except as herein modified, and shall be administered by the Administrator, except that section 4835 of the Revised Statutes is hereby repealed.

Approved, July 3, 1930.

EXECUTIVE ORDER

JULY 21, 1930.

CONSOLIDATION AND COORDINATION OF GOVERNMENTAL ACTIVITIES AFFECTING VETERANS

WHEREAS Section 1 of the act of Congress entitled "An act to authorize the President to consolidate and coordinate governmental activities affecting war veterans," approved July 3, 1930, provides:

(a) That the President is authorized, by Executive order, to consolidate and coordinate any hospitals and executive and administrative bureaus, agencies, or offices, especially created for or concerned in the administration of the laws relating to the relief and other benefits provided by law for former members of the Military and Naval Establishments of the United States, including the Bureau of Pensions, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the United States Veterans' Bureau, into an establishment to be known as the Veterans' Administration, and to transfer the duties, powers, and functions now vested by law in the hospitals, bureaus, agencies, or offices so consolidated and coordinated, including the personnel thereof, and the whole or any part of the records and public property belonging thereto to the Veterans' Administration.

(b) Under the direction of the President the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall have the power, by order or regulation, to consolidate, eliminate, or redistribute the functions of the bureaus, agencies, offices, or activities in the Veterans' Administration and to create new ones therein, and, by rules and regulations not inconsistent with law, shall fix the functions thereof and the duties and powers of their respective executive heads.

Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by said law, the United States Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers are hereby consolidated and coordinated into an establishment to be known as the Veterans' Administration, and the duties, powers, and functions vested by law in the United States Veterans' Bureau, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and in the Bureau of Pensions, and the personnel of the United States Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the records and papers pertaining to the work thereof, and the public property belonging thereto, are hereby transferred to the Veterans' Administration.

HERBERT HOOVER.

(S)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

July 21, 1930

[PUBLIC NO. 781-71ST CONGRESS]

[46 Stat. 1471]

An act for the retirement of employees of the Panama Canal and the Panama Railroad Company, on the Isthmus of Panama, who are citizens of the United States

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all employees of the Panama Canal on the Isthmus of Panama, and all employees of the Panama Railroad Company, on the Isthmus of Panama, who are citizens of the United States and whose tenure of employment is not intermittent nor of uncertain duration, shall come within the provisions of this act.

AUTOMATIC SEPARATION

SEC. 2. All employees to whom this Act applies shall, after reaching the age of sixty-two years and having rendered at least fifteen years of service on the Isthmus of Panama, be automatically separated from the service and retired on the annuity provided for herein; and all salary, pay, or compensation shall cease from that date: Provided, That if the Governor of the Panama Canal certifies to the Civil Service Commission that by reason of his efficiency and willingness to remain in the service, the continuance of such employee therein would be advantageous to the service, such employee may be retained for a term not exceeding two years, upon the approval and certification by the Civil Service Commission, and, at the end of the two-year term, by similar approval and certification, be continued for an additional term not exceeding two years: Provided, however, That no employee shall be continued in the service beyond the age of retirement for more than four years, except that where the Governor of the Panama Canal certifies, and the Civil Service Commission agrees, that by reason of expert knowledge and special qualifications the continuance of the employee would be advantageous to the service, further extensions of two years may be granted.

All employees to whom this act applies who would be eligible for retirement from the service upon attaining the age of sixty-two years shall, after attaining the age of sixty years and having rendered at least thirty years' service, computed as provided in section 7, of this act, be eligible for retirement on an annuity as provided in section 6 of this act. Retirement under the provisions of this paragraph shall be at the option of the employee, but if such option is not exercised prior to the date upon which the employee would otherwise be eligible for retirement from the service, the provisions

147620-33- -2

of this act with respect to automatic separation from the service. shall apply.

VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT

SEC. 3. (a) Any employee to whom this act applies who shall have attained the age of fifty-five and rendered at least twenty-five years of service, of which not less than fifteen years shall have been rendered on the Isthmus of Panama, may voluntarily retire on an annuity equivalent in value to the present worth of a deferred annuity beginning at the age at which the employee would otherwise have become eligible for retirement, computed as provided in section 6 of this act, the present worth of said deferred annuity to be determined on the basis of the American Experience Table of Mortality and an interest rate of 4 per centum, compounded annually. (b) Any employee to whom this act applies may voluntarily retire on an annuity computed as provided in section 6, who shall have attained the age of fifty-five and rendered at least thirty years of service on the Isthmus of Panama (inclusive of absences while in the service of the United States during the World War), of which not less than three years shall have been in the employment of the Isthmian Canal Commission or the Panama Railroad Company between May 4, 1904, and April 1, 1914.

DISABILITY RETIREMENT-MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS REQUIRED

SEC. 4. (a) Any employee to whom this act applies who shall have attained the age of fifty-five years and shall have rendered at least fifteen years of service on the Isthmus of Panama, and who shall have become physically or mentally disqualified to perform satisfactorily and efficiently the duties of his position or of any other position of approximately equal compensation to which he might be assigned, because of the strenuous or hazardous nature of such position, shall, upon the request or order of the Governor of the Panama Canal, be retired on an annuity computed in accordance with the provisions of section 6 hereof: Provided, That no such employees shall be so retired except after an examination and finding as to his mental or physical disqualifications as hereinafter provided.

(b) Any employee to whom this act applies who shall have served for a total period of not less than five years, and who, before becoming eligible for retirement under the conditions defined in section 2 hereof, shall have become totally disabled for useful and efficient service in the grade or class of position occupied by the employee, by reason of disease or injury not due to vicious habits, intemperance, or willful misconduct on the part of the employee, shall upon his own application or upon request or order of the

Governor of the Panama Canal, be retired on an annuity computed in accordance with the provisions of section 6 hereof.

No claim shall be allowed under the provisions of this section unless the application for retirement shall have been executed prior to the applicant's separation from the service or within six months thereafter. No employee shall be retired under the provisions of this section unless he or she shall have been examined by a medical officer of the United States, or a duly qualified physician or surgeon or board of physicians or surgeons, designated by the Commissioner of Pensions for that purpose, and found to be disabled in the degree and in the manner specified herein.

Every annuitant retired under the provisions of this section, unless the disability for which he was retired be permanent in character, shall at the expiration of one year from the date of such retirement and annually thereafter, until reaching retirement age as defined in section 2 hereof, be examined under the direction of the Commissioner of Pensions by a medical officer of the United States, or a duly qualified physician or surgeon, or board of physicians or surgeons designated by the Commissioner of Pensions for that purpose, in order to determine the nature and degree of the annuitant's disability, if any. If an annuitant shall recover before reaching the age at which he would otherwise have become eligible for retirement and be restored to an earning capacity which would permit him to be appointed to some appropriate position fairly comparable in compensation to the position occupied at the time of retirement, payment of the annuity shall be continued temporarily to afford the annuitant opportunity to seek such available position, but not in any case exceeding ninety days from the date of the medical examination showing such recovery.

If the annuitant shall fail to obtain reemployment through no fault of his own within the ninety-day period in any position. included in the provisions of this act, he shall be considered as involuntarily separated from the service as of the date he shall have been retired for disability, and if otherwise eligible, entitled to an annuity under section 5 of this act to begin at the close of said ninety-day period based on the service rendered prior to his retirement for disability.

The Commissioner of Pensions may order or direct at any time such medical or other examination as he shall deem necessary to determine the facts relative to the nature and degree of disability of any employee retired on an annuity under this section. Should an annuitant fail to appear for any examination required under this section, payment of the annuity shall be suspended until the requirement shall have been met.

In all cases where the annuity is discontinued under the provisions of this section before the annuitant has received a sum equal to the amount credited to his individual account as provided in section 11 (a) hereof, together with interest at 4 per centum per annum compounded on June 30 of each year, the difference, unless he shall become reemployed in a position within the purview of this act, shall be paid to the retired employee, as provided in section 11 (b) hereof, upon application therefor in such form and manner as the Commissioner of Pensions may direct. In case of reemployment in a position within the purview of this act the amount so refunded shall be redeposited as provided in section 11 (b) hereof.

No person shall be enitled to receive an annuity under the provisions of this act, and compensation under the provisions of the act of September 7, 1916, entitled "An act to provide compensation for employees of the United States suffering injuries while in the performance of their duties, and for other purposes," or such act as amended, covering the same period of time; but this provision shall not be so construed as to bar the right of any claimant to the greater benefit conferred by either act for any part of the same period of time.

Fees for examinations made under the provisions of this section, by physicians or surgeons who are not medical officers of the United States, shall be fixed by the Commissioner of Pensions, and such fees, together with the employee's reasonable traveling and other expenses incurred in order to submit to such examinations, shall be paid out of the appropriations for the cost of administering this act.

INVOLUNTARY SEPARATION FROM THE SERVICE

SEC. 5. Should any employee fifty-five years of age or over to whom this act applies, after having served for a total period of not less than fifteen years and before becoming eligible for retirement under the conditions defined in section 2 hereof, become involuntarily separated from the service, not by removal for cause on charges of misconduct or delinquency, such employee shall be paid as he may elect, either

(a) The amount of the deductions from his basic salary, pay, or compensation, including accrued interest thereon computed as prescribed in section 11 (b) hereof;

(b) An immediate life annuity beginning at the date of separation from the service, having a value equal to the present worth of a deferred annuity beginning at the age at which the employee would otherwise have become eligible for retirement, computed as provided in section 6 of this act, the present worth of said deferred