The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1912-06-07
BEST PENSION BILL YET.
Employment Of Attorneys BY Soldier
Applicants Is Prohibited.

Employment Of Attorneys By Soldier
Applicants Is Prohibited.
Washington, D. G. The service
pension act Of May II, 1912, is prob
ably the simplest pension law ever
enacted by congress and certainly is
the simplest in administration. I'm
der it no soldier need employ an attor-
ney to present and urge the allowance
of his claim, and any soldier now on
the pension roll and desiring to file an
application under this law is prohibit
ed by law from employing an attorney.
The method of procedure under the
new law is simple. A soldier desir-
ing to avail himself of this new stat
ute need only to write the commits
sioner Of pensions at Washington for
a blank application form. That will
be furnished him without charge, and
he then needs only to fill out this
blank, swear to it before notary or
other official authorized to administer
oaths, and return it to Washington,
accompanied by the affidavits of two
reputable witnesses who can swear to
the accuracy of his statements, or who
are sufficiently well acquainted with
him to establish the fact that he is
the soldier or sailor described in the
application.
An application made direct by sol
der or sailor in this manner, properly
filled out and accompanied by two sat
isfactory affidavits, will receive just
as fair and just as prompt consider
alton at the pension bureau as if it
were filed through an attorney, and any
pensioner now on the rolls who can in
crease his allowance by applying un-
der the service pension act must file
his own application and cannot file
through an attorney.
The application blanks prepared by
the pension bureau are simple, and
call for little information. Soldiers
are required to give their full names
and addresses, age and war service,
and establish the fact that they were
honorably discharged from the serv-
ice. They must also give the name
under which they enlisted, answer q
half dozen questions about their per-
sonal description at the time of enlist
ment, tell what service they saw, and
when and where they were discharged,
and this, with list of places of resi-
dence since discharge from the army,
is practically all the data required.
In other words, applicants are re-
quired only to establish their service
in the army or navy for 80 days or
more and prove their identity, and
their claims will be allowed.
The service act does not distinguish
as between officers and enlisted men
and the only basis Of rating is length
of service, except in the case of sol
diers who were wounded in battle and
are now unfit to perform manual labor
by reason Of such injury, the latter
being entitled to the maximum of $50
month.
The law further provides that any
soldier now drawing pension under
any of the old laws, or under q special
act, may make application under the
service pension act, if by making the
change he can secure an increased al
lowance but the allowance of claim
under the service act cancels his al
lowance under his original application.
That is to say, soldier cannot draw
two pensions. He can be pensioned
under the service act, or under any
other act under which he is eligible,
and it is contemplated that he will ap-
ply under the law that will give him
the largest allowance.
The rates under the new law, as
shown in tabular form by the pension
bureau, are as follows: