1. Ante-rebellion pension-Continued.

The provisions of section 4713, Revised Statutes, do not affect nor relate to any claim for pension that was allowed prior to June 6, 1866, and claim must be adjudicated with reference solely to the law as it existed at the date of its allowance, and, under the pension law in force in 1851, it was provided that all pensions allowed should be made to begin, not from the date of the soldier's discharge but from the date of the completion of the evidence necessary to establish the claim. Theodore Smith (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 3 P. D., 379.

The provision in section 4713, Revised Statutes, declaring that where an application for pension should not have been filed "within three years of the termination of a pension previously granted on account of the service and death of the same person, the pension shall commence from the date of filing, by the party prosecuting the claim, the last paper requisite to establish the same," is applicable to half-pay pensions allowable under section 4725, Revised Statutes. Actg. Atty. Gen. Phillips, 17 Op., 221.

2. Rebellion and post-rebellion pension.

All pensions granted on account of a cause which originated since the 4th of March, 1861, if the application therefor is filed after the 1st of July, 1880, should commence from the date of filing the application. Susan Hunter (Sec. Kirkwood), 8 P. D. (o. s.), 476.

See LIMITATIONS.

Claim was filed October 9, 1889, while claimant was in desertion, and therefore had no status to apply. Claimant was finally discharged September 15, 1892; his pension was very properly made to commence at the date of filing a declaration after he was discharged. Charles T. Garrard (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 7 P. D., 548.

3. When declaration is defective.

Where an application for a pension was made by letter, suffi cient to identify the claimant and the claim, and was placed on file as a part of the record of the case before July 1, 1880, and the claim was not abandoned, but delay in its prosecution satisfactorily accounted for by sickness: Advised, That (the claim being subsequently established and allowed) such application by letter is sufficient to warrant the granting of arrears of pension provided for by section 2 of the act of March 3, 1879. Atty. Gen. Garland, 19 Op., 190.

3. When declaration is defective-Continued.

A declaration not executed before some person authorized to administer oaths in pension cases is void and does not authorize a pension subsequently granted on a valid declaration to commence from the date of filing such void declaration. Hannah J. Patterson (widow) (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 7 P. D., 450.

When a claimant made application under the name under which he enlisted, and was subsequently requested by the Bureau of Pensions to file a new declaration correctly stating his name, such secoud declaration should be treated as amend atory of the first, and pension made to commence from the date of filing the first declaration if the pensionable disability was shown to have then existed. Mitchell Malcolm, alias Malcolm Mitchell (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 7 P. D., 457.

Pension under old law may commence from date of filing an informal declaration when the informality is cured by the subsequent filing of a formal declaration. Joseph Mallette (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 8 P. D., 37.

See also SUBTITLE 5.

4. When declaration is lost.

Where a declaration was filed, given a number, and a medical examination thereunder was had showing the existence, in a pensionable degree, of the disability alleged, and such decla ration was lost, a new one called for and furnished, the pension when granted should commence from the date of filing the original declaration. Alexander Beanstick (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 8 P. D., 262.

5. Pension under act of June 27, 1890, generally.

Pension under the act of June 27, 1890, can commence only from date of filing a completed, formal application under said act; and an informal declaration may not be so amended that pension can commence from date it was filed. Communication (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 4 P. D., 140.

All pensions granted under the second section of the act, for disabilities which incapacitate for the performance of manual labor in such a degree as to render the claimant unable to earn a support, should commence from the date of filing the appli cation therefor in the Bureau of Pensions, after the passage of said act, upon proof that a pensionable disability existed at the time such application was filed. Timothy L. Carley (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 7 P. D., 12.

If certain disabling causes are alleged but not found upon examination, but others, unalleged, are found which, in their

5. Pension under act of June 27, 1890, generally-Continued. nature, are kindred, pathologically connected with, or easily mistaken for those actually alleged by one unacquainted with pathology, and it is susceptible of proof that these unalleged causes existed when the declaration was filed, upon proof that they created a pensionable condition at the date said declaration was filed, pension may be made to commence from the date of filing the original application, as in claims under the general law.

If certain disabling causes are alleged and, upon examinatio during the process of adjudication, others, dissimilar and not easily mistaken for those alleged, are found which contribute to an inability to earn a support, the claimant may be notified of his right to file a second declaration to cover these causes (unalleged) found upon examination, and upon proof that these newly alleged causes existed at the date of filing the second declaration, pension may be made to commence under the first declaration at such rate as is warranted by the condition arising from the causes therein specified, and a higher rate (if warranted), to commence from the date of filing the second declaration, upon proof that these newly alleged causes have resulted in an increased inability to earn a support by manual labor. Where, however, certificate has already issued under the first declaration, the increase under the second declaration must commence, as held in the Carley Case (7 P. D., 12), "from the date of the surgeon's certificate establishing the increased disability, as provided by section 46984, Revised Statutes." Charles J. Bryant (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 7 P. D., 299.

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See also James J. Durkee (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 8 P. D., 152. Section 2 of the act of June 27, 1890, provides that pensions granted thereunder shall commence from the date of filing the application therefor, after the passage of the act, upon proof that the disability on account of which the pension is claimed then existed. George Smith (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 7 P. D., 424.

Under the act of June 27, 1890, and March 6, 1896, the making of the date of the filing of the declaration as the date of commencement of a pension is coupled with the necessity of proving that the alleged disability existed at the date of such filing. The date of the filing of a first declaration can not be made the date of the commencement of a pension allowed under a subsequent declaration, when there was no pensionable disability proved to exist at the date of filing the first declaration. Alexander Eastman (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 8 P. D., -.

See also SUBTITLES; DEPENDENT FATHERS; MINORS; WIDOWS.

6. Navy Pensions-act of March 2, 1867.

Where a certificate of the Secretary of the Navy that an applicant for navy pension comes within the purview of section. 6 of the act of March 2, 1867, does not fix the date for the commencement of pension, pension should commence from the date of such certificate. John Brown (Actg. Sec. Cowen), 1 P. D. (o. s.), 11.

7. Increase—generally.

Increase of an invalid pension should commence at the date of the examining surgeon's certificate, in the absence of any proof of increased disability prior thereto. J. H. M. Martin (Sec. Cox), 6 L. B. P., 476.

Where pension has been allowed for a disability, and years after its allowance claim is made for increase on account of the development of disabilities resulting as a sequence to that for which pensioned: Held, That the commencement of increase must be governed by section 46984, Revised Statutes. Henry B. Livingston (Sec. Schurz), 7 P. D. (o. s.), 139.

When increased by an order of the Secretary of the Interior or by a ruling of the Commissioner of Pensions, will not be allowed to commence prior to the date of such order or ruling. Addison P. Shearman (Sec. Teller), 16 P. D. (o. s.), 164.

A rating for increase on account of a pathological sequence, traceable to a pensionable disability, must begin from the date at which the medical certificate shows the development of the sequence itself in a pensionable degree. Charles H. Wisner (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 5 P. D., 8.

(a) On account of specific disabilities.

Increases of pension under the act of March 3, 1885, relating to pension on account of loss of leg at the hip joint, can not commence prior to that date. Charles A. Nichols (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 4 P. D., 213.

Disability, gunshot wound of right foot, on account of which the amputation of right leg became necessary December 25, 1886. Pension was allowed at $4 per month from June 10, 1865; $12 from May 20, 1886, and $45 per month from June 2, 1887, date of first medical examination after amputation had been performed, the latter under the provisions of section 46983, Revised Statutes: Held, The application of section 46981, Revised Statutes, in this claim was erroneous, for the reason it was an adjudication of an original claim with no claim for increase pending. The nonspecific became a permanent specific disability on December 25, 1886. Upon the date it became such the claimant was justly and lawfully entitled to the rate of $45 13201-7

7. Increase-Continued.

(a) On account of specific disabilities-Continued.

per month under the provisions of the act of August 4, 1886, regardless of the date of medical examination. George W. Keith (Asst. Sec. Reynolds) 7 P. D., 552.

Claimant was pensioned in October, 1885, at $30 per month, for gunshot wound of right leg. In September, 1894, the rate was increased to $36 per month under the second clause of the act of August 4, 1886, commencing January 17, 1894, date of medical examination: Held, The date of commencement of said increase was erroneous for the following reasons:

1. The evidence shows that at the date of the passage of the act of August 4, 1886, he had a permanent specific disability, which entitled him to the rate of $30 per month under said act from that date.

2. The increase of rate to $36 was by reason of the fact that another permanent specific disability had arisen, caused by the amputation of his leg on January 19, 1893.

3. As the claim was based upon a permanent specific disability, and the higher rate was granted on the ground that another permanent specific disability of a higher degree existed, for which another and higher rate is fixed by law, the right to the higher rate commenced at the date of amputation, and is not governed by the provisions of section 46983, Revised Statutes.

4. All claims for increase on account of permanent specific disabilities involving an amputation are included in the exception contained in section 46984 Revised Statutes; therefore, in such cases the increased rate should commence from date of amputation.

5. Claims for increase on account of other specific disabili ties which require a medical examination to determine the fact of existence, and date of commencement thereof, are not included in the foregoing rule; therefore, the rate of increase therefor should begin at the date of medical examination under the provisions of section 46984, Revised Statutes. John E. Lamb (Asst. Sec. Reynolds), 8 P. D., 191.

(b) On account of nonspecific disabilities.

Pensioner's disability being permanent but not specific, his claim for increase is governed by section 4698, Revised Statutes, as to commencement of pension thereunder. Michael Kelly (Sec. Delano), 2 P. D. (o. s.), 217.

Increase of pension for a nonspecific disability can not be made to commence prior to the date of the examining surgeons'