The National tribune., 1879-01-01

ted to the courts on which 35 indictments
have been found, 90 convictions had, 6 acquit-
tails, noVe prosequi, waiting action, 80. These
investigations were not confined to the lac, 1897
pending claims, but extended to the claims
which had already been allowed, aggregating
566,722. Thus, in this vast number of cases,
the secret-service division, consisting of Al men,
and working the entire year, has been able to
4 find but 1o3 worthy, in their opinion, of crimi-
nal prosecution.
4 Out OF the $50 suspected cases examined,
AT were old cases OF pensioners already on the
roll, and dropped 68 of excessive rates of pen
sion which were reduced, and $50 of pending
claims, prima .facia established and disalowed
on reports of detectives in ALL out of 1880
cases, embracing old and new, ,025 have been
defeated by the special-service division; and
this is all that the Commissioners has to show,
in the way OF evidence, to support the whole
sale charges of fraud. When it is known, as it
ought to be, that this class of examinations is
made III profound secrecy, and by men whose
success in life depends upon making record of
efficiency; when it is remembered, as it ought
to be, that these reports and the evidence on
which they are founded are strictly confidential,
and that the pensioner dropped from the rolls
or reduced in rate, or the claimant whose claim
IS dlsallowed, has no right to examine, appear,
or contest, either by himself or attorney; that
the whole proceeding is er parte in the worst
sense, it is something well worth consideration
that the ratio of fraudulent claims, of forgery,
or perjury is so very slight in proportion to the
vast mass of cases in which they might be COM
mltted and In which the Commissioner rashly
infers that they have been committed Instead
of being bad and unwholesome exhibition, it
is the reverse.
Now examine further with this list of crimes
as given on page of the report of the Commits
soner
Out OF the lob violations reported, SO were
by claim agents, and all of the convictions seem
to have been of the same class of persons, from
the statement of ofenses given.
/ There does not appear in this whole list any
prosecution against any claimant for fraud on
the United States, unless possibly, the two
cases of fraudulent personation and the two of
forgery belonging to this class.
There is undoubtedly bad showing as re-
CARDS local attorneys, who have evidently con
splred, III some cases. to defeat the pension
laws, 45 of whom have been finally dropped
from the roster of attorneys; and we regret that
the Commissioner has not thought proper to
give, in his report for 1878, the names and
cause of disbarment in each case
Respectable attorneys who do their business
honestly toward their clients and the Govern
ment, have the right to be separated from the
general odihm cast on the profession by the
black sheep; and the fair way to do it is to
make the penal action of the Department mat
ter of public record.
The facts which we have stated above, taken
from the Commissioners report, are all that we
have that is authentic on the matter; and very
certainly, to any unprejudiced mind, these facts
do not warrant the torrent of denunciation that