The National tribune., 1899-07-27
DEPARTMENT NEWS.
Decisions Rulings etc. Of Interest to Soldiers and Sailors
and Their Heirs.

| hno tReiT uetss
| RIAGE-DEPENDENT MOTHER
ACT JUNE p, 1S9O.-In the pension
case of Elizabeth Darling, mother of Frank
| lin Rickard, it is held asst Secy Davis,
June 21, 1899 that the remarriage of a
dependent mother prior to the act of June
p, 1890, is not bar to pension under
section 4I01, as amended by the first sec
ton of said act, provided the facts required
| by the first section of the act are duly eStab-
| liShed." The decision SAYS:
Il am clearly of the opinion that there is
no authority of law for granting depend
ent parents pension under the act of June
p, 1890, as the right to pension dependent
parents is derived from the provisions of
section 4101, Revised Statutes, rs amended
by the first section of the act of June p,
1890. Section 4107 alone fixes the rate,
and Is the granting act.
| Application on behalf of dependent
parents should always be filed under the
provisions of that section, and where the
! claimant relies upon present dependence,
the application must be filed subsequent to
June q, 1890. as by the terms of said
amendment pension can only commence
from date of filing an application subse
quent to that date.
"A pension application in the language
/ of section 1 of the act of June p, 1890,
stating all the conditions named in said sec
ton would be insufficient, for in the very
| first line of the section we are forced to look
/
tain the rights of persons designated as
| dependent parents as well as to ascertain
the rate of pension to which they are en-
titled. (Adolph Bernstein, Z p. D.. 229-
231; Sarah H. Ozborn, Ibid, 317; James
A. Hayes, P. D.. 1909
! ut is plain that we must look to section
4101, and also to sections 1862 and 1893,
| for the grant, and to section l of the act of
June %. 1890, for the limitation and fur
ther condition attached to the grant.
"A claim, therefore, on behalf of depend
ent parents, when filed subsequent to June
| 81, 1890, is filed under section 47O7 as
| amended. Claims should be filed under
| the granting act, which fixes the rate, and
not under supplementary amendments,
| which do not affect the rate. The applica-
ton in this case: which purports to be filed
| under the act of June %. 1890, should be
| treated as filed under the provisions of
| section 4107 as amended by the act of j une
/ 27, 1890.
Section 47O3, Revised Statutes, which
provides that-'The remarriage of any
widow, dependent mother, or dependent
sister entitled to pension, shall not bar her
right to such pension 70 the date of her re-
| marriage, whether an application therefor
was filed before or after such marriage:
bat on the remarriage of any widow, de-
pendent mother, or dependent sister having
a pension such pension shall cease has,
in my opinion, no application to dependent
mothers claims under section 47O7, as
amended by the first section of the act of
June %, 1890, unless the remarriage occurs
after she had been accorded a pension sub
Se1uent to June %, 1890 as said section
prescribes plainly and in terms the only
facts necessary to establish present DEPEND
ence and entitle her to dependent mothers
pension after June %, 1890. Under said
section she must establish the fact % that
her son died by reason of causes which
would have entitled him to an invalid pen
n no oft no i'll
child; (3) that she is his parent and was at
the date of filing her application after June
81, 1890, and subsequent thereto, without
other present means of support than her
manual labor or the contributions of others
not legally bound to her support
"These facts, when established, bring
her clearly within the requirements of said
amendment of section 4707 and entitle her
to pension.
Section 47O7, Revised Statutes, permits
the dependent mother to be pensioned,
notwithstanding the fact that she has a
husband. The presumption that the hus-
band supports the wife is permitted to be
rebutted in the first instance under section
4707, but section 470S makes the presump-
ton conclusive and nonrebuttable in case
of remarriage, and unless subsequent legis-
lation has changed this rule, the dependent
mother would upon her remarriage con-
tinue to occupy nonpensionable status.
But remarrlage OF a dependent mother
prior to the death of her son in service, on
account of whose death she claims pension,
is no bar to pension under section 47O7.
Il am of the opinion that the remarriage
Of a dependent mother prior to the act of
June 81, 1890, is not a bar to pension under
section 4707, as amended by the first sec
ton of said act provided the facts required
by the first section of the act are duly estab-
lished, and the rejection of this claim on the
ground stated is accordingly reversed.
81 am also OF the opinion that said para
graph 5, page 116 of the Treatise of Prac-
tice, 1898, is in direct conflict with the law,
and the same is hereby abrogated and the
following paragraph substituted in lieu
thereof:
THE remarriage Of mother after the
death of the soldier and prior to June q,
1890, is not a bar to pension under this act"
1t is not apparent why those remarked
since June q, 1890, are barred, inasmuch
as the pension commences only from date
of application. The law, section 47OS, X.
s., refers to those having a pension" or
who have applied for pension, being in
tended to terminate the pension at the date
of the remarriage.
The dicision is important also to the de-
pendent parents of commissioned officers
who have been denied the benefit of their
sons rank because Of being pensioned
under the act of June q, 1890"