(3) The consequence of this extension of authority was that, in
innumerable instances, the money, without the previous knowledge or
control of the officers of the department who are responsible for the
good management of its finances, was deposited in offices where it was
improper such funds should be placed; and the repayment was ordered, not
by the financial officers, but by the postmasters, at points where it was
inconvenient to the department so to disburse its funds.
(4) The inconvenience of accumulating uncertain and fluctuating sums at
small offices was felt seriously in consequent overpayments to
contractors on their quarterly collecting orders; and, in case of private
mail routes, in litigation concerning the misapplication of such funds to
the special service of supplying mails.
(5) The accumulation of such funds on draft offices could not be known to
the financial clerks of the department in time to control it, and too
often this rendered uncertain all their calculations of funds in hand.
(6) The orders of payment were for the most part issued upon the
principal offices, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore,
etc., where the large offices of publishers are located, causing an
illimitable and uncontrollable drain of the department funds from those
points where it was essential to husband them for its own regular
disbursements.
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