FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION 10 1 



crease in the agricultural appropriation is merely another 

 indication of the growing importance of the work of the 

 Department of Agriculture in our governmental system.* 



The Division of Accounts and Disbursements, created in 

 1889, is still the central accounting office. Its chief is the 

 principal fiscal officer and is also the disbursing clerk of the 

 department. He is charged by the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture with the duty of preparing all requisitions for the 

 advance of public funds from the Treasury Department to 

 the Department of Agriculture or its disbursing clerks, the 

 keeping of general appropriations ledgers, and the paym.ent 

 of all vouchers and accounts properly submitted by the 

 various offices, bureaus and services of the department. He 

 must furnish bond in an amount acceptable to the Secretary; 

 and is, of course, subject to the various laws and comp- 

 troller's decisions governing public disbursing officers and 

 the application of public funds. 



Section three thousand six hundred and seventy-nine of 

 the Revised Statutes, as amended, requires that " all appro- 

 priations made for contingent expenses or other general 

 purposes, . . . shall, on or before the beginning of each 

 fiscal year, be so apportioned by monthly or other allot- 

 ments as to prevent expenditures in one portion of the year 

 which may necessitate deficiency or additional appropria- 

 tions to complete the service of the fiscal year for which said 

 appropriations are made."" This allotment, when once 

 made, may not be changed, except by specific authority of 

 the department head. 



The agricultural appropriations are allotted each year on 

 the quarterly basis. For many years the intent of the law 

 just quoted was evaded by allotting to the first quarter the 

 major portion of the appropriation, with progressively de- 

 creasing amounts for each of the other quarters. In very 

 recent years this practice has been corrected by allotting the 



* For a more nearly complete statement of appropriations for the 

 Department of Agriculture, see appendi.x iv. 

 033 Stat. L. 1257; 34 Stat. L. 48. 



