1st Session

No. 106

GRANTING 6 MONTHS' SALARY AND $250 FUNERAL EXPENSES TO ELEANOR FISHER, SISTER OF FLORA L. SHELTON, LATE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE HOUSE

FEBRUARY 13, 1945.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. COCHRAN, from the Committee on Accounts, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. Res. 131]

The Committee on Accounts, to whom was referred the resolution (H. Res. 131) granting 6 months' salary and $250 funeral expenses to Eleanor Fisher, sister of Flora L. Shelton, late an employee of the House, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the resolution do pass.

O

HARRIET B. RICKARDS

FEBRUARY 13, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. McGEHEE, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 312]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 312) for the relief of Harriet B. Rickards, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

A similar bill was favorably reported by this committee in the Seventy-eighth Congress.

The facts will be found fully set forth in Senate Report No. 14, Seventy-ninth Congress, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report.

8. Rept. No. 14, 79th Cong., 1st sess.]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 346) for the relief of Harriet B. Rickards, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass without amendment.

An identical bill, S. 2536, for the relief of Harriet B. Rickards, passed the Senate on May 23, 1941. The facts are fully set forth in Senate Report No. 314, Seventy-seventh Congress, first session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report, and your committee concur in the recommendations of the Senate.

18. Rept. No. 314, 77th Cong., 1st sess.)

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1027) for the relief of Harriet B. Rickards, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass without amendment.

This claim grew out of adjusted-service credits due to Mary Ellen Butler, mother of Guy P. Butler, World War veteran, killed in action, November 5, 1918. The amount of $543 representing the total amount of adjusted credit to the Mrs. Butler, the beneficiary, died August 28, 1939. approved in favor of Mary Ellen Butler, mother of the veteran. Checks covering the first

veteran was

four installments and the sixth and seventh installments on the award and check No. 313612 dated July 6, 1936, for the $60 were not cashed by Mrs. Butler prior to her death.

Section 601 of the World War Adjusted Compensation Act provides:

"(2) If the veteran has died before making application under section 302, or, if entitled to receive adjusted-service pay, has died after making application but before he has received payment under title IV, then the amount of his adjustedservice credit shall (as soon as practicable after receipt of an application in accordance with the provisions of section 604, but not before March 1, 1925) be paid to his dependents, in the following order of preference: * * * "

The beneficiaries do not include the sister of a deceased veteran. At the date of the death of Mrs. Butler she had living a daughter, Harriet B. Rickards. Under the law, Harriet B. Rickards does not have payments made to her from the adjusted-service checks. However, the indebtedness herein mentioned was due, and checks were sent to Mary Ellen Butler. At the time of her death, this money was lying in the Treasury of the United States, but belonging to Mary Ellen Butler, she having failed to present them for payment.

The bill in question permits the payment of the amount due on those checks to her surviving daughter, Harriet B. Rickards.

The following letter from General Hines is appended hereto and made a part of this report: VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, Washington, April 3, 1941.

Hon. PRENTISS M. BROWN,

Chairman, Committee on Claims,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR SENATOR BROWN: This is in further response to your request of March 6, 1941, for a report on S. 1027, Seventy-seventh Congress, a bill for the relief of Harriet B. Rickards, which provides:

'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay, out of any funds available for payments of adjusted-service credits and the installments due to dependents of deceased veterans, as provided in the Act of May 19, 1924, as amended, the sum of $385.80, to Harriet B. Rickards, of Seattle, Washington, in full satisfaction of her claim against the United States for the proceeds of seven checks drawn during the fiscal years 1937 and 1938 to the order of Mary Ellen Butler, the deceased mother of the said Harriet B. Rickards, such checks not having been presented for payment by the said Mary Ellen Butler prior to her death on August 28, 1939: Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000."

The records of the Veterans Administration show that Guy P. Butler (XC72415) a World War veteran, was killed in action on November 5, 1918. An award of $543 representing the total amount of adjusted-service credit to the veteran, under A-1376820, was approved in favor of Mrs. Mary Ellen Butler, mother and preferred dependent of the veteran. This amount was payable in 10 equal quarterly installments as provided by section 603 of the World War Adjusted Compensation Act as amended, hereinafter quoted, and ehccks each in the amount of $54.30 were mailed to her in settlement of the award: