any unmarried child who is or may hereafter be pursuing a course of instruction at any school, college, academy, seminary, technical institute, or university, particularly designated by him and approved by the Administrator, which shall have agreed to report to the Administrator the termination of attendance of such child, and if any such institution of learning fails to make such report promptly the approval shall be withdrawn: Provided, That in case a minor child is insane, idiotic, or otherwise mentally or physically helpless the pension shall continue until marriage or death, but only during the period of such disability.

SEC. 14. The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is hereby authorized and directed to insert, in the 1925 and 1933 Schedules of Disability Ratings of the Veterans' Administration, provisions for a minimum rating of permanent partial 1 per centum 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 percentum or more in degree.

SEC. 15. 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 per centum disabled, would be entitled to receive compensation or pension under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration' shall be paid $10 per month, or who is receiving or entitled to receive compensation or pension under the provisions of such laws, shall be paid $10 per month in addition to such compensation or pension. Any World War veteran entitled to the $10 per month herein authorized, or any deceased World War veteran who if living would be entitled to the $10 per month herein authorized, shall be deemed to be or to have been entitled to compensation for 10 per centum or more disability at the time of his death for purposes of Public Law Numbered 484, Seventy-third Congress, as amended. No payments shall be made under this section for any period prior to the date of its enactment.

SEC. 16. The service-connected compensation or pension, exclusive of any. amount authorized as a statutory award, payable to any veteran who reaches or has reached the age of forty, shall be increased by 10 per centum and shall be further increased by 10 per centum of the basic compensation or pension, exclusive of any amount authorized as a statutory award, on or for each succeeding fifth birthday after the age of forty. Where the degree of disability changes after the veteran's fortieth birthday, the veteran shall receive the compensation or pension payable under such changed degree of disability increased for the attained age as herein provided. No increase on account of age shall be granted when the amount of compensation or pension, exclusive of any amount authorized as a statutory award, resulting therefrom would exceed the amount payable for total disability: Provided, That this section shall not be so construed as to reduce any compensation or pension under any Act.

SEC. 17. On and after the date of enactment of this Act, World War veterans otherwise entitled to the statutory award under the provisions of the last paragraph of secion 202 (3), World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended, for the loss of the use of one or more feet or hands, shall be paid $35 per month additional compensation in lieu of $25 per month previously authorized.

SEC. 18. Section 10, title I, Public Law Numbered 2, Seventy-third Congress, is hereby amended by striking out the last proviso thereof and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "Provided, That the disease or injury or aggravation of the disease or injury shall have been manifested during such service, and that such person otherwise meets the requirements of the regulations which may be issued under the provisions of this Act."

Payment of emergency officers' retirement pay under this amendment shall be effective from the date of enactment thereof in all cases where entitlement thereto is authorized solely by the provisions of this amendment. No bene. ficiary under this amendment shall receive any retirement pay for any period prior to the date of enactment thereof.

SEC. 19. Veterans Regulation V is hereby amended by striking out the last proviso thereof.

SEC. 20. Section 10 of Public Law Numbered 2, Seventy-third Congress, as amended by this Act, is hereby further amended by adding a new paragraph thereto to read as follows:

28

"The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is hereby authorized and directed to receive and adjudicate claims for World War emergency officers' retirement in accordance with the provisions of the Act of May 24, 1928, Public Law Numbered 506, Seventieth Congress, subject to the limitations contained in this section, as amended, and where entitlement is established the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is hereby authorized to grant retirement with or without pay as provided in the said Act of May 24, 1928, except that benefits or privileges herein provided shall not be denied because of failure to file claim within the period required by the said Act of May 24, 1928, or because the former officer was not, prior to March 20, 1933, granted retirement with pay: Provided, That benefits or privileges of emergency officers' retirement authorized under this paragraph shall commence from the date application therefor is filed with the Veterans' Administration after the date of this enactment."

SEC. 21. Effective on the first day of the month following the month in which this Act is enacted, paragraph II of part II of Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, is amended to read as follows:

"II. For the purposes of part II, paragraph I (a) hereof, if the disability results from injury or disease

"(a) If and while the disability is rated 10 per centum the monthly pension shall be $9.

"(b) If and while the disability is rated 20 per centum the monthly pension shall be $18.

"(c) If and while the disability is rated 30 per centum the monthly pension shall be $27.

"(d) If and while the disability is rated 40 per centum the monthly pension shall be $36.

"(e) If and while the disability is rated 50 per centum the monthly pension shall be $45.

"(f) If and while the disability is rated 60 per centum the monthly pension shall be $54.

"(g) If and while the disability is rated 70 per centum the monthly pension shall be $63.

"(h) If and while the disability is rated 80 per centum the monthly pension shall be $72.

"(i) If and while the disability is rated 90 per centum the monthly pension shall be $81.

"(j) If and while the disability is rated as total the monthly pension shall be $90.

"(k) If the disabled person, as the result of service-incurred disability, has suffered the anatomical loss or the loss of the use of only one foot, or one hand, or one eye, the rate of pension provided in part II, paragraph II (a) to (j), shall be increased by $31.50 per month.

"(1) If the disabled person, as the result of service-incurred disability, has suffered the anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands, or of both feet, or of one hand and one foot, or is so helpless as to be in need of regular aid and attendance, the monthly pension shall be $135.

"(m) If the disabled person, as the result of service-incurred disability, has suffered the anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands and one foot, or of both feet and one hand, or if the disabled person, as the result of service-incurred disability, is blind in both eyes, having only light perception, the monthly pension shall be $157.50.

"(n) If the disabled person, as the result of service-incurred disability, is blind in both eyes, having only light perception, and has suffered the anatomical loss or loss of use of one hand or of one foot, the monthly pension shall be $180.

"(o) If the disabled person, as the result of service-incurred disability, has suffered the anatomical loss or loss of use as provided in subparagraphs (1) to (n), inclusive, of part II, paragraph II, of this regulation, and/or blindness in both eyes, having only light perception, which conditions under subparagraphs (1) to (n), inclusive, entitle him to two or more of the rates provided in those subparagraphs, no specified condition being considered twice in the determination, the monthly pension shall be $225."

SEC. 22. Paragraph IX of Veterans Regulation Numbered 10, as amended, be and hereby is amended to read as follows:

"IX. A disability, injury, or disease will be held to have resulted from misconduct when it is due to felonious misconduct."

SEC. 23. Paragraph I (a) of part III of Veterans Regulation Numbered 1 (a), as amended, be amended to read as follows:

"I. (a) Any person who served in the active military or naval service, for a period of ninety days or more, during any war, or in any campaign, occupation, or expedition, in which the United States was engaged, and who has been honorably discharged therefrom, or who, having served less than ninety days, was discharged for disability incurred in the service in line of duty, who is shown to have been in active service therein before the cessation of hostilities, shall be entitled to receive a pension for permanent total disability not the result of his felonious misconduct and which is not shown to have been incurred in any period of military or naval service: Provided, That

SEC. 24. That part of the second proviso of section 28, Public Law Numbered 141, Seventy-third Congress, March 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 524; U. S. C., title 38, sec. 722), which limits payment of compensation thereunder to 75 per centum of the payments otherwise authorized, is hereby repealed, and the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is hereby authorized and directed to pay 100 per centum of the compensation otherwise authorized under Public Law Numbered 141, Seventy-third Congress.

SEC. 25. Any reduction of the compensation, pension, or emergency officers' retirement pay of a veteran required under paragraph VI (A) of Veterans Regulation Numbered 6-Series, promulgated under provisions of Public Law Numbered 2, Seventy-third Congress, March 20, 1933, shall not become effective until the veteran's ninety-first day of continuous hospital treatment, institutional, or domiciliary care by the United States or any political subdivision thereof.

SEC. 26. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs VI (A) and VI (C) of Veterans Regulation Numbered 6 (a), as amended by Veterans Regulation Numbered 6 (c), promulgated under the provisions of Public Law Numbered 2, Seventy-third Congress, March 20, 1933, in no event shall the compensation, pension, or emergency officers' retirement pay of any disabled veteran without dependents who is being furnished hospital treatment, institutional, or domiciliary care by the United States or any political subdivision thereof, be reduced below $25 per month.

SEC. 27. The last sentence of paragraph V of part I of Veterans Regulation Numbered 2 (a), as amended, be, and is hereby, amended by striking the last sentence thereof and substituting in lieu thereof the following: "Pending claims for compensation, pension, or emergency officers' retirement pay may be adjudicated upon the evidence in file at the time of death and any amount found due shall be awarded and paid in the manner hereinbefore provided.”

SEC. 28. Subdivision (b), section 202 of the World War Adjusted Compensation Act (43 Stat. 122; U. S. C., title 38, sec. 602), is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(b) Any individual holding a permanent or provisional commission or permanent or acting warrant in any branch of the military or naval forces, or (while holding such commission or warrant) serving under a temporary commission in a higher grade-in each case for the period of service under such commission or warrant or in such higher grade after the accrual of the right to pay thereunder. This subdivision shall not apply to any noncommissioned officer nor to any provisional, temporary, or probationary commissioned or warrant officer, or commissioned officer under acting appointment in the military or naval forces within the grades or ranks not excluded by subdivision (a) hereof, who was honorably separated from the military or naval service prior to January 1, 1922;".

As to those persons who as a result of the foregoing amendment may become entitled to benefits under the Adjusted Compensation Act, 1924, as amended, or the Adjusted Compensation Payment Act, as amended, the delimiting date of January 2, 1940, provided in sections 2, 3, and 4 of Public Law Numbered 312, Seventy-fourth Congress (U. S. C., title 38, ch. 11), is hereby extended to January 2, 1945.

SEC. 29. Any person who served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps during the World War as a provisional, temporary, or probationary commissioner or warrant officer, or commissioned officer under acting appointment in the military or naval forces of the United States, and who was honorably separated from the military or naval forces of the United States prior to January 1, 1922, shall be entitled to retirement pay under the same conditions and subject to the same limitations as are now or hereafter applicable to emergency officers

214844-40-3

of the World War: Provided, That payments authorized under this section shall be effective from the date of application therefor after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 30. The first paragraph of section 300, World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended (U. S. C., title 38, sec. 511), is hereby amended by adding the following provisos: "Provided further, That insurance may be granted in accordance with the terms of this section upon an application submitted after the expiration of the one-hundred-and-twenty-day period prescribed by an applicant in the active service of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard who is in good health and furnishes evidence satisfactory to the Administrator to this effect: Provided further, That no person may carry more than $10,000 of United States Government life insurance at one time: And provided further, That no person who has surrendered his United States Government life (converted) insurance for its cash surrender value shall be entitled to apply for insurance under this section to the extent of the amount of the insurance so surrendered."

SEC. 31. The second paragraph of section 19, World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Suit on automatic, yearly renewable term, or United States Government life (converted) insurance, may be brought at any time after disagreement as to a claim, as hereinafter defined. Judgments heretofore rendered against the person or persons claiming under the contract of war-risk insurance on the ground that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations shall not be a bar to the institution of another suit on the same claim. No State or other statute of limitations shall be applicable so suits filed under this section."

SEC. 32. Section 307 of the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended, is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 307. All contracts or policies of insurance heretofore or hereafter issued, reinstated, or converted shall be incontestable two years after the date of issuance, reinstatement, or conversion, except for nonpayment of premiums or on the ground that the applicant was not a member of the military or naval forces of the United States, and subject to the provisions of section 23: Provided, That any policy or contract of insurance issued, reinstated, or converted more than one year prior to the date of this amendment may be contested for fraud or mistake within one year of the date of this amendment and unless so contested within such period shall thereafter be incontestable except on the grounds herein specified: Provided further, That the insured under such contract or policy may, without prejudicing his rights, elect to make claim to the Veterans' Administration or to bring suit under section 19 of this Act on any prior contract or policy and, if found entitled thereto, shall, upon surrender of any subsequent contract or policy, be entitled to payments under the prior contract or policy: And provided further, That in any case in which a contract or policy of insurance is canceled or voided because of fraud or mistake under the provisions of this enactment, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is authorized and directed to refund to the insured, if living, or, if deceased, to the person designated as beneficiary of such insurance, all money, without interest, paid as premiums on such contract or policy after the date of such fraud or mistake."

SEC. 33. Any person who served in the military or naval forces of the United States during a recognized campaign or expedition, and who was honorably separated from such service shall be granted hospitalization and domiciliary care by the Veterans' Administration subject to the same restrictions and limitations as are now applicable to World War veterans.

SEC. 34. That paragraph IV, Veterans Regulation Numbered 6 (a), as amended (U. S. C., title 38, ch. 12, appendix), is hereby amended to read as follows: "IV. No person shall be entitled to receive domiciliary, medical, or hospital care, including treatment, who resides outside of the continental limits of the United States or its Territories or possessions: Provided, That in the discretion of the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs necessary hospital care, including medical treatment, may be furnished to veterans who are citizens of the United States temporarily sojourning or residing abroad, for disabilities due to war service in the armed forces of the United States."

Src. 35. Effective the first day of the month next following the date of enactment of this Act, no deductions shall be made from the earnings of employees of the Veterans' Administration for quarters, subsistence, and laundry, unless such allowances are voluntarily accepted and used by such employees; and,

where such allowances are furnished to employees of the Veterans' Administration, charges therefor shall be at cost.

SEC. 36. In the administration of any laws conferring rights, privileges, or benefits upon honorably discharged members of the military or naval forces of the United States, their widows, children, or dependent parents, any person who was discharged because of minority or misrepresentation of age from an enlistment in the military or naval forces of the United States entered into during a war, campaign, or expedition, shall hereafter be held and considered to have been honorably discharged from such service on the date of his actual separation therefrom, if his service otherwise was such as would entitle him to an honorable discharge: Provided, That no back pay or allowance shall accrue by reason of the passage of this enactment: Provided further, That in all such cases the War Department or the Navy Department shall, upon request, grant to such individual, his widow, or next of kin, a discharge certificate showing such former member of the military or naval forces of the United States is held and considered to have been honorably discharged under the provisions of this enactment.

SEC. 37. The first sentence of section 705 of the World War Adjusted Compensation Act is amended to read as follows:

"Whether it appears to the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, by evidence clear and satisfactory to him, that any adjusted-service certificate has, without bad faith on the part of the person entitled to payment thereon, been lost or destroyed, or is being withheld or concealed from a World War veteran, and such adjusted-service certificate is identified by number and description, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall, under such regulations and with such restrictions as to time and retention for security or otherwise as he may prescribe, issue a duplicate thereof in like value in all respects to the original certificate and so marked as to show the original number of the certificate lost, destroyed, withheld, or concealed, and the date thereof."

SEC. 38. That sections 2, 3, and 4 of Public Law Numbered 312, Seventyfourth Congress, approved August 23, 1935, are hereby amended by striking out "January 2, 1940" wherever it appears in such sections and inserting in lieu thereof "January 2, 1950."

SEd. 39. That the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is hereby authorized, under regulations to be prescribed by the President, to pay the actual necessary expenses of travel, including lodging and subsistence, or in lieu thereof an allowance based upon the mileage traveled, of any person to or from a Veterans' Administration facility, or other place for the purpose of examination, treatment, or care: Provided, That payment of mileage upon termination of examination, treatment, or care may be made prior to completion of such travel: And provided further, That when any such person requires an attendant other than an employee of the Veterans' Administration for the performance of such travel, such attendant may be allowed expenses of travel upon a similar basis.

SEC. 40. In order to provide a system for the relief of persons who may become disabled, and for the dependents of those who may die, as a result of disability suffered in the military or naval service of the United States in any future war in which the United States is engaged, the laws providing monetary and other benefits on account of death or disability incurred or aggravated in service during the World War shall be applicable to veterans and dependents of veterans of such future war in the same manner and to at least the same extent as the laws providing such benefits on account of World War service are being applied at the beginning of such future war.

[H. R. 8355, 76th Cong., 3d sess.]

A BILL To provide greater uniformity of entitlement to, and adjudication of, certain benefits for certain classification of veterans, and their dependents, and for other

purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the unexplained absence of any exservice man from his home or usual place of abode for seven years, who cannot be located after diligent search, shall be deemed sufficient evidence of his death for the purpose of laws administered by the Veterans' Administration,