"(2) The acquisition of large quantities of such property for speculative purposes should not be permitted.

"(3) The prices at which any particular property or class of property is sold or leased should be uniform.

"(4) Such property should be sold or leased at prices low enough to facilitate the disposition thereof, but high enough to enable the United States to secure a fair return therefor.

"(5) The sale or lease of such property should be at a rate which will not unduly disrupt trade and commerce.

"(6) The sale or lease of such property should take into consideration the need for facilitating and encouraging the establishment in the various communities in the several States by members of the armed forces of the United States upon their discharge or release from active duty, as well as by others, of small business enterprises and with a view to strengthening small business enterprises.

"(d) The sale or lease of surplus property shall be in accordance with such regulations as the Board shall prescribe regarding the times, places, quantities, and terms and conditions of the proposed disposition of such property; and such regulations shall require advertising for competitive bids except in such cases and with respect to such property as the Board determines that sales or leases by competitive bids would be contrary to the public interest.

"EXCLUSIVE METHOD OF DISPOSING OF SURPLUS PROPERTY

"SEC. 206. No surplus property shall be sold, leased, or disposed of otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this title, except that where provisions of law are in force specifically authorizing the sale or other disposition of any particular property or class of property, such property or class of property may be sold or otherwise disposed of in accordance with such provisions of law if the Board approves such action as being consistent with the public interest.

"TRANSFERS BETWEEN GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES

"SEC. 207. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this title, governmental agencies shall make the fullest practicable utilization of surplus property in order to avoid waste and unnecessary expense, and for such purposes surplus property may be transferred from one governmental agency to another, in lieu of its sale or lease pursuant to the provisions of this title. Such transfers shall be made subject to such regulations as the Board shall prescribe.

"DISPOSITION OF NONSALABLE PROPERTY

"SEC. 208. Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, surplus property which is not salable, or which for any other reason it is impracticable to transfer, sell, or lease as provided in this title, shall be repaired, rehabilitated, donated, destroyed, or disposed of in accordance with such regulations as the Board shall prescribe.

"PROCEEDS FROM SALE OR LEASE OF SURPLUS PROPERTY

"SEC. 209. All proceeds from the sale or lease of surplus property under this title shall be deposited and covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.

"MISCELLANEOUS

"SEC. 210. (a) The Board is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation, subject to the civil-service laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, of such employees as may be necessary for the performance by the Board of its functions under this title.

"(b) Each member of the Board appointed thereto by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and each member of any advisory committee appointed by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation under this title, shall be paid compensation at the rate of $ per diem when actually engaged in the performance of his duties under this title, and shall be allowed necessary traveling expenses and subsistence expenses (not in excess of $ per day) incurred when absent from his place of residence in connection with the performance of such duties."

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78TH CONGRESS 2d Session

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

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REPORT No. 1246

PROVIDING EFFECTIVE DATE OF AWARDS OF DEATH PENSION OR COMPENSATION IN CASES OF PERSONS MISSING OR MISSING IN ACTION, TO AUTHORIZE PAYMENT OF SUCH BENEFITS FROM THE DATE OF DEATH OF SUCH PERSON AS REPORTED OR FOUND BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR OR THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY

MARCH 9, 1944.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. MAY, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 3528]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3528) to provide effective date of awards of death pension or compensation in cases of persons missing or missing in action, to authorize payment of such benefits from the date of death of such person as reported or found by the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy, and for other purposes, having considered the same, submit the following report thereon, with the recommendation that it do pass.

The purpose of the bill is to prevent concurrent payments of death pension, or compensation and family allowance under the act of June 23, 1942 (Public, No. 625, 77th Čong., as amended) or allotment of pay under the act of March 7, 1942 (Public No. 490, 77th Cong., as amended, or of active service pay, exclusive of the 6 months' death gratuity, over the same period in any case where a factual determination of the date of death made by the Veterans' Administration as required by law or regulation for the purpose of making payments of death pension or compensation benefits under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration antedates the date of a finding of death made by the War Department or Navy Department pursuant to section 5 of Public, No. 490, Seventy-seventh Congress, March 7, 1942, as amended by Public, No. 848, Seventy-seventh Congress, approved December 24, 1942.

There was forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on September 20, 1943, by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs a draft of the bill which was introduced as H. R. 3528. The letter

to the Speaker advises that the proposed legislation has the approval of the Bureau of the Budget. The letter of transmittal, containing a detailed explanation of the need for and the effect of the proposed legislation, is as follows:

Hon. SAM RAYBURN,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

SEPTEMBER 20, 1943.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There are forwarded herewith two copies of a draft of a proposed bill entitled “A bill to provide effective date of awards of death pension or compensation in cases of persons missing or missing in action to authorize payment of such benefits from the date of death of such person as reported or found by the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy, and for other purposes," with the request that same be introduced and referred to the appropriate committee for consideration.

The purpose of the bill is to prevent concurrent payments of death pension, or compensation and family allowance under the act of June 23, 1942 (Public, No. 625, 77th Cong., as amended) or allotment of pay under the act of March 7, 1942 (Public No. 490, 77th Cong., as amended) or of active service pay, exclusive of the 6 months' death gratuity, over the same period in any case where a factual determination of the date of death made by the Veterans' Administration as required by law or regulation for the purpose of making payments of death pension or compensation benefits under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration antedates the date of a finding of death made by the War Department or Navy Department pursuant to section 5 of Public No. 490, Seventy-seventh Congress, March 7, 1942, as amended by Public, No. 848, Seventy-seventh Congress, approved December 24, 1942. (Nothing herein stated applies to insurance contracts as benefits thereunder accrue from actual date of death.)

Section 5 of Public, No. 490, Seventy-seventh Congress, as amended by Public, No. 848, Seventy-seventh Congress, December 24, 1942, provides, as to persons missing or missing in action, for a review of the case by the Secretary of War or Navy, as the case may be, and for a continuance of the person's missing status after a period of 12 months has elapsed from the date of commencement of such absence if the person may reasonably be presumed to be living, or for a finding of death by the service department concerned. The law requires, when a finding of death is made that it shall include the date upon which death shall be presumed to have occurred for the purposes of termination of crediting pay and allowances, settlement of accounts, and payment of death gratuities and that such date shall be the day following the day of expiration of an absence of 12 months, or in cases in which the missing status shall have been continued, a day to be determined by the head of the department. This finding of death, in other words, is a date arbitrarily fixed pursuant to law for the purposes above stated.

At the time the proposed amendment to section 5 of Public No. 490, Seventyseventh Congress, was under consideration (S. 2917; H. R. 7844, 77th Cong.), which thereafter was enacted into law as Public No. 848, Seventy-seventh Congress, December 24, 1942, I pointed out in a report dated December 4, 1942, to the Director, Bureau of the Budget, who advised that there would be no objection to submission of the report to the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, that the proposed amendment would authorize the head of the service department concerned to make a finding of death without any evidence to support such finding other than absence of the individual for a period of 12 months or more and that such finding would not relieve the Veterans' Administration of the necessity of determining the fact of death in claims for benefits under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration. To overcome this objectionable feature of the bill, I proposed a substitute provision which would have authorized continuance of the absentee in a missing status where there was ro affirmative evidence of his death, otherwise, the issuance of a report of death based upon satisfactory evidence which would have been sufficient for the Veterans' Administration to accept as it does other official reports of deaths occurring in service. This proposal was rejected by the War and Navy Departments on the ground that they specifically desired authority to make such finding when the circumstances under which the absentee disappeared made it appear probable to the head of the department that the absentee should be presumed to be dead, such presumptive finding being necessary in order that they might close and settle their accounts. In lieu of the proposal of the Veterans' Administration, the War and Navy Departments agreed to a

modification of the pending bill and assured the Veterans' Administration that information available in connection with adjudication of claims would be furnished the Veterans' Administration in every case where practical and proper to do so and, eventually, in all cases.

Because of the strong conviction of the War and Navy Departments concerning the need of authority to make presumptive findings of death under the circumstances covered by the proposed amendment of section 5 of Public No. 490, Seventy-seventh Congress, and the admitted necessity of permitting such departments to function on a practical basis, I reluctantly concluded I should not oppose enactment of the bill. I felt confident at that time that, both in principle and from the standpoint of good administration, the recommendations of the Veterans' Administration were sound and that experience would make clear the necessity for further legislation on this subject. After the enrolled bill was received, con-. ferences were held, and after the bill was approved further conferences, at the direction of the President, were held among representatives of the War and Navy Departments, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Veterans' Administration. As a result, certain agreements were reached as to operation under the statute with a clear understanding that the Veterans' Administration would recommend such amendatory legislation as might be found necessary with respect to the laws pertaining to veterans. This recommendation is made accordingly.

In the adjudication of claims for death benefits under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration neither the provisions of section 5 of Public, No. 490, Seventy-seventh Congress, as amended, nor the agreement of February 4, 1943, contemplate or require of the Veterans' Administration that a person who disappeared under circumstances which would lead to the reasonable conclusion that such person died on the date of disappearance should be carried as missing solely because his body was not recovered, nor does a finding by the service department concerned that such person has been missing for a period of 12 months or more and that he died at the end of that period preclude the Veterans' Administration from examining the facts including the finding to determine for purposes of the laws administered by it the date of death. In adjudicating such claims, the date of death, in the majority of cases, is important. For example, awards of death pension granted to dependents of deceased veterans of World War II are effective as of the day following the date of death of the veteran if claim is filed within 1 year following date of death, otherwise the award becomes effective from date of claim. Under regulations promulgated pursuant to law prescribing the evidence required to establish proof of death, it is provided that in cases wherein proof of death cannot be furnished, a finding of fact of death may be made where death is otherwise shown by competent evidence. The best evidence, which from the nature of the case is supposed to exist, must be furnished in these cases. Hence, in cases of persons reported as missing or missing in action, where a finding of death has been made by the service department concerned, the Veterans' Administration in adjudicating claims of death benefits is required to make a factual determination of the date of death, and in many instances this factual determination based upon the evidence will antedate the finding of death made by the service department concerned for Public, No. 490 purposes only. Further, in a rather large number of cases the report of death is made by the service department promptly upon receipt of proof of death but months after actual date of death-allowances having been paid in the meantime. Death pension or compensation in such cases under the present law is payable from date of death of the veteran if claim is filed within one year thereafter and may cover the same period during which family allowance, allotment of pay or active service pay has been paid or is payable by the War or Navy Department.

During the First World War, allotments and family allowances were originally authorized under sections 200 to 210 of the act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. 402-405). Section 307 of that act provided:

"SEC. 307. That compensation shall not be payable for death in the course of the service until the death be officially recorded in the department under which he may be serving. No compensation shall be payable for a period during which the man has been reported 'missing' and a family allowance has been paid for him under the provisions of article II."

A similar provision was contained in section 207 of the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended (U. S. C., title 38, sec. 496). In the absence of a similar provision in the law now in force, prohibiting payment of death pension or compensation benefits for any period during which a person in service has been reported as missing or missing in action and family allowance, or allotment of pay or active service pay has been paid or is payable, the Veterans' Administration under the

circumstances described in the preceding paragraph would make payments of death pension or compensation to the dependents of such person and concurrent payments of family allowance or allotment of pay or active service pay.

The proposed legislation will meet the purpose heretofore stated by providing that as to death pension or compensation the effective date of an award under Public Law No. 2, Seventy-third Congress, shall be the day following the date fixed by the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy as the date of death in his report of death or finding of death, if claim be filed prior to 1 year after report or finding of death is made. Such provision will prevent concurrent payments of death pension or compensation and pay and allowances, allotments, or family allowances over the same period where the date of death as factually determined by the Veterans' Administration antedates the report of death or finding of death by the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy and claim is filed within 1 year from date of death as factually determined under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration. It would also remove an injustice which would result where payments of death pension or compensation would have to be made effective, under existing law, from date of claim due to the inability of the claimant to file claim within 1 year from the date of death as factually determined by the Veterans' Administration where such factual finding made antedated the finding of death by the service department by more than 1 year. It is further provided that death pension or compensation under the laws administered by the Veterans' Administration shall not be payable to any dependent for any period for which such dependent has received, or is entitled to receive, an allowance, allotment, or service pay of the deceased. This provision is to cover cases where allowance, allotment, or service pay has been paid for any period after the date of death fixed by the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy.

Due to the number of casualties in the present war in the category of missing persons, all of which give rise to potential claims for death pension or compensation benefits, the need for such legislation is apparent, and it is urgent that such legislation be secured at the earliest possible date.

The enclosed draft of bill has been prepared in collaboration with representatives of the War and Navy Departments and those Departments join in recommending its enactment.

Advice has been received from the Bureau of the Budget that there would be no objection to this proposed legislation being submitted to the Congress for its consideration.

Very truly yours,

FRANK T. HINES, Administrator.

NOVEMBER 13, 1943.

The report of the Secretary of War is as follows:

Hon. ANDREW J. MAY,

Chairman, Committee on Military Affairs,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. MAY: The War Department recommends enactment of H. R. 3528, Seventy-eighth Congress, a bill to provide effective date of awards of death pension or compensation in cases of persons missing or missing in action, to authorize payment of such benefits from the date of death of such person as reported or found by the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy, and for other purposes.

The purpose of this bill is to provide that where the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy has made a report of death or finding of death in the case of a person in active land or naval service, the effective date of award of death pension or compensation payable by the Veterans' Administration under Public Law No. 2, Seventy-third Congress, as amended, shall be the date fixed by the Secretary as the date of death in such report or finding, provided that claim be filed prior to 1 year after such report or finding has been made. The bill would also prohibit payment of death pension or compensation under the laws administered by the Veterans' Administration to any dependent for any period during which such dependent has received, or is entitled to receive, an allowance, allotment, or service pay of the deceased.

This legislative proposal was sponsored by the Veterans' Administration after collaboration with representatives of the War and Navy Departments.

The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report.

Sincerely yours,