234 



CONGRESS. (THE DEPENDENT PENSION BILL.) 





lished policy of the United States to maintain the 

 two metals on a parity with each other upon the pres- 

 ent legal ratio, or such ratio as may be provided by 

 law. 



" SEO. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

 each month coin two million ounces of the silver 

 bullion purchased under the provisions of this act 

 into standard silver dollars until the 1st day of July, 

 1891, and after that time he shall coin of the silver 

 bullion purchased under the provisions of this act as 

 much as may be necessary to provide for the redemp- 

 tion of the Treasury notes herein provided for^ and 

 any gain or seigniorage arising from such coinage 

 shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury. 



" SEC. 4. That the silver bullion purchased under 

 the provisions of this act shall be subject to the re- 

 quirements of existing law and the regulations of the 

 mint service governing the methods of determining 

 the amount of pure silver contained, and the amount 

 of charges or deductions, if any, to be made. 



" SEC. 5. That so much of the act of Feb. 28, 

 1878, entitled ' An act to authorize the coinage of the 

 standard silver dollar and to restore its legal-tender 

 character,' as requires the monthly purchase and 

 coinage of the same into silver dollars of not less than 

 $2,000,000 nor more than $4,000,000 worth of silver 

 bullion, is hereby repealed. 



" SEC. 6. That upon the passage of this act the 

 balances standing with the Treasurer of the United 

 States to the respective credits of national banks for 

 deposits made to redeem the circulating notes of such 

 banks, and all deposits thereafter received for like 

 purpose, shall be covered into the Treasury as a mis- 

 cellaneous receipt, and the Treasurer of the United 

 States shall recfeem from the general cash in the 

 Treasury the circulating notes of said banks which 

 may come into his possession subject to redemption ; 

 and upon the certificate of the Comptroller of the Cur- 

 x rency that such notes have been received by him and 

 that they have been destroyed and that no new notes 

 will be issued in their place, reimbursement of their 

 amount shall be made to the Treasurer, under such 

 regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may 

 prescribe, from an appropriation hereby created, to be 

 known as 'National bank notes: Redemption ac- 

 count,' but the provisions of this act shall not apply 

 to the deposits received under section 3 of the act of 

 June 20, 1874, requiring every national bank to keep 

 in lawful money with the Treasurer of the United 

 States a sum equal to 5 per cent, of its circulation, to 

 be held and used for the redemption of its circulating 

 notes ; and the balance remaining of the deposits so 

 covered shall, at the close of each month, be reported 

 on the monthly public debt statement as debt of the 

 United States bearing no interest. 



" SEC. 7. That this act shall take effect thirty days 

 from and after its passage." 



The conference report was adopted by the 

 Senate July 10 by the following vote : 



YEAS Aldrich, Allen, Allison, Blair, Casey, Cul- 

 lom, Davis, Dawes, Dixon. Dolph, Edmunds, Evarts, 

 Farwell, Frye, Ilawley, Hurgins, Hiscock, Hoar, In- 

 galls, Jones of Nevada, McMillan, Manderson, Mitch- 

 ell, Moody, Pettigrew, Pierce, Platt, Plumb, Power, 

 Quay, Sanders, Sawyer, Sherman, Spooner, Squire, 

 Stewart, Stockbridge, Wash burn, Wolcott 39. 



NAYS Barbour, Bate, Blackburn, Call, Carlisle, 

 Cockrell, Coke, Colquitt, Daniel, Faulkner, Gibson, 

 Gorman, Hampton, Harris, Jones ot Arkansas, Ken- 

 na, McPherson, Pasco, Pugh-Kansom, Kea<nm, Tur- 

 pie, Vance, Vest, Voorhees, Walthall 26. 



ABSENT Berry, Blodgett, Brown, Butler, Cameron, 

 Chandler, Eustis, George, Gray, Hale, Hearst, Mor- 

 gan, Morrill, Paddock Payne, Stanford, Teller, Wil- 

 son of Iowa, Wilson of Maryland 19. 



The House of Representatives adopted the 

 conference report July 12 by a vote of 112 yeas 

 to 90 nays. 



The President approved the measure July 14. 



The Dependent Pension Bill. On March 

 31, 1890, the Senate passed a bill " granting pen- 

 sions to ex-soldiers and sailors who are incapaci- 

 tated for the performance of manual labor, and 

 providing for pensions to dependent relatives of 

 deceased soldiers and sailors." On April 30 the 

 House of Representatives passed the measure 

 after amending it so as to make it cover the case 

 of every surviving soldier or sailor of sixty-two 

 years of age as in the Mexican- War pension bill. 

 The Senate non-concurred in the House amend- 

 ments and conferrees were appointed but failed 

 to agree. A second conference committee sub- 

 mitted the following measure as amended : 



Be it enacted, etc., That in considering the pension 

 claims of dependent parents the fact of the soldier's 

 death by reason of any wound, injury, casualty, or dis- 

 ease which, under the conditions and limitations of 

 existing laws would have entitled him to an invalid 

 pension, and the fact that the soldier left no widow or 

 minor children having been shown as required by law 

 it shall be necessary only to show by competent and 

 sufficient evidence that such parent or parents are 

 without other present means of support than their own 

 manual labor or the contributions of others not legally 

 bound for their support : Provided, That all pensions 

 allowed to dependent parents under this act shall 

 commence from the date of the filing of the applica- 

 tion hereunder and shall continue no longer than the 

 existence of the dependence. 



SEC. 2. That all persons who served ninety days or 

 more in the military or naval service of the United 

 States during the late war of the rebellion and who 

 have been honorably discharged therefrom, and who 

 are now or who nuay hereafter be suffering from a men- 

 tal or physical disability of a permanent character not 

 the result of their own vicious habits, which inca- 

 pacitates them from the performance of manual labor 

 in such a degree as to render them unable to earn a 

 support, shall, upon making due proof of the fact ac- 

 cording to such rules and regulations as the Secretary 

 of the Interior may provide, be placed upon the list of 

 invalid pensioners of the United StateSj and be en- 

 titled to receive a pension not exceeding $12 per 

 month, and not less than $6 per month, proportioned 

 to the degree of inability to earn a support, and such 

 pension shall commence from the date of the filing of 

 the application in the Pension Office, after the pas- 

 sage of this act, upon proof that the disability then 

 existed, and shall continue during the existence of the 

 same : Provided, That persons who are now receiving 

 pensions Bunder existing laws, or whose claims are 

 pending in the Pension Office, may by application to 

 the Commissioner of Pensions, in such torm as he 

 may prescribe, showing themselves entitled thereto, 

 receive the benefits of this act ; and nothing herein 

 contained shall be so construed as to prevent any 

 pensioner thereunder from prosecuting his claim and 

 receiving his pension under any other general or spe- 

 cial act : Provided, however, That no person shall re- 

 ceive more than one pension for the same period: 

 And provided further, That rank in the service shall 

 not be considered in applications filed under this act. 



SEC. 3. That if any officer or enlisted man who 

 served ninety days or more in the army or navy ot 

 the United States during the late war of the rebellion, 

 and who was honorably discharged, has died or shall 

 hereafter die, leaving a widow without other means 

 of support than her daily labor, or minor children 

 under the age of sixteen years, such widow shall, up- 

 on due proof of her husband's death, without proving 

 his death to be the result of his army service, be 

 placed on the pension roll from the date of the appli- 

 cation therefor under this. act, at the rate of x.s per 

 month during her widowhood, and shall also be 

 paid $2 per month for each child of such officer or 

 enlisted man under sixteen years of age, and in case 

 of death or remarriage of the widow, leaving a child 



