The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-04-25


s1.2O to $3.50. While the aggregate in
disbursements in back pay will not ex-
coed s25O,0OO, the decision is import
ant in establishing a new standard for
reckoning army pay in the future. 1t
is also illustrative of the indirect and
cumbersome methods by which con-
gress prescribes the compensation for
the army and navy. Only those per-
sons will get this back pay who apply
for it, and therefore the Importance
of wide dissemination of the meaning
of the recent decision.
Each officer regularly receives COM
pensation under two distinct heads
grade or minimum pay, which, for ex-
ample, is $4,000 a year for major;
and also longevity, or fogy pay, based
upon the number of years an officer mas
been in the military service. Toward
this he can count service of any sort,
as an enlisted man, volunteer or regu-
lar, or a cadet. For every five years
of service, whether continuous or not,
the officer is entitled to receive an in
crease of ten per cent of his pay, not
exceeding in the aggregate 40 per cent.
After 20 years service an officer can
get no further increases on account of
longevity, nor does he get this increase
when above the grade Of colonel.
Increase in Pay.
Congress passed an act, May 26,
1900, giving a ten per cent increase of
"pay proper to all officers in service
| in the Philippines and other outlying
possessions of the United States, ami
extending this by act of March 2,
! 1901, to all service outside the United
States and territories.
What did pay proper" mean? was
it the grade pay or the total pay? The
supreme court has just decided after
| four years of litigation, that it means
the total, and hence the ten per cent OF
the difference due to SO many persons
The enlisted men Of the army come
| in on this decision, too, because since
1898, they have been receiving 20 pei
cent increase, first given in time OF
war, and subsequently allowed for al
service outside the United States. They
Ialso get an extra dollar a month be-
| hot Of faniv
vice, and increasing with a longer
term, so that in some cases 20 pei
cent of this extra $12 of longevity pay
or for such part of the third year as
may have been passed outside the
United States, was at stake in the de.
cision.
When the auditing officers came tt
determining the method of calculating
this increase, they took the safe side
by granting it upon the grade pa!
alone. A major who was serving il
the Philippines in 1900, drawing ST..
500 a year as grade pay, and $1,000 il
longevity, would get $3.50 for the for
eign service under one definition O
pay proper" and $3.50 under the other
which would it be?
Question in Courts.
The question was contested before
the court of claims on behalf of boil
officers of the army and navy, since
the navy had been granted, by the &C
of 1899, the equivalent of army pay
The attorneys for the claimants as
serted that the words in dispute
meant compensation from both these
sources, and this broader claim is US
tanned.
Settlements with enlisted men arr
already in progress, and treasury war
rants for such amounts as $1.29 an(
$1.69 are issuing. The department
treats small claimants just as courte'
ously as large ones, but all must ash
for this adjustment. Application:
should be addressed to the auditor fol-
the war department That officer is
accustomed to settings such cases
and mis- clerks we'll in training fol
prompt computations. He settled last
year the extra pay of the Philippine
volunteers, numbering $4,000 in about
six months.