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

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Hey Joe, remember how you
used to raise hell over seas be-
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 il 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 n new VA rul-
ing you may now designate any
person or persons, q 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, il 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 Il probably wouldn't be
much by the time creditors and
the other smart boys got through
slieinR on Il.
On the other hand, IL you desig-
nate her before you kick the bucket
she will get every cent Of II and
your creditors can't touch a dime
until she sees At to give II to them.
It's also q good deal 70 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 10000 worth, joel, the second
beneficiary can pick up where the
first one left of. Cha get i'll Got
Il! 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. land
remember, son, that fraulein incl
dent was long ago and far away
People who wonder how the col
ored veteran fell into such q mud
died mess in reconversion would
not wonder half so much II they
had done Q little thinking about
him when Public Law SAC (GI
Bib was being revised back in
1944 and the eolored veteran him
self was running between the bomb |
drops.
The CT Bill Is n vehicle through |
which the government Is spending
billions Of dollars to reconvert the |
veteran. When IL was being written |
IL was no military secret-everyone
in the country was told that Il was
the life line 20 link the boys who
came back with the life they left |
behind. How then could any think |
ing colored group, whose veteran |
population Is IS per cent below the |
Mason Dixon line, sit idly by and
let Congress write q clause like |
Title 2, part 8, section 8 into the |
CT Bin Of Rightsf The clause
states:
"NO department. agency o. Of
feeF % the United States, " esr-
ryinE out the prOvisioas Of this
part. shall exercise any super
vision or eontrol Whatsoever,
over any state educational agen-
ey, or state apprenticeship aEeR-
ey, OF any edueatioaal 0E train
ing institution"
In other words, joe. no mat
ter how many billiOa dollars the
government b wiling 20 spend
on yoa and yOa and yOa. the
boys Who wear the white sheets
below the line win stili be able
30 tell them how. when and where
they can spend q.
And before you damn the CT
Bill again, ask yourself how many
eolorsd lobbyists organizations pro-
tested when that part Of the bin |
was being written.