Executive Order  No. 32: (1st Series) Establishing legal place of settlement for eligibility of military dependents for local welfare assistance

WHEREAS, the dependents of some of the members of the military or naval forces of the United States serving in the present war between the United States and certain foreign countries are in immediate need of assistance and relief; and

WHEREAS, generally, under existing laws assistance and relief are furnished by the cities and towns in which the applicant therefor has continuously resided for five years or more and has thereby acquired a legal settlement; and

WHEREAS, General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 116, section 1, clause Fifth, as last amended, provides in substance that persons who served as members of the military or naval forces of the United States in certain wars shall be deemed to have a settlement in the city or town in which they resided at the time when they enlisted or were inducted into said forces; and

WHEREAS, the apparent intent of said provisions of law was to provide a simple means of fixing the settlement of persons serving as members of said forces; and

WHEREAS, certain cities and towns dispute the applicability of said General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 116, section 1, clause Fifth, to persons serving as members of the military or naval forces of the United States in the present conflict; and

WHEREAS, said dispute has caused such cities and towns to withhold necessary assistance and relief from certain dependents of men serving as members of said forces, and great suffering and distress have resulted therefrom; and

WHEREAS, in the interest of unity, morale and humanitarian considerations it is not only the duty but the solemn obligation of government to provide an efficient formula for fixing the settlement of those men who have served, are serving or may hereafter serve as members of said forces and of certain of their dependents to the end that those in need may be speedily provided with necessary assistance and relief:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

Any person who serves as a member of the military or naval forces of the United States at any time during the present war, which for the purpose of this order shall be deemed to have begun September 16, 1940, whether said person enters said forces by enlistment, induction pursuant to the provisions of Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, or otherwise, and his wife, or widow and minor children shall be deemed to have a settlement in the place where he actually resides or resided at the time of his induction, enlistment or entry into such service.

The provisions of this order shall not apply to any person who has been proved guilty of wilful desertion or who left the service otherwise than by reason of disability, an honorable discharge or an honorable release.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty- two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-seventh.

By His Excellency the Governor, Leverett Saltonstall

Frederic W. Cook, Secretary of the Commonwealth