The case of the claimant appears to be a hard one; but we think he has no remedy by suit in the Court of Claims. His claim rests not upon any contract with the government, either express or implied, but upon acts of Congress providing for a regulation of the salaries of deputy-postmasters.
On the thirteenth day of March, 1871, he was appointed postmaster at Florence, Kansas, and his salary was fixed at seven dollars, until it could be ascertained what the business of his office would be. He entered upon the duties of the appointment on the 14th of April, 1871, and continued therein until after July 1, 1872, from which date his salary was fixed at $560 a year. His claim now is, that, under the statutes prescribing the basis for compensation, adjustment and readjustment of salaries of postmasters, he is entitled to be paid for his service between April 14, 1871, and July 1, 18 2, the sum of $578.
Before examining the acts of Congress bearing upon the subject, some further notice of the facts is necessary. In a letter accompanying the claimant's appointment, he was required to make out, at the end of each quarter, and forward to the Third Assistant Postmaster-General, a statement, under oath, of the total value of postage-stamps cancelled during the quarter; and he was informed that his salary could not exceed the amount to which the office would be entitled, from commissions and box-rents under the former laws, but that it would be readjusted at the proper time by the Postmaster-General, on the basis of the amount of business done, as shown by the quarterly statements required. On the 1st of June, 1871, he was instructed from the department, that, in order to enable the Postmaster-General to review and readjust his salary from and after the first day of July, 1872, he should keep an account of the total number of stamps cancelled at his office for the six months beginning July 1, 1871, and ending Dec. 31, 1871; also the amount collected on unpaid letters, on newspapers, and other printed matter, and for box-rents during the same period; and that, on the 1st of January, 1872, he should make out and forward a sworn statement of the amount arising from each of those sources. With this latter order he complied, and on the 1st of January, 1872, he forwarded a sworn statement, showing the revenue of his office to have been $482.67 during the six months next preceding Jan. 1, 1872; and, at the regular biennial adjustment of salaries, in June next following, the Postmaster-General readjusted his salary on the basis of his statement, and fixed it at $560 a year, from July 1, 1872. From April 14, 1871, till July 1, 1872, the claimant made no application for readjustment of his salary as first fixed, unless a letter written by him to the Third Assistant Postmaster-General, complaining of the inadequacy of his compensation, can be regarded as an application for readjustment. But that letter was unaccompanied by any sworn statement of the income of his office, and it furnished no basis for readjustment; nor was there any subsequent application, except that, in October, 1872, after the salary had been fixed at $560 from July 1 of that year, a person claiming to be the claimant's attorney wrote to the department, requesting that the order readjusting the salary should be modified, so as to take effect from April 14, 1871. But this application also was accompanied by no sworn statement of revenue.