Page images
PDF
EPUB

bled, That section 502 of the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof two new subdivisions to read as follows:

"(1) For the purpose of this section the loan basis provided in subdivision (g) shall at no time be less than 50 per centum of the face value of the certificate, and in no event shall the rate of interest on any loan made after this subdivision takes effect exceed 412 per centum per annum, compounded annually. If at the time of application to the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs for a loan the principal and interest on or in respect of any prior loan under this section have not been paid in full by the veteran (whether or not the loan has matured), then, on request of the veteran, the Administrator shall (1) pay or otherwise discharge such unpaid principal and so much of such unpaid interest (accrued or to accrue) as is necessary to make the certificate available for use as security for the new loan and (2) deduct the same from the then existing loan basis of the certificate.

"(m) Loans made by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs under this section may at his option be made out of the United States Government life insurance fund, or out of the Adjusted Service Certificate Fund created under section 505.'

"SEC. 2. Section 507 of such Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 507. All amounts in the fund shall be available for payment, by the Administrator, of adjusted service certificates upon their maturity or the prior death of the veteran, for payments under section 502 to banks on account of notes of veterans, and for making loans authorized by section 502, as amended.'

"SEC. 3. There is authorized to be appropriated such amounts as may be necessary to provide for the making of loans to veterans by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs under the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, as amended.

"SEC. 4. This Act may be cited as the 'Emergency Adjusted Compensation Act, 1931."

Thus, prior to the 1931 amendment, section 502 provided that loans should be made "only in accordance with the

provisions of this section "; that a bank or trust company might make such loans only "after the expiration of two years after the date of the certificate "; that the Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau was authorized to make loans "in the same amounts and upon the same terms and conditions as are applicable in the case of loans made under this section by a bank "; and that "the provisions of, this section shall be applicable to such loans " when made by the Director. The plain meaning of these provisions was that the Director, as well as the banks, was authorized to make loans only "after the expiration of two years after the date of the certificate," and this, I am informed, has been the view of the Director, uniformly followed since the statute was first enacted.

Various veterans who delayed making their applications and therefore hold certificates less than two years old have applied to the Administrator for loans. The Administrator has rejected certain applications on the ground that he was not authorized to make loans except on certificates which had been issued for at least two years and proposes to reject all similar applications upon the same ground. In my view this action was based upon a correct interpretation of the law.

[ocr errors]

While it is provided that the latter Act "may be cited as the Emergency Adjusted Compensation Act, 1931,'' it is entitled, "An Act to increase the loan basis of adjusted service certificates," and expressly provides for amendment of the World War Adjusted Compensation Act to accomplish that purpose, simply increasing the "loan basis" in that Act from ninety per centum of the reserve value to fifty per centum of the face value of the certificates, and, does not, by its own terms, authorize any loans whatever. The appropriation which it provides is expressly stated to be" for the making of loans to veterans under the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, as amended." Loans were authorized under that Act only "after the expiration of two years after the date of the certificate" and the 1931 Act does not purport to remove that restriction.

**

When the provisions of a statute are clear and unambiguous there is ordinarily no occasion to resort to its legis

lative history as an aid to interpretation. If, however, the legislative background of the Emergency Adjusted Compensation Act of 1931 is examined, it is clear that there was no intention on the part of Congress to remove or abbreviate the two-year requirement contained in the earlier statute. It was pointed out in the House and in the Senate that the World War Adjusted Compensation Act authorized loans only on certificates at least two years old and that the pending bill would effect no change in this respect. Some members contended that the restriction ought to be eliminated, but it was recognized that the bill did not affect it. (Cong. Rec., vol. 74, pp. 4838, 5077, 5140–5141, 5375.) Referring to the 1931 Act, the President, in a message to Congress, pointed out that "there are 100,000 veterans whose certificates have been issued recently who under the proposed law will have no loan privilege until their certificates are 2 years old." (Cong. Rec., vol. 74, p. 6168.) After the bill had become law efforts were made in Congress to eliminate the two-year requirement by separate enactment, but without success. (Cong. Rec., vol. 74, pp. 6596, 6969, 6972, 7108.)

It is therefore my opinion that the Emergency Adjusted Compensation Act, 1931, does not authorize the making of loans on adjusted service certificates which have been in effect less than two years.

Respectfully,

WILLIAM D. MITCHELL.

To the ADMINISTRATOR OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS.

PENSION CLAIM OF JEANETTE BURDICK

Bernie Burdick, a Sergeant Major in the United States Marine Corps, was verbally authorized by the Brigade Commander to visit the Marine Barracks at Cape Haitien. He was directed to leave Port au Prince on April 8, 1929, by a Government-owned truck carrying supplies to Cape Haitien, and to return to Port au Prince the next day by the same means of transportation. While en route to the Marine Barracks at Cape Haitien, the Government-owned truck in which Burdick was riding, and of which he was in charge by reason of a provision of his Brigade's Manual placing the senior in rank in charge of a motor vehicle engaged in official business, became uncontrollable, due to trouble with the steering gear, and plunged

down the mountainside, thereby causing injuries to Burdick which resulted in his death. Held, under the circumstances herein stated, that Burdick lost his life "in the line of duty" and under such circumstances as to comply with sections 4693 and 4694 of the Revised Statutes; and that his widow, Jeanette Burdick, is entitled to a pension under section 4702 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by section 1 of the Act of August 7, 1882 (22 Stat. 345.) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

June 12, 1931.

SIR: I have the honor to comply with your request of November 15, 1930, for my opinion whether one Bernie Burdick, late a Sergeant Major in the United State Marine Corps, lost his life in the line of duty and under such circumstances as to entitle his widow, Mrs. Jeanette Burdick, to a pension.

The following facts appear from your letter and enclo

sures:

Prior to his death Burdick was stationed with the First Brigade of the Marine Corps, at Port au Prince, Haiti. He was verbally authorized by the Brigade Commander to visit the Marine Barracks at Cape Haitien, to leave Port au Prince by a Government-owned truck at or about 6 a. m., April 8, 1929, and to return to Port au Prince by the same means of transportation on April 9, 1929. A Corporal of the Marine Corps was directed by the motor transport officer to take charge of a convoy of two Government-owned trucks carrying supplies to Cape Haitien. The trucks left Port au Prince for Cape Haitien, a distance of more than one hundred miles, on the morning of April 8th. The road is through a mountainous country, and the trip ordinarily requires about six hours. The Corporal was driving the forward truck with a private riding beside him. Burdick was riding upon the rear truck, which was being driven by a private, and which was about two hundred and fifty yards behind the forward truck. About 11.30 a. m., while the convoy was ascending a mountain, the driver of the rear truck lost control of it because of trouble with the steering gear, whereupon the truck left the road and plunged down the mountainside. Burdick received injuries which resulted in his death on the afternoon of the same day.

Marine Corps authorities have found that Burdick was injured in the line of duty, such finding being based (1)

upon the fact that although Burdick had been granted verbal leave of a short duration to visit the Marine Barracks at Cape Haitien, nevertheless at the time of the accident he was, at the express direction of the Brigade Commander, riding on a Government-owned truck which was pursuing official duty in transporting supplies to the Marine Barracks at Cape Haitien, (2) upon the fact that the accident happened without fault on his part, and (3) upon Chapter IV, section 4, paragraph 9, of the Manual of the First Brigade of the Marine Corps, which provides, in part, that— "The senior in rank of those traveling on a motor vehicle is in charge of that vehicle."

I am advised by the Navy Department that each Brigade of the Marine Corps has its own Manual, that the above provision of the First Brigade's Manual places the senior in rank in charge of a motor vehicle en route on official business even though such senior is on furlough, and subjects him to Marine Corps discipline in the event he fails to perform that duty. Under these regulations Burdick at the time of the accident was in charge of the Government truck in which he was riding.

Section 4692 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., Title 38, section 151) provides that the persons specified in section 4693 of the Revised Statutes who are disabled under conditions therein stated shall, upon application, be entitled to receive a pension during the existence of such disability. Section 4693 (U. S. C., Title 38, section 152), so far as material here, provides:

"The persons entitled as beneficiaries under the preceding section are as follows:

"First. Any officer

*

[ocr errors]

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."

*

Section 4702 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by section 1 of the Act of August 7, 1882, c. 438, 22 Stat. 345 (U. S. C., Title 38, Sec. 191) provides that if any person within the provisions of sections 4692 and 4693, R. S., shall

« PreviousContinue »