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bership. No department or separate governmental unit shall have more than one representative on said Board.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

August 9, 1922.

[A. G. 334.7 (9-30-22).]

WARREN G. HARDING.

VI__Service records for civilian employees subject to the provisions of the retirement act.-In connection with Section IX, Bulletin No. 3, War Department, 1922 (Amendment to act for the retirement of employees of the classified civil service), the following War Department circular is published to the Army for the information and guidance of all concerned:

CIRCULAR:

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, September 11, 1922.

The act of Congress approved February 14, 1922, prescribes that "each executive department, and each independent establishment of the Government not within the jurisdiction of any executive department, shall establish and maintain such record as will enable it to determine the amount deducted within each fiscal year from the basic salary, pay, or compensation of each employee within its jurisdiction to whom this act applies. When such employee is transferred from one office to another a certified abstract of his official record shall be transmitted to the office to which the transfer is made." The procedure hereby ordered for the administration of this provision of law will apply only to such classes of employees as are subject to the provisions of the retirement act, and not to temporary employees.

In each establishment or office controlled by the War Department and in which civilians are employed a service record will be maintained for each employee, showing his name (middle name only to be represented by initial), the date and nature of his appointment and of each subsequent change in his status, his absences in a nonpay status for periods of six months or more, and the amount of each deduction made from his pay for the retirement fund.

In the compilation of the service records of employees now in the service every reasonable effort should be made to make the records accurate and complete. The information should be obtained from official records as far as possible; but whenever it is advisable to record the unverified oral statement of an employee, the record should show the source of the information. Service records may be maintained on War Department Standard Form No. 43, which may be obtained through chiefs of bureaus and services from the Chief of the Supply Division of the Office of the Secretary of War.

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When an employee is transferred from one station to another or from one branch of the service of the War Department to another, an official abstract of his service prepared on Standard Form No. 43 should be forwarded to the officer in charge of the employee's new station. When an employee leaves the public service, the abstract should be forwarded to the chief of the bureau or service in which he has been employed. When an office is closed, the abstracts for the employees of the office should be forwarded to their new stations; or, if the employees are discharged, the abstracts should be forwarded to the chief of the bureau or service. When an employee leaves the service of the War Department to accept appointment by transfer in the service of another executive department, the abstract should be forwarded by the chief of the bureau or service to the Secretary of War.

By order of the Secretary of War:

[A. G. 230.7 (9-30-22).]

JOHN C. SCOFIELD, Assistant and Chief Clerk.

VII__Act of Congress-Readjustment of the commissioned personnel of the Army, etc.-The following act of Congress is published to the Army for the information and guidance of all concerned:

An Act Amending the Act of June 30, 1922, making_appropriations for the military and nonmilitary activities of the War Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1923, 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 President, upon the recommendation of the board of general officers convened to carry out the elimination provisions of the Act entitled "An Act making appropriations for the military and nonmilitary activities of the War Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1923, and for other purposes," approved June 30, 1922, is authorized to determine the number of officers below the grade of lieutenant colonel that shall be discharged and recommissioned in the next lower grade notwithstanding the limitation of eight hundred in said Act: Provided, That the President is authorized, upon the recommendation of said board, to increase the authorized strength of various grades as prescribed in said Act by not more than fifty colonels, one hundred and fifty majors, and three hundred captains, and to decrease by a total of not to exceed five hundred, apportioned among the grades as the President may determine, the authorized strength of the two lowest grades as prescribed by said Act: Provided further, That on and after January 1, 1923, there shall be not to exceed a total of twelve thousand officers in the Army and on and after that date the authorized number in each grade shall be as prescribed in said Act or as modified and prescribed by the President in accordance with 13839-22-2

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the provisions of the preceding proviso, and on that date there shall not be any promotion list officers in any grade in addition to these prescribed numbers: Provided further, That the discharge and recommission of officers in the next lower grade shall not operate to reduce the pay or allowances which they are now receiving or to deprive them of credit for service now counted for purposes of pay or retirement: And provided further, That in discharging and recommissioning officers in inverse order of standing on the promotion list any officer who is once discharged from the grade he now holds and is recommissioned in the next lower grade shall be passed over.

SEC. 2. That the retired general officers who have been called to active duty for service on the said elimination board shall be entitled from date of detail and while so serving to the active pay and allowances of their grade.

SEC. 3. That the first proviso under the heading "Arms, Uniforms, Equipment, and so forth, for field service, National Guard" in Title I of said Act is amended to read as follows: "That members of the National Guard and Officers' Reserve Corps who have or shall become entitled for a continuous period of less than one month to Federal pay at the rates fixed for the Regular Army, whether by virtue of a call by the President, of attendance at school or maneuver, or of any other cause, and whose accounts have not yet been settled, shall receive such pay for each day of such period; and the thirtyfirst day of a calendar month shall not be excluded from the computation."

SEC. 4. That all laws and parts of laws in so far as they are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.

Approved, September 14, 1922.

[A. G. 111.2 (9-14-22).]

VIII__Act of Congress-Pension for soldiers of the War with Spain, etc., for widows and dependent parents of such soldiers, and for certain Army nurses.-The following act of Congress is published to the Army for the information and guidance of all concerned :

An Act Granting relief to soldiers and sailors of the War with Spain, Philippine insurrection, and Chinese Boxer rebellion campaign; to widows, former widows, and dependent parents of such soldiers and sailors; and to certain Army nurses; and to amend section 2 of an Act entitled "An Act to pension the survivors of certain Indian wars from January 1, 1859, to January, 1891, inclusive, and for other purposes," approved March 4, 1917.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the widow of any officer or enlisted man who served ninety days or more in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States during the War with Spain, the Chinese Boxer rebellion, or the Philippine insurrection, between April 21, 1898,

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and July 4, 1902, inclusive, service to be computed from date of enlistment to date of discharge, and was honorably discharged from such service, or, regardless of the length of service, was discharged for or died in service of a disability incurred in the service and line of duty, such widow having married such soldier, sailor, or marine prior to the passage of this Act, shall, upon due proof of her husband's death, without proving his death to be the result of his Army or Navy service, be placed upon the pension roll from the date of the filing of her application therefor under this Act, at the rate of $20 per month during her widowhood. And this section shall apply to a former widow of any officer or enlisted man who rendered service as hereinbefore described, and who was honorably discharged, or died in service due to disability or disease incurred in the service, such widow having remarried either once or more than once after the death of the soldier, sailor, or marine, if it be shown that such subsequent or successive marriage has or have been dissolved, either by the death of the husband or husbands, or by divorce without fault on the part of the wife; and any such former widow shall be entitled to and be paid a pension at the rate of $20 per month; and any widow or former widow as mentioned in this section shall also be paid $4 per month for each child of such officer or enlisted man under the age of sixteen years, and in case of the death or remarriage of the widow leaving a child or children, of such officer or enlisted man under the age of sixteen years, such pension shall be paid such child or children until the age of sixteen years: Provided, That in case a minor child is insane, idiotic, or otherwise mentally or physically helpless, the pension shall continue during the life of such child, or during the period of such disability; and this proviso shall apply to all pensions heretofore granted or hereafter to be granted under this or any former statute: Provided further, That in case of any widow whose name has been dropped from the pension roll because of her remarriage, if the pension has been granted to an insane, idiotic, or otherwise helpless child, or to a child or children under the age of sixteen years, she shall not be entitled to renewal of pension under this Act until the pension to such child or children terminates, unless such child or children be a member or members of her family and cared for by her, and upon renewal of pension to such widow, payment of pension to such child or children shall cease.

SEC. 2. That the benefits of the Act of Congress approved June 5, 1920, entitled "An Act to pension soldiers and sailors of the War with Spain, the Philippine insurrection, and the China relief expedition," be, and are hereby, extended to include any woman who served honorably as an Army nurse, chief nurse, or superintendent of the Nurse Corps, under contract for ninety days or more between the beginning of the War with Spain and February 2, 1901, when the Nurse Corps

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(female) was declared by law a component part of the Army, and any such nurse who was released from service before the expiration of ninety days because of disability contracted in line of duty in said service: Provided, That the release from service of any nurse, chief nurse, or superintendent shall operate as if she had received an honorable discharge, it being the intent and purpose to give to said nurses, chief nurses, and superintendents of the Nurse Corps (female) the same status in all respects as members of said corps who served after February 2, 1901: Provided, That no person shall receive more than one pension for the same period: Provided further, That all dependent parents of any officer or enlisted man who served in the War with Spain, the Philippine insurrection, or the Chinese Boxer rebellion, whose names are now on the pension roll or who are now entitled to pension under any existing law, shall be entitled to and shall be paid a pension at the rate of $20 per month.

SEC. 3. That from and after the approval of this Act all persons whose names are on the pension roll and all persons hereafter granted a pension, who while in the military or naval service of the United States under the provisions of this Act and all other Acts relating to pensions of soldiers who served in the War with Spain, the Philippine insurrection, or the Chinese Boxer rebellion and in line of duty shall have lost both hands or both feet or been totally disabled therein, or who while in such service and in like manner sustained injuries that proved the direct cause of the subsequent total disability of both hands or both feet, shall receive a pension at the rate of $100 per month.

SEC. 4. That the pension or increase of pension herein provided for, as to all persons whose names are now on the pension roll, or who are now in receipt of a pension under existing law, shall commence at the rates herein provided from the date of the approval of this Act; and as to persons whose names are not now on the pension roll, or who are not now in receipt of pension under existing law, but who may be entitled to pension under the provisions of this Act, such pensions shall commence from the date of filing application therefor in the Bureau of Pensions in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 5. That in the adjudication of claims arising under section 1 of this Act, and claims arising under the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to pension soldiers and sailors of the War with Spain, the Philippine insurrection, and the China Relief Expedition," approved June 5, 1920, all leaves of absence and furloughs under General Orders, Numbered One hundred and thirty, August 29, 1898, War Department, shall be included in determining the period of pensionable service: Provided, That as to any claimant who filed an application for pension under the Act of July 16, 1918, or the Act of June 5, 1920, and whose application is still pending in the Bureau of