The increased cost to the Navy in the event of the enactment of the bill H. R. 15294 will be $2,149 per year until August, 1929, and thereafter at the rate of $1,329 per year.

The bill H. R. 15294 has been referred to the Bureau of the Budget with the above information, as to cost, and a statement that the Navy Department contemplated making an unfavorable recommenda tion thereon. Under date of January 10, 1929, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget advised the Navy Department that the proposed recommendation is not 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. 15294.

Sincerely yours,

CURTIS D. WILBUR,
Secretary of the Nary.

[H. R. 15294, Seventieth Congress, second session]

'A BILL For recognition of meritorious service performed by Chief Gunner Clarence L. Tibbals

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be authorized to appoint Clarence L. Tibbals, now having the rank of Chief gunner, United States Navy, a lieutenant in the United States Navy, in recognition of his services in submarine salvage work as a diver and diving expert, and as an inventor of submarine escape devices.

A HEARING ON H. R. 9342, RELATING TO LENGTH OF SERVICE
OF PROFESSORS OF MATHEMATICS IN THE UNITED STATES
NAVY

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,
Tuesday, January 15, 1929.

The committee this day met at 11 o'clock a. m., Hon. Fred A. Britten (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the next bill for consideration, Admiral Campbell?

Admiral CAMPBELL. H. R. 9342, relative to length of service of professors of mathematics in the United States Navy.

The CHAIRMAN. That is Mr. Gambrill's bill?

Admiral CAMPBELL. Yes.

(The bill in question and a report thereon by the Navy Department read as follows:)

[H. R. 9342, Seventieth Congress, first session]

A BILL Relating to length of service of professors of mathematics in the United States Navy

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That professors of mathematics in the Navy shall be credited, for pay and other purposes, with all professional service rendered to the Navy Department, at the Naval Observatory or Nautical Almanac Office or as professor at the United States Naval Academy, previous to being commissioned, as service in the Navy, and no other constructive service shall be credited to them.

The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 3, 1928.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Replying further to the committee's letter of January 17, 1928, transmitting the bill (H. R. 9342) relating to length of service of professors of mathematics in the United States Navy, and requesting the views and recommendations of the Navy Department thereon, I have the honor to inform you as follows:

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to provide that professors of mathematics in the Navy shall be credited, for pay and other purposes, with all professional service rendered to the Navy Department, at the Naval Observatory or Nautical Almanac Office or as professor at the United States Naval Academy, previous to being commissioned, as service in the Navy, and no other constructive service shall be credited to them.

The active list of the professors' corps is now composed of six members and the law as set forth in the act of August 29, 1916 (39 Stat. 577; U. S. Code, Title 34, sec. 101), provides that upon the separation from the active list of these members that the corps will cease to exist. Professors of mathematics are promoted to captain by seniority to fill vacancies, the law providing that the top three shall be captains. The present professors with the rank of captain retire at 64 years of age in 1929, 1930, and 1933. The present professors with the rank of com(485)

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mander retire for age in 1931, 1932, and 1936. The effect of the proposed legislation would be to permit the three captains to retire voluntarily, if desired, for 30 years' service, earlier, by two, two, and four years, respectively, than they might otherwise, and would raise the pay to the maximum of commander's pay for the three commanders as well as advancing the possible date of voluntary retirement.

Officers of the staff corps of the Navy who entered prior to March 4, 1913, were credited with five years' constructive service for pay in recognition of the period spent in preparation for admission to the Navy and in parallel with the then existing credit to line officers of Naval Academy service. From March 4, 1913. officers thereafter entering either the Naval Academy of the staff corps of the Navy were denied credit for Naval Academy service or for constructive service. respectively. In compensation for this loss of constructive service the pay act allows the pay period of the rank to staff officers irrespective of their length of service, which must, however, be considered in determining the pay period of

line officers.

Of the six members of the corps of professors of mathematics, five now receive the five years' constructive service, one does not. Crediting service rendered to the Navy Department in lieu of constructive service would be a recognition of the value of assistance rendered to the department by these officers before their commissioning. On the other hand, their appointment to this corps was in itself a recognition of their assistance, and such appointment was made in a higher rank than that of the entrants to other staff corps by virtue of their previous service in the Navy Department.

The trend of law in recent years has been away from constructive service. In 1913 credit for Naval Academy service and constructive service for staff officers was abolished. In 1922 credit for prior naval service other than commissioned service was thereafter abolished. The enactment of this bill would negative this trend of the law and would establish a precedent for the claiming of credit for previous service by such officers of other corps as may have performed civilian duties under the Navy Department before their appointment as a commissioned officer. Crediting civilian service would also appear a discrimination against officers who may not now count even actual naval service under the orders and discipline of the Navy before their commissioning.

The proposed legislation, if enacted, would result in an increased cost to the Government of approximately $1,000 per annum.

The bill H. R. 9342 was referred to the Bureau of the Budget with the above information as to cost and a statement that the Navy Department contemplated making an unfavorable recommendation thereon. Under date of February 20, 1928, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget advised the Navy Department that the proposed recommendation is not 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. 9342.

Sincerely yours,

CURTIS D. WILBUR,
Secretary of the Navy.

Mr. GAMBRILL. Commander Theodore W. Johnson, corps of professors of mathematics, United States Navy, is here. In order to conserve the time of the committee, I ask that he now be permitted to explain the bill to the committee. Afterwards I shall ask him questions to bring out additional points.

The CHAIRMAN. Commander Johnson, will you please step forward? Commander JOHNSON. Certainly.

STATEMENT OF COMMANDER THEODORE WOOLSEY JOHNSON, CORPS OF PROFESSORS OF MATHEMATICS, UNITED STATES NAVY

The CHAIRMAN. Please give the stenographer your full name and

rank.

Commander JOHNSON. Commander Theodore W. Johnson, corps of professors of mathematics, United States Navy, Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.

The CHAIRMAN. What have you to tell the committee about this bill, Commander?

Commander JOHNSON. I would like to make it plain to the committee that I have felt ever since I was commisisoned in the Navy that I have not been treated quite on a parallel with predecessors of mine in the corps and with other commissioned officers of the Navy. I have made various efforts to remedy this condition, but the corps of professors of mathematics of the Navy is small, and the matter now before the committee involves only three officers. There are only six officers of that corps on the active list. We have been excluded from practically all legislation for the last 19 or 20 years, except pay legislation as it affects us. Obviously every officer likes to have something approaching the pay of his associates, those of his own age, and those with whom he is obliged to maintain a social contact. My pay has always been from $1,000 to $2,000 less than the pay of those of my rank, and, of course, in military life, one is expected to keep up his end. He can not live in the woods, so to speak, and economize as he might otherwise be tempted to economize when underpaid.

I entered the service in August, 1913, immediately after the passage of the bill that removed constructive service of five years from the service of staff officers and also removed from future line officers their credit for service as midshipmen. It did not immediately affect the latter. It simply removed that service from those not yet in the Naval Academy. Consequently all midshipmen who graduated up to the year 1916 were credited with their service as midshipmen. I was not so credited with the corresponding five years' constructive service which had always been referred to as a compensation for the educational period of staff officers of that date. I do not believe in crediting previous service on the whole; and I am very happy to see signs that there may be a bill in the future that will give each officer the pay of his grade and no longevity except in his own particular rank. If such a bill should become law, immediately my case would be covered. However, we go back to a period when constructive service was given for a special purpose.

The CHAIRMAN. Commander, if I may interrupt you, the committee has gone on record a number of times as opposed to that constructive service credit. Personally, I have no sympathy with it. It was, I think, a silly thing to do.

Commander JOHNSON. I think the whole thing was silly, in departing from the pay based upon rank and service in the rank in question.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Commander JOHNSON. But when you departed from it and made service go back to the midshipman days, then any officer entering a higher rank in the Navy is at a disadvantage. As a rule officers in the staff corps enter as junior lieutenants, and only a few years older than the academy graduates. Their deficiency in pay upon that basis, after they have been credited with five years' service, is a small percentage.

The CHAIRMAN. We stopped giving that credit 10 years ago.

Commander JOHNSON. Yes; but in special cases even in the bill taking away that service it gave it to two officers of the corps of professors of mathematics. The bill of 1913 gave it to Terry and Johnson.

The CHAIRMAN. Your bill does not give your credit for constructive service, does it?

Commander JOHNSON. It gives me credit for previous service as a civilian professor.

The CHAIRMAN. As an actual professor in the Navy?

Commander JOHNSON. As a civilian professor teaching the same subject I now teach. The position corresponds in civil life to a professor of mechanical drawing. It also gives it to Professor Dashiell,

who was the professor of chemistry.

The CHAIRMAN. At the Naval Academy?

Commander JOHNSON. At the Naval Academy. All of us had about 15 years' service-2 at the Naval Academy, 1 at the Naval Observatory and the Nautical Almanac Office. We are all teaching very much the same subjects as we then dealt with.

The CHAIRMAN. But this bill does not give any constructive service to any of these officers who were not commissioned in the United States Navy?

Commander JOHNSON. My service as a civilian at the Naval Academy was not service in the Navy, according to law.

Mr. WOODRUFF. It was service in behalf of the Navy Department in a civilian capacity but was not service in the commissioned United States Navy?

Commander JOHNSON. Exactly.

The CHAIRMAN. And that same condition applies to others.

Commander JOHNSON. This bill removes their constructive service of 5 years and replaces it by previous professional service-the actual service I rendered for 13 years as a civilian professor of mechanical drawing, and similar service rendered by the two other officers.

As regards the pay proposition, I would like to pass up to members of the committee this indicating] chart. I can not vouch for the accuracy of the details contained therein. This [indicating] is the naval graduate's pay taken from the register of 1927. I selected those at the top, middle, and bottom in each rank and averaged them to get this pay chart.

The CHAIRMAN. Based upon the register for 1927, does this include credit for constructive service?

Commander JOHNSON. Those above this findicating] line get it. This indicating] dotted line indicates the division on that point. Those from there onward have the Naval Academy service. Those down to here [indicating] are the Naval Academy graduates since 1917 who are discriminated against under the present system.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee has gone into the matter of pay for constructive service and indicated that it has no sympathy with it. It simply caused endless factional disputes. One set of officers have been credited for four or five years' alleged service when they performed no such service and then some other set of officers comes here and wants the same advantage. I am referring especially to the staff corps. Then there will be another officer in the department who says he was there before 1916 and when the 1913 law went into effect and another man alongside of him, who came in, say, one year after or before him, antedates him four or five years in rank. That may be entirely true; but if we grant this relief will not every other staff officer come here and want his credit of four or five years?