of manual labor. Within the next three years the number of veterans on the pension roll increased from 489,000 to 996,000 and expenditures doubled. Legislation passed in the nineteenth century had established a general pension system that could be applied to future pension recipients. As a consequence, new pension laws did not follow the Spanish-American War in 1898 or the Philippine Insurrection, 1899 to 1901.

Among the provisions of the War Risk Insurance Act Amendments of 1917 was the authority to establish courses for rehabilitation and vocational training for veterans with dismemberment, sight, hearing, and other permanent disabilities.

The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1918 authorized the establishment of an independent agency, the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Under the new law, any honorably discharged disabled veteran of World War I was eligible for vocational rehabilitation training. Those incapable of carrying on a gainful occupation were also eligible for special maintenance allowances.

There was a change in emphasis from payment of a gratuity towards indemnification, and there was elimination of rank as a factor in determining the amount of compensation…. [T]he new Bureau of War Risk Insurance was instructed to set up a schedule for rating disabilities. The schedule was to represent average impairments in earning capacity caused by specific injuries or combination of injuries. In this way the individual who overcame his handicap was not penalized but encouraged to reenter the labor force, with the knowledge that his payments would not be reduced or terminated.