Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1900-01-17
THE ARMY PAY ROLL
Nearly a Hundred Million Dollars
the Last Year.
Interesting Particulars of the Work
and Expense of Paying uncIe
SANS soldiers - Deposits
with a masters.

The great expense of maintaining our
army on a war footing is set forth in
detail in the annual report Of Gen. \.
f. Bates, paymaster general of the
army, During the past fiscal year there
wal expended on account Of ray Of the
army the sum Of s9i, 955,ji5 a net in
crease of S56,7al.723, as compared with
similar expenditures during The pre-
ceding fiscal year. The principal items
of expenditure were MS follows:
Pay of the regular army, ai.lll,225;
pay of United States volunteers. s35,-
s77,l7S; extra pay TO volunteers.
war with Spain, sl,443,933; on account
of d~isbandment OF the Cuban army,
1905, 100; extra pay to regular army.
war with Spain, S202, 1913; mileage to
officers, S4O3, ia; extra mileage TO
officers, national defense, $l55,GIO.
The army called into service by the
president under the act Of April 20 and
May IL, 1895, aggregated, volunteers
and regulars, over 10000 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-
ccpting those on duty in the Philip
pines, have been mustered out of sery.
ice and received their final pay.
"The work of the pay department."
says Gen. Bates, from the commence
ment of the Spanish-American wal to
its close, and during the continuance of
hostilities in the Philippine in sup
preston Of i~nsurrection, has been phe-
nomenally laborious and cXacting. but
the officers OF this department have met
every requirement of duty with zeal
and promptitude and TO the satisfac-
tion of the army.
"a state of wal has not been per-
mitted to interfere with the regularity
of the monthly payments, except in the
Philippines, where b|i-mouthly pay
ments have been preferred.
at 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 muster out (betwcen Septem-
Der 5, 1895, and the 22d OF June, 1891
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.
Thepaymaster general says that some
of the volunteer paymnsters, while
evincing great zeal and intelligence,
have been too old to withstand the
hardships Of military service, aud he
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-
tiers and the volunteers have also
availed themselves of the privilege very
extensively. The soldiers deposits dur
ing the past fiscal year amounted 10
Sl,i96, 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 pnymastcrs' clerks,
ten per cent. for every five years Of
service. until il reaches $500 a year,
and he also recommends Legislation nu-
thorizing the retirement of clerks on
half pay after 80 years continuous serv-
ice.
In a 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 ! earnestly recommend that
the rules OF the civil service be applied
10 the clerks in the pnymaster generals
Office, and that they he strictly adhered
TO. Changes in the clerical force foi
any reason except TO increase efficiency.
and that upon the recommendation Of
the paymaster general, should never be
made.'-Washington Star.
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