REPORT
from the
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY,

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate,

Showing the Amount of Money received for Public Land during the year 1836, and the Amount expended in the Transportation of Gold and Silver.

January 27, 1837.

Read, and ordered to be printed.

Treasury Department,
January 27, 1837.

Sir: In obedience to the resolution of the Senate of the 18th instant, I have the honor, herewith, to transmit to the Senate a report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and the accompanying statements (A and B) referred to by him, showing, as far as returns have been received, “the amount of moneys received for public lands in each month of the year 1836,” and the amount expended in removing gold and silver from the land offices to the deposite banks beyond the charges allowed agreeably to the regulations prescribed by this Department on the 1st of May, 1831, a copy of which is annexed, (C.)

It appears by the report of the Commissioner that no information has been received of any loss having been sustained in removing specie to the deposite banks.

I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,

LEVI WOODBURY.
Secretary of the Treasury.

Honorable M. Van Buren,
  Vice President of the United States
    and President of the Senate.

Sir: In pursuance of the resolution of the Senate of the United States of the 18th instant, (referred by you to this office,) in the words following, to wit: “Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to communicate to the Senate a statement of the amount of moneys received for public lands in each month of the year 1836, so far as he has returns thereof; also, that he inform the Senate what amount of money has been expended in each month of the year 1836 in removing gold and silver from land offices to the deposite banks, and whether any, and, if any, the amount of losses sustained thereby,” I have the honor to submit the accompanying statements, (marked A and B,) and to report that this office has received no information of any loss sustained in removing gold and silver to the deposite banks.

I am, with great respect, sir,
Your obedient servant,

JAS. WHITCOMB,
Commissioner.

Honorable Levi Woodbury,
  Secretary of the Treasury.

A.

STATEMENT of the amount of Moneys received for Public Lands in each month of the year 1836, so far as the returns have been received.

B.

Amount charged for transporting Gold and Silver, in addition to the mileage and risk allowable.

C.

Circular to Receivers of Public Moneys.

Treasury Department,
May 1, 1831.

Sir: Several of the provisions of the circular of the 22d February, 1826, having been changed by subsequent instructions, and others having become obsolete, it has been deemed proper to modify the same in some respects, and imbody in one instruction the regulations which in future, and until otherwise directed, will govern the receivers of public moneys.

In addition to specie and the bills of the Bank of the United States and its branches, which are receivable in all payments to the United States, receivers of public moneys are authorized to receive the notes of such of the incorporated banks of the State or Territory in which the land office is situated as pay specie for their notes on demand and are otherwise in good credit.

On the opening of a new land office the receiver will publish, for the information of purchasers of public lands, in one newspaper in his district, a list of the description of funds which he is hereby authorized to receive; and he will give notice, in like manner, of any change which may occasionally take place. In such publication he will state that, although for the accommodation of purchasers, the local or State bank notes therein enumerated are at present receivable, yet their receipt may be discontinued at any time without previous notice, if, in the opinion of the receiver, they cannot be safely received.

No bank notes of a less amount than five dollars is to be received, nor any that is not payable on demand.

So long as the notes of local or State banks are receivable, the receivers will note on each receipt for moneys received or paid by them, including their own and the register’s compensation, the amount embraced in such receipt of each of the above description of funds, viz: Specie, $_____; Bank of the United States and branches, $_____; State banks, $_____. If this endorsement be found impracticable during any public sale, it may, for that time, be dispensed with. The receivers will note on each monthly return rendered to this Department, & separate statement or list, showing the aggregrate amount received and paid by them during the month, in each description of funds, and the balance of each on hand.

The receivers will make their deposites in the followings banks, viz:

1st. Those in Michigan, in the office of the Bank of the United States at Buffalo;

2d. Those in Ohio, in the office of the Bank of the United States at Cincinnati;

3d. Those in Indiana, in the office of the Bank of the United States at Louisville;

4th. Those in Illinois and Missouri, in the office of the Bank of the United States at St. Louis;

5th. Those in Mississippi, in the office of the Bank of the United States at Natchez;

6th. Those in Louisiana, in the office of the Bank of the United States at New Orleans;

7th. Those in Alabama and Florida, in the office of the Bank of the United States at Mobile;

8th. Those in the Territory of Arkansas, in the offices of the Bank of the United States at St. Louis and Natchez – the receiver at Batesville at the former, the receiver at Little Rock at the latter.

The receivers are also at liberty to make deposites in the Bank of the United States, or any of its offices, which they may find more convenient, other than those above designated, provided the funds so deposited be entered to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States, by the bank or office, unconditionally, as cash; and when the moneys which they are authorized to receive will be thus credited in a nearer office, they are required to deposite in such office.

To facilitate the collection of the notes of the local or State banks, the receiver will, on making a deposite, give notice in writing, by the mail or otherwise, to each of those banks in the State or Territory in which the land office is situated, of the amount of its notes contained in such deposite; and if he is informed by the cashier of the bank in which he makes his deposites that the notes of any such bank have not been paid on demand, he will cease to receive the notes of such bank. It may be proper for the receiver, where it has not already been done, to take the first occasion to intimate, in respectful terms, to each of the local or State banks of his State or Territory, whose notes he may receive, the consequence that will result from a want of punctuality in paying its notes on presentation.

The receivers will also cease to receive any local or State bank notes that the bank in which they are instructed to make their deposites may refuse to receive as cash, or which, in the exercise of a sound discretion, the receivers may not think it prudent to receive; but, in either of these cases, they will give immediate information of their proceedings to this Department. They will also give early notice to the other receivers in the same State or Territory.

When the public money in the hands of a receiver at the end of any month exceeds the sum of ten thousand dollars, it should be deposited without delay. But it must not be retained under any circumstances in contravention of the provisions of the act of the 10th May, 1800, which requires that the moneys received by the receivers shall be transmitted within three months to the Treasurer of the United States, as they will thereby render themselves and their sureties liable under their official bonds.

It is essential that all the public moneys in the possession of the receivers should be deposited at the above intervals, reserving enough, in case the ordinary receipts of the office should be insufficient for the purpose, to pay their own and the register’s salaries, together with the authorized expenses of their offices.

Where deposites are made in sums less than ten thousand dollars, compensation for the expense and risk may be allowed upon the aggregate of such deposites whenever it exceeds that sum; but no allowance can be made for the expense of making the deposite oftener than once a month.

Receivers will take duplicate receipts for each deposite which they may make. One of these receipts they will immediately forward to this office, and charge the amount in the first succeeding monthly return rendered to the Secretary of the Treasury. All vouchers for authorized disbursements should be transmitted with their quarterly accounts.

Instead of the compensation heretofore allowed to receivers under the act of the 22d May, 1826, for the expense, labor, and risk incurred in the transportation of the public moneys for deposite, the receivers will, from and after the first day of July next, be compensated by the following allowances, viz:

As a compensation for their expense and labor in the performance of this duty, they will be entitled to receive for every mile travelled from their respective offices to the bank of deposite, and returning, computing the distance by the nearest route to the nearest office in which their deposite will be received as cash, if by land, at the rate of twelve and a half cents per mile; if by water, six cents per mile; with such additional allowance for the transportation of specie as will remunerate them for the increased expense attending such transportation. Claims for such additional allowances for the transportation of specie must be supported by satisfactory vouchers.

As a compensation for the risk incurred, there will be allowed a per centage of the one-hundredth part of one per cent. on the amount deposited, for every ten miles of distance between the land office and place of deposit the nearest route.

For the sake of convenience and uniformity, it is desirable that the monthly duplicate returns required to be made to the Seeretary of the Treasury and Commissioner of the General Land Office should be made on a sheet of common post paper, and rendered in the form of that herewith enclosed.

I am, sir, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,

S. D. INGHAM,
Secretary of the Treasury.