CONGRESS. (PENSIONS.) 



259 



to him that such name was put upon such roll through 

 false and fraudulent representations, and that such 

 person is not entitled to a pension under this act. 

 The loss of the certificate of discharge shall not de- 

 prive any person of the benefits of this act, but other 

 record evidence of enlistment and service and of an 

 honorable discharge may be deemed sufficient : Pro- 

 vided, That when any person has been granted a 

 land-warrant, under any act of Congress, for and on 

 account of service in the said war with Mexico, such 

 grant shall be prima-facie evidence of his service and 

 honorable discharge ; but such evidence shall not be 

 conclusive, and may be rebutted by evidence that 

 such land- warrant was improperly granted. 



SEO. 4. That the pension laws now in force, which 

 are not inconsistent or in conflict with this act, are 

 hereby made a part of this act, so far as they may be 

 applicable thereto. 



SEC. 5. That section 4716 of the Revised Statutes is 

 hereby repealed, so far as the same relates to this act, 

 or to pensioners under this act. 



SEC. 6. That the provisions of this act shall not ap- 

 ply to any person while under the political disabilities 

 imposed by the fourteenth amendment to the Consti- 

 tution of the United States. 



July 12 this measure was passed by the Sen- 

 ate without a division. The section of the 

 Revised Statutes to be repealed by section 5 of 

 this act forbids the payment of any money, on 

 account of pensions, to any person engaged in 

 the late rebellion against the Government, or 

 to the wido\v, children, or heirs of such person 

 deceased. July 13, the Senate bill as passed 

 was referred to the House Committee on Pen- 

 sions, and no further action was taken. 



In the Senate, by a vote of 34 to 14, a bill 

 was passed May 18, 1886, entitled "A bill for 

 the relief of soldiers of the late war, honorably 

 discharged after three months' service, who are 

 disabled and dependent upon their own labor 

 for support, and of dependent parents of sol- 

 diers who died in the service, or from disabili- 

 ties contracted therein." It provides that 

 every person specified in the several classes 

 enumerated in section 4693 of the Revised 

 Statutes, who served either in the land or 

 naval forces of the United States during the 

 war of the rebellion for a period of three 

 months, shall receive a pension, in case he has 

 become disabled without any fault of his own, 

 and is dependent upon his own labor for sup- 

 port, or upon the contributions of others not 

 legally bound thereto ; that after due proof of 

 such disability be shall be placed on the pen- 

 sion-list, receiving a pension proportionate to 

 the degree of such disability, the highest rate 

 of pension being $24 a month for total incapaci- 

 ty, and no rate lower than $4 being granted ; 

 that no person entitled to an invalid pension, 

 or receiving such pension under the general 

 act to a greater amount than that provided for 

 in the special act shall receive the benefit of 

 the latter; that the dependency of parents 

 shall be considered established by the fact that 

 they are without means of comfortable support 

 other than their own labor or the contribu- 

 tions of those not legally bound thereto ; that 

 the fact of regular enlistment and mustering 

 into the service shall be conclusive evidence of 

 soundness at the time of enlistment, unless in 



cases of fraud ; that no person shall be entitled 

 to more than one pension at a time, unless the 

 act under which a second pension is claimed 

 shall make a special declaration to that effect. 

 The debate on the measure ran in the usual 

 lines of such discussion. In the House, June 

 15, a substitute for the Senate bill was reported 

 from the Committee on Pensions. It provides 

 for a pension at the rate of $12 a month for 

 total inability to earn a subsistence, on the 

 part of an honorably discharged soldier or 

 sailor who served in the war of the rebellion 

 for three months, on condition that the disa- 

 bility be not due to gross carelessness or vicious 

 habits. It also imposes restrictions in regard 

 to the fees to be collected by agents and attor- 

 neys. With the introduction of the substitute 

 the matter rested. 



May 25, 1886, the Senate passed without a 

 division a bill granting, for the loss of a hand 

 or foot or total disability therein, a pension of 

 $30 a month ; for the loss of an arm at or 

 above the elbow, and a leg at or above the 

 knee, $36 a month ; for the loss of an arm at 

 the shoulder, or a leg at the hip-joint, $45. 

 The bill was favorably reported in the House, 

 only a mere verbal amendment being offered 

 by the Committee on Invalid Pensions. Aug. 

 2, the House passed the measure, which the 

 President approved. 



June 18, 1886, the Senate passed without a 

 division a bill increasing the rate of pensions 

 to minor children from $2 to $4. No action 

 was taken in the House. 



May 5, 1886, Mr. Laird, from the Committee 

 on Military Affairs, reported a bill providing 

 that, in cases where re-enlisted veterans in the 

 late war had been discharged, to receive pro- 

 motion, they shall be paid fall veteran bounty ; 

 that in cases where men prior to re-enlistment 

 were discharged to receive commissions, they 

 shall be entitled to whatever bounty they should 

 have received if they had served out their reg- 

 ular term of enlistment ; that soldiers honor- 

 ably discharged on account of disease shall 

 receive the same bounty as those honorably 

 discharged on account of wounds ; that any 

 deductions made in the settlement with men 

 of either class shall be refunded ; and that in 

 case of the death of any person entitled to the 

 benefit of the act, his widow, heir, or legal 

 representative shall be entitled to the sum due 

 to him. Various amendments were suggested, 

 and a whole day was wasted in filibustering to 

 prevent progress. Subsequently the measure 

 did not come up for consideration. 



June 22, 1886, Mr. Morrison, from the Com- 

 mittee on Rules, reported a new rule provid- 

 ing that, whenever a bill was introduced to 

 raise rates or amounts of pensions or add new 

 clauses to the pension-lists, it should be in or- 

 der to move to amend so as to provide by taxa- 

 tion or otherwise for the increased expense, 

 the fund so provided not to be applied to any 

 other purpose. A motion to lay the proposed 

 rule on the table failed by a vote of 127 to 139, 



