The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-11-09
Pension Report.

Hon. J. A. Bentley, Commissioner of
Pensions, has furnished to the Secretary
OF the Interior the annual report exhibit
Tag the operations of the Pension Bureau
for the last fiscal year:
1t appears that the total number of pom
sioners on the roll June 50, 1876, was 234..
81, or Z, tS4 less than the total mum Der one
year previous. The roll of army invalid pen
sIoners was Increased by the addition of
2,9l2 names during the year, and numbered
on the 3Oth OF last June l05,4IS The num-
I Der OF widows and minors on the roll de-
ceased, ans, leaving 104,S55 names. The
1OIal humher OF Inc SURVIVORS of the war Of
1912 borne on the roll at the close of the last
fiscal year was 1855, showing that !, $3.50 had
died during the twelve months.
The total amount paid out for Der, ions
during the year was SIS, 351 500, leaving
balance of about 81, CSC, 900 not drawn from
the appropriation There We're fled during
The year az SIT pensions claims of various
character, original and for increase OF pen
sions, of which 4l were adiudicated by al
lowance, aud 10, l32 by rejection. Total ~
5S3, or only sixty-four per cent of the num-
Der fled
italso appears from the tables furnished
by the Commissioner that on the Both of
adjudicated claims, besides upward Of co.
600 so-called "reiected claims" pertain.
ing to service in the late war, all of
which are subject to be called Up and re-
opened; 2,03S of this latter class were re-
opened during the year; 1925 of the pend
ing claims We're filed prior to Jan. l, 1870
Commissioner Bentley remarks that not only
is this accumulation of claims adding Yrent-
ly to the labor Of the Office year by year but
the great delay in their settlement is caus-
ing much complaint, and in many cases is
undoubtedly working hardship and injustice
to the claimants. He attributes this coudi-
ton Of affairs partly to the smallness of the
force Of the Bureau, partly to the total unfit
ness and Inconvenience of the buildings
occupied, until recently, by its clerks, anc,
furthermore, to the great delay in obtaining
answers to calls upon the Surgeon General
for the hospital histories of soldiers. He
says the Surgeon Generals office has fallen
so far behind on account of its small force,
that on the Both of June last there were
nearly 1900 unanswered calls from the
Pension Bureau, with the number constant
ly increasing.
The Commissioner reports, however, that,
although these causes of delay may be re-
moved, the present system of adjudication
is itself radically defective When ap-
piled to cases involving obscure ques-
tiouS of fact and of medical science, as
was the case with some of the earlier claims,
and is the case with most of those of later
years, he says it provides for the settlement
vi CldlihS upon palbC lCStlulOuy SASiu
sively, given 10y witnesses who are entirely
unknown to the office, and whose affidavits
are almost universally prepared by claim
agents who can receive no compensation FOR
their services unless the claim is allowed.
Moreover, the examining surgeon WHO certf-
fes to the existence, character and degree OF
the disability is almost universally the neigh.
borhood practitioner, whose professional
interest is to please the claimant at the ex-
pense of the Government; SO, not only is
the door thrown wide open for the Perperra-
ton of fraud and deception, but every in
terest connected with the preparation OF the
Commissioner says, in conclusion, that he
is not now prepared to submit plan to
remedy the evils of the present system, but
will make it the subject of future commu-
nication.