Henry Billings Brown

“ It can hardly be supposed that congress could have intended that the attorney general should not be at liberty to call upon the official representative of the United States in each district to defend, as a part of his official duty, the interests of the government in any suit in which it was interested. ”

“ The allowance of mileage to officers of the United States, particularly in the military and naval service, when traveling in the service of the government, is fixed at an arbitrary sum, not only on account of the difficulty of auditing the petty items which constitute the bulk of traveling expenses, but for the reason that officers travel in different styles; and expenses, which in one case might seem entirely reasonable, might in another be deemed to be unreasonable. There are different standards of traveling, as of living ”

“ The fact that these per diems are allowed for his attendance at his place of abode indicates very clearly that they are not intended as reimbursements for personal expenses specially incurred, since every man must live somewhere, and must incur some expense in so doing. ”