the time of such service. Congress has, from time to time, by the data which I have read in the record, gone far beyond that. It was at a time when we did not have the system of social security such as we have now. The reasons were more impelling upon the Congress than they are now, and while I fully realize that there is a strong feeling on the part of the public and Members of Congress, and there certainly is on the part of veterans and their dependents or relatives, that the veterans and their dependents should occupy a different status than others, we feel under social security, and it is not my purpose to do other than to bring to you the facts and indicate to you that it was the hope of the Administration at this time, because of other demands, that we might not be faced with material increases in amounts necessary for veterans or their dependents. That is all I have to say on H. R. 917, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SCHAFER. About how much will that bill cost, General? General HINES. About $5,000,000, maximum for the first year. Mr. SCHAFER. That is not very much. Press reports reveal that we have plenty of money to hand to foreign countries to carry on their wars. We ought to have sufficient money to take care of the widows and the disabled veterans of our own wars.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Schafer, General Hines has been giving testimony on H. R. 917.

General HINES. That is, changing the marriage date.

The CHAIRMAN. Of Civil War yeterans.

Mr. SCHAFER. This bill will cost about $5,000,000?

General HINES. About that in round numbers.

Mr. SCHAFER. It will extend Civil War pension rates to widows of men who died of disabilities not related to service?

General HINES. Yes.

Mr. SCHAFER. Who, perhaps, in many cases married 15 or 20 years after the Civil War?

General HINES. Fifty-four years is provided in this bill. The delimiting date now is 39 years after the closing date of the Civil War. This would increase it so that it would be 54 years after the close of the Civil War.

Mr. JONES. It is 39 years now?

General HINES. Yes.

Mr. SCHAFER. All of the widows of Civil War veterans who have died of service-incurred disability are taken care of under existing law?

General HINES. There is no limiting date on service-connected disability. I pointed out that the Civil War widow who was the wife of the veteran when he served now draws the highest rate of pension, $50, whether it is for service or nonservice disability.

The CHAIRMAN. The next bill is H. R. 1666, which I introduced. This bill covers the rules of this committee with reference to dependents of Civil War veterans, and if enacted into law would do away with the private bills we have been reporting out of the committee in omnibus pension bills. I have received thousands of letters from all over the country in regard to this bill. For the purpose of the record I will insert a copy of the bill and the report received from General Hines in regard to its provisions.

(H. R. 1666, together with the report thereon, is as follows:)

[H. R. 1666, 76th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL Granting pensions and increase of pensions to widows, former widows, and children of certain soldiers, sailors, and marines of the Civil War, and for other

purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) subject to the provisions of this Act and other provisions of law not inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this Act, the widow or former widow of any person who served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States during the Civil War for ninety days or more, and was honorably discharged from all contracts of service (in accordance with the joint resolution of July 1, 1902, as amended), or regardless of length of service was discharged for disability incurred in service and in line of duty, shall be paid a pension at the following rates per month:

(1) If she is less than fifty years of age, $30;

(2) If she is fifty years of age or more but less than sixty-five years of age, $40;

(3) If she is sixty-five years of age or more, $50.

(b) To be entitled to pension under this section as a widow or former widow it must be shown that the applicant was the wife of a Civil War veteran by a valid marriage, that the marriage subsisted until the death of such veteran, and that, unless she was his wife during his service in the Civil War, they lived together continuously during a period of not less than two years preceding the date of the death of such veteran, or, if the cohabitation was not continuous during such period, that it was not due to the connivance or fault of the wife. Marriage shall be proven valid according to the law of the place where the parties resided at the time of marriage or at the time the right to the pension accrued.

SEC. 2. The pension for children of deceased Civil War veterans provided by existing pension laws in the cases of such children who are less than sixteen years of age shall be granted and payable in the case of any child of a Civil War veteran, qualified under such pension laws except as to age

(1) Until such child's eighteenth birthday, marriage, or death, whichever occurs first;

(2) If such child pursues a course of instruction at a school, college, academy, seminary, technical institution, or university, partticularly designated by such child and approved by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, then until the child's twenty-first birthday, marriage, death, or completion of education or training at such institution of learning, whichever occurs first;

(3) If such child becomes or has become prior to the child's eighteenth birthday permanently incapable of self-support by reason of mental or physical defect, then until the child's marriage or death, but only during the continuance of such permanent and total incapacity.

SEC. 3. (a) Subject to the provisions of this Act and other provisions of law not inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this Act, the child of a deceased Civil War veteran, who (1) attains or has attained the age of eighteen years before the death of such veteran, (2) is suffering from a disability or disabilities of congenital origin, or from a disability or disabilities which are definitely shown to have existed before the child attained the age of eighteen years, and has required the constant or regular aid and attendance of another person since prior to attaining the age of eighteen years, (3) has never contracted marriage, and (4) is without means, a home, or income, and is dependent on others not legally bound to his or her support or sustenance and shelter, and is not an inmate of an institution maintained at public expense, shall be paid a pension at the rate of $20 per month.

(b) Pension under this section shall continue until the pensioner marries, dies, or recovers from the disability or disabilities, whichever occurs first.

SEC. 4. When used in this Act the term

(1) "Civil War veteran" means a person who served and was discharged as described in section 1 hereof;

(2) "Widow" means a woman who was a wife of a Civil War veteran, thereafter deceased;

(3) "Former widow" means a widow of a Civil War veteran who remarried subsequently to the death of such veteran and is again a widow by the death of the subsequent husband or husbands, or by divorce on any ground except adultery on the part of the wife;

(4) "Child" means a legitimate child, or a child legally adopted, unmarried, and under the age of eighteen years, except in the cases of disability, incapacity, or continuance of education, referred to in section 2 or 3.

SEC. 5. (a) The pension or increase of pension provided for in this Act, in the case of any person whose name is on the pension rolls, or who is in receipt of a pension under existing law, shall begin on the first day of the month next following the month during which this Act is enacted. In the case of any other applicant, the pension under this Act shall begin on the date of filing, after the date of enactment of this Act, an application therefor with the Veterans' Administration. Applications for benefits under this Act shall be in such form and contain such information as the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall prescribe. (b) The issue of a check in payment of a pension herein provided for, for which the execution and submission of a voucher was not required, shall constitute payment in the event of the death of the pensioner on or after the last day of the period covered by such check, and it shall not be canceled, but shall become an asset of the estate of the deceased pensioner.

(c) No pension or compensation payable to any person under law in force on the date of enactment of this Act shall be reduced or discontinued by reason of any provision of this Act.

(d) The provisions of existing law prescribing penalties, forfeitures, and limitations on fees, in connection with pensions and claims for pensions for widows and children of persons who served in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps of the United States in the Civil War, shall apply to benefits and claims for benefits under this Act.

VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION,
Washington, April 1, 1939.

Hon. JOHN LESINSKI,

Chairman, Committee on Invalid Pensions,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. LESINSKI: This is with further reference to your letter of De cember 7, 1938, indicating that you propose to introduce a bill on the opening day of the Seventy-sixth Congress identical with your bill H. R. 10909, Seventyfifth Congress, third session, "A bill granting pensions and increase of pensions to widows, former widows, and children of certain soldiers, sailors, and marines of the Civil War, and for other purposes," and requesting a report. This is also in reply to your letter of January 9, 1939, advising of the introduction by you of H. R. 1666, Seventy-sixth Congress, which is identical with H. R. 10909, Seventy-fifth Congress, and requesting a report thereon.

Section 1 (a) provides that "subject to the provisions of this Act and other provisions of law not inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this Act, the widow or former widow of any person who served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States during the Civil War for ninety days or more, and was honorably discharged from all contracts of service (in accordance with the joint resolution of July 1, 1902, as amended), or regardless of length of service was discharged for disability incurred in service and in line of duty, shall be paid a pension at the following rates per month: (1) If she is less than fifty years of age, $30; (2) if she is fifty years of age or more, but less than sixty-five years of age, $40; (3) if she is sixty-five years of age or more, $50."

The effect of the above provisions would be to increase the rates of pension payable to a large number of Civil War widows. Under the existing law the highest rate, $50, is payable only to a widow who was the wife of the veteran during the period of his service in the Civil War; the next highest rate, $40, is payable to a widow 70 years of age or over; and the lowest rate, $30, is payable to a widow under the age of 70 years. The bill would change the existing age requirements so as to conform to the ages specified by part I of Veterans' Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, which are set forth below for purposes of comparison. The rates provided by part I of Veterans' Regulation No. 1 (a), amended, are the highest rates payable to the widow of a veteran of the SpanishAmerican War, Boxer Rebellion, or Philippine Insurrection, and are the highest rates payable to the widows of World War veterans, if such widows are receiving installments of insurance sufficient to bar entitlement under Public, No. 304, Seventy-fifth Congress. Even under Public, No. 304 the two highest rates are not equivalent to those proposed by the bill, as will be noted from the comparative table. Attention is also invited to the fact that the rates provided by part I

as

of Veterans' Regulation No. 1 (a), as amended, and Public, No. 304, Seventy-fifth Congress, are only for application where the veteran died as a result of injury or disease incurred or aggravated in the active military or naval service, while under the bill it is not necessary that the veteran's death be service connected.

Section 1 (b) provides that "To be entitled to pension under this section as a widow or former widow it must be shown that the applicant was the wife of a Civil War veteran by a valid marriage, that the marriage subsisted until the death of such veteran, and that, unless she was his wife during his service in the Civil War, they lived together continuously during a period of not less than 2 years preceding the date of the death of such veteran, or, if the cohabitation was not continuous during such period, that it was not due to the connivance or fault of the wife. Marriage shall be proven valid according to the law of the place where the parties resided at the time of marriage or at the time the right to the pension accrued." This subsection contains a modification of the last proviso of the act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1380; 38 U. S. C. 192), which bars pension to a Civil War widow, married to the veteran on or after March 3, 1899, unless such wife shall have lived and cohabited with the veteran from the date of the marriage to the date of his death, and substitutes the requirement of cohabitation for a period of not less than 2 years. As the bill does not require cohabitation for 2 years immediately preceding the veteran's death, it will be possible for a widow who lived with the veteran for a period of 2 years to obtain pension, even though she lived with him many years ago and her title to pension is presently barred by the last proviso of the act of March 3, 1899. There are no doubt at present alive a considerable number of Civil War widows whose claims are presently barred who lived with their deceased veterans-husbands more than 2 years and who separated only a few years prior to death. This group would undoubtedly be included as beneficiaries under the bill, if enacted into law.

For the purposes of the existing service-pension laws granting pension to widows, remarried widows, and children of veterans of the Civil War, the term "widow" means a person who was married to the veteran prior to June 27, 1905. Section 1 (b) when construed in the light of section 4 (2) would, therefore, have the effect of removing the June 27, 1905, delimiting date for marriage. With regard to the merits of this proposal, attention is invited to the following table which shows the beginning and ending date of wars in which the United States has been engaged, which are of current importance in connection with pension grants. It will be noted that the table shows the delimiting date for marriage to veterans of such wars governing eligibility of the widow to pension and the number of years between the ending date of the war and the delimiting marriage date.

NOTE. The beginning and ending dates set forth above as to the Spanish-American War, Boxer Rebellion, and Philippine Insurrection are for application to the laws reenacted by Pub., No. 269, 74th Cong.

The bill, if enacted would further extend the marriage date for widows of Civil War veterans so as to include persons who married such veterans more than 60 years after the termination of that war.

In considering the present definition of the term "widow" as applied to the Civil War group, it is admitted that a relatively small number of worthy cases may be excluded on account of the delimiting marriage date. If a definition were being evolved for the first time it is probable that standards other than an arbitrarily fixed delimiting marriage date would be for consideration. However, it should be borne in mind that the present standard has been in effect ever since June 27, 1890, when the first law granting service pensions to widows of Civil War veterans was enacted, except, of course, that the delimiting marriage date has been extended by subsequent legislation.

It should also be recalled that veterans of the Civil War have attained a very advanced age and that their number is being diminished at a very rapid rate. This fact would seem to require that as to them no radical changes be effected in the Government's pension program which has been in effect for so many years.

Since the Government's plan of pensioning Civil War veterans and their widows has been in effect for many years, it is not unreasonable to assume that women who married such veterans many years after the Civil War did so with a knowledge of this well-established pension system, and that they would have no right to look to the Government for a pension on account of the husband's service in the Civil War. It is believed that all of the foregoing points have a bearing upon any proposal to disturb existing standards.

Section 2 provides that: "The pension for children of deceased Civil War veterans provided by existing pension laws in the cases of such children who are less than 16 years of age shall be granted and payable in the case of any child of a Civil War veteran, qualified under such pension laws except as to age

"(1) Until such child's eighteenth birthday, marriage, or death, whichever occurs first;

"(2) If such child pursues a course of instruction at a school, college, acad emy, seminary, technical institution, or university, particularly designated by such child and approved by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, then until the child's twenty-first birthday, marriage, death, or completion of education or training at such institution of learning, whichever occurs first;

"(3) If such child becomes or has become prior to the child's eighteenth birthday permanently incapable of self-support by reason of mental or physical defect, then until the child's marriage or death, but only during the continu ance of such permanent and total incapacity."

Under the existing law the term "child of a Civil War veteran" means a legitimate child under the age of 16. Children born before the marriage of their parents, if acknowledged by the father before or after marriage, shall be deemed legitimate. State laws as to legitimacy are not applicable. The pay ment of pension may be further continued after the age of 16 to or for a child who was pensioned or entitled to pension in its own right or with the mother, if such child was insane, idiotic, or otherwise physically or mentally helpless at the date of attaining the age of 16 years and the helpless condition exists at the date of filing claim. Payments of pension continue during the period of helplessness. The requirement that a child be "insane, idiotic, or otherwise physically or mentally helpless," as a prerequisite to the continuance of pension after the child attains the age of 16 years, will be considered as having been met when the evidence shows that such child is "permanently incapable of self-support by reason of physical or mental defect."

Section 3 provides that: "(a) Subject to the provisions of this act and other provisions of law not inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this act, the child of a deceased Civil War veteran, who (1) attains or has attained the age of 18 years before the death of such veteran; (2) is suffering from a disability or disabilities of congenital origin, or from a disability or disabilities which are definitely shown to have existed before the child attained the age of 18 years, and has required the constant or regular aid and attendance of another person since prior to attaining the age of 18 years; (3) has never contracted marriage; and (4) is without means, a home, or income, and is dependent on others not legally bound to his or her support for sustenance nad shelter. and is not an inmate of an institution maintained at public expense, shall be