the $21 rate. It also appears that section 10 of the act of June 10, 1922, is inconsistent with section 12 of the act of September 16, 1940, in that the pay of a Chief Petty Officer, (AA) is not now stipulated and that, by operation of section 12 (f) of the act of September 16, 1940, the definite provision fixing the pay of Chief Petty Officers, (AA), found in the last sentence of the first paragraph of the act of June 10, 1922, is repealed. If the latter conclusion is correct, the active duty base pay of all Chief Petty Officers, (AA) is $126 per month, effective 1 October 1940, and the retainer pay or retired pay of all Chief Petty Officers, (AA) should thereafter be computed on that rate, using the percentages stated in Sections 203 and 204 of the Naval Reserve Act of 1938, rather than on a percentage of "the base pay they were receiving at the time of transfer, plus all permanent additions thereto." Corroboration is requested. 4. A request has been received from Royden R. Danford to adjust his retired pay from $103.46 per month to $119.70, the request being based on Public, 236. The pertinent facts of the case are as follows:

On 14 February 1917 he was transferred to the Fleet Naval Reserve, Class 1 D. in the confirmed rating of Watertender, having completed over 20 years' service for pay purposes. He was recalled to active duty 8 April 1917 and was advanced to the confirmed rating of Chief Watertender on 29 August 1917. On 22 September 1919 he was released from active duty and on 19 October 1925 he was placed on the retired list, having completed 30 years' service. His average mark was over 95%. Royden R. Danford's retired pay has been computed as follows:

5. Thus Danford, a Fleet Reservist advanced in rating while on active duty during the World War, is receiving less pay than other Fleet Reservists of the same pay grade and length of service. With particular reference to the phrase appearing in Public 236 "be entitled to retainer pay or retired pay computed on the basis of the increased rates of base pay and longevity pay **" I wish to be advised whether I am authorized to pay him adjusted pay computed as follows, effective 1 October 1940:

One-half base pay

25 percent longevity

Total

10 percent for good conduct____

Total_

Retired allowances

*

$63.00

31.50

94.50

9.45

103.95

15.75

119.70

Less hospital fund____

.20

119.50

. It is recommended that this matter be presented to the Comptroller General for his consideration and advice on the questions discussed.

Public, No. 236, Seventy-seventh Congress, approved August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 656; section 12 of the Selective Training and Service

Act of September 1′′, 194,51 blat. 89%, al i sectio

June 1, 1922. 41 Put. 63′, are a quote i 12 the letter of roer 2. Luue! seruOT 1214 of the act of sentemor 1 16. CH month Das Tale of pay of entiste me: · EFT EL Malum Corp e' the fourt.., ff, six... an i sevent.

a- L approximate the Das 12 ProVKIŁ TC men, of the Navi e coresponding grade., it OF VIET PEEL TOPPSBEZLEMİ Lua' apprentice saue: o' the Nav reac. the Ex Is me afer noma training Application of the

ut 10 27 de az if Semenine 16, 1940, was macted ell sies net if the Army and the Marine Cars and Prve unchanged the my porvisoais tank for elisei ne of the Nery under section 1 if the sot inters the day provided for enlisted men of similar my and Manne Corps is greater. In view of the yadav bror non venta ned i went on 20 of the art of June 10, 1922, fx by the twe say of ouef perty officers of the Navy der acting ment at 896 per month, such provision is controlling and is not affected by the last sentence of section 12 (a) of the act of SeptemP 16. 1946. In other words, there is no enlisted grade in the Army corresponding with that of an acting chief petty officer in the Navy carry.ng with it a base rate of pay of $126 per month upon which the last sentence of section 12 (a) could legally operate. The first

question is answered by saying that the base pay of a chief petty officer under acting appointment remains $99 per month and necessarily, if transferred to the Fleet Reserve or to the retired list his retainer or retired pay is required to be computed on that rate.

In addition to the increases in the base rates of pay provided in section 12 (a) of the act of September 16, 1940, for enlisted men of the Army and Marine Corps the section increased the longevity pay of all grades from 5 to 10 per centum upon completion of the first 4 years of service. As a result, transferred and retired members of the Marine Corps Reserve who were transferred or retired prior to the effective date of the section with over 16 and less than 20 years' service, were entitled to only 20 per centum increase in their base pay and if of the four lower grades received lesser base pay than transferred members of the Navy of the same pay grades. As first introduced, H. R. 4338, Seventy-seventh Congress (which became Public, No. 236), would have extended only to transferred and retired members of the four lower grades. When finally enacted this limitation was removed at the request of the Navy Department in order that men of the first three grades who transferred to the [Marine] Reserve after 16 years' service may be entitled to an increase in their longevity pay.

Under the act of May 31, 1924, 43 Stat. 251, members of the Fleet Naval Reserve Force who were transferred members thereof on June 30, 1922, and who did not come within the special provisions of the act of May 18, 1920, 41 Stat. 603, were entitled on and after July 1, 1922, to retainer pay computed on the base pay they were receiving at the close of their last naval service "plus all permanent additions thereof" and not to the longevity increase authorized by section 10 of the act of June 10, 1922. 4 Comp. Gen. 345. This appears to have been the method of computing the pay of the reservist referred to in the fourth paragraph of the quoted letter of October 23, 1941.

Public, No. 236, had two purposes-to allow an additional per centum increase for longevity of transferred Fleet Marine Corps Reservists who had completed more than 16 and less than 20 years' service, and to increase the pay of the four lower grades by an adjustment in accordance with the rates of base pay provided in section 12 of the act of September 16, 1940. Danford, the reservist referred to in the fourth paragraph of the letter of October 23, 1941, transferred to the Fleet Naval Reserve in the grade of water tender after 20 years' service on February 14, 1917; was recalled to active duty April 8, 1917, advanced to the rating of chief water tender, permanent appointment; released from active duty September 22, 1919, and placed on the retired list of the U. S. Navy October 19, 1925. Having been transferred to the Fleet Naval Reserve prior to

June 30, 1922, in the grade of water tender his retainer and retired pay has been computed at the rate of pay he was receiving on June 30, 1922, under the laws and decisions of the Comptroller of the Treasury in force on that date; namely, as chief water tender, the pay of that rating being greater than he was entitled to receive as a water tender under section 10 of the act of June 10, 1922, as amended by the act of May 31, 1924, 43 Stat. 251.

Since computation of this reservist's retired pay on the rating of chief water tender was in the nature of a "saved" pay and is greater than when such pay is computed on the rating of water tender under the act of August 29, 1916, 39 Stat. 591, including longevity increases thereon, plus 10 per centum for good conduct marks, it is obvious that no additional benefits would accrue to him under Public, No. 236, of August 21, 1941, inasmuch as the language of the last mentioned act and its purpose as derived from the hearings and reported thereon disclose no intent whatever that computation of the "rates" of the retainer or retired pay thereunder should be upon a rating other than that upon which the enlisted man was entitled upon transfer to the reserve. Accordingly, you would not be authorized to adjust the reservist's pay under the terms of that act.

(B-22062)

STATUS OF UNMOUNTED ART REPRODUCTIONS, PHONOGRAPH RECORDS, ETC., AS "PUBLICATIONS"

The term "publications" as used in the appropriation act of July 3, 1941, for the Office for Emergency Management, authorizing the "free distribution of publications" embraces "unmounted art reproductions" but may not be construed to include phonograph records, radio transcriptions, or motion picture film. Comptroller General Warren to the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, December 4, 1941:

There has been received from the Acting General Counsel, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, a letter of November 19, 1941, as follows:

In carrying out the program of this Office to "further the national defense and strengthen the bonds between the United States and the other American Republics," it is contemplated that educational material be distributed free of charge in the other American Republics and the United States. The appropriation for the Office for Emergency Management in the act of July 3, 1941, Public, No. 150, 77th Congress, provides, inter alia, that the funds allocated to this Office shall be available for "the free distribution of publications."

In this connection, I desire to submit for your consideration the question of whether the term "publications" includes such items as phonograph records, radio transcriptions, grant of motion-picture film, and unmounted art reproductions, which would be prints of good quality. I am of the opinion that the language in the appropriation act is sufficiently broad to cover these items; nevertheless, I should like to submit the question to you for determination.

The question presented is understood to be whether the word "publications" as used in the act of July 3, 1941, Public Law 150, 55 Stat.

543, authorizing you to make "free distribution of publications" is sufficiently broad to authorize the free distribution of "phonograph records, radio transcriptions, grant of motion-picture film, and unmounted art reproductions, which would be prints of good quality." The word "publications" as used in the statute under consideration has reference not to an act but to tangible things which may be distributed; and when the word "publication" is used in that sense its meaning is much narrower than its technical or legal meaning as used in the law of libel and slander, etc. When used in the sense in which it is used in the said statute, it has been held to refer to a book or print (50 Corpus Juris 870); to "books, pamphlets, pictures, prints, and papers" (United States v. Loftis, 12 Fed. 671); to "books, pamphlets, circulars, papers, etc." (United States v. Huggett, 40 Fed. 636); to a "book, pamphlet, picture, writing, print” (United States v. Chase, 135 U. S. 255); and to "books, pamphlets, tracts, newspapers, and magazines" (Words and Phrases, permanent edition, vol. 35, p. 40). Also, the word has been defined as "That which is published; any printed work placed on sale or otherwise distributed or offered for distribution" (Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary). With the exception of "unmounted art reproductions" it appears clear that the items mentioned in the above-quoted letter, i. e., phonograph records, radio transcriptions, and motion-picture film, do not come within those definitions of the word "publications" and I do not find that the word, as used in the sense in which it is here considered, has received a construction sufficiently broad to include such items. Likewise, nothing has been found in the legislative history of the act involved which would justify such a construction of the word.

Accordingly, it must be held that the authority contained in the act of July 3, 1941, supra, to make "free distribution of publications," may not be construed to authorize the free distribution of "phonograph records," "radio transcriptions," or "motion-picture film."

(B-20483)

RENTAL, SUBSISTENCE, AND QUARTERS ALLOWANCES-DEPENDENTS OF NAVY PERSONNEL-STEPCHILDREN

The relation of stepparent and stepchild existing between a Navy officer and the child of his wife by a former marriage does not survive the death of the wife so as to authorize payment of increased rental and subsistence allowances on account of dependent child as defined in section 4 of the act of June 10, 1922, as amended, even though the officer continues to maintain the child solely from his own income, and the same rule is applicable to a similarly situated enlisted man with respect to money allowance for quarters for dependents under the act of October 17, 1940.