of political influence have too often usurped the
places of men [of] clerical ability—practical working Clerks, who understood
their business, and did it faithfully and steadily.
I beg you to excuse
the liberty I have taken, in writing to you this long letter, and attribute it
to the real and sincere interest I feel in the subject; and the anxiety I
share, in common with my brother Officers, for some "radical reforms in
this respect. As the Chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, and
the attention you have evidently given to this matter, it is confidently hoped
and believed you will be able to bring forward some adequate remedies for the
present evils, and the vicious system of settling ac[count]s at the Treasury of
Army officers at least.
SOURCE: Charles
Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of
Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 142-4
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