U. S. C. 38: 443 U. S. C. 38: 444 a Veterans' Bureau and to improve the facilities and service of such SEC. 16. All sums heretofore appropriated for the military and SEC. 17. That all premiums paid on account of insurance converted under the provisions of Title III hereof shall be deposited and covered into the Treasury to the credit of the United States Government life insurance fund and shall be available for the payment of losses, dividends, refunds, and other benefits provided for under such insurance, including such liabilities as shall have been or shall hereafter be reduced to judgment in a district court of the United States or in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Payments from this fund shall be made upon and in accordance with awards by the director. The bureau is authorized to set aside out of the fund so collected such reserve funds as may be required, under accepted actuarial principles, to meet all liabilities under such insurance; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to invest and reinvest the said United States Government life insurance fund, or any part thereof, in interest-bearing obligations of the United States or bonds of the Federal farm-loan banks and to sell said obligations of the United States or the bonds of the Federal farm-loan banks for the purposes of such fund. SEC. 18. That the Comptroller General of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to allow credit in the accounts of the disbursing clerk of the bureau for all payments of insurance installments hereafter made, without verification of the deduction on the pay rolls, of such premiums as may have accrued prior to January 1, 1921, while the insured was in the service. SEC. 19. That no claim agent or attorney except the recognized representatives of the American Red Cross, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and such other organizations as shall be approved by the Director, shall be recognized in the presentation or adjudication of claims under Titles II, III, and IV, except that in the event of disagreement as to claim under a contract of insurance between the bureau and any beneficiary or beneficiaries thereunder an action on the claim may be brought against the United States either in the Supreme Court of the obsolete July 1930.46 Stat. 991. § 3 Amended July 1930, 46 Stat. 1016 Amended July 3, 1930, 46 Stat. 1016 Obsolete July 3. 1930, 46 Stat. 992. § 4 U. S. C. 38: 446 District of Columbia or in the district court of the United States in SEC. 20. That for the purpose of this Act the marriage of the SEC. 21. That where any payment under this Act is to be made to a minor, other than a person in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to a person mentally incompetent, or under other legal disability adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction, such payment may be made to the person who is constituted guardian, curator, or conservator by the laws of the State or residence of claimant, or is otherwise legally vested with responsibility or care of the claimant or his estate: Provided, That prior to receipt of notice by the bureau that any such person is under such other legal disability adjudged by some court of competent jurisdiction, payment may be made to such person direct: Provided further, That for the purpose of payments of benefits under Title II hereof, where no guardian, curator, or conservator of the person under a legal disability has been appointed under the laws of the State or residence of the claimant, the director shall determine the person who is otherwise legally vested with responsibility or care of the claimant or his estate: And provided further, That the director, in his discretion, may suspend such payments to any such guardian, curator, conservator, or other person who shall neglect or refuse, after reasonable notice, to render an account to the director from time to time showing the application of such payments for the benefit of such minor or incompetent beneficiary. 81074 0-51-2 gust 12, 1935, SEC. 22. That the compensation, insurance, and maintenance and Repealed Ausupport allowance payable under Titles II, III, and IV, respectively, 49 Stat. 609, shall not be assignable; shall not be subject to the claims of creditors of $3 any person to whom an award is made under Titles II, III, or IV; and shall be exempt from all taxation: Provided, That such compensation, insurance, and maintenance and support allowance shall be subject to any claims which the United States may have, under Titles II, III, IV, and V, against the person on whose account the compensation, insurance, or maintenance and support allowance is payable. U. S. C. 38: 448 U. S. C. 38: 449 That the provisions of this section shall not be construed to prohibit the assignment by any person to whom converted insurance shall be payable under Title III of such Act of his interest in such insurance to any other member of the permitted class of beneficiaries. 4. 1925, 43 SEC. 23. The discharge or dismissal of any person from the military Obsolete March or naval forces on the ground that he is guilty of mutiny, treason, Stat. 1303, § 3 spying, or any offense involving moral turpitude, or willful and persistent misconduct, of which he has been found guilty by a courtmartial, or that he is an enemy alien, conscientious objector, or a deserter, shall terminate any insurance granted on the life of such person under the provisions of Title III and shall bar all rights to any compensation under Title II, or any insurance under Title III, or any maintenance and support allowance under Title IV: Provided, That as to converted insurance, the cash surrender value thereof, if any, on the date of such discharge or dismissal shall be paid the insured, if living, and if dead to the designated beneficiary: Provided further, That an enemy alien who volunteered or who was drafted into the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States during the World War, and who was not discharged from the service on his own application or solicitation by reason of his being an enemy alien, and whose service was honest and faithful, shall be entitled to the benefits under Titles II, III, and IV hereof: Provided further, That in case any person has been dishonorably discharged from the military or naval forces as a result of a court-martial trial, and it is thereafter established to the satisfaction of the director that at the time of the commission of the offense resulting in such court-martial trial and discharge that such person was insane, such person shall be entitled to the compensation, insurance, and vocational training benefits under Titles II, III, and IV hereof: Provided further, That this section shall be deemed to be in effect as of April 6, 1917, and the director is hereby authorized and directed to make provision by bureau regulation for payment of any insurance claim or adjustment in insurance premium account of any insurance contract which would not now be affected by this section as amended. SEC. 24. That if after induction by the local draft board, or after being called into Federal service as a member of the National Guard, but before being accepted and enrolled for active service, the person died or became disabled as a result of disease contracted or injury suffered in the line of duty and not due to his own willful misconduct involving moral turpitude, or as a result of the aggravation, in the line of duty and not because of his own willful misconduct involving moral turpitude, of an existing disease or injury, he or those entitled thereto shall receive the benefits of compensation payable under Title II; and any insurance application made by such person after induction by the local draft board but before being accepted and enrolled for active service shall be deemed valid. SEC. 25. Any person who between the 6th day of April, 1917, and the 11th day of November, 1918, applied for enlistment or enrollment in the military or naval forces, and who was accepted provisionally and directed or ordered to a camp, post, station, or other place for final acceptance into such service, shall be deemed to have the same status as an inducted man not yet accepted and enrolled for active service during the period while such person was complying with such order or direction, and during such compliance, U.S. C. 38: 452 U.S. C. 38: 455 U. S. C. 38: 456 and until his final acceptance or rejection for enlistment or Obsolete July 2, 1926, 44 SEC. 26. That the amount of the monthly installments of com- SEC. 27. That all payments of compensation and insurance hereto- SEC. 29. The director is authorized, in his discretion, to sell, lease, Obsolete July 3. 1930, 46 Amended July 3, 1930, 46 Stat. SEC. 30. That all files, records, reports, and other papers and docu- Amended July ments pertaining to any claim for the benefits of this Act, whether 31.016 pending or adjudicated, shall be deemed confidential and privileged and no disclosure thereof shall be made except as follows: (a) To a claimant or his duly authorized representative, as to matters concerning himself alone, when in the judgment of the director such disclosure would not be injurious to the physical or mental health of the claimant; (b) Where required by the process of a United States court to be produced in any suit or proceeding therein pending; or when such production is deemed by the director to be necessary in any suit or proceeding brought under the provisions of this Act; (c) In all proceedings in the nature of an inquest into the mental competency of a claimant, and in all other judicial proceedings, when in the judgment of the director such disclosure is deemed necessary and proper; (d) The amount of compensation or training allowance of any (+) added July beneficiary shall be made known to any person who applies for such Stat. 994. § 7 information. § 31 repealed, March 4, 1925 43 Stat. 1304 New § 31 inserted $ 33 added July 2, 1926 44 Stat. 792 Wherever the production of a file, record, report, or other document 32 added is required or permitted by this section a certified copy thereof may be produced in lieu of the original, and such certified copy shall be received in evidence with like force and effect as the original. SEC. 31. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to any conscientious objector who refused to perform military duty or refused to wear the uniform, or to any alien who was discharged from the military or naval forces prior to November 11, 1918, on account of his alienage. TITLE II.-COMPENSATION AND TREATMENT. SEC. 200. For death or disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the military or naval service on or after April 6, 1917, and before July 2, 1921, or for an aggravation or recurrence of a disability existing prior to examination, acceptance, and enrollment for service, when such aggravation was suffered and contracted in, or such recurrence was caused by, the military or naval service on or after April 6, 1917, and before July 2, 1921, by any commissioned officer or enlisted man, or by any member of the Army Nurse Corps (female) or of the Navy Nurse Corps (female) when employed in the active service under the War Department or Navy Department, the United States shall pay to such commissioned officer or enlisted man, member of the Army Nurse Corps (female), or of the Navy Nurse Corps (female), or, in the discretion of the director, separately to his or her dependents, compensation as hereinafter provided; but no compensation shall be paid if the injury, disease, aggravation, or recurrence has been caused by his own willful misconduct: Provided, That no person suffering from paralysis, paresis, or blindness, or from constitutional lues requiring hospitalization, as the result of disease, shall be denied compensation while a patient in a Veterans' Bureau hospital by reason of willful misconduct. That for the purposes of this section every such officer, enlisted man, or other member employed in the active service under the War Department or Navy Department who was discharged or who resigned prior to July 2, 1921, and every such officer, enlisted man, or other member employed in the active service under the War Department or Navy Department on or before November 11, 1918, who on or after July 2, 1921, is discharged or resigns, shall be conclusively held and taken to have been in sound condition when examined, accepted, and enrolled for service, except as to defects, disorders, or infirmities made of record in any manner by proper authorities of the United States at the time of, or prior to, inception of active service, to the extent to which any such defect, disorder, or infirmity was so made of record: Provided, That an ex-service man who is shown to have or, if deceased, to have had, prior to January 1, 1925, neuropsychiatric disease, an active tuberculous disease, paralysis agitans, encephalitis lethargica, or amoebic dysentery developing a 10 per centum degree of disability or more in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (4) of section 202 of this Act shall be presumed to have acquired his disability in such service between April 6, 1917, and July 2, 1921, or to have suffered an aggravation of a preexisting neuropsychiatric disease, tuberculosis, paralysis agitans, encephalitis lethargica, or amoebic dysentery in such service between said dates, and said presumption shall be conclusive in cases of active tuberculous disease, but in all other $$ 34-36 added May 29, 1928. 45 Stat. 965, $$ 4-6 $$ 37-39 added July 3, 1930, 46 Stat. 994-995 $200 largely 20. 1933. 48 Stat. 11. § 17 repealed March |