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in the registered securities of the United States so much of the fund as is not required for the payment of naval pensions each year. The annual pension appropriation acts have a proviso that the appropriation for Navy pensions shall be paid from the income of the Navy pension fund, so far as the same shall be sufficient for the purpose.

Special Pension Acts. In addition to the pensions granted under the general pension acts, it has been a practice since the beginning of the pension system, and especially since the Civil War, for Congress to pass special acts granting pensions to persons whose claims do not come technically within the provisions of existing law. In many cases the claims had been examined and rejected by the Bureau of Pensions, but were considered meritorious by the pension committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate. In more recent years, many of the special pension acts have been for the purpose of increasing the pensions already received by the beneficiaries on the ground that the circumstances of the particular beneficiary justify a higher rate than the existing law provides. The recording and payment of pensions under special acts are functions of the Bureau of Pensions, although it has no control over the making of the awards.

A number of general acts have been passed, however, which relate to the administration of the special pension acts.

A resolution of Congress adopted May 29, 1830 (4 Stat. L., 43), requires persons charged with the administration of the pension laws to report to Congress lists of persons who have applied for original or increased pensions, and whose cases are meritorious but whose claims cannot be allowed under existing law.

An act of March 3, 1873 (17 Stat. L., 574), provides that where the rate, commencement, and continuance of a pension allowed by special act are not fixed in the act, the rate and continuance are subject to variation in accordance with the general laws, and the commencement dates from the passage of the special act. It also provides that the Commissioner of Pensions may suspend payment upon satisfactory evidence that fraud has been perpetrated in obtaining such special act, until its repeal is considered by Congress.

A section of act of July 25, 1882 (22 Stat. L., 176), provides that a pension under a special act is not to be in addition to one allowed by general law unless so specified in the special act. An act of March 4, 1909 (35 Stat. L., 1058), provides, however, that when an additional pension is granted by special act to a widow or guardian on account of a helpless child, it shall not affect the rate of pension the widow may be entitled to independently of such additional allowance.

The Senate Committee on Pensions in 1913 adopted a set of rules intended to curb some of the practices with reference to special pension claims. In a preface to these rules the committee said, in part:

The Pension Committee was created to consider a very few claims in which, from peculiar circumstances, adequate relief could not be obtained from the Pension Bureau. It was not the intention to have Congress flooded with pension bills, nor is it the policy of the government to provide full support for soldiers or their widows, but solely to prevent absolute want. Unfortunately, the primary and essential purpose of the Pension Committee of Congress has been lost sight of and there seems to be a prevalent opinion that it is proper to bring every sort of claim to the attention of Congress, and in many instances the Pension Bureau and the general laws are wholly ignored.

The rules required that claims shall first go to the Pension Bureau; that pensions granted by special acts shall not be increased; that claimants who are in regular employ of the government will not get favorable consideration; and that consideration will not be given to claims of Army widows who have remarried. There are also other restrictive provisions.

From March 4, 1861 to March 4, 1921, 59,124 pensions were granted by special acts of Congress, 86 per cent having been granted within the past twenty years. At the close of the fiscal year 1921 there were 5233 pensioners under special pension acts on the rolls, the total annual cost of these pensions being $1,577,376.

Civil Service Retirement. On May 22, 1920, an act was approved (41 Stat. L., 614), providing for the retirement of employees in the classified civil service of the federal government, on account of age or disability. This act designated the Bureau of Pensions

as the agency for the adjudication of claims and the payment of annuities, refunds, and allowances made under its provisions.

All the work assigned to the bureau in connection with the adjudication of claims under this act has been centralized in one unit designated as the Retirement Division.

Up to June 30, 1921, 7367 original claims for annuity and 33,500 claims for refund had been filed. The disbursements for the fiscal year on account of annuities were $2,590,568.52, for refunds $322,964.07, and allowances $14.75, making a total of $2,913,547.34.

The provisions of this act are considered in the chapter on Activities.

Pension Administration. The earliest pension acts of September 29, 1789 and July 16, 1790, did not specify any procedure for the administration of the pension system, other than to say that the pensions be continued under such regulations as the President might direct.

The administration of these pension laws was accordingly placed by the President under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War. In the beginning, however, Congress retained control of the actual allowance of claims.

On March 23, 1792 a general pension law was enacted which imposed upon the United States circuit courts the duty of adjudicating the pension claims and requiring them to report to the Secretary of War. The judges unanimously denied the power of Congress to impose such duties upon the judiciary, and Congress yielded by enacting a law February 28, 1793 (1 Stat. L., 324), providing new regulations.

According to these regulations judges of United States district courts, or commissioners appointed by them, received the evidence in the claims and submitted it to the Secretary of War, who placed each case before Congress, the latter having reserved the power of final action.

In 1803 a new invalid pension law was enacted which endowed the Secretary of War with the power of final decision in the allowance of claims. The conferring of this power upon the Secretary of War was again expressed in the act of March 18, 1818.

From 1828 to 1835, the administration of the act of May 15, 1828, granting full pensions to Revolutionary War survivors, was

in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury. In 1835 its administration was transferred to the Secretary of War. Until 1833 the Pension Bureau had been an office under the Secretary of War, created by executive order.

Pensions were also paid from the Navy pension fund, which from 1799 to 1832 was administered by a commission composed of the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of War. In 1832 the management of this fund passed into the hands of the Secretary of the Navy.

On March 2, 1833 (4 Stat. L., 668), an appropriation act was approved providing for the appointment, until the expiration of the next Congress, of a Commissioner of Pensions, "to execute, under the direction of the Secretary of War, such duties in relation to the various pension laws as may be prescribed by the President of the United States." An act of March 3, 1835 (4 Stat. L., 779), continued the office of Commissioner of Pensions for a further term of two years. Further legislation continued the office from time to time until an act of January 19, 1849 (9 Stat. L., 341), gave it a permanent status.

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By the act of March 4, 1840 (5 Stat. L., 369), that part of the pension work theretofore transacted in the Navy Department was transferred to the office of the Commissioner of Pensions, and the Commissioner was directed to execute under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy such duties in relation to the various pension laws as may be prescribed by the President."

With the establishment of the Department of the Interior by the act of March 3, 1849 (5 Stat. L., 395), the Pension Office became a bureau in that department, the Secretary of the Interior having been given supervisory and appellate power over the acts of the Commissioner of Pensions, and this is the present legal status of the Bureau of Pensions.

CHAPTER II

ACTIVITIES

The present functions of the Bureau of Pensions are:

1. The receipt, examination, and adjudication of claims and the payment of pensions provided for by laws enacted by Congress granting pensions on account of service in the Army and Navy rendered wholly prior to October 6, 1917, and on and after February 9, 1922;

2. The settlement of claims for the division of pensions under the act of March 3, 1899;

3. The settlement of claims for accrued pensions of deceased claimants and for the reimbursement of expenses of the last sickness and burial of deceased claimants;

4. The adjudication of claims arising out of bounty-land warrants based upon military or naval service rendered prior to March 3, 1855;

5. The adjudication of claims and the payment of pensions granted by special acts of Congress; and

6. The administration of the act providing for the retirement of civil service employees.

Administration of Military and Naval Pension Acts. Owing to the multiplicity of acts providing for the granting of pensions for service with the United States military and naval forces and for disabilities incurred during such service, and for the widows, children, and other dependents of service men, some of which were enacted in the early years and are still on the statute books, the interpretation and application of these acts are attended with much difficulty. At present there are about twenty octavo printed volumes of opinions of the Secretary of the Interior determining questions that have arisen in pension cases.

The activities of the bureau with regard to the handling of military and naval pension claims consist of dating, recording, jacket

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