The San Francisco call., 1898-10-11
ROTTANZ| IS
 OPPOSED ID
 EXECUTING Never Drew Salary as
 Captain. GETS ONLY LIEUTENANT'S PAY ACTING COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY IS TO BLAME. He Makes an Arbitrary Decision That Materially Affects Captain Rottanzi's Pocket and
 General Finances.
GETS ONLY LIEUTENANT'S PAY
ACTING COMPTROLLER OF THE
 TREASURY IS TO BLAME.

Captain Rottanzi, the gallant and deb- l onair surgeon of the Sixth California ] Regiment, has declared war against the | acting Comptroller Of the United States ! Treasury. The captain has sworn a deep ] and direful oath. Nothing short of blood can satisfy his proud spirit and compen- sate him for the emptiness Of his pock- 1 cts. The gold that should be his, yea, ! the hard-earned. bright, clinking and 1 tingling coin or the realm, for which he braved death and the fortunes Of war. are but as the memory of some departed dream. To be exact, and in this case the captain Is exact to a degree, there is s166 65 that he will never have the pleas ure of spending. or for that matter even seeing. No wonder the captain is
 wroth, and it's no joke to his pride to
 have to recall the fact that he has been done by such an insignificant person as the acting Comptroller Of the Treas ury.
 Just because he was ten days late in
 paying his respects to the paymaster
 Captain RcttanZi will receive only the pay or Q first lieutenant, when, fl he had
 got a hustle upon himself and inter viewed the paymaster sooner, he would at least have drawn two months Of a captains pay. These are the simple facts in the case, ack Of which lie the arbitra- " ruling Of the acting Comptroller that robbed the noble captain and caused him 10 swear by the ancestral honor of the house of Rottanzi that f ever he meets the acting Comptroller there will be a warm time and a dead comptroller.
 The facts in the case. which no one seems 10 clearly understand, are about follows:
 All surgeons in the regular army under the rank of major are known as assist ant surgeons. When they enter the ser vice they have to serve i've years before many Of the National Guard regiments were accepted by the Government they had reg1mental system Of rank that was contrary to that prescribed by the War Department. that Is many of its sur geons had rank that in the regular army they would nOt have been entitled 10. ceptng the services or these assistant surgeors allowed them 10 be cOmmis- stoned as captains, and as such they were paid until July II, when the acting Comp troller in auditing the accounts Of the army suddenly thought Of the army law that an assistant surgeon must serve five years before he can draw the pay Of 2 captain, because he Is not allowed 10 hold that rank before that time.
 The acting Comptroller is as arbitrary as he is powerful. and being ameHable that the salary attaches 10 the office and not to the rank or the incumbents Of these offices Under this ruling all as- sistaRt surgeons with the rank Of cap tains will be paid as first heuJenants-
 When the assistant surgeons Of the Seventh California Regiment were paid
 
 stead Ot $l55 66. The amount held back was the stOppage for the three months that they have been Overpaid since the decision Of the acting Comptroller Cap tain Rottanzf is the worst sufferer of ali He had the bad luck not 10 have any dealings with the paymaster before July g, and consequently his entire pay will be only for the rank of first ueuten- ant Those surgeons who were paid prior 10 the decision Of the acting C0nptroIler have the benefit of the difference be- tween slsS $ and S13S 9 for two months. which is the difference between . cap tain's and Q first EeuIsnant's pay
 There is no redress from the decision Of the acting Comptroller except for him to modify it himself. Even the Presi- dent IS poTerless, unless he remove the Comptroller and appoint another The ruling o1 the treasury official is purely arbitrary Thus the matter rests at present and Is likely 70 rest for all time to come. as there Is little chance Of the assistant surgeons being able 10 Success fully combat the red tape which their efforts for justice would meet with in Washington
 Nevertheless. Captain Rottanzi wants Ihe acting Comptroller 10 know that he does not like him and that he will never , consent 10 play in his back yard.