Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-04
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP


in the solution of the question, writes us as fol-
lows concerning Pension-law imbroglio which
is just now agitating, not . little, those In
Washington who practice as attorneys before
the Pension Bureau: !
"Ever since 1923, il has been the practice In the
Pension Office to pay arrears OF kevoiutlohaIy
pensions to children uniformly, and for the
greater portion of the time to grand-chlloren, ~
Last year. for the first time, the secretary OF the
Interior doubted the Legality OF THIS PaaerGe, ana
after five months delay, decided that payments
to children should continue, CD AT its last ses-
sion, the Supreme Court declared grandchildren
as well as children to be within the equity of
these acts, o. and upon this, payments to both
children and grandchildren are suspended by
the Secretary. who has again consulted the At
torney General, and now for some three months
the question has been held up to the great detri-
ment of all who have claims of this character, "4)
Concerning this matter, we have to express
regret that in the exercise of the caution neces-
sary in the discharge of the functions of his
office, the Secretary of the Interior should cause
any one to linger on hope deferred. Yet we
know well that questions such as those involved
in the case stated above require time for their
correct solution. The Attorney General, of
course, in almost all instances dispOses of cases
in their turn. They come to him from every
division of the Executive branch of the public
service, not few of them requiring weeks of
careful investigation ere they can be properly
disposed of. To take this case up out of its
order would be to delay the disposition of many
other cases, the parties to which are equally
meritorious and necessitous as these. Our cor
will, therefore, see that if blame
should fall anywhere for the delay of which he
it should be on Congress for fail.
ing to establish the law department Of the Gov
increase the facilities of the Attor-
ney Generals Office for disposing of the so
rapidly increasing business that is being show
cred upon it on all sides. The late Attorney
General, if we remember correctly, in an able
report set forth the pressing necessity for the
change of the organization Of the Office (Attor-
ney General's) TO which we refer. More COM
petent legal assistants, who should be we'll
paid, las the present assistant of the Attorney
General is not,) are required to hunt up author
tiles, investigate the law, arrange the cases for
the final decision Of the Chief of the Depart
ment, &c. Until Congress shall act favorably
upon The recommendation mentioned above,
much of the business of the Office must be de-
LAY GU VI uisPoeOuo Va
the intensity of the labors Of its chief and his
assistants, who work now as few other men could
without breaking down from sheer exhaustion.
But there are points in our correspondents
communication which require some explanation
at our hand.
LIST. He is probably mistaken in the belief
that there is settled precedent for the payment
of arrearages to grand children. Such is not
the understanding of the Pension Bureau.
ID. The question referred by Secretary
was as to the legality of the pay
ment of arrearages to children-not grand-chil-
dren. Attorney General Cushing, after as thor
Ough investigation as was ever bestowed upon
a law point referred to an Attorney General
very distinctly and emphatically reported that
there was no law for the practice. He, how
ever, virtually sanctioned its continuance, as
t he precedent had been followed for a length of
time sufficient to give it the force of law.
Sd. Our correspondents understanding of the
effect of the decision of the Supreme Court to
which he refers, differs from ours. 1t was in a
case where money had been obtained from the
Government; not one in which the question
was-shall the Government pay money. Hav-
ing been obtained, and being beyond the reach
of Government reclamation by law, the ques-
ton to be decided by the Supreme Court was
should it be divided between the children and
or only the former? Such only
were the parties to the suit-not the Govern
ment; whose rights or interests were not in
volved in it directly or indirectly, if we are not
mistaken.
4th. We are very sure that Secretary Thomp-
son, in calling on the Attorney General for his
opinion upon the rights Of children and grand
children to arrearages ofrevolutionary pensions.
is simply discharging his duty conscientiously.
The decision Of the questions involved will af-
feet the interests of large number of persons,
as we'll as materially affect the Treasury. The
public will, therefore, award him credit for
acting with his proverbial caution in the mat
ter, rather than blame him for not at once act
ing against his convictions Of duty, to avoid
delay.
But it is sincerely TO be hoped that at its
next session Congress will 20 legislate as that
the payment Of arrearages to children may no
longer rest wholly on precedent. The question
Of right is too important to be left longer in
that condition. To extend the operation of the
law to grandchildren, will be to authorize drafts
on the Treasury such as the country little
dreams Of or the Pension bureau is vastly mis-
taken in the probable operation of such law
or such construction of existing law.
A KEY TO THEM.-The newspaper reports
that it has been determined to displace the
present Engineer-in-Ch Chief of the Navy, strike
us as being, to say the least of them, prema-
ture. Strenuous efforts to bring about his dis
placement are certainly being made Some of
them come from quarters that render us suspi-
cious of their propriety. Since the commence
ment Of the use of steam in the naval service
OF the United States, the Department has been
beset by different parties of holders of patent
rights bearing on ocean steam navigation, to
bring about the use of their improvements in
the service, at round rates. Some of their pro-
posed changes are doubtless valuable, while
most Of them would involve the Government in
positive loss In our time we have known many
such efforts essayed here usually without suc-