1. A quartermaster of a regiment of cavalry, who also serves as
acting assistant commissary, is entitled to the additional
compensation of $100 per annum provided for by sec. 1261 of the
Revised Statutes.
2. As such quartermaster receives no compensation for staff
service separate from that of rank, he does not, within the meaning
of the army regulations, receive pay for his staff appointment.
Morrison, the appellee, a lieutenant in the tenth regiment of
cavalry, was appointed regimental quartermaster, and his
appointment approved June 30, 1875. On the same day, Hunt, a second
lieutenant in the regiment, was promoted to be first lieutenant in
the place of Morrison, "appointed regimental quartermaster." On the
22d October, 1875, Morrison, "in addition to his other duties," was
"assigned to duty as assistant commissary of post," and by virtue
of that appointment served as acting assistant commissary from Nov.
1, 1875, to and including, Feb. 28, 1877. He has been paid in full
as quartermaster, but nothing in addition as acting assistant
commissary. This action is brought to recover at the rate of $100 a
year for the extra service. The court below gave judgment in his
favor for $133.33, whereupon the United States appealed here.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE delivered the opinion of the Court.
The single question presented in this case is whether, since the
Revised Statutes, a regimental quartermaster serving also as acting
assistant commissary is entitled to additional pay on that
account.
By sec. 1102, Rev.Stat., each regiment of cavalry is to have
among its officers one quartermaster, who is to be an "extra
lieutenant, selected from the first and second lieutenants of the
regiment." Such has been the law since 1866. 12 Stat. 599, sec. 11;
14
id. 332, sec. 3. The selection is made by the
Page 96 U. S. 233
colonel or permanent commanding officer of the regiment, subject
to the approval of the Secretary of War.
Until 1870, the pay of regimental quartermasters was "ten
dollars per month in addition to their pay in the line," and
forage, 2 Stat. 482, sec. 24, but the Act of July 15, 1870, 16
id. 320, sec. 24, provided that the
"pay of regimental quartermaster shall be $1,800 [a year]; the
pay of first lieutenant, mounted, shall be $1,600; the pay of first
lieutenant, not mounted, shall be $1,500; the pay of second
lieutenant, mounted, shall be $1,500; the pay of second lieutenant,
not mounted, shall be $1,400; . . . the pay of acting assistant
commissary shall be $100 in addition to pay of his rank."
This provision has been reproduced in the Revised Statutes, sec.
1261.
A regimental quartermaster is therefore either a first or second
lieutenant in rank, and his pay $1,800. There is no provision for
the pay of the rank of lieutenant disconnected from the service to
be performed, but the pay of the rank is graduated by the service.
The compensation is not for rank and service, but for rank
according to service. Thus, a lieutenant in cavalry service is paid
more than in infantry, and in regimental service more than in
cavalry. Whether in one service or another, his rank is that of
lieutenant, and consequently his pay is that of his rank. Under the
law as it was before 1870, he was paid for his service upon the
staff in addition to that for his rank, but now the pay of his rank
includes all. Being an extra lieutenant in the regiment assigned to
duty as quartermaster, and consequently performing regimental
service, his pay as lieutenant is $1,800. When, therefore, the
additional duty of acting assistant commissary is put upon him, it
would seem to be clear that, looking at the statute alone, he is
entitled to the additional pay allowed for that service.
It is contended, however, that he is not, because, by the army
regulations, "no officer shall receive pay for two staff
appointments at the same time." Army Reg. 1863, par. 1345. If it be
conceded that both the quartermaster and acting assistant
commissary are now staff appointments, the result claimed does not
necessarily follow. When these regulations were adopted, the
compensation of a quartermaster for his staff service
Page 96 U. S. 234
was by a specific addition to his pay in the line. At that time,
therefore, it might well be said that the addition was pay for the
staff appointment. But now there is no compensation for staff
service separate from that of rank, and in our opinion it cannot be
said that within the meaning of the regulation, a quartermaster
receives pay for his staff appointment. He gets more pay as
lieutenant by reason of his transfer to a new service, but nothing
separate for his appointment. This being the case, the additional
compensation which the law gives an acting assistant commissary is
not, in the case of a quartermaster performing that service, pay
for a second staff appointment.
Judgment affirmed.
