May 9, 1900
CHAP. 385.--An Act In amendment of sections two and three of an Act entitled "An Act granting pensions to soldiers and sailors who are incapacitated for the performance of manual labor, and providing for pensions to widows, minor children, and dependent parents," approved June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sections two and three of an Act entitled "An Act granting pensions to soldiers and sailors who are incapacitated for the performance of manual labor, and providing for pensions, minor children, and dependent parents," be, and the same are hereby, amended so as to read as follows:
"SEC. 2. That all persons who served ninety days or more in the military or naval service of the United States during the late war of the rebellion and who have been honorably discharged therefrom, and who are now or who may hereafter be suffering from any mental or physical disability, or disabilities of a permanent character, not the result of their own vicious habits, which so incapacitates them from the performance of manual labor as to render them unable to earn a support, shall, upon making due proof of the fact, according to such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may provide, be placed upon the list of invalid pensioners of the United States, and be entitled to receive a pension not exceeding twelve dollars per month and not less than six dollars per month, proportioned to the degree of inability to earn a support; and in determining such inability each and every infirmity shall be duly considered, and the aggregate of the disabilities shown be rated, and such pension shall commence from the date of the filing of the application in the Bureau of Pensions, after the passage of this Act, upon proof that the disability or disabilities then existed, and shall continue during the existence of the same; Provided, That persons who are now receiving pensions under existing laws, or whose claims are pending in the Bureau of Pensions, may, by application to the Commissioner of Pensions, in such form as he may prescribe, showing themselves entitled thereto, receive the benefits of this Act; and nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent any pensioner thereunder from prosecuting his claim and receiving his pension under any other general or special Act: Provided, however, That no person shall receive more than one pension for the same period: And provided further, That rank in the service shall not be considered in applications filed under this Act.
SEC. 3. That if any officer or enlisted man who served ninety days or more in the Army or Navy of the United States during the late war of the rebellion, and who was honorably discharged has died, or shall hereafter die, leaving a widow without means of support other than her daily labor, and an actual net income not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars per year, or minor children under the age of sixteen years, such widow shall, upon due proof of her husband's death, without proving his death to be the result of his army service, be placed on the pension roll from the date of the application therefor under this Act, at the rate of eight dollars per month during her widowhood, and shall also be paid two dollars per month for each child of such officer or enlisted man under sixteen years of age; and in case of the death or remarriage of the widow, leaving a child or children of such officer or enlisted man under the age of sixteen years, such pension shall be paid such child or children until the age of sixteen: Provided, That in case a minor child is insane, idiotic, or otherwise physically or mentally helpless, the pension shall continue during the life of said child, or during the period of such disability; and this proviso shall apply to all pensions heretofore granted or hereafter to be granted under this or any former statute; and such pensions shall commence from the date of application therefor after the passage of this Act: And provided further, That said widow shall have married said soldier prior to the passage of the said Act of June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety."
Approved, May 9, 1900.