The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-05-11


well as to enlarge their allowances by pro-
longing their lives.
The difficulty Of arriving at just conclu-
sions in regard to the numerous claims that
will lie presented under this bill, if it be-
comes law, will be very great, aud in very
many cases insuImountable. The resolu-
lions OF October, 1880, granting the half
pay for life, were well understood by the
Congress that passed them, and by the Ar
my and the accounting ofliccrs of the pc
rod to include only officers who were COM
missioned BIZ Congress, and of those Of
Acers only those Of the several regiments
of the line of the Army, excluding all Of
ficers in the various branches Of the staff
departments. And though by subsequent
resolutions the half pay was extended to
certain specific officers in the medical STATS
including surgeons of regiments, and to
general officers of the line, yet the great
mass of staff-officers, though commissioned
by Congress for purposes of discipline, and
they were very numerous, were unpr0vided
for-such as officers IN the Paymasters'.
Quartermasters's CommIssaries', and the
Adjutant- Generals Departments, keepers
aud conductors of military stores artificers,
aids, and secretaries TO general officers,
etc. For this distinction between the two
The duties of ofcera Of the line required
a much greater sacrifice of personal COM
fort. and exposure to personal danger, than
those Of the staff, and a provision of that
kind was found necessary to induce them
to continue in the service. But places in
the staff departments were eagerly sought
for, and required no such uducement. The
tendency, st this day, will be to treat light
" or entirely to disregard this important
distinction, and to allow officers of purely
d State troops and those of the militia to be
transformed into continental officers.
As a specimen of what Is likely to occur
in the execution of u law OF the character
OF the bill now under consideration, l would
IL refer you to certain Communication allow
81 ances described in report No. 43G of the
NJ House of Representatives of the first sess-
ny ion of the Twenty seventh Congress, april
IL, "a, 1900 The claims of officers to COM
mutation had for a long time been supposed
to have been all paid at the close Of the
war, when full opportunity had been given
g., for their prosecution and allowance; but
-" about the year 1928, claims for it began to
be be presented TO Congress, ard from that
n time till 1886, some sixty claims had, on
:, the favorable reports OF committees, been
allowed by special acts and paid. Twenty
NJ nine of which claims were for the supposed
d, services of officers from the State of
nm Virginia. Subsequently the committee
on Revolutionary Claims, by examining
p the papers of General Washington in
he the state department, and by infor-
A. nation obtained from other sources, prinei-
paly from the public officers at Richmond,
were enabled to test these Virginia allow
on ances by unmlstakable record evidence, and
its 10 show by such test that every one OF the
he twenty nine claims, by which over S140,-
"a 600 had been drawn from the treasury, was
eo unfounded on any service that entitled the
is officer to the halt-pay for life, or to the
rly communication of it, as may be seen by the
vd said report, No. 43G, from page "a to 66
,r OF these twenty nine officers, only one
Cd had become entitled to the Communication by
In. performing the requisite service, andhe had
-, failed to obtain his Communication pay at
-, the clQse of the war, because he was in
,rv three of the officers had left 'the TaTfiy Us
the supernumerares in 177S, before the passage
odo of the half-pay resolutions two belonged
:, to the civil staff, one of them as the gen.
'he erals private secretary, and had also re-
the signed, and the other had been only SER
my geant and conductor OF military stores !;
oss nine had served in the militia or some state
corps, generally for short periods, and were
only state, not continental officers one had
tor beea superseded for absence from the army
en-. without leave, and thirteen had quit the
hi. army by resignation, one of these thirteen
A'' cases being doubly fraudulent by being al
lowed for The service of an officer who was
'm- not entitled, and paid to party who had
the falsely persona.ed the officers heir.
sed There is good reason TO presume that the
ma, other thirty odd claims that were allowed
on from 1928 TO 1888 from other states were OF
- like unfounded character with those from
Id, Virginia, and when it is considered that the
~. accounting Officers under this bill can have
49, no reliable guide for determining the valid
VIC ity OF the claims that the uncertain oral
and tradi,ionaiy testimony will all be "a
par te, all prepared and produced in behalf
of the claimant and when it is further con-
). sidered that senators and representatives, IN
, of congress, without any thorough stu,y into
~ the merits of the cases OF their respective
ue- constituents, will be expected to back then
the with their personal Influence, | think il
ows may be safely predicted that, if the bill
,or- should become a law, the expenditures I'M
der its first section win be quite as likely
our TO be thirty or forty or more millions, as tc
inns be limited to the twenty-three millions esti-
vol mated by the commissioner of pensions.
lose But no estimate is furnished of the pro-
able bable tax on the treasury that will be re-
are quired by the fourth section of the bill, and
1t from the nature of the case there can be
y OF none. The resolution of congress of The
VI. Gath of August, 1880 mentioned in that
1wn section, was an extension of the provisions
,lad of previous resolution Of that body OF
the MAY 10, 177S by which 'al military Off
'on- GERS commissioned by Congress, who were
all then in service, or might hereafter be, and
an | ehoull onntiuna therein inripr the
had been declared entitled to half-pay fo'
,uld seven years BY the resolution of August
alter 1850, the seven years halr-psy' when hao
Of oeen piGiiilS. ~ 'i,I o,,a - ol'ou cb;d
rom rem of such officers, in case of their dealt
our in the service That il was not intended
on for any other officers than those mentioned
In the previous resolution of IT'S, is plain
's'' from the language of the two resolutions
the when read in connection with each other
the That such was the meaning and object OF
,en- | the resolution Of August, 1850, is shown by
'sti- the subsequent Uniform action OF the reYo
lual lutienaIy congress and Of the accounting.
this officers at the close of the war For full
Gus and conclusive view Of the purpose Of thii
me- resolution and its Limitation TO The officers
nti- provided for by that of May, 1878, would
ong refer you to report of the judiciary com
AIRY mittee of the house of representatives OF
ives the second session of the twenty seventh
I'M congress, MAY %, 1912, on the claim OF
inns Richard Shubrck, being No. IN of that
GUS session. But The present bill goes beyond
,es- that of 1880, and grants the seven years
late halt pay to all officers "who died in the
. to service at any period during the war Of the
ale. revolution, thus providing after lapse OF
the nearly a hundred years, gratuitous allov.
'om ance to the remote descendants of all thu
and officers who died during the three years pre-.