etary of the treasury to fill
any vacancy from absence or other temporary cause. In addition to the
departments of State, Treasury, and War, a fourth, that of the Navy, was
established April 30, 1798. The three departments were brought into
relation with that of the Treasury by an act passed July 16, 1798,
supplementary to that organizing the Treasury, and which provided, 1st,
for the appointment of an accountant in each department, who was
required to report to the accounting officer of the Treasury; 2d, that
the Treasurer of the United States should only disburse by warrants on
the Treasury, countersigned by the accountant of the Treasury; 3d, that
all purchases for supplies for military or naval service should be
subject to the inspection and revision of the officers of the Treasury.
Mr. Jefferson, after his usual fashion of economy in the wrong
direction, proposed to Mr. Gallatin "to amalgamate the comptroller and
auditor into one, and reduce the register to a clerk of accounts: so
that the organization should consist, as it should at first, of a keeper
of money, a keeper of accounts, and the head of the department." But in
the Treasury Department there was no extravagance during Gallatin's
administration, and the shifting of responsibility would bring no saving
of salaries.

In May, 1800, an act was passed making it "the duty of the secretary of
the treasury to digest, prepare, and lay before Congress at the
commencement of every session a report on the subject of finances,
containing estimates of the public revenue and expenditures, and plans
for improving and increasing the revenue from time to time, for the
purpose of giving information to Congress in adopting modes for raising
the money requisite to meet the expenditures." Hamilton had never sent
in any other than a statement of expenditure for the past fiscal year,
together with the estimate of the accountant of the Treasury for the
proximate wants of the departments of government. Mr. Gallatin
incorporated in his annual report a balance sheet in accordance with the
ordinary forms of book-keeping familiar to every accountant and
indispensable in every business establishment, and such as is presented
to the public in the monthly and annual statements of the Treasury
Department at this day.

The statutes show no legislation during Mr. Gallatin's period of
administration, and to its close he was in continual struggle to force
upon Congress and the departments a