VOLUNTEER OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS IN THE VOLUNTEER SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES WHO SERVED IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS BEYOND THE PERIOD OF THEIR ENLISTMENT, ETC.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1931

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON WAR CLAIMS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Joseph L. Hooper presiding.

Mr. HOOPER. The subcommittee will come to order. This is a hearing before Subcommittee No. 1 of the Committee on War Claims with reference to H. R. 9333, which is as follows:

[H. R. 9333, Seventy-first Congress, second session]

A BILL For the relief of volunteer officers and soldiers in the volunteer service of the United States who served in the Philippine Islands beyond the period of their enlistment, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all officers and soldiers of the volunteer service of the United States who were serving in the Philippine Islands on April 11, 1899, who were by the terms of their original enlistments entitled under the law to muster out of service, and who continued to serve in said Philippine Islands after the termination of the war with Spain, shall be entitled to receive travel pay and commutation of subsistence from the place of service in said Philippine Islands to the place in the United States of original muster in at the same rate and to the same extent that officers and soldiers of the Regular Army would receive such allowance if discharged in the Philippine Islands by reason of the expiration of their terms of service or otherwise at said date; such allowance to be in recognition of the conditions under which said officers and soldiers waived their right to discharge and agreed to serve for a further period of not exceeding six months pending the arrival in the Philippine Islands of replacement troops.

SEC. 2. (a) An officer or soldier may receive the benefits to which he is entitled by filing an application claiming the benefits of this act with the Secretary of War.

(b) Such application shall be made within three years after the passage of this act.

(c) An application shall be made (1) personally by the officer or soldier, or (2) in case physical or mental incapacity prevents the making of a personal application, then by such representative of the officer or soldier and in such manner as the Secretary of War shall by regulation prescribe.

(d) The Secretary of War shall make any regulations necessary to the efficient administration of the provisions of this section.

SEC. 3. A dependent or legal heir may receive the benefits to which the deceased officer or soldier would have been entitled by filing an application therefor with the Secretary of War, under the same conditions as provided in section 2 of this act.

SEC. 4. As soon as practicable after the receipt of a valid application the Secretary of War shall examine the records of his department and, upon veri

fication of the claimant's title to the benefits of this act. shall transmit the application to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment under a certificate setting forth

(a) That the applicant was an officer or soldier in the volunteer service of the United States entitled to the benefits of this act, or is a dependent or the legal heir of such officer or soldier, as the case may be.

(b) The name and address of the applicant.

(c) The amount found to be due, together with the facts of record in his department upon which such above conclusions are reached.

SEC. 5. (a) "Dependent" as used in this act shall mean an unmarried widow, child. mother, or father, and shall have title to the benefits of this act in the order enumerated.

(b) "Legal heir" shall mean any other person entitled to inherit from such officer or soldier under the law of the State of residence of such officer or soldier at the time of his death.

SEC. 6. Payment to any attorney or agent for such assistance as may be required in the preparation and execution of the necessary papers in any application to the Secretary of War shall not exceed the sum of $10: Provided, That this limitation shall not apply to attorneys employed by claimants entitled to the benefits of this act who were active in the prosecution of their claim before Congress, to whom a fee of not to exceed 10 per centum of the amount found to be due may be allowed. Any person collecting or attempting to collect a greater amount than is herein allowed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or by both such fine and imprison

ment.

SEC. 7. There is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sufficient sum of money to carry out the provisions of this act.

STATEMENT OF HON. GRANT M. HUDSON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN

Mr. HUDSON. I wish to record my appearance before the subcommittee in favor of the bill (H. R. 9333) for the relief of volunteer officers and soldiers of the United States who served in the Philippine Islands beyond the period of their enlistment.

STATEMENT OF HON. RICE W. MEANS, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mr. HOOPER. Senator, will you make a statement?

Mr. MEANS. Mr. Chairman, at the request of those present and as representing the First Colorado Volunteer Infantry and the members thereof still living, I make this statement:

The Spanish War required of the States the raising of volunteers for service for two years, or during the duration of the war. Many Western States sent regiments of volunteers to the Philippine Islands. After capturing Manila, under the orders, of course, of the Government, we turned and kept the marauders out and thus preserved the property of the citizens of Manila and the lives of former enemies. While we were preserving order in the city of Manila and serving outpost duty around about the city, the State volunteers in Cuba and in the States of the Union were mustered out of the service.

There arose in those respective States sentiment, expressed by the people and the chief executives of those Western States that had troops in the Philippine Islands, asking that those volunteer regiments be returned to the States.

On February 4 and 5, 1899, those regiments were attacked by the Filipinos. They beat off the attack, advanced their lines beyond the blockhouses, and remained in that position, except the First Nebraska, which made the farthest advance, to the water works, a distance of 8 miles.

While all of us were out on the outpost lines there was received from the President of the United States, through The Adjutant General of the United States Army, the following message, which is the basis of our claim we are presenting to you now. This is the rock upon which is built this claim, and we desire to present a photostatic copy of that telegram, which I will ask be put in the record. Mr. HOOPER. It will be made part of the record.

Mr. MEANS (reading):

Otis

Otis was the commanding general at Manila——

OTIS, Manila:

Section 15 of the Army bill

The date of the Army bill was March 3, 1899, and Congress, being aware of and quite desirous of maintaining the situation in the Philippine Islands, passed the bill which is here quoted in the message from the President:

Section 15 of the Army bill reads, in part, as follows: "That the President is authorized to enlist temporarily in service for absolutely necessary purposes in the Philippine Islands, volunteers, officers, and men, individually or by organizations, now in those islands and about to be discharged, provided their retention shall not extend beyond the time necessary to replace them by troops authorized to be maintained under the provisions of this act and not beyond a period of six months."

This Army act provided for the creation of a new Army of 35,000 volunteers to replace those of us who were in the islands. Congress, desiring that we stay there, passed an act authorizing the President to reenlist us in any way he saw fit, either by individuals or organizations or otherwise, that we might stay there and do the duty required until new troops could be raised to take our place. So, to continue quoting the telegram, I read further:

The President inquires as follows:

"If we are not able to get you sufficient forces to replace volunteers under your command before exchange of ratification of treaty, will you be able to enlist your present volunteer force under this section?"

By order Secretary of War.

And it was signed by Corbin.

Mr. HOOPER. Proceed.

Mr. MEANS. The facts are these: Immediately upon receipt of that telegram from The Adjutant General's Office of March 6, 1899, which I have just quoted, General Otis communicated with all units of these State volunteers setting forth this cablegram and asking whether the officers and men would reenlist pursuant to this inquiry. The matter was handled differently by different regiments, some taking it right down to the men themselves, and they voted to stay. Others, more widely scattered, could not bring all the men together, and the officers themselves of the different units or regiments spoke

for the men and agreed to reenlist and stay for the period expressed by the Congress and by the President. So, after full consideration, General Otis sent the following cablegram to The Adjutant General at Washington:

ADJUTANT GENERAL,

Washington:

MANILA, March 16, 1899.

Believed after inquiry majority volunteer organizations willing to reenlist for six months from ratification of treaty, provided that upon original discharge are paid traveling allowances to places of muster in and that after expiration of second enlistment they are transported to those places by United States.

OTIS.

Mr. HOOPER. This was a cablegram from General Otis to the War Department.

Mr. MEANS. Right.

Mr. HOOPER. Those will be made part of the record.

Mr. MEANS. Every officer and man had made known to him the provisions of the Otis telegram so that they believed they had reenlisted for that purpose under those provisions and would be paid that travel pay as promised by Otis. That date was March 18.

Mr. HOOPER. Was that proviso recognized in any way that you can tell me about, the proviso that he put into the cablegram-was that corroborated from the War Department in any way?

Mr. MEANS. So far as a direct reply, I know not. I am trying to state to you just what was presented to the men. Up to that time General Otis had been holding us simply on outpost duty holding the lines, but on March 25, one week from the date of that cablegram, we proceeded with the advance that broke the Philippine insurrection. I will state now, and will read just a little later from official documents, that in the history of the United States troops have never been called upon to undergo the hardships that those men were required to undergo, with the consequent physical deterioration that was felt by those men from March 25 until they were relieved practically four months afterward. It was a terrific thing, fighting under the tropical sun and rain, illy equipped, no food, no water, and I want to recite to you that they did it without a murmur and not a man failed. The reason we were not reenlisted, actually holding up our hands and making out a new muster roll, was that Otis wanted us to prepare for the advance. He immediately set the machinery for the advance, and within a week we were engaged to such an extent that it was impossible to make out papers.

Mr. HOOPER. The technical and legal way would have been to have had the men discharged and then reenlist them?

Mr. MEANS. What we should have done was to make out musterout rolls and muster-in rolls, and then we would not be here now. We would have been paid, surely. But we didn't do that, you understand.

Mr. HOOPER. Yes.

Mr. MEANS. Now, Mr. Chairman, I do not want to confuse the efforts of the veterans in the past relative to this matter. We started home, most of us, in July and August. Some remained seven months, but all of us remained at least four months. Congress fixed a maximum service of six months. All of us remained four months, some as many as seven months, engaged in that service. In other words, we

fulfilled all of the requirements of the War Department to its full expectation, and then we were brought back to the United States. Upon being mustered out the question arose as to this travel pay. I recite my individual experience. I had charge of making out pay rolls and the muster-out rolls.

Mr. HOOPER. What was your rank at the time?

Mr. MEANS. Lieutenant in my own company. I asked the paymaster sitting there, "How about this travel pay as promised the men? not so much for the pay, but the men themselves were anxious about it.

Mr. HOOPER. It applied to both officers and men?

Mr. MEANS. Yes; believeing they were entitled to it and it had been promised to them. The paymaster said: "The War Department has no funds and has made no arrangements for the payment. Congress will undoubtedly pass an act to pay you." Therefore, we were not paid.

Many of the men became confused with the idea that we were legally entitled to this money. Therefore, they immediately set out to appear before Congress. We came home in the fall, most of us, and were mustered out in September and October of that year-1899. The first bill was introduced in 1899, and it was based solely upon the idea that we were legally entitled to this money.

Mr. HOOPER. But technically you were not, under the circumstances?

Mr. MEANS. Yes. They even filed claims with the Comptroller General. They presented it to the Court of Claims, and I say for the benefit of the committee, in each instance the effect of the decision was the same; it is not a legal claim but a moral claim against the Government.

Mr. HOOPER. An equitable claim.

Mr. MEANS. No; they used the word "moral" in almost each instance. In response to the first bill introduced by Senator Turner in December, 1899, Mr. Corbin, the then adjutant general, made a report upon that bill. That report has been the basis of War Department action from that day to the present time. In 1908 I, myself, became interested and came to Washington in regard to this same matter, and another report was asked of the War Department. Ainsworth at that time was adjutant general and I talked with him quite a good deal about it, but the original opinion by Mr. Corbin, The Adjutant General, confused the issue, because he gave an adverse report, saying there was no discrimination between Regulars and Volunteers.

As soon as the Spanish war was over, August 12, 1898, some men were discharged and they received this travel pay. The men themselves knew that fact and they thought they were entitled to it inasmuch as some who had been discharged had received it, which was a fallacy, and it is upon that theory that Corbin made his first indorsement, which was adverse. The War Department from that date to the present time have made more or less adverse reports based upon the original one of Corbin.

We want you to understand that it is our desire to base this claim solely upon an act of Congress, upon the wire of the President, upon the fact being made known to every man there, and that the men