The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-10-09
PENSION REPORT.

PENSION REPORT.
Interesting Statistics-A New Plan -
he Recommended for the Adjust.
ment OF Pension Claims Claims
Arising under the Arrears Act.
Washington September 23) Special to Chi.
cago Tribune.1
Since the passage of the Arrears-of-
Pension act, $4,000 rejected claims
have been considered. The number of
unsettled claims is now 10000. The
number of claims received last week is
$500, which is double the number that
the office can dispose of under the pres
ent system. The daily mail now aver
ages 1900 letters, while 1900 letters
are daily dispatched from the Bureau.
The number of pensioners is about
235, 900, the roll having increased 10, 600
during the year, through settlement of
claims of pensioners of the war of 1912.
Commissioner Bentley, in his annual
report, will call attention to the defects
OF the present system of paying PEN
s'cns. and will rccsmMend the adoption
OF new plan, which Secretary Schurz
has Endorsed in very strong language,
and of which the following is an out
line:
After the country shall have been properly
Commission, consisting of q surgeon and q
skilled clerk, will attend usually at the county.
seat OF each county and other principal places
IN mt the District duly published the
Upon the receipt of the application for pen.
sion at the Pension Office, the records of the
War or Navy Department, as the case may be,
and copy thereof, together with a copy of
the claimants allegations upon which he rests
his case, forwarded to the Commissioner, with
. specific letter of instructions upon what
same time a notice will be sent to the claima Mt
that his case is ready for the production Of the
clearly the points to which it must be directed,
and the class of witnesses e., officers, COM
rades, neighbors, family-physician, etc.-whose
testimony should, if possible, be produced:
Place moss ee ana
nesses: He will then be furnished by the
Commission with ,ts blank .sn eddayit for
tions in print. Each witness viii
write, or have written for him by the claim
ant, in the blank, brief and concise state.
tify, and present it to the cierf, who win read
his statement over to him, and ask such Qucs-
lions as will elicit answers showing the ground
of the witness knowledge, and test the weight
answers will be written down below the wit
ness voluntary statement, and the whole then
subscribed and sworn to before the clerk.
claimant, if an invalid, a full detailed history
of the incurrcnce of the disability for which
he claims pension, and its history and devef-
opment, to which the claimant will subscribe
and make oath; and also examine the claim
ant to determine his physical condition, as
well as the nature, degree and probable cause
of the disability found.
tend with him, they may appear at another
more convenient time and place in the district,
at which the Commission will afterwards be In
attendance. If a witness resides at distance
in another district. the claimant will furnish
to the Commission his name and the point
upon which he is expected to testify; and he
may attend ut his convenience before the Com.
mission in the district in which he resides, and
that Commission will forward his testimony to
the first Commission; and, when the claimant
shall have thus gathered all the testimony ne
desires, the whole will be forwarded to the
Pension Office, where the case will be settled.
Provision should be made so that testimony
not conveniently Obtainable by this process
may be taken in such manner as the Commits
siOner of Pensions shall direct.
These proceedings are simple, and the
claimant in most cases would be able to pro
duce the testimony in support of his claim
without the aid of an attorney. The Com
seat at least once in each year, and in most
cases once in every six months, and would bt
able usually to take the testimony in five OF
more cases per day.
The plan would operate upon the old pend
ing claims as follows: They would be sub
jected to a very careful examination by an ex
pert examiner, and letter and notice pre-
pared rs in Il new claim, specifying one o.
more points upon which the witnesses would
be required to appear I'm person before tn
Commission, but putting the claimant to NJ
needless trouble in rc-establishing wcll-prOvcl
points in his claim.
The expenses of adjusting claims under thil
plan will not exceed the present annual ex
penditures for the same purpose, and after tn
period the accumulated claims will have beer
disposed of and the business of the Bureau
brought up to date, will be very much less
than the of pen added
the scrutiny given the case by the surgeon and
clerk, would, in my judgment, be sufficient
protection to the Government against fraudu
lent and unmeritorious claims. While the
simple and direct methods Of the plan would
greatly increase the facilities of the meritOri
Gus claimant to obtain speedy settlement Of
would be an obstacle only in the way of those
who attempt to defraud the Government.
Very soon after the passage of the
Arrears-of-P Pensions bill a class of cases
arose under it which involved points in
law and equity that had never before
arisen. The following is a typical case
A soldier whose pension claim was moi
filed in the Pension Office until more
than five years had elapsed from the
date of his discharge died while the case
was still pending, and while the proof
was still incomplete to establish it.
After the Arrears act passed, this sol.
dier's widow completed the proof which
would have established her husband
claim if he had been still alive, and
sought to receive the full arrears OF
pensions. Under the law as it stood al
the time of his death, no pension had
accrued, and none was due. The widow
was, therefore, entitled at best only
to widows pension, dating from the
passage of the claim. Two or three
cases were decided adversely by the
Commissioner of Pensions but or
further consideration, although strict
legal construction of the Arrears act
seemed to sustain this view of the case
he thought that the spirit of that act
might warrant more liberal interpre
tation, and referred the matter to the
Secretary of the Interior, by whom il
was decided favorably to the wishes o.
the claimant, and the widow received
her full arrearages of pensions. Thi!
decision will, perhaps, involve an ex
penditure of between 100000 ant
$500, 900.
A case similar in some respects, but
much more important-involving, as il
probably does, some millions of ex
penditure-is now pending before thu
Secretary of the Interior, upon an ap
peal from a decision of the Commits
sioner of Pensions. The widow of ,
soldier who died before the passage o
the Arrears act applied for, and Sc
cured, a widows pension. She has since
filed claim for her husbands pension
from the date of his discharge untA iii
death. The language of the act unde
which the claim is brought is as fol
lows:
Sec. 2. All pensions which have been, o
which may hereafter be, granted in conse
quence of death occurring from q caus
which originated in the service since the I'll
day of March, 1861, or in consequence o
wounds or injuries received, or disease con
tracted, since that date, shall commence from
the death or discharge Of the person on who's
account the claim has been or is hereafte
granted. If the disability occurred prior Il