SEC. 19. That the Nurse Corps (female) shall consist of one Superintendent, to be appointed by the Secretary of War, who shall be a graduate of a hospital training school having a course of instruction of not less than two years, whose term of office may be terminated at his discretion, whose compensation shall be one thousand eight hundred dollars per annum, and of as many chief nurses, nurses, and reserve nurses as may be needed. Reserve nurses may be assigned to active duty when the emergency of the service demands, but shall receive no compensation except when on such duty: Provided, That all nurses in the Nurse Corps shall be appointed or removed by the Surgeon-General, with the approval of the Secretary of War; that they shall be graduates of hospital training schools, and shall have passed a satisfactory professional, moral, mental, and physical examination: And provided, That the Superintendent and nurses shall receive transportation and necessary expenses when traveling under orders; that the pay and allowances of nurses, and of reserve nurses, when on active service, shall be forty dollars per month when on duty in the United States and fifty dollars per month when without the limits of the United States. They shall be entitled to quarters, subsistence, and medical attendance during illness, and they may be granted leaves of absence for thirty days, with pay, for each calendar year; and, when serving as chief nurses, their pay may be increased by authority of the Secretary of War, such increase not to exceed twenty-five dollars per month. Payments to the Nurse Corps shall be made by the Pay Department. SEC. 27. That each position vacated by officers of the line, transferred to any department of the staff for tours of service under this act, shall be filled by promotion in the line until the total number detailed equals the number authorized for duty in each staff department. Thereafter vacancies caused by details from the line to the staff shall be filled by officers returning from tours of staff duty. If under the operation of this act the number of officers returned to any particular arm of the service at any time exceeds the number authorized by law in any grade, promotions to that grade shall cease until the number has been reduced to that authorized. THE PAY DEPARTMENT. The earliest legislation creating a Pay Department is the resolution of the Continental Congress, June 16, 1775, which provided for a Paymaster-General and a deputy under him, for the Army, in a separate department. The Revolutionary Army was disbanded November 3, 1783, but Paymaster-General Pierce was continued in service settling his accounts and as commissioner for settling the accounts of the Army. The two offices were united by the resolution of March 23, 1787, and after the death of John Pierce, in 1788, the duties of the office of PaymasterGeneral were administered by Joseph Howell, jr., Commissioner of Army Accounts, until the appointment of a Paymaster of the Army, May, 1792. The Pay Department, by that name, was first organized under the act of April 24, 1816, but a Paymaster for the Army "to reside near the headquarters of the troops of the U. S." had been authorized by the act of May 8, 1792. June 27, 1775.-James Warren (Massachusetts). May 8, 1792.-Caleb Swan (Massachusetts). July 1, 1808.-Robert Brent (District of Columbia). Aug. 28, 1819.-Nathan Towson, brevet major-general, May 30, 1848 (Maryland). June 1, 1821.-Brig. Gen. Daniel Parker (Massachusetts). May 8, 1822.-Col. Nathan Towson (Maryland). July 20, 1854.-Col. Benjamin F. Larned (Massachusetts). Sept. 6, 1862.-Col. (Bvt. Brig. Gen., Sept. 13, 1847) Timothy P. Andrews (District of Columbia). Nov. 29, 1864.-Col. (Brig. Gen., July 28, 1866) Benjamin W. Brice (Virginia). Feb. 17, 1882.-Brig. Gen. William B. Rochester (New York). Mar. 26, 1895.-Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Stanton (Iowa). |