Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/503

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TREASURY.
435
TREATIES.

one that he shall not he interested in foreign commerce. He is required to digest and prepare plans for the revenue and public credit; to prescribe the forms for keeping the public accounts; to superintend the collection of the revenues; to grant all warrants under certain limitations for moneys issued from the Treasury in pursuance of appropriations made by law; and, in general, to perform all such duties relative to the finances of the United States as shall be required by law. Simultaneously with the development of the country the duties of the department have been extended to the management of the national debt, the supervision of the national banks, the internal revenue system, the legal-tender currency, the merchant marine, the lighthouse system, the life-saving and marine hospital services, the Coast Survey, etc. The Secretary is aided by three Assistant Secretaries. The business of the department is distributed among the following offices and bureaus: the Comptroller of the Treasury, six Auditors, the Treasurer, the Register, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the Marine Hospital Service.

The Comptroller of the Treasury, since 1894, has been aided by an Assistant Comptroller. He exercises a kind of supervisory power over the auditors, countersigns warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, etc. The original act creating the Treasury Department provided for a single Auditor; four additional Auditors were provided in 1817, and a sixth was added in 1836. The six Auditors are assigned to the Treasury, War, Interior, Navy, Post-office, and State and other departments respectively, with the duty of examining accounts. The Treasurer is charged with the duty of signing the paper currency and of receiving and keeping the moneys of the United States and with disbursing the same on warrants properly drawn and countersigned. There are Assistant Treasurers at New York, Boston, Saint Louis, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, and San Francisco. The Register signs all stocks and bonds and all Treasury notes and coin certificates issued under the authority of the United States. The Comptroller of the Currency enforces the provisions of the national banking laws and superintends the issue of banknote currency. At the head of the Bureau of Internal Revenue is a commissioner who is charged with the enforcement of the internal revenue laws and the collection of the internal revenues. He is aided by a collector in each revenue district. For the collection of the customs there is a collector in each district, a surveyor in the larger parts, and a general board of appraisers to hear appeals against decisions of the collectors with regard to the dutiability of imported goods. The Director of the Mint has the supervision of all mints and assay offices throughout the country and makes annual reports to Congress on the coinage of the country, the yield of precious metals, etc. The Bureau of Engraving, established in 1874, has charge of the preparation of designs, stamps, bank notes, bonds. Treasury drafts, and other securities of the United States. The Solicitor of the Treasury has charge of all legal measures to prevent the evasion of the revenue laws and the counterfeiting of the coin and other securities of the United States.

TREASURY NOTE. A certificate of credit issued by the Treasury Department on the authority of the Government and made receivable for government dues. In the United States, treasury notes bearing interest were issued at different times before the Civil War, but it was during that struggle that the financial necessities of the Government first led to the issue of very great quantities of non-interest bearing treasury notes, which, however, were made legal tender for all public and private debts except duties upon imports and interest on the public debt. See Money.

TREAT, Robert (1622-1710). A Colonial Governor of Connecticut, born in England. He emigrated to America with his father, and settled in Wethersfield, Conn. In 1639 he settled in Milford, from 1653 to 1659 was a deputy, and from 1659 to 1604 was an assistant. He opposed the union of the Connecticut River and New Haven settlements, and went with the dissatisfied faction which founded Newark, N. J. In 1672 he returned to Milford, and later distinguished himself in King Philip's War. In 1676 he was chosen Deputy Governor of Connecticut, and in 1683 was elected Governor, and with the exception of the two years in which the colony was under Sir Edmund Andros (1687-89), served until 1698. From the latter year to 1708 he was again Deputy Governor.

TREATIES, Indian. The first step of the United States Government in determining its policy in regard to the Indians, whether expressed or implied, was to decide as to the nature of their territorial rights, this being the chief and altogether the most important factor in their relations with the whites. The decision reached on this point is distinctly stated by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Johnson and Graham's lessee v. Mcintosh (8 Wheaton, 453 et seq.), as follows: “It has never been contended that the Indian title amounted to nothing. Their right of possession has never been questioned. The claim of the Government extends to the complete, ultimate title, charged with the right of possession, and to the exclusive power of acquiring this right.” The next step was to determine the branch of the Government to carry out this policy. By the ninth of the Articles of Confederation it was declared that “the United States in Congress assembled have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the trade, and managing all affairs with the Indians not members of any of the States.”

It is evident, therefore, that while acting under the Articles of Confederation the right of managing and controlling the relations with the Indians resided in Congress alone. When the Constitution was framed this authority was conferred upon the legislative department in the following brief statement: “To regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.”

It is apparent, from the use of the term ‘tribes,’ that the framers of the Constitution had in contemplation the method of dealing with the Indians as tribes through treaties. This is clearly shown by the act of March 1, 1793, in which it is stated that no purchase or grant of lands