An Act To increase the pension of widows, minor children, and so forth, of deceased soldiers and sailors of the late civil war, the war with Mexico, the various Indian wars, and so forth, and to grant a pension to certain widows of the deceased soldiers and sailors of the late civil war.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this Act the rate of pension for widows, minor children under the age of sixteen years, and helpless minors as defined by existing laws, now on the roll or hereafter to be placed on the pension roll and entitled to receive a less rate than hereinafter provided, shall be twelve dollars per month; and nothing herein shall be construed to affect the existing allowance of two dollars per month for each child under the age of sixteen years and for each helpless child; and all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, however, That this Act shall not be so construed as to reduce any pension under any Act, public or private.
SEC. 2. That if any officer or enlisted man who served ninety days or more in the Army or Navy of the United States during the late civil war and who has been honorably discharged therefrom has died or shall hereafter die, leaving a widow, such widow shall, upon due proof of her husband’s death, without proving his death to be the result of his army or navy service, be placed on the pension roll from the date of the filing of her application therefor under this Act at the rate of twelve dollars per month during her widowhood, provided that said widow shall have married said soldier or sailor prior to June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety; and the benefits of this section shall include those widows whose husbands if living would have a pensionable status under the Joint Resolutions of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, July first, nineteen hundred and two, and June twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 3. That no claim agent or attorney shall be recognized in the adjudication of claims under the first section of this Act, and that no agent, attorney, or other person engaged in preparing, presenting, or prosecuting any claim under the provisions of the second section of this Act shall, directly or indirectly, contract for, demand, receive, or retain for such services in preparing, presenting, or prosecuting such claim a sum greater than ten dollars, which sum shall be payable only upon the order of the Commissioner of Pensions by the pension agent making payment of the pension allowed; and any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section or who shall wrongfully withhold from the pensioner or claimant the whole or any part of a pension or claim, allowed or due such pensioner or claimant under this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall, for each and every such offense, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars or be imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Approved, April 19, 1908.