Copies of correspondence forwarded to this office from the Treasury Department show that Mr. Holt did perform services in the Treasury Department for approximately 3 months in the summer of 1933, that after he was told that there was no position open to which he could be appointed, nevertheless he voluntarily offered to and did work for the time indicated, but that no appointment was ever issued to him. In connection with this matter, the following is quoted from a letter dated February 25, 1938, to the Treasury Department, from former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Wood Robert, Jr.: "When Mr. Holt came to my office I told him that there was no particular position open to which he could be appointed but that we would try to locate a place for him somewhere in the Department. He stated that because he had nothing else to do he would like to start working anyway at once, despite the fact that there was no vacant position in the Treasury to which he could be assigned. I understand that he did do some work under Mr. W. E. Reynolds who was then my technical assistant. Mr. Reynolds should have definite knowledge of the extent of the services Mr. Holt may have rendered. "I did endeavor to have Mr. Holt employed by the National Industrial Re covery Administration as a liaison officer between that organization and our Department but, as I recall, that arrangement was never effected. Mr. Holt thoroughly understood the situation during the time that he was there and particularly that he was there at his own volition." Mr. W. E. Reynolds, Assistant Director of Procurement, Treasury Department, under whom Mr. Holt apparently worked during the period in question, reported under date of November 24, 1937, as follows: "Mr. Holt states that he worked from June 12 to September 11, 1933. My memory does not serve me with the absolute time that Mr. Holt worked in the Treasury Building but I do know that he worked in the middle of 1933 and that the time employed was approximately 3 months." Section 3679, Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of February 27, 1906, 34 Stat. 49, provides in pertinent part as follows: (* * Nor shall any Department or any officer of the Government accept voluntary service for the Government or employ personal service in excess of that authorized by law, except in cases of sudden emergency involving the loss of human life or the destruction of property. * There was no emergency involved in the "employment" of Mr. Holt. Having performed the service voluntarily he has no legal claim against the United States. Disallowance of the claim by this office was required by law (3 Comp. Gen. 319. Compare 2 Comp. Gen. 799; 3 id. 979). As the payment proposed by bill H. R. 8664 would be in direct conflict with a statutory inhibition, and as a bad precedent would be established if the relief proposed by the bill were to be granted, this office is unable to recommend favorable consideration of the bill. Sincerely yours, R. W. ELLIOTT, Acting Comptroller General of the United States. ARLINGTON, VA., April 24, 1940. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committee on Claims, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: At the request of the clerk of the House Claims Committee I am submitting the following facts, under oath, in support of a bill, H. R. 8664, which is for the relief of myself, Phillip Christian Holt, by providing that I be paid for services performed for the Treasury Department in the year 1933; (1) For the period June 12, 1933, to September 11, 1933, I rendered services in the Office of the Assistant Secretary doing such work as directed. For this service I was not compensated in any way. (2) I remained in employment during this period, without pay, as I knew my employers were making every effort to place me on a pay roll. After 3 months and after all efforts were exhausted I secured employment with the National Recovery Administration and left the Treasury Department. During the 3 months of unpaid service I reported regularly to my office in the Treasury Building and kept the standard office hours. I took no leaves of absence and suffered no illness. My employers, Mr. L. W. (Chip) Robert, then Assistant Secretary, and Mr. W. E. Reynolds, then technical advisor to the Secretary, were most favorable toward me. It was through no fault of theirs that I was not placed on a pay roll. A lack of civil-service status was the prohibitive factor. Attempts were made to Your committee is of the opinion that Mr. Holt performed satisfactory services, and because the Government received the value of his services, recommend that the bill pass in the sum of $450. Appended hereto is the report of the Treasury Department, together with other pertinent papers. Hon. AMBROSE J. KENNEDY, TREASURY Department, Chairman, Committee on Claims, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Further reference is made to your letter of April 2, 1940, enclosing copies of H. R. 8664, for the relief of Phillip Christian Holt, and requesting a statement of this Department's views thereon. The bill authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pay to Mr. Holt the sum of $450 "for services rendered to the Treasury Department from June 12, until September 11, 1933, inclusive, at the rate of $1,800 per annum.” There are attached for the information of your committee copies of pertinent papers in the files of the Treasury Department which show that although Mr. Holt was not given the customary appointment to a Treasury Department position, he apparently entered into some informal arrangement of employment with Mr. L. W. Robert, Jr., then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and rendered services to the Department for approximately 3 months during the summer of 1933, under the supervision of Mr: W. E. Reynolds, then technical adviser to Mr. Robert. In addition to the information contained in his memorandum of November 24, 1937, to Mr. Rehlaender, a copy of which is included in the attached papers, Mr. Reynolds states on his recollection that the services performed by Mr. Holt were entirely satisfactory in every respect, and that he had no reason to believe that Mr. Holt was not regularly employed. It is the understanding of the Treasury Department that the Comptroller General, on May 2, 1938, disallowed Mr. Holt's claim for compensation for such services. Under the circumstances, the Department would interpose no objection to the enactment of H. R. 8664. Very truly yours, D. W. BELL, COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, Hon. AMBROSE J. KENNEDY, MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to your letter of April 2, 1940, acknowledged April 3, enclosing copies of H. R. 8664, Seventy-sixth Congress, third session, entitled "A bill for the relief of Phillip Christian Holt" and requesting all papers, or copies of same, on file in this office relating to the matter, together with an opinion as to its merits. Bill H. R. 8664 reads as follows: "That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to Phillip Christian Holt, 205 George Mason Drive, Arlington, Va., the sum of $450 for services rendered to the Treasury Department from June 12, 1933, until September 11, 1933, inclusive, at the rate of $1,800 per annum.' Phillip Christian Holt filed claim in this office, to which No. 0694516 was assigned, for $450 for services alleged to have been rendered as an employee of the Treasury Department, office of the Secretary, during the period from June 12 to September 11, 1933, 3 months, at the rate of $150 per month. By letter dated May 2, 1938, to the claimant, the claim was disallowed for the following stated reason: "It appears from the administrative report in the matter that you applied for work in the Treasury Department and were told that there was no position open to which you could be appointed. It is said that an effort was made to have you appointed as a liaison officer between that Department and the National Recovery Administration, but that such an arrangement was never effected. The records do not show that you received an appointment under the Treasury Department. "It is a provision of section 3679, Revised Statutes, as amended, that no officer of the Government may accept voluntary services." Copies of correspondence forwarded to this office from the Treasury Department show that Mr. Holt did perform services in the Treasury Department for approximately 3 months in the summer of 1933, that after he was told that there was no position open to which he could be appointed, nevertheless he voluntarily offered to and did work for the time indicated, but that no appointment was ever issued to him. In connection with this matter, the following is quoted from a letter dated February 25, 1938, to the Treasury Department, from former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Wood Robert, Jr.: "When Mr. Holt came to my office I told him that there was no particular position open to which he could be appointed but that we would try to locate a place for him somewhere in the Department. He stated that because he had nothing else to do he would like to start working anyway at once, despite the fact that there was no vacant position in the Treasury to which he could be assigned. I understand that he did do some work under Mr. W. E. Reynolds who was then my technical assistant. Mr. Reynolds should have definite knowledge of the extent of the services Mr. Holt may have rendered. "I did endeavor to have Mr. Holt employed by the National Industrial Re covery Administration as a liaison officer between that organization and our Department but, as I recall, that arrangement was never effected. Mr. Holt thoroughly understood the situation during the time that he was there and particularly that he was there at his own volition." Mr. W. E. Reynolds, Assistant Director of Procurement, Treasury Department, under whom Mr. Holt apparently worked during the period in question, reported under date of November 24, 1937, as follows: "Mr. Holt states that he worked from June 12 to September 11, 1933. My memory does not serve me with the absolute time that Mr. Holt worked in the Treasury Building but I do know that he worked in the middle of 1933 and that the time employed was approximately 3 months." Section 3679, Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of February 27, 1906, 34 Stat. 49, provides in pertinent part as follows: Nor shall any Department or any officer of the Government accept voluntary service for the Government or employ personal service in excess of that authorized by law, except in cases of sudden emergency involving the loss of human life or the destruction of property. * * There was no emergency involved in the "employment" of Mr. Holt. Having performed the service voluntarily he has no legal claim against the United States. Disallowance of the claim by this office was required by law (3 Comp. Gen. 319. Compare 2 Comp. Gen. 799; 3 id. 979). As the payment proposed by bill H. R. 8664 would be in direct conflict with a statutory inhibition, and as a bad precedent would be established if the relief proposed by the bill were to be granted, this office is unable to recommend favorable consideration of the bill. Sincerely yours, R. W. ELLIOTT, Acting Comptroller General of the United States. ARLINGTON, VA., April 24, 1940. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committee on Claims, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: At the request of the clerk of the House Claims Committee I am submitting the following facts, under oath, in support of a bill, H. R. 8664, which is for the relief of myself, Phillip Christian Holt, by providing that I be paid for services performed for the Treasury Department in the year 1933; (1) For the period June 12, 1933, to September 11, 1933, I rendered services in the Office of the Assistant Secretary doing such work as directed. For this service I was not compensated in any way. (2) I remained in employment during this period, without pay, as I knew my employers were making every effort to place me on a pay roll. After 3 months and after all efforts were exhausted I secured employment with the National Recovery Administration and left the Treasury Department. During the 3 months of unpaid service I reported regularly to my office in the Treasury Building and kept the standard office hours. I took no leaves of absence and suffered no illness. My employers, Mr. L. W. (Chip) Robert, then Assistant Secretary, and Mr. W. E. Reynolds, then technical advisor to the Secretary, were most favorable toward me. It was through no fault of theirs that I was not placed on a pay roll. A lack of civil-service status was the prohibitive factor. Attempts were made to place me on the National Recovery Administration pay roll to be assigned the Treasury Department as liason officer but this failed, whereupon I took employment with that agency direct. (3) Since I performed 3 months of diligent and conscientious service at a tentative rate set at $1,800 per annum I claim one-fourth of this or $450. (4) There is attached a letter dated April 13, 1940, from Mr. W. E. Reynolds, my former employer, now Commissioner of Public Buildings, which assist in establishing the facts stated above. (5) The Treasury Department has recently submitted a report at the request of the House Claims Committee which is favorable on my behalf and which offers no objection to this bill. (6) In view of the foregoing I respectfully request your favorable consideration by approving this bill, H. R. 8664. All of the above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Respectfully submitted. PHILLIP C. HOLT. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 25th day of April, 1940. [SEAL] My commission expires March 31, 1941. Mr. PHILLIP C. HOLT, Arlington, Va. EVA C. RUFF, Notary Public. FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY, DEAR MR. HOLT: Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of April 2 in which you advised me of your efforts to have bill H. R. 8664 enacted into law, to compensate you in the amount of $450 for services rendered to the Treasury Department from June 12, 1933, until September 11, 1933. While I distinctly remember that you were employed in the Treasury Department in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the summer of 1933, I regret that I am not in a position to confirm the exact dates of your employment, because of the absence of any official records in the Public Buildings Administration that would substantiate the statement. The official records available to this Administration do not disclose that you were paid for any personal services rendered. I am glad to say that I do remember you were so employed at approximately the time in question, and I remember quite well that your services were very satisfactory. 77TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session S. UTTAL MARCH 24, 1941.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. McGEHEE, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 4026] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4026) for the relief of S. Uttal, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. An identical bill passed the House in the Seventy-sixth Congress, and the facts are fully set forth in House Report No. 65, Seventy-sixth Congress, first session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. [H. Rept. No. 65, 76th Cong., 1st sess.] STATEMENT OF FACT The purpose of this proposed legislation is set forth in the amendment thereto, above quoted. Claimant, acting through the Uttal Trading Corporation of San Francisco, made purchases of various lots of miscellaneous material for a total bid price of $14,380.67. According to the conditions of the sale, a deposit of 20 percent of the amount bid was required from the purchaser, and in the event the purchaser failed to carry out the terms of payment of the sale, said deposit was to be forfeited. The balance had to be paid within 10 days from the date of sale. Apparently claimant did not understand these terms and expected that he was to be permitted to take the goods as needed and pay for them as obtained from the Navy. Under the terms of the sale, claimant deposited $2,900, of which $23.87 was subsequently returned to him, and the remainder, $2,876.13 was forfeited to the Government because of his failure to comply therewith. The catalog termed this 20 percent deposit as "liquidated damages." Both the Comptroller General and the Navy Department recommend against the enactment of this bill which originally sought to refund the $2,900 deposit made by claimant. It is conceded by your committee that the facts do not show any legal claim. However, on the other hand, claimant received none of the goods on which he bid and the Government has been enriched to the extent of $2,876.13. |