opponents of pensions. Until recent wars, poor medical records for those in the Armed Forces and unduly strict requirements to establish service connection for certain disabilities were important factors underlying the demand for pensions. Changing economic conditions, especially the changing condition of the Federal Treasury, have also had their influence upon the development of pensions. As a rule, pension laws were enacted or liberalized during periods of Treasury surplus. On the other hand, the only two significant attempts to curtail benefits were made during periods of budgetary stringency, in 1820 and in 1933. Economic Security for Veterans Stripped of all passing considerations, the main concern of pension legislation for veterans has been to keep them and their kin from want and degradation. Pensions for Revolutionary War veterans were to keep them from "being reduced to indigence and even to real distress" in their old age. They were made available to any veteran in "need of assistance from his country for support." Throughout the years this has been the lasting motivation. Even where need was not required to be shown, it was presumed to exist by reason of old age. We have been unwilling as a Nation ever to see the citizen-soldier who had rendered honorable service in wartime reduced to the dishonorable status of a "pauper." Pensions were provided to them as an "honorable" form of economic assistance. To understand the historical preoccupation with this possibility, one must remember that from Colonial days down to the 1930's the only alternative to granting special protection to needy veterans and their dependents was to expose them to the risk of becoming charges of public or private charity. There simply was not available a general first line of defense against the common hazards of economic life: Loss of income due to unemployment, inability to work either because of old age or disablement, and death of the family provider. True, State and local programs of public relief had improved in quality with the country's increasing wealth. The moral contempt for the poor which had been a characteristic of the early days was fading. Yet, the conditions accompanying the receipt of relief retained those very features which denied it the character of an honorable substitute for the normal work income. Disfranchisement, pauper's oaths or, at any rate, designation of the relief recipient as pauper, almshouses, workhouses remained common features of State welfare care as late as our own century. Present Pension Provisions At present, pension provisions are substantially alike for veterans of the "new wars," that is World War I, World War II, and the Korean conflict, but different for those of the "old wars,' mainly the Spanish-American War. Veterans of the "old wars" have enjoyed service pensions payable by reason of service alone or disability or age and regardless of the veteran's other income. Since the pensionable age for Spanish-American War veterans is 62, and since all surviving veterans of that war are older than that, it can be said that all living veterans of that and any other "old war" who have had the minimum period of service required to be eligible (ranging for the most part from 30 to 90 days) are now on the pension roll. The same is true of the survivors of deceased veterans of the "old wars," that is, their widows who are not remarried and their minor or helpless children. Veterans of the "new wars" who have served honorably for 90 days (or less if discharged for a service-connected disability) are eligible for pensions based on disability from any nonservice cause, other than willful misconduct, which makes the veteran unemployable. In the case of veterans below age 55 such disability must be both permanent and total, in addition to causing unemployability. From age 55 on the required extent of the disability is lowered until at age 65 disablement of 10 percent entailing unemployment is sufficient. A further qualifying condition is limited income. The veteran's income from other sources than the pension must not exceed $1,400 per year, or, if he is married or has a minor child, $2,700. The pension rate of $66.15 monthly is the same for all, except that those over 65 and those on the roll 10 years, even though younger, receive $78.75. Those helpless or blind or in need of regular aid and attendance draw a substantially higher rate, $135.45 monthly. Pensions to widows and dependent children of a deceased veteran vary more widely. Those payable to widows and children of the "new wars" are practically the same in all respects but one. World War II and Korean conflict pensions are payable only if the veteran at the time of his death had a serviceconnected disability of some kind. World War I survivors' pensions, like survivors' pensions of the "old wars," are not subject to such a restriction. Orphan children aged 16 and over, up to 18 (or 21 if in school, or any age if helpless-until married) are generally treated alike under all laws. Orphan children below age 16 are favored under the Spanish-American War pension laws by a substantially higher rate of pension. Survivors' pensions under "old wars" legislation are not subject to an income test. Under the pension laws pertaining to the "new wars" the same income limitations apply as are used in determining eligibility for disability pensions. But the income tests are administered separately to the widow and, if she is disqualified on account of excess income, to the children of the deceased veteran. TABLE 1.-Current Rates of Pension Payable to Veterans and Their Survivors Implications for the Future Veterans and survivors who are eligible for service-connected compensation benefits have always constituted a small percentage of those serving in a given conflict. The peak in the compensation roll has always come shortly after the end of each conflict and then has tapered off through the years. The heaviest pension load by contrast, has typically come many years after the end of each conflict, since pension benefits have tended to be payable to veterans on an old-age or nonservice-connected disability basis, or to the widows of deceased veterans. At the present time only a small proportion of the living veterans are in the age 65 and over group. The big pension load for World War I, World War II, and the Korean conflict lies ahead. Chart I shows the projected number of cases which are likely to be on the non-service-connected pension rolls under existing laws, assuming that 50 percent of the veterans over 65 qualify for pensions. At the present time there are about one million veteran and survivor cases on the rolls. In the next few years the World War I load will increase sharply and then after 1965 will tend to decline. However, this decline will be more than offset by an increase in the World War II load, and toward the end of the century, by accession of Korean conflict cases. As the chart shows, by the end of the century it is likely that over 3 1/2 million veteran and survivor cases will be on the benefit rolls. The bulk of this increase will be among veterans, since the number of survivor cases on the rolls at that time is projected at somewhat less than the 400,000 now on the rolls. The increase in the number of cases on the pension rolls would, of course, be much sharper if present laws were liberalized to provide for a "service pension" for all veterans of age 65 and over and to widows of all deceased veterans. As chart II shows, on this assumption the number of cases would increase by the end of the century to over 12 million-more than 3 times the number expected under present laws. Not only the number of veterans on the rolls, but the number of survivor cases too would Millions of Cases CHART I ESTIMATED NUMBER OF VETERAN AND SURVIVOR CASES increase sharply. By the year 2000, the dependents cases on the rolls would number about half the total of 12 million shown in chart II. The Commission's studies indicate that all people, including veterans, tend to have lower incomes after they reach age 65. Accordingly, proposals which would automatically presume all veterans beyond age 65 to be totally disabled or unemployable, |