tary of the Treasury, asking me to come to Washington and
take charge of the Internal Revenue Office, or rather, to organize it
under a statute then recently passed, but which I had not seen. After
a conversation with Mr. Dana, who advised me to accept the place, I
returned to Washington, where I arrived July 16, 1862. After an
interview with Mr. Chase I took the oath of office before Mr. Justice
Wayne of the Supreme Court. He was then aged and that fact may have
deterred him from following the example of his younger associate,
Justice Campbell, who resigned his office, and joined in the work of
secession. Judge Wayne was disposed to conversation, but he made no
allusion to the war and the issues involved.

I was assigned to a small room on the first floor of the Treasury
building, on the right of the lower door fronting on Pennsylvania
Avenue. First, I read the statute and formed for myself an idea of
the process by which the machine was to be set in motion. The statute
was a remarkable exhibition of legislative wisdom under the
circumstances, but it was incomplete in parts rather than imperfect in
plan. In the course of two or three days Mr. Chase assigned to me
three clerks from other offices in the Treasury, and all of them were
very competent assistants--Mr. Estes, Mr. George Parnell, and Mr. A. B.
Johnson. The order of assignment I do not recall. Mr. Estes went to
New York in a few months, where he engaged in business. Mr. Parnell
remained in the department many years and until his death. Mr. Johnson
was subsequently transferred to the Lighthouse Board, of which he is
the chief clerk.

We first considered what blanks would be needed to enable assessors
and collectors to perform their duties and make proper records and
returns. Then we devised the books for the local offices, and for the
offices in Washington. There was but one error as tested by experience
in the preparations of the blanks and books, and the forms were
followed in the department, except so far as changes in the law
required alteration. Thus far there has never been a fraud or
defalcation that was attributable to inadequate checks in the system.
While I was at the head of the office, Mr. Chase never required me to
retain a clerk who was incompetent or untrustworthy. There were times,
however, when he looked to appointments with reference to Presidential
preferences, and he always considered himself in the line of succession.

Mr.