Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-02-04

Mr.. Garfield. of Ohio-Read the last
clause, which is the one on which the in
crease is asked. 1t is for the detection and
| Investigation of frauds. The Secretary OF
| the Interior made to the Committee on Ap-
preparations Yesterday morning what was a
startling statement. He expressed his con-
/ fident belief, and wrote it down at the
! time, and have the sentence here on slip
| of paper, that nearly one-fourth of the PEN
sions we pay is fraud. was amazed 1T
this statement; but the Commissioner OF
Pensions, who sat at his side, said the state
ment was not an eXtravagant one, and re-
ferred me to page IA Of his own report,
where the gentleman from Massachusetts,
will find a paragraph Of nearly One-half
page, stating the character of the frauds
perpetr2ted on the Pension Office in the
form of fraudulent certificates got up by
claim agents. To ferret out these frauds,
and TO punish the perpetrators of them, the
appropriation of this money will, no doubt,
be the very best economy. The committee
were amazed at the facts brought to their
attention, and concluded the best way TO
remedy the evil would be to increase the
fund for the detection of these frauds; and
that is the reason for the increase of appro-
priation in this item.
Mr.. Butler, of Massachusetts, only
asked the question for the purpose of bring
ing out the statement that has been made,
and for the further purpose Of saying that
from some considerable examination of the
subject made in the course of my duty as
President Of the board of managers of the
National Asylum, am inclined to believe
the report of the Commissioner is not exag-
gerated in that regard; certainly not largely
exaggerated And | desire to call the at
tention of the chairman of the committee
and the House in this connection to the
fact that these frauds are largely caused by
paying pensions through pension agents,
instead Of distributing the money over the
country through the various Postotfices
where the pensioners are individually
known. As it is now, the pension agents
do not know the individual pensioners at
all. They come in large numbers and form
a line, waiting for their turn to be paid, and
therefore there is no check Of Identification.
l call the attention Of the committee TO the
necessity of some change in making pay
ment ofpensions and in the identification
of pensioners.
Mr.. Garfield, of Ohio-That is very
proper suggestion to be made to the Com
mittee on Invalid Pensions.
Mr.. Hale-I move to strike out the last
word. do not intend to take up the valu
able time of the committee to any extent.
Mr.. Hoar-With the gentleman's permits
sion, wish to call attention, in the line of
the remarks of my colleague, (Mr. Butler,)
to the fact that this condition Of things
creates not only great frauds upon the pub
lie, but also great annoyance on the part
of honest pensioners, because, the constant
suspicion causes a great deal of delay to
the honest pensioners in getting the pen
sions to which they are entitled.
Mr.. Butler, of MaSsachusetts-That will
all be prevented by paying them through the
pOstoffices.
Mr.. Hale-I wish to call the attention Of
the committee to one or two instances Of
startling frauds found out by the Pension
Bureau. They will SHOW how the Secre-
tary of the Interior and the Commissioner !
of Pensions have made up the estimate
that so large a number of pensions is fraud
ulent. The Commissioner of Pensions has
found, in a single instance arising out Of
the war of 1872, and the statutes passed |
for the relief Of The survivors of that war,
where between two and three hundred |
fraudulent cases were presented by claims |
agents in New York city. The attention !
of the Department was called to them,
and, an investigation being had, they were |
found to be a complete fraud from begin |
ming to end. Some Of these claims agents |
were indicted, tried, and convicted, and |
some were chased from this country into |
Canada.
This appropriation, increased from ST. |
900 20 $4,000, is almost entirely in that |
direction for tile detection of frauds. |
are still cases of this kind, as the |
Commissioner believes, all over the cOun- !
try, and this increased appropriation is the |
eye of his Department; he cannot see, or if he
sees, he cannot work up the investigations, |
without it. l do not understand that there |
is any opposition to the amendment, but |
wished to call the attention of the commit |
lee to the startling extent of these frauds.