Graham guardian., 1900-02-02
THE ARMY PAY ECLl.
Nearly a Hundred Million Dolla-s
the Last Year.
Interesting Particulars of the Work
and expense OF Paying Uncle
SaM's Soldiers = Deposits
with Pa9 masters.


The great expense of maiE1u aiming our
army on a war footing is set forth in
detail in the ani,usl report OF Gen. A,
4. Bates, paymas,er general of the
,,rmy, DuriES tAe E&st fiscal year there
vas expended on account CT l,ay of the
army the SUM cf $yl,S55,545, a net IN
case of $5o,,9l,f@9, us compared with
S.....lar expeaal,G4r duriGg the pre-
eG.ng iisc,l eur. i.2 rriuci9ai items
III expenditure were as foiiowS:
Fay of the regular army, $G4,141,225;
,ay Of United states volunteers, $685.
..E17s; extra Tay to volunteers,
war with Spain, $l,443,033; on account
i dlsbandmcnt Of the Cuban army,
s9C5,1CO; extra pay 10 regular army,
war with Spain, s.. 1893; mileage to
uf..cers, $433,174; extra mileage to
officers, national defense. S177,6i0.
The army called into service by the
president under the act of April 80 and
May II, 1898, aggfc Goted, volunteers
and regulars, over 2So,cOO men. Gen.
Bates says these soldiers have been reg
ularly paid, either monthly or BIZ
monthly, during their term of service,
and, in addition, the volunteers, eX-
cepting those on daty in The Philip
pines, have been mustered out of serv'
ice and received their final pay.
"The work of the pay department"
says Gen. Dates, from the commence
ment of the Spanish-Amerlcan war TO
its close, and during the continuance OF
hostilities in the Philippines in sup
preston of insurrcction, has been phe-
nomenally laborious and exacting, but
the officers of this department have met
every requirement of duty with zeal
and promptitude and to the satisfac-
ton OF the army.
"A state of war has not been per-
mitted to interfere with the regularity
of the monthly payments, except in the
Philippines, where bi-monthly pay
ments have been preferred.
'It is gratifying to this department
to be able to state that the peculiar diff
ticulties, best known to the mastering
officer and the paymaster, attendant
upon the musterout (between Septem-
Der S, 1898, and the 22d of June, 1s99)
of over 100000 volunteer troops, have
been overcome with surprising facil-
ity and the day of their discharge has
been the day of their payment.
paymrster general SAYS that some
of the volunteer paymasters, while
evincing great zeal and intelligence,
have been too old TO withstand the
hardships of military service, and he
says that under no circumstances
should men be appointed 10 this Office
who are more than 40 years Of age, nor
until they have passed an examination
as to their physical, moral and mental
fitness for the position"
According to the report, the reg
ular troops have continued to make
large deposits with the army paymas-
ters and the volunteers have also
availed themselves of the privilege very
extensively. The soldiers deposits dur
ing the past fiscal year amounted to
81, ,406,762, more than double the
amount deposited the previous year,
when the deposits were greater than
ever before in the history of the army.
The paymaster general recommends
that congress be urged TO increase the
paynow received by paymasters' clerks,
ten per cent. for every five years of
service, until it reaches 81 500 a year,
and he also recommends legislation au-
thorizing the retirement of clerks on
hall pay after 80 years continuous serv-
ice.
In n chapter in regard to the cler
ical force of the pay department, Gen.
Bates says:
'Too much cannot be said regarding
the zeal and intelligence of the regu
lar trained force of clerks in this Office.
No enlisted men or commissioned Off
GERS of the army have shown more pa.
triotic zeal for the accomplishment of
the duties imposed upon them than
these old tried servants of the govern,
ment. The work of these men is such
that only trained clerks are of great
value, and l earnestly recommend that
the rules of the civil service be applied
to the clerks in the paymaster generals
office, and that they be strictly adhered
to. Changes in the clerical force for
any reason except to increase efficiency,
and that upon the recommendation of
the paymaster general, should never be
made. Washington Star.