AMPUTATION AT OR ABOVE ELBOW OR KNEE.

ACT JUNE 18, 1874 (18 STAT. L., 78).

SECTION 1. That all persons who are now entitled to pensions under existing laws and who have lost either an arm at or above the elbow, or a leg at or above the knee, shall be rated in the second 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.

INCREASE FOR CERTAIN DISABILITIES.

ACT MARCH 3, 1883 (22 STAT. L., 453).

That from and after the passage of this act all persons on the pension-roll, and all persons hereafter granted a pension, who, while in the military or naval service of the United States, and in the line of duty, shall have lost one hand or one foot, or been totally or permanently disabled in the same, or otherwise so disabled as to render their incapacity to perform manual labor equivalent to the loss of a hand or foot, shall receive a pension of twenty-four dollars per month; that all persons now on the pension-roll and all persons hereafter granted a pension who in like manner shall have lost either an arm at or above the elbow or a leg at or above the knee, or shall have been otherwise so disabled as to be incapacitated for performing any manual labor, but not so much as to require regular personal aid and attendance, shall receive a pension of thirty dollars per month: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to repeal section forty-six hundred and ninety-nine of the Revised Statutes of the United States or to change the rate of eighteen dollars per month therein mentioned to be proportionately divided for any degree of disability established for which section forty-six hundred and ninety-five makes no provision.

AMPUTATION AT HIP JOINT.

ACT MARCH 3, 1879 (20 STAT. L., 483).

That all pensioners now on the pension rolls, or who may hereafter be placed thereon, for amputation of either leg at the hip joint shall receive a pension at the rate of thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents per month from the date of the approval of this act.

AMPUTATION AT SHOULDER JOINT.

ACT MARCH 3, 1885 (23 STAT. L., 437).

That all soldiers and sailors of the United States who have had an arm taken off at the shoulder joint, caused by injuries received in the service of their country while in the line of duty, and who are now. receiving pensions, shall have their pensions increased to the same amount that the law now gives to soldiers and sailors who have lost a leg at the hip joint; and this act shall apply to all who shall be hereafter placed on the pension-roll.

INCREASED RATES.

ACT AUGUST 4, 1886 (24 STAT L., 220).

That from and after the passage of this act all persons on the pension-rolls, and all persons hereafter granted a pension, who, while in the military or naval service of the United States and in line of duty, shall have lost one hand or one foot, or been totally disabled in the same, shall receive a pension of thirty dollars a month; that all persons now on the pension-rolls, and all persons hereafter granted pension, who in like manner shall have lost either an arm at or above the elbow or a leg at or above the knee, or been totally disabled in the same, shall receive a pension of thirty-six dollars per month; and that all persons now on the pension-rolls, and all persons, hereafter granted a pension who in like manner shall have lost either an arm at the shoulder-joint or a leg at the hip-joint, or so near the joint as to prevent the use of an artificial limb, shall receive a pension at the rate of forty-five dollars per month: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to repeal section forty-six hundred and ninety-nine of the Revised Statutes of the United States, or to change the rate of eighteen dollars per month therein mentioned to be proportionately divided for any degree of disability established for which section forty-six hundred and ninetyfive makes no provision.

INCREASED RATES.

ACT MARCH 2, 1903 (32 STAT. L., 944).

That from and after the rassage of this act all persons on the pension roll, and all persons hereafter granted a pension, who, while in the military or naval service of the United States and in the line of duty, shall have lost one hand or one foot, or been totally disabled in the same, shall receive a pension at the rate of forty dollars per month; that all persons who, in like manner, shall have lost an arm at or above the elbow or a leg at or above the knee, or been totally disabled in the same, shall receive a pension at the rate of forty-six dollars per month; that all persons who, in like manner, shall have lost an arm at the shoulder joint or a leg at the hip joint, or so near the shoulder or hip joint or where the same is in such a condition as to prevent the use of an artificial limb, shall receive a pension at the rate of fifty-five dollars per month, and that all persons who, in like manner, shall have lost one hand and one foot, or been totally disabled in the same, shall receive a pension at the rate of sixty dollars per month; and that all persons who, in like manner, shall have lost both feet shall receive a pension at the rate of one hundred dollars per month: Provided, however, That this Act shall not be so construed as to reduce any pension under any act, public or private.

RATES FOR DEGREES OF DEAFNESS.

ACT AUGUST 27, 1888 (25 STAT. L., 449).

That from and after the passage of this act all persons on the pension-rolls of the United States, or who may hereafter be thereon, drawing pension on account of loss of hearing, shall be entitled to receive, in lieu of the amount now paid in case of such disability, the

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sum of thirty dollars, in cases of total deafness, and such proportion thereof in cases of partial deafness as the Secretary of the Interior may deem equitable; the amount paid to be determined by the degree of disability existing in each case.

INCREASE-TOTAL DEAFNESS-$40.

ACT JANUARY 15, 1903 (32 STAT. L., 773).

That from and after the passage of this act all persons on the pension roll of the United States, or who may hereafter be placed thereon, receiving pension for total loss of hearing due to causes originating in the military or naval service of the United States and in the line of duty, shall be entitled to receive, in lieu of the amount now paid in case of such disability, the sum of forty dollars per month: Provided, That said increase shall in no manner affect the rate of pension now being paid and allowable for partial deafness, the rating for which shall be continued and determined in accordance with the provisions of existing law.

PROVISIONS A3 TO TOTAL HELPLESSNESS EXTENDED.

ACT MARCH 4, 1890 (26 STAT. L., 16).

That all soldiers, sailors, and marines who have since the sixteenth day of June, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who may hereafter become so totally and permanently helpless from injuries received or disease contracted in the service and line of duty as to require the regular personal aid and attendance of another person, or who, if otherwise entitled, were excluded from the provisions of "An act to increase pensions of certain pensioned soldiers and sailors who are utterly helpless from injuries received or disease contracted while in the United States service," approved June sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, shall be entitled to receive a pension at the rate of seventy-two dollars per month from the date of the passage of this act or of the certificate of the examining surgeon or board of surgeons showing such degree of disability made subsequent to the passage of this act.

FREQUENT AND PERIODICAL AID AND ATTENDANCE.

ACT JULY 14, 1892 (27 STAT. L., 149).

That soldiers and sailors who are shown to be totally incapacitated for performing manual labor by reason of injuries received or disease contracted in the service of the United States and in line of duty, and who are thereby disabled to such a degree as to require frequent and periodical, though not regular and constant, personal aid and attendance of another person, shall be entitled to receive a pension of fifty dollars per month from and after the date of the certificate of the examining surgeon or board of examining surgeons showing such degree of disability, and made subsequent to the passage of this act.

DISABILITIES NOT PERMANENT AND SPECIFIC.

SECTION 46981, REVISED STATUTES.

Except in cases of permanent specific disabilities, no increase of pension shall be allowed to commence prior to the date of the ex

amining surgeon's certificate establishing the same, made under the pending claim for increase, and in this, as well as all other cases, the certificate of an examining surgeon, or of a board of examining surgeons, shall be subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Pen

sions.

RATE OF $18 DIVISIBLE.

SECTION 4699, REVISED STATUTES.

The rate of eighteen dollars per month may be proportionately divided for any degree of disability established for which section forty-six hundred and ninety-five makes no provision.

MINIMUM RATE, $6.

ACT MARCH 2, 1895 (28 STAT. L., 704).

And it is further provided, That from and after the passage of this Act all pensioners now on the rolls who are pensioned at less than six dollars per month, for any degree of pensionable disability, shall have their pensions increased to six dollars per month; and that hereafter, whenever any applicant for pension would under existing rates, be entitled to less than six dollars for any single disability, or several combined disabilities, such pensioner shall be rated at not less than six dollars per month: Provided also, That the provisions hereof shall not be held to cover any pensionable period prior to the passage of this Act, nor authorize a rerating of any claims for any part of such period, nor prevent the allowance of lower rates than six dollars per month, according to the existing practice in the Pension Office in pending cases covering any pensionable period prior to the passage of this Act.

ARREARS OF PENSIONS.

ACT JANUARY 25, 1879 (20 STAT. L., 265).

SECTION 1. That all pensions which have been granted under the general laws regulating pensions, or may hereafter be granted, in consequence of death from a cause which originated in the United States service during the continuance of the late war of the rebellion, or in consequence of wounds, injuries, or disease received or contracted in said service during said war of the rebellion, shall commence from the date of the death or discharge from said service of the person on whose account the claim has been or shall hereafter be granted, or from the termination of the right of the party having prior title to such pension: Provided, The rate of pension for the intervening time for which arrears of pension are hereby granted shall be the same per month for which the pension was originally granted.

SEC. 2. That the Commissioner of Pensions is hereby authorized and directed to adopt such rules and regulations for the payment of the arrears of pension hereby granted as will be necessary to cause to be paid to such pensioner, or, if the pensioner shall have died, to the person or persons entitled to the same, all such arrears of pension as the pensioner may be, or would have been, entitled to under this

act.

SEC. 3. That section forty-seven hundred and seventeen of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which provides that "no claim for pension not prosecuted to a successful issue within five years from the date of filing the same shall be admitted without record evidence from the War or Navy Department of the injury or the disease which resulted in the disability or death of the person on whose account the claim is made: Provided, That in any case in which the limitation prescribed by this section bars the further prosecution of the claim, the claimant may present, through the Pension Office, to the Adjutant-General of the Army or the Surgeon-General of the Navy, evidence that the disease or injury which resulted in the disability or death of the person on whose account the claim is made originated in the service and in the line of duty; and if such evidence is deemed satisfactory by the officer to whom it may be submitted, he shall cause a record of the fact so proved to be made, and a copy of the same to be transmitted to the Commissioner of Pensions, and the bar to the prosecution of the claim shall thereby be removed," be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

SEC. 4. No claim agent or other person shall be entitled to receive any compensation for services in making application for arrears of pension.

SEC. 5. That all acts or parts of acts so far as they may conflict with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

RATE OF ARREARS AND COMMENCEMENT OF PENSION.

ACT MARCH 3, 1879 (20 STAT. L., 469).

SECTION 1. That the rate at which the arrears of invalid pensions shall be allowed and computed in the cases which have been or shall hereafter be allowed shall be graded according to the degree of the pensioner's disability from time to time, and the provisions of the pension laws in force over the period for which the arrears shall be computed.

That section one of the act of January twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, granting arrears of pensions shall be construed to extend to and include pensions on account of soldiers who were enlisted or drafted for the service in the War of the Rebellion, but died or incurred disability from a cause originating after the cessation of hostilities, and before being mustered out: Provided, That in no case shall arrears of pensions be allowed and paid from a time. prior to the date of actual disability.

SEC. 2. All pensions which have been, or which may hereafter be, granted in consequence of death occurring from a cause which originated in the service since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or in consequence of wounds or injuries received or disease contracted since that date shall commence from the death or discharge of the person on whose account the claim has been or is hereafter granted if the disability occurred prior to discharge, and if such disability occurred after the discharge then from the date of actual disability or from the termination of the right of party having prior title to such pension: Provided, The application for such pension has been or is hereafter filed with the Commissioner of Pensions prior to the first day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty, other