State of Georgia.
We extract the following from the ‘Report of Madison Bell, Comptroller-General of the State of Georgia, covering the period from August 1, 1868, to January I, 1869, submitted to His Excellency, Rufus B. Bullock, the Governor, January 12, 1869:’Maimed soldiers.
By section 28, appropriation act of March, 1886, the sum of $20,000 was appropriated to furnish artificial limbs to indigent maimed soldiers; and by section 27 of the appropriation act of December, 1866, the further sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the same purpose. By reference to the books kept by my predecessors, I find that the first-named sum has been about exhausted, and that something over $12,000 of the second appropriation has been drawn. By a resolution of the General Assembly, maimed soldiers, under certain circumstances, were allowed to draw from the treasury the value of an artificial limb in cases where the stump was so short that such limb could not be fitted to it, and several applications of this kind have been presented to me since being in charge of the Comptroller's office, and I have been somewhat perplexed in determining what was the proper course to pursue. Although the appropriation has not been exhausted, and this unfortunate class of our fellow-citizens has commanded my deepest sympathy, yet I have, from a stern sense of official duty, persistently refused to approve any of these claims. [147]Appropriating allowances for maimed Confederate Soldies. (no. 48.)
an Act to amend an act, approved October 24, 1887, entitled ‘An act to carry into effect the last clause of article 7, section 1, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of 1877 and the amendments thereto.’ [148] section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Georgia, That the act approved October, 24, 1887, entitled ‘An act to carry into effect the last clause of article 7, section 1, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of 1877, as amended by vote of the people October, 1886,’ be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking therefrom the first section of said act, and inserting in lieu thereof the following, to-wit: ‘That any person who enlisted in the military service of the Confederate States, or of this State, during the civil war between the States of the United States, who was a bona fide citizen of this State on the 26th day of October 1886, who lost a limb or limbs while engaged in said military service, occasioned by reason of such military service, or who may have thus received wounds or injuries which afterward caused the loss of a limb or limbs,’ or who may have been permanently injured while in sail service, and who may be a bona fide citizen of this State at the time of making application for the benefits herein provided for, shall be entitled to receive, once a year, the following allowances or pay for the purposes expressed in article 7, section 1, paragraph 1 (and the amendment thereto), of the Constitution of 1877, to wit: For total loss of sight, one hundred and fifty dollars. For total loss of sight of one eye, thirty dollars. For total loss of hearing, thirty dollars. For loss of all of a foot or loss of leg, one hundred dollars. For loss of all of a hand or loss of arm, one hundred dollars. For loss of both hands or both arms, one hundred and fifty dollars. For loss of both feet or both legs, one hundred and fifty dollars. For the loss of one hand or foot, and one arm or leg by same person, one hundred and fifty dollars. For permanent injuries from wounds whereby a leg is rendered substantially and essentially useless, fifty dollars. For permanent injuries from wounds whereby an arm is rendered substantially and essentially useless, fifty dollars. For the loss of one finger or one toe, five dollars. For the loss of two fingers or two toes, ten dollars. For the loss of three fingers or three toes, fifteen dollars. For the loss of four fingers or four toes, twenty dollars. For the loss of four fingers and thumb, or five toes, twenty-five dollars. For other permanent injury from wounds or disease, contracted during the service, and while in line of duty as a soldier, whereby [149] the person injured or diseased has been rendered practically incompetent to perform the ordinary manual avocations of life, fifty dollars. The applicant shall also procure the sworn statements of two reputable physicians of his own country, showing precisely how he has been wounded and the extent of the disability resulting from the wound or injury or disease described. All of said affidavits shall be certified to be genuine by the Ordinary of the county where made, and he shall in his certificate state that all the witnesses who testify to applicants' proofs are persons of respectability and good reputation, and that their statements are worthy of belief, and also that the attesting officer or officers are duly authorized to attest said proofs and that their signatures thereto are genuine. Sec. IV. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That said act be further amended by adding: That the beneficiaries under the Acts of 1879 and the acts amendatory thereof, granting allowances to ex-Confederate soldiers who lost a limb or limbs in the service, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, at the time the next payments are made to other disabled beneficiaries under the Act of 1887. And the sum necessary to make the payments provided by this act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. Sec. V. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all laws and parts of1 laws in conflict with this act be and the same are hereby repealed. Approved December 24, 1888.[150]
