* Served in Union Army or Navy during the civil war.

NOTE.-Employees at pension agencies were made subject to the civil-service rules for appointment by the extension of the classification by the President's order of July 15, 1895. NOTE.-Term of office expires four years from Date of present appointment."

NAVY PENSION Fund.

The money accruing to the United States from sale of prizes constitutes a fund, which must remain forever a fund for the payment of pensions to the officers, seamen, and marines who may be entitled to receive the same. The law provides that if such fund be insufficient for the purpose the public faith is pledged to make up the deficiency.

It does not appear that there was any navy pension fund in 1861, but in 1862 it amounted to $1,356,000, and in 1864 to $6,055,585. It now amounts to about $14,000,000. The interest on the fund up to 1868 was more than sufficient to pay navy pensions, and in that year a law was passed reducing the interest on said fund to 3 per cent per annum.

Since 1870 the amount derived from the interest on this fund has been inadequate to pay all navy pensions, and the provision which pledges the public faith to make up the deficiency has been brought into operation since that date.

During the past four years the interest on the navy pension fund available for the payment of navy pensions has been as follows:

The amounts paid during said years for navy pensions were as follows:

It will readily appear that the amount of interest on the navy pension fund made available for the payment of navy pensions during the period above noted was in fact less than 10 per cent of the actual payments made in connection with that branch of the service.

In the naval appropriation act of 1870 it was provided that the present and all future appropriations for the support of the United States Naval Asylum at Philadelphia, Pa., should be charged to and paid from the income of the naval pension fund.

This fund is also charged with the payment of the half-pay allowance made to disabled seamen or marines for twenty years' service, and the allowance made by the Secretary of the Navy to disabled persons who have served in the Navy or Marine Corps for a period of ten years. These allowances are separate from and in addition to any pension to which these persons are entitled under existing laws.

WHO ARE ENTITLED TO PENSIONS.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

The act of March 18, 1818, thirty-five years after the termination of the Revolutionary war, was the first general act passed granting a pension for service only. Its beneficiaries were required to be in indigent circumstances and in need of assistance.

About 1820 Congress became alarmed at the large number of applicants for pensions under this act (there were about 8,000), and, on May 1, 1820, passed what has been known as the "alarm act," which required all pensioners then on the roll to furnish a schedule of the amount of property then in their possession. Many of the pensioners whose

schedules showed they possessed too much property were dropped from the rolls. Pensioners were dropped who owned as small an amount as $150 worth of property.

On May 15, 1828, or forty-five years after the war, service pension was granted to those who served to the end of the war of the Revolution.

On June 7, 1832, or forty-nine years after the close of the war, a general law was enacted pensioning all survivors who served not less than six months in said war.

On July 4, 1836, being fifty-three years after the termination of the war, an act was passed granting pension for five years to Revolutionary war widows, provided they were married to the soldier or sailor before the close of his last service and that his service was not less than six months.

On July 7, 1838, or fifty-five years after the close of the war, the above act was amended so as to provide where the marriage took place before January 1, 1794.

On July 29, 1848, or sixty-five years after the war, the above laws were amended to include those who were married prior to January 1, 1800.

On February 3, 1853, or seventy years after the war, an act was passed striking out the limitation as to date of marriage.

WAR OF 1812.

The first law granting pension for service in the war of 1812 was passed February 14, 1871, fifty six years after the close of the war. This act required sixty days' service, and widows were not entitled unless they were married to soldier or sailor prior to the treaty of peace, February 17, 1815.

The act of March 9, 1878, sixty-three years after the close of the war, reduced the period of service to fourteen days, and made no limitation as to date of marriage in case of widows.

WAR WITH MEXICO.

On January 29, 1887, thirty-nine years after the close of the war, an act was passed providing for soldiers and sailors and their widows for service of sixty days, if 62 years of age, or disabled or dependent.

INDIAN WARS,

On July 27, 1892, fifty years after period included in the act, pension was provided for those who served thirty days in the Black Hawk, Creek, Cherokee, and Florida war with Seminole Indians from 1832 to 1842 and to their widows.

There has never been any law pensioning widows of soldiers whose death was due to service in time of peace prior to March 4, 1861.

No provision has ever been made for mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters if the death of soldier or sailor resulted from service prior to March 4, 1861.

The laws relating to pension have been more liberal since 1861 than they were prior to that date.

To make it plainer, as an illustration of this fact, I will cite the case of a sailor who lost both arms in the service and line of duty prior to March 4, 1861. He would be entitled to a rating beginning at $3.50 per month and to the various rates provided from time to time to February 12, 1889, when he would receive $100 per month.

ACTS OF JULY 14, 1862, AND MARCH 3, 1873.

Any officer, soldier, sailor, or marine, disabled by reason of wound received or disease contracted in the service of the United States, and in the line of duty, may be pensioned for such disability during its continuance.

In case of his death from causes originating as above set forth, his widow or his child or children under 16 years of age become entitled to pension. If he left no widow or child under 16, his dependent mother, father, or orphan sisters and brothers are entitled in the order named.

ACT OF JUNE 27, 1890.

Any officer, soldier, sailor, or marine who served ninety days or more in the military or naval service of the United States during the late war of the rebellion, who has been honorably discharged therefrom, and who is suffering from disability of a permanent character, not the result of his own vicious habits, which incapacitates him from the performance of manual labor in such a degree as to render him unable to earn a support, is entitled to pension under this act of not less than $6 per month nor more than $12 per month.

In case of the death of any person named above, his widow becomes entitled to pension, provided she married him prior to June 27, 1890, and that she is without other means of support than her daily labor. If she remarries or dies, the child or children of such soldier or sailor under the age of 16 years becomes entitled.

ACT OF AUGUST 5, 1892.

All women employed by the Surgeon-General of the Army as nurses during the late war of the rebellion for a period of six months or more and who were honorably relieved from such service, are granted a pension, provided they are unable to earn a support.

SERVICE PENSIONS.

There is no law granting service pension to any person for service rendered since the war with Mexico.

RULES ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON PENSIONS, UNITED STATES SENATE, JANUARY 11, 1898.

1. Consideration will not be given to any bill which has not first been submitted to the Pension Bureau for adjudication, unless conclusive proof is presented that the claimant has no pensionable status before the Bureau. Claims passed upon by the Bureau, whether allowed or rejected, will not be entertained by this committee until a period of at least one year has elapsed.

2. Where original pension or increase of pension has been allowed by special act, no proposition for additional pension will be entertained by this committee.

3. Bills providing for the payment of arrears will not be considered in any case.

4. Bills proposing to pension children of soldiers will not be entertained except in cases where the child has been idiotic, deformed, or otherwise mentally or physically incapacitated from birth or early childhood, and then only in cases of destitution.

INT 99-MIS, PT 1—8

5. Bills for increasing pensions by special act, which have been granted by the Bureau at the maximum rate under the act of June 27, 1890, will not be given consideration, except in cases of actual destitution or extreme physical disability: Provided, however, That where pension has been allowed under the act of June 27, 1890, and a rejected claim exists under the general law, the equities in the latter claim will be considered with a view to increase.

6. Bills proposing to pension men who were not mustered into service, except in cases where they performed actual military duty and were wounded, or unless some special or extraordinaey service was rendered in connection with the Army, are not admissible.

7. No widow's pension will be granted by special act in excess of the maximum rate allowed by law, except in cases of destitution, to be substantiated by sworn testimony, including the claimant's affidavit; and in no case will a higher rate than $50 per month be allowed.

8. This committee will not give consideration to any bill which proposes to restore to the roll the name of a widow of a soldier whose pension was forfeited by remarriage, unless she was the wife of a soldier during the war and is now a widow in actual need.

9. Bills proposing to pension the brothers and sisters of soldiers will not be given favorable consideration.

10. As a rule, bills for original pension will be given consideration in preference to those for increase.

11. Bills will be promptly referred to a subcommittee upon request of any Senator, but all bills referred to subcommittees must be reported back to the full committee for action before being reported to the Senate. 12. An authorized statement, by a member of the committee or by the Senator introducing a bill, as to the circumstances of the claimant, will be required when satisfactory evidence does not appear among the papers accompanying the bill.

RULES ADOPTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON PENSIONS, HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES.

I. Consideration will not be given to any bill which has not first been presented to and settled by the Pension Bureau, unless it shall appear that claimant has no pensionable status under any general law.

II. Bill proposing to increase pensions by special act in cases where the existing pension was so granted will not be considered.

III. Bills providing for the payment of arrears will not be considered. IV. Bills for those not enlisted will not be considered except for disability incurred in action.

V. Bills for original pension exceeding in rate the general law, provisions for same disabilities or rank, will not be favorably considered. VI. Bills granting pension by private act to children or other descendants of soldiers or sailors will not be considered.

VII. Where dependency is required to be shown, it must be by the affidavits of disinterested persons, except that when members introducing such bills have personal knowledge of the facts, their written statements may be accepted.