other officer having authority, will be attached to the bond. A copy of the record of the organization of the corporation and of the selection and qualification of the officers executing the bond in its behalf, as well as a copy of the record of the proceedings of the board of directors or other governing body of the corporation, showing their authority to execute the same—all duly certified by the custodian of such records, under the seal of the corporation, to be correct copies-will be attached thereto.

574. Before a corporation will be accepted as surety there must be filed with the Secretary of War a copy of its charter or articles of incorporation, and of all laws that may be necessary or which may be required in addition to the charter to show that it has power to enter into the obligation, these copies to be authenticated by the secretary of state or other officer having authority; also a copy of the record of the organization of the corporation and of the selection and qualification of the officers, as well as a copy of the by-laws or other records authorizing certain officers of the corporation to execute bonds in its behalf, these copies to be duly certified by the custodian of such records, under the seal of the corporation, to be correct copies. There will also be filed an itemized statement of the financial condition of the company showing its assets and liabilities, and a statement of the amount of its existing obligations as surety, duly certified under the corporate seal by the custodian of the records of the corporation to have been compared by him with the records and found to be correct. These papers will not be attached to the bond. All papers specified and a statement of the financial condition of the company will be furnished as often as the Secretary of War may require; provided, however, that the financial statement will be furnished semiannually, without being called for; and the evidence as to the selection and qualification of the officers of the company will be furnished immediately after their election; and whenever any change is made in their authority to execute bonds, evidence thereof will be immediately furnished. 575. In case of financial embarrassment, failure, or other disqualifying cause on the part of the surety to a bond, the Secretary of War will require the bond to be renewed to his satisfaction, upon notification to the principal. 576. Before a corporation will be accepted as surety it must obtain authority in writing from the Attorney-General to do business under the act of August 13, 1894, and must file with the Secretary of War a copy of such authority, duly certified as a true copy by the Department of Justice.

577. Before a corporation will be accepted as surety on the bond of a principal residing in a State or Territory other than the one in which it was incorporated, it must comply with the requirements of section 2 of act of August 13, 1894, as to the appointment of an agent on whom process may be served, etc., and must file with the Secretary of War a copy of the power of attorney to such agent, authenticated under the seal of the United States district court for the judicial district within which the agent resides, or the certificate of the Department of Justice that the company has complied with the provisions of section 2 of said act of August 13, 1894.

578. The principal and surety must sign and seal the bond. The corporate seal of the corporation must be affixed to the bond by some person duly authorized, who must also affix the name of the corporation to it, followed by his own signature and official designation written after the word "by." The names and places of business of the principal and surety must be written in the body of the bond.

12851 A R-6

ARTICLE LVII.

MONEY ACCOUNTABILITY.

PUBLIC MONEYS.

579. The use of moneys for purposes other than those for which appropriated, liquidation of liabilities of one fiscal year by use of moneys appropriated for another, and expenditures in a fiscal year of any sum in excess of appropriations for that year, or involving the Government in any contract for future payment of money in excess of appropriations, except as authorized by paragraph 515, are prohibited.

580. Chiefs of bureaus will see that funds in the hands of a disbursing officer are limited to his requirements for a brief period, and that as much as practicable of public moneys placed to his credit is kept with the Treasurer or an assistant treasurer of the United States. Estimates for funds should state the most convenient places of deposit.

581. Lists of national-bank depositories, designated for the use of disbursing officers, with the amounts of securities filed by each with the United States Treasurer, will be published from time to time in orders from the Adjutant-General's Office.

582. Where there are two or more designated depositories in the same place, credits should be so regulated by each disbursing officer there stationed as to maintain, as far as possible (by deposits, disbursements and transfers), a proportion between the amount of his credit at each depository and the amount of securities filed by it with the United States Treasurer. Transfers from one depository to another are not authorized, except through the Treasury Department.

583. When an officer disburses money in different capacities, his deposits and accounts will be kept distinct, according to the bureaus to which they pertain.

584. Public moneys subject to disbursement coming into the hands of an officer from any source must be promptly placed by him to his credit with the Treasurer or an assistant treasurer of the United States, or a duly designated depositary, or transferred to a disbursing officer of that branch of the public service to which the money pertains; in either of which cases a receipt will be obtained. Exceptions to this rule are allowed where a disbursing officer has been specially authorized by the Secretary of War to keep in his personal possession, at his own risk, the public moneys which have been intrusted to him for disbursement, and money in hand may be disbursed at once without being placed in depositories if payments are due. The amount of subsistence funds which a commissary may keep in his personal possession, at his own risk, is stated in orders from the War Department.

585. A disbursing officer ceasing to act as such and having public funds to his credit in any office or bank will at once inform the Secretary of the Treasury stating what checks drawn against the same are still outstanding and unpaid.

586. All amounts of money held at the end of each fiscal year by the Treasurer, an assistant treasurer or a designated depositary, credited to a disbursing officer whose account has remained unchanged, either by deposit or payment, for the space of three years, shall be covered into the Treasury, to be placed to the credit of such officer if it be found that he is entitled to the credit.

DISBURSING OFFICERS.

587. No officer disbursing money for the military service, or directing the disbursement thereof, shall be concerned individually, directly or indirectly, in the purchase or sale of any article intended for, used by, or pertaining to the department of the public service in which he is engaged.

588. No officer or clerk of a disbursing officer shall be interested in the purchase of any soldier's certificate of pay due, or any other claim against the United States.

589. Officers or agents in the military service will not purchase supplies for the Government from any other person in the military service, nor contract with any such person to furnish supplies or service to the Government, nor make any Government purchase or contract in which such person shall be admitted to share or receive benefit.

590. If any disbursing officer shall bet at cards or any game of hazard his commanding officer will suspend his functions, require him to turn over all public funds in his keeping, and will immediately report the case to the proper bureau of the War Department. He will also report the case to the department commander, who will at once convene a court-martial for the trial of the officer.

591. Every disbursing officer, in opening his first account and before issuing any checks, will furnish the depositary on whom the checks are to be drawn with his official signature, duly verified by some officer whose signature is known to the depositary.

592. For every Treasury draft received by a depositary to be placed to the official credit of a disbursing officer, and for every deposit of funds made by the officer to his official credit, subject to payment of his checks, a receipt, numbered in serial order, and giving the place and date of issue, will be furnished him by the depositary, setting forth the character of the funds, i. e., whether coin or currency. If the credit is made by a disbursing officer's check transferring funds, the essential items of the check will be enumerated, and if by a Treasury draft, the warrant number. The title of the officer will be expressed, and the title of the account will also show for what branch of the public service it is kept. The receipt, called "a disbursing officer's receipt," will be retained by the officer in whose favor it is made.

593. An officer is not authorized to insure public money or property, and he will not be allowed credit for any expense paid for the collection of money on checks, except as provided for military attachés serving abroad.

TRANSFERS.

594. Public funds will, in general, be transferred as follows: The officer making the transfer will draw his check directing the depositary to place a stated amount to the official credit of the officer named therein. The check will be sent to the depositary and not to the officer in whose favor it is drawn. If it is necessary that the officer to whom the funds are transferred shall receive them without delay, the transferring officer may draw his check and transmit the same direct to the officer requiring them. In either case, invoices of the funds transferred are sent to the receiving officer.

595. Funds will not be transferred from one appropriation for the use of another, by borrowing or otherwise.

CHECKS.

596. A disbursing officer may draw his check in favor of himself "or bearer" for making payments of amounts not exceeding $20; for making payments at a distance from a depository; or for making payments of fixed salaries due at a certain period, if the check be not drawn more than two days before the salaries become due. In all other cases checks will be made payable to order" or "bearer," and will be drawn only in favor of the persons, firms or corporations, by name, to whom the payments are to be made.

597. Each check of a disbursing officer must state on its face the object of the expenditure, and in case of payment to officers or enlisted men, the period covered by the payment. Such statements must be brief but clear, as, for instance, "pay," "pay roll," or "payment of troops," adding the post or station; "purchase of subsistence" or of other supplies, naming them; "on contract for construction," mentioning the fortification or other public work for which the payment is made; "payments under $20," etc. Payment is refused on all checks where this requirement is disregarded, and report of the fact made to the Treasury.

598. Disbursing officers will not pay an account until it is due. In cases of contracts for the performance of service or delivery of articles, payment will not exceed the value of services rendered, or articles actually delivered.

599. When an original check of a disbursing officer, not exceeding $2,500 in amount, has been lost or destroyed, a duplicate check may be issued by him, after six months and within three years of the date of the original, upon the owner filing with him the notice and proof of loss and the indemnity bond required by sections 3646 and 3647, Revised Statutes, and act of February 16, 1885. In case the disbursing officer who issued the original check is no longer in the service, the notice and proof of loss, and the indemnity bond will be sent to the Secretary of the Treasury prior to the issue of a duplicate check. The proper accounting officer of the Treasury will state an account in favor of the owner of said check and charge the amount thereof to the account of such officer. Instructions for the execution and use of the affidavit and bond, and the issue of the duplicate check, accompany the blank form furnished by the Treasury Department.

600. In case of the death, resignation or removal from active service of a disbursing officer, any check previously drawn by him, and not presented for payment within four months of its date, will not be paid until its correctness shall have been attested by the Secretary or Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

601. A check drawn by a disbursing officer still in active service, presented before it shall have been issued three full fiscal years, will be paid in the usual manner by the office or bank on which it is drawn, and from funds to the credit of the drawer.

602. At the close of each fiscal year every disbursing officer will make a return to the Secretary of the Treasury, through the proper channels, of all outstanding checks issued by him three years or more prior thereto, giving the names of payees and their residences when known, the purposeg for which and places on which the checks were drawn, with amounts, numbers and dates of same, and the numbers of the vouchers received therefor.

603. At the close of each fiscal year all amounts remaining to the credit of a disbursing officer, represented by checks or drafts drawn upon the Treasurer, an assistant treasurer, or any designated depositary, three or more years prior thereto, will be covered into the Treasury and there stand to the credit of the payees in an appropriation account denominated "outstanding liabilities."

604. A check which has been issued for a longer period than three full fiscal years will be paid only by the settlement of an account in the Treasury Department. For this purpose the check will be transmitted, through the proper channels, to the Secretary of the Treasury.

OFFICIAL CHECK BOOKS.

605. Official check books are issued by the Treasurer and assistant treasurers of the United States direct to disbursing officers who have public money on deposit with them. Rules for issue, transfer, etc., of these check books accompany each book.

606. Official check books on national bank depositories are furnished by chiefs of bureaus, by whom records of blank checks issued will be kept and to whom unused checks will be returned. Rules for issue, transfer, etc., of these check books accompany each book. In making payments, only official checks will be used.

607. Mutilated official checks will be forwarded to the depository to which they pertain, and a record of the date of transmission made on the stub.

CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT.

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608. Public moneys are transferred to the general Treasury by being deposited to the "credit of the Treasurer of the United States," either at the Treasurer's office, or at the office of one of the assistant treasurers, or at one of the designated depositories. All miscellaneous receipts on account of proceeds of Government property" (paragraph 615) must be deposited; also, when required by chiefs of bureaus to which the funds pertain, the public moneys in the possession of or to the credit of disbursing officers or others. For each deposit made a "certificate of deposit" in duplicate will be given, showing the full name, rank, regiment or corps of the depositor, and to what appropriation or fund the amount belongs, the depositor giving the necessary information when making the deposit.

609. The "originals" of all certificates of deposit will, immediately upon their issue, be forwarded direct to the Secretary of the Treasury by the depositors (not the depositaries), who, before transmitting them, will see that their amounts correspond to the sums actually deposited. Each certificate forwarded will contain or be accompanied by a statement showing distinctly the source from which the money was derived, i. e.:

1. If a balance of funds for disbursement, the appropriation and fiscal year will be correctly named.

2. If in refundment of an overpayment, when, by whom and upon what voucher the overpayment was made.

3. If from stoppages on pay rolls on account of loss of or damage to property by employees, or on account of sales to them, for which property the depositing officer is himself responsible, the character of the property and the date of loss or sale will be given and a reference made to the officer's property voucher accounting for the same.