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Not more than $50.00 can be paid in monthly allowances to the dependents of any one man. Should this be insufficient to grant allowances to all entitled to them, present wives and children take precedence over divorced wives; all dependents in Class A take precedence over all those in Class B. Payment of the allowance is not automatic, but application must be made for it either by the man himself or by the beneficiary.

It is interesting to note that prior to the passage of this act seven states had enacted legislation providing allowances for dependents of soldiers and sailors with an average monthly allowance of $22.50 for the dependent wife and of approximately $7.00 for a dependent child. Judge Mack said, "It was not believed that it was essential to compel an officer to do his duty to his family. We could leave that to them." War Risk Bureau Bulletin, No. 3, p. 9. (12) The sponsors of the bill indeed clearly stated that state grants should be made to supplement the federal system when the latter proved to be insufficient locally.

Excellent as this act is, it does not remove all necessity for further financial assistance. There are several groups of dependents who are not provided for by it: (1) Families of officers. Since an officer is not compelled to allot any portion of his pay, no allowance is made to his family by the government. The supposition was that since an officer is a "gentleman," he will surely provide for his family. (13) Many officers, however, have not done so, and their families are suffering in consequence. (2) Parents, grandparents, etc., to whom no allotment is made. Since the act does not require enlisted men to allot a portion of their pay to their parents or other dependents, a large percentage of the single men in service are not doing so, even though it may be needed by dependents at home. The government, however, offers an inducement to the soldier to allot a portion of his pay by giving an allowance, and can apply further pressure by means of a clause empowering the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy to withhold up to one- half the monthly pay. This amount is to be treated as a deposit drawing 31 per cent interest. (3) Families where the amount of the allotment plus allowance is not sufficient to meet their real needs. The maximum allowance per family is $50.00 per month; this amount, plus the minimum allotment of $15.00, would afford an income of $65.00 a month or $780.00 a year. Though this is probably sufficient at the present time for most soldier's families, it is not sufficient for all. A family with several children, whose head has either sought refuge in the Army or has been mustered in through the federalization of the militia, will find it almost impossible to make both ends meet upon such a sum.

Furthermore, the increase in the cost of living may render this allowance inadequate in the future for many families. Investigations for the Shipping Board show that the cost of living on the Pacific coast increased approximately 7 per cent from October 11 to February 1. Credit inflation is causing a rapid rise in prices which cannot be expected to cease during the war. The government must be prepared to revise the system of allowances should the cost of living continue to climb (14)

Much distress has been caused by the delay in transmitting allowances and allotments from the War Risk Insurance Bureau. In justice to the Bureau it must be pointed out that the task has been literally herculean. The Bureau had employed only some forty clerks before the passage of the act; by February 1 its officials numbered over eighteen hundred, while by April 15 its force had increased to 3,300. Though the act was passed October 6, Secretary McAdoo has stated that "practically no applications for allotments and allowances were received prior to December 1, 1917." (15) Within two months (from that time) the Bureau received approximately 1,170,000 such applications. In 730,000 cases investigation showed that "the soldiers had no dependents and therefore no allotments were made nor could any allowances be granted. Awards were made in 426,000 of the remaining 441,000 cases." (16) Trouble was encountered in 15,000 cases because of in complete application. By April 6 over 1,700,000 checks had been mailed by the Bureau.

(16) Ibid.