Viewing page 35 of 341

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Certificate Branch.
It is proper to state that the "Certificate Branch", the work of which was rendered necessary by the law, already mentioned, of March 29th 1867, was organized originally in the Claim Division as a matter of convenience to the Disbursing Officer. This work it may be necessary to say; consisted in receiving Treasury Certificates and recording the same; examining and adjusting fee bills of attorneys, and transmitting both certificates and fee bills to the Chief Disbursing Officer for final payment. For a complete history of each certificate, it was necessary to keep an exhaustive record of the same in the Claim Division, while at the same time, as complete a record was rendered necessary for the protection of the Chief Disbursing Officer. By this statement, it will be apparent that this exhaustive record in the two divisions[[stamp]] The National Archives of the United States [[/stamp]]was duplicated, requiring huge volumes and considerable clerical force; to say nothing of correspondence thus rendered necessary between the two offices. Further, on the examination at random of "Letters Sent" in this Branch, we find that for a period of fifteen days more than one half of these letters contained information derived from, and which should have been answered by, the Chief Disbursing Officer. In view of these facts economy would suggest that this Branch be placed in the Chief Disbursing Office, thus enabling you to discontinue the duplicated record, the correspondence
(over)