1059a. Consolidation of activities.-(a) That the President is authorized, by Executive order, to consolidate and coordinate any hospitals and executive and administrative bureaus, agencies, or offices, especially created for or concerned in the administration of the laws relating to the relief and other benefits provided by law for former members of the Military and Naval Establishments of the United States, including the Bureau of Pensions, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the United States Veterans' Bureau, into an establishment to be known as the Veterans' Administration, and to transfer the duties, powers, and functions now vested by law in the hospitals, bureaus, agencies, or offices so consolidated and coordinated, including the personnel thereof, and the whole or any part of the records and public property belonging thereto to the Veterans' Administration.

(b) Under the direction of the President the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall have the power, by order or regulation, to consolidate, eliminate, or redistribute the functions of the bureaus, agencies, offices, or activities in the Veterans' Administration and to create new ones therein, and, by rules and regulations not inconsistent with law, shall fix the functions thereof and the duties and powers of their respective executive heads. Sec. 1, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1016); 38 U. S. C. 11.

There shall be at the head of such Veterans' Administration an administrator to be known as the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Such administrator shall receive a salary of $12,000 a year, payable monthly. Upon the establishment of such Veterans' Administration all the functions, powers, and duties now conferred by law upon the Commissioner of Pensions, the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau are hereby conferred upon and vested in the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs. Such administrator, under the direction of the President, shall have the control, direction, and management of the various agencies and activities enumerated in and referred to in section 1 of this Act, and shall be charged with all the administrative duties relating to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the Bureau of Pensions now imposed by law upon the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior, respectively. All final decisions or orders of any division, bureau, or board in the Veterans' Administration shall be subject to review,

on appeal, by such administrator. Sec. 2, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1016); 38 U. S. C. 11a.

All property the title of which now stands in the name of the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers is hereby transferred to and the title thereof vested in the United States. If by reason of any defeasance or conditional clause or clauses contained in any deed of conveyance to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers the full and complete enjoyment and use of any of the property hereby transferred to the United States shall be threatened, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General, upon request of the President of the United States, to institute in the district court of the United States for the district within which such property is located such proceedings as shall be proper to extinguish all outstanding adverse interests: Provided, That the Attorney General shall have authority to procure and accept on behalf of the United States by gift, purchase, cession, or otherwise, evidenced by appropriate instruments of conveyance or cession, absolute title to and complete jurisdiction over all of the lands and other property herein transferred and conveyed to the United States. Sec. 3, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1016); 38 U. S. C. 11b.

(a) The personnel on duty at the time of consolidation at the various branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers shall be transferred to and given appointment in the Veterans' Administration, subject to such change in designation and organization as the Administrator may deem necessary.

(b) Such of the personnel as are not inmates of any of the branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers may, by Executive order, be given a civil-service status in accordance with the laws relating thereto upon such terms and conditions as the President may direct. Whether covered into the civil service or not, the salaries of such officers and employees (other than inmates) shall be fixed in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended (United States Code, title 5, chapter 13; United States Code, Supplement III, title 5, chapter 13). Sec. 4, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1017); 38 U. S. C. 11c.

(a) When the consolidation and coordination herein provided for shall have been effected in the Veterans' Administration the President shall so declare by proclamation or order, whereupon the corporation known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the Board of Managers shall cease to exist. (b) All contracts and other valid and subsisting obligations of the corporation, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, shall continue and be and become obligations of the United States, and the United States shall be considered as substituted for said corporation with respect to all such demands either by or against said corporation, unless and until they shall thereafter be superseded or discharged according to law. The outstanding obligations assumed by the United States by virtue of the provisions of this subdivision may be enforced by suit in the Court of Claims or in the district courts of the United States according to the ordinary provisions of law governing actions against the United States, and such courts shall have the power to enter judgment against the United States, with interest, in the same manner and to the same extent as if said corporation were party defendant. No such suit shall be maintained upon any cause of action existing at the time of the dissolution of said corporation or arising simultaneously therewith unless brought within two years from the time of such dissolution. Sec. 5, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1017); 38 U. S. C. 11d.

(a) All unexpended appropriations in respect of any hospital, bureau, agency, office, or home consolidated into the Veterans' Administration shall, upon such consolidation, become available for expenditure by the Veterans' Administration and shall be treated as if the Veterans' Administration had been originally named in the laws making the appropriations.

(b) All orders, rules, regulations, and permits or other privileges, issued or granted in respect of any function consolidated under the provisions of this Act and in effect at the time of the consolidation shall continue in effect to the same extent as if such consolidation had not occurred, until modified, superseded, or repealed by the administrator.

(c) The Administrator shall make annually, at the close of each fiscal year, a report in writing to the Congress, giving an account of all moneys received and disbursed by him and his administration, describing the work done, and stating his activities under subdivision (b) of section 1 of this Act, and making such recommendations as he shall deem necessary for the active performance of the duties and purposes of his administration. Sec. 6, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1017); 38 U. S. C. 11e.

All laws relating to the Bureau of Pensions, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the United States Veterans' Bureau, and other governmental bureaus, agencies, offices, and activities herein authorized and directed to be consolidated, so far as the same are applicable, shall remain in full force and effect, except as herein modified, and shall be administered by the Administrator, except that section 4835 of the Revised Statutes is hereby repealed. Sec. 7, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1018); 38 U. S. C. 11f.

The consolidations authorized by this section were carried out by Executive Orders Nos. 5398 of July 21, 1930, and 5476 of November 4, 1930.

Public resolution of June 20, 1936 (49 Stat. 1569), authorizes the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to compile and publish all Federal laws relating to veterans' relief, and to maintain such compilation on a current basis by the publication of supplements or by complete revision.

1060. Compensation; World War veterans. For death or disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the military or naval service on or after April 6, 1917, and before July 2, 1921, or for an aggravation or recurrence of a disability existing prior to examination, acceptance, and enrollment for service, when such aggravation was suffered or contracted in, or such recurrence was caused by, the military or naval service on or after April 6, 1917, and before July 2, 1921, by any commissioned officer or enlisted man, or by any member of the Army Nurse Corps (female), or of the Navy Nurse Corps (female), when employed in the active service under the War Department or Navy Department, the United States shall pay to such commissioned officer or enlisted man, member of the Army Nurse Corps (female), or of the Navy Nurse Corps (female), or women citizens of the United States who were taken from the United States by the United States Government and who served in base hospitals overseas, or, in the discretion of the director, separately to his or her dependents, compensation as hereinafter provided; but no compensation shall be paid if the injury, disease, aggravation, or recurrence has been caused by his own willful misconduct: Provided, That no person suffering from paralysis, paresis, or blindness shall be denied compensation by reason of willful misconduct, nor shall any person who is helpless or bedridden as a result of any disability be denied compensation by reason of willful misconduct. That for the purposes of this section and section 304 every such officer, enlisted man, or other member employed in the active service under the War Department or Navy Department who was discharged or who resigned prior to July 2, 1921, and

every such officer, enlisted man, or other member employed in the active service under the War Department or Navy Department on or before November 11, 1918, who on or after July 2, 1921, is discharged or resigns, shall be conclusively held and taken to have been in sound condition when examined, accepted, and enrolled for service, except as to defects, disorders, or infirmities made of record in any manner by proper authorities of the United States at the time of, or prior to, inception of active service, to the extent to which any such defect, disorder, or infirmity was so made of record: Provided, That an ex-service man who is shown to have or, if deceased, to have had, prior to January 1, 1925, neuropsychiatric disease, spinal meningitis, an active tuberculosis disease, paralysis agitans, encephalitis lethargica, or amœbic dysentery developing a 10 per centum degree of disability or more in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (4) of section 202 of this Act, shall be presumed to have acquired his disability in such service between April 6, 1917, and July 2, 1921, or to have suffered an aggravation of a preexisting neuropsychiatric disease, spinal meningitis, tuberculosis, paralysis agitans, encephalitis lethargica, or amœbic dysentery in such service between said dates, and said presumption shall be conclusive in cases of active tuberculosis disease and spinal meningitis, but in all other cases said presumption shall be rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence; but nothing in this proviso shall be construed to prevent a claimant from receiving the benefits of compensation and medical care and treatment for a disability due to these diseases of more than 10 per centum degree (in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (4) of section 202 of this Act) on or subsequent to January 1, 1925, if the facts in the case substantiate his claim. Sec. 200, act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 615); sec. 6, act of Mar. 4, 1925 (43 Stat. 1304); scc. 7, act of July 2, 1926 (44 Stat. 793); sec. 11, act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 995); 38 U. S. C. 471.

Where service connection for a disease, injury, or disability not caused by his own willful misconduct was, on March 19, 1933, established in accordance with section 200 of the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended, and such connection has been severed through the application of, or regulations or instructions promulgated under, Public Law Numbered 2, Seventy-third Congress, or Public Law Numbered 78, Seventy-third Congress, service connection is hereby reestablished, and as to such cases the provisions of the first paragraph of section 200 of the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended, are hereby reenacted: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply (1) to persons entering the active military or naval service subsequent to the date of November 11, 1918, (2) to persons as to whom clear and unmistakable evidence discloses that the disease, injury, or disability had inception before or after the period of active military or naval service, unless such disease, injury, or disability is shown to have been aggravated during service, (3) to persons as to whose cases service connection was established by fraud, clear or unmistakable error as to conclusions of fact or law, or misrepresentation of material facts; and as to all such cases enumerated in this proviso, all reasonable doubts shall be resolved in favor of the veteran, the burden of proof being on the Government. Sec. 27, Title III, act of Mar. 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 524); 38 U. S. C. 471a.

The first paragraph of the original text of this section, based on sec. 212, act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 623), as amended; 38 U. S. C. 422; and the third paragraph based on sec. 202 (6), act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 619), as amended; 38 U. S. C. 479, were repealed by 1156, post. The subject matter is covered by 1140, post.

The second paragraph, based on sec. 200, act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 615), as amended; 38 U. 8. C. 471 was repealed by 1156, post, but partially reenacted, as above by the second paragraph, supra.

For current benefits, see Veterans' Regulation No. 1 (a), 1140, post.

Notes of Decisions

The Attorney General adheres to the views expressed in his opinion of August 21, 1919 (32 Op. 12), relative to the construction of the words "in the line of duty" as used in section 300 of the War Risk Insurance Act (40 Stat. 611), and declares further that a person is not entitled to compensation under said Act where the injury or disease is caused by "something which grows out of relations unconnected with the service or is not the logical incident or probable effect of duty in the service." (1920) 32 Op. Atty. Gen. 193.

Line of duty status.-Personal injury or | between his public service or performance of disease shall be deemed to have been suffered duty and the injury or disease. (1919) 32 or contracted "in the line of duty" within Op. Atty. Gen. 12. the meaning of section 300 of the War Risk Insurance Act when the person on whose account compensation is claimed was, at the time the injury was suffered or the disease contracted, in active service in the military or naval forces, whether on active duty, on furlough, leave of absence, or under arrest, unless it appears that the injury or disease has been caused by willful misconduct on his part or by something done by him in pursuing some private avocation or business and which has intervened, as the producing cause, 1061. Compensation; effect of discharge or dismissal.—The discharge or dismissal of any person from the military or naval forces on the ground that he was guilty of mutiny, treason, spying, or any offense involving moral turpitude, or willful and persistent misconduct, of which he was found guilty by a court-martial, or that he was an alien, conscientious objector who refused to perform military duty or refused to wear the uniform, or a deserter, shall bar all rights to any compensation under Title II, or any training, or any maintenance and support allowance under Title IV: Provided, That this section shall not apply to an alien who volunteered or who was drafted into or who served in the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States during the World War, who was discharged subsequent to November 11, 1918, or who was not discharged from the service on or prior to November 11, 1918, on his own application or solicitation by reason of his being an alien, and whose service was honest and faithful: Provided further, That in case any person has been discharged or dismissed from the military or naval forces as a result of a court-martial trial, and it is thereafter established to the satisfaction of the director that at the time of the commission of the offense resulting in such courtmartial trial and discharge such person was insane, such person shall be entitled to the compensation and vocational training benefits under Titles II and IV hereof: Provided further, That discharge or dismissal or finding of guilt for any of the offenses specified in this section shall not affect the payment of compensation or maintenance and support allowance for disabilities incurred in or aggravated by service in any prior or subsequent enlistment: Provided further, That no compensation or insurance shall be payable for death inflicted as a lawful punishment for crime or military offense, except when inflicted by the enemy: Provided, That as to converted insurance the cash surrender value hereof, if any, on the date of such death shall be paid to the designated beneficiary if living, or if there be no designated beneficiary alive at the death of the insured the said value shall be paid to the estate of the insured: Provided further, That the discharge of a person for having concealed the fact that he was a minor at the time of his enlistment shall not bar him from the benefits of this act if his service was otherwise honorable: Provided further, That this section shall be deemed to be in effect as of April 6, 1917, and the director is hereby authorized and directed to make provision by bureau regulation for payment of any insurance claim or adjustment in insurance premium account of any insurance contract which would not now be affected by this section as amended. Sec. 23, act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 613); sec. 3, act of Mar. 4, 1925 (43 Stat. 1303); 38 U. S. C. 447.