The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-04
MEN WHO HANDLE CASH
WORK OF THE PAY DEPARTMENT.
OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY.
Uncle Sans Boys Get Their Pay
Promptly i'm the Main, and 1t Is as
Good Money as Any in the World.
Washington Post.

| Washington Post
The work Of providing the funds instru-
mental in accomplishing the brilliant victories
achieved in the last few months by the
army and navy has been a labor of no little
care and difficulty, especially so in the pay
| department of the army.
The responsibilities involved may be
| judged somewhat from the fact that during
the last year of the civil war there was
| paid out by the War Department alone over
s60OOOO,0OO. while from 1861 to 1867 this de-
partment paid out over ST. 100, OOO,O 600 Though
the grand total of mere army expenses
curing the recent Spanish-American war
has reached nothing Ike these figures, the
! sudden increase in the size of the army
| from 1900 men, customarily involving the
services of twenty-five experienced paymas-
tiers in their monthly payment, to over 2OO,-
| COO men, necessarily threw a greatly in
creased burden upon the pay department.
| This was felt the more as the additional
paymasters' for whom provision was
| speedily made by act of Congress, were
| largely appointed from civil life, and had to
| be put through a kindergarten" of depart
| mental training before they could be safely
| sent forth 30 pay off the armies in the
field. The ordinary civilian, ignorant of the
| laws, special orders, varions kinds of pay
| to be disbursed, method of keeping ac-
| counts, and technique generally of this de-
| partment, has but little conception of the
| difficulties to be encountered in this work.
| In instances appointees, after a few
| days experience at School," becoming
suddenly aroused to the dangers not only
of losing their salaries but of having
| their bondsmen pay large sums of money
on their account, have quietly resigned
| and sought position and emolument else
! where.
| The names Of others who have gone to
! the front have for some reason ceased to
| appear on the department rolls, and accord
| ing to the examiners, the number of mis-
! takes appearing in the reports of some of
the additional p. Ms" has been something
| phenomenal. In one instane 1900 errors
were observed, and it is the opinion of the
| expert making the examination that all the
! correct entries in the paymaster's report
| were unintentional mistakes on his part.
| These are exceptions, of course, as the
| greatest number of new appointees have
| proved efficient and successful in their work.
The bill increasing the regular army to
| dent for 125,000 and 5000 volunteers necess-
| tated increasing the force of paymasters to
| an aggregate of liz, while the number of
| clerks, inspectors, and office assistants has
! been proportionately increased. The aggre-
| gate appropriations made by Congress for
| the payment of both regulars and volunteers
up to Jan. j. 1859, is $50, $50, 1899. of which
| amount from thirty to thirty-five million
| dollars are still unexpended. OF the sums
| already paid out, notwithstanding the
| rorS made in disbursements, not one dollar
has been actually lost to the government,
| and this is attributable to the system of ac-
| counts controlled by Paymaster General T.
| HI. Stanton and his assistants. This system
| as applied to the payment of troops contem-
plates. first of ALL accurate lists of the sol
! diers to be paid, prepared under the direc-
| ton of the proper officers Upon rolls thus
| prepared the paymasters and their. clerks
| compute the sums due, placing them sever
| ally opposite the names of officers and men.
THE PRELIMINARY WORK.
The payments are then made by the pay
master and witnessed and certified to by
the proper army officials. The rolls then
! go to the paymaster generals department,
and this is the critical time when trouble
! for the paymaster is likely to begin. A
corps of expert examiners go over these
rolls. scrutinizing every item in detail.
Each paymaster has twenty days allowed
| from the first of every month in which to
make his returns to the department, failing
| in which his funds may be cut off, and
TINS corps OF examiners also have twenty
Gays IN which to examine the paymaSterS
the office.
!, This work is really preliminary and for
| ments or other mistakes have been made he
| may be notified and, the errors corrected
Then all the papers examined by this pre-
liminary corps of examiners go to that Off
| GER or the treasury known as the auditor
Tor the war Department, where another
master, and if any sums have been i'm
| properly expended or are unaccounted for
they are charged to his account
1T 1t win be perceived that the dangers of
rors are far better than from ms ro Th r
and yet in the history of the department
there have been instances where his funds
have, been lost through violence and even
| murder. On the I'D of May, 1876. a paw
masters clerk, Mr.. Louis r. Spencer, a
native of Hartford. Conn. while accom-
ern California, in endeavoring to defend the
public funds was killed by robbers. Earlier
IN the season of that year a paymaster was
| drowned by the wreck of a steamer near
Vaneouver's island and the funds in his
possession lost.
On March Is. 1887. Mai. D. N. Bash. pay
| master. stationed in Wyoming, while in
stage coach en- route to pay the troops at
robber at place called Ante a Springs Springs
$7.s5e.sS. - 80 '''Os' '''''O' nuns -
| the troops at Fort Thomas. Arizona, ac-
| companied by an escort consisting of a SER
geant and eleven men, his clerk and servant.
was attacked by a large party of robbers
| May IL, 1889. The paymaster and his whole
party were driven from the ambulance con-
tanning the money chest at the muzzle CT
| loaded guns in the hands of one body of the
thieves, while the remainder broke into the
! chest and carried away $2S 345 TO-
| >. On the 9Th of November, 1891, Major c. c.
Snlfiln, a paymaster. on his way to pay the
| troops at Fort Clark, Texas, reached the
post. about II 30 p. M. The funds in his pos
session, consisting Of $1,000 in treasury
notes and $3.50 in silver were placed by
direction of the post commander, in a cell
| OF the guardhouse for safety Next morning
| 1t was found that some one had gained ac-
cess to the place and stolen all the bank
| notes. leaving the coin untouched This
matter was subsequently referred by Con-
| gress to the Court of Claims and Major
Snitfin was promptly relieved of all respon-
| sibility for the loss. a different danger Just
now is apparent in the illness of two pay
masters with fever at Santiago
NEARLY ALL ARE SOLDIERS.
1t is a fact worthy of note that nearly all
the paymasters now in the service. both
| regulars and those of the "additional'
class, have seen service as soldiers in ac-
tual warfare. General r. H. Stanton has
had notable career Born in Indiana in
1885. the scion of an ancestry opposed to