 Forged in the fires of the American Revolution, the Treasury Department is as old as the nation itself. The Treasury belongs to the small nucleus of executive agencies with which the federal government originally embarked upon its historic course. Among other things, the Constitution provided that the new government should lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, pay the debts, borrow money on the credit of the United States, coin money and regulate the value thereof, and provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States. To carry out these duties, President Washington selected Alexander Hamilton to serve as the first secretary of the Treasury. Under young Hamilton's able leadership, the department quickly acquired a central role in the new government because of its involvement in many of the most vital issues and problems of the first decade of our national history. For example, it was attacks on Treasury excise officers in western Pennsylvania, the so-called Whiskey Rebellion, which produced the first major challenge to the legal and administrative authority of the federal government. This vital role and, indeed, Treasury's important involvement in the very life of the nation has continued throughout our history. The secretary of the Treasury is the chief financial officer of the government. And, as such, is the president's expert advisor on financial matters, including revenue forecasts and tax legislation. He is responsible for the development of both domestic and international financial policies and provides the direction and operational framework to carry out these policies. Assisting the secretary in carrying out these responsibilities are some 120,000 personnel serving in over 3,000 field offices, both in this country and abroad. Most Treasury employees are civil service career employees, but high-level guidance and direction are supplied by key officials who, like the secretary, are appointed by the president with Senate approval. The home of the Treasury department, its first, together with most of its documents and records, was burned when a raiding party of British Marines sacked the capital city during the War of 1812. The present Treasury building adjoins the White House and sits astride Ceremonial Pennsylvania Avenue as it runs to the capital. From offices within these historic walls, the secretary and his staff direct Treasury operations throughout the world. The department maintains field offices in all of the states. And Treasury representatives are on duty at U.S. embassies and major world capitals. So diverse and far-flung are Treasury's manifold activities that at a given moment, Treasury personnel are apt to be assisting local police apprehend narcotics smugglers in an Asian seaport, processing Canadian tourists through customs at Blaine, Washington, auditing an income tax return in Brooklyn, New York, minting a coin in Denver, Colorado, or breaking ice in Little America and Arctica. The department is organized into an office of the secretary and 12 operating bureaus. The office of the secretary is responsible for the management of the public debt, including analyses of security markets and analyses of debt impact on the credit structure and the general economy. In this decade, one of the chief concerns of the secretary continues to be the need to monitor the net outflow of dollars and gold, to ensure a favorable balance in international accounts. A staff of economists supports the secretary. They provide the necessary analyses of money flow, buy and sell foreign currencies to maintain the value of the dollar, and encourage international monetary cooperation. The Bureau of the Mint is charged with producing the coins required to meet the needs of the public. Coins have their beginning as raw materials which are accurately weighed to exacting proportions, then placed in furnaces for melting and casting into large ingots. These ingots are then passed through rolling mills and produced to the thickness of the coin being manufactured. Automatic presses punch out plain metal discs called blanks or planches. The blanks are then heat treated or annealed and cleaned before being upset. Upsetting is the operation which places the thickened edges on our coins. The blanks then go into high-speed coining presses which impress on them the devices and inscriptions which make them the coin of the realm. The design and specifications of coins are controlled by law. Great care is taken in the manufacture of our coins to maintain a high quality representative of our great nation. The Bureau of the Mint also receives and processes gold and silver bullion from various sources and operates one of the world's largest gold refineries at the New York Assay office. Because of the very nature of their products, all min installations observe the strictest security measures. Employees are carefully checked and hand-picked guards stand continuous vigil. For the Bureau of the Mint is responsible for the security of our gold and silver assets as well as turning out the nation's coins. For more than 100 years, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has pursued the singular mission of printing the nation's currency and securities. Today, the Bureau employs the varied talents and skills of nearly 3,000 employees and specially designed machines to produce the paper currency, bonds, stamps, and other securities to satisfy the ever-growing needs of our economy. All engraved products start in the design room where Bureau artists produce a full-color detail model. After approval by the Secretary of Treasury, the design is reproduced in steel by an engraver and transferred through various processes into a multi-subject plate for printing by the Intaglio process. The plate and special Bureau manufactured ink come together on the high-speed presses. Commercial-produced special composition paper is fed into the press and out comes a maximum quality, security-printed product perfect in detail and highly resistant to successful counterfeiting. A final examination by skillful inspectors catches any faulty notes. Then the good ones are securely banded and wrapped for delivery to safekeeping in Bureau vaults. Besides paper money, the Bureau designs and prints billions of postage stamps and saving stamps, all having the same high quality and excellence of design as the currency. Other Bureau printing includes commissions, citations, and presidential portraits. Maximum protection is maintained throughout the entire production process to safeguard the highly desirable and very negotiable products of the Bureau. A well-trained force of guards protects the Bureau buildings at all times and safeguards the vaults until the truckloads of money can be sent on their way. Most of the paper currency and coins go to the Federal Reserve Banks and branches in some 36 major cities across the nation, where it is held and distributed to member banks as required to satisfy the needs of the local economy. Nearly 5,000 of these local banks belong to the national banking system. These federally chartered banks account for more than half of the total assets of the nation's commercial banking industry. For over 100 years, the Treasury's controller of the currency has presided over the growth and development of this banking system. A nationwide force of trained, experienced national bank examiners keeps a continuous watch on the condition of every national bank in the country. The sound condition of the national banks is maintained by painstaking review and evaluation of the infinite details of banking transactions. Bank management is carefully analyzed, evaluated, and discussed with the bankers themselves. Banking regulations issued by the controller's office serve to restrict the area of risk into which bankers may venture and to open new avenues of banking. The controller has the authority to charter new banks and allow existing banks to branch or to merge. Through exercise of this authority, the controller's office is able to control and shape the banking structure to the growing needs of the community and the nation. Just as the controller of the currency guarantees the integrity of the national banking system, the Treasury Secret Service Force protects the integrity of the coins and currency so vital to our economy. The suppression of forgery of government checks and bonds and the constant war on counterfeiters are highly valuable but little-known contributions to society by the agents of the Secret Service. Even the seizure of a $2 million consignment of phony bills before they could be circulated doesn't attract nearly the attention that their constant and tireless protection of the President and his family does. The President at all times is under the protective cloak of the Secret Service. Since 1901, this small core of dedicated Treasury men have had this formidable responsibility. For this is their primary mission, a mission for which they are prepared to give their own lives. Collecting each year $100 billion or more in federal taxes, the Internal Revenue Service probably has continuing contact with more citizens of the United States than any other agency of the federal government. It's more than 60,000 employees staff a national headquarters office, seven regional offices, several service centers, nearly 60 district offices and 900 local offices. In addition, it has in recent years extended its overseas operations to provide service and to permit tax collection among the thousands of American citizens living and working abroad. Collection of taxes has far more phases of activity than the average taxpayer realizes. So, Internal Revenue maintains basic collection and audit divisions which handle the bulk of its activity, but it also has an active intelligence division concerned with citizens who fail to file, who file fraudulent returns and who need a further check beyond the more normal routines of audit. On the other hand, the Appellate Division concerns itself with matters in which internal revenue and taxpayers are in serious but more legitimate disagreement. Internal revenue's most dramatic operation perhaps is the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division which regulates for tax purposes the liquor and tobacco industries and works earnestly to restrain the manufacture of illicit alcohol products. The billions of cigarettes and cigars smoked annually in this country gives yet another basis of tax relationship between the citizen and the revenue service. All this requires intensive and extensive administrative coordination, whether it deals with buildings, office functions, ADP equipment, the personnel who staff the agency, or the top echelon from which comes the pronouncement of plans and policies. Internal revenue offers, for one purpose or another, more than 200 kinds of forms with which the average taxpayer seldom comes in contact. Its publications and its rulings are numerous and form the basis of many legal decisions and numerous highly technical books and articles on assorted tax matters. All this variety of effort and activity is what keeps those 60,000 employees busy, not just during the filing period but every day the year round. Just as progress and the population explosion have created ever increasing problems for the Internal Revenue Service, so they have for the Bureau of Customs. Customs today finds itself caught up in the 20th century's population explosion and one of its accompanying booms, the travel explosion. Many Americans travel abroad each year and return, while millions of foreign tourists pour into this country by ship, by plane, by car, and on foot. At all these gateways to America, returning Americans and foreign tourists are welcomed by customs inspectors, friendly but firm as they clear travelers for entry. Baggage inspection is the most familiar customs operation to most people. Many are not aware, however, that one of the most important reasons for checking baggage is to keep our country free of harmful animal or plant material in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture. This innocent-looking orange, for instance, harbors insects capable of causing millions of dollars of damage to the nation's citrus groves. The Bureau of Customs also performs vital functions in America's vast international trade. It is responsible for the classification and appraisement of imported merchandise from every corner of the globe. The customs service takes charge of all imported merchandise until it has been inspected, examined, appraised, and duty paid on it. Goods may be inspected on a dock, in a warehouse, or in some cases in a laboratory where Bureau chemists analyze them to determine their exact components and relative values. So customs duty can be imposed fairly, whether it be on rugs or razors, dolls or diamonds. Customs has experts in all these fields, all applying their best efforts to determine a just-duty charge. Customs also has an investigative and enforcement arm to apprehend those who attempt to smuggle goods into the country. In those years when the revenue collected by IRS and customs is less than the total expenditures, the government finds it necessary to borrow the dollars it needs. This borrowing is accomplished by sale of various government securities such as Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. The Bureau of the Public Debt is responsible for processing all transactions in the security issues of the United States. All such securities are developed, designed, and printed to specifications of the Bureau. The Bureau stores and distributes them to Federal Reserve Banks and other agents. The Bureau maintains ownership registration records of all registered securities, computes interest on them, and authorizes issuance of interest checks to their owners. Retired securities and interest coupons are audited by the Bureau, and serial numbers of the securities are recorded. Retired securities are either retained in Bureau custody or are microfilmed for permanent record purposes. Accounting control is maintained on all public debt and agency securities transactions, and statements of the public debt are prepared for publication in the daily statement of the United States Treasury. The Bureau is responsible for the destruction of redeemed securities and interest coupons. Thus, the Bureau of Public Debt is the creator, accountant, and executioner of the billions of dollars worth of securities so necessary to the operation of our federal government. The most popular security issued by the federal government is the U.S. Savings Bond, the promotion and sale of which is the responsibility of the Treasury's Savings Bonds Division. The widespread ownership of Savings Bonds helps to distribute the national debt among millions of Americans. National defense is a responsibility we cannot neglect. It must be financed at any cost. Bonds make the individual a partner in the business of our national defense. Borrowing from the public through the sale of Savings Bonds contributes to the stability of the dollar and to our economic strength. More savings out of income are required to finance the growing American economy. Savings Bonds are one of the finest savings devices. They are a safe, sound investment for the buyer and a source of strength for the nation. Today, bonds are being bought, reissued, or redeemed at an unprecedented rate. These transactions, hundreds of thousands per day, are processed at the Bureau of Public Debt Electronic Data Processing Center. Wearing, clicking, spinning electronic brains to keep a running account of your investment in the nation's future. From taxes, customs duties, and sale of securities, the federal government takes in billions of dollars a year. It incurs obligations or creates bills, much as a family or a business. The majority of the bills created by all government departments or agencies are paid from the monies held by the Treasurer of the United States. Designated officials throughout the government sign documents certifying that payments are to be made to private individuals and businesses. Most civilian agencies forward these signed documents to the government's central dispersing service in the Bureau of Accounts. The checks used to be prepared manually, much the same as individuals write checks. Nowadays, such a procedure would be impossible. High-speed computers produce several hundred million checks annually, several thousand checks per minute of every working day. This task is accomplished in a number of regional offices. Most of these checks are monthly annuity payments to social security retirees, payments to veterans, and federal income tax refunds. Checks are cashed or deposited in local banks and returned to the Treasurer of the United States. The entire cycle of the movement of cash, receipts on the one hand and expenditures on the other, is accounted for through a unified system of central accounts. Here again, these accounts were in earlier times maintained by hand. Today, the Treasury uses computers to do the work. The Treasury also publishes financial reports. These reports are among the most useful tools available today for financial planning and economic analysis. The Daily Treasury Statement, a daily summary of the cash flow in and out of the account of the Treasurer of the United States. The Monthly Treasury Statement, which shows the receipts by sources and expenditures by program for the entire government and the resulting surplus or deficit in the President's budget. The Monthly Treasury Bulletin, containing additional financial statistics of interest to economists of our nation. And the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which tells the American public how the federal monies have been handled. To keep pace with the demands of our times, a program of continuous planning is an essential element in the total management picture of the Treasury Department. Throughout the entire federal system, Treasury plays an important role in stimulating financial management improvement in all government agencies, so that they may better provide the financial services and controls necessary to our economy. Treasury also provides non-financial service to the public through its Bureau of Narcotics and the United States Coast Guard. These are vital services directed toward the safety and well-being of our citizens. The Bureau of Narcotics licenses and controls the import, manufacture, and distribution of legitimate narcotic drugs for use by the medical and allied professions. Since 1930, this close-knit, superbly trained force has led the international war on illicit traffic in narcotic drugs. The Bureau of Narcotics is one of the Treasury Enforcement Agency supporting the highly specialized Treasury Law Enforcement School, where Treasury agents learn everything from judo and marksmanship to the latest detection and undercover techniques using the best modern science has to offer. For these agents must be equipped to carry out the most difficult of all enforcement techniques, that of the undercover agent. As they pursue the illusive dope smugglers along their historic international trade routes to the major ports of this country. In the United States, the Bureau's main effort is concentrated in the major metropolitan areas. The target is the highest echelon of organized crime. Each seizure of dope is a tribute to the agents of the Bureau of Narcotics and a service of great value to the health and well-being of our society. Like the Bureau of Narcotics, the United States Coast Guard provides a direct service to the nation. The modern Coast Guard is an almost worldwide force of men, ships, planes and stations dedicated to promoting maritime safety and saving lives and property at sea and on the territorial waters of the United States. Maritime safety starts at the design board for all American ships and continues through the life of the vessel as periodic inspections of machinery and hull are made. Regular shipboard drills ensure the best crewmen for our merchant marine vessels. When disaster does strike at sea, the Coast Guard search and rescue network goes into action. Location of the stricken plane or vessel is plotted in the rescue coordinating center. Cutters and search planes are manned and underway toward the scene. In a matter of minutes, the data processing equipment of the Amver Center produces a list of names, positions and medical facilities of merchant vessels nearest the stricken ship. With huge aircraft for long searches, amphibious planes for shorter searches and possible offshore landings, and amphibious jet turbine helicopters for inshore searches and pickups, help is seldom very far away for mariners in distress. Coast Guard cutters on weather patrol catch their share of search and rescue work, too, as they make regular observations for the U.S. Weather Bureau and furnish communications and navigation assistance to ships and trans-oceanic aircraft. Coast Guard loran stations from Greenland to Japan, lighthouses from Maine to Hawaii, and offshore towers and light ships along our coasts aid the mariner in his ocean navigation. Thousands of buoys mark his way in our rivers, bays and harbors. In the North Atlantic since 1914, Coast Guard ships and planes of the International Ice Patrol have charted and warned ocean travelers of the menace of icebergs in or near the shipping lanes. The Coast Guard's battle against ice, one of man's oldest and most formidable foes, is carried into the bays, rivers and harbors of the United States, into the great lakes in the interest of commerce, and to the north and south polar regions in the interest of science and national defense. Coast Guard ships carry out an accelerated program of oceanographic research, taking water and sea life samples from the major ocean areas of the world. In addition to their many far-flung peacetime missions, the men and ships of the Coast Guard must be ready at all times to take their place alongside the Navy in times of national emergency. As the nation's oldest sea-going armed force, the Coast Guard is proud of its chapter in the Treasury story, a story that has many chapters and whose continuing theme is, and has been, service to our nation. Service based on a solid foundation of tradition and responsibility. Service recognizing clearly the need for progress through innovation. Service arising from the loyalty and devotion of its dedicated employees, who for more than 175 years have been writing the story of the United States Treasury Department.