The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1882-07-29
SOME TELLING HITS.


Mr.. Plumb then proceeded to point out the
srence between publishing the names of
ernment employees in a Blue Book and ad-
Ee sing the list Of pensioners. Said he: .ur
is asked, why not publish these names as
$50 lblish the names of persons who are III the
a.a )yment of the Government? That is an
-a lHly different thing. Here is a man en-
ployed by the Government; his employment is
open and notorious; the only fact to be known or
to be considered is that he is employed and the
sum which he receives; but then you come to
publish the name of man who Is borne upon
the pcnsiOn-r0ll, and especially when you pub
liSh ii with the statement which accompanies
this amendment and with the impetus and an
linus which is behind it, you are publishing it
for the purpose of stating in point of fact that
his case and every case on the pensOn-rOlls is
pTimG tdcie q fraud.
The question as 10 whether q man is prop
erly borne there Is not a question that his
neighbors can tell. 1t is a question which is
determined by a skillful medical or surgical
examination, or both. How can any man look
ing at his neighbor going about tell in the first
place. whether he is disabled at all in a great
many cases; and, in the next place, whether
that disability related to service in the army !?
Consequently, you will not get anything more
out of it than you will get from that inquisi-
neighbOr, and you will, in the publication of
this list, with the animus which, as | said, is
behind it, cast upon these men an imputation
of fraud which they Will feel l1cenly us long as
they live, and which will go very far to offset
the benefit which the Government 3Rs given
them by reason Of putting them on the pension
roll,
The preceding Commissioner of Pensions has
been quoted, and he INDUCED in general de-
nunciatiOn of the list; at least that was the
effect of it. At the same time the money
which Congress gave him to investigate the
question of pension frauds was not expended.
We gave him one year $4,000, l think, to pay
the expenses of clerks to be detailed from his
office to investigate frauds, and while he said
In a report to Congress that great many frauds
existed, he only spent onc-half of the money
we gave him for the purpose of detecting them.
That kind of testimony Will not do. If an
officer Of the Government says that frauds are
being pcrpctrated upon it, and he has money
placed in his hands for the purpose Of detecting
those frauds and he does not use it for that
purpose he is not competent witness to say to
what extent frauds are being carried on against
the Government, and to that extent sag the
testimony Of the preceding Commissioner Of Pen
Si0RS, Mr. Beliticy IS not entitled to credt.
| get letters occasionally, as the Senator from
Kentucky gets them. ] think now there are
250,000 persons borne on the pension-roll The
Senator from Kentucky has been the champion
on this floor and in the country in the allega-
ton that the pensionroll contains large mum
bers of frauds. He gets more letters on that
subject probably than anybody else, and all he
has been able to mention is about half dozen
Suppose there were half dozen cases of fraud
out of about 250, 600; suppose there were 1000; ;
you could not administer any law better than
that. Suppose there were 5000, what does
it amount to in point of fact? You viii not
tpi aIr,, ,,fl,
that.
AS | said, occasionally get letters of that
kind myself. | got q letter about six months
ago. or rather it was letter to the Commits
soner of Pensions under cover to me, written
by n man living in county in my State, in
which he went on to say that a neighbor of his
was drawing a pension who was not entitled
to it. He narrated certain reasons why he be-
licved the man was not entitled to q pension
| sent the letter TO the Commissioner of PEN
sons, who ascertained that not only was the
man named not upon the rolls but he had
never even made an application for pension.
This neighbOr of his simply got n suspicion in
his mind that the man was getting pension;
he thought he was not entitled to one, and he
addressed this letter to the Commissioner of
Pensions on the subject and there was a mares
nest. That is all there was about 1t, and have
no doubt that there is q large majority of cases
of Just the same kind.
Mr.. President, it is not for the country to
complain about the amount of pensions; it is
not for the country to cut its pattern too small; /;
it is not for the country to growl and grumble
about the administration of law embracing
as it does many persons within its grasp
because now and then a man gets upOn the
pension-roll who is not entitled to be there
can say this: il the man actually was soldier,
if he actually served three years, doing actual
military duty, he was physically worse when
he came out than when he went III by reason
of that service, and whether this proof of a
particular disability incurred at particular