The National tribune., 1899-04-13
PENSION LEGISLATION.
The following is the full text Of the
pension bill passed by Congress in its

United states.
Be It enacted by the Senate and House Of
Representatives Of the United States of Amer
lea in Congress assembled, That section forty
seven hundred and seventy-siX, Title fifty
seven, of the Revised Statutes of the United
States be, and the same is hereby, amend
ed by adding thereto the following addi-
tional provisions and provisos, to wit: Pro-
eided further. That in case resident PEN
sioner of the United States shall for period
of over six months desert his lawful wife,
she being woman of good moral character
and in necessitous circumstances, or, if he
have no lawful wife, shall desert his legiti
mate minor child or children under sixteen
years of age, or his permanently helpless and
dependent child, the Commissioner of PEN
sions is hereby directed, upon being satisfied
by competent evidence of such desertion, to
cause one-halfof the pension due or to become
due said pensioner during the continuance
of such desertion to be paid to the wife, Or in
case there is no wife, to the legal guardian
of the child or children: PrOUided further,
That when a soldier or sailor enters into
State Home for soldiers or sailors as an in
mate thereof, one-half of his pension accru-
ing during his residence therein shall be
paid to his wife, she being woman OF good
moral character and in necessitOus clrcum-
stances, OF if there be no wife, then to his
child or children under sixteen years of age,
or his permanently helpless and dependent
child, if any, unless such wife and children
shall also be inmates of the same institution,
| or of some home provided for the wives and
children of soldiers and sailors: Provided
further, That if any such pensioner is or
shall become an inmate of a National Sol
diers' Home one-half of the pension drawn
in his behalf or to which he may become
entitled during his residence therein shall be
paid by the treasurer of that institution to
such pensioners wife, she being in necessit-
GUS circumstances and woman of good
moral character, or, if there be no wife, to
the legal guardian of the minor child or
children, or the permanently dependent and
helpless child or children of such pensioner,
on the order of the Com missioner of Pen
sions: Provided further, That hereafter no
pension under any law of the United States
shall he granted, allowed or paid to the
widow of soldier, sailor, officer, naval or
military, marine, marine officer, or any
other male person entitled to pension under
any law of the United States, unless it shall
be proved and established that the marriage
of such widow to the soldier, sailor, officer,
marine, or other person on account of whose
service the pension is asked, was duly and
legally contracted and entered into prior to
the passage of this act, or unless such wife
shall have lived and cohabited with such
soldier, sailor, officer, marine, marine officer,
or other person continuously from the date
of the marriage to the date of his death, or
unless the marriage shall take place hereafter
and prior to or during the military or naval
service of the soldier, sailor, officer, marine,
Or other person on account of whose service
the pension is asked OF claimed. This provisO
shall not apply to or affect the widow of any
soldier, sailor, marine, officer, or marine Off
Ger serving or who has served in the war be-
tween the United States and the Kingdom of
Spain.
In all cases the questions Of desertion,
entrance into a Home, necessitous circum-
stances, and of good moral character shall be
ascertained and determined by the Commits
siuner of Pensions under such rules and regu
lations as he shall prescribe, and the Treas
urers or Governors of the several Soldiers
and Sailors Homes shall be advised of such
action from time to time.
Approved March 3, 1899.
The first provision in this will be
generally commended. Any pensioner
who deserts his wife or minor children
should be compelled to give at least one
half of his pension to them.
The second and third sections, with
reference to giving up half of his PEN
sion to his wife or minor children in
case of his entrance to Soldiers Home
or other institution, is equally right and
proper.
In the fourth section, the authorship
of which is ascribed to Commissioner
Evans personally, he clearly overreached
himself. Mr.. Evans is chronic sufferer
from that well-known disease "being too
smart" Like great many other am
bilious men in this country, he labcrs
under the delusion that he can draw a
law. This is common falling, as the
people of the afflicted Western States
sadly know. Mr.. Evans evidently
started out to draw a law which would
"save money" to the Government by
cutting off from the benefits of pension
those designing women who wickedly,
maliciously, and with malice afore-
thought, marry some veteran, care for
and nurse him through his declining
years, and then expect to receive the
same consideration from the Govern
ment that was given the women who
married veterans of the Revolution, the
War of 1912 and the Mexican and In
dian wars. Mr.. Evans has been par
ticularly voluble and acrimonious in the
public press against this class of women.
He would lead US to believe that the
mad fever Of swapping up some poor
old relic of the rebellion, and marrying
him out of hand, was demoralizing the
women of the country, and sapping the
very foundations of the Government
that no widower or bachelor veteran