Military Instructors Manual Part 30

For each additional child, $5.

Cla.s.s B.

One parent, $10.

Two parents, $20.

Each grandchild, brother, sister or additional dependent, $5.

Nurses can make allotment.

When both A and B cla.s.ses are in need of allotment from a soldier's pay, and he has allotted half of his pay to Cla.s.s A, he may allot an additional one-seventh of his pay for the support of Cla.s.s B dependents, and the government will pay the sums listed above to the Cla.s.s B dependents, to the limit of $20 a month. Payments under this act were begun November 1, 1917. In case less than one-half of a soldier's pay is allotted, the Secretary of War may require the allotment to be increased up to one-half of the pay.

COMPENSATION FOR DEATH OR DISABILITY in line of duty. In all cases must be applied for. In case of death, monthly compensation shall be as follows per month:

Widow, $25.

Widow and 1 child, $35.

Widow and 2 children, $47.50.

Each additional child, $5.

One child alone, $20.

Two children, $30.

Three children, $40.

Each additional child, $5.

Widowed mother, $20.

For transportation of body, $100.

No women can receive compensation from two sources. The government will continue to pay compensation to a dependent wife until her death or remarriage, and to children until they are 18 years old, unless they are insane or helpless, in which case it will continue to pay the compensation during such incapacity.

In case of total disability, compensation will be as follows per month:

Soldier alone, $30.

With wife, no child, $45.

With wife, one child, $55.

With wife, two children, $65.

Three children or more, $75.

No wife living, one child, $40.

No wife living, each additional child, $10.

Soldier and widowed mother, $40.

In case of total disability where attendance is needed, $20 per month will be added to the compensation, unless the soldier is blind, bedridden, or has lost both feet or hands, in which case the compensation will be $100 per month, with no extra allowance for attendance. In case of partial disability, compensation will be a percentage of the amount paid in case of total disability. These annuities continue only during the life of the person for whom they are first paid.

ADDITIONAL INSURANCE.--Uniform compensation for all ranks can go only to blood relations. In case of death or disability in line of duty, it is paid in monthly instalments for 20 years. Insurance is from $1,000 to $10,000 in multiples of $500. The rate is exceedingly low.

Insurance must be applied for within 120 days after entering the service. Premiums are paid monthly, quarterly or yearly from the pay of the insured man. After the war this insurance must be converted within five years into a policy either of straight life insurance, 20-year payment or endowment, maturing at the age of 62. In case of death when there is no blood relations.h.i.+p, the reserve value, according to the American insurance mortality tables, is paid to the estate. None of these payments can be attached for debt, nor legal action started against them except in a United States Court. The maximum lawyer's fee in any such case is $500.

1361. DEPOSITS of not less than $5 may be made by an enlisted man (not retired) to any quartermaster. Deposit book, signed by quartermaster and company commander, given to man who makes the deposit. This book is not transferable.

1363. A LOST DEPOSIT BOOK is not replaced without an affidavit of the soldier, testifying that he has not sold nor a.s.signed it.

1364. PAYMENT made only on final statement. The soldier should be informed of the importance of keeping the deposit book.

1365. WITHDRAWAL OF DEPOSIT when discharged or furloughed to reserve.

1366. INTEREST on sum greater than $5 is 4 per cent.

1368. FORFEITURE due to desertion, but not by sentence of court martial. Deposits not exempt from liabilities due the United States.

1371. OFFICERS AND MEN lose pay while confined by civil authorities.

1375. FURLOUGHED TO RESERVE or discharged, a soldier is given a final statement in duplicate. This must be presented to be valid.

1378. TRANSPORTATION and subsistence is allowed to the point of enlistment, or for the same distance. Not subject to deduction for debts due the United States.

1380. DISCHARGED SOLDIER under charge of fraudulent enlistment is not ent.i.tled to transportation and subsistence.

1383. TRANSFER OF CLAIMS on the government made by an enlisted man are only recognized after discharge or furlough to the reserve. They must be in writing and must be endorsed by a commissioned officer or other responsible person known to the quartermaster.

1437. No one is allowed to accompany sick or wounded from the battle line to the rear except those specifically authorized.

1530. Ammunition lost or used without orders or not in line of duty shall be charged to the soldier using it.

NOTES ON THE LAWS OF WAR.

(From Manual for Commanders of Infantry Platoons, translated from the French at the Army War College, 1917. War Department Doc.u.ment No. 626.)

The laws of war were inst.i.tuted under the generous error that certain well-organized peoples had entirely emerged from barbarism and that they considered themselves bound by the placing of their signatures to international conventions, freely agreed to.

An infinite number of acts minutely and officially investigated have established that our troops and our Nation should never count on the observance of these laws and that the atrocities committed prove to be not only individual violations dishonoring merely the perpetrator, but violations premeditated and ordered in cold blood by the commanders with the moral support of the heads of the enemy nation.

These laws are nevertheless repeated here in order that:

1. The knowledge of how the war should have been conducted may develop in the heart of each man the sentiment of hate (applicable only to foes such as we actually have), that in no case should a chief of platoon tolerate any intercourse between his men and the enemy other than that of the rifle; this duty is explicit and not to be departed from except in the case of the wounded and prisoners incapable of doing harm.

2. That every violator of these laws, taken in the act, shall be the subject of an immediate report with witnesses, then sent to the division headquarters to be tried as to the facts of the case.

The laws of war resulted from the Geneva convention, from the declaration of St. Petersburg (Petrograd), and from the different Hague conventions. All these diplomatic papers were signed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.

The following are the princ.i.p.al articles:

Protect the wounded on the field of battle from pillage and from bad treatment; respect ambulances and evacuation convoys; respect the personnel exclusively concerned with the transportation, treatment and guarding of wounded; do not treat this personnel as prisoners of war if it falls into the hands of the enemy; but return such personnel, as well as material, when its retention shall be no longer necessary for the care of the wounded prisoners.

Refrain from employing any projectile which weighs less than 400 grams that is either explosive or loaded with incendiary or inflammable material, from all projectiles having for their sole object the spreading of asphyxiating or harmful gases, all expanding bullets or those which will easily flatten out inside the human body, such as jacketed bullets whose jacket does not entirely cover the core or is nickel.

Forbid the use of poisons or of poisoned arms, killing or wounding an enemy who has thrown down his arms and surrendered; declarations that there will be no quarter; refrain from bombarding towns and cities which are not defended, from firing on churches, historical monuments, edifices devoted to the arts, to science, to charity, to sick and wounded and which are marked by a conspicuous signal known to the enemy.

Prisoners should be treated as to rations, housing and clothing the same as troops of the country which has captured them. All their personal belongings, except their arms and military papers, should be left in their possession.

The following should be inviolate: The emissary--that is to say, an individual authorized by a belligerent to enter into talks with the authorities of the other side and coming under a white flag; also his trumpeter, his standard bearer, and his interpreter. He loses his inviolability if it is proven that he has profited by his privilege to provoke or commit treachery.

An undisguised military man can never be treated as a spy.

CHAPTER 8.