the hospital and is living, and such pension money shall be by said superintendent disbursed and used, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of the pensioner, and, in the case of a male pensioner, his wife, minor children, and dependent parents, or, if a female pensioner, her minor children, if any, in the order named, and to pay his or her board and maintenance in the hospital; the remainder of such pension money, if any, to be placed to the credit of the pensioner and to be paid to the pensioner or the guardian of the pensioner in the event of his or her discharge from the hospital; or, in the event of the death of said pensioner while an inmate of said hospital, shall, if a female pensioner, be paid to her minor children, and, in the case of a male pensioner, be paid to his wife, if living; if no wife survives him, then to his minor children; and in case there is no wife nor minor children, then the said unexpended balance to his or her credit shall be applied to the general uses of said hospital: Provided further, That in the case of pensioners transferred to the hospital from the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, any pension money to his credit at said home at the time of his said transfer shall be transferred with him to said hospital and placed to his credit therein, to be expended as hereinbefore provided; and in case of his return from said hospital to the home, any balance to his credit at said hospital shall, in like manner, be transferred to said home, to be expended in accordance with the rules established in regard thereto. This provision shall also be applicable to all unexpended pension money heretofore paid to the officers of the said hospital on account of pensioners who were but are not now inmates thereof."

*

Sec. 22. Disbursement of pension money paid to Government Act Feb. 2, 1909, vol. 35, p. Hospital for the Insane (St. Elizabeths Hospital).—* * 592, amending During the time that any pensioner shall be an inmate of the sec. 4839, R. S. Government Hospital for the Insane, all money due or becoming due upon his or her pension shall be paid by the pension agent to the superintendent or disbursing agent of the hospital, upon a certificate by such superintendent that the pensioner is an inmate of the hospital and is living, and such pension money shall be by said superintendent or disbursing agent disbursed and used. under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of the pensioner, and, in case of a male pensioner, his wife, minor children, and dependent parents, or, if a female pensioner, her minor children, if any, in the order named, and to pay his or her board and maintenance in the hospital, the remainder of such pension money, if any, to be placed to the credit of the pensioner and to be paid to the pensioner or the guardian of the pensioner in the event of his or her discharge from the hospital; or, in the event of the death of said pensioner while an inmate of said hospital, shall, if a female pensioner, be paid to her minor children, and, in the case of a male pensioner, be paid to his wife, if living; if no wife survives him, then to his minor children; and in case there is no wife nor minor children, then the said unexpended balance to his or her credit shall be applied to the general uses of said hospital: Provided, That in the case of any pensioner transferred to the hospital from the Na

Sec. 4719, R. S.

.tional Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, any pension money to his credit at said home at the time of his said transfer shall be transferred with him to said hospital and placed to his credit therein, to be expended as hereinbefore provided, and in case of his return from said hospital to the home any balance to his credit at said hospital shall in like manner be transferred to said home, to be expended in accordance with the rules established in regard thereto, and this provision shall also be applicable to all unexpended pension money heretofore paid to the officers of said hospital on account of pensioners who were but are not now inmates thereof.

SEC. 2. That all provisions of law inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 23. Failure to claim pension for three years.-The failure of any pensioner to claim his pension for three years after the same shall have become due shall be deemed presumptive evldence that such pension has legally terminated by reason of the pensioner's death, remarriage, recovery from the disability, or otherwise, and the pensioner's name shall be stricken from the list of pensioners, subject to the right of restoration to the same on a new application by the pensioner, or, if the pensioner is dead, by the widow or minor children entitled to receive the accrued pension, accompanied by evidence satisfactorily accounting for the failure to claim such pension, and by medical evidence in cases of invalids who were not exempt from biennial examinations as to the continuance of the disability.

Note. See sections 4768 and 4769, Revised Statutes (p. 107), and act of July 4, 1884 (p. 107), relative to payment of attorney fee by disbursing clerk when certified for payment by the Commissioner of Pensions.

Section 1. The medical referee and his duties.-The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to appoint a duly qualified surgeon as medical referee, who, under the control and direction of the Commissioner of Pensions, shall have charge of the examination and revision of the reports of examining surgeons, and such other duties touching medical and surgical questions in the Pension Office as the interests of the service may demand; and his salary shall be two thousand five hundred dollars per annum. And the Secretary of the Interior is further authorized to appoint such qualified surgeons (not exceeding four) as the exigencies of the service may require, who may perform the duties of examining surgeons when so required, and who shall be borne upon the rolls as clerks of the fourth class; but such appointments shall not increase the clerical force of said bureau.

Sec. 2. Appointment of civil examining surgeons.-The Commissioner of Pensions is empowered to appoint, at his discretion, civil surgeons to make the periodical examinations of pensioners which are or may be required by law, and to examine applicants for pension, where he deems an examination by a surgeon appointed by him necessary; and the fee for such examinations, and the requisite certificates thereof in duplicate, including postage on such as are transmitted to pension agents, shall be two dollars, which shall be paid by the agent for paying pensions in the district within which the pensioner or claimant resides, out of any money appropriated for the payment of pensions, under such regulations as the Commissioner of Pensions may prescribe. Sec. 3. Special physical examinations of claimants or pensioners.-Examining surgeons duly appointed by the Commissioner of Pensions, and such other qualified surgeons as may be employed in the Pension Office, may be required by him, from time to time, as he deems for the interest of the Government, to make special examinations of pensioners, or applicants for pension, and such examinations shall have precedence over previous examinations, whether special or biennial; but when injustice is alleged to have been done by an examination so ordered, the Commissioner of Pensions may, at his discretion, select a board

Sec. 4776, R. S.

Sec. 4777, R. S.

Sec. 4775, R. S.

Sec. 3, act June 21, 1879, vol. 21, p. 30.

Sec. 4, act July

p. 175.

of three duly appointed examining surgeons, who shall meet at a place to be designated by him, and shall review such cases as may be ordered before them on appeal from any special examination, and the decision of such board shall be final on the question so submitted thereto, provided the commissioner approve the same. The compensation of each of such surgeons shall be three dollars, and shall be paid out of any appropriations made for the payment of pensions, in the same manner as the ordinary fees of appointed surgeons are or may be authorized to be paid.

Sec. 4. Biennial examinations discontinued; commissioner may increase or reduce pensions.-That sections forty-seven hundred and seventy-one, forty-seven hundred and seventy-two, and forty-seven hundred and seventy-three of the Revised Statutes of the United States, providing for biennial examinations of pensioners, are hereby repealed: Provided, That the Commissioner of Pensions shall have the same power as heretofore to order special examinations, whenever, in his judgment, the same may be necessary, and to increase or reduce the pension according to right and justice; but in no case shall a pension be withdrawn or reduced except upon notice to the pensioner and a hearing upon sworn testimony, except as to the certificate of the examining surgeon.

Sec. 5. Boards of examining surgeons.-That the Commis25, 1882, vol. 22, sioner of Pensions is hereby authorized to appoint surgeons who, under his control and direction, shall make such examination of pensioners and claimants for pension or increased pension as he shall require; and he shall organize boards of surgeons, to consist of three members each, at such points in each State as he shall deem necessary, and all examinations, so far as practicable, shall be made by the boards, and no examination shall be made by one surgeon excepting under such circumstances as make it impracticable for a claimant to present himself before a board: Provided, That the commissioner may, when in his opinion the exigencies of the service require it, organize a board of three surgeons who, under his direction, shall review the work of any regularly appointed board or surgeon: Provided further, That all examinations shall be thorough and searching, and the certificate contain a full description of the physical condition of the claimant at the time, which shall include all the physical and rational signs and a statement of all structural changes.

Expert.

The fee for each examination, and satisfactory certificate thereof, shall be two dollars to each member when made by a board, and two dollars when made by one surgeon: Provided, That when the claimant is so disabled as not to be able to present nimself to a board of surgeons for examination, the commissioner may order a surgeon to make the examination at the claimant's residence; and the fee for such examination shall be two dollars, in addition to the payment of the actual traveling expenses of the surgeon: Provided further, That no fee shall be allowed or paid to any member of such board of examining surgeons who does not actually participate in such examination and sign the certificate thereof.

The commissioner may, when in his judgment the degree of disability can not be determined truthfully or satisfactorily ex

cepting by expert examination, employ an expert, not a regularly appointed surgeon, to make the examination; and the fee for such examination shall be five dollars: Provided, That the fee for an expert examination shall not be paid to any regularly appointed examining surgeon.

The fee for the examination of claimants who reside out of the United States shall not exceed ten dollars, which shall be paid, upon the presentation of satisfactory vouchers, out of the appropriation for the payment of the examining surgeons, and through the United States consulate nearest to the claimant's place of residence.

Foreign.

1894, vol. 28, p.

Sec. 6. Examining surgeons' reports open to inspection.— Act July 18, * * * Provided, That the report of such examining surgeons 113. when filed in the Pension Office shall be open to the examination and inspection of the claimant or his attorney, under such reasonable rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may provide.

* * And here- Act May 28, 1908, vol. 35, p.

Sec. 7. Fees of examining surgeons.after each member of each examining board shall receive the sum 419. of three dollars for the examination of each applicant whenever five or a less number shall be examined on any one day and one dollar for the examination of each additional applicant on such day: Provided, That if twenty or more applicants appear on one day no fewer than twenty shall, if practicable, be examined on said day, and that if fewer examinations be then made, twenty or more having appeared, then there shall be paid for the first examinations made on the next examination day the fee of one dollar only until twenty examinations shall have been made, and the fee shall be three dollars when the examination is made by one surgeon, and the fee for each examination at the claimant's residence provided his residence is outside of the corporate limits of the place of the regular meeting of the examining board or of the place of residence of the surgeon, making the examination shall be five dollars in addition to the payment of the actual traveling expenses of the surgeon: Provided further, That no fee shall be paid to any member of an examining board unless personally present and assisting in the examination of applicant: And provided further, That the report of such examining surgeons shall specifically state the rating which in their judgment the applicant is entitled to, and the report of such examining surgeons shall specifically and accurately set forth the physical condition of the applicant, each and every existing disability being fully and carefully described. * * *

Act Mar. 3, 1917, vol. 39, p.

Sec. 8. Examining surgeons' fees for home examinations.That hereafter the fee for each examination made at the claim-1132. ant's residence by an examining surgeon of the Bureau of Pensions for use in a pension claim shall be $4, and in lieu of actual traveling expenses there shall be paid 10 cents per mile for the distance actually traveled each way, but not exceeding the distance by the most direct route between the surgeon's office and the claimant's home.