was required stating that " he, she, or they are objects of charity," before payment could be made, and in Rhode Island such continued only so long as "they shall stand in need thereof." So during colonial times, the obligation was only recognized if written in the contract and sometimes only with the provision of need.

1777: With the outbreak of the Revolution, the disability pensions provided by the various Colonies were, for the most part, continued until that terrible winter of 1777-78, when Washington became convinced that all would be lost unless something were done to stop the resignations among his officers. His solution of the problem was to promise all officers who should remain in the service to the end of the war, half pay for a period of years after its conclusion, or for life.

1778: On May 15, 1778, such a law was enacted by the Continental Congress fixing the period at seven years. This was the first time in our history that any emoluments had ever been offered by the Government to any members of its armed forces, except for battle wounds; and this made provision for officers only. The law was passed only after the most violent opposition on the part of many Members of the Congress, to the establishment of what was designated as a "favored class."

The conservative attitude of our forefathers in the matter of soldier relief is shown by the statistics of pensions during the 36 years following the Revolutionary War. At no time during that period were there as many as 1,600 names on the rolls, and the annual expense did not reach $120,000. In fact, the total expenditure on the part of the Government for pensions—all invalid-up to the passage of the act of 1818 is much less than that now spent in behalf of our ex-soldiers each calendar day. In that year the Congress passed a law-the first of the so-called service-pension laws-granting to each surviving soldier of the revolution who had served to the end of the war or for a period of nine months, and should be in "need of assistance from his country for support," the sum of $8 per month, and to each officer so serving $20.

To us, with our present-day extensive program of relief for our ex-service men, it seems strange that 36 years should have passed before this legislation was on the statute books, and all the more so that it should have been fought as it was within the walls of Congress. But the war was long, and many served but short periods. The last Revolutionary soldier died in 1869, and the last widow in 1906. The books were closed showing a payment of some $46,000,000 to the veterans themselves, and roughly $25,000,000 to widows and dependents.

THE BUREAU OF PENSIONS

The earliest pension acts of 1789 and 1790 did not specify any procedure for the administration of the pension system other than to provide that the pensions granted should be continued under such regulations as the President might direct.

The President accordingly placed the administration of these earlier laws under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War, although Congress still retained control of the actual allowance of claims.

1792: Under the general pension law of 1792 the duty of adjudicating pension claims was imposed upon the United States circuit courts with the requirement that they should report their actions to the Secretary of War.

1793: This action brought objection from all the judges as an unwarranted interference with the judiciary and resulted in Congress enacting the law of February 28, 1793, which required the judges of the United States district courts or commissioners appointed by them to receive the evidence in the claims and submit it to the Secretary of War, who then placed the individual claims before Congress for action. It will be noted that Congress still reserved the power of final adjudication.

1803: This law was also objected to by the judges, and a new pension law was enacted in 1803, which gave the Secretary of War final power to allow claims. 1828: This authority remained unchanged until 1828 when the administration of the law granting pensions to Revolutionary War survivors was placed in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury, and then in 1835 it was retransferred to the Secretary of War.

Also during the period from about 1799 to 1832 pensions were paid from the Navy pension fund under the administration of the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of War. However,

in 1832 the full management of the fund was placed under the Secretary of the Navy.

1833: On March 2, 1833, the Congress enacted a law providing for the appointment of a Commissioner of Pensions under the direction of the Secretary of War, who was charged with such duties in relation to the various pension laws as might be prescribed by the President.

That part of the pension business transacted under the Secretary of the Navy was also transferred to the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Pensions. The office of Commissioner of Pensions was continued from time to time by subsequent legislation until the act of January 11, 1849, which gave the office a permanent status.

1849: In this year the Department of the Interior was established and the Bureau of Pensions became a part of the new department. The Secretary of the Interior was given certain supervisory and appellate powers. The Bureau of Pensions continued in this status until July 21, 1930, when it was made a part of the new Veterans' Administration in conformity with the act of July 3, 1930, which will be taken up later.

THE NATIONAL HOME FOR DISABLED VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS

The National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established March 3, 1865, following the Civil War. The function and purpose of the home through its various branches, is to provide domiciliary care for its members. The administration of the home was placed in the hands of a Board of Managers. The original act and its amendments provided that the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, the Chief Justice of the United States, and such other persons as might be associated with them, would constitute the board. By subsequent legislation the personnel set-up of this board was changed. Since their establishment the branches have been enlarged and extended from time to time and new branches added. Since the World War the hospital facilities of the national home have been extensively used for veterans of that war and the load of World War veterans for domicilary purposes is rapidly increasing.

Under the consolidation act of July 3, 1930, the national home was placed in the Veterans' Administration along with the Bureau of Pensions and the United States Veterans' Bureau.

THE UNITED STATES VETERANS' BUREAU

The United States Veterans' Bureau is the outgrowth of the former Bureau of War Risk Insurance of the Treasury Department, which was created by the act of September 2, 1914, for the purpose of providing war risk insurance on cargoes and freight vessels of American registry. On June 12, 1917, this original war risk insurance act was amended to provide for insurance of the crews of such vessels against death or injury from risks of war.

WORLD WAR

Upon the declaration of war against Germany and her allies on April 6, 1917, there were in existence and operation various laws, based upon the principles of the system hereinafter described, which could have been enlarged upon to cover the casualties of the war. The benefits provided were of three types: A. The retirement system of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard provided with certain marked limitations for officers and men of the Regular Establishment. Except in the Coast Guard no allowance was made for an enlisted man who had served less than 30 years. No allowance for widows and children of either officers or enlisted men who were killed in the service was made beyond a death gratuity. This was usually equivalent to six months' pay of the deceased, although it went to one year's pay if he died in aviation service and to two years' pay for the widow of an officer or man in the Coast Guard.

B. The general pension laws administered by the Pension Bureau of the Department of the Interior provided for military and naval officers disabled in the Federal service who were not part of the Regular Establishment and, there. fore, not eligible for retirement, for enlisted men who were disabled in the Federal service, and for the widows and children and certain other dependents of officers and enlisted men who were killed in the Federal service, except that

widows of officers and enlisted men in the Coast Guard were not eligible for pension.

C. Service pension laws, also administered by the Pension Bureau, provided for men who had served in specified wars for specific periods and for their widows and children, without reference to any disability incurred in the service or to the cause of death. These included the War of 1812, the war with Mexico, various Indian wars, and the Civil War, and the required length of service varied in the different laws from participation in a single battle to service of 90 days or more. Women nurses who served in the Civil War were eligible to pensions after six months' service. (See governmental provisions in the United States and foreign countries for members of the military forces and their dependents.)

The retirement system in the Regular Army, described in paragraph A above, has not been and will not be discussed herein, inasmuch as it is my understanding that the provisions of the law regulating retirement in the Regular Army are not pertinent to the inquiry now under way. The law providing retirement pay for disabled emergency officers of the World War will be taken up hereinafter.

When confronted with the necessity of legislating for the military forces of the World War, instead of enlarging upon the pension laws already in existence and operation the Congress upon the completion of studies made for its benefit by certain governmental agencies felt that a modern law based upon principles similar to the various workmen's compensation acts was more in harmony with twentieth century ideals. Statesmen and social scientists agreed almost uniformly that a law providing compensation analogous to workmen's compensation acts-that is, at a rate depending upon the reduction in earning capacity in civil occupations-was the most equitable means of caring for the victims of the war and their dependents. There was also the problem of providing for the family of the man while he was still in the service. Accordingly, upon the enactment of the war risk insurance act of October 6, 1917, three distinct types of benefits were provided.

(1) Support during the war of the families and dependents of enlisted men by means of (a) allotments of pay, viz, certain portions of a man's pay were withheld and forwarded directly to his family or dependents; (b) family allowance-money granted by the Government to a wife, a child, and certain other dependents if an allotment had been made in their favor.

(2) Protection in the form of disability and death compensation for those members of the military and naval forces who met death or were disabled, and to their dependents.

(3) Insurance at peace-time rates against permanent and total disability and death for all members of the military and naval forces. All of these features were entirely new in the national military pension system.

ALLOTMENT AND ALLOWANCE

A discussion of allotments and allowances will serve no purpose herein in view of the fact that the administration of that provision of the law has long since been wound up.

COMPENSATION

Article III of the war risk insurance act contained the compensation provisions and provided for payment of compensation for death or disability resulting from injury or disease contracted in line of duty in the active service by commissioned officers or enlisted men, or members of the Army Nurse Corps (female) or of the Navy Nurse Corps (female) when employed under the War and Navy Departments. Injuries or disease caused by claimant's own willful misconduct were not compensable. The benefits provided by Article III were extended to two classes: (1) The dependents of those who lost their lives in the service, and (2) those who were injured or contracted disease in or due to service. As far as the allowances to the widows, children, and dependents on account of the death of the soldier in the service are concerned, very little distinction exists in the principle from the old pension allowances where the man died from wounds. It was in the disability provisions that the new theory of compensation was most apparent, it being provided that payments of compensation should be based upon the reduction in earning capacity resulting from the disability ratings to be based upon the average impairment of earning

capacity resulting from such injuries in civil occupations and not upon the impairment in earning capacity in each individual case, so that there would be no reduction in the rate of compensation for individual success in overcoming the handicap of a permanent injury. The old pension provisions, to be sure, provided for the prorating of the maximum allowances provided according to the degree of disability, but had no reference to the reduction in earning capacity in civil occupations, but simply to the curtailing of the ability of the individual man. The requirement of line of duty was continued, the same as in the old pension legislation, until the enactment of the World War veterans' act on June 7, 1924. when it was eliminated and there was substituted therefor language which obviated the necessity of a finding of "line of duty," requiring only that the disease or injury be contracted in the active military or naval service. The injustices worked by the requirement of "active service" in the cases of drafted men who were disabled or died after reporting, but prior to acceptance and enrollment by the military authorities, were specifically guarded against by the enactment of the amendment of December 24, 1919, bringing such cases within the terms of Article III.

With the enactment of the World War veterans' act, 1924, came a new element in the rating of disabilities, it being required that ratings be based, as far as practicable, upon average impairment of earning capacity resulting from injuries in civil occupations similar to the occupation of the injured man at time of enlistment. This necessitated the compilation of an entirely new schedule of disability ratings which in some cases increased, and in others decreased, the amount of compensation payable, depending upon the pre-war occupation in which the man was engaged. Otherwise the theory of the original war risk insurance act has remained unchanged, as far as the main compensation provision is concerned. Actually, however, the theory of compensation for disability or death incurred in the service, or as a result of an injury or disease contracted in the service, has been departed from to a great extent by the inclusion of the so-called presumptions of service origin for certain specified diseases. These presumptions have their origin in the amendment of August 9, 1921, which, in an effort to bring within the law those exmembers of the military and naval forces who were suffering with pulmonary tuberculosis and neuropsychiatric diseases and who could bring forth no evidence to show direct service connection, provided that those who could show that they suffered from these diseases to an extent of 10 per cent degree of disability within two years after separation from the service should be considered to have acquired the same therein. Whether or not this presumption had any basis in medical science has been disputed, but there seems to be a prevailing opinion to-day that the extent to which it has been stretched, so that persons suffering with the numerous diseases now listed which developed to a disability of 10 per cent degree or more prior to January 1, 1925, are presumed to have incurred the same in the military or naval service, is unjustified, and that there is nothing in medical science to support it. That being so, for the veterans who are entitled thereunder, the provision very closely approaches a service pension. Coupled with the presumption of soundness at time of enlistment, except as to defects, disorders, or infirmities made of record, and the liberal rulings of the Bureau, the right is well nigh impregnable.

In connection with the presumption of soundness it might be said that at the time the original war risk insurance act was passed the assumption was that only men capable of passing the Regular Army and Navy physical examination would be enrolled for service. However, it became necessary from time to time to lower the standards, the need for men in the Army becoming so great that many were taken who were not physically fit. Their subsequent military service, whether of an active fighting nature or simple employment in various duties in and around the military establishment, often aggravated the condition existing at time of entrance into the service, and where, upon discharge, their condition was more serious, it was apparent that compensation should be provided for them. It was, however, very difficult to tell the extent of the aggravation, and this difficulty led to the inclusion in the amendment of June 25, 1918, of a provision that all would be held and taken to have been in sound condition when examined, accepted, and enrolled for service. The broad effect of this language, on the strength of which men who came into the service with amputations and other patent disabilities sought to secure compensation, even when the infirmities were noted, led to a further amendment to this clause on August 9, 1921, excepting from the presumption defects, disorders, or infirmities

made of record by the military authorities at time of, or prior to, inception of active service. Thus this provision stands to-day.

The subrogation feature of Article III was new and provided that where death or disability occurred in the service under circumstances creating a legal liability upon some person other than the United States, or the enemy to pay damage therefor, the ex-service man, as a condition precedent to payment of compensation by the United States, must assign to the United States any right of action to enforce such liability. This subrogation right still survives in the World War veterans' act.

MEDICAL TREATMENT

The pension laws have never provided for the extension of medical or hospital treatment to persons entitled thereunder. Subsequent to the Revolutionary War the Colonial records show that in addition to the pensions provided by some of the individual States invalid pensioners were entitled to have their wounds dressed and healed at the expense of the Colony. No national provision for medical or hospital treatment of disabled veterans appears until the establishment of the Soldiers' Home (Washington, D. C.) after the Mexican War. On March 3, 1851, the Congress enacted a law providing that all members or ex-members of the Army, Regular and Volunteer, who contributed to the support of the military asylum thereby created should be entitled to treatment in said Army asylum under the restrictions and provisions contained therein. Those who were entitled were described in section 4 of that act, as follows:

"Every soldier of the Army of the United States who shall have served, or may serve, honestly and faithfully twenty years in the same, and every soldier, and every discharged soldier, whether regular or volunteer, who shall have suffered by reason of disease or wounds incurred in the service and in the line of his duty, rendering him incapable of further military service, if such disability has not been occasioned by his own misconduct: Provided, That no deserter, mutineer, or habitual drunkard, shall be received without such evidence of subsequent service, good conduct and reformation of character as the commissioners shall deem sufficient to authorize his admission."

This statute has since been amended to permit the admission of the invalid and disabled soldiers, regular and volunteer, of all wars.

Prior to the establishment of the Soldiers' Home any medical treatment received was given in the field by Army surgeons.

On March 3, 1865, prior to the close of the Civil War, certain persons specifically named were constituted and created a body corporate in the District of Columbia, the corporation so constituted to consist of 100 members with power to fill all vacancies created by death, resignation, or otherwise. It was provided that said corporation should be managed by a board of 12 directors who were given authority to procure for "early use" at a suitable place a situation for a military asylum for officers and men of the volunteer forces of the United States totally disabled by wounds received, or sickness contracted, while in line of duty during the "present rebellion." For the support of this asylum it was provided that there should be appropriated all stoppages or fines charged against volunteer officers, soldiers, or seamen by sentence of courts martial or military commission over and above the amounts necessary for the reimbursement of the Government or of individuals, all forfeitures on account of desertions from this volunteer service, and all moneys due deceased volunteer officers, soldiers or seamen unclaimed for three years after death. Said directors were authorized to receive all donations of money or property for the benefit of the asylum and to hold or dispose of the same for its sole and exclusive use.

On March 2, 1866, the organization was changed to some extent and the name "National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers" adopted.

This

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asylum" has now grown into a group of 10 homes, known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. At present the following persons are entitled to admission:

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'Honorably discharged officers, soldiers, sailors, or marines, including women commissioned or enlisted, and Army and Navy nurses under commission, enlistment, appointment, assignment, or contract since April 21, 1898, who served in the regular, volunteer, or other forces of the United States, or in the Organized Militia or National Guard when called into Federal service, and who are disabled by disease or wounds and who have no adequate means of support, and