The National tribune., 1881-12-31

ioU
221,04o original pension claims had been filed nr;or
to July 1880 and he estimates that 193 600 of tba
claims will be allowed and entitled to arrearagoS
The average amount of arrearages he estimates at
Sloo Tor each person, and, after deducting SIS OOO
OOO as the probable amount due TO persOns who
should die before their claims are allowed leaving
no heirs under the law entitled to succeed to the
pension he thinks S2 0OO 900 will be needed for first
payments under the arrearages act. The regular
pension list will Also of course be increased cores
Ponuhg 10 the admission of these 1873 900 applicants
ana 10 the admission of those whose claims filed
SUBSEQUENT 10 July 1, 1880, shall be allowed. The
present annual pension list amounts in round figures
10 S2o,oOoOO. In six wears within which the
commissioner hopes to adudicate upon all the
claims @ now pending it will amount to saw S46OOO-
wv. nu olains are still coming in at the rate of
hedI! thIee Thousand month and it is difficut to
say what the list will amount to twelve vears banc
IO-daE aiter seventy years, there are 232 claims
pending on account of the war of 1S12 last vaar
ninety-hye original claims were filed ON account Of
that war. Commissioner Dudley tbini-s Io-o
that enough will be annually dropped from the rolls
to compensate for those admitted and that the on
nua pension list, after the arrearages are maid will
never be over S50,000O0O.
PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FRAI-D
In conversation with Herald correspondent Conn
missioner Dudley went over the facts which in his
opinion reduce frauds the pension list to a yerv
small proportion 1t is his opinion that the prOpOr-
planned that of the total amount of claims hereto
fore filed and passed upon thirteen per cent. have
been rejected Of those now pending he estimates
that fifteen per cent. will be rejected. The precau
tiOns against fraud, he says, extraOrdnary-far
more so than the public generally realizes. The
applicant for pension must in the first place fur
nish the Commissioner with full description of
himself and of his wound or malady. He must
state the time of his enlistment and discharge, the
number of his company and regiment, the date and
circumstances of his wound disability, the history
and date of his treatment in hospital elsewhere,
and the general record of his service. He must
the q Of
company or regiment that his statements are true,
or else of two of his comrades. The comrades must
also furnish the record of their service that
the Commissioner verify their opportunities of
knowing how and when the disability occurred
The records of the War Department are then re-
ferred to for vericaion of all the statements made
The records of the Surgeon Generals Office ex-
pected to correspond with the assertions of the ap
plicant as to the date of the wound or disability
and his treatment in hospital elsewhere. If as
sometimes happens the records conflict with his
statements or do not cOrrObOrate them-mstakes
doubtless occurred in the tremendous total of these
recOrdS-the applicant must furnish oyerwhelm-
ing array of testimony from his feOw-sOdiers OF
others to subsantate his assertions The applicant
must be examined by regularly appointed surgeon
of the Pension Office if that is not possible the
affidavit OF his family physician must be presented
that his disability caused by and directly due
to services in the war. Even after he has proved
to the entire satisfaction of the office that he is
entitled to pension and his name is placed upon
the roll, the Commissioner, upon a bare suspicion
OF fraud, can suspend payment of his pension. The
Commissioner has the power, and always exercises
it upon hint of fraud, to send special agent to
investigate the facts. He can order any number
and at any time, of special examinations by
regular surgeon a Board of Surgeons of the Pen
sion Office If he is convinced by the proof sub
mitted on investigation that there has been any
fraud or even Misrepresentation he can strike the
name OF the pensiOner from the rolls. His power
In this respect is absolute. These, he says the
main points only of the precautions against fraud
provided by law and only as to the application of
the survivor himself. In the case of a widow, or
OF child under Sixteen-after which age children
not entitled to the benefits of a pension, the
right of a widow terminating when she marries
again-the provisions of the law are much more
stringent.
As to claim agents, Commissioner Dudley says,
that by law, since June 20, 1875, they entitled
to fee of only SO in each case: mat
ter what is the extent OF their labor they cannot
recover cent more. If special contract, made
prior to June 90 1878 has been entered into between
himself and the applicant it must be submitted to
the Commissioner fer approval rejection, and in
no case has the fee under such contract exceeded
S25 during my administration of the office. If the
application is rejected the agent is entitled to fee
whatever He not only cannot recover, in any court
fee larger than So except in the case of special
contract formally approved by the Commissioner,
but he il especially prohibited by law from holding
any lien whatever upon the pension. Upon inform
alton that he has demanded received larger fee
he can be dsbarred from practice before the courts
and the Secretary of the interior, upon suspl
ciOn, at any time, revoke his permission TO ap-
pear before the Pension Bureau, and can forbid his
acting as pension claim agent. Upon SUSPICION
that he has secured claim frauduently, witnesses
can be subp9naed to appear before any court IN any
State or Territory, and penalties provided TOR
their failure to appear their refusal TO testify
The Commissioner is of the opinion that II the cases
adjudcated and passed upon by the bureau were
submitted TO men versed in law and accustomed 10
weigh evidence and pass judically upon testimony,
they would say that under the powers gwen the
of the Pension Office as udlclal IN
their character, and would compare favOraby WITH
those OF any other judicial tribunal in the land he
says, II Congress would grant appropriation thaO
would enable him to send agents OF experience III
weighing testimony of legal knowledge sufficient 10
Scrutlnlze the evidence offered and TO form an in
telgent opinion as to the credbity of witnesses as
also TO extract from them the truth OF their state
nents by cross examination fraud upon the pension
list would be practically eliminated 1t his opinion
that the reason for the long delay the part per
sons entitled to pensions in filing their claims, has
been chiefly due pride or in many instances to the
TACT that they had not needed the assistance. When
me arrearages bill, however, was passed enabling
mem TO secure a considerable sum at once, they
presented their just claims to the Government
doubtless. he thinks, many of the claims filed were
Dy eX-S0dlerS, formerly well to do, but who had
been reduced in fortune
1t may be explained here that the widow or child
'annot recover arrearages unless the claim OF the
husband or father filed prior to his death. The
"a" provides, Also that arrearages, in case OF the
iea'n OF the applicant before the claim is allowed