The National tribune., 1907-08-08


III. The legal heirs of soldiers wh'
die in service shall We entitled to re-
ceive the whole bounty remaining un.
paid at the time of the soldiers death.
Sec. 1, act of Congress, approved Jul,
4, 1864. reads:
That the President of the United
States may, at his discretion. at any
time hereafter, call for any number oi
men as volunteers. for the respective
terms of one, two and three years, fol
military service; and any such yolun-
teer. or, in case of draft, as hereinafter
| provided, any substitute. shall be cred
tied to the town, township. ward of a
city precinct or election district, or o;
a County not so subdivided. toward the
iquota of which he may have volunteered
into the service for term of one year
| unless sooner discharged, shall receive
| and be paid by the United States n
bounty of 500; and if for a term OF
two years, unless sooner discharged. a
bounty of $500; and if for a term OF
| three years, unless sooner discharged, 4
| bounty of $500. one-third of which
bounty shall be paid to the soldier at
the time of his being mustered into the
service. one-third at the expiration of
| one-half of his term of service, and one
| third at the expiration of his service.
! And in the case of his death while in
service tne residue OF MS bounty unpaid
| shall be paid to his widow, if he shall
have left a widow; if not. to his chill
dren: or if there be none, to his mother,
if she be widow.
To become entitled to all the INSTALL
ments of bounty under this act, the SOL
dier must have served out the full term
of his enlistment, or have been dis
charged by reason of expiration of tern,
of service, or have been discharged Sc
cause of wounds received in line of
duty. If discharged before the cxpira-
ton of his full term of enlistment, be-
cause of services no longer required"
or by close of the war he would only
be entitled to the installments which
had actually accrued during his service
and remained unpaid at date of such
discharge, which bounty he generally
received with his pay at muster out.
Where q soldier, who was entitled to
bounty under this act. died in the SER
vice, or afterwards. without having re-
ceived it, it is allowed only to his wild
widow at the date of soldiers death. If
there be no such heirs, his other heirs.
if any, can only claim the installments
VI tHlS DountH DN. anu
unpaid to, soldier at date of his death.
No additional bounty is due for the ser
vices of these soldiers under any act
passed since their discharge. This
bounty cannot be allowed for SER
vice as drafted mon or substitutes.
Nearly all soldiers and their heirs enti-
tied to bounty under this act have
already been fully paid.
There has been no additional bounty
legislation since the act of July IS, 1866,
giving 500 additional bounty to those
who had enlisted early in the war;
served two years and received no more
than 500 bounty. The act passed by
the last Congress merely directed the
Auditor for the War Department to act
in accordance with the court decisions
against the limitations as TO filing claims
before July 2. 1880. This affects only
very few veterans, who neglected to file
their claims before that date, and con-
sequcntly have not been paid. The Audi
tor has issued the following circular in
regard to applications:
Treasury Department, Office of Audi
tor for the War Department, Washing.
ton, April. 6, 1907.
The act of March 4, 1907, applies to
soldiers of the civil war only. and makes
no provision for the payment of any
bounty other than that previously au-
thorized by law. 1t does not authorize
the payment of any new bounty.
Nearly all soldiers or their heirs have
already received all bounty due under
existing laws.
The following cases only are affected
by this act:
!. Where additional bounty under the
because ii was not claimed before July
9, 1880, it may now be allowed. This
bounty is not due in any case where the
soldier has received more than 500
bounty altogether for all his services,
and is never allowed to any but two or
three-years men. 1t is not payable to a
soldier discharged before he has served
two years to accept promotion, or for a
disa bility other than wounds received
in service and in line of duty, or to-
drafted men or substitutes.
2. Where a soldier received an ad-
vance inStailment OF the 5000 recruit
bounty. or of the $400 veteran bounty.
and was required to refund, or pay back
$25 of that advance installment because
he was discharged by promotion, Or
otherwise before a service of two years
as an enlisted man, said s25 may be
allowed.
This law does not apply to sailors
who served in the Navy only.
In all letters to this office the full
name Of the soldier. and each companr
and regiment in which he served, with
the dates Of enlistments and discharge
as near as can be given. should be stat
ed. If the soldier is dead the relation
ship of the nearest Of kin should also be
given.
B. F. Harper, Auditor
There arc now some 10000 claims on
file for additional bounty, and they
come in at the rate of about 500 daily
AS there has been no increase of clerical
force the office is burdened with the
work of examination. and it will re-
quirc u considerable time to go thru the
mass.
Jim G. Dahlman, Omaha's cowboy
Mayor, is breezy, hopeful, wide
reaching child of the setting sun, whom
we rather like. He is running over with
faith in himself, and the longing to cut
out big jobs, which is so characteristic