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The Bureau was not able to mail the November checks till January 14, the December checks were mailed February 7, and the January checks by February 18. The February payments were likewise delayed. The work of the Bureau has now been systematized, and such delay will probably not occur again.

The Red Cross through its Home Service sections is the logical institution to offer supplementary assistance to all those families whose needs are not met by the act. It can give the needed plasticity and local attention. Perhaps more important than its money grants are the possibilities of giving effective social service in the form of advice and counsel to the families of enlisted men (17)

III. COMPENSATION PROVISIONS

The compensation features of the War Risk Insurance Bill are but the logical extension of the principles of social insurance. War is a distinctly dangerous trade, and it is but just that the employer should provide compensation for injuries incurred by the soldiers and sailors. The compensation offered is for diseases incurred as well as for injuries suffered "in the line of duty." The contraction of syphilis or ghonorrhea will not, of course, be compensated, since it results from "wilful misconduct." Unlike the allotment and allowance features, compensation is provided for officers as well as for men.

The original bill as drawn by Judge Mack and introduced into Congress provided for a compensatory scale graduated according to: (1) number of dependents and (2) pay received. For death the scale of compensation per month was as follows:

a) Surviving widow without children, 25 per cent of pay but not less than $30.00.
b) Widow and one child, 35 per cent of pay but not less than $40.00.
c) Widow and two children, 40 per cent of pay but not less than $50.00.
d) For each additional child up to two, 5 per cent additional but not less than $5 . 00 for each.
e) One child with no widow surviving, 20 per cent of pay but not less than $15.00.
f) Two children with no widow surviving, 30 per cent of pay but not less than $25.00.
g) Three children with no widow surviving, 40 per cent of pay but not less than $35.00.
h) For each additional child up to two, 5 per cent additional but not less than $10.00 for each.
i) Widowed mother, 20 per cent of pay but not less than $25.00

The original scale for total disability was as follows:

a) Man alone, 40 per cent of pay but not less than $40. 00.
b) Wife, but no children, 50 per cent of pay but not less than $55 .00.
c) Wife and one child, 55 per cent of pay but not less than $65 . 00.
d) Wife and two or more children, 60 per cent of pay but not less than $75.00.
e) No wife, but one child, 50 per cent of pay but not less than $50 . 00.
f) For each additional child up to two, 5 per cent of pay additional but not less than $10.00.
g) For dependent widowed mother, 10 per cent of pay but not less than $10.00 in addition.

For persons so injured as to be in constant need of a nurse an additional sum up to $20. 00 was allowed. The maximum monthly payment to the family of any one man was fixed at $200 . 00.

This basis of compensation upon pay received was attacked upon the floor of the House. Representative Black, of Texas, and others protested against giving larger stipends to the dependents of officers than to the dependents of enlisted men. Mr. Black declared that the Mack bill preserved the "distinction of rank and pay beyond the borders of the grave." (18) The democratic nature of the draft was urged as a reason why discrimination should not be practiced against the families of the enlisted men. By a vote of 139 to 3 the House approved the Black amendment pro- viding equal care for the dependents of officers and enlisted men.

As the bill passed the House, the following monthly amounts of compensation for death were established: for widow and no children, $35.00; for widow and one child, $45.00; for widow and two children, $52.50; for each additional child, $5.00; for one child but no widow, $20.00; two children, $35.00; three children, $45.00; for each additional child up to two, $10.00; for widowed mother, $30.00. It will be noticed that the new monthly rate was, with a few exceptions, $5 . 00 more than the mini- mum provided for under the Mack scale.

The scale of compensation for total disability also established an equal basis of compensation for officers and men. The monthly compensations provided for both classes were the same as the minimum payments provided for under the original bill.

When the House and Senate bills went into conference, the feature of equal compensation irrespective of rank or pay was retained, but the scale was lowered. The scale of monthly compensation finally adopted follows: