The National tribune., 1900-07-19

| lows:
sECRETARY's 5 INSTRUCTIONS.
WASHINGTON, June 80, 1900.
The COMMISSIONER OF PENSIONS:
SIR have carefully considered your
request for instructions respecting the
proper administration of the pension act
of May 8, 1900 public. No. 94i, which
reads as follows:
In amendment of sections two and three
of an act entitled AN act granting
pensions to soldiers and sailors who are
incapacitatcd for the performance, of
manual labor, and providing for pen
sions to widows, minor children, and
dependent parents" approved June -,
1890.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House OF
Representatives. of the United States OF
america in Congress assembled, That sec
tionS two and three of an act entitled AN
act granting pensions to soldiers and
sailors who are incapactated for the per-
formance of manual labor, and providing
for pensions to widows, minor children,
and dependent parents" be, and the same
are hereby, amended so as TO read as fol-
lows:
Sec. .. That all persons who served 90
days or more in the military or naval
service of the United States during the
late war of the rebellion and who have
been honorably discharged therefrom, and
who are now or who may hereafter be
suffering from any mental or physical dis
ability or disabilities of q permanent
character, not the result of their own
vicious habits, which so incapacitates
them from the performance of manual Ia
hor as 10 render them unable TO earn
support. shall, upon making due proof of
the fact, according to such rules and reg
uiationS as the Secretary of the Interior
may provide, be placed upon the list of
invalid pensioners of the United States.
and be entitled to receive Il pension NOT
exceeding SD per month and not less than
So per month, prOpOrtiOned to the degree
of inability to earn q support: and IN de-
tcrmining such inability each and every
iniirmity shall be duly considered, and the
aggregate of the disabilities shown be rat
ed, and such pension shall commence from
the date of the filing of the application in
the Bureau of Pensions, after the passage
of this act. upon proof that the disability
or disabilities then existed, and shall con
tinue during the existence of the same:
PrOUidcd. That persons who are now re-
ceiving pensions under existing laws, or
whose claims are pending IN the Bureau
of Pensions, may, by application TO the
Commissioner of Pensions, III such form
as he may prescribe showing themselves
entitled thereto, receive the benefits of
this act; and nothing herein contained
shall be so construed as to prevent any
penSioner Hereunder from prosecuting his
claim ana receiving his pension under any
other general or special act: PrOUded, hoW
eUer, That no person shall receive more
than one pension for the same period:
And proridcd further, That rank in the
service shall not be considered in applica
tions filed under this act.
Sec. 3. That if any officer or enlisted
man who served so days or more in the
Army or Navy of the United States dur
ing the late war Of the rebellion and who
was honorably discharged has died, or
shall hereafter die, leaving a widow with
out means of support other than her daily
labor and an actual net income not ex-
ceedIng 500 per year, or minor children
under the age of 16 years, such widow
shall, upon due proof of her husbands
death, without proving his death to be the
result of his army Service, be placed on
the pension roll from the date of the ap-
plication therefor under this act, at the
rate of So per month during her widow
hood, and shall also be paid 81 per month
for each child of such officer or enlisted
man under IL years of age; and in case
of the death or remarriage of the widow,
leaving child or children of such officer
or enlisted man under the age of 1G years,
such pension shall be paid such child or
children until the age OF 1G PrOUidcd, THAT
in case a minor child is insane, or other
wise physically or mentally helpless, the
pension shall continue during the life of
said child, or during the period Of such
disability; and this prOviso shall apply to
all pensions heretofore granted or here
after TO be granted under this or any
former statute; and such pensions shall
commence from the date of application
therefor after the passage of This act:
And prorided further, That said widow
shall have married said soldier prior to
the passage of the said act Of June q,
1890"
Approved May 0, 1900.
In legal effect no change in meaning is
wrought in section by its amendment,
the only purpose of which was to remove
any remote justification for varying or
div erSe constructions of the section by the
same or succeeding officers Of the Pen
sion Bureau, such as We're represented to
have occurred in the past. Giving atten-
ton now TO that portion of the section
which, in the original and amended forms,
is expressed in somewhat different words,
it is clearly commanded that each and
| every mental or physical infirmty of Il
permanent character, not the result Of the
| applicants own vicious habits, shall be
duly considered, and his right to a pen
sion and the rate thereof shall be deter
| mined by the degree to which all Of these
! lntrmities, whether minor or serious.
when considered together, render him un-
able to earn a support by manual labor.
The change III section 3 is in the clause
\ "a widow without means of support other
than her daily labor and an actual net
| income not exceeding $3.50 per year" This
change was made in conformity with the
| following recommendation made by the
President in his last annual message to
the Congress:
'The Grand Army Of the Republic at its
recent National Encampment, held in
Philadelphia, has brought to my attention
| and TO that Of the Congress the wisdom
and justice of a modification of the third
section Of the act of June u, 1890, which
provides pensions for the widows of of
ficers and enlisted men who served 80
days or more during the war of the re-
bellion and We're honorably discharged.
provided that such widows are without
other means Of support than their daily
labor and We're married to the soldier
sailor, or marine on account Of whose ser
vice they claim pension prior TO the date
of the act.
THE present holding of the Department
is that if the widows income aside from
her daily labor does not exceed in amount
what her pension would be. to wit, S9G
per aHnum, she would be deemed TO be
without other means of support than her
daily labor, and would be entitled to Il
pension under this act; while if the wild
Ow's income independent of the amount
received by her as the result of her daily
labor exceeds S9G, she would not be pen
Sionablc under the act. | am advised
by the Commissioner of Pensions that the
amount of the income allowed hpruro