News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-12-28

Congress should give thoughtful considera-
ton to the entire Regarding of PENSIONS max
ing disability, rather than rank, the measure
of the pension. There can exist no good reason
in pensioning volunteer force when for the
same disability a ieutenant-colonels shall receive
$50 per month and a private soldier but So,
both having been drawn from and returned to
the same walks of civil life.
GRADES OF PENSIONS.
Commissioner Dudley then calls atten-
ton to the fact that there are now III
different grades of pensioners, and says
this state of affairs would be remedied by
the amendment above suggested. He
also proposes another amendment to give
an officer the benefit of his actual rank
Notwithstanding the fact that there was
no technical vacancy at the time. This
amendment, he thinks, is demanded by
simple justice He also recommends
that the section relating to widows and
minors pensions be amended so as to
entitle minor children to pension from
the date of the soldiers death, where the
widow has remarked prior to July l,
1880, without having received any PEN
sion on account of such soldiers death.
He says:
Great injustice has been done worthy class
OF pensioners by the narrow construction n6ceS-
sarily placed upon the statute governing the
issue of pensions to dependent relatives, and
there is necessity for an amendment of the Sec
ton.
In order to carry out the full and evident in
tention of Congress, as exhibited by the whole
course of pension legislation, and especially by
the more recent acts, and to place old war
claims more nearly upon the same footing as
those of the late war, the limitation contained
in section 4,713 should be removed, so that
cases barred by the three year limitation shall
have their date of commencement at the time
of filing application rather than at that of the
filing of the last piece of evidence. This
amendment will affect large class of cases,
but the present law is SO manifestly unjust that
hA does no. hesitate to suggest the change.
The commissioner calls attention to
the abuses of section 4, 745, relating to
the pledge, mortgage, sale, ETC., of a
pension certificate, and recommends that
the section be so amended as to read:
And any person who shall retain the certi-
cate of pensioner and refuses to surrender
the same upon the demand of the Commits
sioner of Pensions or a United States Pension
Agent, or any other person authorized by the
Commissioner of Pensions or the pensioner to
receive the same, shall be guilty of INSIDE
meanor and upon conviction thereof may be
fined in sum not exceeding 800 and the costs
of the prosecution
He then makes the following recon-
mendations:
Sanction of law should be given to the prac-
tice of Withholding unaccrued pensions in cases
of over-payment until the over-payment shall
have been covered.
The benefits Of the act which removes the
disabilities of those who, having participated
in the rebellion, have since its termination en-
listed in the army of the United States and
have become disabled, should be extended to
those who served in the navy. Widows and in
r.I1 .,fA 1
whose rights have accrued since june 80, 1880,
should be allowed a reasonable time, say two
to five years, in which to file their applications,
and pension should date from the commence
ment of the accruing of the right instead of, as
now, from the date of the filing of the applica-
ton.
In the provisions of the act of June 16, 1880.
an unjust determination has been made, and
such legislation should be had as will admit
those who are utterly helpless to the benefits of
the provisions of this, to date from the time
when they became utterly helpless, and its
benefits should also extend to those who were
entitled by reason of their helplessness to the
rate of $50 at a date later than the passage of
the act, or who, for some other cause, were not
actually upon the rolls at that grade on that
exact day, but afterward showed themselves to
be entitled from date anterior thereto.
Much space is given to review of the
workings of the new system of special
superiority over the old or er 11dyte sys-
tenn has been abundantly demonstrated
The commissioner suggests the enact
ment of a clause which will make the
false personation of q pension examiner
a felony, to be punished by fine and i'm
prisonment upon conviction. And also
the enactment of clause which will
make it high misdemeanor for any per-
ca To int yo1
in the discharge of his duties by violence,
threat or otherwise, the same to be pun
ishable by fine or imprisonment upon
conviction. The report continues
The question of desertion, in connection with
that of title to pension, should be definitely
settled by law pension is in no sense a re-
ward for faithful and meritorious service, but
payment for loss of physical ability to earn
livelihood. Therefore desertion subsequent to
the incurrence of disability and refusal of the
War Department to change the record, should
not carry with it forfeiture of right of pension.
The law should provide that pension, in any
case in which charge of desertion stands I'M
removed, shall commence from the date on
which the contract for services in which dsa-
bled legally terminated, to be ascertained from
the date to which last paid for service pro-
vIded however, that the date of discharge rom
a subsequent service entered into before the
LEGAL termination Of the service in which disa-
bled, shall be the date from which to commence
the pension.
Speaking of the pension population,
the commissioner expresses regret that
no provision was made in the tenth cen
sus for its enumeration. After confess
ing his inability to procure accurate data
on the subject, he says that the best
approximation that can be made shows
that of the 2, 063 391 soldiers who enlisted
during the war, pensions have been
applied for, by, or on account of, only &c
per cent.
The report concludes with the state
ment that from the best available informal
ton it appears that there is a surviving
soldier population of little over 1,000,-
600, out of which claims for pension in
the future may be made by those who
incurred pensinnGble disabilities.
A PIungeT'S Losses,