74TH CONGRESS 1st Session

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SENATE

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REPORT
No. 99

AMEND SECTION 47c, NATIONAL DEFENSE ACT, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO MILITARY TRAINING REQUIRED TO ENABLE MEMBERS OF THE RESERVE OFFICERS TRAINING CORPS TO RECEIVE COMMUTATION OF SUBSISTENCE

FEBRUARY 7 (calendar day, February 11), 1935.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. THOMAS of Utah, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1304]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1304) to amend section 47c, National Defense Act, as amended, relating to military training required to enable members of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps to receive commutation of subsistence, report favorably thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

The applicable provisions of existing law on this subject are contained in the joint resolution of Congress approved September 8, 1916 (39 Stat. 853), as follows:

That in the interpretation of section fifty of the act of Congress approved June third, nineteen hundred and sixteen, credit shall be given as for service in the senior division of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps to any member of that division for any period or periods of time during which such member has received or shall have received at an educational institution under the direction of an officer of the Army, detailed as professor of military science and tactics, a course of military training substantially equivalent to that prescribed by regulations under this section for the corresponding period or periods of training of the Senior division, Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

Section 50, act of June 3, 1916, was superseded by section 47c, National Defense Act, as amended by the act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 777).

The changes that will be brought about in existing law by the proposed legislation and the effect of such changes, stated briefly, are as follows:

It will be possible to extend credit to students enrolled in the senior division, R. O. T. C., as for service in that division, for training received in the Regular Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, National Guard, Naval Academy, and citizens' military training camps. Training received at schools under the direction of

an officer of the Army detailed as professor of military science and tactics will be credited on the same basis as training given in these activities.

The War Department favors the passage of the proposed legislation for the following reasons:

In accordance with the provisions of the resolution of September 8, 1916, the Secretary of War has authorized the crediting, as for service in the senior division, of military training given at schools maintaining units of the junior division or other institutions at which an officer of the Regular Army is detailed as professor of military science and tactics.

There is, however, no authority of law for granting credit as for service in the senior division of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, for training received in the Regular Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, the United States Naval Academy, the National Guard, or citizens' military training camps. The training given in some of the foregoing activities is much more thorough than that given in many of the secondary schools having an officer on duty as professor of military science and tactics.

The authorities of many colleges and universities have represented that their inability under existing law to award credit for equivalent military training received by students prior to matriculating is a source of embarrassment to them in the administration of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. While they may on their own initiative exempt from enrollment in the basic course those students who have had equivalent military training prior to matriculating at the institution, a student can legally qualify for enrollment in the advanced course and final commission as a graduate of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps only by successfully completing the 2-year basic course of the senior division and repeating instruction already satisfactorily completed.

If the legislation herein recommended is approved by Congress, it is the intention of the War Department to determine what amount of credit on the courses of the senior division may be given for military training received by a student in the several activities concerned and to promulgate suitable regulations in accordance therewith.

It is desirable that the amendatory legislation be so drafted as to enable the War Department to consider the question of the credit to be given for military training received at schools having an officer of the Army detailed as professor of military science and tactics on the same basis as the training given by the other agencies considered in this letter. The legislation herein recommended therefore provides for the repeal of the joint resolution of Congress of September 8, 1916.

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74TH CONGRESS 1st Session

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SENATE

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REPORT No. 101

TO PROVIDE FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF UNITED STATES SOLDIERS' HOME

FEBRUARY 7 (calendar day, FEBRUARY 11), 1935.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. SHEPPARD, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1301]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1301) to provide further for the maintenance of United States. Soldiers' Home, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

The United States Soldiers' Home has been built and supported by money derived from the pay of enlisted men of the Regular Army. Congress makes no specific appropriation for its support. The members of the home feeling that it belongs to them, take pride in keeping it for themselves.

The home is supported at present by fines and forfeitures resulting from courts martial, by forfeitures of deserters, by the proceeds of unclaimed estates of deceased soldiers and by interest at 3 percent on the permanent fund (trust fund) of the home.

When the home was founded there was prescribed by statute a monthly deduction from the pay of enlisted men of 25 cents. That amount was later reduced to 12% cents, and in 1908 the monthly deduction was by act of Congress done away with. At that time it appeared that income received from courts-martial fines, forfeitures. by deserters, and the unclaimed estates of deceased soldiers would be ample for the support of the home. That was a mistake. The annual income has steadily declined during the past 10 years and now the home, in spite of rigid economies, is developing a deficit every year, which is covered by withdrawals from the permanent fund in excess of the credits to that fund. This excess withdrawal results in a corresponding reduction in interest received by the home.

The provision in the proposed bill which authorizes the Secretary of War to change the amount of monthly deduction is important. The board of commissioners of the United States Soldiers' Home are

responsible officers of high rank and can be relied on to recommend promptly to the Secretary of War changes in the monthly deduction to meet the economic administration of the home and thus avoid the necessity of appealing to Congress when a change is needed. At the maximum fixed in the bill each enlisted man and warrant officer would have to contribute only $3 a year which, when the benefits are considered, is indeed reasonable.

The bill, if enacted into law, will cost the Government nothing. The need for such increase in income further is shown by the brief fiscal statistics following:

The permanent fund of the home in the past 10 years has been reduced approximately 22 percent because of diminishing income. Effort to counteract this reduction in the permanent fund has been made. As a result of such efforts, the annual budgets of the home have been reduced in the same 10-year period from $891,391.76 in 1924, to $742,153.10 in 1934. Not only have the annual budgets been reduced, as stated, but in addition there has been annually a saving under the amount authorized by the respective budgets, ranging from $37,703.18 in 1927 to $126,748.54 in 1933. It is significant also that these savings have been made during years when the population of the home was at the highest figures in the 83 years of its operation.

Notwithstanding the economy measures invoked, the income continues to decrease, while the population of the home remains, and bids fair to continue, at or near capacity. A few years more of this steady drain upon the home funds will so reduce the trust fund as to make negligible the interest received from the Treasury.

The total credits to the permanent fund during the last 5 fiscal years, accuring from fines, forfeitures, and unclaimed estates, together with a few other unimportant and variable items, have been as follows:

It is in the hope of overcoming the decrease in income that the proposed legislation is asked.

More than 99 percent of the operation and maintenance costs of the home since 1851 have been derived from the pay of enlisted men of the Regular Army; further, with one exception, the funds disbursed for the support and maintenance of the home have never been taxpayers' money.

Following is a brief history of the Soldiers' Home, Washington, D. C.:

History. At the close of the War with Mexico, Gen. Winfield Scott had in his possession some $118,000 remaining from a fund that he had levied against the citizens of the city of Mexico. This amount he transmitted to the Treasurer of the United States for deposit to the credit of the Congress, it being the general's idea and desire that the money should be used as the foundation of a fund for the establishment of a military home or an asylum to care for the aged and disabled soldiers of the Army of the United States.

General Scott's desires were finally enacted into law by the act of Congress of March 3, 1851, and the present establishment, the Sol

diers' Home, Washington, D. C., is today the magnificent monument to his foresight and forethought.

Management. In the organic act mentioned above, the management of the home was vested in a board of commissioners composed of the principal officers of the United States Army. Though the composition of the board has been changed from time to time by legislative enactment, the basic idea of having the home administered by officers of the Regular Army has not changed in the least.

Duties of the Secretary of War.-The act of March 3, 1883, provided certain specific duties for the Secretary of War in connection with the administrative affairs of the home. These are:

(a) To act upon the Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners which is submitted to him for the purpose. To forward this annual report, together with the report of the Inspector General of the Army, to Congress at its first session thereafter. Also to cause the report to be published to the Army in orders.

(b) To approve all projects for purchases of grounds, or erection of new buildings involving an expenditure of more than $5,000.

(c) To recommend to the President the names of the officers of the home, i. e., governor, deputy governor, and secretary. The original act provided that these officers shall be taken from the Army and this provision has never been changed.

(d) To act upon the resolutions of the board of commissioners when it is proposed to draw upon the permanent fund of the home.

(e) To act upon the proposed regulations for the internal administration of the home. In this connection it may be stated that all inmates of the home are subject to the Articles of War.

Income. The act of March 3, 1851, provided funds for the initial establishment of the home and for its maintenance as follows:

(a) Any unexpended balance of the appropriation of March 2, 1847, for the benefit of discharged soldiers disabled by wounds. Under this clause the sum of $54,136.03 was provided for the initial fund.

(b) The sum of $118,791.19 levied by the commanding general of the United States forces in Mexico.

(c) All stoppages of fines, adjudged against soldiers by sentence of courts martial.

(d) All moneys, not exceeding two-thirds of the balance on hand, of the hospital and post funds of each military station.

(e) All moneys belonging to the estates of deceased soldiers and unclaimed for 3 years.

Twenty-five cents per month deducted from the pay of all soldiers of the Regular Army. This amount was reduced to 121⁄2 cents per month in 1859 and in 1908 it was discontinued altogether.

(g) The income of the home today is derived from interest (3 percent) on money on deposit with the Treasurer of the United States; stoppages and fines noted in (c) above; and the unclaimed estates of deceased soldiers of the Regular Army, noted in (e) above.

Other than the amounts noted in (a) and (b) above, there has never been a dollar appropriated by Congress for the Soldiers' Home. The soldiers of the Regular Army have provided the funds for the development and maintenance of the home as indicated herein, i. e., contributions, fines and forfeitures, and unclaimed estates.

Value of plant.-The Soldiers' Home now occupies 501 acres which has been purchased from time to time at a total cost of $326,193.34.