1494. Absentees.-Officers absent on sick leave, and enlisted men absent on sick furlough, or on veteran furlough with the organization to which they belong, shall be regarded in the administration of the pension laws in the same manner as if they were in the field or hospital. Sec. 4700, R. S.

1495. Period of service.-The period of service of all persons entitled to the benefits of the pension laws, or on account of whose death any person may become entitled to a pension, shall be construed to extend to the time of disbanding the organization to which such persons belonged, or until their actual discharge for other cause than the expiration of the service of such organization. Sec. 4701, R. S.

WIDOWS, CHILDREN, AND DEPENDENT RELATIVES.

or

1496. Widows or children, etc.-If any person embraced within the provisions of sections forty-six hundred and ninety-two and fortysix hundred and ninety-three has died since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or hereafter dies, by reason of any wound, injury, or disease which under the conditions and limitations of such sections would have entitled him to an invalid pension had he been disabled, his widow,2 or if there be no widow, in case of her death without payment to her of any part of the pension hereinafter mentioned, his child or children under sixteen years of age, shall be entitled to receive the same pension as the husband or father would have been entitled to had he been totally disabled, to commence from the death of the husband or father, to continue to the widow during her widowhood, and to his child or children until they severally attain the age of sixteen years, and no longer; and if the widow remarry, the child or children shall be entitled from the date of remarriage, except when such widow has continued to draw the pension money after her remarriage, in contravention of law, and such child or children have resided with and been supported by her, their pension will commence at the date to which the widow was last paid. Act of Aug. 7, 1882 (22 Stat. 345).

1497. Addition for each child under sixteen. The pensions of widows shall be increased from and after the twenty-fifth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, at the rate of two dollars per month for each child under the age of sixteen years of the husband on account of whose death the claim has been, or shall be, granted. And

'Paragraphs 1481 and 1482, ante.

* Section 4705 provides, as to enlistments on or before March 3, 1873, that "widows of colored and Indian soldiers," etc., "shall be entitled to receive the pension provided by law without other evidence of marriage" than satisfactory proof of the relation to each other therein specified.

'Amended by act of March 19, 1886 (24 Stat. 5). See also acts of June 9, 1880 (21 Stat. 170), and June 7, 1888 (25 Stat. 173).

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in every case in which the deceased husband has left, or shall leave, no widow, or where his widow has died or married again, or where she has been deprived of her pension under the provisions of the pension law, the pension granted to such child or children shall be increased to the same amount per month that would be allowed under the foregoing provisions to the widow if living and entitled to a pension: Provided, That the additional pension herein granted to the widow on account of the child or children of the husband by a former wife shall be paid to her only for such period of her widowhood as she has been, or shall be, charged with the maintenance of such child or children; for any period during which she has not been, or she shall not be, so charged it shall be granted and paid to the guardian of such child or children: Provided further, That a widow or guardian to whom increase of pension has been, or shall hereafter be, granted on account of minor children shall not be deprived thereof by reason of their being maintained in whole or in part at the expense of a State or the public in any educational institution or in any institution organized for the care of soldiers' orphans. Sec. 4703, R. S.

1498. Increase of pensions. From and after the passage of this Act the rate of pension for widows, minor children under the age of sixteen years, and helpless minors as defined by existing laws, now on the roll or hereafter to be placed on the pension roll and entitled to receive a less rate than hereinafter provided, shall be twelve dollars per month; and nothing herein shall be construed to affect the existing allowance of two dollars per month for each child under the age of sixteen years and for each helpless child; and all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, however, That this Act shall not be so construed as to reduce any pension under any Act, public or private. Sec. 1, Act of Apr. 19, 1908 (35 Stat. 64).

1499. Restriction as to time of marriage.-Hereafter no pension under any law of the United States shall be granted, allowed, or paid to the widow of a soldier, sailor, officer, naval or military, marine, marine officer, or any other male person entitled to a pension under any law of the United States, unless it shall be proved and established that the marriage of such widow to the soldier, sailor, officer, marine, or other person on account of whose service the pension is asked, was duly and legally contracted and entered into prior to the passage of this act, or unless such wife shall have lived and cohabited with such soldier, sailor, officer, marine, marine officer, or other person continuously from the date of the marriage to the date of his death, or unless the marriage shall take place hereafter and prior to or during the military or naval service of the soldier, sailor, officer, marine, or other person on account of whose service

the pension is asked or claimed. This proviso shall not apply to or affect the widow of any soldier, sailor, marine, officer, or marine officer serving or who has served in the war between the United States and the Kingdom of Spain. Act of Mar. 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1380).

1500. Dependent relatives.—If any person embraced within the provisions of sections forty-six hundred and ninety-two and fortysix hundred and ninety-three has died since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or shall hereafter die, by reason of any wound, injury, casualty, or disease, which, under the conditions and limitations of such sections, would have entitled him to an invalid pension, and has not left or shall not leave a widow or legitimate child, but has left or shall leave other relative or relatives who were dependent upon him for support, in whole or in part, at the date of his death, such relative or relatives shall be entitled, in the following order of precedence, to receive the same pension as such person would have been entitled to had he been totally disabled, to commence from the death of such person, namely: First, the mother; secondly, the father; thirdly, orphan brothers and sisters under sixteen years of age, who shall be pensioned jointly: Provided, That where orphan children of the same parent have different guardians, or a portion of them only are under guardianship, the share of the joint pension to which each ward shall be entitled shall be paid to the guardian of such ward: Provided, That if in any case said person shall have left father and mother who were dependent upon him, then, on the death of the mother, the father shall become entitled to the pension, commencing from and after the death of the mother; and upon the death of the mother and father, or upon the death of the father and the remarriage of the mother, the dependent brothers and sisters under sixteen years of age shall jointly become entitled to such pension until they attain the age of sixteen years, respectively, commencing from the death or remarriage of the party who had the prior right to the pension: Provided, That a mother shall be assumed to have been dependent upon her son within the meaning of this section if, at the date of his death, she had no other adequate means of support than the ordinary proceeds of her own manual labor and the contributions of said son or of any other persons not legally bound to aid in her support; and if, by actual contributions, or in any other way, the son had recognized his obligations to aid in support of his mother, or was by law bound to such support, and that a father or minor brother or sister shall, in like manner and under like conditions, be assumed to have been dependent, except that the income which was derived or derivable from his actual or possible manual labor shall be taken into

account in estimating a father's means of independent support: Provided further, That the pension allowed to any person on account of his or her dependence, as hereinbefore provided, shall not be paid for any period during which it shall not be necessary as a means of adequate subsistence. Sec. 4707, R. S.

1501. Remarriage of widow or dependent mother or sister.-The remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister entitled to pension shall not bar her right to such pension to the date of her remarriage, whether an application therefor was filed before or after such marriage; but on the remarriage of any widow, dependent mother, or dependent sister having a pension such pension shall cease: Provided, however, That any widow who was the lawful wife of any officer or enlisted man or other person in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States, as described in paragraphs one, two, and three of section forty-six hundred and ninetythree of the Revised Statutes of the United States, during the period of his service in any war, and whose name was placed or shall hereafter be placed on the pension roll because of her husband's death as the result of wound or injury received or disease contracted in such military or naval service, and whose name has been or shall hereafter be dropped from said pension roll by reason of her marriage to another person who has since died or shall hereafter die, or from whom she has been heretofore or shall be hereafter divorced, upon her own application and without fault on her part, and if she is without means of support other than her daily labor, as defined by the Acts of June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety, and May ninth, nineteen hundred, shall be entitled to have her name again placed on the pension roll at the rate now provided for widows by the Acts of July fourteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and March nineteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, such pension to commence from the date of the filing of her application in the Pension Bureau after the approval of this Act: And provided further, That where such widow is already in receipt of a pension from the United States she shall not be entitled to restoration under this Act: And provided further, That where the pension of said widow on her second or subsequent marriage has accrued to a helpless or idiotic child, or a child or children under the age of sixteen years, she shall not be entitled to restoration under this Act unless said helpless or idiotic child, or child or children under sixteen years of age, be then a member or members of her family and cared for by her, and upon the restoration of said widow the payment of pension to said child or children shall cease. Sec. 4708, R. S., as amended by Sec. 1, Act of Feb. 28, 1903 (32 Stat. 920).

1502. Board of Commissioners, duties.-The Board of Commissioners of the Soldiers' Home shall hereafter consist of the General in Chief commanding the Army, the Surgeon-General, the CommissaryGeneral, the Adjutant-General, the Quartermaster-General, the Judge-Advocate-General and the Governor of the Home, and the General in Chief shall be President of the Board, and any four of them shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; whose duty it shall be to examine and audit the accounts of the treasurer quarter-yearly, and to visit and inspect the Soldiers' Home at least once in every month. The majority shall also have power to establish, from time to time, regulations for the general and internal direction of the institution, to be submitted to the Secretary of War for approval; and may do any other acts necessary for the government and interests of the same, as authorized by this chapter.1 Sec. 4815 R. S., as amended by Sec. 10, Act of Mar. 3, 1883 (22 Stat., 565).

1503. Same.-The commissioners of the Soldiers' Home, by and with the approval of the President, shall procure for immediate use,

The "Military Asylum for the Relief and Support of Invalid and Disabled Soldiers of the Army of the United States" was established by the act of March