Chapter 349. making appropriations for the payment of invalid and other pensions of the United States for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 349.— An Act making appropriations for the payment of invalid and other pensions of the United States for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and for other purposes.July 25, 1882. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Pensions.Appropriations. That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the payment of pensions for the fiscal year ending.
June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and for other purposes, namely: For Army pensions, as follows: For invalids, widows, minor children,Army pensions. and dependent relatives, and survivors and widows of the war of eighteen hundred and twelve, ninety-seven million six hundred and forty thousand *Proviso.*dollars: *Provided,* That the amount expended for each of the above items shall be accounted for separately. For Navy pensions, as follows: For invalids, widows, minor children,Navy pensions. and dependent relatives, one million eight hundred thousand dollars: 175 FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS.
SESS. I. CH. 349. 1882. *Provided,* That the appropriations aforesaid for Navy pensions shall be*Provisos.* paid from the income of the Navy pension fund, so far as the same may be sufficient for that purpose: *And provided further,* That the amount expended under each of the above items shall be accounted for separately. For lees and expenses of examining surgeons two hundred andFees, etc., of surgeons.Pension agents. seventy-five thousand dollars. For pay and allowances of pension agents for salary, fees for preparing vouchers, rent, fuel, lights, and postage on letters to the executive departments and to pensioners, two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.
For contingent expenses of pension agents, ten thousand dollars. Sec. 2.— That section forty-seven hundred and forty-four, title fifty-sevenR. S. 4744, 923.Amended. of the Revised Statutes of the United States is hereby amended to read as follows: " “Sec. 4744.— The Commissioner of Pensions is authorized to detailSpecial service in examining claims. from time to time clerks or persons employed in his office to make special examinations into the merits of such pension or bounty land claims, whether pending or adjudicated, as he may deem proper, and to aid in the prosecution of any party appearing on such examinations to be guilty of fraud, either in the presentation or in procuring the allowance of such claims; and any person so detailed shallFraudulent claims.Subpoenas to witnesses. have power to administer oaths and take affidavits and depositions in the course of such examinations, and to orally examine witnesses, and may employ a stenographer, when deemed necessary by the Commissioner of pensions, in important cases, such stenographer to be paid by such clerk or person, and the amount so paid to be allowed in his accounts.
” " Sec. 3.— “That in addition to the authority conferred by section oneWitnesses’ fees hundred and eighty-four, title four of the Revised Statutes, any judge or clerk of any court of the United States in any State, District, or Territory shall have power, upon the application of the Commissioner of Pensions, to issue a subpoena, for a witness, being within the jurisdiction of such court, to appear, at a time and place in the subpmna stated, before any officer authorized to take depositions to be used in the courts of the United States, or before any officer, clerk, or person from the Pension Bureau designated or detailed to investigate or examine into the merits of any pension claim and authorized by law to administer oaths and take affidavits in such investigation or examination, there to give full and true answers to such written interrogatories and cross interrogatories as may be propounded, or to be orally examined and cross-examined upon the subject of such claim; and witnessesCommissioner authorized to appoint surgeons, etc.Boards of surgeons. subpoenaed pursuant to this and the preceding section shall be allowed the same compensation as is allowed witnesses in the courts of the United States, and paid in the same manner.
” Sec. 4.— That the Commissioner of Pensions is hereby authorized toSpecial board of surgeons.*Provisos.* appoint surgeons who, under his control and direction shall make such examination of pensioners and claimants for pension or increased pension as he shall require; and he shall organize boards of surgeons, to consist of three members each, at such points in each State as he shall deem necessary, and all examinations, so far as practicable, shall be made by the boards, and no examination shall be made by one surgeonFee for examination, etc. excepting under such circumstances as make it impracticable for a claimant to present himself before a board: *Provided,* That the Commissioner may, when in his opinion the exigencies of the service require it, organize a board of three surgeons who, under his direction, shall review the work of any regularly-appointed board or surgeon: *Provided further,* That all examinations shall be thorough and searching, and the certificate contain a full description of the physical condition of the claimant at the time, which shall include all the physical and rational signs and a statement of all structural changes.
The fee for each examination, and satisfactory certificate thereof, shall*Proviso.* be two dollars to each member when made by a board, and two dollars when made by one surgeon: *Provided,* That when a claimant is so dis- 176 FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. SESS. I. CH. 349-351. 1882. abled as not to be able to present himself to a board of surgeons for examination, the Commissioner may order a surgeon to make the examination at the claimant’s residence; and the fee for such examination shall be two dollars, in addition to the payment of the actual traveling *Proviso.*expenses of the surgeon : *Provided further,* That no fee shall be allowed or paid to any member of such board of examining surgeons who does not actually participate in such examination and sign the certificate thereof.
The Commissioner may, when in his judgment the degree of disabilityExpert Burgeons to make examinations. cannot be determined truthfully or satisfactorily excepting by expert examination, employ an expert, not a regularly appointed surgeon, to make the examination; and the fee for such examination shall be five *Proviso.*Fees.dollars: *Provided,* That the fee for an expert examination shall not be paid to any regularly-appointed examining surgeon. The fee fort lie examination of claimants who reside out of the Unitednonresident claimants.
States shall not exceed ten dollars, which shall be paid, upon the presentation of satisfactory vouchers, out of the appropriation for the payment of the examining surgeons, and through the United States consulate nearest to the claimant’s place of residence. Sec. 5.— That no person who is now receiving or shall hereafter receivePensioners under special law not to receive any other relief unless, etc. a pension undera special act shall be entitled to receive in addition thereto a pension under the general law, unless the. special act expressly states that the pension granted thereby is in addition to the pension which said person is entitled to receive under the general law.
Approved, July 25, 1882.