St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-11-08
Dear Joe
LONG AGO AND
FAR AWAY
By JAMES L. HICKS

cause the army wouldn't let you
designate your fraulein or your
little Aussie girl friend as the
beneficiary of your CT insurance?
The brass hats stood pat and said
even If you didn't love your wife
anymore, and even If she was
Stacking with Shorty, she still was
going to get that $4,000 worth of
insurance when that bomb fell
with your name on it.
Well, it's not like that any
more, Joe. Under 4 new VA rul-
ing you may now designate any
person or persons, a corporation,
or your estate as the beneficiary
of your insurance policy. But
here's the stuff you've got to
watch.
First, designate somebody and
do 1t now because the old provi-
sion Of automatic succession where
by your wife came first, then your
children or mother, and other rela-
tives followed, passed out Of ex-
istence on insurance maturing after
July 81. Under the insurance act
of 1916, II you die without hav-
ing designated a beneficiary, the
proceeds Of your insurance will be
paid in a single sum to your estate.
II that happens your insurance
will lose its identity and Is sub
ject to all the laws governing
estates, including your creditors
claims, administrators fees and
court expenses.
In other words, II you die
without designating your wife as
your beneficiary (fOrget about
that fraulein. JOe), she would
eventually get a part Of Il as an
heir, but II probably wouldn't be
much by the time creditors and
the other smart boys got through
slicing of it.
On the other hand, il you desig-
nate her before you kick the bucket
she will get every cent Of it and
until she sees fit to give 1t to them.
It's also a good deal to name an
alternate beneficiary because in
most cases payments to your benefi-
ciary will be made over q long
period Of time and in the event your
number one beneficiary dies before
that $4,000 is paid (of course, you
have $4,000 worth, Joe), the second
beneficiary can pick up where the
first one left off. Cha get It? Got
it! Good. All you guys who wish
to change your present beneficiary
or who have not designated one
can pick up the necessary forms
at the nearest VA office. (And
remember, son, that fraulein incl
dent was long ago and far away
People who wonder how the col
ored veteran fell into such a mud
died mess in reconversion would
not wonder half so much II they
had done a little thinking about
him when Public Law SAC (GI
BID was being revised back in
1914 and the colored veteran him.
self was running between the bomb
drops.
The CT Bill is a vehicle through
which the government is spending
billions Of dollars to reconvert the
veteran. When it was being written
il was no military secret-everyone
in the country was told that it was
the life line to link the boys who
came back with the life they left
behind. How then could any think
ing cOlored group, whose veteran
population is 75 per cent below the
Mason Dixon line, sit idly by and
let Congress write a clause like
Title 2, part 8, section 8 into the
CT Bill of Rights? The clause
states:
mo department, agency or Of
iieer Of the United States, in car
TyinE out the provisions Of this
part, shall exercise any super
vision or control whatsoever,
over any state educational agen-
ey, or state apprenticeship aEen-
ey, or any educational or train
ing institution"
In other words, Joe, no mat
ter how many billion dollars the
government b willing to spend
on you and you and you, the
boys who wear the white sheets
below the line win stil be able
TO tell them how, when and where
they can spend Il.
And before you damn the CT
Bin again, ask yourself how many
eolored lobbyists organizations pro-
tested when that part Of the bill
was being written.