Template:USStatPension/doc

About
is the principal template of a small family designed to speed up and semi-automate the proofreading of certain Private Acts of Congress (each a "chapter") dealing with the grant or increase of pensions. The format has been derived with reference to Volume 33 of the United States Statutes at Large, which appears to use a consistent format throughout. A rapid scan shows that Volume 32 appears to use the same format, although no other volumes have been specifically reviewed.

The suite includes and its derivatives:
 * Template:USStatPensionSplitStart
 * Template:USStatPensionSplitEnd
 * Template:USStatPensionSplitShortStart
 * Template:USStatPensionSplitShortEnd
 * Template:USStatPensionLongStart
 * Template:USStatPensionLongEnd, and
 * Template:USStatPensionSplitLateEnd

USStatPension is used where the relevant chapter appears entirely on one page. The derivative templates listed above handle page breaks at different points within a given chapter. All templates in the family can accommodate considerable deviations from the standard text above, by using the optional parameters set out in the "Usage" section below.

Text structure of the main template
Acts of Congress granting or increasing pensions at this time are strictly formulaic, barring some limited variations and the vagaries of pagination. The standard boiler plate text is the following:

Where is set to =g, the title of the chapter will read "An Act Granting a pension to"; if set to =i, the title of the chapter will read "An Act Granting an increase of pension to", and in addition the body text of the chapter will conclude with the additional words "in lieu of that  is now receiving."

Text structure of the derivatives
  and    deal with the most common page break scenario (as shown below). With all the derivative templates, it is important to restate, if the chapter concerns a woman, also (fairly obviously) and  (not obviously at all) in the End template of the pair - neither is carried forward from the prior page's Start template. The reason for restating is to ensure correct closing of the section tagging for named section transclusion.

  and    deal with the next most common page break scenario (as shown below). Do not forget to restate, (if required) and.

  and    deal with vanishingly uncommon page break scenarios, such as double provisos and similar complexities. in particular looks weird - it just produces the approval date. In practice, non-standard text will always be inserted before the approval date using the parameter. As usual, do not forget to restate, (if required) and.

The final derivative template   doesn't have a matching pair because one of the other derivative start templates will suffice on the prior page. The page break is shown here:

Usage
The template assumes that sidenotes in the Page namespace are on the right unless the side parameter is set to left. All sidenotes display on the right in other namespaces regardless of the side parameter. Horizontal lines suppressed in the Page namespace by setting the topchap parameter to y are no longer suppressed in other namespaces either.

Mandatory parameters are:


 * date: the date given in the sidenote, and in the last line of the Chapter as the date of approval, no final period
 * serial: the number only - the text "Private, No. " and the final period are supplied by the template
 * congress: supply the string without its final period - the original text will read S. or H.R. followed by a number and a period, e.g. H.R. 311.
 * chapter: the number of the Chapter
 * type: the only permitted values are g for grant and i for increase
 * grantee: name of grantee as given in the text
 * quality: as given in the text, usually veteran or widow of veteran
 * gender: omit entirely or leave empty for a male pensioner, otherwise the only permitted values are m for male or f for female
 * rate: amount in words - "dollars per month" is supplied by the template, and in the case of increases, so is "in lieu of that [s]he is now receiving."

Optional parameters are:


 * topchap: set to y to suppress the horizontal line at the start of the first chapter of a page; this is effective in the Page namespace only
 * side: for sidenotes on the left set to left; this is effective in the Page namespace only
 * override: in a microscopic number of cases (chapter 2134 the only one found so far), the name in the sidenote is not identical to the name in the chapter heading. This parameter overrides the sidenote text
 * proviso: leave blank if no proviso; this is the body text of the proviso. "Provided," is supplied by the template, as is the final period; in very rare instances, double provisos are found - these can usually be dealt with by employing the and  parameters below
 * sidenote: leave blank if no proviso; this is the sidenote text of the proviso. "Proviso." is supplied by the template
 * additional: used to insert any non-standard text which follows the words "per month" or "in lieu of that [s]he is now receiving."
 * addsidenote: this is the sidenote text of any additional sidenote. No text or punctuation is supplied by the template
 * coda: used with  to supply whatever words precede the words "and pay"
 * preamble: used with to supply whatever words precede the words "and pay"

The template automatically formats the text, as well as providing section tags in the form  for the entire template output, and  for the Chapter heading line and short title, where ## is the number defined in the chapter parameter.

Examples
