Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-09
ASTERS' CLERKS
DECISIONa as TO
THEIR OFFICIAL STATUS.
Are Entitled to the Ten Per Cent Ad-
ditiOnal Pay Granted
to Officers.

Assistant Controller Mitchell of the
Treasury Department has rendered a de-
cision to the effect that a paymaster' s
clerk in the army and navy is an officer
within the meaning of a certain specified
statute. and entitled to the privileges of
that statute.
The paymasters' clerks have been unable
for some time to find out where they are
att In some cases. The United States Su-
preme Court has decided that a clerk Is
not an officer within the meaning Of the
act granting mileage to officers, but that
he is an officer when 1t comes to violation
of army regulations. He is not in the
army when it comes to drawing mileage,
but he is very much in the army when it
comes to being court-martialed and landed
behind the bars
Mr.. Mitchen's decision Is that a pay
masters clerk is an officer within the
meaning of the statute that grants 10 per
cent additional pay to officers serving in
Cuba Porto Rico. Alaska, Hawaii and the
Philippines. 1t is said that this decision
means a total increase of several nun
dred thousand dollars for the clerks. In
his decision made in the case of c. B..
Eckels, paymaster's clerk in San Juan,
Mr.. Mitchell says:
The Controllers Reasoning.
"Within the meaning OF the aulIoTltleS
cited so far as the question here involved
is concerned, / can see no difference In the
status of a paymasters clerk in the army
and a paymasterS clerk In the navy. Ac-
cording to the above authorities, one is an
officer in a general sense in the military
service and is liable to be arrested and tried
before court-martial, and the other Is an
officer In the general sense in the navy and
subject to the jurisdiction of naval courts
martial The nature Of their duties Is es-
sentially the same: The duties of an army
paymaster's clerk bear the same relation to
the army as those of a navy paymaSter
clerk to the navy.
whether one is subjected to a more rigid
discipline than the other, which Is mat
ter of regulation, and which may be changed
from time to time, can make difference
so far as the question here involved Is con-
cerned. The salary of each is fixed by law,
and one is paid out of money appropriated
to be disbursed and accounted for by the
pay department as pay of the army, while
the other is paid out of money appropri-
ated to be disbursed and accounted for by
the pay department as pay OF the navy.
1.-THE position of paymaster's clerk in the
army is provided by law, and, although
there is no statute specifically authorizing
it, he is appointed by the Secretary of War
for an indefinite period, Is required to take
oath, and is discharged on recommendation
of War.
"In view Of what I have already said and
the authorities cited 1 am Of opinion that
q paymasters clerk is an officer within the
meaning of the act of May 20, 1900, supra,
and that If Mr. Ecke1s served as such as
above stated he Is entitled while so serving
to have his pay increass j 10 per centum
over and above his pay proper as fixed by
law In time Of peace, and he should be paid
accordingly, If his account is otherwise cor
rect "