The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-12-10

der the various pension and bounty land acts far exceeds
all the anticipaons OF those who advocated their enao
men and will be learned by the country with
prise. IL appears that the total disbursement fos pen
sions up to this date about $50 900 900 II to this
sum We add the bountes In land, 62 acres and
estimate that land at dollar and twcntyv cents
the total amount granted for bounties and pensions
will be sl6s, ,424, 202 w 81
1t is not improper full understanding Of the PUB
ect in this connexon 10 review the operation Of some
Of the pension laws. and TO refer TO the estimates ON
which others based, ft
Take for illustration the law granting invalid pensions
During the ten years proceeding the year lso the nnnu
al expenditures account of invalid pensions averaged
S9S 600 During the ten years succeeding l5 10 tho av
$780, 900 per annum. At the present time IL
is s445 900 per This constant increase can only
be accounted for by the peculiar provisions OF the laws
under which the allowance is made The disability may
have wholly ceased yet the department has authority
under existing laws to withhold the pension Of an inva
lid once granted. The examinations are generally made
by physicians unknown To the office, expaie, and most
frequently long after the occurrences which originate the
disability yet being undisputed their certificates are
received as good and sufficient testimony.
With view of showing the impossibility OF arriving
in advance any reasonable conception OF the cxpend
which will be required by pension law will refer
you the history of the passage OF two enactmcns ono
Of 1882, and the other Of 1853, occurring more than
twenty years apart
On the 7th of june 1892 forty nine years after the close
of the revolutionary war; supplementary TO the act
for the relief Of certain surviving officers and soldiers OF he
revolution" passed. While that bill was under con-
sdoraton committee of the House Of Representatives
into elaborate calculation In order to ascertain
the number of persons then living who embraced
by its provisions and the annual amount OF money II
would require The conclusion was that the number OF
soldiers who would claim aud be entitled to its benefits
10 057 and TINT the annual expenditure would be
1907 60S On this calculation the bill WAS passed The
number of claims filed under the law during the first
year about $4,000 The whole number filed under
it exceeds ss goo. The whole number admitted was S5
4l4 2,
The whole amount expended for pensions in the year
~ In WAS
The increase caused by the act of June 1884, was there
fore sI55 524 &C. than four times much as the
committee estimated the bill would require.
1t further estimated by the committee that at the
end of years ftyye years after the war OF the
revolution there would be surviving to receive its
benefits Now, if the whole number 10, ,057 which u
supposed would receive pensions underthis law had
lived out the years. it would have required So 3b5
22G to have its entire requirements according to tho
calculation of the committee But this, OF course, was
not anticipated inasmuch they expected that the whole
number of beneicaries would have passed away within
the years. 1t is fair then, to presume that one
half of this amount 6l3 all that was expected
to be drawn from the treasury under Its provisions
Twenty six years have elapsed since the passage OF that
law and about two hundred soldiers yet on the rolls
and the gross amount expended under the act is now over
SIS, ,000, 900.
On the passage of the Of February 8, 1853 grant
ing pensions to the widows of revolutionary soldiers
ried subsequent to S00 the estimate of the office was
that S24 900 would be sufficient for the first year Ihat
amount, however, found wholly inadequate and the
additional of $500 900 asked for and appropra-
ted in the deficiency bill of the succeeding session for that
purpose.
There other facts this subject of curious interest
Fity-ree years after the of the revolution o0e
widows living whose marriages took place prior 7"
1888 Nearly 100 of them yet alive In 1885, hty-
five Yeas after the close of the lSI0 widows were
living who married between 1888 and l79l In
1S4s sixtyve years after the war, 6,442 OF the lisfo
were still alive
In my last annual report you informed that prac-
ticc which had obtained in the Pension Office OF paying
the representatives Of deceased revolutionary soldiers
and their widows the pensions which they would have re-
ceved had the proof been satisfactorily established du
ring their lifetime, had been overrued by me as Hnau-
thozed by law During the last fiscal year this decision
has saved TO the treasury 81 ls, 900.
While have the greatest confidence in the watchfu
and integrity OF the officers who have heretofore had
the direct management of the Pension Bureau the deve
opment of the frauds which have been palmed OIL upon
that Office is astounding During the last year fraudulent
bounty land claims amounting in the aggregate to about
75 900 have been detected and exposed Previous
Investigations had brought to light fraudulent issue OF
about 22 900 -Four of the perpetrators OF these
frauds have been convicted and sentenced during the last
year. one against whom the evidence WINS conclusive,
escaped punishment under the statute limiting prosccu
ons to two years from the commission of the offence;
and thirteen Others have been regularly indicted and are
awaiting their trials The boldness and ingenuity with
which these mpostos have presented pressed and sue
cessly prosecuted their have cqualled anything
recorded in the annals Of crime. In they have
imposed upon their immediate representatives in
correspondence for establishing their fraudulent claims.
They generally class of men who have managed to
maintain respectable in the communities in which
they ve that nothing but the most convincing proof
furnished from the records of the office satisfy the
uries of their guilt Public justice and the fair rcpu
ton Of the government alike demand that these offenders
| should be brought to condign punishment.
| The recommendations made in my last annual report
respecting the equalizng Of army and navy PENSIONS the
extension of the statute Of limitations in of frauds
attempted and perpetraed upon the Pension Office for
the procurement of land warrants and the passage OF
statute prevent and punish the forging of land
| rants are respectfully renewed. a
For the greater protection of the recipients of land
rants law should also be passed making 1t penal to
forge or counterfeit an assignment of the same
DISTRICT COLUMBIA
The report of the Commissioner of Public Buildings
presents view of the operations of this branch of the
service during the last year. and of the expenditures
made under the supervision of that officer.
The west wing OF the building occupied by the Depart
ment of the Interior and the improvements around It,
have been completed in handsome and acceptable man
The construction of the north front is progressing
satisfactorily and when finished the entire structure will
reflect much credit not only upon the author Of the gene
raj design but also upon the skill of those employed in
its executions The estimated of this portion the
building wus four hundred and fifty thousand dollars
without portico five hundred and twenty five thou
sand dollars with portico. The aggregate amount of
four hundred thousand dollars appropriated by the
Thirty Congress for this purpose 1t is esti
mated that complete the building without the portco
to grade and enclose the grounds and to lay Off and i'm
prove the interior court additional appropriation OF
| fifty thousand dollars will be sufficient
|