Congress in 1846. By this means the Treasury Department is independent
of the banking system of the country; but has established sub-treasuries
in the principal cities of the Union for the receipt and disbursement of
public moneys. There are sub-treasuries in New York, San Francisco,
Saint Louis, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans and
Cincinnati. For greater convenience moneys are also deposited at certain
designated banks. Secretary Windom, however, began rapidly removing such
deposits from the banks and announced his intention to cease the placing
of deposits with any bank.

The Register of the Treasury is the official book-keeper of the United
States. The Commissioners of Customs and of Internal Revenue have charge
respectively of the collection of customs duties and internal revenue
taxes. The Comptroller of the Currency has control of the national
banks. The Chief of the Bureau of Statistics collects and publishes the
statistics of our foreign commerce. In the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing are designed, engraved and printed all government bonds,
national bank notes, drafts, United States notes, etc., for which work
about 1200 persons are employed. The director of the Mint has general
supervision over all mints and assay offices. In addition to his annual
report he publishes yearly a report on the statistics of the production
of precious metals.

The titles of the other officers indicate the general duties of each.
The whole department employs about 3,400 persons at Washington.

Some of the more important public questions coming within the province
of the Treasury Department at the present time are (1) the Tariff, which
has been settled for some years by the high tariff act of this Congress;
(2) the silver question involving the gravest questions of finance,