Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1883-07-13
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular corre.ronden..)

, "AshiNeioN. ~. ~ yuuC 3ouis o,
About the busiest appearing Govern
II ment Office in Washington now is tn
Pension Bureau. The buildings !
" which its sixteen hundred clerks ar
quartered, as thick as three in bet
appear like bee-h,ves; and to see thes
clerks standing around on the outsid
at lunch time reminds one of an old
fashioned town meeting. But as
matter of fact, this Office does not pei
form as much work IN proportion L
: the number of its employees as mos
any Of the other department. 1t j
pretty well understood now that tn,
seven or eight hundred additiona
clerks voted to this bureau a year ags
were not needed, and have never beer
used to any advantage. A history o
the Pension Office, its workings, and
the peculiar cases that have come be-
fore 1t would be quite an interesting
chapter. 1t is estimated that consid'
erably over half the pensions granted
now are for chronic diarrhoea aud dis.
eases arising therefrom. Cases be.
longing to this class are among tbs
1
and they have been allowed to accu-
mulate for long time, until they con-
stitute majority of the applications
yet uniisposed Of In speaking ofthis
phase of the work an old examiner,
now in other business, said. II have
every reason to believe that there is
one agency, at least, and perhaps 9TH
ers IN this city. where dishonest appl;-
cants who have doubtful claims against
the Government in this class are put
through regular course of training
and reduced to any stage Of emacia-
ton that may be deemed essential to
success. To such perfection has the
business been studied that an appli.
cant who has been in training for a
weeks can be deceive the shrewdest
examiners, strong, healthy men beng
quickly reduced in weight amazingly,
and given the appearance of hopeless
invalids of years standing. To be sure
the trainings is liable to be followed by
serious sickness and even permanent
disability, but men are found who will
take the risk of that for the $4,000 or
$4,000 and the monthly stipends that
are at stake. lis practically impos-
sible for the bureau people to guard
against deception of this sort unless
they should come into possession o
information bearing on a particular
case by accident, and interested parties
are very careful to cover their tracks
skillfully.
OF all the ways of making money
this is the most peculiar 1 ever heard
Of, and thus far one of the most sue
cessful in small way"
The new Commissioner of Internal
Revenue is in hot water, but his friends |
say he does not mind that-that he is |
used to it. Whether Mr.. Evans is sat |
isiied with his own work or not. it is
pretty certain that President Ar.
thur and the Administration people
generally do not feel very well pleased,
though there will be no interference at
present. Mr.. Evans succeeded to a |
thoroughly well organized and efficient
branch of the public service, and all
that he had to do was to see that the
machinery ofthe bureau was kept in
perfect running order. But it seems
that that simple performance of duty
did not at all suit his views. 1t was
not with any such old-fashioned idea
that he took the Office. What he
wanted was, not to have the revenues
Of the Government conducted with the
greatest honesty and efficiency, but to
nave the pleasure OF distributing pat.
.onage. He seems to have followed in
he very footsteps ofthe late Speaker
Hiefer, and his first movement was the
emoval of four of the most skilled
special agents of internal revenue and
he appointment in their places
If four men from his own state
If Kentucky. two of whom had been
previously dismissed "for cause" from
Ike positions, the other two being TN.
RED, inexperienced, and presumably.
men. When the newspa-
oers commented upon this latest out
age against public decency, and
against the principles of civil service
efom, Mr.. Evans affected to see in
hat condemnation of his course mere.
y the spitefuhess of the newspapers
nd a proof of the "baneful influence ,
II sectionalism." He has often had,
lie said, 'tllts with the press, and had
lways come out ahead" Kentucky
lad not had her fair share of such
'ffices, and.he was determined that she
hnuld have. WThat was the SORT of a