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U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD.

NAVAL APPROPRIATIONS

By CAPTAIN CHARLES CONARD, P. C., U. S. Navy

INTRODUCTORY

The appropriation system of the Navy Department constitutes a handicap against the uniform advance in industrial and administrative methods which has been and is being made from year to year. As military efficiency is of course affected by the degree of progress made in the industrial and administrative branches, it is important to remedy any defects known to exist therein.

It is unnecessary to say that this condition has been commented on from time to time. Two references only will be made.

Admiral McGowan in his report as paymaster general for the fiscal year 1915, said:

In addition to interfering with the proper distribution of costs, the present complicated method of making appropriations entails a great volume of unnecessary paper work and a mass of bookkeeping detail, the disadvantages of which are felt throughout the naval establishment.

Admiral Cowie in a lecture before the Naval War College, September 3, 1915, said:

The naval appropriations at the present time are very complex, and many of them carry identical clauses. Their consolidation would simplify all business transactions connected with purchases, permit more accurate cost accounting, facilitate the reporting of expenditures and result in an economical distribution of funds by administrative authority at the time. the necessity for a particular expenditure becomes apparent.

The navy is in the fortunate position of not having to make any excuses for failure to produce. A request made to Congress to relieve us of the burden of the unsatisfactory appropriation. methods cannot, therefore, be ascribed to weakness, but rather to a strength born of overcoming difficulties.

In the following article, it is first shown that the navy has made considerable progress in getting around the obstruction of the appropriation system. But we still carry the deadweight of it,

and an attempt is made to indicate how it can be removed from our path without causing any disorganization of our work.

There never was a better time than the present for settling this problem.

The financial, or fiscal, system of the Navy Department runs so smoothly and has so well withstood the strain of the present war, that few outside of those in immediate touch with the details of the problem appreciate the difficulties which have been overcome in the past, or those which still remain to be cleared up. The navy methods for obtaining and handling funds and stores are believed to be superior to those of most other departments of the government; certainly when comparison is confined to the long-established executive departments, where old traditions and inherited systems tend to complicate the routine. Some of the recently instituted departments have undoubtedly been able to start with systems untrammeled by ancient customs, and should therefore be better off in this respect than the older institutions.

In order to obtain a clear idea of the present navy methods, it will be well to describe briefly how money is obtained and handled, and then to glance back over the changes which have been introduced in late years.

To obtain funds for a coming fiscal year estimates from the bureaus, based on reports from the various yards and stations, are submitted to the Secretary, gone over carefully and forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury for transmission to Congress. These estimates are divided under headings, called appropriations, in accordance with the purposes for which the money is desired. Each bureau has its own group of appropriations, the titles of which indicate more or less closely the ultimate objects of expenditures. However, as the result of long custom, the titles of some appropriations give only a broad indication of the nature of the proposed expenditures, and in that case there is added a somewhat detailed wording intended to specify or describe in a general way the kinds of charges which are to be met under that appropriation. It must be remembered that formerly each bureau maintained a kind of independence, not only as an administrative section of the Navy Department, but also as a managing element of the yards and stations. Consequently, each bureau sought to incorporate in the appropriation bills word

ing to indicate its functions and to tighten its control over the matters in which it was interested. From time to time new activities were taken up and mentioned in succeeding appropriation bills, while more or less obsolete details were still retained, or eliminated only after considerable time. Thus the main or leading appropriations of the several bureaus contain descriptive wording which attempts to delimitate, in a certain degree, the functions of the bureaus, and which, from the manner in which this wording has been compiled, is unscientific and unsatisfactory. .

In addition to the main appropriation of each bureau, other appropriations more specific in their nature are included in the bill. In many cases the objects of expenditures mentioned in these specific appropriations are also covered in general terms by the main appropriations, so that often payments can be made either from the bureau's main appropriation or from one or more of the specific appropriations.

Congress having gone over the estimates submitted, the appropriation bill is finally enacted into law. The final figures of the bill are reached only after careful inquiry by the Congressional committees, the Secretary, bureau chiefs, and others concerned appearing before these committees and explaining the needs of the service in detail. After the bill is passed and signed by the President, it is carried to the treasury books, and the money becomes available for use. On the treasury books the sums appropriated are recorded under the names of the several hundred appropriations mentioned in the act, and from that point on a credit and debit account is maintained for each individual appropriation covered by the bill. The same procedure is followed in the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts.

With the exception of the Navy Department, for reasons to be explained below, the general practice of the government when funds are to be drawn from the treasury, is to specify the particular appropriation concerned for each intended payment. Thus a disbursing officer having 20 payments to make, each under a different appropriation, must procure the amounts necessary under 20 different accounts, and must keep each one of these appropriation accounts separate and distinct from all the rest. The fact that he may have ample funds under other appropriation accounts would not permit him to make payment of any one of these 20 bills until new funds were obtained from the treasury

untarily and unaided carried several seriously wounded men from the firing-line to a position of safety in the rear, in each instance being subjected to a very heavy fire from the enemy.

Private Cornelius J. Leahy, 36th U. S. Volunteer Infantry, for most distinguished gallantry in action at Porac, Luzon, Philippine Islands, September 3, 1899. Leahy with the assistance of one comrade carried from the field of action the bodies of two comrades, one killed and one severely wounded, defending them from the attacks of the enemy and driving off a much superior force of insurgents. The order also briefly notes that Private Leahy was killed in action December 1, 1900, at Pilar, Philippine Islands.

Captain Hugh J. McGrath, 4th U. S. Cavalry, for most distinguished gallantry at Calamba, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on July 26, 1899, in swimming the San Juan River in the face of the enemy's fire and driving him from his entrenchments. order closes with the brief notation, " Died November 7, 1899." First Lieutenant Albert L. Mills, 1st U. S. Cavalry, and captain and assistant adjutant general of U. S. Volunteers, for distinguished gallantry in action at Santiago, Cuba, July 1, 1898, in encouraging those near him by his bravery and coolness after being shot through the head and entirely without sight.

Private John C. Wetherby, 4th U. S. Infantry, for most distinguished gallantry in action near Imus, Luzon, Philippine Islands, November 26, 1899. He had been entrusted with the duty of carrying important orders on the battlefield and while doing so was desperately wounded. Unable to stand he crawled forward on the ground and delivered his messages. He died of his wounds nine days later.

Second Lieutenant George W. Wallace, 9th U. S. Infantry, for gallantry at Tinuba, Luzon, Philippine Islands, March 4. 1900, in rescuing a brother officer who had been wounded by Filipinos from ambush and carrying him to a place of safety.

Privates William B. Trembly and Edward White, 20th Kansas Volunteer Infantry, for most distinguished gallantry at Calumpit, Luzon, Philippine Islands, April 27, 1899. These men swam across the Rio Grande de Pampanga in the face of heavy enemy fire, carrying a rope which they fastened to the trenches occupied by the enemy in order to enable others to cross the river and drive the enemy out of the trenches.

officer was, and is now, supplied with funds entirely under " General Account of Advances." The plan adopted for home stations is simple and efficient. Each disbursing officer is charged with a fixed sum, the amount of which is based on his probable needs. He reports his expenditures periodically (daily, weekly or monthly, according to the size of the office) and is reimbursed with the amounts actually expended, so that an even flow of funds is maintained to his credit, to offset the expenditures actually made. The charges to the various appropriations are made in the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts and in the Treasury Department in accordance with the vouchers submitted by the disbursing officers, "General Account of Advances" being credited at the same time that each appropriation is charged.

A similar method of procedure has been adopted for stores. Formerly all materials were bought under the individual appropriations and held in store in separate lots until used. Where the need arose to use for the purposes of one appropriation stores which had been purchased under another appropriation, it was necessary to effect a transfer between the two appropriations concerned, involving much bookkeeping and paper work. Various regulations were adopted relative to the common use of stock which had been procured in previous fiscal years, but the system was one which led to endless confusion and argument. Congress was induced to appropriate money for the establishment of a "Naval Supply Fund" to be used for purchasing stores for general use. When these stores were used, the values were credited to the fund, and corresponding charges were made to the appropriations under which the materials were utilized. A “revolving fund" was thus maintained. The principle was recognized as being sound and efficient, but the amount of the fund, $2,700,000 was insufficient. Finally the matter was settled by turning all balances of stock into the common fund (excepting certain technical and special articles) and establishing a section of the "General Account of Advances" known as the "Naval Supply Account." At present stock is purchased and held under "General Account of Advances, Naval Supply Account" until used, whereupon the values are credited to this intermediate account, and the appropriation charged.

This brief description has been given in order to indicate our present status and to show the improvements which we have

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