No. 13. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, April 15, 1901. I--The following decision has been made and is published to the Army for the information and guidance of all concerned: COMPANY FUND.-In the organization of the new companies of Coast Artillery, specified in General Orders, No. 25, February 28, 1901, from this office, a pro rata share of the fund of each old company will be transferred to the new one with which its enlisted personnel di vided.—[Decision Sec. War, April 12, 1901-356720 A. G. O.] A II--The following decision has been made and is published to the Army for the information and guidance of all concerned: STATIONERY FOR GENERAL PRISONERS.-The Quartermaster's Department will furnish upon requisition of officers in charge of general prisoners such quantities of plain letter paper, envelopes, and postage stamps as may be required for the use of prisoners, but limited to the number of letters permitted to be written by them under paragraphs 26 and 27 of special rules published in General Orders, No. 55, of 1895, from this office. Applications for clemency will be treated as official mail matter. The paper, envelopes, and postage stamps will be expended upon the certificate of the officer in charge, approved by the post commander.-[Decision Sec. War, April 12, 1901–365375 A. G. O.] BY COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL MILES: H. C. CORBIN, Adjutant General, Major General, U. S. Army. No. 14. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, April 20, 1901. By direction of the Secretary of War, the following decision of the Comptroller of the Treasury is published to the Army for the information of all concerned: TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY, The Honorable the SECRETARY OF WAR. SIR: I am in receipt of your letter of August 27, 1900, requesting my decision upon the question submitted in the following communication from the Adjutant General, U. S. Army: An act approved May 26, 1898, provides: "That the pay and allowances of such of the volunteers as are received into the service of the United States under the act of Congress approved April twenty-second, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and the acts supplemental thereto, shall be deemed to commence from the day on which they joined for duty and are enrolled at the battalion, regimental, or State rendezvous" An act approved July 7, 1898, amends the above act to read as follows: That the pay and allowances of all officers and enlisted men of the volunteers received into the service of the United States under the act of Congress approved April twenty-second, eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, and the acts supplemental thereto, shall be deemed to commence from the day on which they had their names enrolled for service in the Volunteer Army of the United States and joined for duty therein after having been called for by the governor on the authority of the President and all officers and enlisted men who have not been so paid shall be so paid by the Pay Department of the Army out of any moneys appropri ated for the maintenance of the Army." Quite a large number of ex-officers of State volunteer organizations have since been commissioned in the Regular Army and in the U. S. Volunteer organizations. The act of July 7, above quoted, has been construed by the Department as entitling the ex-volunteer officers so commissioned and coming within its provisions to credit for actual service in the grades in which originally enrolled and mustered in their respective volunteer organizations, from date of enrollment and entrance upon duty in such grades, both for longevity pay and for the purpose of computing prior commissioned service to fix relative rank as between those appointed or commissioned the same date to the same grade. The law requires that services rendered by officers in the Volunteer Army shall be given in the Army Register, and it is desired that such actual service as they are entitled to be credited with, for longevity pay, be inserted therein. The Secretary of War instructs me to request your opinion as to whether officers of the Regular or Volunteer Army, having prior service as commissioned officers of State volunteer organizations, are entitled to credit for service for longevity pay from the dates "they had their names enrolled for service in the Volunteer Army of the United States and joined for duty therein after having been called for by the governor on the authority of the President." etc, and from which date they have received pay as of the grades in which enrolled and mustered, or only from the dates they were actually mustered into the United States service by the mustering officer. It may be remarked that in a great many cases the volunteer organ zations were enrolled and ready for muster considerably in advance of the time when a United States mustering officer was available to make the necessary musters. The question submitted is shall the time from the date certain officers in the Volunteer Army had their names enrolled for service in the Vounteer Army, to the date of muster in, be counted as service in the Army for the purpose of computing the time, for length of service, for longevity pay. As the law now stands an officer of the Army is entitled to count s time he has served in the Army or Navy, or both, but he is not entitled to count any other service to make up each term of five years for the additional pay commonly called longevity pay. (See case of Byrnes. C. Cls., 302, and Sweeny, 157 U. S., 281.) (5 Comp. Dec., 175, 176; id., 266.) The service to be counted must be service in the Army or Navy and may be either in the Volunteer or Regular Army. The act of June 30, 1882 (22 Stat., 118), contains the following provision: Additional pay to officers for length of service, to be paid with their current monthly pay, and the actual time of service in the Army or Navy, or both, shall be allowed all officers in computing their pay. Section 1262 of the Revised Statutes provides: There shall be allowed and paid to each commissioned officer below the rank of brigader general, including chaplains and others having assimilated rank or pay, ten per centum of their current yearly pay for each term of five years of service. The real question for consideration is when did the service of an officer received into the service of the Volunteer Army under the act of April 22, 1898, and acts supplemental thereto begin. By the acts of May 26, 1898 (30 Stat., 420), and July 7, 1898 (30 Stat., 721). their pay and allowance shall be deemed to commence from the date they had their names enrolled for service after having been called for by the governor on the authority of the President. These were enabling acts and if officers and enlisted men were in the service of the Volunteer Army of the United States from the date of enrolling and joining for duty they would have been entitled to pay by virtue of such service and these acts would have been wholly unnecessary. Neither the War Department nor the accounting officers of the Treasury have ever held or admitted that mere enrollment puts a volunteer officer into the military service of the United States. In order to be in the military service of the United States such officers must be accepted by muster in or the equivalent thereof. These acts must, therefore, be taken as a recognition of the fact that such officers were not in the military service of the United States prior to muster in by virtue of their enrollment for service, and unless these acts put them in such service from the date of enrollment the period from that date to muster in can not be counted in computing their time for longevity pay. (Sweeny v. United States, 157 U. S., 281, 285.) The acts of May 26, 1898, and of July 7, 1898, do not say that the services shall be deemed to commence from enrollment but that the pay and allowances shall be deemed to commence, and but for these acts officers would not be entitled to pay from the date of enrollment to date of muster in. (United States v. Henry, 17 Wall., 405, 408.) The rule had been that officers of volunteers commissioned by the gov ernor of a State, unless otherwise provided by law, could not be recog |