The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1917-12-08
MUST AID DEPENDENTS.
Man in Army or Navy Required to
Help Support Wife and Children.

l
Help Support Wife and Children.
The following statement as to thu
purposes and provisions of the recen1
act of congress providing for the pay
ment of amounts toward the support
of the wife and children of men il
the army and navy has been ISSUED
from the Office of the district attorney
| of New Orleans:
| Under the law the man in the ser.
vice, whether he be a drafted man OF
an enlisted man, or whether he be in
| the army, navy or marines, is com.
PEELED to provide for the support OF
his wife, his child, or his divorced
wife to whom he was ordered to pay
alimony.
The mere fact that he has wife
or child, makes it compulsory that
he have certain amount taken from
his pay, which is set aside for their
benefit,
This money can be obtained by the
wife or the children without inquiry
into the question of their financial
condition; the mere fact that they ask
for it entities them to it, and the wife
of the millionaire, or his child, is just
as much entitled TO it, if they request
it, as is the wife or child of a pauper.
Now, the amount man can be COM
PEELED to give for the benefit of his
wife or child, or children, depends
upon his pay and what the govern
ment allows them.
The amount the government will
give as special allowance to the
family depends upon it's size.
The government will pay the fol
lowing amounts: Wife, SIS; wife and
one child, $25; wife and two children,
s32.5O; wife and four children, $37.-
SO; wife and five children, $42.50; 4;
wife and six or more children, $50.
To a child {no wife), $5; two chill
dren, $12.50; three, $40; four, $50 !;
five, $35; six, $40; eight or more chill
dren, $50.
It was the intention of the govern
ment to make the man give an amount
equal to that given by the govern
ment, but the government stated that
it was not its intention to deprive him
of all his pay, so it made a provision
in the act that he could not be COM
PEELED to give more than one-half OF
his pay, and the least he could give
would be $15.
AS most of the men are privates IN
the army, making. $50 per month, the
most they can be compelled to give is
SIS per month, and this will be added
to the amount the government allows,
and a check for the total mailed to the
dependent; for instance, if man has
a wife and four children, to whom the
government gives $3.50, if the man
IS a private, all he can be compelled
to give is one-half5of his pay, or 10,
making a total amount of $3.50 to
be received by the! wife and children. s11.ss'rl,
If he Is q corporal or sergeant, easn- n,
ing more, if his pay permits it he Will
be compelled to give what the govern
ment gives, but if the amount the
government gives is more than one
half Of his pay, all he can be COM
pelled to give is that one-half.
The most the government will give
in anv case is $50, which will be added
to the amount the man is compelled to
give. III
she can get is what the court allowed
her to get: that is, the amount men
toned in her alimony decree. The
most the government VIII give ~ q
wife as an allowance is Sl5, TO Whlch
must be added, of course, the Slo tne
man is compelled to allot, making
total of $50 to be given to the Wlfe:
She will have to lose the surplus. LIZ
she was awarded no alimony, she gets
nothing. nj
This allotment is compulsory. The
man in the service will be sent blank
on which he must state whether ne mas
anv of the above dependents, and the
minute he states this it automatically
authorizes the War Department to
make the deduction from his pay.
There are only two methods by
which he can escape having TINS pay
taken from him. One IS where ms
wife, child or divorced wife requ1ests
the bureau in Washington to relleVe
him from paying it, and she must
nrove she is able to care for herself.
The other case is where he proves to
the satisfaction of the bureau that
she is unfit to receive 1t.
a man is made to provide for hls
wife, child or divorced wife, as stated
above. but he is not compelled TO pro-
vide for his mother, father, sister or
hrotber This is a voluntary matter
with him. If he wants to take care OF
them, all right; if not, there IS oniy
left the force of public opinion TO
compel him to do so. .,.
AZ an incentive for him to do TINS,
the government, if he will voluntarily
allot a certain amount, will pay a GER
ta;n allowance to his father and
mother. or to his sister or brother, but
thew must show they need the money
and that the amount which the gov
arnment will pay them, plus the aliot-
ment is not more than the amount ne
formerly contributed TO them peloie
he entered the service.
The government will pay TO q ae-
nendent father, or dependent motn-
ar $40 each; to dependent sister or
brother, SIS each. The payments due
mother. father, sister, brother are de-
cidedlv different from the payments
10 wife or child, in that the wife or
child eets the money without question
as to whether they need it or not,
while the others must show they are III
need of it. -, o,,o,v
ance to wife, or wife and child, and
also pay it to mother or father. put ut
will not moi pay more than $50 to either
or both of these dependents.
In order to get the allowance for his
mother or father, sister or brotner,
the man must allot at least $l5 out
-. Il. o.1nl, he need not aIlot