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Mr. VINSON. I suggest that this bill be reported favorably and that the Judge Advocate General of the Navy redraft it in accordance with the recent rules of the House.

Admiral CAMPBELL. And we will add the reference to the United States Code.

The CHAIRMAN. If there is no objection, the bill will be favorably reported.

Let us now pass to other business.

(Thereupon, at 10.55 o'clock a. m., the committee proceeded to other business.)

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A HEARING ON (H. R. 480) A BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF CERTAIN OFFICERS OF THE DENTAL CORPS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY

COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,

Tuesday, January 15, 1929.

The committee this day met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Fred. A. Britten, chairman, presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. A quorum evidently is present. We have before us this morning a number of bills in one of which our colleague, Mr. Newton, of Minnesota, is interested. The gentleman tells me that he has a meeting of a subcommittee of which he is chairman, and he merely desires to present Lieut. Commander John R. Barber, Dental Corps, United States Navy, to the committee. In order that Mr. Newton may be heard at this time, we will first consider H. R. 480, for the relief of certain officers of the Dental Corps of the United States Navy.

(A copy of the bill in question and a report thereon by the Navy Department read as follows:

A BILL For the relief of certain officers of the Dental Corps of the United States Navy Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provision contained in the act approved July 1, 1918 (Fortieth Statutes at Large, page 709), reading as follows "and the time served by dental officers on active duty as acting assistant dental surgeons and assistant dental surgeons under provisions of law existing prior to the passage of this act shall be reckoned in computing the increased service pay and service for precedence and promotion of dental officers herein authorized or heretofore appointed," shall be held and considered to apply to all officers of the Dental Corps of the Navy who had previously served on active duty as assistant dental surgeons pursuant to the provisions of the act approved March 4, 1913 (Thirtyseventh Statutes at Large, page 903), and who were regularly commissioned in the Dental Corps of the Navy at the time of the passage of the act of July 1, 1918: Provided, That such officers of the Dental Corps of the Navy shall be assigned running mates for promotion purposes in accordance with their precedence as so determined: And provided further, That no back pay or allowances shall accrue to any officer by reason of the passage of this act.

No. 221

FOR THE RELIEF OF CERTAIN OFFICERS OF THE DENTAL CORPS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY (H. R. 480)

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 25, 1928.

The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Replying further to the committee's letter of January 9, 1928, transmitting the bill (H. R. 480) for the relief of certain officers of the Dental Corps of the United States Navy and requesting the views and recom

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mendations of the Navy Department thereon, I have the honor to advise you as follows:

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to apply to all officers of the Dental Corps of the Navy who had previously served on active duty as assistant dental surgeons pursuant to the provisions of the act approved March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 903), and who were regularly commissioned in the Dental Corps of the Navy at the time of the passage of the act of July 1, 1918 (40 Stat. 709), the provisions contained in the latter act reading as follows:

"And the time served by dental officers on active duty as acting assistant dental surgeons and assistant dental surgeons under provisions of law existing prior to the passage of this act shall be counted in computing the increased service pay and service for precedence and promotion of dental officers herein authorized or hereinbefore appointed.

The enactment of the proposed legislation would not directly result in any increased cost to the Government. It would, however, advance Lieut. Commander John R. Barber, Dental Corps, United States Navy, to a position where he would be eligible for selection for promotion to commander, and if selected after the passage of the bill H. R. 480 he would be advanced in date of promotion from approximately January 1, 1929, to the date of the act, and the cost to the Government would be at the rate of $600 per annum for such period.

The bill, H. R. 480, was referred to the Bureau of the Budget with the above information as to cost. Under the date of February 8, 1928, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget advised the Navy Department that the proposed legislation is in conflict with the financial program of the President.

In view of the foregoing, the Navy Department recommends against the enactment of the bill, H. R. 480.

Sincerely yours,

T. DOUGLAS ROBINSON,

Acting Secretary of the Nary.

STATEMENT OF HON. WALTER H. NEWTON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA

The CHAIRMAN. The passage of H. R. 480 is opposed by the Navy Department, and we might hear, first, Mr. Newton and then Lieutenant Commander Barber.

Mr. NEWTON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I appreciate the privilege you have accorded me of again appearing before your committee and the courtesy that permits me to speak briefly and then retire, because it so happens that a subcommittee of which I am chairman has to make a report to the full committee this morning.

Lieutenant Commander Barber, of the Dental Corps of the Navy, who is the officer that would benefit by the passage of this act, is a citizen of the State of Minnesota and a resident of the district I represent. I have known his family for a good many years. His brother was a captain in the Rainbow Division, which is the outfit that left my home city during the war. Lieutenant Commander Barber has been in the Navy quite a number of years.

In the legislation of 1918, pertaining to rank, numbers, and so on, a mistake was made, and as a result of that mistake Lieutenant Commander Barber, and, I think, one other officer-I am not speaking accurately about the facts, but to give you an idea of the subject matter were so treated by that law as to reduce them, as I remenber, two files. There is, as I understand the case, no dispute about the facts involved.

The purpose of the pending measure is to restore Lieutenant Commander Barber and the other officer to the place they would occupy had this mistake not been made.

So far as an outlay on the part of the United States Treasury is concerned, there is nothing like that involved in the bill now before you, because Lieutenant Commander Barber will, as I understand, be promoted to the rank of a commander in a very brief time. At the time the Bureau of the Budget reported adversely on the measure that was within the last year-if the bill had been enacted promptly it would have made an additional outlay of the Treasury; but, as I have said, such will not be the case at the present time.

Lieutenant Commander Barber is here and can state the facts better than I can. I have every regard for him, and I am sure you gentlemen of the committee will take up the matter in hand sympathetically.

The CHAIRMAN. The Chairman assures you that the committee will be glad to hear Lieutenant Commander Barber with serious consideration, the same as if you were sitting beside him all the time.

Mr. NEWTON. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. You are always most gracious.

The CHAIRMAN. Has the department a recommendation to make? Admiral CAMPBELL. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I think we should hear the commander first, however. As I understand, the department is prepared to talk about this bill?

Admiral CAMPBELL. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. Commander Barber, will you please proceed?

STATEMENT OF LIEUT. COMMANDER JOHN R. BARBER, DENTAL CORPS, UNITED STATES NAVY

Lieutenant Commander BARBER. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I wish, first, to thank Mr. Burdick for sponsoring this bill, the chairman of the committee for graciously granting a hearing, Mr. Newton for introducing me, and all members of the committee for permitting me to be here.

With the committee's indulgence I shall read a passage from the naval appropriation act approved July 1, 1918. It says:

* The time served by dental officers on active duty as acting assistant dental surgeons and assistant dental surgeons under provisions of law existing prior to the passage of this act shall be reckoned in computing the increased service pay and service for precedence and promotion of dental officers herein authorized or heretofore appointed.

Because this law has not been applied to those of us who have had such service, I am now junior to officers who came into service and commenced their active duty after I was already on active duty and had been so serving for several months.

The purpose of the bill before the committee is to carry out the obvious intent of the act of 1918 to credit prior service as assistant dental surgeon.

The result of the bill, if enacted, would be to give me March 31, 1914, the date I commenced my continuous active duty, as my date of precedence, and I would rank with my contemporaries in service. I know of no objection to the bill, and its enactment would not result in any increased cost to the Government.

A precedent is found in a similar bill enacted last year to correct the precedence of two officers of the supply corps of the Nay. It is Public 367, Seventieth Congress.

Gentlemen, I thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. To what do you attribute the fact that those who entered the service after you, after March 31, 1914, are your seniors? Lieutenant Commander BARBER. That is because they were given credit for all of their service, and I was not given credit for all of my service.

The CHAIRMAN. Then they did have service prior to their being commissioned after March 31, 1914?

Lieutenant Commander BARBER. They had service prior to the act of August 29, 1916, which act converted them into the permanent service of the Navy, but did not give them credit for that prior service. The act of July 1, 1918, went back and gave them credit for service as acting assistant dental surgeons.

The CHAIRMAN. Did they have actual service?
Lieutenant Commander BARBER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Then why not credit them with it.
Lieutenant Commander BARBER. That should be done.

The CHAIRMAN. If they had actual service before this date and they were credited with it, and that gave them a longer service than you had, if my impression of the thing is correct, why should they not be your seniors?

Lieutenant Commander BARBER. But they have not had longer

service.

The CHAIRMAN. I thought you said they had been credited with previous service and that credit placed them as seniors to you. Lieutenant Commander BARBER. It is true that they were credited and I was not credited. I had service prior to theirs.

The CHAIRMAN. You had previous service but were not credited with it?

Lieutenant Commander BARBER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. But they were credited with their service?
Lieutenant Commander BARBER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Now what you want is credit for that service so that you may take your proper place in relation to the other officers of your corps?

Lieutenant Commander BARBER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And you may be placed above or below them? Lieutenant Commander BARBER. That is right.

Mr. HOUSTON. Why was not the service you rendered not credited to you?

Lieutenant Commander BARBER. The law was not sufficiently definite. There are four acts of Congress involved, namely, the act of August 22, 1912, the act of March 4, 1913, the act of August 29, 1916, and the act of July 1, 1918, the latter act failing to mention the act of March 4, 1913, when it mentioned the acts of 1912 and 1916.

Mr. HOUSTON. Still I do not understand the situation.

The CHAIRMAN. As I recall, Mr. Newton in his opening statement said that if this bill had been enacted a year ago, when the department ruled adversely, it would have cost the Government some additional money.

Lieutenant Commander BARBER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. But that now, because of your pending_promotion, it will not cost the Treasury any additional money. How do you figure that out?

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