Act July 25, 1882, Vol. 22, p. 175. Act May 29, 1920, Vol. 41, p. 671. Act Aug. 24, 1912, Vol. 37, p. 497. to procure the attendance of a witness to be examined, is of opinion that the interests of the United States require the attendance of counsel at the examination, or require legal investigation of any claim pending in his department or bureau, he shall give notice thereof to the Attorney General, and of all facts necessary to enable the Attorney General to furnish proper professional service in attending such examination, or making such investigation, and it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to provide for such service. Sec. 23. Additional authority for subpoena for witnesses.That in addition to the authority conferred by section one hundred and eighty-four, title four of the Revised Statutes, any judge or clerk of any court of the United States in any State, District, or Territory shall have power, upon the application of the Commissioner of Pensions, to issue a subpoena for a witness, being within the jurisdiction of such court, to appear, at a time and place in the subpoena stated, before any officer authorized to take depositions to be used in the courts of the United States, or before any officer, clerk, or person from the Pension Bureau designated or detailed to investigate or examine into the merits of any pension claim and authorized by law to administer oaths and take affidavits in such investigation or examination, there to give full and true answers to such written interrogatories and cross-interrogatories as may be propounded, or to be orally examined and cross-examined upon the subject of such claim; and witnesses subpoenaed pursuant to this and the preceding section shall be allowed the same compensation as is allowed witnesses in the courts of the United States, and paid in the same manner. Sec. 24. Per diem allowance of $4 for special examiners.For per diem at not exceeding $4 in lieu of subsistence for persons employed in the Bureau of Pensions, detailed for the purpose of making special investigations pertaining to said bureau and for actual and other necessary expenses, * * * Sec. 25. Copies of records to be furnished; fees.-That the Secretary of the Interior, the head of any bureau, office, or institution, or any officer of that department, may, when not prejudicial to the interests of the Government, furnish authenticated or unauthenticated copies of any official books, records, papers, documents, maps, plats, or diagrams within his custody, and charge therefor the following fees: For all written copies, at the rate of fifteen cents for each hundred words therein; for each photolithographic copy, twenty-five cents where such copies are authorized by law; for photographic copies, fifteen cents for each sheet; and for tracings or blue prints the cost of the production thereof to be determined by the officer furnishing such copies, and in addition to these fees the sum of twenty-five cents shall be charged for each certificate of verification and the seal attached to authenticated copies: Provided, That there shall be no charge for the making or verification of copies required for official use by the officers of any branch of the Government: Provided further, That only a charge of twenty-five cents shall be made for furnishing authenticated copies of any rules, regulations, or instructions printed by the Government for gratuitous distribution. SEC. 2. That nothing in this act shall be construed to limit or restrict in any manner the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem proper governing the inspection of the records of said department and its various bureaus by the general public, and any person having any particular interest in any of such records may be permitted to take copies of such records under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 3. That all authenticated copies furnished under this act shall be admitted in evidence equally with the originals thereof. SEC. 4. That all officers who furnish authenticated copies under this act shall attest their authentication by the use of an official seal, which is hereby authorized for that purpose. Note. Sec. 5 relates wholly to the Patent Office and Indian Affairs. SEC. 6. That all sums received under the provisions of this act shall be deposited in the Treasury to the credit of miscellaneous receipts. CHAPTER II. PENSIONS FOR DISABILITIES INCURRED IN, OR DEATH DUE TO, SERVICE PRIOR TO Section. MARCH 4, 1861. 1. The first Federal law relating to pensions. 2. Invalid pensions to soldiers of the military peace establishment. 3. Death of officer in service from wounds; pension for widows and children. 4. Invalid pensions for "Known wounds"; 5. Rates of pension for known wounds. 7. Rates provided for various ranks. 9. Invalid pensions for Black Hawk War. 10. Indian depredations in Florida; volunteers or militia; widows and children. 11. Invalid pensions for Creek War, etc. Act Sept. 29, 1789, Vol. 1, p. 95. Act Mar. 16, 2, p. 135. Section. 14. Navy pensions payable from Navy pension fund. 15. Widows' and minors' five years' half pay. 16. Widows' and children's pensions for War of 1812 and various Indian wars. 17. Invalid pensions to soldiers of War of 1812. 18. Invalid pensions for war with Mexico. 19. Pension to widows and children, war with Mexico. 20. Commencement from date of filing last requisite paper. 21. Revenue cutters cooperating with the Navy. 22. Pensions to certain privateersmen. 23. Rates for widows of Revolution increased to $8. 24. Certain Navy rates not to be reduced. Note. Only a few of the numerous laws enacted prior to March 4, 1861, relating to the subject of pensions have been embodied in this chapter. The great majority of such statutes have long since become obsolete, and those appearing in this chapter have been selected with a view to indicating the trend of the legislation of that period and because of their historical interest. Section 1. The first Federal law relating to pensions. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the military pensions which have been granted and paid by the States respectively, in pursuance of the acts of the United States in Congress assembled, to the invalids who were wounded and disabled during the late war, shall be continued and paid by the United States, from the fourth day of March last, for the space of one year, under such regulations as the President of the United States may direct. Note. This provision was continued in force from time to time by subsequent statutes. Sec. 2. Invalid pensions to soldiers of the Military Peace 1802, sec. 14, Vol. Establishment.-If any officer, noncommissioned officer, musician or private, in the corps composing the peace establishment shall be disabled by wounds or otherwise, while in the line of his duty in public service, he shall be placed on the list of invalids of the United States, at such rate of pay and under such regulations as may be directed by the President of the United States for the time being: Provided always, That the compensation to be allowed for such wounds or disabilities to a commissioned officer shall not exceed, for the highest rate of disability, half the monthly pay of such officer at the time of his being disabled or wounded; and that no officer shall receive more than the half pay of a lieutenant colonel; and that the rate of compensation to noncommissioned officers, musicians, and privates shall not exceed five dollars per month: And provided also, That all inferior disabilities shall entitle the person so disabled to receive an allowance proportionate to the highest disability. Sec. 3. Death of officer in service from wounds; pension for Act Mar. 16, widow and children.-And be it further enacted, that if any 1802, sec. 15, Vol. 2, p. 135. commissioned officer in the military peace establishment of the United States, shall, while in the service of the United States, die, by reason of any wound received in actual service of the United States, and leave a widow, or if no widow, a child or children under sixteen years of age, such widow, or if no widow, such child or children shall be entitled to and receive half the monthly pay, to which the deceased was entitled at the time of his death, for and during the term of five years. But in case of the death or intermarriage of such widow, before the expiration of the said term of five years, the half pay, for the remainder of the time, shall go to the child or children of such deceased officer: Provided always, That such half pay shall cease on the decease of such child or children. p. 376. Sec. 4. Invalid pensions for known wounds, War of Revolu- Sec. 1, Act Apr. tion. Any commissioned officer or noncommissioned officer, mu- 10, 1806, Vol. 2, sician, soldier, marine, or seaman disabled in the actual service of the United States, while in the line of his duty, by known wounds received during the Revolutionary War, and who did not desert the service, or who in consequence of disability as aforesaid resigned his commission or took a discharge, or who after incurring disability as aforesaid was taken captive by the enemy and remained either in captivity or on parole until the close of said Revolutionary War, or who in consequence of known wounds received as aforesaid has at any period since become, and continued, disabled in such manner as to render him unable to procure a subsistence by manual labor, whether such officer, musician, soldier, marine, or seaman served as a volunteer in any proper service against the common enemy or belonged to a detachment of the militia which served against the common enemy, or to the regular forces of the United States, or of any particular State, shall, upon substantiating his claim, be placed on the pension list of the United States during life or the continuance of such disability, and be entitled to receive such sum as shall be found just and proper by the testimony adduced. * * * Sec. 4, Act Apr. 10, 1806, Vol. 2, Every pension or increase thereof by virtue of this act shall commence on the day when the claimant shall have completed his p. 377. testimony before the authority proper to take the same. Sec. 5. Rates of pension for known wounds.-A full pension given by this act to a commissioned officer shall be one-half of the monthly pay legally allowed at the time of incurring said disability to his grade in the forces raised by the United States; and Sec. 6, Act Apr. 10, 1806, Vol. 2, p. 377. the proportions less than a full pension shall be the correspondent proportions of said half pay; and a full pension to a noncommissioned officer, musician, soldier, marine, or seaman shall be five dollars a month, and the proportions less than a full pension shall be the like proportions of five dollars a month; but no pension of a commissioned officer shall be calculated at a higher rate than the half pay of a lieutenant colonel. Sec. 6. Pension for known wounds; campaign on the WaSec. 3, Act Apr. 10, 1812, Vol. 2, bash.-Every officer according to the rank assigned him by Govp. 705. ernor Harrison which he held on the seventh day of November, eighteen hundred and eleven, noncommissioned officer and private of the volunteers and militia, who served in the campaign on the Wabash against the hostile Indians, and who has been disabled by known wounds received in said service, shall be placed on the list of invalids of the United States at such rate of pension as shall be directed by the President of the United States: Provided, That the rate of compensation for such wounds and disabilities shall never for the highest disability exceed half the monthly pay of such officer, and that the rate of compensation to a noncommissioned officer or private shall never exceed five dollars per month, and all inferior disabilities shall entitle the person so disabled to receive a sum in proportion to the highest disability; but no pension of a commissioned officer shall be calculated at a higher rate than the half pay of a lieutenant colonel. Sec. 1, Act Apr. Sec. 7. Rates provided for various ranks.--All persons of the 24, 1816, Vol. 3, ranks hereinafter named who may have been on the military penp. 296. sion roll of the United States on the twenty-fourth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixteen, shall from and after that date be entitled to and receive for disabilities of the highest degree the following sums in lieu of those to which they were then entitled, to wit: a first lieutenant, seventeen dollars; a second lieutenant, fifteen dollars; a third lieutenant, fourteen dollars; an ensign, thirteen dollars; and a noncommissioned officer, musician, or private, eight dollars per month; and for disabilities of a degree less than the highest, a sum proportionably less. Sec. 1639, R. S. Sec. 8. Invalid pensions to soldiers of the militia.-All laws Sec. 3, Act Apr. and regulations relating to the admission of the officers and sol24, 1816, Vol. 3, diers of the Regular Army to be placed on the pension roll of the p. 297. United States shall, and they are hereby declared to, relate equally to the officers and soldiers of the militia whilst in the service of the United States. Sec. 4, Act June Sec. 9. Invalid pensions for Black Hawk War.-The officers, 15, 1832, Vol. 4, noncommissioned officers, and privates raised for the protection p. 533. and defense of the northwestern frontier of the United States shall be entitled to the like compensation, in case of disability by wounds or otherwise incurred in the service, as is allowed by sections one hundred and nine and one hundred and ten of this act, to officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates in the Military Establishment of the United States. Act Mar. 19, Sec. 10. Indian depredations in Florida; volunteers or militia; 1836, Vol. 5, p. widows and children.--That the volunteers or militia, who have been or who may be received into the service of the United 7. |