June 7, 1924, 43 Stat. 607630 U. S. C. 38: 421 U. S. C. 38: 424 [PUBLIC-NO. 242-68TH CONGRESS.] [S. 2257.] An Act To consolidate, codify, revise, and reenact the laws Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the TITLE I.-GENERAL. SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "World War Veterans' SEC. 2. When used in this Act— The term "bureau" means the United States Veterans' Bureau. The term "director" means the Director of the United States Amended July 3, 1930, 46 Stat. 1016 SEC. 3. In Titles II, III, and IV of this Act unless the context Amended otherwise requires (1) The term "child" includes (a) A legitimate child. (b) A child legally adopted. (c) A stepchild, if a member of the man's household. (d) An illegitimate child, but, as to the father only, if acknowledged in writing signed by him, or if he has been judicially ordered or decreed to contribute to such child's support, or has been judicially decreed to be the putative father of such child. (2) The term "grandchild" means a child as above defined of a child as above defined. (3) Except as used in section 301 and in section 302, the term "child" and "grandchild" are limited to unmarried persons either (a) under eighteen years of age, or (b) of any age, if permanently incapable of self-support by reason of mental or physical defect. (4) The term "parent" includes a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, father through adoption, mother through adoption, stepfather, and stepmother, either of the persons in the service or of the spouse. (5) The terms "father" and "mother" include stepfathers and stepmothers, fathers and mothers through adoption, and persons who have stood in loco parentis to a member of the military or naval forces at any time prior to his enlistment or induction for a period of not less than one year. (6) The terms "brother" and "sister" include brothers and sisters of the half blood as well as those of the whole blood, stepbrothers and stepsisters, and brothers and sisters through adoption. (7) The terms "brother" and "sister" include the children of a person who, for a period of not less than one year, stood in loco parentis to a member of the military or naval forces of the United States at any time prior to his enlistment or induction, or another member of the same household as to whom such person during such period likewise stood in loco parentis. (8) The term "commissioned officer" includes a warrant officer, but includes only an officer in active service in the military or naval forces of the United States. March 4, 1925. 43 Stat. 1302. c. 5.53 (9) The terms "man" and "enlisted man" mean a person, whether male or female and whether enlisted, enrolled, or drafted into active service in the military or naval forces of the United States, and include noncommissioned and petty officers and members of training camps authorized by law. (10) The term "enlistment" includes voluntary enlistment, draft, and enrollment in active service in the military or naval forces of the United States. (11) The term "injury" includes disease. (12) The term "pay" means the pay for service in the United States according to grade and length of service, excluding all allow ances. (13) The term "military or naval forces" means the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the Naval Reserves, the National Naval Volunteers, and any other branch of the United States service while serving pursuant to law with the Army or the Navy. (14) The terms "World War," "during the period of the war," and "during the World War" mean the period beginning April 6, 1917, and ending July 2, 1921. (15) The terms "date of termination of the war" and "termination of the war" mean July 2, 1921. SEC. 4. There is established an independent bureau under the President to be known as the United States Veterans' Bureau, the director of which shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau shall receive a salary of $10,000 per annum, payable monthly. There shall be included on the technical and administrative staff of the director such staff officers, experts, inspectors, and assistants as the director shall prescribe; and there shall be in the United States Veterans' Bureau such sections and subdivisions thereof as the director shall prescribe. With such exceptions as the President may deem advisable, all employees shall be subject to the civil-service law and regulations made thereunder. SEC. 5. The director, subject to the general direction of the President, shall administer, execute, and enforce the provisions of this Act, and for that purpose shall have full power and authority to make rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, which are necessary or appropriate to carry out its purposes, and shall decide all questions arising under this Act and all decisions of questions of fact affecting any claimant to the benefits of Titles II, III, or IV of this Act shall be conclusive except as otherwise provided herein. All officers and employees of the bureau shall perform such duties as may be assigned them by the director. All official acts performed by such officers or employees specially designated therefor by the director shall have the same force and effect as though performed by the director in person. Wherever under any provision or provisions of the Act regulations are directed or authorized to be made, such regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, shall or may be made by the director. The director shall adopt reasonable and proper rules to govern the procedure of the divisions and to regulate and provide for the nature and extent of the proofs and evidence and the method of taking and furnishing the same in order to establish the right to benefits of compensation, insurance, vocational U.S. C. 38: 429 U. S. C. 38: 430 training or maintenance and support allowance provided for in this SEC. 6. That the bureau shall have the power, and it shall be its The director may abolish any regional offices or suboffices when in his judgment this may be done without detriment to the administration of this Act, and upon such termination all records and supplies pertaining thereto shall be delivered to the central office, or as the director shall otherwise prescribe. SEC. 8. That for the purposes of this Act the director, and such persons as the director may designate, shall have the power to issue subpoenas for and compel the attendance of witnesses within a radius of one hundred miles from the place of hearing, to require the production of books, papers, documents, and other evidence, to administer oaths, and to examine witnesses upon any matter within the jurisdiction of the bureau. In case of disobedience to a subpoena the bureau may invoke the aid of any district court of the United States in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence, and such court, within the jurisdiction of which the inquiry is carried on, may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any officer, agent, or employee of any corporation or other person, issue an order requiring such corporation or other person to appear before the bureau or to give evidence touching the matter in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof. Any person so required to attend as a witness shall be allowed and paid the same fees and mileage as are paid witnesses in the district courts of the United States. For the purpose of this Act, the director is authorized to detail from time to time clerks or persons employed in the bureau to make examinations into the merits of compensation and insurance claims, whether pending or adjudicated, as he may deem proper, and to aid in the preparation, presentation, or examination of such claims; and any such person so detailed shall have power to administer oaths, take affidavits, and certify to the correctness of the papers and documents pertaining to the administration of this Act. U. S. C. 38: 433 SEC. 9. In addition to the services of the legal assistants employed Amended July by the bureau, the director may require the opinion of the Attorney General on any questions of law arising in the administration of the bureau. SEC. 10. The director, subject to the general directions of the President, shall be responsible for the proper examination, medical care, treatment, hospitalization, dispensary, and convalescent care necessary and reasonable after care, welfare of, nursing, vocational training, and such other services as may be necessary in the carrying out of the provisions of this Act, and for that purpose is hereby authorized, at the direction of the President or with the approval of the head of the department concerned, to utilize the now existing or future facilities of the United States Public Health Service, the War Department, the Navy Department, the Interior Department, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and such other governmental facilities as may be made available for the purposes set forth in this Act; and such governmental agencies are hereby authorized to furnish such facilities, including personnel, equipment, medical, surgical, and hospital services and supplies as the director may deem necessary and advisable in carrying out the provisions of this Act, in addition to such governmental facilities as are hereby made available. When, in the opinion of the director, the facilities and services utilized for the hospitalization, medical care, and treatment for beneficiaries under this Act are unsatisfactory, the director shall make arrangements for the further hospitalization, care, and treatment of such beneficiaries by other means. In the event that there is not sufficient Government hospital and other facilities for the proper medical care and treatment of beneficiaries under this Act, and the director deems it necessary and advisable to secure additional Government facilities, he may, within the limits of appropriations made for carrying out the provisions of this paragraph, and with the approval of the President, improve or extend existing governmental facilities, or acquire additional facilities by purchase or otherwise. Such new property and structures as may be improved, extended, or acquired shall become part of the permanent equipment of the United States Veterans' Bureau or of some one of the now existing agencies of the Government, including the War Department, Navy Department, Interior Department, Treasury Department, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, in such way as will best serve the present emergency, taking into consideration the future services to be rendered the veterans of the World War, including the beneficiaries under this Act. In the event Government hospital facilities are insufficient or inadequate the director may contract with State, municipal, or in exceptional cases. with private hospitals for such medical, surgical, and hospital services and supplies as may be required, and such contracts may be made for a period of not exceeding three years and may be for the use of a ward or other hospital unit or on such other basis as may be in the best interest of the beneficiaries under this Act. There are hereby permanently transferred to the Veterans' Bureau all hospitals now or formerly under the jurisdiction of the Public Health Service or of the Treasury Department, the operation, management, or control of which have heretofore been transferred by the President to said Bureau pursuant to the authority contained in section 9 of the Act entitled "An Act to establish a Veterans' Stat. 1016 Obsolete July 2,1926, 44 Stat. 790 U.S. C. 38: 439 U. S. C. 38: 428 Bureau and to improve the facilities and service of such Bureau SEC. 11. The director is hereby authorized to make such rules SEC. 12. That the bureau is hereby authorized and empowered to receive, for purposes of benefits provided by Title IV hereof, such gifts and donations from either public or private sources as may be offered unconditionally. All moneys so received as gifts or donations shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and shall constitute a permanent fund, to be called the "Special fund for vocational rehabilitation," to be used under the direction of the said bureau in connection with the appropriations hereby made or hereafter to be made, to defray the expenses of providing and maintaining courses of vocational rehabilitation; and a full report of all gifts and donations offered and accepted and all disbursements therefrom shall be submitted annually to Congress by the director. SEC. 13. All sums heretofore appropriated for use by the Federal Board for Vocational Education as a revolving fund, not exceeding $500,000, may be used by the bureau as a revolving fund for the purpose of making advancement to persons commencing or undergoing training under Title IV hereof, such advancements to bear no interest and to be reimbursed in such installments as may be determined by the director by proper deductions from the monthly maintenance and support allowances allowed by this Act. SEC. 14. That the director of the United States Veterans' Bureau shall on the first Monday in December of each year file with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate a full and complete report of all activities of the United States Veterans' Bureau, showing in detail the number of claimants and the amount of compensation paid, the number of veterans of the various wars and expeditions receiving hospitalization and medical treatment, the number of dependents drawing compensation and the amount of such compensation, the number of persons holding and paying for Government life insurance, and a full and itemized statement of all moneys received and disbursed by the director, or any of his agents, for the preceding year. SEC. 15. All sums heretofore appropriated for carrying out the provisions of the War Risk Insurance Act and amendments thereto and to carry out the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for vocational rehabilitation and return to civil employment of disabled persons discharged from the military or naval forces of the United States, and for other purposes," approved June 27, 1918, and amendments thereto, and all sums heretofore appropriated for carrying out the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to establish |