Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ For while the statute says that all officers who have been advanced since the date mentioned shall have the pay of the higher grade, and says nothing about active service, the claims are confined to the periods of active service named, which implies a concession that the advance in grade by itself was not enough. And this concession was required by the fact that the statute grants allowances as well as pay, and that allowances are an incident of active duty alone. ”

“ As it stands admitted that the statute is of more limited scope than is apparent on its face, to an untrained reader, at least, the question is whether it is to be read as applying to all advanced officers who have been on active service, or only to all such officers upon the active list. ”

“ Stat. 1913, § 2652. 'No officer on the retired list of the Navy shall be employed on active duty except in time of war.' An exception, limited to twelve years from its passage, was made by the act of June 7, 1900, allowing officers on the retired list, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy, to be ordered to such duty as they might be able to perform, and giving them while so employed the pay and allowances of the grade on the active list from which they were retired. ”