In this case,
held that the appointment of one holding
a government position as special disbursing agent was not an
appointment to a separate and distinct office from that already
held, but merely an order requiring him to perform additional
services, and under § 1765, Rev.Stat., payment therefor in addition
to his salary is prohibited.
Woodwell v. United States,
214 U. S. 82.
44 Ct.Cl. 549, 45 Ct.Cl. 169, affirmed.
The facts, which involve the right under § 1765, Rev.Stat., of
an employee of a department to extra compensation for additional
services, are stated in the opinion.
Page 226 U. S. 568
MR. JUSTICE PITNEY delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case comes here on appeal from a judgment of the Court of
Claims dismissing appellant's petition after hearing the merits and
denying a motion for a new trial. 44 Ct.Cl. 549, 45 Ct.Cl. 169.
Briefly, the facts are that the appellant, who was Chief of
Division and Disbursing Clerk of the Interior Department, receiving
a salary of $2,000 per year, and was also disbursing clerk of the
Architect of the Capitol, for which he received annual compensation
of $1,000, was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior on August
10, 1901, to act as a special disbursing agent to disburse an
appropriation of $925,000 provided by the Acts of June 6, 1900, and
March 3, 1901, 31 Stat. 619, 1163, c 791, 853, for the construction
of additional buildings in the extension of the Government Hospital
for the Insane in the District of Columbia. Further appropriations
having been made by Congress,
viz., for an office and
administration building, $145,000, and for a central heating and
lighting plant for the entire hospital, $260,000, appellant was
directed by the Secretary, under date January 5, 1903, to disburse
these appropriations under his original appointment, and similar
action was taken May 16, 1904, directing him to disburse an
appropriation for painting the new buildings. Appellant accepted
the appointment and gave bonds, first in the sum of $25,000 and
afterwards in the additional sum of $75,000; he entered upon his
duties and faithfully discharged them, and disbursed between
August, 1901, and June, 1905, the sum of $1,410,761.87. In the
order appointing him, it was stated that, for the service of
disbursing the appropriation, he would be allowed the maximum
compensation permitted by law, not exceeding three-eighths of one
percent. The appointment of a special agent to make the
disbursements was, in the judgment of the Secretary of the
Interior, a necessity.
Page 226 U. S. 569
During the time appellant acted as such special disbursing
agent, he continued to hold the office of disbursing clerk of the
Interior Department, and to act as disbursing clerk of the
Architect of the Capitol, and for the performance of these duties
received the salary and compensation first mentioned. For the
special service of disbursing the appropriations for the Government
Hospital he presented a claim for $5,290.36, payment of which was
refused by the accounting officers of the Treasury Department on
the ground that, at the time the special service was rendered, he
was holding two offices under the United States, the emoluments of
which exceeded $2,500 a year, and that the charge for such special
service was in violation of §§ 1763 and 1765, Rev.Stat., inasmuch
as the act under which the appropriation was made did not provide
for a special allowance to an agent for disbursing it.
Three sections, that stand side by side in the Revised Statutes,
should be quoted:
"SEC. 1763. No person who holds an office, the salary, or annual
compensation attached to which amounts to the sum of two thousand
five hundred dollars shall receive compensation for discharging the
duties of any other office unless expressly authorized by law."
"SEC. 1764. No allowance or compensation shall be made to any
officer or clerk by reason of the discharge of duties which belong
to any other officer or clerk in the same or any other department,
and no allowance or compensation shall be made for any extra
services whatever which any officer or clerk may be required to
perform, unless expressly authorized by law."
"SEC. 1765. No officer in any branch of the public service, or
any other person whose salary, pay, or emoluments are fixed by law
or regulations, shall receive any additional pay, extra allowance,
or compensation in any form whatever for the disbursement of public
money, or for any other service or duty whatever, unless the same
is
Page 226 U. S. 570
authorized by law, and the appropriation therefor explicitly
states that it is for such additional pay, extra allowance, or
compensation."
It seems to us that the appointment of the appellant as "special
disbursing agent" was not an appointment to a separate and distinct
office from those already held by him, but was merely an order
requiring him to perform additional services in the way of
disbursing public moneys. This being so, payment for the extra
services is prohibited by the terms of § 1765, Rev.Stat., without
reference to the fact that the appellant already held offices whose
salary or annual compensation amounted to more than $2,500. The
case is within the authority of
Woodwell v. United States,
214 U. S. 82. The
fact that in the present case it was understood that the appellant
should have additional pay makes this case different in its
circumstances, but does not render inapplicable the statutory
prohibition.
Judgment affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE McKENNA and MR. JUSTICE HUGHES dissent.