in his own name, subject to regulations. The failure on the part of the beneficiary to so assign or to prosecute the said cause of action in his own name within a reasonable time, to be fixed by the director, shall bar any right to compensation on account of the same injury or death. The cause of action so assigned may be prosecuted or compromised by the director, and any money realized or collected thereon, less the reasonable expenses of such realization or collection, shall be paid to such beneficiary, and be credited upon any future compensation which may become payable to such beneficiary by the United States on account of the same injury or death.

"(3) The bureau shall make all necessary regulations for carrying out the purposes of this section. For the purposes of computation only under this section the total amount of compensation due any beneficiary shall be deemed to be equivalent to a lump sum equal to the present value of all future payments of compensation computed as of the date of the award of compensation at four per centum, true discount, compounded annually. The probability of the beneficiary's death before the expiration of the period during which he is entitled to compensation shall be determined according to the American Experience Table of Mortality.

"A conditional beneficiary is any person who may become entitled to compensation under this article on or after the death of the injured. person.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose any administrative duties upon the War or Navy Departments."

SEC. 19. That section four hundred and one of said Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 401. That such insurance must be applied for within one hundred and twenty days after enlistment or after entrance into or employment in the active service and before discharge or resignation, except that those persons who are in the active war service at the time of the publication of the terms and conditions of such contract of insurance may apply at any time within one hundred and twenty days thereafter and while in such service. Any person in the active service on or after the sixth day of April, nineteen hundred and seventeen, who, while in such service and before the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from and after such publication, becomes or has become totally and permanently disabled, or dies, or has died, without having applied for insurance, shall be deemed to have applied for and to have been granted insurance, payable to such person during his life in monthly installments of $25 each. If he shall die either before he shall have received any of such monthly installments or before he shall have received two hundred and forty of such monthly installments, then $25 per month shall be paid to his widow from the time of his death and during her widowhood, or if there is no widow surviving him, then to his child or children, or if there is no child surviving him, then to his mother, or if there is no mother surviving him, then to his father, if and while they survive him: Provided, however, That not more than two hundred and forty of such monthly installments, including those received by such person during his total and permanent disability, shall be so paid. The amount of the monthly installments shall be apportioned between children as may be provided by regulations."

SEC. 20. That section nineteen of this Act amending section four hundred and one of the Act entitled "An Act to authorize the establishment of a Bureau of War Risk Insurance in the Treasury Department," approved September second, nineteen hundred and fourteen, as amended, shall be deemed to be in effect as of October sixth, nineteen hundred and seventeen: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to interfere with the payment of monthly installments, authorized to be made under the provisions of said section four hundred and one as originally enacted, for the months up to and including June, nineteen hundred and eighteen: Provided further, That all awards of automatic insurance under the provisions of said section four hundred and one as originally enacted shall be revised as of the first day of July, nineteen hundred and eighteen, in accordance with the provisions of said section four hundred and one as amended by section nineteen of this Act.

SEC. 21. That section four hundred and two of said Act is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 402. That the director, subject to the general direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall promptly determine upon and publish the full and exact terms and conditions of such contract of insurance. The insurance shall be payable only to a spouse, child, grandchild, parent, brother, or sister, and also during total and permanent disability to the injured person, or to any or all of them. The insurance shall be payable in two hundred and forty equal monthly installments. Provisions for maturity at certain ages, for continuous installments during the life of the insured or beneficiaries, or both, for cash, loan, paid up and extended values, dividends from gains and savings, and such other provisions for the protection and advantage of and for alternative benefits to the insured and the beneficiaries as may be found to be reasonable and practicable, may be provided for in the contract of insurance, or from time to time by regulations. All calculations shall be based upon the American Experience Table of Mortality and interest at three and one-half per centum per annum, except that no deduction shall be made for continuous installments during the life of the insured in case his total and permanent disability continues more than two hundred and forty months. Subject to regulations, the insured shall at all times have the right to change the beneficiary or beneficiaries of such insurance without the consent of such beneficiary or beneficiaries, but only within the classes herein provided. If no beneficiary within the permitted class be designated by the insured, either in his lifetime or by his last will and testament, or if the designated beneficiary does not survive the insured, the insurance shall be payable to such person or persons within the permitted class of beneficiaries as would under the laws of the State of the residence of the insured be entitled to his personal property in case of intestacy. If no such person survive the insured, then there shall be paid to the estate of the insured an amount equal to the reserve value, if any, of the insurance at the time of his death, calculated on the basis of the American Experience Table of Mortality and three and one-half per centum interest in full of all obligations under the contract of insurance."

Approved, June 25, 1918.

[S. 4557]

An Act To provide for vocational rehabilitation and return to .civil employment of disabled persons discharged from the military or naval forces of the United States, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act shall be known as the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. That the word "board," as hereinafter used in this Act, shall mean the "Federal Board for Vocational Education." That the word "bureau," as hereinafter used in this Act, shall mean the "Bureau of War-Risk Insurance."

SEC. 2. That every person who is disabled under circumstances entitling him, after discharge from the military or naval forces of the United States, to compensation under Article III of the Act entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to authorize the establishment of a Bureau of War-Risk Insurance in the Treasury Department," approved October sixth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, hereinafter referred to as "said Act," and who, after his discharge, in the opinion of the board, is unable to carry on a gainful occupation, to resume his former occupation, or to enter upon some other occupation, or having resumed or entered upon such occupation is unable to continue the same successfully, shall be furnished by the said board, where vocational rehabilitation is feasible, such course of vocational rehabilitation as the board shall prescribe and provide.

The board shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to furnish the persons included in this section suitable courses of vocational rehabilitation to be prescribed and provided by the board, and every person electing to follow such a course of vocational rehabilitation shall, while following the same, receive monthly compensation equal to the amount of his monthly pay for the last month of his active service, or equal to the amount to which he would be entitled under Article III of said Act, whichever amount is the greater. If such person was an enlisted man at the time of his discharge, for the period during which he is so afforded a course of rehabilitation, his family shall receive compulsory allotment and family allowance according to the terms of Article II of said Act in the same manner as if he were an enlisted man, and for the purpose of computing and paying compulsory allotment and family allowance his compensation shall be treated as his monthly pay: Provided, That if such person willfully fails or refuses to follow the prescribed course of Vocational rehabilitation which he has elected to follow, in a manner (41)

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satisfactory to the board, the said board in its discretion may certify to that effect to the bureau and the said bureau shall, during such period of failure or refusal, withhold any part or all of the monthly compensation due such person and not subject to compulsory allotment which the said board may have determined should be withheld: Provided, however, That no vocational teaching shall be carried on in any hospital until the medical authorities certify that the condition of the patient is such as to justify such teaching.

The military and naval family allowance appropriation provided for in section eighteen of said Act shall be available for the payment of the family allowances provided by this section; and the military and naval compensation appropriation provided for in section nineteen of said Act shall be available for the payment of the monthly compensation herein provided. No compensation under Article III of said Act shall be paid for the period during which any such person is furnished by said board a course of vocational rehabilitation except as is hereinbefore provided.

SEC. 3. That the courses of vocational rehabilitation provided for under this Act shall, as far as practicable and under such conditions as the board may prescribe, be made available without cost for instruction for the benefit of any person who is disabled under circumstances entitling him, after discharge from the military or naval forces of the United States, to compensation under Article III of said Act and who is not included in section two hereof.

SEC. 4. That the board shall have the power and it shall be its duty to provide such facilities, instructors, and courses as may be necessary to insure proper training for such persons as are required to follow such courses as herein provided; to prescribe the courses to be followed by such persons; to nay, when in the discretion of the board such payment is necessary, the expense of travel, lodging, subsistence, and other necessary expenses of such persons while following the prescribed courses; to do all things necessary to insure vocational rehabilitation; to provide for the placement of rehabilitated persons in suitable or gainful occupations. The board shall have the make such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the proper performance of its duties as prescribed by this Act, and is hereby authorized and directed to utilize, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, the facilities of the Department of Labor, in so far as may be practicable, in the placement of rehabilitated persons in suitable or gainful occupations.

power to

SEC. 5. That it shall also be the duty of the board to make or cause to have made studies, investigations, and reports regarding the vocational rehabilitation of disabled persons and their placement in suitable or gainful occupations. When the board deems it advisable, such studies, investigations, and reports may be made in cooperation with or through other departments and bureaus of the Government, and the board in its discretion may cooperate with such public or private agencies as it may deem advisable in performing the duties imposed upon it by this Act.

SEC. 6. That all medical and surgical work or other treatment necessary to give functional and mental restoration to disabled persons prior to their discharge from the military or naval forces of the United States shall be under the control of the War Department and

the Navy Department, respectively. Whenever training is employed as a therapeutic measure by the War Department or the Navy Department a plan may be established between these agencies and the board. acting in an advisory capacity to insure, in so far as medical requirements permit, a proper process of training and the proper preparation of instructors for such training. A plan may also be established between the War and Navy Departments and the board whereby these departments shall act in an advisory capacity with the board in the care of the health of the soldier and sailor after his discharge.

The board shall, in establishing its plans and rules and regulations for vocational training, cooperate with the War Department and the Navy Department in so far as may be necessary to effect a continuous process of vocational training.

SEC. 7. That the board is hereby authorized and empowered to receive such gifts and donations from either public or private sources as may be offered unconditionally. All moneys received as gifts or donations shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and shall constitute a permanent fund, to be called the "Special fund for vocational rehabilitation," to be used under the direction of the said board, in connection with the appropriations hereby made or hereafter to be made, to defray the expenses of providing and maintaining courses of vocational rehabilitation; and a full report of all gifts and donations offered and accepted, and all disbursements therefrom, shall be submitted annually to Congress by said board.

SEC. 8. That there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, available immediately and until expended, the sum of $2,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary to be used by the Federal Board for Vocational Education for the purposes of this Act, to wit, for renting and remodeling buildings and quarters, repairing, maintaining, and equipping same, and for equipment and other facilities necessary for proper instruction of disabled persons, $250,000; for the preparation of instructors and salaries of instructors, supervisors, and other experts, including necessary traveling expenses, $545,000; for traveling expenses of disabled persons in connection with training and for lodging, subsistence, and other necessary expenses in special cases of persons following prescribed courses, $250,000; for tuition for disabled persons pursuing courses in existing institutions, public or private, $545,000; for the placement and supervision after placement of vocationally rehabilitated persons, $45,000; for studies, investigations, reports, and preparation of special courses of instruction, $55,000; for miscellaneous contingencies, including special mechanical appliances necessary in special cases for disabled men, $110,000; and for the administrative expenses of said board incident to performing the duties imposed by this Act, including salaries of such assistants, experts, clerks, and other employees in the District of Columbia or elsewhere as the board may deem necessary, actual traveling and other necessary expenses incurred by the members of the board and by its employees under its orders, including attendance at meetings of educational associations and other organizations, rent and equipment of offices in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, purchase of books of reference, law books, and periodicals, stationery, typewriters and exchange thereof, miscellaneous supplies,