The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-23

of War Risk Insurance is one of the most comprehensive pieces of legtsla- ton ever passed. and effects millions of our citizens. Wherever one goes he will find that War Risk matters constitute one of the topics of con versation among men who have been in the service.
 An act which is as comprehensive as this naturally requires 3, great deal of interpretation. and gives rise to a great deal of naural curioity as to it's effect. The writer will attempt to answer some of the most perisistant and prevalent inquiries that have arisen cncerning the act and it's ef- feet.
 The first question is one which really does not effect compensation, out nevertheless is one which is of vital interest to the disabled men, and one continually arising. The man asks, Can I draw Q percentage of my insurance equal to the percentage Of my disa ability The answer to this question is ''No.'
 The Government by the insurance feature of the act provided for a very cheap kind of insurance for the men could not have procured in surance and shared with the men the expenses of such insurance. In other words, the Government paid for the cost of administering such insur- ance and for the added war risk, while premiums were calculated with out reference to the unusual condi- tions under which the insurance was issued. Congress realized at the time, however, that many men would be disabled. It was realized that the expense of compensation for such disability should be born by the government, and should not be placed upon the individual man in the service; so it seperated what might be called the acident insur- ance from the life insurance, and placed it in Article III as compensa- ton.
 Another question which is very commonly asked, especially by men who have not yet been discharged, is What will be my rate of compensa- tOn?" This is @ question which can- not be answered offhand. It is also { a question which cannot be answered by any published schedule of ratings. | It has been found that practically every case is an individual case which requires individual attention. and that any fixed schedule must be used merely as a guide.
 Revising Ratings.
 l The schedule of ratings being used 1 has been revised even since it was ! drawn up, and is at the present time l being continually improved and en- l larged upon. It is impossible for one l soldier who apparently has the same i disability as another to say that be- l cause the second one has received a 1 rating of 50 per cent he vii receive 1 the same rating. This is because no 1 two injuries are exactly similar any more than the finger prints of diff i fcrent men are ever similar. When Congress provided that men 1 who have lost both eyes, both arms i or both legs, or who are permanently 1 and heIpIessly bedridden, shall re- ceive $100, it created such a definite fixed schedule, and the natural result followed.
 A man made application who had lost an arm and a leg on the same side, and who was really worse of than the man who had lost both legs and yet the bureau was unable tc i grant to that man anything more
 than a permanent total rating whtct
 carried with it only $50 a month Another question is very frequent 'i ly asked: Upon what is the ratins
 based? If get job and earn some 1 money will my compensation cease
 If I earned $100 before I went intt : the service, and now can only carr
 $50, what will the percentage mean
 Will 1t be 50 per cent of the none,
 I am now earning, or 50 per cent. o
 the amount used to earn, or 50 pc
 cent of the difference, or just wha
 will it be-" This is in effect askin;
 for a definition of the term "reduc
 tion in earning capacity''.
 The rating is supposed to deter
 mine what reduction in earning ca pacity the mans disability has causet
 him. To arrive at this reduction il earning capacity there must be
 comparison of the two situations il ) order to determine what the reduc
 ton has been. and to fix the basi
 for comparison has been a very diff f1cuIt question for those administer
 ing the act.
 May Reduce Allowance.
 ! It was first believed that a com parison of a mans earnings after h left the service with those previou , to entering the service would affor an accurate basis and that the resul , ! would be the reduction in the man
 earnings. But what is the result o using such a. comparison?
 It is that the question: 'Is ge
 a job and earn some money will m
 compensation cease?'' must be an ]; swered, "Yes, your compensation wi l be reduced or discontinued,' Oh f viously this is not just. A man with t diease like tuberculosis or Bright isrIo
 essities be forced to find job an
 earn som ething even in spite of aG
 vice of his doctors. The result woul be that the more he earned the les i he would get from the .governmen l and the government would profit b " that mans industry might be on
 form of committing suicide.
 A man may have gone into the wa z as a farm hand and come o,1t Q 6 Q