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DECISIONS

OF THE

COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.

LEAVE TO POSTAL EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN PARADES AND ENCAMPMENTS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Post Office Department employees who are members of the National Guard of the District of Columbia may be granted leave of absence, without loss of pay or time, to participate in parades or encampments, or on all days of service ordered by the commanding general, as authorized by the act of March 1, 1889, 25 Stat. 779, as amended by the acts of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 615, and Feb. 18, 1909, 35 Stat. 634, as well as for field or coastdefense training authorized for all the National Guard by act of June 3, 1916, 39 Stat. 203.

Comptroller General McCarl to the Postmaster General, July 3, 1922.

I have your letter of June 5, 1922, requesting decision whether postoffice employees who are members of the National Guard of the District of Columbia may be granted leave of absence with pay, in addition to other leave granted them in accordance with law, on days they are required to participate in parades or other maneuvers of the District of Columbia National Guard, and which is not included in the leave authorized to be granted to Government employees by section 80 of the national defense act, 39 Stat. 203.

Section 52 (formerly section 49) of the act of March 1, 1889, 25 Stat. 779, as amended by the act of February 18, 1909, 35 Stat. 634, provides:

That all officers and employees of the United States and of the District of Columbia who are members of the National Guard shall be entitled to leave of absence from their respective duties, without loss of pay or time, on all days of any parade or encampment ordered or authorized under the provisions of this act.

The act of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 615, under "Militia of the District of Columbia," provides:

That section forty-nine of "An Act to provide for the organization of the militia of the District of Columbia," approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, shall be construed as covering all days of service which the National Guard, or any portion thereof, may be ordered to perform by the commanding general.

The first quoted provision appeared in an act intended to provide the equivalent of a State militia in the District of Columbia to be

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available for, among other purposes, the maintenance of local law and order; Congress was then legislating only for the District of Columbia. No provision was made in the original law for pay as militia of the District of Columbia except for the band, but as amended by the act of February 18, 1909, provision was made by section 53, 35 Stat. 634, for pay for all members of the militia of the District when "ordered to duty in case of riot, tumult, breach of the peace, or whenever called in aid of the civil authorities," and commencing with the act of June 6, 1900, 31 Stat. 577, appropriating funds for the District of Columbia for the fiscal year 1901, there has been appropriated annually under "Militia, District of Columbia," funds "for the payment of troops other than Government employees."

It is thus seen that members of the District of Columbia National Guard who are Government employees receive no pay under the militia laws of the District and the appropriations therefor except when "ordered to duty in case of riot," etc., and except in the case of the band.

The act of June 3, 1916, 39 Stat. 166, "for making further and more effectual provision for the national defense " is a comprehensive act of general application providing for the military land forces; among other objects, it reorganizes the Regular Army and by sections 57 to 118, inclusive, it creates the National Guard in lieu of the Organized Militia of the States, theretofore given limited Federal support. Sections 80 and 128 of the act provide:

Sec. 80. Leaves of Absence for Certain Government Employees. All officers and employees of the United States and of the District of Columbia who shall be members of the National Guard shall be entitled to leave of absence from their respective duties, without loss of pay, time, or efficiency rating on all days during which they shall be engaged in field or coast-defense training ordered or authorized under the provisions of this Act.

Sec. 128. All laws and parts of laws in so far as they are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.

The question is whether the provisions of the act of March 1, 1889, as amended by the act of July 1, 1902, applicable only to the National Guard of the District of Columbia, are inconsistent with, and therefore repealed by, section 80 of the national defense act, applicable generally to the National Guard of the entire Nation. Section 80 provides for leave of absence only on "days during which they shall be engaged in field or coast-defense training ordered or authorized under the provisions of " the national defense act. The law of March 1, 1889, relating exclusively to the National Guard of the District of Columbia, makes provision, in addition to days of encampment (field training), for absence on account of parades, and for days of service (any authorized service) ordered to be performed by the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard.

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