Harlan F. Stone

“ It seems more reasonable to believe that Congress in general legislation of this character contemplated comparison only to a more universal standard-the normal case of an officer continually in active service until his retirement after July 1, 1922, and that consequently the 1926 act should not be read to extend to officers retired before 1922; the benefits of the clause permitting active officers alone to include all service counted in computing longevity pay. ”

“ Even assuming, as petitioner argues, that under the provisions of the 1922 act an officer then in active service would be entitled to count prior service while retired on account of wounds received in battle, in computing his base pay, which is not free from doubt, [2] it seems unlikely that Congress, by the Equalization Act of 1926, meant to set up as a standard of comparison, a case so exceptional as that of an officer reappointed to active service after being retired, chancing to be engaged in such service on the operative date of the 1922 act. ”

“ Instead, by its terms, the act of 1926 implies a comparison with an officer benefited by the 1922 act; that is, so far as the clause of that act in question is concerned, an officer in active service on July 1, 1922. ”