The Rock Island Argus., 1883-08-17
WASHINGTON LETTER.
[From our Regular Correspondent.
D. c., Aug IS, 1888.

WASHINGTON, ID. u, Aug TO- 1000.
The last congress made appropriations
aggreating little more than $3.50, ,OOO,-
600. of which more than one-third, or
1856 ,O0O, 600 is devoted to the payment OF
pensions. The army and navy, one with
out soldiers and the other without vessels
both with a superabundance of officers,
draw nearly Sal 900, 600. and the post,
office gets $44, 000to distribute among
the impecunious star route contractors.
The legislative, Judicial, and executive
departments are put off with only $780,
600 900, and the sundry civil service,
which means whatever may be most
conveniently at hand, ekes out its miser-
able existence on $29, ,6S5, ,575, or just the
amount to quarter of dollar that 1t
cost to run the entire government a
quarter of a century ago. LO, the poor
Indian, whose untutored mind has an eye
for Henry rifles and blankets red lined
which costs our mothers brother Sam a
little over So, $50, 600, and so on ad Rau-
SeaHt
The enormous sum congress had seen
fit to appropriate to the payment of pen
sions has caused no little criticism by the
public press all over the country, and to
some extent this criticism is justified, not
particularly because of the amount
appropriated, but because of the
provisions of the arrearages bill,
which have opened the door to an ava
lanche of fraud, deceit, bribery, and
perjury While but few instances have
been brought to light and punished, des-
pite the constant watchfulness of the
pension office, it is known that these
fraudulent crimes against the government
are multiplied day after day. By comb
nation and collusinn it is safe TO say that
one quarter of this vast amount of money
will he directed through channels opened
into the treasury by rank perjury in the
establishment Of that disability which
entities the claimant to compensation
under the arrearage bill. Man with no
! other disability than an ingrowing toe
nail may under this loose law pOunce upon
this pension fund and make of with
money enough to set himself up in com
Portable business. And how many in
stances there are of imposition upon The
government by false presentations, By
altered muster ron, by forged discharges,
aud the numberless shifts that are resOrted
IT, that the possession of few hundred
dollars so temptingly holds out. A man
in Pittsburg. the otner day was convicted
of bribery and sent to the penitehtiary for
sending SlOG to each of the examining
surgeons and another 800 to COmmis-
siOner Dudley and this man was already
worth more than 100000 A woman
in Baltimore and another woman in
Buffalo pcrsouaJed other women
whom. they had asCertained were entitled
10 pensions, and they succeeded in get
ting the money. 1t was only by
quarrel over the division of it that the
crime was unearthed and the criminals
brought to justice. A thorough invcstiga-
tion of the names that figure upon the
pension rolls will develop the fact that
here are thousands of them whose names
would more appropriately grace the ros-
ter of penitentia?y. If human ingenuity
is capable Of devising any means of pre-
venting such an abuse of law really
intended for the benefit OF the soldier
who has been disabled in the military
service, it will be when other men and
other times will see the remvoal of tine
motives that induce this sort of le9isia-
tion,
The absence Of the President and ell of
the heads of the departments is not at all
severely felt, VIII en- we realize that they
are in the hands of such excellent subOr-
dinates. The amount Of direct espCnsIbili-
ty attached to the proper performance of
the duties of the Interior department is
simply immcasurable, The most vital
questions touching title to the public
lands, sometimes Involving millions in
the result of an adjudication, are
submitted to and decided by the head Of
this departments The Patent office,
the Pension and Census bureaus, and the
Agricultural department, to say nothing
of the demands upon the Office by mat
ters pertaining to Indians and contract
tors, make the position of Secretary of
the Interior most busy one, and as
versatile in its consideration of public
questions. This great responsibility and
these multifarious-d in the
absence Of Secretary Teller, have been
performed and most satisfactorily, by
Assistant Secretary Joslyn, who from a
long ana varied experience at the bar in
Illinois, has at his tongues end all the law
and all the authorities touching the pub
lie lands and questions arising from their
distribution Mr. Joslyn, besides being
,f bo nf 1ax1r
yers, is one of the most effective stump
speakers of that prolific host of good
stump speakers in the west. In his
character as public official Mr.. Joslyn
is short, sharp and decisive, seeming to
grasp the full force and effect of all ques-
tiOns, however intricate, without appar-
ent hesitation. To say that he is a most
excellent officer in his present position,
and would be such in any other position,
is a need of praise as severely earned by
Mr.. Joslyn as it is richly deserved
At last account there were sixty open
clerkships of the clerkship for the next
House, with several border counties yet
to be heard from. The latest name that
has reached the surface is that of Mr.
Stilson, Hutchins, of the Washington Post,
who doubtless would make as goodaclerb
as any in the lot, though it is said that he
neither wants nor would accept it if ten
dered. There are, besides Mr.. Hutchins
several eX-M. C.s, who have been left
out in the cold by cold hearted const
iucncy, who are willing and anxious to
exercise their lung power at the clerks
desk, and who effect no humiliation from
the status of bossism to the comparative
menial condition of clerkship.
Dom PEDRO