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Classified tabulation of World War veterans (exclusive of Navy men) in 81. out of 81 counties in Mississippi, from data compiled by Work Projects Administration project No. 4960, Jackson, Miss.-Continued

[Count made by members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 687, Jackson, Miss.]

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Classified tabulation of World War veterans (exclusive of Navy men) in 81 out of 81 counties in Mississippi, from data compiled by Work Projects Administration project No. 4960, Jackson, Miss.-Continued

[Count made by members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 687, Jackson, Miss.]

NOTE. S. C. D.'s with less than 90 days' service not tabulated under heading of "disabled." Out of 1,451 with no serial numbers, 1,390 served in this country, of whom 171 died in service, while 61 served overseas, of whom 17 died and 3 were killed while overseas.

Out of 2,057 commissioned officers, 1,125 served in this country and 932 overseas.

About 67,000 World War veterans served from Mississippi; 8,271 were receiving compensation for serviceconnected disabilities on June 30, 1938.

Home service veterans died, 631; overseas veterans died, 591.

Killed and died of wounds, 300, all white overseas enlisted men with exception of 5 white commissioned officers, and 3 oversea colored enlisted men.

Mr. RICE. Mr. Chairman, these statistics are very interesting and one could continue the discussion more or less indefinitely on the matter of these statistics.

Our organization has a very broad and comprehensive program and more objectives than any other veterans' organization. Therefore, it is going to be very difficult for me to cover the entire program of the V. F. W. adequately in this one forenoon.

The CHAIRMAN. Here is one thing I would like to get fixed in my mind, if I can. Now, you show here somewhere that there were 4,791,172 veterans in the armed forces of the United States?

Mr. RICE. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, during the war?

Mr. RICE. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. Of that number 4,041,020 are now living?
Mr. RICE. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. That shows a loss of only a little more than 700,000.
Mr. RICE. Not quite 20 percent.

The CHAIRMAN. Not quite 20 percent. So the death list then is ranging right close to 20 percent up to this time, isn't it?

Mr. RICE. Almost 20 percent; that is just about right. Yes.
Mr. BRYSON. There will be a tendency for it to increase?

Mr. RICE. Yes; proportionately. You will note the death rate is now 88 World War veterans per day, 22 Spanish-American War veterans, 5 Civil War veterans, and 1 Indian war veteran. That is an average of 116 per day. Such facts were secured by me from the statistical section of the Veterans' Administration.

The CHAIRMAN. How many Spanish-American War veterans are living?

Mr. RICE. About 170,000. There are a few that do not receive a pension. I met one the other day. He was the previous national historian of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Carl Sandburg, the great poet who wrote the History of Lincoln. He has not yet applied for à pension. I think he will do so and donate his pension to some good cause, possibly to send sets of his four-volume history of Abraham Lincoln to deserving V. F. W. posts.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. To complete the statistics put in the record may I add this statement which is over the signature of General Hines, reading as follows: The death rate among World War veterans was estimated at 7.93 per 1,000. And that will complete the statistics we should insert in the record.

Mrs. ROGERS. Have not most of the men in hospitals taken up residence in the State where they are hospitalized or do they keep their residence in their native State?

Mr. RICE. Well, if they stay there long enough they finally move there; yes. And they bring their families. There has been a crossing of lines on the basis of States where they are hospitalized. There is a tendency to move to the State in which they receive hospitalization. The CHAIRMAN. And where they can live cheapest.

Mr. RICE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. I did not get the import of that statement of General Hines which you read into the record, Mr. Van Zandt.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. To complete the statistics that Mr. Rice put in the record relative to the average death rate per day of the veterans,

General Hines in a letter to me stated that the death rate among
World War veterans is estimated at 7.93 per 1,000.

Mr. RICE. For each year.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. For each year.

The CHAIRMAN. For each year?

Mr. RICE. In other words, 7.93 veterans out of each 1,000 die per year. That would mean a mortality cost on a $1,000 insurance policy of $7.93 per year.

The CHAIRMAN. That would increase with their age.

Mr. VAN ZANDT. Oh, yes. The age factor comes in.

Mr. RICE. Mr. Chairman, if I may now proceed to discuss the
various sections of our omnibus bill, H. R. 7925, I would first like to
take up some
of the sections that do not involve quite so many persons
or as much expense as do the first sections of the bill, which I will
refer to later on in my discussion.

Mrs. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt just a minute?
Mr. RICE. Yes, indeed.

Mrs. ROGERS. Being that Mr. Rice raises the point, how does that death rate compare with this select death rate?

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Mr. RICE. I do not know. I have not made the comparison. believe that it is very much the same. As a matter of fact, I have heard some rumors to the effect that the death rate of World War veterans is even lower than of nonveterans of the same age group, because veterans were a select group physically when they went into the Army and Navy and Marine Corps during the World War, as compared with the same age group who did not get in.

Mrs. ROGERS. I thought it was greater.

Mr. RICE. I am not sure about that.

I would like to discuss section 14 of H. R. 7925.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you want to insert that bill in the record?
Mr. RICE. It has already been inserted, the first day. Thank you.
The CHAIRMAN. All right. Go ahead.

Mr. RICE. Section 14 of H. R. 7925, separately introduced by Congressman Grant as H. R. 7979, would provide for a minimum rating of permanent partial 1 percent for any injury, disease, ailment, or disability incurred, or aggravated, in line of duty, by any person who served in any of the armed forces of the United States during any war, or in any campaign, expedition, or occupation, recognized by the issuance of a campaign badge, and any such disability shall be considered as one for which compensation or pension would be payable if 10 percent or more in degree.

Let me say that the purpose of this proposed legislation is to provide for this minimum rating of 1 percent as to any disability which had its incurrence in military service.

Our reason for desiring such legislation is, first, in order that all dependent widows and orphans of each such World War veteran might definitely have eligibility for pension benefits under Public Law No. 198, which you remember was reported out by this committee last year and which, becoming law, provided that the dependent widows and orphans of any World War veteran, who served honorably for 90 days and who, at the time of his death, was suffering from a service-connected disability, should be entitled to pension. This provision would do away with the difficulty in too many

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borderline cases, for the Veterans' Administration to ascertain whether or not the man has a measurable degree of service-connected disability. Fundamentally the regulations of the Veterans' Administration hold that there must be a measurable degree of disability. That term is not used but that is what it essentially means. There must have been some examination showing findings as to a service-connected disability unless there was definite treatment during the time of military service. This proposal, we believe, would draw a very distinct line and include absolutely all of the cases that were service-connected regardless of any ratable degree of disability. Moreover, it would accord to such veterans the concrete privilege of being certified by the Veterans' Administration to the United States Civil Service Commission, as being entitled to 10 points preference as a service-connected disabled veteran for civil-service examination purposes, and thus entitle such veterans to the privilege of quarterly civil-service examinations.

We do not believe this section would cost a great deal, but it is a step forward, both as to civil service and as to entitlement to widows and orphans' pensions; it ought to be enacted into law.

Section 15, separately introduced by Mr. Voorhis as H. R. 2734, would provide that any person wounded, gassed, injured, or disabled by an instrumentality of war in a zone of hostilities in line of duty in the active military or naval service of the United States, who, if rated 10 percent disabled, would be entitled to receive compensation or pension under the laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, shall be paid at least $10 per month, or who is receiving or entitled to receive compensation or pension under the provisions of existing laws, shall be paid $10 per month in addition to such compensation or pension.

This is practically the same as the language which was incorporated in this committee's bill, H. R. 5452, last year and which was favorably reported by it. That section was deleted from the bill by the Senate Committee on Finance. We believe it ought to be enacted into law and ought to again be favorably reported by this committee.

Section 16, separately introduced by Mr. Voorhis as H. R. 2735, would provide for an increase automatically in the ratings of veterans suffering with service-connected disabilities on the basis of increased age.

It would in effect provide that after each additional 5 years after the age of 40, the basic rating of any veteran suffering with serviceconnected disability should be increased by 10 percent thereof for each such 5-year period. Thus, for example, if the veteran were suffering with a 50-percent service-connected disability, at the age of 45 that would be increased by 10 percent of the basic rating. Ten percent of the basic rating would be an additional 5 percent. Therefore he would be entitled to compensation on the basis of a total rating of 55 percent. At the age of 50, another 10 percent of the basic rating, or another 5 percent absolute, would be added and thus he would be entitled to 60 percent, and so forth, provided, of course, that the total aggregated rating should not exceed the rating for total disability. This would take into consideration automatically the increasing handicap due to the factor of increasing age and we believe it is one of the most meritorious provisions of this bill, one which is badly