PROMOTION OF MARINE OFFICERS SERVING WITH THE ARMY.

SEPTEMBER 18, 1918.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. PADGETT, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 12916.]

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 12916) to provide for the temporary promotion of commissioned officers of the Marine Corps serving with the Army, having had the same under consideration, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that the bill do pass.

Under existing law there is no authority for temporary promotion of officers of the Marine Corps while detached for service with the Army. This committee is of the opinion that because an officer of the Marine Corps is temporarily detached for service with the Army he should not be deprived of the promotion which he would have received had he remained with the Marine Corps in his permanent appointment. This bill provides that an officer of the Marine Corps so detached shall be eligible for promotion to higher grades in the same manner as officers of the Regular Army. The temporary promotions authorized by this bill shall continue only while such officers are detached for duty with the Army.

The following letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the chairman of this committee gives the recommendations of the Navy Department on this bill:

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, August 21, 1918.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of a proposed bill providing for the temporary promotion of Marine officers detached for duty with the Army.

It is my opinion that our fighting military forces in Europe should be placed or terms of equality so far as promotion is concerned during the continuance of this war. While it is the theory of our Government that, like the armies of France, every soldier carries in his knapsack the baton of a marshal, as a matter of fact the Marines are now limited in promotion to the grades and numbers prescribed by law for their own corps.

1

Should the Congress find itself in substantial agreement with the recommendation that there should be an equality of opportunity to all engaged alike in this struggle, it is believed that the sterling qualities evidenced by the Marines to meet every call of duty in the past will have received a recognition that is their due and which will be reflected in redoubled efforts on future battle fields.

Sincerely, yours,

The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

O

JOSEPHUS DANIELS.

65th CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session.

PAY OF CERTAIN WARRANT OFFICERS.

SEPTEMBER 18, 1918.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. PADGETT, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 12915.]

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 12915), to provide additional pay for warrant officers on shore duty beyond the continental limits of the United States, having had the same under consideration, report the same back to the House with the following amendment, and as amended recommend that the bill do pass:

Line 10, strike out the following: ", and shall continue in effect for not more than six months after the termination of the present war." Under existing law commissioned officers and chief warrant officers of the Navy receive a 10 per cent increase of their pay while at sea and also while serving on shore beyond the continental limits of the United States. Warrant officers while at sea receive this increase of 10 per cent of their pay, but they do not receive the increase while serving on shore beyond the continental limits of the United States. This bill provides that warrant officers serving on shore beyond the continental limits of the United States shall be entitled to receive this 10 per cent increase of pay, and the committee is of the opinion that warrant officers should be given this increase in order to meet the increased cost of living abroad and also to place them on an equality with other officers, that no discrimination may be shown. The committee had before it Admiral Palmer, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, and other officers, who recommended the passage of the bill.

The bill has the indorsement of the Navy Department, as shown by the following letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the Speaker of the House:

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY,
Washington, August 22, 1918.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: I have the honor to inclose herewith a proposed draft of a bill to give to warrant officers on shore duty beyond the continental limits of the United States the same pay as they now receive while on sea duty.

The pay of warrant officers, at the present time, is specifically prescribed by section 1556 of the Revised Statutes, which rates of pay were increased 25 per cent by the act of May 13, 1908 (35 Stat., 128), and is divided into three classes, i. e., sea pay, shore

pay, leave or waiting orders pay. The rate of pay for sea duty is greater than that for shore duty, but there is no provision for increased pay for shore duty beyond the seas, and the result is that they receive the same pay for foreign shore duty as they receive for shore duty within the United States. Commissioned officers and chief warrant officers of the Navy receive 10 per cent additional of their pay for sea duty as well as for shore duty beyond the continental limits of the United States, and it is believed to be only equitable that the pay of warrant officers should be equalized in this respect with that of chief warrant and commissioned officers.

The attached draft will accomplish the desired object, and as the department is receiving a considerable number of complaints in this regard, it is requested that the proposed bill be enacted into law at an early date.