Proviso. Certificate discharge. or other gratuity that he would not have been entitled to, had he remained under his original term of enlistment: Provided, That no appointed or enlisted man shall be relieved under this act who, not being sick or wounded, left his command without proper authority while the same was in presence of the enemy, or who, at the time of leaving his command, was in arrest or under charges, or in whose case the period of absence from the service exceeded three months. of SEC. 4. That in all cases where the charge of desertion shall be removed under the provisions of this act from the record of any appointed or enlisted man of the Navy or Marine Corps who has not received a certificate of discharge it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Navy to issue to such appointed or enlisted man, or in case of his death, to his heirs or legal representatives, a certificate of discharge. SEC. 5. That when the charge of desertion shall be removed under the provisions of this act from the record of any appointed or enlisted man of the Navy or Marine Corps, such man, or, in case of his death, the heirs or legal representatives of such man, shall receive all pay and bounty which may have been withheld on account of such charge of desertion or absence without leave: Provided, however, That this act shall not be so construed as to give to any such man as may be entitled to relief under the provisions of this act, or, in case of his death, to the heirs or legal representatives of any such man, the right to receive Period of six pay and bounty for any period of time during which such not entitled. man was absent from his command without leave of ab months' service sence: And provided further, That no appointed or enlisted SEC. 6. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. Approved, August 14, 1888. Honorable discharge, to whom granted. SEC. 1426. Honorable discharges may be granted to seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, firemen, coal-heavers, and boys who have enlisted for three years. 1855, c. 136, s. 2, v. 1864, c. 111, v. 13, SEC. 1573. If any seaman, ordinary seaman, landsman, Bounty pay for reenlisting. fireman, coal-heaver, or boy, being honorably discharged, Acts 2 Mar., shall re-enlist for three years, within three months there- 10, p. 627; 7 June, after, he shall, on presenting his honorable discharge, or p. 120. on accounting in a satisfactory manner for its loss, be entitled to pay, during the said three months, equal to that to which he would have been entitled if he had been employed in actual service. Joint resolution 11 June, p. 476. Honorable dis enlistment boun enlisted men. Secs. 1426, 1573, JOINT RESOLUTION extending the benefits of sections fourteen hundred and twenty-six and fifteen hundred and seventy-three of 1896, 29 Stat. L., the Revised Statutes to all enlisted persons in the Navy. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of Navy. the United States of America in Congress assembled, That charges and rethe benefits of honorable discharge as conferred by section ty extended to all fourteen hundred and twenty-six of the Revised Statutes and of three months' pay upon re-enlistment after honor- R. S., pp. 251, 269. able discharge as conferred by section fifteen hundred and seventy-three upon seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, firemen, coal heavers, and boys, be and the same are hereby, extended and made applicable to all enlisted persons in the Navy. And all accounts of paymasters who have made pay ments to enlisted men, not of the classes named in sections fourteen hundred and twenty-six and fifteen hundred and seventy-three, Revised Statutes, as if they had been included in the provisions of said sections, shall be allowed and passed by the accounting officers of the Treasury as if they had been included in said sections. Paymasters' accounts for payments so made to be allowed. LAWS RELATING TO THE INCREASE OF INVALID PENSIONS. SEC. 4698. Commencement for disabilities not permanent and specific. Act June 18, 1874, rate, $50 per month; regular personal aid and attendance of another person. Act June 18, 1874, rate, $24 per month; loss of arm at or below elbow; leg at or below knee. Act June 17, 1878, rate, $72 per month; loss of both hands or both feet, or the sight of both eyes. Act March 3, 1879, for the relief of soldiers and sailors becoming totally blind. Act June 18, 1874, increasing rate of $50 to $72 per month for total disability. Act March 3, 1883, increasing rate for the loss of arm or leg in service, and for other purposes. Act March 3, 1885, loss of arm at shoulder joint. Act March 4, 1886, loss of one hand or one foot, or total disability in same; loss of arm at or above the elbow, or leg at or above the knee, or total disability in same; loss of arm at shoulder joint or leg at hip joint. Act August 27, 1888, rate for total and partial deafness. Commencement of increase for specific. and SEC. [46983.] Except in cases of permanent specific disadisabilities not bilities, no increase of pension shall be allowed to commence permanent prior to the date of the examining surgeon's certificate estabSec. 4, 3 Mar., lishing the same, made under the pending claim for increase, See sec. 4, 10 and in this, as well as all other cases, the certificate of an Apr., 1806. examining surgeon, or of a board of examining surgeons, shall be subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Pensions. 1873. Act 18 June, AN ACT to increase the pension of soldiers and sailors who have been 1874. See secs. 4697, 4698, R. S. totally disabled.1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section four of the act entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the laws relating to pensions," and approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, be so amended that all persons who, while in the military or naval service of the United States, and in the line of duty, shall have been so permanently and totally disabled as to require the regular personal aid and attendance of another person, by the loss of the sight of both eyes or by See amendment the loss of the sight of one eye, the sight of the other having been previously lost, or by the loss of both hands, or by the loss of both feet, or by any other injury resulting in total and permanent helplessness, shall be entitled to a pension act 16 June, 1880, p. 18. 1 Amended by Act of June 16, 1880, p. 18. of fifty dollars per month; and this shall be in lieu of a pension of thirty-one dollars and twenty-five cents per month granted to such person by said section: Provided, That the increase of pension shall not be granted by reason of any of the injuries herein specified, unless the same shall have resulted in permanent, total helplessness, requiring the regular personal aid and attendance of another person. SEC. 2. That this act shall take effect from and after the fourth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four. Approved, June 18, 1874. Act 18 June, 1874. 4698, R. S. AN ACT to increase pensions in certain cases. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of see secs. 4697, the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all persons who are now entitled to pensions under existing laws, and who have lost either an arm at or above the elbow, Loss of arm at or a leg at or above the knee, shall be rated in the second leg at or above class, and shall receive twenty-four dollars per month: Provided, That no artificial limbs, or commutation therefor, shall be furnished to such persons as shall be entitled to pensions under this act. SEC. 2. That this act shall take effect from and after the fourth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four. Approved, June 18, 1874. or below elbow; knee. Act 17 June, 1878. 4698, R. S.; of March 3, 1879; AN ACT to increase the pension of certain pensioned soldiers and sailors who have lost both their hands or both their feet or the sight of both eyes in the service of the country. Whereas, it is apparent that the present pension paid to sol-See secs. 4697, diers and sailors who have lost both their hands or both amendment act their feet in the service of the country is greatly inade. act of June 16, quate to the support of such as have families: Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That on and after the passage of this act, all soldiers and sailors who have lost either both their hands or both their feet or the sight of both eyes in the service of the United States, feet. shall receive, in lieu of all pensions now paid them by the Government of the United States, and there shall be paid to them, in the same manner as pensions are now paid to such persons, the sum of seventy-two dollars per month. Approved, June 17, 1878. Above act amended by the following act: Loss of both hands or both Act 3 Mar., AN ACT for the relief of soldiers and sailors becoming totally blind in the service of the country. 1879. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act of June seventeenth, eighteen hundred and seventyeight, entitled "An act to increase the pensions of certain Loss of both Soldiers and sailors who have lost both their hands or both hands, both feet, sight both eyes. their feet, or the sight of both eyes, in the service of the See 17 June, 4698, R. S.; 16 June, 1880. 1878; secs, 4697, Country," be so construed as to include all soldiers and sailors who have become totally blind from causes occurring in the service of the United States. Approved, March 3, 1879. 1880. Act 16 June, AN ACT to increase the pensions of certain pensioned soldiers and sailors who are utterly helpless from injuries received or disease contracted while in the United States service.1 abled. 4698, R. S. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all Totally dis- soldiers and sailors who are now receiving a pension of fifty See secs. 4697, dollars per month, under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to increase the pension of soldiers and sailors who have been totally disabled," approved June eighteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, shall receive, in lieu of all pensions now paid them by the Government of the United States, and there shall be paid them in the same manner as pensions are now paid to such persons, the sum of seventytwo dollars per month. See 18 June, 1874; 3 Mar., 1878. SEC. 2. All pensioners whose pensions shall be increased 1879; 17 June, by the provisions of this act from fifty dollars per month to seventy-two dollars per month shall be paid the difference between said sums monthly, from June seventeenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, to the time of the taking effect of this act. Act 12 Feb., 1889. Approved, June 16, 1880. AN ACT to increase pensions in certain cases. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act all persons who, in the military or naval service of the United States and in Loss of both the line of duty have, lost both hands, shall be entitled to a pension of one hundred dollars per month.2 hands. Approved, February 12, 1889. 1 Amends Act of June 18, 1874. 2 Amendatory of Rev. Stat., Sec. 4698, p. 25. |