Evening star., 1942-07-08
ArmyPay Deductions
Begun, but Family Aid
Starts in November
Payments to Dependents
Delayed by Time Needed
To Set Up Machinery
3. the Associated Press.

| 3. the Associated Press.
The Army has started deducting
from soldiers pay checks the con-
tributions they are required to make
to dependent wives and children
under the family allowance bill
| which became law June %, though
payments to the dependents will not
start until November.
First deductions were ordered
from June pay checks due July l.
But since some Army posts already
had their June payrolls made up
when instructions were received,
deductions in those cases will not
start until August i. To prevent
hardship the June deductions at
those camps may be spread over
three or four months.
Government benefits are being
added to the pay allotments, but
both will be allowed to accumulate
into lump sums $3.50 in the case
Of dependent wife) before first
payments are made November l.
The law specified payments to be
effective as of June l, but delay
in setting up the vast administra-
tive machinery will postpone the
initial payments for four months.
Applications Accepted.
Thereafter the Government
checks will go out monthly.
Although formal application
blanks will not be available until
around July IS. Col Thurston
Hughes of Louisville, KY. head of
a staff of 1865 set up to administer
the new law for the Army. has or
dered post commanders to accept
informal applications to establish
date for making monthly deduc-
tions.
Since deductions and allowances
may accrue from June /, those in
the service on that date started, or
were due to start contributing July
/. Those entering the service after
Junef / will have deductions start
from the pay Of the month follow
ing their application for benefits.
The allotment and allowance law
applies to men in the Army up to
and including the rank of line SER
geant and in the Navy to men up to
and including third-class petty Of
ficers. 1t provides aid to two groups
of dependents, defined as Glass A
and Glass B. In the former are
wives and children and divorced
wives entitled to animony; in the
latter are parents, brothers, sisters
and grandchildren.
Glass A Deductions Mandatory.
Pay deductions of $22 month
are mandatory when a service man
has Glass A dependents. To this
the Government adds s28 for wife,
plus $12 for the first child and
$40 for each additional child; $40
for child but no wife, and $40
for each additional motherless
child. Deductions for Glass B de-
pendents are optional. They amount
to $22 if there are no Glass A de-
pendents and SIS if there are such
dependents.
Before the allowance bill was en-
acted many soldiers were making
voluntary allotments from their
pay to dependents. These were
known as Glass E allotments. Or
ders have gone out that If Glass E
and other allotments (such as in
surance, laundry, etc. are of such
size that the prescribed deduc-
ton of $22 or $27 cannot be made
and leave a soldier at least $40 a
month for his personal use, exclusive
of possible court-martial forfeitures,
it will be necessary to discontinue or
adjust the voluntary allotments.
Army Opens School.
However. to prevent hardship from
Giscontinuance of the voluntary
sums and deferment of family al
lowance payments until November /,
the War Department has authorized
it's chief of finance to discontinue
Class E deductions Immediately and
to continue monthly payments of
similar sum from date of discon-
tinuance through September 80, 1942.
The sums thus paid dependents will
then be deducted from the initial
family allowance payment.
The Army's hurriedly formed fam
ily allowance division is sending its
employees to school to learn the new
law and it soon will be boosted from
1855 to 2,400 employees. The Navy
probably will follow the Army pat
tern in getting the machinery
started.