For service in excess of 21 years, the following amounts are added to the pensions enumerated above:—
each complete year in excess of 21 years.
| For each complete year in excess of 21 years. | |
| ClassesI. toIII. | 1d. per diem to 9d. per diem. |
| Classes IV. and V. | 12d. per diem to 5d. per diem. |
A man promoted to higher rank within one year of his completing 21 years’ service, receives, on his discharge in the higher rank, an extra 3d. per diem, provided that he has completed 25 years service in all. An additional pension of 6d. per diem is awarded for gallant conduct, as in the case of warrant officers.
N.C.O.’s and men disabled through military service are granted the following pensions:—
| If partially capable of earning a livelihood | Per diem. |
| Class I. to III. | 1s. to 3s. |
| „IV. | 9d. to 2s. |
| „V. | 6d. to 1s. 6d. |
| If totally incapable of earning a livelihood | Per diem. |
| Class I. to III. | 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. |
| „IV. | 2s. 0d. to 3s. 0d. |
| „V. | 1s. 6d. to 2s. 6d. |
Pensions may also be granted to N.C.O.’s and men who are disabled by causes other than military service, according to circumstances.
United States.
In the ordinary sense of the word, pensions in the United States are confined to federal judges and officers of the army and navy, but the United States “Pension Fund” is so singular a feature of the national budget, that it is desirable to give an account of the different classes of allowances which are granted. In the United States allowances for services in wars prior to the 4th of March 1861 are called “old war” pensions, and may be divided into three classes, viz., (1) invalid pensions, based upon wounds or injuries received, or disease contracted in the course of duty, (2) “service” pensions, and (3) land bounties, both granted for service irrespective of injuries.
The first provision made by Congress for pensions was a resolution passed on the 26th of August 1776, promising invalid pensions to officers and men of the army or navy who lost a limb or were otherwise disabled in the War of Independence, at a rate equal to half of their monthly pay as officers or soldiers during life or continuance of the disability, those not totally disabled to receive an adequate monthly pension not to exceed half of their pay. Then followed various Acts of Congress enlarging the provisions for invalid pensions and extending them to those who had been in the war of 1812, and to the widows and children of those who died in the war or from wounds received in the war. The act of the 3rd of May 1846, provided for the prosecution of the war with Mexico and for pensioning those volunteers wounded or otherwise disabled in service. Other acts were subsequently passed making further provision for pension on account of service in the Mexican war. The first general law granting “service” pensions was not passed until the 18th of March 1818, thirty-five years after the termination of the War of Independence. Its beneficiaries were required to be in indigent circumstances and in need of assistance from their country. Two years later Congress became alarmed by reason of the large number of claims filed (about 8000), and enacted what was known as the “Alarm Act,” requiring each applicant for pension and each pensioner on the rolls to furnish a schedule of his whole estate and income, clothing and bedding excepted. Many pensioners were dropped who were possessed of as much as $150 worth of property. Numerous acts were, however, passed from time to time liberalizing the law or dealing more generously with the survivors of the Revolution. Service pensions were not granted to widows of the soldiers of this war until 1836, and then only for a period of five years and on condition that the marriage of the soldier was prior to his last service, and that the soldier’s service was not less than six months. In 1853, seventy years after the close of the war, the limitation as to the time of marriage was removed. The rolls in 1901 contained nine and in 1908 two pensions based upon service in the War of Independence. The last survivor was Daniel F. Bakeman, who died on the 5th of April 1869, aged 109 years and 6 months.
The first law granting service pensions on account of the war of 1812 was passed in 1871, fifty-six years after the close of the war This act required sixty days’ service. Widows were not pensionable unless the marriage to the soldier had taken place prior to the treaty of peace of 15th February 1815. On 9th March 1878, sixty-three years after the war, an act was passed reducing the requisite period of service to fourteen days and removing the limitations as to date of marriage. In 1908 the pension rolls contained the names of 471 widows of this war, the last male survivor having died in 1905, at the age of 105 years. Service pensions were provided for those who served in the Black Hawk war, Creek war, Cherokee disturbances and the Seminole war (1832 to 1842), on the 27th of July 1892, fifty years after the period embraced in the act; they were granted to those who had served for thirty days and were honourably discharged, and to their widows. In 1908 there were 1820 survivors and 3018 widows, pensioners of the Indian wars. Service pensions were granted to the survivors of the war with Mexico by an act passed on the 29th of January 1887, thirty-nine years after the Guadeloupe-Hildalgo treaty. The pensions were granted to those who were honourably discharged and to the widows, for service of sixty days, if sixty-two years of age, or disabled or dependent. This law was liberalized by the acts of the 5th of January 1893, 23rd of April 1900, 6th of February 1907, and 19th of April 1908, increasing the pension to $15 for those who have reached the age of seventy years, and to $20 for those seventy-five years and over. In 1908 the pension rolls contained the names of 2932 survivors and 6914 widows on account of service in the Mexican war. To give title to bounty land, service must have been for at least fourteen days or in a battle prior to 3rd March 1855; and if in the navy or regular army, must have been in some war in which the United States was engaged. Bounty land warrants are issued for 160 acres, and over 50,000,000 acres have been granted under the different Bounty Land Acts.
For services rendered in the Civil War (1861–65) in the army or navy of the United States, or in their various branches, the law provided two distinct systems of pensioning—(1) the general laws, granting pensions for wounds or injuries received, or disease contracted in service in the line of duty, the pensions ranging from $6 to $100 per month; and (2) the so-called Dependent Pension Act and amending acts, granting pensions for permanent disabilities regardless of the time and manner of their origin, provided they were not the result of vicious habits, the pensions ranging from $6 to $12 per month. What is known as the general law for disabilities incurred in service and in the course of duty was constituted in the act of the 14th of July 1862, as amended by the act of the 3rd of March 1873. Under its provisions the following classes of persons are entitled to benefit, viz. any officer of the army, navy or marine corps, or any enlisted man in the military or naval service of the United States, whether regularly mustered or not; any master or any pilot, engineer, sailor or other person not regularly mustered, serving upon any gunboat or war-vessel of the United States; any acting assistant or contract surgeon; any provost-marshal, deputy provost-marshal or enrolling officer; subject to the several conditions in each particular case prescribed in the law. This law also embraces in its provisions the following classes, each class being subject to certain specified conditions, viz. widows, children under sixteen years of age, dependent parents, and brothers and sisters. This act has been the subject of numerous amendments along more liberal lines. As an illustration a case may be cited where a soldier lost both hands in the service in the course of duty, and was discharged in 1862. He is entitled to a pension of $8 per month from the date of his discharge. Under subsequent acts he is entitled to $25 per month from 4th July 1864; $31·25 from 4th June 1872; $50 from 4th June 1874; $72 from 17th June 1878, and $100 from 12th February 1889.
Under the general law a widow or dependent relative could not be pensioned unless the cause of the soldier’s death originated in service in the line of duty; if it were so shown, a widow might be pensioned whether she were rich or poor. Upon the death or remarriage of the widow the minor children of the soldier under the age of sixteen years become entitled to pension. If the soldier died of causes due to his service, and left no widow or minor children, his other relatives become entitled, if dependent, in the following order, viz; first, the mother; secondly, the father; thirdly, orphan sisters and brothers under sixteen years of age, who shall be pensioned jointly. In 1908 the number of invalids pensioned under the general law was 142,044, and the number of widows and dependent relatives was 81,168.
The so-called Dependent Pension Act was based upon an Act of Congress approved 27th June 1890, which was amended on 9th May 1900. Properly speaking, it might be called “dependent” only as regards widows and parents. The main conditions as to the soldier or sailor were, ninety days’ service, an honourable discharge, and a permanent disability from disease or otherwise, not the result of his own vicious habits, to such an extent as to render him unable to maintain himself by manual labour. The rates of pension under this act were $6, $8, $10 and $12 per month. Widows became entitled under this law if they married the soldier or sailor prior to 27th June 1890, provided they were without means of support other than their daily labour, and an actual net income not exceeding $250 per year, and had not remarried. Claims of children under sixteen years of age were governed by the same conditions as applied to claims of widows, except that their dependence was presumed, and need not be shown by evidence. If a minor child was insane, idiotic or otherwise physically or mentally helpless, the pension continued during the life of said child or during the period of disability Further acts made more liberal provisions. That of the 6th of February 1907, granted pensions
