war with Germany, to the full extent of the demands made upon them and of their opportunity, the payments hereinafter specified are hereby authorized.

SECTION 2. Upon application, as hereinafter provided, there shall be allowed and paid out of the treasury of the commonwealth, to each commissioned officer, enlisted man, field clerk and army or navy nurse duly recognized as such by the war or navy department, who was mustered into the federal service and reported for active duty subsequently to February third, nineteen hundred and seventeen and prior to November eleventh, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and to each commissioned officer, warrant officer, nurse and enlisted man, who enlisted or was enrolled in, or was mustered into the federal service and who had been called and reported for active duty in the United States Navy, United States Naval Reserve Forces, United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard, or the National Navy Volunteers, subsequently to said February third, and prior to said November eleventh, and to every man who served during the war in the regular army, navy or marine corps, or to the dependents or heirs at law of the persons above enumerated, as provided in section three, the sum of one hundred dollars: provided, that every person on account of whose service the application is filed had been a resident of the commonwealth for a period of not less than six months immediately prior to the time of his entry into service; and further provided, that no benefits shall accrue under this act because of the service of any person appointed to or inducted into the military or naval forces who had not reported for duty on or prior to November eleventh, nineteen hundred and eighteen at the military cantonment or the naval station to which he was ordered, or who was discharged from service or relieved from active duty and not recalled to the colors prior to January fifteenth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, but in all cases of death in service or discharge for physical incapacity received in the line of duty the full amount of one hundred dollars shall be payable notwithstanding the provisions of this section.

SECTION 3. In the case of the decease of any person who would if alive be entitled to the benefits of this act, the sum named therein shall be paid to his dependents, if any, and otherwise to his heirs-at-law: provided, that if there is more than one dependent, or heir-at-law, payments shall in either case be made in such proportions as the treasurer and receiver general shall determine, and in determining the order of precedence so far as practicable the following order shall be observed: wife and children, mother or father, brother or sister, other dependents; provided, however, that no right or payment under this act shall be subject to the claims of creditors, capable of assignment, regarded as assets legal or equitable of the estate of the deceased or made the basis for administration thereof.

SECTION 4. Applications hereunder shall be filed with the treasurer and receiver general, upon forms to be furnished by him, on or before November thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, or, in the case of an applicant whose final discharge from service is received after the date of the passage of this act, within six months after the date of such discharge. The treasurer and receiver general may accept the written statement of an assessor of a city or town that a person claiming pay or on whose account pay is claimed by a dependent or heir-at-law, under the provisions of this act, was a resident thereof on the first day of April, in any year, as prima facie evidence of the fact of such residence, and he may accept such other evidence of residence as he may consider adequate. The assessors of the several cities and

towns shall, at the request of the treasurer and receiver general, forthwith furnish such information relative to such residence as their records may disclose.

SECTION 5. No person shall be eligible for any benefit accruing under this act who (1) shall have received a dishonorable discharge from the service of the United States, or (2) shall have, at any time during the period of the war with Germany, sought to avoid service because of conscientious objection thereto, or because of alienage, or (3) who shall have been at any time guilty of any fraud or wilful violation or evasion of the selective service act or of the rules and regulations of the war department in force thereunder.

SECTION 6. The adjutant general shall certify to the treasurer and receiver general the dates of service and any other military information necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.

SECTION 7. Whoever knowingly makes a false statement, oral or written, relating to a material fact in supporting a claim under the provisions of this act, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than three years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Offences under this section may be prosecuted by the attorney-general, or under his direction in any court within the commonwealth, and all fines collected hereunder shall be paid into the treasury of the commonwealth.

SECTION 8. The treasurer and receiver general shall act upon all applications made hereunder, and may expend for clerical assistance and for such other expenses such sums as may be necessary in carrying out the provisions of this act, not exceeding the sums appropriated by the general court for the purpose.

SECTION 9. For the purpose of meeting the expenditures authorized by this act the treasurer and receiver general is hereby authorized, with the approval of the governor and council, to issue bonds or notes from time to time, as they are needed, to an amount not exceeding twenty million dollars, for such terms as the governor shall recommend to the general court in accordance with section three of Article LXII of the amendments to the constitution. Such bonds or notes shall be designated on the face thereof Massachusetts Military Service Loan, Act of 1919, shall be countersigned by the governor, and shall be deemed a pledge of the faith and credit of the commonwealth; and the principal and interest thereof shall be paid at the times specified on said bonds or notes in gold coin of the United States, or its equivalent. Said bonds or notes shall be disposed of in such manner as shall be deemed best by the treasurer and receiver general, who shall, when issuing any of said bonds or notes, provide for the payment of the same in the manner prescribed by chapter three of the acts of nineteen hundred and twelve. The amount necessary to pay the principal of said loan as it matures, and the interest as it accrues, shall be raised by the assessment of a civilian war poll tax sufficient to provide not less than one half of the said amount, and the balance of such amount shall be raised by the imposition and levy of such assessments, rates and taxes, and of such duties and excises as the general court may hereafter deem just and expedient and may by law provide. All tax bills for the collection of taxes imposed to meet the amount of said principal and interest shall show on the face thereof that said taxes are imposed for the purpose of raising funds to provide for the payments hereby authorized to the soldiers and sailors of Massachusetts who served in the war with Germany. The tax commissioner shall have authority to make suitable regulations for enforcing this provision. Any person entitled to the benefits of this act shall, upon

application to the board of assessors of the city or town in which he resides, receive an abatement of the additional war poll tax assessed upon him under the provisions of this section.

SECTION 10. Section one of Part I of chapter four hundred and ninety of the acts of nineteen hundred and nine is hereby amended by inserting before the words “A poll tax” the words: In and for the years nineteen hundred and twenty, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, nineteen hundred and twenty-two and nineteen hundred and twenty-three a poll tax of five dollars and thereafter, so as to read as follows: - Section 1. In and for the years nineteen hundred and twenty, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, nineteen hundred and twenty-two and nineteen hundred and twenty-three a poll tax of five dollars and thereafter a poll tax of two dollars shall be assessed on every male inhabitant of the commonwealth above the age of twenty years, whether a citizen of the United States or an alien.

SECTION 11. Poll taxes assessed by the assessors of the Shelburne Falls Fire District pursuant to the provisions of chapter two hundred and sixty-two of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-five, and acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, shall be assessed at two dollars on each poll.

SECTION 12. In and for the years nineteen hundred and twenty, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, nineteen hundred and twenty-two and nineteen hundred and twenty-three every collector of taxes who shall receive a certificate or warrant from any board of assessors for the collection of poll taxes of said years shall in each year, respectively, verify to the tax commissioner, on or before the twentieth day of October, in such form and detail as he may require, the total number of polls so certified or committed to him, including those assessed pursuant to the provisions of chapter eight hundred and thirty-five of the acts of nineteen hundred and thirteen and acts in amendment thereof and addition thereto and thereafter, if any poll taxes for any of said years shall be committed to him as aforesaid, he shall forthwith certify, in like manner, the number of polls so committed.

SECTION 13. The tax commissioner shall, in the years nineteen hundred and twenty, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, nineteen hundred and twenty-two and nineteen hundred and twenty-three, on or before the first day of November, assess and levy upon each city and town a special tax on account of the polls taxable therein at the rate of three dollars for each poll. Such tax shall be computed upon the information at the time of assessment in his possession, and, in lieu of better information, may be assessed upon the number of polls of the preceding year, as shown in the "Table of Aggregates" deposited in the office of the tax commissioner, pursuant to the provisions of section sixty of Part I of chapter four hundred and ninety of the acts of nineteen hundred and nine.

SECTION 14. The tax commissioner shall, on or before the tenth day of November in each year, respectively, certify and commit to the treasurer and receiver general the taxes assessed pursuant to the provisions of section thirteen and the taxes so certified and committed shall thereupon be due and payable by each city and town and the treasurer thereof, respectively. The provisions of section forty of Part I of chapter four hundred and ninety of the acts of nineteen hundred and nine shall apply to the enforcement of taxes assessed pursuant to the provisions of this act.

SECTION 15. The tax commissioner shall from time to time assess and levy upon each city and town, and certify and commit to the treasurer and receiver general, additional taxes with respect to any polls not included in the assessment

laid pursuant to section thirteen and taxes so assessed shall be payable and may be enforced in the same manner as those originally assessed.

SECTION 16. The rate of interest on securities issued under section nine shall be fixed by the treasurer and receiver general, with the approval of the governor and council.

SECTION 17. Yeomen (F) shall not be entitled to the benefits of this act. SECTION 18. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved July 3,

1919.

CHAPTER 290.

AN ACT RELATIVE TO STATE AND MILITARY AID AND TO THE BURIAL OF INDIGENT

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.

SECTION 1. The commissioner of state aid and pensions, appointed under the provisions of chapter one hundred and ninety-two of the acts of nineteen hundred and two, shall perform the duties required of him under the laws relative to state and military aid. He shall investigate, so far as the interests of the commonwealth may require, all payments for state and military aid under the provisions of this act. He shall be a state agent for the settlement of pensions, bounty and back pay claims of citizens of this commonwealth against the government of the United States, shall be allowed his travelling expenses when it is necessary for him to visit the city of Washington, and may expend for the said purposes and for all other expenses necessary to the proper performance of his duties such sums as the general court may appropriate. He shall furnish information, prepare papers and expedite the adjudication of claims, and assist claimants in proving their cases, and shall keep a record of the work done in his office and make an annual report thereof to the general court. The deputy commissioner appointed under the provisions of said chapter one hundred and ninety-two shall be subject to the direction and control of the commissioner. In case the commissioner is temporarily absent or unable from any cause to perform the duties of his office, the deputy shall perform the duties of the commissioner until such absence or disability ceases. The commissioner shall receive an annual salary of thirty-two hundred dollars, and the deputy commissioner shall receive an annual salary of twenty-three hundred dollars, and each shall devote his whole time to the duties of his office. The commissioner may, with the approval of the governor and council, appoint a chief clerk and not more than five other clerks and stenographers and twelve agents. The salaries of said chief clerk, clerks, stenographers and agents shall be fixed in accordance with the provisions of chapter two hundred and twenty-eight of the General Acts of nineteen hundred and eighteen and within the limit of the amount annually appropriated therefor by the general court.

SECTION 2. A city or town may raise money, and, under the direction of the mayor and aldermen or officers or board having the powers of mayor and aldermen, or selectmen, or, in Boston, subject to the order of the city council, as to the amounts to be paid to beneficiaries, but under the direction of the soldiers' relief commissioner, pay state or military aid to, or expend it for, any worthy person, subject to the conditions specified in this chapter. Whenever money is expended for any person within the provisions of this act, no officer of any city or town shall, directly

or indirectly, solicit, direct, or in any way interfere with the recipient of such aid in the matter of the person, partnership or corporation to whom or to which, or the place at which the recipient shall give his custom; and whoever violates this provision shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than five hundred dollars. No city or town, and no department or official of any city or town in this commonwealth shall publish in any annual or other report for general distribution to the public or to the citizens of any city or town the names of any persons receiving aid under the provisions of the following sections.

STATE AID.

SECTION 3. The recipient of state aid shall have a residence, and shall actually reside, in the city or town from which such aid is received, shall not receive aid from any other city or town in the commonwealth or from any other state, shall be in such needy circumstances as to require public assistance, and, if a soldier, sailor or nurse, shall have been honorably discharged from all appointments and enlistment in the army or navy, shall be so far disabled, as the result of his service in the army or navy, as to prevent him from following his usual occupation, and shall belong to one of the following classes:

First Class.

Invalid pensioners of the United States who served in the army or navy of the United States to the credit of this commonwealth in the civil war, between the nineteenth day of April in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one and the first day of September in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five; or who served in such army or navy in the military organizations of this commonwealth known as three months' men, ninety days' men or one hundred days' men mustered into the service of the United States in April, May, June or July in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or in April, May, July or August in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, or who, having their residence and actually residing in this commonwealth at the time of their enlistment, either served to the credit of some other state in such army or navy, between the nineteenth day of April in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one and the eighteenth day of March in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or served in such army or navy, having been mustered into the service of the United States at some time between the first day of May and the first day of October in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two, while having a residence and actually living in this commonwealth and while a member of one of the organizations of the volunteer militia, known as the Boston Cadets, the Salem Cadets, the Eighth Battery of Light Artillery, or Company B of the Seventh Regiment of Infantry; or who served in said navy, being one of the persons included in the list of officers, sailors and marines prepared by the adjutant general in accordance with chapter fifteen of the resolves of eighteen hundred and seventy-five and chapter eight of the resolves of eighteen hundred and eighty, having been appointed or mustered into and having served in the naval service of the United States while an actual resident of this commonwealth; or who served in the regular army or navy of the United States during the civil war, having been appointed or having enlisted in said army or navy, while a citizen of this commonwealth, having a residence and actually residing therein;