The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1918-01-04
WHAT Jj...;lE S,a.:l
PAYS SOLDIERS
Subject That Most People Know
Very Little About.
WHOLE SYSTEM IS CHANGED cI,A..c1E:D

Private Gets s33 Month as Long es
He Is in the United States and 20
Per Cent Additional! When He Goes
Abrcad-A,lowanc Made for Wife
and chiidren-Dependent Parents
Provided For.
! Washington.-Ask the first ten peo-
pie you meet what Cncle Sam pays his
soldiers. 1t will be safe to bet they
won't know.
half of them may have some hazy
idea about dollar day. and you
will find lots of people who think
Uncle Sam still pays the old scale Of
S13 month, but few outside the army
know the ins and outs Of the wage
scale, even for private soldiers.
The whole pay system Of the United
States army has been revolutionized
since the war started.
A private in Uncle Sans armies,
regular, National Guard or National
army, receives in cash, as long as he
is in the United States, $333 a month,
lin addition to food, clothing and med
'ical attendance.
When he is sent to Europe he gets
90 per cent extra, whether In training
or in the trenches, which brings the
minimum cash pay up to $500
month, or S1.30 day.
The revolutionary part Of the pay
system, however, about which most
people are ignorant, is the scale Of al
ilowances made by the government to
the soldiers dependents. We are thus
breaking away from the old theory of
paving soldiers fiat wage for fighting
ito the new theory that the nation is re-
,sponsible for the welfare not only OF
the man in service, but for the depend
tents whom he left behind him.
Under this new scheme, if there's
wee wife waiting" she receives each
month direct from Uncle Sam $15
month, which is virtually an addition
ito the fighting mans wage, and brings
his total compensation up to S4S
month while he is in the United States
and to s54.60 abroad.
If there is one child with the wife,
the allowance is S25 a month; two
children, $3.50 and so on up to the
point where, with q wife and six chill
dren, Uncle Sam pays $50 a month In
cash to the family.
Allowance for Parents Made.
It may not be enough to support
them, even with what the enlisted man
can send home out Of his wages, but
1T Is at least q recognition Of Uncle
Sans responsibility and bulWark
against dependence on charity.
Allowances are also provided for de-
pendent parents, $40 a month for each.
and for brothers, sisters and grandchil-
:dren, SIS a month for each, with the
'proviso that in any case the govern
nent will not pay to the dependents
of any man more than $50 a month.
No mawkish prudery entered into
the drafting Of these provisions; by
acknowledging his illegitimate child q
soldier may secure for it the full gov
:ernmental allowance, the only provi-
sion being that II it IS born after De
.celnber 81, 1917, 1t must be born in the
United States. SO in the case Of q wife
there need be no legal marriage II
there is proof that they have lived to-
,yether as man and wife for two years
prior to enlistment.
Uncle Sam also sees to it that his
soldiers do not throw all the burden
of caring for dependents on his broad
shoulders by making it compulsory for
each man who has left wife or child
behind to pay over to them through
the treasury at least $15 month and
as much more as will equal the allow
ance which Uncle Sam makes up tc
half a mans pay. Thus for the man
in service abroad who has left
wife and child behind the man will
have to assign to them at least S19.et
a month, to which the government VIII
add s25, making total of SA.ot
which they are to receive.
The old pension system Is wiped Out
.hy the new and far more equitable sys
tenn of compensation for death ane
disability.
This compensation differs from thai
provided in any other law. 1t takes
the family as the unit that is serving
the nation, not the individual man.
DEFENDS on Size of Family.
It bases the compensation on the
size of the family from time to time
While a totally disabled bachelor will
get only $50 a month, the man with
wife and four children will get $7o
twenty dollars is added if nurse /:
required; $40 a month as long as h
may live, whether he is married OF
not.
If he dies from injuries or disease
received in the line Of duty, the widow
children and widowed mother receive
rn,y,oo ronoino from S20 tn S7S a month