White House Press Release, Message of President Harry S. Truman to the United States House of Representatives

THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 26, 1946 TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I return herewith, without my approval, H. R. 1264, "An Act For the relief of Lieutenant Colonel John P. Maher, Field Artillery Reserve, Army of the United States." The purpose of this bill is to pay the sum of $201.74 to Lieutenant Colonel John P. Maher in full satisfaction of all claims against the United States for reimbursement of a portion of the cost of transport- ing his wife and two minor children from Brownsville, Texas, to West Point. New York. It appears that Colonel Maher, whose home was in Brownsville, Texas, had been on permanent duty in Washington, D. C., for a period NARA of nine months immediately prior to July 26, 1942, when he was ordered to a new permanent duty station at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. .It further appears that during the period of his duty in Washington, Colonel Maher's wife and two minor children remained in Brownsville, but that shortly after Colonel Maher reached his new station at West Point his family joined him there and that the cost to Colonel Maher of transporting his family from Brownsville to West Point was approximately $233.15. Section 12 of the Act of June 16, 1942 (56 Stat. 364), provides that when an Army officer is ordered to make a permanent change of station the United States shall furnish transportation for his depend- ents to his new station, and that if the cost of such transportation exceeds that for transportation of his dependents from the officer's old station to his new station then such excess cost shall be paid by the officer. Under this statute Colonel Maher was properly reimbursed in the amount of $31.41, the cost of transporting his dependents from his old permanent duty station at Washington, D. C., to his new permanent duty station at West Point, New York. Colonel Maher's claim for an additional amount to cover the cost of t transporting his dependents from Brownsville, Texas, appears to be based upon the provisions of Section 4(b) of the Act of June 5, 1942 (56 Stat. 315), which authorizes the transportation of an officer's dependents at Government expense from any location designated by the officer to his new duty station when the officer's former duty station was located in a zone which had been closed to the dependents of military personnel by the Sec- retary of War for military reasons or because Government quarters for such dependents were not available. At a number of the places within the C ountry where military personnel are necessarily stationed in wartime the Government does not maintain quarters adequate to house the dependents of all of its military personnel. Nevertheless, this fact alone does not en- large the Government's statutory obligation to furnish transportation for the dependents of the personnel stationed at such places, nor does it em- power an Army officer who is ordered to duty at such a place to make his 0 wn determination that, because Government quarters for his dependents are not available there, he is entitled upon terminating his service at that station to have his dependents moved at Government expense from any loca- tion that he may designate to his next permanent duty station. As con- strued by the Comptroller General the Act of June 5, 1942, calls for a determination by the Secretary of War, not only that Government quarters are not available for the dependents of military personnel at a given station but also that their dependents should not be permitted to accompany military personnel to that station, in order to entitle such personnel to (continued)