The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-09-27
GOVERNMENT PAY
ROLL 4 PUZZLE
yOUNG ARMY OFFICERS FIND A
PROBLEM IN SALARY
GRADATI0NS.

New York Times: Getting on the
government pay roll used to be, and
generally still is, considered the prime
oh bect of the small politician. No one
hears a successful officeseeker com
plain OF the formalities with which the
government surrounds the procedure OF
collecting pay, intricate as these some
times are. Just now, however, the gov
ernment has several thousand new
name on its pay rolls They are the
names OF young men who didn't seek
service for the pay that goes with It,
many Of whom would willingly serve
for nothing at all. They are accord
ingly perplexed and a little annoyed
when they encounter for the first time
the machinery Of the governments pay
system.
The young officers who We're grad
uated last month from Plattsburg and
other military training camps, finding
themselves now second and first lieu
tenants. captains, and sometimes ma
iors. have been accustomed in civil life
10 receive their salaries in cash or by
check. usually with no more formality
than obtains in signing a receipt or
indorsing a check They have suddenly
come face to face with governmental
caution. and have found the procedure
strange.
The last day Of the month is pay day
in the army All last week newly
commissioned officers rode across the
ferry to Governors Island, the head
quarters OF the Department Of the
East. to inquire how they were to
draw their money They found the
paymaster's Office in charge of regular
army men who had forseen the diff.
culties the newcomers would expert.
ence. With blanks all ready, they had
prepared to make the task as easy as
possible. But the young officers needed
lot OF guiding Just the same.
IN the first place not all officers Of
equal rank draw the same amount of
pay. Then, too, allowances are made
20 some officers and not to others Of
the same rank, and such oddities in.
creased the bewlderment Of officers who
Tor the first time We're rendering bills
for services. For instance. a second
Sl41.67 a month, or $4.72 a day from
the moment he leaves the United States
Military Academy at West Point. and
this is also the rate OF pay of the sec
ond lieutenants from the camps.
Men Of this rank encountered their
first surprise when a fellow officer
whose shoulders bare Of silver insig
mid rrIru uI fVa al. L r4...
tenant. presented "A pay vourcher calling
for S155.S3 for his months services, OF
for $40, or s1S417, or even for Sl9s
Something seemed TO be wrong. Bu
there is a term in the army-"longev
ity"-which accounts for these differ
ences. Length Of service automatically
Increases pay I'm all ranks. the divis
ions being five-year periods up TO TWEEN
ty years Of service when increase,
stop. But these longevity increases ar,
not shared by officers above the rank OF
cOionel-brigadier major. and lieuten
ant generals receiving their maximum
pay from the date Of their appointment
The West Pointers are now being grad
uated as first lieutenants to mset IN,
need Of the army for more officers
therefore. second lieutenants are pro
moted in "a few months
A second lieutenant who. for exam
pie had spent fifteen years I'm tn,
Philippine Scouts before attaining nj,
commission. would begin az once t,
draw pay at the rate of $3.50 q year
which is almost as much as a frs
lieutenant OF ten years service receives
and more than the first Lieutenant get
D., $3.50 a year.