SOLDIERS' HOMES, the general name of various institutions in the United States, under national or State control, for the care of sick and disabled soldiers and sailors. These homes were the direct outcome of the Civil War. The Federal institution is known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and has branches at Dayton, Ohio ; Milwaukee, Wis.; Togus, Me.; Hampton, Va.; Leaven worth, Kan.; Santa Monica, Cal.; Marion, Ind.; Danville, Ill.; Johnson City, Tenn, and Hot Springs, S. D. In 1903 the aggregate number of inmates was about 27,000; in 1917 it was 32,000. The total number cared for up to and includ ing 1917 is about 200,000.
The requirements for admission are: <1) An honorable discharge from the United States service. (2) Disability which prevents the ap plicant from earning his living by labor. (3) Applicants for admission will be required to stipulate and agree to abide by all the rules and regulations made by the board of managers or by its order ; to perform all duties required of them and to obey all the lawful orders of the officers of the Home. Attention is called to the fact that by the law establishing the Home the members are made subject to the Rules and Articles of War and will be governed thereby in the same manner as if they were in the army of the United States. (4) A soldier or sailor must forward with his application for admis sion his discharge paper and when he is a pen sioner, his pension certificate and if he has been a member of a State home, his discharge from that home, before his application will be considered; which papers will be retained at the branch to which the applicant is admitted, to be kept there for him and returned to him when he is discharged. The rule is adopted to prevent the loss of such papers and certifi cates and to hinder fraudulent practices, and no application will be considered unless these papers are sent with it. If the original dis
charge does not exist, a copy of discharge, certified by the War or Navy Department, or by the adjutant-general of the State, must ac company the application'.
The United States Soldiers' Home at Wash ington, D. C., receives and maintains discharged soldiers of the regular army. All soldiers who have served 20 years as enlisted men in the army (including volunteer service, if any) and all soldiers of less than 20 years' service who have incurred such disability, by wounds, dis ease or injuries in the line of duty while in the regular army, as unfits them for further service, are entitled to the benefits of the Home. A pensioner who enters the Home may assign his pension, or any part of it, to his child, wife or parent, by filing written notice with the agent who pays him. If not so assigned it is drawn the treasurer of the Home and held in trust .for the pensioner. The board of com missioners consists of the general-in-chief com manding the army, the surgeon-general, the commissary-general, the adjutant-general, the quartermaster-general, the judge-advocate-gen eral and the governor-general of the Home. About 1,500 old soldiers occupied the Home in 1917.
There are State homes for disabled volun teer soldiers provided by 27 of the States and New York, New Jersey, Washington and Ne braska each maintain two such homes.
Confederate soldiers' homes have been es tablished in Atlanta, Ga.; Austin. Tex.; Beauvoir, Miss.; Columbia, S. C.; Hermitage, Tenn.• ' Higginsville, Mo.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Little Rock, Ark.; Mountain Creek, Ala.; New Orleans, La.• Pewee Valley, Ky.; Pikesville, Md.; Raleigh, N. C. Richmond, Va.; Wash ington, D. C. There are of course very few veterans remaining to occupy them.