Section. CHAPTER XIV. SPECIAL ACTS OF CONGRESS; OATHS AND EXECUTION OF PAPERS. 1. Report to Congress of certain claims. 2. Detail of clerks to committees of House. 3. Pensions under special act; suspected fraud; suspension. 4. Special act not in addition to other pension. 5. Special-act pension on account of helpless child. 6. Special-act pensions equalized. 7. Modifying certain special acts of Sixty-first Congress. Section 1. Report to Congress of certain claims.-That the Res. May 29, 1830, vol. 4, p. heads of departments, who may severally [be] charged with the 430. (See also administration of the pension laws of the United States of Ch. I, sec. 1.) America, be, and they hereby are, respectively, directed and required, as soon as may be after the opening of each session of Congress, to present to the Senate and House of Representatives, a several list of such persons, whether Revolutionary, invalid, or otherwise, as shall have made application for a pension, or an increase of pension, and as, in their opinion, respectively, ought to be placed upon the pension roll or otherwise provided for, and for doing which they have no sufficient power or authority, with the names and residence of such persons, the capacity in which they served, the degree of relief proposed, and a brief statement of the grounds thereof, to the end that Congress may consider the same. Res. Feb. 1, 1884, vol. 23, p. Sec. 2. Detail of clerks to committees of House. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and is hereby, authorized if in his 266. opinion the public interests will not suffer thereby, upon the request of either of the committees hereinafter named, to detail from that department one clerk to act as assistant clerk to the House Committee on Pensions, and one clerk to act as assistant clerk to the House Committee on Invalid Pensions. Sec. 3. Pensions under special act; suspected fraud; suspension. When the rate, commencement, and duration of a pension allowed by special act are fixed by such act, they shall not be subject to be varied by the provisions and limitations of the general pension laws, but when not thus fixed the rate and continuance of the pension shall be subject to variation in accordance with the general laws, and its commencement shall date from the passage of the special act, and the Commissioner of Pensions shall, upon satisfactory evidence that fraud was perpetrated in obtaining such special act, suspend payment thereupon until the propriety of repealing the same can be considered by Congress. Sec. 4720, R. S. Act July 25, 176. Sec. 4. Special act not in addition to other pension.—That no person who is now receiving or shall hereafter receive a pension 1882, vol. 22, p.. under a special act shall be entitled to receive in addition thereto a pension under the general law, unless the special act expressly Act Mar. states that the pension granted thereby is in addition to the pension which said person is entitled to receive under the general law. 4, Sec. 5. Special-act pension on account of helpless child.1909, vol. 35, P. That when an additional pension has been, or may hereafter be, 1058. Act June 6, 1874, vol. 18, p. 61. Res. Feb. 27, 1911, vol. 36, p. 1458. Act May 28, 419. granted by special act to a widow or guardian on account of a helpless child, such additional pension shall in no wise affect the rate of pension the widow may be entitled to independent of such additional allowance. Sec. 6. Special-act pensions equalized. That all persons entitled to pensions under special acts fixing the rate of such pensions, and now receiving or entitled to receive a less pension than that allowed by the general pension laws under like circumstances, are, in lieu of their present rate of pension, hereby declared to be entitled to the benefits and subject to the limitations of the general pension laws, entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the laws relating to pensions," approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three; and that this act go into effect from and after its passage: Provided, That this act shall not be construed to reduce any pension granted by special act. Sec. 7. Modifying certain special acts of Sixty-first Congress. That in all laws approved during the Sixty-first Congress having for their object the removal of disabilities accruing from defective records in the military or naval service of the United States, the words "Provided, That, other than as above set forth, no bounty, pay, pension, or other emolument shall accrue prior to or by reason or the passage of this act" shall not prohibit or prevent the granting of a pension on an application made after the approval of this act, and accruing only from the date of said application. Sec. 8. Special-act pensions; illegal fee; penalty. That here1908, vol. 35, P. after no pension attorney, claim agent, or other person shall be entitled to receive any compensation for services rendered in securing the introduction of a bill or the passage thereof through Congress granting pension or increase of pension, and any person who shall, directly or indirectly, contract for, demand, receive, or retain any compensation for such services shall be deemed guilty of an offense, and upon conviction thereof shall, for each and every such offense, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisoned not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the court. Act July 26, 1892, vol. 27, p. 272. Sec. 9. Execution of Declarations and affidavits in pension claims. That declarations of pension claimants shall be made before a court of record, or before some officer thereof having custody of its seal, or before some officer who, under the laws of his State, city or county, has authority to administer oaths for general purposes; and said officers are hereby fully authorized and empowered to administer and certify any oath or affirmation relating to any pension or application therefor: Provided, That where such declaration or other papers are executed before an officer authorized as above, but not required by the laws of his State to have and use a seal to authenticate his official acts, he shall file in the Pension Bureau a certificate of his official character, showing his official signature and term of office, certified by a clerk of a court of record or other proper officer of the State as to the genuineness thereof; and when said certificate has been filed in the Bureau of Pensions his own certificate will be recognized during his term of office. tries. SEC. 2. That the Commissioner of Pensions may accept declara- Foreign countions and other papers of claimants residing in foreign countries made before a United States minister or consul or other consular officer, or before some officer of the country duly authorized to administer oaths for general purposes, and whose official character and signature shall be duly authenticated by the certificate of a United States minister or consul or other consular officer; and declarations in claims of Indians may be made before a United States Indian agent. SEC. 3. That any and all declarations or affidavits now on file in the Pension Bureau which are considered informal by reason of not having been executed in conformity to the laws heretofore in force covering such, and in which it is shown or may be hereafter shown by proper evidence that the same were executed by and before an officer who was duly authorized to administer oaths for general purposes at said date of execution, shall be accepted as formal as from date of filing such declarations or affidavits. SEC. 4. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. Sec. 10. Oaths before notary public or United States commissioner. In all cases in which, under the laws of the United States, oaths or acknowledgments may now be taken or made before any justice of the peace of any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, they may hereafter be also taken or made by or before any notary public duly appointed in any State, district or Territory or any of the commissioners of the circuit courts and when certified under the hand and official seal of such notary or commissioner shall have the same force and effect as if taken or made by or before such justice of the peace. Note.-Office of commissioners of circuit courts abolished, and United States commissioners created by sec. 19, act approved May 28, 1896 (29 Stat. L. 184). Sec. 11. United States commissioner to affix seal.-That each United States commissioner shall provide himself with an official impression seal, to be prescribed by the Attorney General, which said seal shall be affixed to each jurat or certificate of the official acts of said commissioner, but no increase of fees shall be allowed by reason thereof. Sec. 12. Indian agents to administer oaths.-Indian agents are authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds, and other instruments of writing, and to administer oaths in investigations committed to them in Indian country, pursuant to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed for that purpose, by the Secretary of the Interior; and acknowledgments so taken shall have the same effect as if taken before a justice of the peace. Note. The duties of any Indian agency may devolve upon the superintendent of the Indian school located at such agency. (Act March 1, 1907, 34 Stat. p. 1020.) '56710-23-8 Informality cured. Sec. 1778, R. S. Act June 28, 1906, vol. 84, p. 546. Sec. 2064, R. S. Act Aug. 17, 1912, vol. 37, p. 312. Section. 15. Pensions of beneficiaries in naval homes. 16. No payment to treasurers of State homes. 17. Pensions of inmates of National Soldiers' Home. 18. Pensions payable to treasurer of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. 19. Balance of pension due members of Na- 20. Title to personal property after death 22. Disbursement of pension money paid Note. Whenever reference is made to agents for the payment of pensions, it should be considered as being modified by the act of August 17, 1912 (37 Stat. L. 311), which abolished pension agencies and established a new method for the payment of pensions. * * The act of August 17, 1912, appears in full in section 1 of this chapter, except portions relating to salaries and expenses. Section 1. Disbursing clerk and payment of pensions.— * For salary of one disbursing clerk for the payment of pensions, to be selected and appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum, during the last five months of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty. seven cents; and from and after the thirty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, there shall be one disbursing clerk in the Bureau of Pensions to be appointed as aforesaid and who shall receive a salary at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum; and section forty-seven hundred and seventy-eight of the Pension agencies Revised Statutes of the United States authorizing the appointment of agents for the payment of pensions, and section forty-seven hundrd and eighty of the Revised Statutes of the United States, authorizing the establishment of agencies by the President of the United States, are hereby repealed to take effect from and after the thirty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and the existing pension agencies are abolished from and after said date. abolished. Note. By act March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. L. 774), a deputy disbursing clerk, who shall act as chief clerk, was provided for. SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized in the payment of pensions to arrange the pensioners in three groups as he may think proper, and may from time to time change any pensioner or class of pensioners from one group to another as he may deem convenient for the transaction of the public business. The pensioners in the first group shall be paid their quarterly pensions on January fourth, April fourth, July fourth, and October fourth of each year; the pensioners in the second group shall be paid their quarterly pensions on February fourth, May fourth, August fourth, and November fourth of each year; the pensioners in the third group shall be paid their quarterly pensions on March fourth, June fourth, September fourth, and December fourth of each year. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to cause payments of pension to be made for the fractional parts of a quarter which may be made necessary by the transfer of a pensioner from one group to another. Note.-Monthly payment of pensions is provided for by the act of May 3, 1922 (vol. 42, p. 504), and thus the system of quarterly payments by groups is entirely abrogated. Groups of pensioners, SEC. 3. That not later than January first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, pensions shall be paid by checks drawn, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in such form as to protect the United States against loss, without separate vouchers or rePayment withceipts, and payable by the proper assistant treasurer or desig- out vouchers. nated depositary, except in the case of any pensioner in which the law authorizes the pension to be paid to some person other than the pensioner, or in which the Secretary of the Interior may consider a voucher necessary for the protection of the Government. Such checks shall be transmitted by mail to the payee thereof at his last known address. That postmasters, delivery clerks, letter carriers, and all other postal employees are prohibited from delivering any such mail to any person whomsoever, if the addressee has died or removed, or in the case of a widow believed by the postal employee intrusted with the delivery of such mail to have remarried; and the postmaster in every such case shall forthwith return such mail with a statement of the reasons for so doing, and if because of death or remarriage, the date thereof, if known. Checks returned as herein provided on account of the death or remarriage of the pensioner shall be canceled. Note.-Vouchers are required only in cases where the pension is payable to some person other than the pensioner. SEC. 4. That whoever shall forge the indorsement of the person to whose order any pension check shall be drawn, or whoever with the knowledge that such indorsement is forged shall utter such check, or whoever, by falsely personating such person, shall receive from any person, firm, corporation, or officer or employee of the United States the whole or any portion of the amount represented by such check, shall upon conviction be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or be imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Delivery of pen sion check. |