ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PAYMASTER-GENERAL. WAR DEPARTMENT, PAYMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of this office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1901: On July 1, 1900, officers of the Pay Department were charged with public funds aggregating.. $6, 802, 800. 12 During the fiscal year these officers received: From the United States Treasury. From soldiers' deposits. From Army paymasters' collections. Total balances and receipts.. Accounted for as follows: Expended on account of pay of the Army (regulars and volunteers).. 40, 228, 377.89 Expended on account of reimbursement of traveling expenses to con- Expended on account of Military Academy.. Expended on account of volunteers, Treasury certificates. Army paymasters' collections deposited to credit of United States Balances charged officers June 30, 1901. Total 88,536.66 250, 159. 12 359, 836. 42 1,470.00 357, 727.09 389, 440. 21 2,686, 344. 97 1, 112, 909. 69 7,740, 543. 56 53, 215, 345. 61 A comparison of the expenditures for the fiscal year 1901, with those of the fiscal year 1900, shows an increase of $1,301,364.61. This is accounted for by the fact that the entire volunteer force was mustered out of service at the close of the fiscal year, requiring a settlement of a large soldiers' deposit account, amounting to about $4,000,000; also the payment of traveling expenses of discharged soldiers from point of arrival in the United States to the place of enlistment. The expenditures for the past year were for an average army of 95,583 men. Number and amounts of deposits received from and repaid to soldiers on discharge from July 1, 1872, to June 30, 1901. 1 Owing to the fact that the volunteer force was not mustered out of service until the last two months of the fiscal year, the accounts have not yet been fully examined and analyzed. Consequently, the total amount of deposits repaid can not be accurately stated, but it is estimated that not less than $4,000,000 have been repaid on that account, exclusive of interest, which is also estimated to amount to about $100,000. NOTE.-Repayment of deposits to soldiers from July 1, 1872, to June 30, 1896, were not recorded by fiscal years. The repayments of 1877 include all deposits repaid prior thereto. The above table gives a complete history of soldiers' deposits since the passage of the act authoriz ing them May 15, 1872. As will be seen by reference to the table, the number and amount of the deposits varied comparatively little from the beginning of the system until the fiscal year of 1897 and the breaking out of the Spanish war. ENABLING ACT RECOMMENDED. The time now seems opportune for the introduction of a bill similar in import to that which it was found necessary to pass after the civil war for the purpose of clearing the accounts of disbursing officers from suspensions and disallowances raised by the accounting officers of the Treasury for payments made in good faith, under orders of superiors or in accordance with a fair interpretation of acts of Congress, but which, months after payment and the discharge or muster-out of service of officers and men, the accounting officers decided were unwarranted in law or under military orders. During hostilities there is no time at the disposal of officers, either within or beyond the limits of the United States, to take advantage of the permission given in the Dockery law to disbursing officers to apply to the Comptroller and await his decision precedent to payment. Common sense, recognition of precedent, an equitable construction of laws and orders, and the intent of Congress whenever it was apparent, have governed in all payments, and disbursing officers, whether of the Army or Navy, should, in justice to themselves, now have their accounts cleared up and their sureties released by an enabling act. I submit a copy of the act of June 23, 1870, referred to in the first paragraph, and a draft of a bill drawn as nearly upon the same lines as subsequent circumstances will admit: II. (PUBLIC-No. 100.) AN ACT to authorize the settlement of the accounts of officers of the Army and Navy. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper accounting officers of the Treasury be, and they are hereby, authorized, in the settlement of the accounts of disbursing officers of the War and Navy Departments arising since the commencement of the rebellion, and prior to the twentieth day of August, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, to allow such credits for overpayments, and for losses of funds, vouchers, and property, as they may deem just and reasonable when recommended under authority of the Secretaries of War and Navy, by the heads of the military and naval bureaus to which such accounts respectively pertain. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the accounts of military and naval officers, whether of the line or staff, for Government property charged to them, may be closed by the proper accounting officers whenever, in their judgment, it will be for the interest of the United States so to do: Provided, That such accounts originated prior to the twentieth day of August, eighteen hundred and sixty-six: Provided, That no settlement shall be made by the officers of the Treasury under this act which shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, and only of such officers of the Army and Navy and of the pay department in whose accounts there is no apparent fraud against the United States: And provided further, That this act shall remain in force for two years from and after its passage and no longer. Approved, June 23, 1870. A BILL to authorize the settlement of the accounts of officers of the Army and Navy. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper accounting officers of the Treasury be, and they are hereby, directed, in the settlement of the accounts of disbursing officers of the War and Navy Departments, arising between the twenty-first day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, from which date war with Spain is declared to have existed, and the eighth day of July, nineteen hundred and one, inclusive, the date on which the last organization of the Volunteer Army was mustered out of the service of the United States, to allow such credits for payments and for losses of funds, vouchers, and property as may be recommended under authority of the Secretaries of War and Navy by the heads of the military and naval bureaus to which such accounts respectively pertain. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the accounts of military and naval officers, whether of the line or staff, for Government property charged to them, shall be closed by the proper accounting officers whenever, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Department to which the property pertains, it will be for the interest of the United States to do so: Provided, That such accounts originated subsequent to April twenty-first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and prior to the ninth day of July, nineteen hundred and one: Provided further, That no settlement shall be made by the officers of the Treasury, under this act, which shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, and only of such officers of the Army and Navy in whose accounts there is no apparent fraud against the United States: And provided further, That this act shall remain in force for two years from and after its passage, and no longer. One material difference between the act of June 23, 1870, and the draft is, under the latter the accounting officers are relieved of the reinvestigation of matters upon which they have passed adversely and such reinvestigation and establishment of equities are imposed upon the Secretaries of War and Navy through their bureau chiefs. Prior to the application of new laws and where it could have been anticipated that the equitable might not have been the judicial view, this office, and individual paymasters through this office, have submitted to and received from the Comptroller more than 135 dicisions WAR 1901-VOL 1, PT II- -57 affecting the pay of the Army, between April 21, 1898, and July 31, 1901. This fact is presented to make it plain that paymasters have availed themselves of every opportunity to call upon the Comptroller when they were in doubt as to the meaning and purpose of laws, but the rapid payments required on the muster out of the two volunteer armies and the difficulty of communication between the Philippines and the United States has largely increased the number of debatable cases which the paymaster has been obliged to decide without reference to the authorities. MILEAGE. [Under the act of March 2, 1901.] The new mileage law for the Army, besides being just to the Government, has been found easy of execution and is operating satisfactorily to the accounting officers, to paymasters, and to the Army at large. The table of distances, annually prepared in this office with the greatest possible care by experts of many years' experience, is at last the legalized absolute authority in the determination of all distances and of all deductions on account of subsidized and 50-per cent railroads, and is conclusive upon the officers of this department, as well as upon the accounting officers in settlements for reimbursements for all journeys performed within and beyond the limits of the United States. Because it has been made the one guide in these matters, the demand for it in other departments and bureaus of the Government has largely increased during the current fiscal year. This table is supplemented by circulars issued periodically from this office, covering changes in the shortest usually traveled route" between points of travel, which are constantly occurring among railroad and steamer lines in their competition for business. 66 This last law on mileage having fulfilled its purpose so well, no changes in it are deemed necessary. Mileage disbursements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901. |