FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION IO5 



department head submit a very detailed report of all ex- 

 penditures from contingent funds. Each secretary or other 

 administrative head also submits, as a part of his regular 

 annual report to Congress, a detailed statement of expendi- 

 tures for all appropriations applicable to his department or 

 service. Besides these, the reports referred to in the pre- 

 ceding paragraph, and a number of special reports required 

 from all department heads, the Secretary of Agriculture is 

 required to render special and detailed reports regarding 

 the suppression of animal diseases,^® and the purchase and 

 distribution of seeds. ^'^ 



So far as these reports relate to expenditures, they are 

 referred to the House Committee on Expenditvires in the 

 Department of Agriculture and to a similar committee in 

 the Senate. As previously stated, there appears to be no 

 systematic attempt to utilize any of these reports when, the 

 estimates for the department are under consideration. 

 Even if the attempt were, made, the information contained 

 in most of these reports, except those where detailed in- 

 formation is specifically required, is too meager to be of 

 very great value. 



Rule Eleven, paragraph forty-two, of the House of 

 Representatives provides as follows : 



The examination of the accounts and expenditures of the several 

 departments of the Government and tlie manner of keeping the 

 same; the economy, justness and correctness of such expenditures; 

 their conformity with appropriation laws; the proper application of 

 public moneys; the security of the Government against unjust and 

 extravagant demands; retrenchment; the enforcement of the pay- 

 ment of the money due to the United States; the economy and ac- 

 countaI)iHty of public officers; the abolishment of useless offices; 

 the reduction or increase of the pay of officers, shall all be subjects 

 within the jurisdiction of the nine (now ten) standing committees 

 on the public expenditure in the several departments, as follows : . . . 



SO. In the Deiiartmcnt of Agriculture — to the Committee on Ex- 

 penditures in the Department of Agriculture. 



Despite the elaborate and comprehensive authority thus 

 conferred, it is well known that these committees on ex- 

 penditures, in both the House and the Senate, are very 



10 23 Slat. L. 33. 

 ^-' 37 Stat. L. 278. 



