Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-04-09
THE PENSION OFFICE.
HOlc Claim Goes on It's TrGreL Through
The Routine of Examination.

HOW q Claim Goes on It's TrdreL Through
The Routine of Examination.
The Washington Gazette says: The act
of congress approved July 25, 1882, appro-
priated the sum of $100000,O0O for the
payment of invalid and other pensions for
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1883, and it
was thought by Commissioner Dudley
that sufficient number of cases would be
adjudicated during the financial year to
absorb that amount. 1t is not probable,
however, that more than about $85, ,000, 900
will be needed for that period of time,
from the fact that the entire available force
of the Office, running under full compli-
ment of the hours of labor fixed by
law, is not adequate to the work
of doing more than this. It is stated
that since the accession of Col. Dudley MS
commissioner of pensions, the business of
the Office has been very greatly simplifed
and facilitated by grouping it under va
rious divisions, such as the eastern, south
ern, western and middle divisions; the
medical, mail, miscellaneous and record
divisions; the division OF certificates and
accounts; the old war and navy divisions;
the agents division; the division OF special
examinations, and the board of review.
These divisions have their respective chiefs,
who are responsible to the commissioner
for the faithful execution of the business
coDfded to them, and it is made a part of
their duty to keep the commissioner cor
stantly informed as to the progress of the
work in hand.
CO hp N-or
pension claim passes, from the moment
of its reception in the Office until its con-
summation is reached, would astonish the
claimants and render them less clamorous,
and would also be a surprise to the gener-
al public. It is briefly this: When a claim
is fled its receipt at the Office is acknowl-
edged to the claimant, and the claim, be-
fore starting on its rounds, is stamped and
jacketed, and the jacket briefed in the
mail division; after leaving the mail
division it goes to the record division,
where it is numbered and forwarded to the
adjudicating division to which it properly
belongs, this point being determined
by the geographical location
in which claimant originally enlisted, thus:
All cases coming from the New England
states GO to the Eastern division; from the
Southern states, to the Southern division,
ETC.; and it is during its progress through
the adjudicating division to which it has
been sent that the merits or demerits of
the claim are tested. When the evidence
in case is completed it is briefed and
submitted by the examiner, either for ad-
mission or rejection, and goes thence to the
board of review, where the work of the sx-
aminer is reviewed, and his recommends
ton reversed or cOncurred in
as the case may be. If the
claim proves to have been improperly sub
mitted it is returned for readiu6ication;
otherwise it i5 rated at certain sum per
month, according to the disability found
to exist, and then goes TO the division of
certificates and accounts, and the certif-
cate Of payment is there issued, and the
claimant notified Of the result. It only
requires then that the signature OF the
commissioner OF pensions, followed
by that OF the assistant secretary OF the
interior, be affixed thereto to make it =
valid document, and place the claimant on
the rolls IS a PENSIONS O the United
States. II u appears during the progress
Of q claim through the adjudicating divis-
sion to which il has been sent that tho
testimony therein is Of doubtful or con-
dictipg character, or that there is proba-
BILE cause for suspecting fraud, Or an at
tempt to impose upon the Office, the claim
Is at onse sent to the division of special
examinations, with q brief statement eff the
reasons for sending Il there, and from
thence it is sent to such emplOye of said
division as may be located in the vicinity
of the claimant in the case.
Under the former practice OF the Office,
examinations of this character were made
almost entirely in secret and Wholly ex-
parte; and the special examiners. or
agents as they were then called, appear to
have been imbued with the idea that claim
ants had no rights IN the matter, and that
it was the agents special duty to hunt up
T. testimony against the claim, and pay little
or no attention to any that might be in its
favor. Commissioner Dudley has changed
all this, and under the rules and reguIa-
tions prescribed by him it is the first and
imperative duty of the examiner to notify
the claimant in writing, that an examina-
ton to the merits or demerits of his claim
is to be had at a certain time and place
convenient to his home, and that he can be
present in person or by attorney, or both,
and hear the testimony of the witnesses
and cross-examine them; and offer
any additional testimony in the case that
he may have. In other words, secret in
vestigations and ex-parte methods in the
matter OF pension claims are entirely done
away with, and the claimant is made to
understand that the government. in en-
deavoring to protect itself, is not attempt
ing to crush him; and further, that if he
has been wrongfuily adjudged through
some ambiguity of testimony previously
offered, or from any OTHER cause which he
can make plain. he now has the oppor-
tunity presented of setting himself right.
| Other matters of interest connected with
the system OF pensions must, from lack of
space, be deferred until future occasion,
but the foregoing will afford some idea of
the labor involved in proper attention to
the needs of the many thousands of Uncle
| Sans benefciaries.
| The Laid League.
1 l. 4