Chapter 301. Making appropriations for the payment of invalid and other pensions of the United States for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 301.— An Act Making appropriations for the payment of invalid and other pensions of the United States for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and for other purposes.August 17, 1912.[[H. R. 18985](/us/bill/62/hr/18985).][[Public. No. 271](/us/pl/62/271).] *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, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and for other purposes, namely:
For Army and Navy pensions, as follows: For invalids, widows,Invalid, etc., pensions. minor children, and dependent relatives, Army nurses, and all other pensioners who are now borne on the rolls, or who may hereafter be placed thereon, under the provisions of any and all Acts of Congress, one hundred and sixty-four million five hundred thousand dollars: *Provided*, That the appropriation aforesaid for Navy pensions shall*Provisos*.Navy pensions. be paid from the income of the Navy pension fund, so far as the same shall be sufficient for that purpose: *Provided further*, That theAccounts. amount expended under each of the above items shall be accounted for separately. 312 Examining surgeons.Fees.For fees and expenses of examining surgeons, pensions, for services rendered within the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen, two hundred thousand dollars.
Agents’ salaries.For seven months.For salaries of eighteen agents for the payment of pensions, at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum each, during the first seven months of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen, forty-two thousand dollars. Disbursing clerk.For five months.For salary of one disbursing clerk for the payment of pensions, to be selected and appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum, during the first five months Appointment.of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents; and from and after the thirty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, there shall be one disbursing clerk in the Bureau of Pensions to be Agents abolished.[R.
S., secs. 4778, 4780, pp. 928, 929](/us/rs/s4778/4780/pp928/929), repealed.appointed as aforesaid and who shall receive a salary at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum; and section forty-seven hundred and seventy-eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States authorizing the appointment of agents for the payment of pensions, and section forty-seven hundred and eighty of the Revised Statutes To take effect after January 31, 1913.of the United States, authorizing the establishment of agencies by the President of the United States are hereby repealed to take effect from and after the thirty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and the existing pension agencies are abolished from and after said date.
Clerk hire, etc.For clerk hire, and other services, at eighteen pension agencies during the first seven months of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen and in the office of the disbursing clerk for the payment of pensions during the last five months of the fiscal year nineteen Removing records, etc.hundred and thirteen and including not exceeding ten thousand dollars for expenses of consolidating and removing records and equipment of pension agencies, three hundred and seventy-five thousand *Proviso*.Estimates to be submitted.dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary: *Provided*, That estimates in detail shall be submitted for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and fourteen and annually thereafter for clerks and others employed in the office of the disbursing clerk for the payment of pensions and the amounts to be paid to each.
Rent, New York agency.For rent of pension agency at New York, New York, during the first seven months of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen, two thousand four hundred and seventy-nine dollars and seventeen cents, or so much thereof as may be necessary. Stationery, etc.*Post*, p. 399.For stationery and other necessary expenses, twenty-five thousand dollars. Sec. 2. Arrangement of pensioners in groups.That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized in the payment of pensions to arrange the pensioners in three groups as he may think proper, and may from time to time change any pensioner or class of pensioners from one group to another as he may deem convenient for the transaction of the public business.
Payments quarterly.The pensioners in the first group shall be paid their quarterly pensions on January fourth, April fourth, July fourth, and October fourth of each year; the pensioners in the second group shall be paid their quarterly pensions on February fourth, May fourth, August fourth, and November fourth of each year; the pensioners in the third group shall be paid their quarterly pensions on March fourth, June fourth, September fourth, and December fourth of each year.
Fractional payments.The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to cause payments of pension to be made for the fractional parts of a quarter which may be made necessary by the transfer of a pensioner from one group to another. Sec. 3. Checks without separate vouchers to be sent pensioners.That not later than January first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, pensions shall be paid by checks drawn, under the direction313 of the Secretary of the Interior, in such form as to protect the United States against loss, without separate vouchers or receipts, and payable by the proper assistant treasurer or designated depositary, except in the case of any pensioner in which the law authorizes theException. pension to be paid to some person other than the pensioner, or in which the Secretary of the Interior may consider a voucher necessary for the protection of the Government.
Such checks shall be transmitted by mail to the payee thereof at his last known address. That postmasters, delivery clerks, letter carriers, and all otherDelivery of pension mail by postal authorities restricted. postal employees are prohibited from delivering any such mail to any person whomsoever, if the addressee has died or removed, or in the case of a widow believed by the postal employee intrusted with the delivery of such mail to have remarried; and the postmaster in every such case shall forthwith return such mail with a statement of the reasons for so doing, and if because of death or remarriage, the date thereof, if known.
Checks returned as herein provided on account of the death or remarriage of the pensioner shall be canceled. Sec. 4. That whoever shall forge the indorsement of the person toPunishment for forging, etc., checks. whose order any pension check shall be drawn, or whoever with the knowledge that such indorsement is forged shall utter such check, or whoever, by falsely personating such person, shall receive from any person, firm, corporation, or officer or employee of the United States the whole or any portion of the amount represented by such check, shall upon conviction be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or be imprisoned not more than five years or both.
Sec. 5. That in case of sickness or unavoidable absence of the disbursingActing disbursing clerk in case of sickness. etc. clerk for the payment of pensions from his office, the Commissioner of Pensions may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, authorize the chief clerk of his office or some other clerk employed therein to temporarily act as such disbursing clerk for payment of pensions. With the approval of the Commissioner of Pensions and the SecretaryClerks to sign checks to be designated. of the Interior, the disbursing clerk for the payment of pensions may designate and authorize the necessary number of clerks to sign the name of the disbursing clerk for the payment of pensions to official checks.
The disbursing clerk shall give bond with good and sufficient suretyBond required. for such amount and in such form as the Secretary of the Interior may approve, and such bond shall be held to cover and apply to the acts or the persons authorized to act in his place. Sec. 6. That nothing in this Act shall be construed as amendingPayment due inmates of Volunteer Soldiers’ Homes.Vol. 22, p. 322. or repealing that portion of the sundry civil appropriation Act for the fiscal year eighteen hundred and eighty-three (Statutes at Large, volume twenty-two, page three hundred and twenty-two) concerning the payment of pensions due inmates of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
Approved, August 17, 1912.