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TREASURY

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 229 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TREASURY , a See also:

place for the storage of treasure (Fr. tresor, See also:Lat. See also:thesaurus, Gr. thcraup6s, See also:store, hoard); also that See also:department of a See also:government which manages the public See also:revenue. The See also:head of the department was an important See also:official in the See also:early See also:history of See also:English institutions. He managed the See also:king's hoard or treasury, and under the Med. Latin name of thesaurarius, i.e. treasurer, See also:grew into increased importance in times when the See also:main See also:object of government seemed to be to fill the king's See also:purse. He received the See also:title of See also:lord high treasurer (q.v.) and ranked as the third See also:great officer of See also:state. In course of See also:time the English treasury grew into two departments of state (see See also:EXCHEQUER). Since 1714 the See also:office of lord high treasurer has been in See also:commission, and his duties have been administered by a See also:board, consisting of a first lord, a See also:chancellor and four or more junior lords. The board itself never meets, except on extraordinary occasions, although until the commencement of the loth See also:century it was its practice to meet almost daily to discuss matters of See also:financial detail. There were originally See also:separate treasury boards for See also:England, See also:Scotland and See also:Ireland, but the English and Scottish were See also:united by the See also:act of See also:union, and that of Ireland was joined with the English in 1816. The first lord of the treasury (see See also:MINISTRY) takes practically no See also:part in the duties of the board, the office being to all intents and purposes a See also:sinecure; it is usually held by the See also:prime See also:minister of the See also:day. Indeed from 1783 to 1885 it was invariably so held, but in the latter See also:year there was a departure from the practice, and again in 1887, 1891 and 1895. The junior lords of the treasury are also See also:political rather than financial See also:officers, acting as assistant whips in the See also:House of See also:Commons.

There are two See also:

joint secretaries to the treasury, one of whom, the patronage secretary, is merely a political officer, acting as See also:chief See also:whip; the other is termed financial secretary and is the chancellor of the exchequer's chief assistant. All the above officers are members of the House of Commons and of the government. The salaries of the first lord of the treasury and of the chancellor of the exchequer are £5000 per annum; of the joint secretaries £2000 per annum each; of three of the junior lords £r000 per annum each, the other junior lords being unpaid. The vast bulk of the See also:work of the treasury department is per-formed by the permanent See also:staff, at whose head is the permanent secretary and auditor of the See also:civil See also:list, with a See also:salary of £2500 per annum. The chancellor of the exchequer (see MINISTRY), as See also:finance minister of the See also:Crown, is the officer who is responsible to See also:parliament for the carrying out of the business of the treasury. He performs practically the See also:ancient duties of under-treasurer and presents the See also:annual See also:budget of revenue and See also:expenditure. The treasury department of the United States is responsible for the finances of the government and the See also:control of the currency. Its See also:genesis was a treasury office of accounts established in 1776 for the purpose of examining and auditing accounts. In 1779 it was reorganized, but was abolished in 1781, on the See also:election of See also:Robert See also:Morris as See also:superintendent of finances, and in 1789 the See also:present executive department of the treasury was established by act of See also:Congress. Its See also:scope is more varied and complex than that of any other United States government department. It is presided over by a secretary, who is a member of the See also:cabinet and has a salary of $12,000 per annum. He is assisted by three assistant secretaries, two of them having salaries of $5000 and the third a salary of $45oo.

The treasury department looks after the revenue See also:

administration of the United States, and has for this purpose a customs service See also:division and an See also:internal revenue division. There is also the division of the treasury, in the strictest sense of the word; bureaus of auditing and accounting, of currency and of banking and certain See also:miscellaneous bureaus, as the See also:life-saving service, the public See also:health and marine See also:hospital service, the supervising architect and the See also:bureau of See also:engraving and See also:printing.

End of Article: TREASURY

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