The National tribune., 1879-01-01

very frequently ot hospital treatment
The initial steps by paro proof are voluntary
and er parte. BY these the claimant establishes
his identity, his service, his state Of physical
health when he joined the army, and not unfre-
quently the fact of disease or wounds or other
disability
The extent and character of such disability,
and whether it arose from the essential peris in
cident to military service, are medical questions,
and are determined very largely by the evidence
of medical experts appointed and paid by the
United States, and whose statement is not pro-
cured by or submitted to the claimant; and the
validity of this medical examination is passed
upon here at Washington by the medical referee.
This latter and very important class of testi-
mony is, then, not parte, SO far as the claimant
is concerned, but is private and special for the
Government, and is the testimony of its own
officers and agents.
But the parol proof by affidavits in favor Of
the claimant is checked by the records of enlist
ment and of service by the lists of killed,
wounded, and prisoners, by the discharges, by
the records of hospital treatment, and Iii many
other FORMS in the regular routine of reports
constantly made and now on file, and any
rious disagreement between the affidavits and
the records is good cause for suspension rejec-
tion of the claim.
Thus it is in general, only in the preliminary
matters, which do not reach down to the sub
stantal justice Of the case, that it is safe to say
that the proceedings are &c pa,te, and are con-
trolled by the claimant
Besides all this, long habit of constant scru-
tiny and great familiarity with evidence, render
the Pension Office tribunal difficult to deceive,
and it ought to have become good judge of
the apparent truthfulness or want of truthful
ness on any set of papers submitted.
Added to all this are the serious penalties IN
Cured by forgery or perjury, or false person
alton, fully provided by law, with courts ready
to enforce them, and with a detective force of
Al in the Pension Office, whose whole duty and
end in life is to discover and punish these and
kindred offences.
This is the existing state Of the law, with the
absolute power of the Commissioner to reject
any claim.
That these facts are facts let the burdened
records of the Committees on Pensions show,
whose chief business consists in rendering justice
and mercy where the Commissioner has refused
either the one or the other
Now, the above sketch is, in substance, the
state of the law as it now is.
How long has this system of &c parte declara-
tions been in existence? We declare, without
fear of contradiction, that from the foundation
of the Government, in all cases, whether of pen
sions, of bounties, of bounty lands Of pre-emp-
tions of homestead entries, in every instance
where the munifcence or charity of the United
States has been extended, no other system than
this of er parte declarations has existed, nor
do we believe that any other system can exist.
The vast sums paid out for bounties since the
close of the war have all been distributed in
this way. The innumerable acres now held
by honest citizens as homes for their families