NOTES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FOREGOING

The act of September 1, 1922, contains a provision which allows a rate of $100 per month on account of total disability of both hands or both feet, if due to causes originating in line of duty in service in the war with Spain, Philippine insurrection, or Chinese Boxer rebellion. The rate provided by law for such disability incurred in service other than in the wars named, is $31.25 as fixed by the act of June 4, 1872. In such cases a rate of $72 might be allowed, however, if the disability was such as to require regular aid and attendance (first grade).

As shown in the table a rate of $72 per month may be allowed from June 17, 1878, on account of a disability requiring regular aid and attendance of another person. This is true, however, only in cases in which the rate of $50 had been granted prior to June 16, 1880, under the act of June 18, 1874. The rate of $72 for such degree of disability in all cases is granted by the act of June 16, 1880.

The expressions "first grade," "second grade," and "third grade,' describing rates of pension for certain degrees of disability, were formerly in general use, and are still applied in some cases.

These expressions are believed to have had their origin in the act of June 6, 1866, in which three degrees of disability are described, (a) disability requiring regular aid and attendance, for which a rate of $25 was provided; (b) disability resulting in incapacity to perform manual labor, for which a rate of $20 was provided; and (c) disability equivalent to the loss of a hand or foot, for which a rate of $15 per month was provided. These three degrees of disability appear to have constituted what was known as first, second, and third grade.

This theory as to the origin of "grade rates" is strengthened somewhat by the fact that in section 4 of the act of March 3, 1873, it is provided "That all persons who under like circumstances have lost a leg above the knee and in consequence thereof are so disabled that they can not use artificial limbs, shall be rated in the second class and receive $24 per month," and this language is repeated in section 4698 of the Revised Statutes. The rate of incapacity to perform manual labor (second grade) had been increased by act of June 4, 1872, from $20 to $24. The amputation described was, of course, not a "second grade" disability, but the act of March 3, 1873, directed that it "be rated in the second class."

The recognized rate of pension at the present time for "first grade" is $72 per month; for "second grade," $30 per month; and for "third grade," $24 per month.

Table of maximum rates specified by law at the present time for disabilities incurred in service in line of duty

Amputation at shoulder or hip joint, or so near joint as to prevent use

of artificial limb...

Frequent aid and attendance...

Per month $125.00

125. 00

100. 00

100. 00

125. 00

100. 00

72.00

90.00

90. 00

72.00

50.00

Inability to perform manual labor (second grade).

Disability equivalent to loss of hand or foot (third grade).

$90.00

90.00

80.00

80.00

40. 00

30.00

24. 00

Table of rates fixed pursuant to section 4699, Revised Statutes of the United States, for certain disabilities incurred in service in line of duty not specified by law

Nearly total deafness of one ear and slight of the other.

Total deafness of one ear and slight of the other...
Severe deafness of both ears..

Total deafness of one ear and severe of the other..

10. 00

15. 00

20.00

22.00

25. 00

Deafness of both ears existing in a degree nearly total.

Loss of palm of hand and all the fingers, the thumb remaining

Inguinal hernia which passes through the external ring..

Inguinal hernia which does not pass through the external ring

Double inguinal hernia, each of which passes through the external ring.

Double inguinal hernia, one of which passes through the external ring and other does not_

Double inguinal hernia, neither of which passes through the external

ring....

Femoral hernia..

10.00 10.00

6. 00

15.00

12.00

12.00

12.00

8.00

17.00

17.00

15.00

12.00

17.00

15. 00

12.00

15. 00

The majority of pensions which would be allowed under this act would be comparatively small.

The total number of pensioners of the Regular Army, Navy, and Marine Corps on the pension rolls under the general law for disability due to service up to and including June 30, 1928, is as follows:

Regular Establishment

The table above shows the rates together with the number of persons receiving the benefits of these rates.

The members of the Coast Guard, Regular Establishment, are entitled to retirement pay, and many would elect to take the retired pay in preference to the small pension which they would receive under the benefits of this act.

They are entitled to retirement pay for length of service, age, and disability, at the rate of three-fourths per cent of their base pay, which amount in practically every case would be in excess of the amount of pension allowed.

An act of Congress dated January 28, 1915, provides that no pension shall be allowed or paid any person in the Coast Guard on the active or retired list.

The widow's rate of pension would be $12 per month and $2 per month additional for each minor child of the officer or enlisted man under the age of 16 years at the date of his death.

The rates for officers and their widows would be governed by section 4695, Revised Statutes of the United States (U. S. Č., title 38, sec. 153) and would be determined by the rank of the officer at the time of the incurrence of the disability or death. Such rates of pension range from $15 to $30 per month.

At this time there is only what is known as the general pension law; that is, 4695-3, 4702-3, Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended from time to time would be applicable. Thus, incurrence of disability or death in the service in the line of duty must be shown in order to entitle the claimant to pension.

The question of title to pension of the beneficiaries was before the Department of the Interior in the case of the widow of Edgar Chadwick, and was decided adversely on March 27, 1926, based upon the following decision:

Pension-Coast Guard-Act of January 28, 1915-Sections 4692 and 4693, Revised Statutes.-The act of January 28, 1915, which designated the Coast Guard as a part of the Military Establishment of the United States, did not have the effect of including in any one of those classes for which pensions were provided

by sections 4692 and 4693, Revised Statutes, the officers and enlisted men serving therein during times of peace under orders of the Secretary of the Treasury. Edwards, Assistant Secretary:

Edgar Chadwick, district superintendent and lieutenant (junior grade), United States Coast Guard, died April 5, 1922. Mary W. Chadwick as his widow filed July 24, 1924, an application for pension alleging that she was entitled to pension under the provisions of the acts of Congress granting pensions to widows of soldiers who have died by reason of wounds or injuries received or disease contracted in the service of the United States in line of duty.

The officer was enlisted as surfman in the Life Saving Service September 1, 1888, was appointed August 19, 1905, keeper of a life-saving station, and July 6, 1914, district superintendent Life Saving Service; was commissioned March 3, 1915, district superintendent in the United States Coast Guard; and became commissioned officer in the Coast Guard, on the organization of the Coast Guard, with the rank of lieutenant (junior grade). He married the claimant June 20, 1904, and died April 5, 1922, from acute endocarditis of five days' duration, incurred in line of duty.

The claim was adjudicated in the Pension Bureau under section 4702, Revised Statutes, and was rejected May 1, 1925, on the ground that the "claimant's deceased husband was not, at date of incurrence of the disability which resulted in his death April 5, 1922, an officer or enlisted man in the United States Navy or serving with the Navy but a civilian employee in the United States Coast Guard Service.'

From the action rejecting the claim an appeal to this department was entered June 19, 1925.

Section 4702, Revised Statutes, provides:

"If any person embraced within the provisions of sections forty-six hundred and ninety-two and forty-six hundred and ninety-three has died since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or hereafter dies by reason of any wound, injury, or disease which, under the conditions and limitations of such sections, would have entitled him to an invalid pension had he been disabled, his widow, or if there be no widow, or in case of her death, without payment to her of any part of the pension hereinafter mentioned, his child or children, under sixteen years of age, shall be entitled to receive the same pension as the husband or father would have been entitled to had he been totally disabled, to commence from the death of the husband or father, to continue to the widow during her widowhood, and to his child or children until they severally attain the age of sixteen years, and no longer; and if the widow remarry, the child or children shall be entitled from the date of remarriage."

Sections 4692 and 4693, Revised Statutes, read as follows:

"SEC. 4692. Every person specified in the several classes enumerated in the following section, who has been, since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or who is hereafter disabled under the conditions therein stated, shall, upon making due proof of the fact, according to such forms and regulations as are or may be provided in pursuance of law, be placed on the list of invalid pensioners of the United States, and be entitled to receive, for a total disability, or a permanent specific disability, such pension as is hereinafter provided in such cases; and for an inferior disability, except in cases of permanent specific disability, for which the rate of pension is expressly provided, an amount proportionate to that provided for total disability; and such pension shall commence as hereinafter provided, and continue during the existence of the disability."

SEC. 4693. The persons entitled as beneficiaries under the preceding section are as follows:

"First. Any officer of the Army, including Regulars, Volunteers, and militia, or any officer in the Navy or Marine Corps, or any enlisted man, however employed, in the military or naval service of the United States, or in its Marine Corps, whether regularly mustered or not, disabled by reason of any wound or injury received, or disease contracted, while in the service of the United States and in the line of duty.

"Second. Any master serving on a gunboat, or any pilot, engineer, sailor, or other person not regularly mustered, serving upon any gunboat or war vessel of the United States, disabled by any wound or injury received, or otherwise incapacitated, while in the line of duty. for procuring his subsistence by manual labor.

"Third. Any person not an enlisted soldier in the Army, serving for the time being as a member of the militia of any State, under orders of an officer of the United States, or who volunteered for the time being to serve with any regularly

organized military or naval force of the United States, or who otherwise volunteered and rendered service in any engagement with rebels or Indians, disabled in consequence of wounds or injury received in the line of duty in such temporary service. But no claim of a State militiaman or nonenlisted person on account of disability from wounds or injury received in battle with rebels or Indians, while temporarily rendering service, shall be valid unless prosecuted to a successful issue prior to the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and seventy-four.

"Fourth. Any acting assistant or contract surgeon disabled by any wound or injury received or disease contracted in the line of duty while actually performing the duties of assistant surgeon or acting assistant surgeon with any military force in the field, or in transitu, or in hospital.

"Fifth. Any provost marshal, deputy provost marshal, or enrolling officer disabled by reason of any wound or injury, received in the discharge of his duty, to procure a subsistence by manual labor."

By the act of January 28, 1915 (38 Stat. 800), was established in lieu of the then existing Revenue Cutter Service, the Coast Guard, to be composed of the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life Saving Service with the existing offices and positions and the incumbent officers and men of the two services.

The Life Saving Service was purely a civil service, was under the jurisidiction of the Treasury Department, the personnel consisting of surfman, keepers of life-saving stations, houses of refuge and lighthouses, and division superintendent appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury (see secs. 4242-4247, 4249 Revised Statutes), and a general superintendent appointed by the President (act of June 18, 1878, 20 Stat. 163).

Sections 31, 62-64 of the act approved August 4, 1790 (1 Stat. 145), creating the Revenue Cutter Service, was superseded by sections 97-100 of the act approved March 2, 1799 (1 Stat. 627), entitled An act to regulate the collection of duties on imposts and tonnage," by which the President was authorized to have constructed revenue cutters, and appoint a captain and not more than three lieutenants to each cutter, the crew of each not to exceed 70 men. The officers of the cutters were to be "subject to the collectors of revenue or other officers thereof as shall be designated for that purpose" and were authorized to go on board ships coming into ports of the United States or coming within four leagues of the coast, if bound for the United States, to examine the same, and demand, receive, and certify the manifests required to be aboard, and remain on board until they arrive at the port or place of their destination.

Section 98 of said act provided that "the said revenue cutters shall, whenever the President of the United States shall so direct, cooperate with the Navy of the United States, during which time they shall be under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, and the expenses thereof shall be defrayed by the agent of the Navy Department."

The foregoing provisions are incorporated in sections 2747-2743, 2749-2757, Revised Statutes.

Commissioned officers in the Revenue Cutter Service were, by sections 2 and 3, act of April 12, 1902 (32 Stat. 100), and section 1, act of April 16, 1908 (35 Stat. 61), given rank with certain officers of the Army and Navy and the same pay and allowances except forage as provided for officers of corresponding rank in the Army, including longevity pay; and by section 6 of the act of April 12, 1902, supra, were to be retired by means of a board convened by the Secretary of the Treasury. By section 1, act of May 26, 1906 (34 Stat. 200), enlistments in the Revenue Cutter Service were to be for a period not exceeding three years, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury; section 3 of the same act provided for apprehension of deserters, and section 5 provided that no person who had deserted from the Revenue Cutter Service "shall be afterwards employed in that service or enlisted in any other military or naval service under the United States." [Italics supplied.]

The Revenue Cutter Service was considered and held to be a civil service. 15 Ops. Atty. Gen. 396; 16 id. 288; 28 id. 543; 8 Comp. Dec. 852; 15 id. 807; Louis Schaffer (6 P. D. 137, 144); David Oliver (7 P. D. 597).

The act of April 18, 1814 (3 Stat. 127), section 4741, Revised Statutes, provides as follows:

"The officers and seamen of the revenue cutters of the United States, who have been or may be wounded or disabled in the discharge of their duty while cooperating with the Navy by order of the President, shall be entitled to be placed on the Navy pension list, at the same rate of pension and under the same regulations and restrictions as are provided by law for the officers and seamen of the Navy."