THE BUREAU OF PENSIONS: ORGANIZATION CHAPTER I HISTORY The Bureau of Pensions of the Department of the Interior has for its chief functions the execution of the laws granting pensions on account of military or naval service to the United States, and laws making provision for the retirement of civil service employees. The military and naval pensions granted by the national government on account of service prior to October 6, 1917, and administered by the United States Bureau of Pensions fall within three general classes: (1) Those granted on account of disability or death incurred during service; (2) those granted on account of service, regardless of disability incurred in service in certain wars or battles; and (3) pensions granted by special acts of Congress. The pensions granted on account of disability or death are for military and naval officers, and for enlisted men disabled in the line of duty in the military or naval service; and for widows and children and certain other dependents of all officers and enlisted men who were killed or have died from injuries sustained or diseases contracted in the line of duty in such service. The service pensions are granted to persons who have served in certain specified wars, and to their widows and children, without reference to disabilities incurred or diseases contracted in the service and regardless of the cause of death of the service man. Service pensions are now being paid on account of service in the War of 1812; the War with Mexico; a number of specified Indian Wars, the Civil War, the War with Spain, the Philippine Insurrections, and the China Relief Expedition. In addition to the pensions granted under general pension acts, special acts are passed by Congress granting pensions or increases of pensions in cases which do not come within the provisions of the general acts. Another form of relief or reward for service with the armed forces of the United States, was the issuing of warrants for land, known as "bounty-land warrants." The earliest grants of this kind were for service in the War of the Revolution. The last act granting such warrants was approved March 3, 1855, and related to service previous to that time. Occasionally, however, a bountyland case comes up requiring the attention of the Bureau of Pensions. The Bureau of Pensions also has charge of the adjudication and payment of annuities, refunds, and allowances under the Civil Service Retirement Act of May 22, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 614). A great body of laws has been enacted making some form of provision for the pensioning of service men and their dependents. Many of these remain on the statute books and are technically in operation, although the last of the beneficiaries of the acts have long since died. The earlier legislation for men in the military service and their widows and children provided for the granting of pensions only on account of disability and death incurred in the line of duty. Service pension legislation came later, but originally applied only to persons who were indigent. The pensions that have been granted under the various acts were either for death and disability incurred in the regular military or naval service in times of peace as well as war, or for a certain measure of service rendered in specified wars. In recent years the age of the beneficiary has been taken into consideration in the fixing of rates in the case of service pensions. Section 312 of the act of October 6, 1917, as amended by the act of June 25, 1918, while not affecting pensions for service previous to that date, was designed to abolish the pension system for all future military or naval service, substituting therefor the so-called compensation system. This act was amended on December 24, 1 40 Stat. L., 398, 408. 2 40 Stat. L., 609, 613. 1919, so as to make it effective as of April 6, 1917, the date of the entry of the United States into the World War. April 6, 1917, was, therefore, the date of demarcation between the pension and the compensation systems. The activities of the Pension Bureau, in so far as the World War claims are concerned, are confined to cases filed prior to December 24, 1919, based on death or disability of service origin between April 6 and October 6, 1917, the disposition of which was not disturbed by the amendatory act of December 24, 1919. The pension system, however, was restored by the acts of August 9, 1921, and September 22, 1922. The first of these two acts has a provision that no person admitted into the military or naval forces of the United States after six months from August 9, 1921, "shall be entitled to the compensation or any other benefits or privileges provided under the provisions of Article III of the War Risk Insurance Act, as amended." The act of September 22, 1922, directs that Section 312 of the act of October 6, 1917, as amended "shall not be construed as making the pension laws inapplicable to persons admitted into the military or naval service after six months from the passage of the act of August 9, 1921." This means in effect the restoration of the general law pension system, in place of the compensation system, for all persons entering the military or naval service on and after February 9, 1922. A history of each of the important classes of pensions follows: Regular Army and Navy Pensions. The granting of military pensions to disabled soldiers was a practice in the colonies for over a century before the Revolutionary War. The earliest provisions made by the national government for pensioning persons incurring disability in the service of the regular army were contained in the act of April 30, 1790 (1 Stat. L., 101), regulating the military establishment of the United States. The fundamental law for regular army pensions, until the time of the Civil War, was the act of March 16, 1802 (2 Stat. L., 135), which provided pensions for certain officers and soldiers in the peace establishment, disabled in the line of duty, the pension not to exceed one-half of the monthly pay of officers and $5 per month for |