During the year
89,054 pension certificates were issued, of which 37,077 were for new or
original pensions. The amount disbursed for army and navy pensions
during the year was $138,355,052.95, which was $1,651,461.61 less than
the sum of the appropriations.
The Grand Army of the Republic at its recent national encampment held in
Philadelphia has brought to my attention and to that of the Congress the
wisdom and justice of a modification of the third section of the act of
June 27, 1890, which provides pensions for the widows of officers and
enlisted men who served ninety days or more during the War of the
Rebellion and were honorably discharged, provided that such widows are
without other means of support than their daily labor and were married
to the soldier, sailor, or marine on account of whose service they claim
pension prior to the date of the act.
The present holding of the Department is that if the widow's income
aside from her daily labor does not exceed in amount what her pension
would be, to wit, $96 per annum, she would be deemed to be without
other means of support than her daily labor, and would be entitled to
a pension under this act; while if the widow's income independent of
the amount received by her as the result of her daily labor exceeds
$96, she would not be pensionable under the act.
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