on the settlement of an account. But the mode of paying on the re. quisition of the Secretary of State is attended with decided advantages, and could not safely be changed. It is evident that the disbursing clerks in the executive departments are only authorized to pay the salaries and compensation of officers and employés in their respective departments, and such expenses as may be incident to the internal administration thereof (Rev. Stat.. 169, 173, 174, 176, 193, 201). It has never been supposed that the dis bursing clerk in the Treasury Department could pay the salaries of officers acting in connection with the service of the Department all over the United States, yet if he can pay expenses outside of its internal administration, it will be difficut to fix the limit of his authority. And no disbursing officer should, as a general rule, pay either (1) a bonded officer who receives money for which he is required to account to the United States, and for which he might be in arrears and liable to action therefor, or (2) any contractor, whether bonded or otherwise, who in the settlement of his accounts might be in arrears and liable to an action of the United States to recover money. Usages which have been long continued should not be changed, except to promote the public interests, and on account of clear necessity. The change now made is justified and required upon the grounds stated. Hereafter payments made by the disbursing clerk of the Department of State, of Consular and Diplomatic drafts, cannot be allowed in the settlement of his disbursing accounts. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, First Comptroller's Office, February 15, 1884. IN THE MATTER OF THE RIGHT OF A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REP RESENTATIVES TO RECEIVE, AT ANY TIME HE MAY ELECT DURING A SESSION OF CONGRESS, THE WHOLE AMOUNT OF THE "COMMUTATION" PROVIDED FOR HIM BY STATUTE, IN LIEU OF STATIONERY.— STATIONERY-COMMUTATION CASE. 1. It is the right of a member of the House of Representatives to require payment at any time during a session of Congress of the full amount of money to which he is entitled by statute as commutation in lieu of stationery. February 4, 1884, the Clerk of the House of Representatives addressed a letter to the First Comptroller, in which he says: "Several Members of the House have requested a settlement of their stationery accounts for the present session of Congress. A doubt has arisen whether a Member has the right to close his stationery account an receive the balance that may be due him as commutation on any day prior to the close of a session. This question is respectfully submitted for your decision." DECISION BY WILLIAM LAWRENCE, First Comptroller. The statute gives to each Senator or Representative in Congress a right to receive "for any one session of Congress" either "stationery, or commutation therefor" not exceeding one hundred and twenty-five dollars (Act February 12, 1868, 15 Stat., 35; Rev. Stat., 43; act January 20, 1874, 18 Stat., 4; act March 3, 1883, 22 Stat., 536; Commutation case, 2 Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 2d ed., 64). It has been decided that the law neither makes nor knows any fraction [of a session] for commutation." (Commutation case, 2 Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 2d ed., 64). The Rules of the House make it the duty of the Clerk to "keep the stationery accounts of Members and Delegates and pay them as provided by law." (Rule 3 of House, 2 Sess. 46th Cong.; Rule 3 of House, 1st Sess. 48th Cong.; Digest and Rules, 184). The statute provides the mode of purchasing stationery for the use of Representatives (Act August 26, 1842, 5 Stat., 526, sec. 17; Act June 20, 1874, 18 Stat., 4; House Resolution, July 24, 1868, Journal, 2, 40 p., 1173; Smith's Manual and Digest, 2 Sess. 46th Cong., 359; Manual and Digest, 1st Sess. 48th Cong., 388). It is the right of a Representative to elect whether he will receive stationery purchased under an appropriation for that purpose (Act March 3, 1883, 22 Stat., 536), or a commutation in money therefor. The evident purpose of giving this election is that Representatives may be supplied with stationery furnished either by the Clerk, or by themselves, according to their own discretion and judgment. No law or rule ap portions either stationery or commutation therefor to any month, or period of time, except for a session as an entirety. In the absence of any law or rule as to apportionment, it is manifestly impracticable to make any. One month may require much more stationery than another. It is the right of each Representative to provide a supply for the entire session, if he elect to do so. Certainly no law or rule has required him to purchase a supply for a month or other fractional part of a session. If his commutation may be divided into monthly installments, it may with equal authority be divided into weekly or daily allowances. There is no authority for making any division or fractional allowance. By express statute the "commutation" is $125 "for any one session of Congress." The right to it does not arise until a session commences, and then the right to the whole amount arises. There is no mode of determining how long a session will last, and hence any apportionment is impracticable. A session may terminate in a day, a week, a month, or a longer period. If it be said that the commutation should be paid at the end of the session, the answer is that the law gives the commutation to supply a want felt during a session, and perhaps also during the term of a Representative. The chief necessity is during a session. If payment be withheld until the close of a session, the main purpose of the commutation is defeated. If it may be so withheld, it may, with equal propriety, be withheld until the close of a term. The language of the statute, its evident purpose, and the common understanding derived from the rules of the House and general usage, require the construction that when a session has commenced, each Representative may, in his discretion, elect to take stationery as he needs it, or the commutation of $125 therefor, for that session. It has been suggested that section 3648 of the Revised Statutes in some way prohibits such payment, but it has not the remotest connection with the subject. The Clerk of the House will be advised accordingly. First Comptroller's Office, February 22, 1884. IN THE MATTER OF THE RIGHT OF POSTMASTERS OF THE FOURTH CLASS, TO CLAIM MORE THAN A PRO RATA COMPENSATION FOR A FRACTIONAL PART OF A QUARTER.-COLLINS'S APPEAL. 1. Under the act of March 3, 1883 (22 Stat., 602, sec. 2), postmasters of the fourth class, who go out of office before the end of a quarter, can be allowed as maximum compensation an amount for the number of days served, estimated at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars per quarter. 2. The compensation provided in the act attaches to the office, not to the officer. 3. United States v. Pearce et al.; United States v. McCarty; United States r. Edwards examined and distinguished from this case. 4. The data for computing the amount of compensation for any fractional part of the year are (in case of commissions), the time of service, and the amount received or disbursed. 5. The general rule now is, that all officers of the United States entitled to a yearly compensation, shall receive, when superseded within the year, a pro rata compensation. United States v. Wendell et al.; and Hoyt v. United States, followed. The quarter year of postal service ended June 30, 1883, contained 91 days, of which John W. Collins served 51 days as a postmaster of the fourth class at Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina, from April 1, to May 21, inclusive, and his successor served the residue of the quarter. The Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department settled the account for the quarter on the basis of the following statement: Compensation due Collins for first 51 days. $50 at 100 per cent.... 100 at 60 per cent 105.82 at 50 per cent $70.00 60.00 Box ent collec'ed. 52.91 48.50 Total commission and box rent. Deduct amount in excess of 51-91 of $250. 211.41 71.30 Amount of salary allowed for 51 days' service in 2d quarter 1883.. 140.11 $50 at 100 per cent.. Compensation due successor of Collins for second 40 days: $50.00 109.89 Amount of salary allowed for 40 days service in 2d quarter 1883 ... From this settlement Collins appealed to the First Comptroller. 250.00 Collins insists that he should be allowed credit for all the box rent collected by himself, and commission on stamps canceled, &c., up to the time of his leaving office and that his successor should begin where "he left off.” He says "my successor collected no box rents during the second quarter of 1883, and only $94.18 out of the first $350 of that quarter 'actually mailed' after he took charge, for which he could make a 'sworn quarterly return'. My account current for the first part of the quarter shows amount of canceled stamps $255.82. I claim commission on this amount, on the first $50, one hundred per cent., $50; on the next $100, sixty per cent., $60; on that portion of the next $200 coming within my term, being $105.82, fifty per cent., $52.91; and box rents collected by myself $48.50, making whole amount of my compensation $211.41. My successor canceled stamps amounting to $248.22 during the remainder of the quarter. The whole compensation for the entire quarter is $250." DECISION BY WILLIAM LAWRENCE, First Comptroller. The act of March 3, 1883 (22 Stat., 602, Sec. 2), contains the following provisions: "The compensation of postmasters of the fourth class shall be fixed upon the basis of the whole of the box-rents collected at their offices and commissions upon the amount of canceled postage-due stamps (provided for in section two hundred and seventy of the Revised Laws and regulations, edition of eighteen hundred and seventy-nine), and on postage stamps, official stamps, stamped envelopes, postal cards, and newspaper and periodical stamps canceled on matter actually mailed at their offices, and on amounts received from waste paper, dead newspapers, printed matter, and twine sold, at the following rates, namely: On the first fifty dollars or less per quarter, one hundred per centum; on the next one hundred dollars or less per quarter, sixty per centum; on the next two hundred dollars or less per quarter, fifty per centum; and on all the balance, forty per centum, the same to be ascertained and allowed by the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department in the settlement of the accounts of such postmasters upon their sworn quarterly returns: Provided, that when the compensation of any postmaster of this class shall reach two hundred and fifty dollars for four consecutive quarters each, exclusive of commissions on money-order business, and when the returns to the auditor for four consecutive quarters shall show him to be entitled to a compensation in excess of two hundred and fifty dollars per quarter, the auditor shall report such fact to the Postmaster-General, who shall assign the office to its proper class, and fix the salary of the postmaster as provided by section one of this act: Provided further, That in no case shall there be allowed to any postmaster of this class a compensation greater than two hundred and fifty dollars in any one of the first three quarters of any fiscal year, exclusive of money-order commissions, and in the last quarter of each fiscal year there shall be allowed such further sum as he may be entitled to under the provisions of this act, not exceeding for the whole fiscal year the sum of one thousand dollars, exclusive of money-order commis sions." The act very clearly states the source, the rate, and the limit of the compensation to which postmasters of the fourth class are entitled. 1. They are to receive: (1) The whole of the box rent collected at their offices. (2) (a) Commissions upon the amount of stamps of various kinds, and upon postal cards, canceled on matter actually mailed at their offices. (b) Commissions upon the amounts received from the sale of waste paper, dead newspapers, printed matter, and twine. 2. The following rate of commission is allowed: (1) One hundred per centum on the first fifty dollars or less per quarter. (2) Sixty, on the next one hundred dollars or less per quarter. (3) Fifty, on the next two hundred dollars or less per quarter. (4) Forty, on all the balance. 3. The following limit is set to their compensation: (1) In no case shall a greater compensation be allowed in any of the first three quarters of any fiscal year than two hundred and fifty dollars (exclusive of money-order commissions). (2) In the last quarter of each fiscal year more than two hundred and fifty dollars may be allowed, provided it is such an amount as will not cause the compensation for the whole fiscal year to exceed one thousand dollars, exclusive of money-order commissions. There can be, under this act, no difficulty in the settlement of the account of a postmaster of the fourth class whose services extend over an entire quarter or an entire fiscal year. There is clear internal evidence that when the act was framed, Congress had in view the mode of keeping accounts in the Treasury Department. But, on account of the nature of the source of the compensation provided, perplexity may arise when an account is to be adjusted for the fractional part of a quarter. A postmaster of this class can in no case receive more than two hundred and fifty dollars in any one of the first three quarters of any fiscal year. But the question is, can he receive that amount for a fractional part of a quarter? Or, to state the question somewhat more precisely, can he whenever he retires from office during a quarter, claim whatever he may have made by commissions, &c., not in excess of two hundred and fifty dollars, or can he claim as his highest compensation only at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars a quarter? |