Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1870-05-20


frauds
4. While the present system costs
the Government for commissions of
pension agents $250.000 annually,
and costs pensioners about two hun
dred thousand dollars for pension
agents f es, or total of S450.00O,
and the plan of the Pension Com
mittee will cost the Government an
nually 541 600 dollars. and will cost
pensioners for local officers fees for
verifying vouchers, S3SS.000, be
sides postage, the bill l have pro
posed will perform the whole work
and bring payment almost to the
door of every pensioner in the land
simply for small fee paid by the
Government to the county pay
agents, equal to the amount which
the bill of the committee will require
the pensioners to pay for notaries'
fee. 1t will work saving of 54l,-
600 annually; and it will secure
every advantage over the present
system which can be secured by the
bill Of the committee, by cutting off
annually 100000 dollars now paid
claim agents, ald by securing more
frequent payments of pensions.
And now what are the objections
to the measure? 1t is urged that it
will be inconvenient for pensioners
to go to an officer in the county of
their residence to verify vouchers
and receive a check in payment Of
| ensions. It will be difficult to find
any pensioner who does not visit
his county town more than four
times a year. But if there be those
who do not, or can not, they can
verify a voucher before the nearest
officer, as now. and forward it by
mil or private conveyance to the
proper officer and receive check
in payment of pension without in
convenience or delay. No logic
of the gentleman from Missouri Mr.
Benjamin can convince the pen
sioners that it will be more conve-
nient to receive payment of pensions
through pension agents located an
average of from one to two hundred
miles from them, as the fifty nine
pension agents are, than through an
officer located in every county at an
average distance Of only about fif-
teen miles from them.
And, if any gentleman here shall
deem it material provision can be
inserted requiring the officers, in
proper cases, to go in person to dis
abled pensioners.
But the gentleman from Missouri
Mr., Benjamin, in his speech Of
March 10, intimated that the bill /
had introduced seemed "to be in
tended to perpetuate the system Of
claim agents. The candor and fair
ness of such intimation may be best
understood by quoting the words of
my bill. 1t provides that
! If any person shall recei,e any fee
Or compensation from any pension
er for preparing any voucher or pa
per herein authorized, or for collec
ting any pension or rendering any
service in re alton thereto, every
person so offending shall, on con-
viction thereof, be fined not more
than 800, or imprisoned for one
month, or both, in the discretion Of
the court having jurisdiction there
Of
Ny bill authorizes fine and i'm
| prisonment both. The bill Of the
gentleman from Missouri simply pro-
vides, in an amendment reported
from the Pension Committee on the
25th of February, rs substitute for
section four of the original bill, and
embodied in this bill now reported
from the Pension Committee
That every pension agent or other
person who shall take or receive Or
demand any pay from any pensioner
for any service in connection with
the payment of his or her pension,
shall forfeit and pay the sum of $500
to be recovered bv Indictment in any
court of common jurisdiction.
This holds out no terror of i'm
prisonment. And under the bill of
the committee. requiring correspon-
dence with remote pension agents,
the correction of vouchers, &c,
claim agents will be almosta neces
| ity, and AS the bill threatens no i'm
prisonmcnt, the hope of escaping
fines will sometimes induce claim
agents or others to take the risk of
demanding fees for services which
the law makes almost Indispensable
l will not intimate that the bill of
the committee s'seems intended to
to pe1petuate claim agents." for
do not think so; but ] do believe it
will be inadequate to prevent some
persons from charging pensioners
for aiding in the collection Of pen
sions
The gentleman from Missouri said
in his speech that the gentleman
from Illinois, Mr.. Crebs, and I,
too, by interposing objections to his
bill, had delayed its passage, and
thereby, 10 use his language, "had
secured to the piratical crew. of
claim agents 8 large sum for collec-
ting The March pensions and he cx-
clai rs:
"Let them answer for it to their
constituents ~
We will do so. Our answer will
be that the bill as it came from the
committee proposed to require every
pensioner to pay the pension agents
forty cents for preparing every pen
sion voucher and for services, which
on quarterly payments would take
from the pensioners 1888, 800 annu-
ally, when by the law as it stood