St. Landry democrat., 1883-01-06
Pension Claim Agents.
MAsH1NGrox necemh

WASHINGTON, December H..
Commissioner Dudley has written the fol-.
lowing letter to gentleman of this city who
wrote asking whether there was any real ne--
cesslty for employing pension attorneys and
for brief statement of the methods used by
dishonest attorneys to swindIe soldiers:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
WASHINGTOS. December H., 1892
DEAR SIR: Your communication of the 4th :.
inst. is at hand? You ask me two Quest ons:
First, '.ls it absolutely necessary that an hon.
est claimant for pension should be repre-
sented by an agent?" and second, 'What are
the principal devices by which di honest
agents fleece soldiers?' In response to the !.
first question I should say that Sec 4,74s of
the Revised Statutes provide, that the
Commissioner of Pensions, on application
being made to him i'll person or by letter by
any claimant or applicant for pension, bounty
land. or any other allowance required by law
to be adjusted or pad by the Pension Office,
shall furnish to such person, free of all ex--
psnse. all such printed instructions and forms
as may be necessary in establishing and OBJ.
tanning said claim. hand you herewith copy
of the pamphlet of laws and instructions is
sued in conformity with said law, and sent out
on application or freely distributed on call
When the claim, properly filed up and exec
cuted, is filed, the receipt is acknowledged,
the number of the claim given, and claimant
notified that the same will be taken up
in its order. At the same time an ex-
tract of sad pamphlet is forwarded
containing full and complete instruc-
ton. Nect ssariy considerable delay occurs
between the time of fling the claim and
its being taken up in its order, which delay
the claimant is advised to emp oy in procur-
ing the necessary evidence. When the ease
is reached and is taken up, if the evidence is
all in and sufficient the ella m is settled atonce.
Otherw Sc the claimant is called upon for the
particular kind of evidence requ red, and
the circular calls are SO wor ed that they can.
not be misinterpieted or misund .rstood by
any one. The evidence of record is obtained
by The office d.re-t as is also the medical ex-
am nation by the medical boards in different
parts of the country. | will only add that
the services of an agent nre most useful to the
claimant when be devotes himself to
the preparation of the required evidence
Immediately upon the fling Of the claim
or before. An agent well post d in the law
and the requirements oI this office can thus
anticipate the calls of the Office AMI greatly
shorten the time consumed in the adJudica-
ton of the claim, as well as save the office
much labor As to the absolute necessity of
the Intervention OF an agent, each must JUICE
for himself
say that the criminal files of this Office show so
many and var Gus prosecutions against sshon-
est agents th:sS shoul be unable to classify
and enumerate the different violations OF law
and the devices used in defrauding pensioners
within the limits of such communication as
this, but the prime pal violations consist in
the collection, under some guise or upon
some peetext or another. of more than the fee
allowed by law, the enforced collection of SO
called expense fees" or postage lees in adj
vance, addressing the calls of this Office for
med cal examinations or other evidence by
&C. o. D." packages, the collection of fees in
advance and the abandonment of the claim as
soon as the fee is received, advertisements
holding out inducements not warranted by
law, by which honest soldiers ar led to prefer
baseless CLAIMS, the only advantage in such
cases being that which accrues to the agent,
who gets fee.
Such facts are principally predatory upon
the claimant rather than upon the Govern
ment, but are just as meritrieious and blame.
worthy. Very respectfully,
W. W DUDLEY, Commissioner.